E.J. Stevens's Blog, page 23

I am working on my 2016 appearances schedule. Do you know of an amazing book convention, comic con, or fantasy con? Want me to come to a city near you?

Please fill out this poll:

Where would you like E.J. Stevens to visit in 2016?

Where would you like E.J. Stevens to visit in 2016?
While I can't make it to every state or country, I will do my best.  My 2015 schedule has stops in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire.  I would love to add more states to this list.  The best way to get me to your state or country of choice is to fill out the poll and leave a comment.  You may also contact me by email.

I hope I get to see you all soon!

Come on boys and ghouls!  It's time to hop on Route 666 for a spooktacular Paranormal Road Trip.

This week's stop is New York City and our special guide is Victoria Davies, author of the Fated Match paranormal romance series, including the new release DYING TO DATE.

NYC's Top 5 Spooky Places
The Fated Match Series features a paranormal dating agency in the heart of Manhattan ready and willing to help pair supernatural creatures with their eternal mates. Whether it’s ghosts, goblins, werewolves or vampires, there’s someone out there for everyone. As the characters in the story know, while NYC boasts some world-class shopping, sites and restaurants, it also has its fair share of unnatural incidents like the top five listed below.

The Dakota
You don’t have to be a supernatural or a ghost hunter to have heard about this spot. The breathtaking gothic residence was built in 1884 and has now become one of New York’s most sought after residences. It was featured in the horror classic “Rosemary’s Baby” because of it’s creepy architecture but that’s not its only claim to fame. John Lennon was shot and killed exiting his Dakota home.

Lennon himself is said to have been sighted making a few ghostly appearances. He isn’t alone, however. Two small ghost children are the most famous attraction of the Dakota. They are said to be dressed in period clothing from the 1880s and are often seen as being very friendly to residents. Reports of their haunting has been documented as far back as the 1960s.

The House of Death
This house is always a popular place for the city’s supernatural clientele to visit. Located in the West Village, this 1850s home comes with a rich history of things going bump in the night. Found on a picturesque tree lined street, you wouldn’t think the unassuming house has such a haunted history but 22 ghosts are said to roam the halls. In 1900, Mark Twain himself lived there for a year and was quite vocal about his brushes with the supernatural. Even now, he’s said to be one of the 22 ghosts, wandering around the basement in a white suit. He certainly has enough company to keep his afterlife hopping, though. The other 21 residents are said to be made up of young children, a few old ladies and even a cat. Turnover in this brownstone apartment tends to be high. If a room became available, would you dare to take it?

St. Paul’s Chapel
This pleasant little church is one of the cities oldest public houses still in use. Though many people have been laid to rest here, one famed British actor is the source of the church’s legend. George Frederick Cooke was buried in 1812. The heavy drinker had raked up quite the mountain of debt during his life, however. In order to settle his accounts before he passed, Cooke agreed to donate his head to science. After death, his corpse was decapitated. Rumour has it you can still see Cooke wandering the church grounds looking for his head. The skull, incidentally, seemed determined to return to show business and served as the prop in “Hamlet” productions.

The Whitehorse Tavern
Witches and vampires aren’t the only ones to favour this classic watering hole. If you like your ghosts to have a taste for whisky head to this bar. Opened in 1880, it was a bit of a rough and tumble bar until famous writers began to take it over in the 1960s. Bob Dylan, Hunter S. Thompson and Jim Morrison all reportedly liked to gather here. But it was poet Dylan Thomas that really gave it a story. Always a heavy drinker, on one particular night he downed 18 shots of whiskey, a new personal record. Thomas had to be helped to a cab where he returned to his hotel and promptly fell into a coma. He was pronounced dead at the hospital the next day. Apparently the famous poet can still be seen haunting his favourite bar in hopes of getting one more drink. To support their most infamous patron, the Whitehorse keeps a large portrait of Thomas hanging over their bar.

