Author’s Secrets Welcomes Linda Nightingale
Give a warm welcome to Linda Nightingale, author of A Vampyre Rhapsody a collection of short stories detailing Morgan D’Arcy.
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the blue cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Linda and Morgan D’Arcy. I believe Isabeau will be by later.
Born in South Carolina, Linda has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta and Houston. She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for many years.
Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award. She is the mother of two wonderful sons, a retired legal assistant, member of the Houston Symphony League, and enjoys events with her car club. Among her favorite things are her two marvelous sons, a snazzy black convertible, and her parlor grand piano. She loves to dress up and host formal dinner parties.
Contact Linda at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LNightingale – @Lnightingale
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaNightingaleAuthor
Web Site: http://www.lindanightingale.com – Visit and look around. There’s a free continuing vampire story.
Blog: https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/ – Lots of interesting guests & prizes
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839311.Linda_Nightingale
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/
Now Mr. D’Arcy a few questions for you. Thank you for patiently waiting. Did you get a bottled blood from the red cooler?
I did. Thank you.
Tells us about the real you— My name is Morgan Gabriel D’Arcy. I was born in Devon, England, in 1632. I am an Earl, a concert pianist, and have been a vampire since 1659, the year before Charles II returned to the throne of England.
What event in your past has left the most indelible impression on you? The years I spent wandering the continent with then Prince Charles after he escaped Crowell. As a Royalist, I accompanied my King first to France, but thereafter, we were at the mercy of different European Courts. I wouldn’t say we were paupers, but we were, in essence, beggars.
What do you most value? These are difficult questions. I value many things, but I suppose at the heart of them all is my desire to find one woman to love, who loves me as I am, and sire an heir to my title. I have found that woman.
What is the type of woman you want to spend the rest of your life with? Isabeau is beautiful, intelligent, and kind. I appeared to her as the Angel Gabriel when she was a child, influencing her career choice. She is a talented geneticist. She will need more than intelligence and talent to save our child, but I am here to guide her every step of the way to solving a genetic fault with the offspring of mortals and vampires.
What do you consider most important in life? Love.
What is your biggest secret? Isabeau. What I plan flies in the face of Vampyre Law. Isabeau, the child, and I could easily stand before a Tribunal, our lives forfeit for my sins…and dream of a race of immortals with human morals and vampire powers.
Thank you Morgan. I know you have places to be, so we won’t hold you up anymore. Morgan stands and exits through the rear door, as Isabeau is waiting at the front.
Isabeau, thanks so much for stopping by, have a seat. You just missed Morgan.
I like to start an interview with the question, who are you really? I’m a geneticist, an avid reader. I know what you want. (She smiles) To peel back my skin and see the woman inside. I’m not sure I know her, but I’ll try to answer your question. I am, and have always been, in love with Morgan D’Arcy, even though he manipulated my entire life. I am a woman in love.
Who were the biggest role models in your life? My mother and father. And I guess Morgan.
What kind of man do you want to spend the rest of your life with? A vampire, but only one of them…Morgan.
What kind of man would you never choose? Almost anyone. I am already in love, but I could never live with a man who wasn’t affectionate and kind.
What is most important to you in life? To love wholeheartedly—the kind of love that comes only once in a lifetime because no one is strong enough to bear it twice.
What is your biggest fear? To end up never finding that kind of love.
Linda, a couple of questions for you.
Tell us a little about writing this story. These stories simply told themselves. It is always like that when it is a Morgan story. He isn’t shy about telling me the tale. Was it fun or difficult? They were fun and not difficult. A Vampyre Rhapsody is a collection of short stories detailing Morgan’s earlier affections. Do your characters always act as you expect? Absolutely not, particularly Isabeau and Morgan. Are you a plotter, or fly (write) by the seat of your pants? I’m a pantster all the way.
Me too, I can’t plot my way out of a paper bag. When I’ve tried, the characters merely thumbed their noses at me and went there own way. So I gave up. LOL
Tell us a little about A Vampyre Rhapsody .
The greatest enemy of a vampire is boredom. Four centuries of existence have taught Lord Morgan Gabriel D’Arcy to fear nothing and no one. Humans and their weapons have little chance against his preternatural speed and arcane powers. Vampires are viral mutations of human DNA. Still, the Vampyre code requires secrecy, and he has learned to hide his nature from the world. The lure of mortality, of a life in the sun, puts Morgan again and again at the mercy of calculating human women though they fail to consider his charm and determination into the equation. However, even grooming a future bride from infancy proves to be fraught with heartbreak. And second chances are not always what they seem unless… you are Morgan. Immortality and beauty, aren’t they grand?
