Rae Lori's Blog, page 32

One of the things I love about books is their covers. As an artist, I love the composition, colors and the way it all comes together with a title that will tell me exactly what I'm getting between the pages. When a cover matches what's on the inside, even better for giving me a satisfying read!









Inkspell Publishing, a publisher that has been on my map since its opening, has revealed what's coming up on their roster. As a fan, I'm happy to reveal the awesome cover for their September 21st release The Star Child.










The world is about to be cloaked in darkness. 

Only one can stop the night.




Kellen St. James
has spent his entire life being overlooked as an unwanted, ordinary, slightly
geeky kid. That is until a beautiful girl, one who has haunted his dreams for
the past eleven years of his life, shows up spinning tales of a prophecy. Not
just any old prophecy either, but one in which Kellen plays a key role.




Suddenly, Kellen
finds himself on the run through a Celtic underworld of faeries and demons,
angels and gods, not to mention a really ticked off pack of hellhounds, all in
order to save the world from darkness. But will they make it in time?



Release Date: September 21, 2012




About The Author:




Stephanie Keyes was born in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania and has worked for the past twelve years as a corporate educator and curriculum designer in the Telecommunications industry. She holds a Master's degree in Education with a specialization in Instructional Technology from Duquesne University and a B.S. in Management Information Systems from Robert Morris University. She is a classically trained clarinetist, but also plays the saxophone and sings. When she's not writing,
she is a wife to a wonderfully supportive husband and mother to two little boys
whom she cites as her inspiration for all things writing. The Star Child is
Mrs. Keyes' debut novel.




Website: http://www.stephaniekeyes.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephaniekeyes

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephanie-Keyes/150860604966160










Giveaway
Details (Open for USA. Other countries to be confirmed):




Celtic knot
designed antiqued bookmark – Will go very good with this book! 





a Rafflecopter giveaway

Recently I was on a wonderful blog tour and had so much fun meeting new readers. News has come that the blog tour has released an awesome new magazine completely free and available to all readers. It's called Bewitching Book Tours Reader Magazine and I highly recommend it for fans of RT Magazine and readers who want to find new readers (and authors).



Take a read for yourself here and subscribe at the link!












Open publication - Free publishing - More authors








Subscribe to the Bewitching Book Tours Magazine

This is a short sort of yay-ish post. I checked my email and was welcomed with some very awesome and surprising news that I just had to scream to the world.





 

The Complete Guide to Writing Paranormal
Novels Vol. 1 is officially, as of yesterday, an award winning book! We won the 2011 ForeWord Book of the Year Gold Award Winner in Writing (Adult Nonfiction)! Woo hoo!!!



Congrats to my fellow contributors!



https://botya.forewordreviews.com/winners/2011/writing/



The guide is available now!



Check here for vendors:

http://www.goodreads.com/work/work/compare_prices/17942394?book=12794373



Thanks so much to ForeWord Mag!

Like most people who hear the term "Midsummer" I associate the word with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of my fave plays. The story elicited thoughts and memories of the whimsical, fae and fantasy mixed with love, pranks and romantic mixups. Imagine my surprise when I found out there was a conference for Midsummer Nights' Science!



Fantasy and sci-fi have been lumped together for the past few years under the umbrella of speculative fiction and imagination. Science is another animal altogether.



The Midsummer Nights' Science Conference is sponsored by the Broad Institute and begins on July 11th continuing to August 1st. It appears annually during midsummer and explores key advances in genomic research (the biology and genetics study of all organisms). The event is free to the general public each summer and is held at 7 Cambridge Center, in Kendall Square in Cambridge just in case we have any folks out there interested in dropping by. The conference request registering ahead of time for comfy seating.




The official website lists a bevy of topics to be covered regarding genomes across many organisms. I couldn't help but think about a connection here. Shakespeare's play primarily features topics of love and the unpredictable nature of humans as the fae look on (and often interfere). I'm often interested in the 'science of love' where professionals in the field talk about the chemicals and goings on in the human body as we fall in love and connect with one another. One of the lecture series features "Dissecting the brain, one gene at a time" which covers different cell types (including neurons) in the brain and I would have loved to see a specific lecture on how the brain reacts in a romantic situation. Especially in dealing with love at first sight.