Manhattan Bistro
And finally we come to the tale of a ghost in dire need of Fated Match’s matchmaking skills. Though rumour has it the food was enough to scare anyone away, this quaint little bistro also boasts a mournful ghost. In 1799 a young woman, Gulielma Elmore Sands, ran away from her boarding home to meet her lover. They were going to elope together but somehow Sands turned up at the bottom of the Manhattan well, which is now found in the bistro basement. Her  lover, Levi Weeks, was the key suspect of her murder. Police thought he had killed her to hide an unwanted pregnancy. Unfortunately for Sands, Weeks hired two cutthroat lawyers who were able to clear his name, much to the fury of New York residents at the time. Though Weeks when on to live his life a free man, Sands spirit continues to haunt the well in reminder of her injustice.

Thank you Victoria for giving us such a haunting tour of NYC!  
To learn more about Victoria Davies and her books, please visit her website.  You can add the Fated Match paranormal romance series here on Goodreads.



Have you ever visited New York City?  Ever had a paranormal experience in New York?

What did you think of Victoria's picks for spooky places?
On our last Paranormal Road Trip we visited Nashville, Tennessee with Emmie Mears.  Next week I'll be on my way back from In-CON-Ceivable, and we'll be traveling to New Harbor with Matthew Quinn Martin.

Join us for another spine-tingling Paranormal Road Trip...
if you dare!

Who are your Top Fantasy/Science Fiction Villains?
Tell me your favorite villains from fantasy and science fiction (books, movie, television, video games), and I will try to work them into my upcoming workshop Psychology of a Villain happening next week at In-CON-Ceivable in Northampton, MA.


Curious about the panel? Here are the details!

Psychology of a Villain: Creating Characters We Love to Hate (1 hour)

How do villains become evil? What motivates a villain to commit murder, amass armies of minions, and strive for world domination? Join award winning fantasy author E.J. Stevens as she dissects villain psychology, taking a closer look at the flaws that make these characters so compelling.

E.J. Stevens has a BA in Psychology and has written fourteen speculative fiction books, including the Spirit Guide series, Hunters' Guild series, and the award-winning Ivy Granger series.

When: Friday, August 28, 2015 at 4:00pm
Where: Clarion Hotel & Conference Center, Northampton, MA, in the Grand Ballroom
Event: InCONceivable Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention
Tickets: Full Weekend $30, Friday Only $10, website.

I hope to see you there!

Please welcome today's guest author, Isabel Cooper!  Isabel is the author of the Highland Dragons paranormal romance series, including her new release NIGHT OF THE HIGHLAND DRAGON.

Q+A with Isabel Cooper
EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Isabel:  Oh, writing in general I started in something like third grade: very painstakingly crayon-illustrated adventures of puppies, I believe. And maybe princesses. By middle school, I'd discovered fantasy and spent math class writing a five-color-pen (the turquoise and pink version, of course) story where a girl suspiciously like me but prettier turned out to be a mystical heroine. I didn't get published until college, when a magazine bought one of my short stories, and I got my first novel published around 2010. With any luck, my writing's improved in the process.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Isabel:  Probably early exposure to Lord of the Rings--although, even before that, I was very much inclined toward the weird magic elements of cartoons. (Rainbow Brite, dude. I would completely watch a grown-up version of that.) I can't remember a time when I didn't like fantasy: finding D&D and similar when I was an early teenager only exacerbated that. I started reading romance novels a little later, around eight or so, and at some point the combination just seemed like a good idea, or at least the sort of thing I'd try on a dare. Which I did. And then it got published.

I feel like the moral of my life is "do things that friends suggest when you're all drunk." This is one of the reasons my life will never make a good Afterschool Special.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Isabel:  I'm torn. On the one hand, I'd like to be a medium or another kind of communing-with-the-dead person, because I'd really like confirmation that there's an afterlife. On the other hand, I'm a child of the eighties, and I really want the kind of magical power that involves sparkly multicolored light and roses manifesting out of nowhere. (There's this thing in nineties-ish fantasy lit wherein oh, you don't need fancy robes and wands and stuff to do magic, it's all about nature and your own spirit, and I say bah to that: why even bother getting transcendent universal power if you can't dress up? Freaking hippies, man.) So...maybe anime-style transformation sequence?

