Thursday 25 October 2012

Howloween Blog Hop!

Welcome hoppers!!
So glad you could join me today on this fabulous hop! There are over 270 participating authors and so many goodies to win. So make sure you comment on each one, leave your email address in your post, and have a great time reading about all the sexy books! Thank you Drea for all the hard work!


 
 
For more info on this hop, you can click the pic above or go to: http://thebloghopspot.com/event-page/

So what does Hallowe'en mean to you? As a child, it was always my fave holiday and still is. Whether I'm trick-or-treating with my sons or handing out candies, I always have a blast. And that's because it is a day of total fantasy. You can be whatever or whoever you wish that day. For me, usually the more gruesome the better. :)

My favorite Hallowe'en costume was when I went as a Titanic victim. I dressed in old-fashioned clothes, put fake seaweed in my hair, made my face grey and put a life preserver around my neck that said "S.S. Titanic." It was so much fun- even won an award at work for it! Check out the creepy dolls I decorated my cubicle with!


Tell me about your fave Hallowe'en costume, and you could win a copy of my Two Lips Recommended Read paranormal romance For the Love of a God! Don't forget your email address!


Blurb:


Conservator Maia Douglas is an expert on ancient Greece and its mythology. She would never tell anyone at the museum where she works, but she's always had a secret crush on the mythical Eryx, Greek god of love. There is nothing she loves more than to tend to her favorite statue of him, and her nighttime dreams are filled with luscious images of Eryx making love to her.

 

One day, the peace at Maia's beloved museum is shattered when a new director arrives. A man who looks exactly like her image of Eryx. As Maia watches, he manages to upset her ordered museum world, at the same time he inflames her with unwanted desire.

 

Maia does not know that her new boss is actually the god Eryx, disguised as a mortal so he may work in antiquities. Although he is the god of love, he has forsaken his sexual nature because of a curse that has killed any woman he's dared to love. Though he fights it, Eryx is drawn to Maia with a force he's never experienced in a thousand years. But can he convince her of his true identity? And can he protect her from a vengeful goddess who seeks her destruction?

Excerpt:



“I wanna play with some mortals. Female mortals.”

Eryx, son of Aphrodite, looked up from the neat stack of papers on his Chippendale desk. He frowned at the intruder, his cousin Dionysus. “Don’t you ever knock?”

Dionysus, beautiful in his smugness, merely shrugged. “You’re the only god I know who keeps an office. No one else has a door.” He plunked his big frame down in the Herman Miller chair in front of Eryx’s desk. “I’m bored.”

“You’re always bored.” Eryx’s blond brows met in a frown as he returned his gaze to his papers. “So why are you here?”

“Because I want you to come with me.”

“No.”

“Oh, come on, Eryx. I hear there’s a new club open on the Vegas strip. Topless waitresses.”

Eryx spared him a glance. “Seriously? You’ve seen and done it all before. You can’t tell me you’re intrigued by the idea of topless waitresses.”

Dionysus squirmed a little under his cousin’s harsh gaze. “I know. I’m predictable. But it’s been ages since we’ve had any fun together.”

“There’s a reason for that.” Regret darkened Eryx’s green eyes. “You and I and waitresses and wine … we don’t mix well.” He sighed and returned his attention to his papers.

The god of wine arched a perfect dark brow. “We mix very well. The difference between you and me is that I don’t beat myself up with guilt every time I break some mortal’s heart. There was a time when you didn’t either.”

Eryx jotted several names into a notebook, and then looked up, as stern as a Catholic school religious studies teacher. “Dionysus, don’t you understand by now? I can’t. Someone will get hurt.”

“If you’re worried about…”

“No. Don’t even say her name out loud.” Eryx huffed. “I’ve been able to stay under her radar for the last few decades. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“What are you worried about? She’d never do anything to hurt her beloved Eryx!”

“It’s not me I worry about.”

Dionysus crinkled his nose, so straight and perfect it should be on a statue. “You know, cousin, this goddamn noble routine is getting pretty tired.”

“What about you?” Eryx rolled his bright eyes. “There has to be more to life, even this life, than carousing with loose women and getting drunk all the time. It’s gotten old.”

“So instead of bonding with your cousin, who happens to know where all the best orgies are, you prefer to sit here alone and shuffle papers.”

“I’m not just shuffling papers.”

“Oh, right.” Dionysus smirked. “I forgot. You shuffle people.”

Eryx just stared at his cousin, knowing he was wasting his breath. How could he ever make the god of lusty alcoholism comprehend that his work fulfilled him? As much as anything could fulfill him.

In a quest to make a difference, as much as to keep busy, Eryx worked in antiquities. For hundreds of years, he had been descending to earth in the guise of various antiquities experts. Depending on his mood, he might be a famous archaeologist or a professor or a writer. His favorite venture was to take on the role of a museum curator or director. In this capacity, he could bring his firm hand to museums around the world, ensuring the mortals were doing justice to ancient Greece and its treasures. Nothing gave him more pleasure than to swoop down on an unsuspecting museum staff to see who was doing his job properly. Shake them up a little. Maybe even downsize the ones who were dead weight.

There was only one thing which gave him more pleasure, but he couldn’t go there.
He put down his pen and sighed, trying to return to a less sexual train of thought. 

For the Love of a God is available at http://www.lsbooks.com/for-the-love-of-a-god-p239.php and all fine ebooksellers.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Serena Zane and the Vampire Mythos!


Hi everyone;

Being the total vampire geek I am, I couldn't be happier today than to be able to welcome the wonderful Serena Zane! She has a terrific, and may I say totally hot, new book called Bane, Book 3 in the Dark Warrior series. Check out that awesome cover!

