To enter the giveaway: obey the Rafflecopter! This giveaway opportunity will be open for two days (as opposed to one day, which is what I normally do!)

After a crazy night of club-hopping and who-knows-what-else, Laura’s sister Ruby shows up Sunday morning with one Manolo Blahnik—a disappointing turn of events, considering her boss loaned her a full pair that she expects back first thing Monday. The right shoe has to be somewhere! The hipster bar? The smelly restaurant? The club that doesn’t exist?

There is only one way to find out: spend Sunday backtracking up and down Manhattan, reliving an evening of high drama to find Ruby’s missing Blahnik stiletto.

Available from: Amazon and Amazon UK.

About Christine

Christine has been in the fashion industry for 20 years, and has been writing for 15. Which says more about Christine’s ADD than it does about either fashion or publishing. She lives in Los Angeles with her two children and her long-suffering husband, who moved with her from Brooklyn to LA so she could pursue a career in film. You see how well that worked out.

Finally, the two sides of her life meet with Fashion Avenue Mysteries. She figures she has enough material to continue the series for another 15 years, if you all have the patience to keep reading.

Contact Christine via her website, Twitter, or Facebook!

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Lucy Donovan was supposed to have a weekend of fun in the sun, celebrating
her upcoming graduation from college. In a split second, everything
changed. A drunk driver ended Lucy’s mortal life.

Lucy opens her eyes to a world she never imagined possible and a new
destiny: as a Patronus, a guardian of spirits. Adjusting to her new role
and abilities while negotiating this confusing realm will test her limits
and push her further than she ever dreamed she would go. From wayward
spirits who don’t want her help to soul stealing vampires, and even a
stuck-up British royal, Lucy must brave them all to save one spirit she
can’t bear to lose.

Further complicating her confusing life is an inexplicable yet growing
connection she feels to a member of her team, Max, whose mysterious
behavior leaves her both confused and intrigued.

Waking up dead was just the beginning of her problems. Lucy’s death is
about to become the greatest adventure of her life.

Buy it – Amazon, Amazon UK, Paperback, Nook, and Smashwords

Author Sarah M Ross is working with Promotional Book Tours to bring
you an incredible Prize pack. She is offering up

For 25 entries in the contest, sign up for her newsletter to learn about new books coming out and contests.

Go HERE to sign up for the newsletter

Fill out the form to enter to win

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To enter the giveaway: obey the Rafflecopter.

A dark twist on faeries. For Shade, a chance  meeting with a powerful Teleen faery warrior who wields electrical currents  and blue fires along his skin- has her , joining him on a treacherous mission  for the good Seelie Faerie Court across the land of Faerie. Magic and malice  abound and nothing is what it really seems to be.

The evil Unseelie Queen and her treacherous allies are round every corner…  as Shade makes her way across the breathtaking landscapes of the world of  Faerie, which exists alongside the mundane human world. Shade discovers her  own uncharted magic and meets some of the most powerful warriors in Faerie  while battling evil dryads, conniving Teleen guards and challenges on her  life with every step in a world where nothing can be taken for granted.

About Alexia

Alexia currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada- Sin City! She loves to spend every free moment writing, or playing with her four rambunctious kids. Writing has always been her dream and she has been writing ever since she can remember. She love’s creating paranormal fantasy and poetry and loves to read and devour books daily. Alexia also enjoys watching movies, dancing, singing loudly in the car and …Italian food.

Currently working on launching her debut dark paranormal fantasy series starting with “Every Shade: A Dark Faerie Tale” with Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing. Launches in Feb 29th 2012. Her new post-apocalyptic vampire hunter series “Reign of Blood” releases via amazon.com March 31st 2012. “Whispers of Dreams (A Poetic Collection)” will release on amazon.com in late February 2012.

Contact Alexia via her website, Facebook, Goodreads or Twitter.

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Can Women Enjoy Zombies Too?

 by Danielle Blanchard

I first started writing Beginnings: Book I from The Plague series because my main goal was to write a book about zombies women could enjoy and read with pleasure. This was after I had explored the world of zombies on my own—first through Jack Wallen’s amazing zombie series (I Zombie I, My Zombie My, Die Zombie Die) and Jessica Meigs’ The Becoming series. Both were trilogies and although both offered kick ass characters, twisty plots and great dialogue, I couldn’t help but think there was room in this genre for a gentler, kinder zombie book.

Nope, I am not speaking of the Hollowlands series by Amanda Hocking. Although it was written for the YA crowd, I wanted to write a novel women would be able to enjoy yet not have to be in their late teens and early twenties to do so. So, I started off with a basic plot and it all went from there. I suppose you could call my book a romance novel with aspects of military fiction, dark urban fantasy, mystery and suspense along with a touch of horror and science fiction.

I didn’t have big plans for this novel, I merely wanted to get it out and then I thought I would hash out the rest of the plot for the subsequent novels a bit later.

Wrong.

I finished Better Off Dead: Book II from The Vamp Saga, and this muse does not want to let go. I thought for sure I would be able to write a romance novel afterwards but the zombie world calls so that is where I am going.