Wonderful how about an excerpt from the book?
Never Goodbye
Isabeau, my Isabeau.
Isabeau with blonde-streaked brown hair and the most beautiful purple eyes. How could she forget me so quickly and return to that bastard? Dark-haired, dark-eyed John Payne—my complete opposite—was my sworn enemy. One day soon, he’d die.
The Grim Reaper—with fangs—would teach him that Isabeau was mine.
I’d been present at her birth, had chosen her to be my wife in that moment, and had watched over her as her guardian angel. She’d been the most exquisite blonde child.
I’d influenced her career choice and financed her education by grants through anonymous foundations. I’d even bought her a white Andalusian horse. These things I’d given her. She’d given me more than I’d ever dreamed. To this unknown bargain, Isabeau had brought beauty, grace, and a vast intelligence. As a geneticist, she could find a cure for the fatal gene of madness that all progeny of vampires and mortals suffered. She had the required vampire DNA, mine in fact, but she didn’t know about the flawed chromosome. It was tragedy that she’d driven me away before I could confess.
Isabeau had been born in Beaufort, South Carolina. Her parents were friends that I’d chosen carefully to breed my future bride. She’d attended the College of Charleston, one of the finest Ivy League universities, and returned to Charleston when LifeGen, a genetics firm, offered her a position.
I’d given her my heart, unconditionally, and she’d broken it. After she banished me from her life, she returned my letters, deleted my emails, and refused my phone calls. Why? She’d discovered how I shaped her life and accused me of manipulating her.
For the thousandth time, I lifted a phone to my ear to make a hopeless call. This time, I was in Charleston. She wouldn’t recognize the number as I was ringing her from my hotel room.
“Hello.” Her voice! Music to my ears.
For a moment, I couldn’t speak, then I took a deep breath, and plunged. “Isabeau, you must talk with me.”
“Morgan, I’ve made it perfectly clear that I never want to hear from you again.” Anger stained her voice a shade deeper.
I imagined her in her sunshine yellow kitchen, leaning against the granite counter, coffee brewing and filling the room with its rich scent. Isabeau was tall and beautiful with a captivating smile. At the moment, unfortunately, she’d be frowning.
God, how I missed her! She was my light—I her dark—two pieces of a soul.
“Please, don’t ring off.” I paced the confines of my hotel room. “I’m in Charleston. I want to see you.”
“I have a date,” she said coolly.
A vision of Isabeau dressed for a night out on the town blinded me. Was she wearing one of the lovely dresses I’d given her while we lived our idyll in my house on the Battery? The Rover House overlooked the ocean. She’d left her Orange Street home to come to me. For five short months, we’d lived in a dreamlike state of bliss…together at last.
“A date with that bastard John Payne.” My hand fisted at my side. I wanted to strike something or someone. Tonight, the Royal Pain would join his ancestors.
“It’s none of your business.”
“You’re carrying my child, Isabeau. That makes it my business.” I washed to a halt by the bed. “You love me.”
You can get your own copy of Vampyre Rhapsody by clicking on the link below.
Morgan D’Arcy: A Vampyre Rhapsody
Wow, I can wait to read Vampyre Rhapsody. It’s on my ipad as we speak. Thanks so much for arranging for Isabeau and Morgan to meet with me. And for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with me. Please feel free to stop by anytime.
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Historical Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Vampire by Tena Stetler with 11 comments.
Cover Reveal for A Witch’s Holiday Wedding
Today Author’s Secrets reveals the cover for A Witch’s Holiday Wedding from me, Tena Stetler! Drum roll if you please!
Don’t you just love the Christmasy feel of the cover? Release date for A Witch’s Holiday Wedding is December 9, 2016, pre-order information coming soon!
As a special treat, here’s a sneak peek in to A Witch’s Holiday Wedding:
After she set her glass down, Lathen brushed a couple strands of hair out of her eyes and searched her face. “Are you all right?”
“I’m tired, my wedding is in a couple weeks, I have ghosts fighting over who is going to do what. Guests that have no idea the place is haunted and… Your family and pack, my parents, Gwen… To top it all off, the head of my clan, who is a ghost, is sitting in front of me wanting to know who is coming to the wedding and whether the ghosts will be outed. How could I possibly be all right?”
“When you put it that way.” Lathen chuckled. “It sounds just a bit… I don’t know…crazy?” His right eyebrow winged up. She saw mischief sparkle in his eyes. “We could still elope,” he offered.
