E.J. Stevens's Blog, page 24

Please welcome today's guest author, C.J. Daugherty!  C.J. is the author of the Night School series, including new release ENDGAME.

Q+A with C.J. Daugherty
EJ:  When did you begin writing?

CJ:  When I was 19 years old I got my first newspaper job writing for a small local weekly paper while I was still at university. I've never done anything for a living except write since then. Aside from an unfortunate waitressing job in the French Quarter. I'm a bad waitress. I wrote my first bad novel in 1998. I wrote my second bad novel in 2002. Neither of those books were published, for good reason. I wrote my first good novel in 2010 - that was Night School, the first book in my series.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

CJ:  I'm attracted by the limitlessness of it, and the pace. When you need to get your characters out of trouble, fighting with fists is exciting. Fighting with swords is BETTER. Flying and fighting is best of all.

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

CJ:  While I'd like to be able to fly, my fear of heights would make that disastrous. So I think I'd like to be able to tell if someone is lying to me. Truth detector.

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

CJ:  Night School Endgame is out this week in the US and Canada. It's a non-paranormal book written like paranormal. So I've used the paranormal style, and set it in a mysterious, nocturnal boarding school, but the characters have no paranormal abilities. The secret society I've created is based on real secret societies. I've just upped the ante a bit with murder and world domination. In Night School, the blood-sucking vampires are bankers. On the other hand The Secret Fire, my new series that comes out this autumn, is paranormal. It takes the concept of alchemy and makes it as kick-ass as it always should have been. No long beards. Just enough violence.

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

CJ:  I would want to leave it up to Night School fans. And Night School fans tell me they want Lily Collins, Gregg Sulkin and Colton Haynes and they want them NOW.

Thank you C.J. for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

Endgame (Night School #5) by C.J. Daugherty

Broken. Scattered. But not defeated.

The spy is gone but the cost has been high - the rebels at Cimmeria Academy have lost their leader and Carter West is missing. Nathaniel can taste victory. But Allie and the other survivors aren't done yet. First they have to get Carter back. Then they plan to make Nathaniel pay.

One way or another - the game must end.

Endgame is the thrilling fifth and final book in the internationally bestselling Night School series.

Release Date: June 4, 2015
Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult
Add to Goodreads.

To learn more about C.J. Daugherty and her books, please visit her website.  Have a question for C.J.?  Leave a comment below.  We love comments!

Congratulations Dee J. the winner of the Birthright Release Party Giveaway !  Dee will receive a BIRTHRIGHT t-shirt, button, signed postcard, and mini poster!



Thank you to all who entered!

**Winner randomly selected using Rafflecopter**

Happy book birthday to KITTY SAVES THE WORLD, the final book in the Kitty Norville urban fantasy series, by Carrie Vaughn.  To celebrate we are having a Kitty Saves the World book giveaway!

Keep reading for a chance to win a mass market paperback copy of Kitty Saves the World by Carrie Vaughn.


Kitty Saves the World (Kitty Norville #14) by Carrie Vaughn.

The final novel in the New York Times bestselling series

It’s all come down to this, following the discoveries made by Cormac in Low Midnight, Kitty and her allies are ready to strike. But, when their assassination attempt on the evil vampire Dux Bellorum fails, Kitty finds herself running out of time. The elusive vampire lord has begun his apocalyptic end game, and Kitty still doesn’t know where he will strike.

Meanwhile, pressure mounts in Denver as Kitty and her pack begin to experience the true reach of Dux Bellorum’s cult. Outnumbered and outgunned at every turn, the stakes have never been higher for Kitty. She will have to call on allies both old and new in order to save not just her family and friends, but the rest of the world as well.

Release Date: August 4, 2015
Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Add to Goodreads.

Kitty Saves the World Giveaway
We are giving away a mass market paperback copy of Kitty Saves the World by Carrie Vaughn to one lucky winner!

To enter, please leave a comment on this post and include your email address so that we may contact you if you win.  This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses.  Giveaway ends August 18, 2015 midnight EST.

Good luck!

Please welcome today's guest author, Tilly Greene! Tilly writes erotica and erotic romance novels in a variety of genres and sub-genres like shape shifter, paranormal, contemporary and futuristic.

Where a Suggestion and Writing Meetby Tilly Greene
One of the first suggestions given to a writer is: write what you know.  Well, I’ve been a published writer since 2006, and, whether knowing or not, I still follow this advice.  By no means is it intentional. When I think about a story or series, what I know is far from my mind. I know I can research, ask questions, and then do even more research. Apparently this advice holds a special place in my heart because it simply happens.

