Sunday 30 September 2012

October 1, 2012: FOREVER WOMAN is published!


What if you had an incurable disease? Maybe you too would think that becoming a vampire might be your best bet. Winter Kennedy has moved to Nome looking for vampires only to find Aiden Hightower. She doesn’t expect to fall in love, but fall deeply and passionately in love she does.
This unplanned action gets in the way of her desire to become a vampire and soon she is confused as to what direction her life should take. Can she burden her new found love with the knowledge that she will die within two years, barring a miracle? Watching her dear mother die a horrible death only two years earlier has left a permanent mark on Winter, and is what has driven her to make desperate decisions regarding her own fate.

Adding to this confusion is Ellie Stone’s proposal (Aiden’s married sister) to heal Winter of her fatal disease. Ellie is the real deal. She can heal others at will. However, it leaves her drained and very weak for days after. And her new pregnancy complicates the matter.

 The arrival of the vampire that Winter had purposely called up before falling in love, Christopher St John, further complicates her life when he desires her as his new mate. The pressure on Winter is enormous, but after much internal turmoil she chooses Aiden over eternal life.

 On the eve of Winter and Aiden’s marriage, Christopher whisks her away to his lair atop a mountain in Alaska where he changes her into a vampire after receiving a special sanction to do so. Devastated by the turn of events and blaming herself for her actions, Winter is lost until she finds solace in discovering cures for human diseases in her new home.

Will Winter make her way back to her beloved Aiden? Read Forever Woman and find out!
Excerpt from Forever Woman:
www.champagnebooks.com
 
Prologue
The murmur of voices was silenced in an instant by the ancient magistrate’s unearthly cold stare as he stood with full authority, blacked-hooded and paper-white, and read from the book of punishments, his voice heralding the full power of the Condita, the Vampire Establishment.
“It is our character and our will that makes and mars our lives. Your defense that you were not aware of the edict against Human feeding falters as it does not justify the excessive crime of random acts of terror against humans. Modern Vampire lore is clear on this point, as it is written.”
And with a short pause for emphasis, continued his diatribe in the echoing tone of an inhuman mountain of stone. The more astute members of his audience felt an infinitesimal flicker of his savoring the silence before his final pronouncement began.
“Therefore, it is the verdict of this court that the vampyre, Katrianna Ivanski, in absentia, for her crimes against the Condita, be chained for no less than twenty four hours to the punishment polus in the central courtyard of the templum. May the Confuto have mercy on your undead soul.”
Fondest Regards,
January Bain
STORYTELLER
Forever Man
Forever Woman
Forever Clan
*One lucky commentor this week will win an art print painted by me! Twin Pearls is a limited edition print created from a watercolour painting I painted a few years back. Good luck!

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Major Theme running through my novels

 First Harvest/ Science Fiction Romance

I have begun to notice a theme running through my books this fall of 2012, whether they are fantasy, horror, paranormal or science fiction. Apparently, living through the life of my characters cavorting in my works, I worry a lot about our planet progressing beyond its present status of using fossil fuels as energy sources which makes us only a Type O on the standard Kardashev scale accepted by most scholars. We need to reach the next tier of the scale for categorizing civilizations to learn to control the weather, or truly manipulate planetary energies. People will need to embrace the big picture if all we hold dear is going to survive.

Well, that’s according to Lily Stewart, my newest heroine who clawed her way up from the having a drug-addicted mother to acquiring a doctorate in anthropology. Her colleagues at the university paint a doom-and-gloom scenario that the planet is heading for disaster in the near future if humans didn’t start pulling together and realizing what’s at stake, not only on an ecological front but also the all-important social wherewithal to settle illiberal differences that had been separating cultures for millennium. When would people realize it was the war between them that could cause Armageddon—internal flaws in human character would most likely be the catalyst, not the insignificant threats from doomsday scenarios proposed by the recent crop of survivalists?

And that realization was not going to happen unless everyone started to pull together, Lily laments in First Harvest. People needed to embrace the big picture if all they held dear was going to survive fifty years past Peak Oil. 

What about you? Do you think like Lily? Do you worry about the future of our fellow humans?

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 9 September 2012

SPOTLIGHT: Richard Hatcher and Toxic Relationship


Hi Richard, thanks so much for visiting with me today! I'm so-o looking foward to learning more about your writing journey, so let's get right at it.