You are going to want to add A Witch’s Holiday Wedding to your holiday shopping list. Wow, did I just say that? Holiday shopping list, gotta start one, Christmas is only a wink and a whisper away. LOL
Have you started your holiday shopping list? When to you usually start shopping? Are you finished long before December 25th? or one of those out Christmas Eve? I’l love to hear from you.
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Christmas, Cover Reveal, ghosts, Holiday, Paranormal, Romance, shifters, wildlife rescue, Witches by Tena Stetler with 1 comment.
Welcome, Author Kat Henry Doran
Give a warm welcome to Kat Henry Doran, author of Try Just Once More!
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Kat.
Legal nurse consultant, victim advocate, sexual assault nurse examiner. Author Kat Henry Doran, and her alter ego Veronica Lynch, has been there and done that–many times over. She often travels to the wilds of Northern New York State, witnessing the wonders of mother nature at her best. From the shores of Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River to the historic Adirondack and Catskill Mountains, she creates stories featuring strong women and the men who love them.
When not writing, she can be found lashed to one of her sewing machines–or chauffeuring the four best things in her life: Meredith and Ashlin, Owen and Kieran. Kat has kindly offered a giveaway. Leave a comment and you’ll stand a chance to win a seat belt cushion. It’s a honey: solid black with big fat lips on it!!!
To learn more about Kat and Veronica, go to:
Email: WildWomenAuthors@yahoo.com
Blogs: www.WildWomenAuthorsx2.blogspot.com
www.ApronsWithAttitude2.blogspot.com
Wow, you’ve done and seen a lot in your life.
Tell us what inspired this particular story? Try Just Once More is the first serious attempt I made at writing. It was complete and utter dreck so after many fits and starts I shoved it under the bed where it gathered dust bunnies for a couple years. After the release of Captain Marvelous, my first novel to see in print I decided to pull out TJOM and give it one more shot. Unfortunately, the dreck factor was as strong as ever. Once I realized I needed to give Maggie [the heroine] a strong, believable motivation to behave the way she does, the book wrote itself.
Who is your favorite character in this book?—Maggie McGuire is my favorite. First because she’s not some naïve innocent and has been around the block a few times. Before I hung up my crepe-soled shoes, I was a nursing supervisor on the evening shift where you never knew what might happen next. I am also sober and like Maggie, embrace the 12 step philosophy of making daily amends to those people I harmed for many years.
Where do your story ideas come from? Newspaper articles—not just headline news but perhaps a letter from one of the advice columns, maybe the sports or cooking sections. I also make use of the informational brochures sent by the charities I support, specifically Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International. Both agencies meet a vital need in the world community.
What do you enjoy writing? I write contemporary romance and occasionally romantic mystery/suspense because that’s what I enjoy reading.
If writing is your first passion, what is your second? I like to take ordinary items like women’s jumpers or men’s shirts and repurpose them into tote bags or aprons. I also make seat belt cushions for clients at the local Breast Cancer Coalition. They look like padded cylinders which wrap around the seat belt and protect the tender skin of the neck from chafing. They also serve as a buffer for the PIC line which is an indwelling IV catheter used to deliver long term chemotherapy. When I’m not doing that, I like to take my four grandchildren on adventures which usually involves spending my money or eating in “real” restaurants. My babies are quite cosmopolitan. Not.
Tell us a little about the Try Just Once More.
Three years ago, after being cleared of murder charges, Maggie McGuire escaped back to her childhood home to rebuild her shattered life. Now the past has returned with a vengeance–only this time it’s aimed at her kids.
In order to deal with the present, the nosy Chief of Police is relentless about uncovering Maggie’s sordid past. She once paid a high price for trusting a cop. Is Mike Brandt for real or simply one more uniformed bully disguised as a smooth-talking hunk?
No innocent when it comes to betrayal, Mike will have to put aside personal resentments in order to convince Maggie he’s worth the effort to Try Just Once More.
Do you have an excerpt that you want to share? Of Course.
The woman had more brass than the Marine Corps band. “Look, Miz McGuire, could we start over?”
Her demeanor remained aloof, as if she’d just stepped in something foul. “You’re too late, Chief. Much too late.”
With a regal nod she strode away and exited the building. The staff at the desk immediately sought various avenues of escape. As two nurses slipped past him, one said to her pal, “It’s always a treat watching the Reigning Queen of Man-Haters kick some guy to the curb.”
“Yeah, that Mag,” the other sighed. “She’s my hero.”