While I’m surprised by how often my hometown and places I visit when home often show up as the setting, I’m a So Cal girl, there were two series where I intentionally went with what I learned and knew. At university I went for a double major, Classical Greek and Russian Area Studies, for no other reason than I had loads of time on my hands. Ten years I studied these two subjects and I love them to bits, and that’s why I wrote with them in mind.

When asked by another author if I wanted to do an erotic romance that touched on Greek mythology, I jumped up and screamed YES! While I refused to touch the original myths, I did write what happened next. All of my stories have a new ending, hence the title of the series: Mythological Messes Redux. I take on Hephaestus, Castor and Pollux, The Cyclopes, the last ipotane named Marsyas, and Zeus and Hera twice.

Everything is touched on in this series.  There’s bondage, ménages, no sex and some watching, as well as one story that is both based on Mount Olympus and Earth. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this series with it’s ancient touches that come with the immortals and the places they visit. Everything is there, but I like to change things up. I’m one of those writers that demand I not be tied to one genre.

With that in mind, no one should be surprised when I say my Russian Area Studies came about with Shape Shifters. The Come series is based in New York City, with new immigrants from Russia, who find-lose-and find love again. There’s paparazzi, the police, city life and a family estate in the country where they can be themselves. I love how the heroes, three brothers, all have whiter than white hair. They aren’t old, just prematurely white [like some of us] and sexy as sin.

So, readers want wannabe writers out there to know something very important. Build your plot on what you know and then there’ll be no mistakes. It can be a person, place or thing you know like the back of your hand and take it in any direction you want but keep it real. You can change bits, but I warn you to be very careful. Fifteen years ago a NYT Bestselling author wrote a scene with a drive I knew could never happen because it was in my neighborhood and there was no such road, couldn’t with a nuclear power plant and military camp in the way. They ruined the story for me and I couldn’t trust them to actually do research. I never picked up another book by them.

It never hurts to read loads!

Thank you Tilly for joining us here today at From the Shadows!
To learn more about Tilly Greene and her books, please visit her website (contains adult content).

Do you have a question for Tilly?  Please ask in the comment section below.  We love comments!

Note: I'm in New Orleans for Author Reader Con, so we're mixing things up and trying something different today.  Paranormal romance author Tilly Greene was kind enough to provide this guest post on writing.  Enjoy!  -E.J.

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

This week's stop is Savannah, GA and our special guide is Emily Cyr, author of THE LIGHTNING PROPHECY.

Emily's Top 5 Spooky Places in Savannah
My book, The Lightning Prophecy, takes place in Savannah GA. Savannah is known for being one of the most haunted places in the states! I picked Savannah to be the setting of this trilogy after having lived there for nearly 8 years. For anyone who has lived/been there you will understand the place is honestly full of magic!

The first place that is a must stop is Colonial Park Cemetery.

Colonial Park Cemetery - is located in the middle of downtown Savannah. There are over 9,000 graves in the small cemetery established in the late 1700's. I have been there a number of times and have heard that people see a couple holding hands floating over the graves. SPOOKY!

Stop two has got to be the Marshall house!

The Marshall House - located on Broughton st in downtown Savannah. It is now a hotel but it didn't start out that way. It used to be a Civil war hospital. The hospital saw more than its fair share of death as there was a major outbreak of yellow fever. It's said that the now huge hotel was built on the graves of the people who died in the hospital! I have been there a number of time and eaten dinner there. Can you say scary?

Stop three has to be the Foley House Inn.

Foley House Inn - Okay so this one is definitely a scary story! The Inn was built in 1896 by Honoria Foley. A near century later renovations were done and what do you think they found tucked away in the wall? Oh, just a skeleton! What the what?

Stop four has got to be Wright Square.

Wright Square - This was the location of a pretty famous hanging. Alice Riley was said to be the first woman to be executed in the state of Georgia and it was done right smack in the middle of Wright square.

The last stop is Bonaventure Cemetery.

Bonaventure Cemetery - Bonaventure's location isn't the only thing that is special about this last spot. This cemetery is home to thousands of graves but there is one of a little girl named Gracie who is seen roaming the rows of graves as well as the city itself.

Thank you Emily for giving us such a haunting tour of Savannah!  
To learn more about Emily Cyr and her books, please visit her website.  You can add The Lightning Prophecy here on Goodreads.


Have you ever been to Savannah, Georgia?  Ever experienced anything supernatural there?
What did you think of Emily's picks for spooky places?
Last week on Paranormal Road Trip we visited Tangle Lake, MN with Michele Hauf.  Next week I'll be at Author Reader Con in New Orleans, but the following week we'll be traveling to Nashville, TN with Emmie Mears.