1. How long have you been writing? What genres do you write?

First of all, thanks for inviting me to do this interview January. Sounds like you’re having lots of fun with the release of your novel, FOREVER MAN. So, how long have I been writing? I’ve been writing stories since the third grade. I’d bring them to read for show and tell. Over the years I wrote now and then, occasionally pushing a query out the door, but family and work took most of my time and energy. Then about five years ago I realized if I didn’t get on with the writing I’d miss the opportunity. So I started carving out time at night and on weekends. In 2009 I used a move from Austin to Seattle for a major shift to focus much more of my time on writing novels.

In terms of genres, the Nick Sibelius series, which TOXIC RELATIONSHIP is the first, is suspense (but with a sense of humor). I have a sci-fi fantasy that won the Texas Writers League for Sci-fi in 2011, which I will probably pull out again one of these days. And I’m writing a YA fantasy which combines elements of fantasy, speculative and historical fiction.

2. Where do you find your muse for your stories?

Place plays a big role in the development of story ideas for me. TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, rises out of Central Texas, drawing on the land, environment, people, culture, music, food -- all of it.

3. What do you like best about writing?

The total immersion in the world I’m creating. When I’m on my game, I lose track of time. I write in coffee shops quite a bit for the white noise and the energy of the place. It’s not unusual for me to look up and see that five or six hours have passed and my latte is stone cold.

4. What has your journey been like on the road to becoming a published author?

I decided awhile back before being published to start telling people I was a writer. I wanted to own it. But more importantly, I decided I needed to do my art no matter what the market wanted. Some of the greatest artist were unknown in their lifetimes. I think the best writing happens not because there’s a market for a certain kind of story and I’m going to write to it, but because the writing has to happen, whether it gets read by the masses or not. Writers have to write those stories down.

5. Any advice for newbies?

Write, write, write. Be open to feedback and criticism. Write, write, write. Be persistent. Write, write, write. Did I mention write?

6. Who is your favorite character in your novel Toxic Relationship? Why?

I’m torn between two, but I’ll go with Junior. He’s the kind of, as we say in Texas, good old boy, who means well but his actions always seem to lead to a bad end. He’s a likeable felon with a good heart and absolutely no judgement. He provides much of the comic relief for the book.

I’d have to say however, that Nick Sibelius, my protagonist, is my favourite. He’s a tough guy physically, but he definitely has a tender side. His history has been difficult -- his wife cheated on him and a drug dealer killed his police force partner right in front of him -- which has led him to a little plot of land just outside of the city limits of Pflugerville, Texas. He’s a man who would prefer peace and quiet, but keeps finding himself in the vortex of other people’s bad decisions. So he keeps going forward, hoping to create some kind of stability in the midst of chaos.

7. Do you have a favorite author?

I could give you a long list, but when I want to have a fun read, I always enjoy Carl Hiaasen’s novels.

8. What are your writing now?

Champagne Books will be publishing the second Nick Sibelius novel in June, 2013 entitled, DIRTY WATER. So I’ve started work on a third in the series with a tentative title of CHAIN REACTION. I’m also working on a YA fantasy series called INKER WARS. The first book in the series, THE FIVE PENS OF JOHANN is in the draft stage. In addition, I’m writing some short stories.

9. If you could speak to a question you have not been asked yet about your writing what would it be and how would you answer it?

How about if I tell you about TOXIC RELATIONSHIP.

After a murdered partner, a cheating wife and a lost job in Houston, Nick Sibelius sets up a private investigation business in a small Texas town hoping to find some peace and maybe, himself. When a couple disappears and a bass fisherman turns up dead, he finds himself drawn into a web of toxic relationships: MaryLou, a beautiful woman with a mysterious past; Junior, a failed farmer whose best intentions seem to always result in a dead body; Barry, a sociopathic dentist turned illegal toxic waste entrepreneur with visions of grandeur. When the felon who killed his partner in Houston joins forces with Barry, Nick must not only stop the toxic waste dumping while finding his client’s missing daughter, but keep from being killed in the process. In the end, MaryLou’s dark secret will either save him or kill him -- whichever comes first.

 

Sex, murder and toxic waste. Nowhere else but Texas.

 

Thanks so much for visiting with us today, Richard!

To purchase Richard Hacker’s fine book, Toxic Relationship, you can visit the links below.

Available Now at Amazon.com








 
 Kobo, OmniLit and Champagne Books.

 Coming soon to Barnes and Noble and other fine ebook sellers.

 
You can follow Richard at:

 
Web & Blog: www.richardhacker.com


Twitter: @Richard_Hacker