“Hero, my ass,” Mike fumed.
After a slow count of three he bolted for the exit door, following McGuire into the parking lot. Now at a distance, he watched her strut toward a late model sedan in fire engine red, posture military straight, hair flowing around her shoulders in a halo of copper. Despite his agitation he couldn’t help but admire her guts. And her fanny.
“Maggie. Please. Let me apologize.”
Still moving, she called back over one shoulder, “As I indicated before, you’re too late.”
Bitterness, an emotion tied too closely with his marriage, scalded his throat. “You know something, lady? A couple hours ago I couldn’t decide if your beef is with cops or men in general. Obviously that’s not the case.”
She came to a stop, drew back both shoulders, then turned. In that queen-to-peon tone she said, “Who awarded you the right to pass judgment on me?”
The verbal exchange gave him time to reach her side. To get in her face. “Don’t try to convince me that all men rank as a lower life form with you. Not after I saw you hanging all over Investigator Jackson.”
She unlocked the car door. “Clearly my convincing skills need a bit of polishing.”
To purchase Try Just Once More, go to:
The Wild Rose Press:
It was wonderful having you with us today, Kat. Please feel free to stop by anytime and good luck with Try Just Once More!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Cowboy, Police, Romance by Tena Stetler with 16 comments.
Five Talented Authors For Your Reading Pleasure!
during WWII.
London on a cold winter’s night in the middle of the blitz she’s infuriated
with the careless American who struck it. Doesn’t he know there’s a war on?
He’s very sorry and Molly reluctantly forgives him. When he accompanies her on
her nightly rounds the two learn about each other, themselves and whether it’s
really possible to fall in love in only one night – especially when there’s no
guarantee of tomorrow.
LINKS:
Crimes will be coming out 2017!
brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his
innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a
deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion
consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his
darkest moments.
can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do
whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a
criminal’s crosshairs.
California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them.
As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous
conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they
reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?
Links:
(Military Romance + Ghost Mystery)
Emily Shea and Staff Sergeant Brett Leeds agreed to part with no strings
attached. Sparks flew during their brief affair, but fate intervened, sending
Brett overseas. When an unexpected pregnancy derailed Emily’s own plans, her
attempts to locate Brett were soon overwhelmed by the challenges of single
motherhood. Now, Brett has returned home, and Emily is forced to share her
secret.
betrayed, Brett is determined to forge a relationship with their son, Tyler. As
the former lovers battle both their inner demons and their mutual desire,
another presence enters their lives—Tyler’s imaginary friend.
the chilling evidence points to a different conclusion: a ghost has formed a
dangerous connection with their son. Emily’s attempts to help both a lost soul
and a friend in need spiral toward a deadly confrontation, and Brett must race
to save Emily before he loses her again—forever.
The Destiny Trilogy. Starquest is Book I and Children of The Mist Book 2. Each
book is complete and can be read as a standalone.
is responsible for the torture and death of her sister, but when she eventually
catches up with him, survival becomes a greater priority than revenge. Kerry Marchant, haunted by memories, regret, and self-blame, shields himself
from the pain of the past by committing himself totally to the starship,
Destiny, of which he is part owner. However, the beautiful, red-haired woman
who reminds him of his lost love, and who he suspects is working for a corrupt
regime, represents a possible threat not only to the ship, but to his heart.Marooned on an inhospitable planet, they need to work together to stay alive,
fighting not only unknown assailants, but their growing attraction. But how can
they learn to trust each other when he has vowed never to get close to a woman
again, and she made a solemn pledge to destroy him?
Links:
MARRIAGE ULTIMATUM by Charlotte O’Shay
The Marriage Ultimatum is Book 1 of a 3 Book City
of Dreams series. Look for
A Model Engagement (Book 2) and An Illicit Affair (Book 3)
Check, check, and check. Toddler who makes it all worthwhile? Absolutely.
Juggling work, college, and the care of young Alex was never Sabrina’s plan.
can throw at her. Her top priority is keeping her small family together, no
matter what the cost.
position at the top of New York’s corporate ladder with his own sweat. His
empire is his baby, and he’ll destroy anyone who threatens it. Even the sexy
employee who challenges him on every level.
daddy of Sabrina’s son, Vlad believes Sabrina is part of a plot to expose the
secrets of his past. He threatens to destroy her future. But since Sabrina has
secrets of her own, she has no choice but to agree to Vlad’s marriage
ultimatum.
Links:
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Crimes, Disaster, Multi-Author, Romance by Tena Stetler with 14 comments.