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Isabel:  Okay, so first of all, it's yet another book in my unofficial Excuses to put Badass Women in Victorian Clothing subgenre. (I love Buffy and Xena; I also love big hats and plush skirts. And I didn't get into this to avoid self-indugence.) This time, the badass in question is actually a dragon, and more than a century old, and she's impressing the hell out of an English spy, who is himself pretty damn awesome and also messes around with coded letters and weird magic devices, so that's a lot of fun. There are demons. There are excessively creepy imperialistic cults lurking around the edges, and everyone suspects everyone else for a while: in particular, my hero and heroine suspect each other for a long time, except they don't suspect each other of remotely the right things. I fool around a whole lot with mythology and folktales. It's a great time.

And also, have you seen the earrings in my cover art? Damn. Go art department.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Isabel:  Ooh. Well, for this one, Judith would probably have a Lucy-Lawless-as-Xena thing going on, albeit in considerably fancier dress: tall, dark, physically imposing, and hot. William I see as Anthony Stewart Head, with slightly redder hair, around S1 of Buffy: more civilized and intellectual, a little apparently older, but still no wimp and still quite attractive.  (Yes, most of my pop-cultural images were formed in the mid-nineties. Such is my way.)

Thank you Isabel for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

Night of the Highland Dragon (Highland Dragons #3) by Isabel Cooper

Acclaimed author Isabel Cooper’s thrilling paranormal romance series continues with a sexy Highland dragon shapeshifter and an inquisitive hero…

William Arundell is a detective working for a secret branch of the English government. When a young man is found dead, William’s investigation leads him to a remote Highland village and the intoxicatingly beautiful lady who rules MacAlasdair Castle.

The charismatic Judith MacAlasdair is not what William expected. The only daughter in a long line of shape-changing dragons, Judith is wary of William and his unrelenting questions. However, when William’s investigation takes an interesting turn, they must put aside years of bad blood and a mutual distrust of outsiders to band together to save the British Islands from its deadliest foe…

Release Date: June 2, 2015
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Add to Goodreads.

To learn more about Isabel Cooper and her books, please visit her website.  Have a question for Isabel?  Ask in the comment section below.  We love comments!

Birthright has been nominated for BEST BOOK and BEST COVER in the BTS Red Carpet Book Awards!


I am honored to have my book nominated in both categories, and I can't wait for the awards at The Novel Experience in Atlanta.

You can check out the full list of nominees here at BTS.

Will you be attending TNEE 2016?
Birthright is available in Trade Paperback and Ebook formats at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other fine retailers.

 I'm over on The Book Nympho today representing Team Stomp.

‪#‎StompvsRomp‬ E.J. Stevens Talks Bloodthirsty Fae
...and, yes, I'm willing to resort to bribery to bring you all over to the Dark Side...that is, Team Stomp!

Ivy Granger Giveaway
Ivy Granger Prize Pack, including a signed Birthright mini poster, signed postcards for each book in the series, a Private Eye sticker, and a Blood an Mistletoe audiobook. International. Audiobook available to anyone who can receive audiobooks from Audible.com.

Visit The Book Nympho to win.

 Go TEAM STOMP!
‪

Congratulations Cassandra L. winner of the Kitty Saves the World Giveaway at From the Shadows!  Cassandra will receive a mass market paperback copy of Kitty Saves the World by Carrie Vaughn.


Thank you to all who entered!

**Winner chosen randomly using Random.org**

I had an amazing time this past week at Authors After Dark in Atlanta.  I had the pleasure of spending time with author, reader, and blogger friends, old and new.

Wednesday
Before the convention officially kicked off, I headed to Truva for delicious Turkish food.  I had a great time talking with Chudney and Cathy Clamp.  

Then it was time for the con to begin.  I found the ever wonderful Chudney and Summer at the Meet and Greet pizza party.  So much fun!


After the official events, I went out to the Hard Rock Cafe for a late dinner with a fabulous group of authors, readers, and editors.