One of the books I read about this topic was Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love by Helen Fisher and I will definitely be returning to this book on closer inspection for my upcoming novella 'Intergalactic'. The novella features a newly created cyborg who, at the beginning of the story, will become aware of his existence and surroundings. Since the story will feature a romance with a reluctant female soldier, he will also be learning about compassion, empathy, passion and ultimately love. So it would help to learn more about how the brain functions in a romantic situation as well as functioning on a minute basis of the day to day. Not to mention fight scenes. ;-)




Here is the cover for my upcoming romantic sci-fi novella:











Don't forget to check out the other SFR author blogs in our blog hop and enter to win one of two grand prizes!



1st Prize - a Kindle Touch or Nook Touch



2nd Prize -a library of
science fiction romance titles from over 20 authors (these will be
mostly ebooks with one print anthology), and an Anabanana Gift Card.



All
you need to do to enter is pop along to the blogs listed below and
comment on as many as you want (only ONE comment per site will count as
an entry). Each time you comment at a stop, you'll earn one entry into
the grand prize - so the more sites you visit, the greater your chances
of winning. The winners will be drawn at random on the 24th June and
announced on this site. The list of participating authors can be found
below this post. Spread the news!





To learn more about the Midsummer Nights' Science 2012 conference, check out:


http://www.broadinstitute.org/education/midsummer-nights-science/midsummer-nights-science-2012



I'll leave you with a little theme music that partly inspired 'Intergalactic'. Care of the awesome duo Boom Boom Satellites!












See you around the blogosphere!;-)

The prequel to the Ashen Twilight Series is now available for your listening pleasure. The series will be read by the ever awesome Judith Cullen aka Caledonia Skytower who has been reading my series in Second Life. She will be helping me bring the books to life in audio format with her wonderful reading starting with the prequel story.



And so without delay, here is the short!






































































Length: 8 min 40 sec

Read by Judith Cullen





Check out more of Judith's work here.

http://jdcstoryteller.blogspot.com


http://www.jdcresume.blogspot.com

Greetings programs!



I'm excited to announce that on Friday 22nd June (Pacific Time) the SFR Brigade
will be holding its first ever Blog Hop to celebrate Midsummer. 36
fabulous science fiction romance authors will be telling you mystical or
scientific stories related to the event, and they'll each be giving
away a prize - books, gift cards, swag bags...and lots more!



Plus there's TWO GRAND PRIZES!



1st Prize - a Kindle Touch or Nook Touch



2nd
Prize -a library of science fiction romance titles from over 20 authors
(these will be mostly ebooks with one print anthology), and an
Anabanana Gift Card.



All you need to do to enter is pop along to
the blogs listed below and comment on as many as you want (only ONE
comment per site will count as an entry). Each time you comment at a
stop, you'll earn one entry into the grand prize - so the more sites you
visit, the greater your chances of winning. The winners will be drawn
at random on the 24th June and announced on this site. The list of
participating authors can be found below this post. Spread the news!

Two paperback editions are coming soon to bookstores near you!



The 2nd edition release of A Kiss of Ashen Twilight (featuring the ebook cover) and the 2nd edition of Cimmerian City comes back to print!



Feast your eyes on the two cover layouts below. I'm still working tweaking the AKOAT cover but it's very close to being finished.

During my downtime in April between settling in from a laborious move and battling the flu, I had a bit of a break and decided to treat myself to a bit of gaming. This was when I decided to break down and try out Mass Effect 2. I had heard so many folks talking about the game that I had to dive in and check it out. After all, one of my gaming weaknesses is the flexibility of choice that will shape the final outcome of the game and the ability to really customize my character the way I want. ME2 had all of these and more.



Imagine my happiness when the experience turned out to be way more than I expected in one game.



If you haven't played ME2 and want to remain unspoiled, skip the next section because it includes some spoily spoilers!




Read more after the jump!

