But before Serena talks to us about her book, she's going to talk to us about the vampire mythos. I love how she breaks it down for us, so please read on and enjoy!

Serena, talk to us!





Vampire mythos classic vs. modern

 

Serena Zane
"Passion to die for"

 

Over the centuries the mythos of the Vampire has both fascinated and disgusted us. Like a car accident, we just can't look away. The thought that something so beautiful could be so dangerous is almost irresistible for the human race.

 

As a person, I have a love of all things paranormal: vampires, werewolves, witches, etc... As a writer, the history of each has taken on a sort of morbid fascination for me. Due to the fact that there are so many different legends that have been created about the Vampire, I took what I loved most about each and then added my own twist on the vampire vs. werewolf wars of legend.

 

Zaniac vampires, as I like to call them, are created. In their own sub-culture, a priestess in Egyptian times fell in love with a young warrior. However, he spurned her affections, and as a curse she created the first vampire. Each vampire after that was created from this first 'original'. Zaniac vampires can shape-shift, fly, have heightened senses, mind-control, and telepathy. Silver can kill them. As is traditional, they cannot be exposed to sunlight, are effected adversely by Holy Water, and a good old fashioned stake will take them out. While they can 'fall in love' and do so intensely, there is no such thing as a 'lifemate' unlike in my favorite novels by Christine Feehan.  They do have a marriage ceremony that ties them for life and vampires do not believe in open relationships once married. Adultery is punished by death. However, before marriage, they are rather promiscuous. Zaniac vampires are immune to drugs, or disease, and are of course immortal.

 

The legend I have created to make this my own is a twist on the old vampire vs. werewolf wars. In Zaniac history werewolves were held as slaves by the vampire race. Werewolf blood is like a drug for vampires, creating a sense of euphoria. It is highly addictive. The werewolves rebelled back in the Middle Ages and a great war was started creating a rift between the two species. In the Dark Warrior series, vampire Damon Blake falls for Nikki Adams, who is part-werewolf. This creates numerous issues that Zaniac's can experience throughout this ongoing series. My newest release, Bane, explores how old grudges and beliefs can effect one's life.

 

Just for fun, I have included a comparison chart below of some of my favorite vampire legends. Check it out, and let me know what you think!
 
Vampire Mythos Comparison Chart
 
Authors
Bram Stroker
Dracula
Christine Feehan
Dark series
Anne Rice
The Vampire Chronicles
L.J. Smith
Vampire Diaries
Stephanie Meyer
Twilight Saga
P.C. Cast
House of Night
 
Serena Zane
Dark Warriors & Hunter Diaries series
Pros
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Shape-shift
*Fog, bats
*Any
 
 
 
 
*Any
Invisibility
*
*
 
 
 
*
*
Compulsion
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Telepathy
 
*
 
 
*
*
*
Magical Abilities
*
*
 
 
 
*
*
Flying
*
*
*
 
 
 
*
Preternatural Speed
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Cons or causes Death
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sunlight
*
*
*
*
 
*
*
Wooden Stakes
*
*
*
*
 
 
*
Holy Water
*
 
*
 
 
 
*
Silver
 
 
 
 
 
*
*
Crosses
*
 
*
 
 
 
*
Decapitation
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Fire
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Starving
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Dependent on Lifemate
 
*
 
 
 
 
 
Loss of Emotion
 
*
 
*
 
 
 
Sleeps in Coffin
*
 
*
 
 
 
 
Sleeps in Ground
 
*
 
 
 
 
*
Created
*
 
*
*
*
*
*
Born
 
*
 
 
*
*
 
 
Blurb:

Strife has found the Pack in Boston. A young woman is murdered in an abandoned warehouse. and three other girls are missing . Detective Nikki Adams gets a whiff of something off about the whole case as she struggles to find the killer before more girls end up dead.

Meanwhile Damon Blake, Nikki's boyfriend and full-fledged vampire, finds a medallion with the insignia of the Nostre Dames, his own clan, inscribed on the surface at the crime scene. Slipping it into his pocket he stashes the evidence before a war breaks out between the races, again. The tenuous truce he recently forged with the Pack is in danger.

Nikki knows Damon is hiding something from her as the case escalates, but he won't tell her what it is. She is faced with the fact that he might not trust her after all, even though she has given him her heart.
The Dark Warriors is a series of serial short-stories that continue to drive deeper into the world of the unknown for Detective Nikki Adams. This is the first in a series of steamy, fun, and fast reads that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Bane-Dark-Warrior-Series-ebook/dp/B009D0JR9S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350941375&sr=8-1&keywords=bane+by+serena+zane

Barnes and Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bane-serena-zane/1112937954?ean=2940015680430

Reader Store:
http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/serena-zane/bane/_/R-400000000000000829777

Manic Readers:
http://www.manicreaders.com/index.cfm?disp=bookDetail&bookid=29659
 
 
Serena Zane lives with her husband and son in the Northwest. She works hard, plays hard, and spends her free time studying the Middle Ages in a re-creationist organization called the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc (SCA); and writing her novels.
Zane started writing at an early age with short stories, and poetry inspired by her mother, a strong independent woman who loves to help others, and writes as well. In 2009, she became a member of Romance Writer’s of America. She fell in love with the idea of writing a contemporary action/adventure romance while she attended college to study Criminal Justice. After months of working on homework assignments late at night that made her want to turn on every light in the house, she combined both her knowledge of Criminal Justice and her love for all things paranormal.
To check out what Serena is up to via Twitter friend her @serenazane or check out her website: www.serenazane.com