Thursday
The next morning, I was up bright and early for breakfast with the wonderful members of the Paranormal Romance Guild.


The day was filled with events, including the (now infamous) Ghosts and Goblins panel.  Best. Panel. Ever.




Seriously, you had to be there.  I will never think of Alan Rickman the same way again.

Friday
Friday was another busy day.  I hosted a table at the Shifter Picnic lunch...

(that's my table in the background)

...and I was on the wonderful Psychics panel.

Saturday
Saturday was the book signing.  Thank you so much for everyone who stopped by my table!


Apparently, I pull really weird faces at book signings.  Who knew?


Then it was time to get dressed for the Bump in the Night Ball.




There were so many amazing costumes, and I had a wonderful time.

Were you at #AADATL2015?
My next event is In-CON-Ceivable in Northampton, Massachusetts August 28th.  I hope to see you there!

It's my birthday month, and I'm celebrating with a giveaway!  Want books?  Want swag?  I've got you covered.

E.J.'s Birthday Bash Giveaway
I am giving away a $5 Amazon Gift Card, choice of any ebook or audiobook from the award-winning Ivy Granger urban fantasy series, and a signed IVY GRANGER mini poster to one lucky winner!

To enter, use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL (if you cannot use an Amazon Gift Card, then I will send you a book from The Book Depository of value up to $5).  Giveaway ends August 31, 2015.


a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck!

Come on boys and ghouls!  It's time to hop on Route 666 for a spooktacular Paranormal Road Trip.

This week's stop is Nashville, Tennessee and our special guide is Emmie Mears, author of the Ayala Storme urban fantasy series, including the new release ANY PORT IN A STORM.

Nashville's Top 5 Spooky Places
1. Percy Warner Park:

Percy Warner is the site of many of Ayala Storme's adventures -- and for good reason. The park is hilly, quiet, and blanketed in deciduous trees. Scattered in the clefts of the hills are ruins of old cottages, some reduced only to a stone chimney or a crumbled wall. Just southwest of Nashville, the park is the perfect site for paranormal activity or demon hotspots.

2. Gaylord Opryland Resort:

Contrary to its upscale, glittering appearance, the winding paths that snake through the insides of the Opryland Resort are just a bit eerie. It's said that The Black Lady haunts the hotel, an apparition cloaked in all black who has been seen throughout the hotel grounds. A labyrinth of indoor streams and foliage, it's hard to know if the rustling you hear is natural -- or supernatural.

3. The Hermitage:

Owned by former President Andrew Jackson, like many historical buildings the Hermitage is known as a hotbed of spiritual unrest. After it was acquired by the Ladies' Hermitage Association, the women who stayed overnight at the house experienced a wide variety of phenomena, branding the house with its spooky reputation.

4. Tennessee State Prison:

Remember the prison in the Green Mile? This prison is where they shot it. Prisons are another go-to in the paranormal activity world, and for good reason. Associated with violence (and violent death), anger, frustration, and claustrophobia, they are natural places where the disturbed spirits of criminals (and the wrongly accused) can haunt the living.

5. Ryman Auditorium:

If country music doesn't haunt you enough from the living, Hank Williams Sr.'s voice echoes through this still-popular music venue on occasion. A former tabernacle, the auditorium was first utilised as space for revivals and slowly evolved into the site of the Grand Ole Opry and hosted gatherings of Confederate veterans, which may explain why some have seen a Confederate soldier on the grounds.

Thank you Emmie for giving us such a haunting tour of Nashville!  
To learn more about Emmie Mears and her books, please visit her website.  You can add the Ayala Storme urban fantasy series here on Goodreads.


Have you ever visited Nashville?  Ever had a paranormal experience in Tennessee?

What did you think of Emmie's picks for spooky places?
On our last Paranormal Road Trip we visited Savannah, Georgia with Emily Cyr.  Next week I'll be on my way back from Authors After Dark, but the following week we'll be traveling to New York City with Victoria Davies.

Join us for another spine-tingling Paranormal Road Trip...
if you dare!