The great part about Beginnings: Book I is it is appropriate for almost everyone over the age of seventeen (I say this because there is a lot of explicit language, a few sexual situations and some gore but I have kept the violence to a minimum as it isn’t really my area of expertise). There are strong female characters who are not only beautiful, smart and talented but kick ass as well.

If anything, I hope more women will realize that although zombies are a male-dominated industry in the book business, I hope more women discover the genre through my work and find out how great they are because sometimes, a girl just wants to be scared a bit!

 About Danielle

Danielle Blanchard Benson is a world traveler and currently earning her degree in Creative Writing with a Minor in Specialized Languages (French).

Ms. Blanchard Benson is the author of Beginnings: Book I (The Plague), Death Wish: Book I (The Vamp Saga), The Catalyst: Book One (The Pop Stars) and The Beautiful People series. She is currently working on Better Off Dead: Book II (The Vamp Series), the re-release of The Beautiful People Part One & Part Two (revised and re-edited by Spring of 2012), No and Apocalypse 2012: Book II (The Plague).

Ms. Blanchard Benson has lived abroad in Stockholm (Sweden), Manchester (England), Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland. She currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. Contact Danielle via her website, Facebook or Twitter!

 Beginnings: Book I (The Plague) is available in ebook format from the following stores: Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords.  Available in Paperback from Amazon and Createspace.

 Death Wish: Book I (The Vamp Saga) is available exclusively in ebook format from  Amazon and Amazon UK and in paperback format from Amazon and Createspace.

The Adorkable Guy

The Appeal and Use of the Hapless Male in Fiction

by Michael Shean

In a great many stories, the protagonist is perfect.

Especially onerous are the male ones.  You know what I’m talking about.  He’s kind, good-looking, and can lift a Cadillac with one arm which ripples like a field of autumn wheat or whatever with masculine power.  He’s kind to animals.  He saves puppies from floods!  He even gets along with his ex-wife, which was totally not his fault because she was totally wrong for him.

Yawn.

That’s all fine and good, but how many men do you know like that which aren’t already dead and canonized for sainthood?  For me, the best kind of protagonist is the flawed one, male or female – I normally write about people with dark flaws, so let’s reverse the trend today and talk about someone a bit more upbeat.  I’m referring to the Dorky Guy, the Hapless Dude – or, as I call him, the Adorkable Guy – who in fiction is an endless source of entertainment and reflection through the magic of schadenfreude.

The Adorkable Guy most often shows up comedic fiction – that is, fiction that’s primarily meant to be funny.  He doesn’t have to be handsome, though he sometimes is (see every role that Hugh Grant has ever played).  He’s awkward around his chosen sex, which these days in no way means the opposite one, and generally screws things up in some form or fashion.  He’s often either very slovenly or very tidy, though in my experience it’s more the latter, and tends to be a deeply romantic person.  So yeah, he’s often a nerd.  He’s very often the representative of everything we feel uncomfortable about in our lives, every little moment of awkwardness that we possess lives on in him.

This is why the Adorakable Guy is so appealing – and why we like to see him tortured so.  By his trials and travails, we see our own brought out of the darkness, held up to the light, and through the lens of experience made into something that we can not only relate to, but feel sympathy for.  The Adorkable Guy is very effective at this, because he also demonstrates the uncomfortable reality of many men; so much of male culture is about ignoring or outright denying those flaws which he reflects.  If we don’t see them, they surely can’t exist.  The Adorkable Guy can also serve as a sort of mirror for women as well, either romantically or socially, in pointing out these flaws.  I suspect that’s often why women like them.

But a cracked mirror doesn’t serve a purpose forever, and this brings us to the most important part of the character.  The Adorkable Guy doesn’t remain adorkable, at least not entirely; the whole purpose of his cycle is to transform oneself from the flawed creature he was into a better person.  And this is why he’s so appealing – he demonstrates that all the imperfections that make him who he was at the start, and therefore ourselves, can be redeemed.  The often comic nature of the character makes this a more accessible transformation, but that’s not enough for me.  I’d like to suggest to writers of all kinds of fiction – from the most lighthearted in which he is most often found to the darkest of fiction where he is so very rare – to make great use of this transformative character.  The Adorkable Guy can be used in any genre, in any tone, and his power can be used to further carry on the message that so many stories convey.  For those who like a darker ending, the imperfect nature of the character magnified so that he becomes monstrous.

Whatever happens in the end, however, I urge for this character and his female counterpart to be used more often; put away your muscular badasses and your unassailable amazons, and give them time to breathe.  Sometimes the dorks need to come out and save the world, and maybe – just maybe – the world will thank you for it.

About Michael

Michael Shean is an author of hard-edged detective Sci-Fi, living in the DC area with his wife and over-sized cats. The first novel of his Wonderland series, Shadow of a Dead Star  is published by Curiosity Quills Press with its offshoot, Bone Wires, serialized every week on the Curiosity Quills website.

Congrats, Sarah, and thank you to everyone who entered!  A couple of us will be hosting another Fire giveaway in March, so stay tuned!

Rhyn Trilogy Blog Tour

March 05 – April 09. I’ll share some of the links as I go along. There are tons of fun prizes along the blog tour.