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

Please welcome today's guest author, Lori Handeland.  Lori is the author of the Sisters of the Craft trilogy, including her new release IN THE AIR TONIGHT.

Q+A with Lori Handeland
EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Lori:  I started when I was 10 years old writing a sci fi book about two families sent into space.  Haven't stopped since.  My first book was published in   1993.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Lori:  I've always loved the spooky, the unusual and the mystical.  I was first in line to buy Carrie when it came out.  My mom tells a story about when I was a baby and she would work nights, she'd come home and my dad would have propped up on the couch watching The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits.

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

Lori:  I would love to be invisible.  It would serve so many purposes.  I could get a lot of writing done too!  No distractions!

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

Lori:  My latest release is IN THE AIR TONIGHT, which is the first book in my Sisters of the Craft witch trilogy.  These books will be released back to back, starting June 2 with IN THE AIR TONIGHT, then June 30- HEAT OF THE MOMENT, and August 4-SMOKE ON THE WATER.
In IN THE AIR TONIGHT, three triplet babies are sent forward in time from the 16th century to the present day to escape the wrath of a witch hunter.  Each has her now life and no knowledge of her supernatural powers until . . .

Raye Larsen has never fit in with the Scandinavian community of New Bergin, Wisconsin. Being adopted is part of the reason she feels like an outsider, but what really sets her apart is her ability to see dead people. Everywhere. She’s learned to keep her visions to herself…until she stumbles onto the ghost of a murder victim. Enter Bobby Doucet, a distractingly handsome homicide detective who has been tracking a killer all the way from New Orleans.

These books have a little bit of everything--time travel, Wicca, werewolves.  All of the things I love about the paranormal.

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

Lori:  I would cast Evan Rachel Wood as Raye.  She has the perfect look and can pull off both the small town kindergarten teacher innocence and the just born witchy woman.  I would cast Danny Pino as Bobby.  Also the perfect "look" and he's already played a detective on SVU.  One of my favorite shows.

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

In the Air Tonight (Sisters of the Craft #1) by Lori Handeland

Four centuries ago, in a small Scottish village, three baby girls escaped the wrath of a witch hunter. Today, one young woman will learn about her secret history, her heart's destiny, and the sisters she never knew she had...

With her blue-black hair and dark eyes, Raye Larsen has never fit in with the Scandinavian community of New Bergin, Wisconsin. Being adopted is part of the reason she feels like an outsider, but what really sets Raye apart is her ability to see dead people. Everywhere.

She’s learned to keep her visions to herself . . . until she stumbles onto the ghost of a murder victim who needs Raye’s help. Enter Bobby Doucet, a distractingly handsome homicide detective who has been tracking a killer all the way from New Orleans. Could this be the break in his case he’s been looking for all along?

Meanwhile, the deeper Raye gets involved with the case—and with Bobby—the closer she comes to unlocking the mystery of her own origins. What she discovers about herself could destroy everything she knows . . . and everyone she loves. Is finding the truth worth the risk?

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

To learn more about Lori Handeland and her books, please visit her website.  Have a question for Lori?  Please leave a comment below.  We love comments!

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

This week's stop is Tangle Lake, MN and our special guide is Michele Hauf, author of THE VAMPIRE'S FALL.

Michele's Top 5 Spooky Places in Tangle Lake
Hey, Everyone! My current book, THE VAMPIRE’S FALL, is set in Tangle Lake, MN. It’s got the straightest lake in the state, and I doubt you’ll have luck walleye fishing. Which brings us to the first ‘creepy’ place in the town.

Tangle Lake: Like I said, not tangled, completely straight. (As straight as a lake can get.) And for some reason there are no fish to be caught, even though the DNR has attempted to repopulate various species every year. The fish go in, and then…they disappear.  But the leeches! Ugg.

The Darkwood:  A massive forest that edges the town. It is a no-man’s land, principally Faery, but also other ‘creatures’ tend to seek refuge there from humans. It’s rumored haunted by the local humans, and while you may not find a ghost in there, you will run into faeries, demons, werewolves, vampires, etc. You name it. It’s probably in there. The hero, Blade lives at the edge of the Darkwood and has wards up to protect himself from things leaving the woods. But he ventures in from time to time, because it is rife with magic and the otherworldly vibrations that often welcome him, a vampire.

Nightclub at the edge of the Woods: The nightclub has no name, and you need an invitation for entrance. Locals will scoff and tell you there’s no such thing as a nightclub out there. A big old mansion that looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie that plays tech-music under the full moon? Ridiculous! Unless of course, you do get an invite. Then you’d better be warded against demons. I’m just sayin’…

The strip mall on Main street: It’s a strip mall. In a tiny Midwestern town. And it has an arcade and a Woolworths. It doesn’t get any creepier than that.