Jenn from IndieSupporter.com is organizing my tour!

Official tour graphics by Dafeenah!

Upcoming Book Releases

March 16: “Rhyn’s Redemption”

April: “Rebel Heart”

May: “The Grey God”

June: ”Kiera’s Sun”

And finally, my first public appearance. 

May 24-27, I’ll be an exhibitor at the Phoenix Comic Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. I’ll send out more details closer to the date, but you can expect to see some limited edition, anime/comic covers for my most popular books to commemorate my first public appearance, in addition to some other cool little trinkets.  I’ll also be unveiling the “Kiera’s Sun” cover at the Comicon! (I’m not important enough to make their VIP guest list, but by golly, I’ll be there!)

If you’re going to be in the area, let me know!

To enter the drawing to win your choice of one of Laura’s books: obey the Rafflecopter at the bottom of the post. It’s smarter than me and never loses track of people. Ha!

Ladybug Blue is an Amazon Children’s Bestseller and Hot New Release!   Red, yellow, green, bright hues, exchange colors with Ladybug Blue. There’s a problem outside and this cute bug is going to fix it by swapping colors.

This is a fun and colorful, fully illustrated ebook, for ages 18 months and up.

Purchase from: Amazon or Amazon UK.

About Laura

Laura spent her early years in Scotland attending a very old and supposedly haunted Catholic school. The place terrified her, but she loved the idea that there was a ‘Headless Nun’ roaming the halls. In her pre-teens she moved to the United States. She spent her first two years in college writing poetry, and managed to lose her entire collection. She knows it’s out there somewhere. Writing is her passion. She is currently working on a psycho-thriller set on the Washington coast, a fully illustrated children’s book, and a collection of poems. Her inspiration for her children’s books comes from her two little ones. Her adult works–that’s where she likes to swim.

You can contact Laura via her big people blog, her tot blog, or through Twitter!


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In The World Among Us, Hades, the god of the Underworld, plots to take over the world, and remove Gaia, the head Deity, from power.  In order to do so, he plots against his own son, Damien, and cons him into killing his soul mate, the beautiful goddess of the moon, Selene.  Hades does so, because Gaia is his natural enemy, and Selene is her favorite grandchild.  He thinks that by killing off Gaia’s favorite grandchild, he will weaken her.

With Selene out of the way, Hades then moves in on the Creatures of the Night.  He wants to kill off their leader, Jason Aysel.  Jason is the go-between person between worlds, and another person that Gaia highly regards.  Hades manipulates and cons Jason’s best friend, Leon Greene, into murdering him, by offering him Jason’s position as his reward.  Because of these actions, a war is to take place on earth between the gods and other Creatures of the Night.

During this time, Selene is reincarnated, and kept hidden as a secret weapon to win the war against Hades.  In order to win the war of wars, the gods and some of the demons will have to fight together, and learn to co-operate with each other.  Will the Titans and Olympians be able to set aside their differences, and take back the world from Hades?  Or is the world as we know it, doomed to fall under dark shadows, forever?

Purchase ebook format from Amazon, Amazon UK, BN, or iTunes and the paperback format from Amazon or BN.

About Beth Ann Masarik

Beth Ann has been writing since she was 15 years old, and was published in the 2002 Schreiber Times. She took creative writing classes in college, and feels that they helped her become the writer she is today. In addition to writing the sequel to The World Among Us, she participates in an international anthology project, where writers from around the world come together to share their talent.

Originally starting as a writing assignment for college, The World Among Us series has sparked up a role playing group online, and a fan base of over 1000 followers on Facebook, and over 500 followers on Twitter.

Beth Ann lives in New York where she is a legal clerk and volunteers regularly at her church.

Visit Beth Ann at her blog, website, Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter!

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All web 2.0 sites have different criteria for determining if outbound links count as votes in Google’s eyes (DOFOLLOW) or if they are working links, but links which pass no authority (NOFOLLOW). NOFOLLLOW links are still useful but DOFOLLOW are preferred.

Squidoo makes it really easy to determine if your link is DOFOLLOW. If your Squidoo lens is blue on your dashboard then your lens is “featured” and your links are good. If your Squidoo lens is red on your dashboard then your lens is a “work in progress” and your links are NOFOLLOW.

The algorithm that Squidoo uses to determine if your link can be affected somewhat by visitors, but the main factor is having updated content on your site. With that in mind, here are a few tips to keep in mind when you’re making your Squidoo lens.

How to make a Squidoo lens featured

1: Make sure your Squidoo score is 91 after you press publish. Everything except for the “being liked by a giant squid” and “get 20 likes” are 100% within your control and very quick and easy to accomplish.
2: Break your text into separate modules whenever possible.
3: Use modules that will automatically update with no effort on your part. A few of these options are RSS feeds, YouTube feeds and Google News feeds.
4: Check in once a week or so and make sure your lens is featured. If it’s gone red, just go add a small amount of content and it should go back to featured status within 24 hours.

I’m sure a lot of you will think up creative ways to utilize Squidoo pages to help support your web presence. Be sure to post them here as I’d love to check them out.