Red Rooster Inn: Lovingly referred to by locals as ‘The Big Red Cock” due to the 8-foot red metal sculpture of a rooster out front. (In MN it’s the thing to have a big sculpture of some kind of animal out front of your business establishment.) Except don’t go near the rooster on the night of a blue moon or you’ll see the blood glinting on its metal talons. Some say there was a fight between two gentleman that resulted in one getting his head bashed against the sculpture’s talons. Others whisper that on the night of a blue moon the rooster takes flight and seeks the heart of an innocent.


Thank you Michele for giving us such a haunting tour of Tangle Lake!  
To learn more about Michele Hauf and her books, please visit her website.  You can add The Vampire's Fall here on Goodreads.


What did you think of Michele's picks for spooky places?
Last week on Paranormal Road Trip we visited Los Angeles, CA with Kate Danley.  Next week we'll be traveling to Savannah, GA with Emily Cyr.

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

Happy World Emoji Day!  Can you guess the Ivy Granger series book titles from the emojis below? 

Take the Ivy Granger Emoji Book Title Challenge!


Can you guess the Ivy Granger book titles?  Let us know in the comments.

I'm chatting and partying over at Bitten by Books for the BIRTHRIGHT Book Release Party. Seriously, this event is so much fun. We've discussed Muppets, Sherlock, creepy zombies, sexy shifters, music, hawk migrations, books, anime, writing, ghosts, spooky travel destinations, and the peculiar habits of crows and ravens. You don't want to miss this!

Join the conversation!
Don't miss this fun release party, chat, and giveaway.  Come chat and enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card! 

Enter to win $25 Amazon Gift Card.


Hope to see you there!

Please welcome today's guest author, Temple West.  Temple is the author of the YA paranormal romance novel VELVET.

Q+A with Temple West
EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Temple:  As early as humanly possible.  My first memory of writing a complete story was for my 4th grade Young Authors event.  We got hard-cover blank books to write and illustrate our stories and mine was called The Princess Who Learned to Laugh.  It was awful, but had a fairly concrete narrative structure.  My favorite was an unfinished story from 3rd grade, though, about evil candies in space.  I think the villains were Red Hots.  I still have that in a box somewhere in my dad's garage.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Temple:  My brother and my dad are to blame for that one.  Every night before bed, my dad used to read me The Chronicles of Narnia.  My brother was also hugely into fantasy and I would steal his Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind books when he was done with them.  As a teenage girl, I wanted fantasy with a little more romance in it, so paranormal seemed like a good genre compromise.

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

Temple:  Well, if we're talking straight-up superpowers, I would choose the power of flight.  I used to dream regularly about being able to fly like Peter Pan or Superman, no wings or rocket packs, just the ability to fly anywhere I wanted by the power of my own will.  I think flight represents the idea of freedom, of liberation, of being boundless, and that really appeals to me on both a personal and narrative level.  If I had to be a paranormal creature, however, I'd probably choose some sort of fairy or elf creature.  I like their elusiveness, mystery, and forest habitat.

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

Temple:  Because the mythology is different.  Also, there's tons of banter. It's a serious story, but it's also got quite a bit of humor.  While book 1 really sets up the world and characters and hints at the greater mystery and mythology, books 2 and 3 will really dive into new territory, especially as it concerns vampire lore.

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

Temple:  I know she's technically too old, since she's now playing a college-age student on The Vampire Diaries, but I absolutely love Kat Graham.  She's got an intensity and seriousness to her that I adore, but she can also be light and funny, which I think is a perfect combination for the role of Caitlin Holte.  For Adrian, I've actually got about half a dozen options, but I love Logan Lerman for the exact same reasons.  Range and emotional depth are key.

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

Velvet (Velvet Trilogy #1) by Temple West.

First rule of dealing with hot vampire bodyguards? Don't fall in love.

After losing both her parents before age seventeen, aspiring designer Caitlin Holte feels like her whole world has been turned upside down, and that was before the terrifying encounter with a supernatural force. Then, she learns that her hot bad-boy neighbor, Adrian—who might have just saved her life—is actually a half-demon vampire.

Suddenly Caitlin is stuck with a vampire bodyguard who feels that the best way to protect her is to become her pretend boyfriend. Trouble is, Caitlin is starting to fall in love for real, while Adrian can never love a human. Caitlin trusts Adrian to keep her safe from his demon father, but will he be able to protect her heart?

Release Date:  May 12, 2015
Genre:  Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Add to Goodreads.

To learn more about Temple West and her books, please visit her website.