~ Massive ME2 Spoilers  ~


Mass Effect 2 begins with an action sequence right off the bat that ties the first game into this edition. The Normandy is a spaceship that gets attacked and leads to everyone abandoning ship. Everyone except Commander Shepard (our intrepid hero be the character male or female) and the ship's pilot Joker. Shepard remains behind to get Joker to safety, thus sacrificing her own life in the process.



After the title sequence, the game gives you an option to play a DLC (downloadable content) extra scene where you can tie ME1 into ME2 based on certain decisions. Being a fan of romance (especially romantic SF) I loved being able to form relationships and get a special achievement for becoming romantically involved with a crew member. And being a fan of dark, dangerous heroes, I couldn't help falling for the sexy, dangerous Drell assassin named Thane Krios. More on him later.



Ahem.



Anywho, based on if you chose a love interest from ME1 and imported it into ME2 via the game itself (after you have played the first), you are still involved with said person which is showcased by having their picture in your Captain's quarters on the ship.



So, how does our Shepard make it back to life for another space faring adventure?



Thanks to a large corporation by the name of Cerberus headed by The Illusive Man (affectionately called TIM in some circles). Shepard is pieced back together but before she can get comfortable in her new surroundings, the facility is attacked by Mechs swarming the area. Shep hears a female voice over the com (later revealed to be Miranda Lawson - a Cerberus operative) who tells her how to arm herself (and thus the player learns how to move, duck, vault over a wall, shoot, run fast, etc).



Introductions are made as Shep makes her way through the facility and to an exit. She meets Jacob Taylor and Wilson, both Cerberus ops. You get the option to inquire more about what's going on and everything before diving back into the fight and finding your way to Miranda (where a surprise is thus revealed and Wilson turns out to be a traitor).



Jacob and Miranda take Shep up to see TIM where you discover the reason why Shepard was brought back: to investigate why human colonies have gone missing and see what is behind the abductions. Eventually you find out there is a race of beings who are harvesting humans to create better beings. On one of the colonies is my Shepard's old flame, Kaidan Alenko. When Shep meets Kaidan, he is glad to see her and reveals he had fallen in love with her. But seeing she has aligned herself with Cerberus, an organization with a rather shady past, he is reluctant to go with her (much less talk with her) so he leaves her behind. Later he leaves a letter in her inbox in which he say he has moved on but still hopes for something more when Shep settles down after the move.



Over the course of the mission, you gear your ship and crew up for the ultimate battle with abductors, named The Collectors. You get to meet many beings on different, gorgeously rendered planets and learn about so many cultures. One of the best things about this series is the vast story and the creativity they put in making each species unique in their own way. You as the player is tasked with gathering a crew of highly trained fighters to go up against The Collectors.



You are also given a choice to romance 1 out of 3 of your crewmembers. I took a peek at the ME Wiki beforehand to see what the options were and I was rather 'eh' about them. Until I played...



Garrus Vakarian aka Archangel turned out to be the best warrior right hand a girl can ever ask for. As the story progressed, my Shep's feelings for him were very brotherly and even though I didn't play the first game, ME2 gave me a good indication for how close they became in the first story. There wasn't a mission I didn't go on without Garrus and his awesome, high spirited banter during the shootouts.



But it wasn't until the mission on Ilium when my Shep became really entranced. At first it was a nuisance to go through so many Mercs to find The Assassin hiding in one of the towers. Each level held a bigger and better threat and it wasn't until my Shep reached her destination with Jacob and Garrus by her side that she witnessed a swift yet graceful execution of a baddie before seeing the smooth operator himself praying over her body. Here is the scene:

















Thane Krios is one of the most complex characters in the game. One of the primary characters showcased in the game promo, Thane's dichotomy of balancing his ruthless skill for the kill with a peaceful calm akin to his religion made him all the more interesting. He has some of the best lines in the story and the smoothest, sexiest voice I have heard in a video game!



I must say, it was the character of Thane and the chemistry with my Shepard that made me want to start a fan fic story that continues some events of ME2 and fixed some of the events of ME3. I, like any other Thane fan, found ME3 lacking in wrapping up the character and romance. Not to mention ignoring all the possibilities that were offered to save his character. I wish he was a viable option for romance in ME3. After everything the characters went through, it would make sense.



But I digress.



The Mass Effect series is vast and it has one of the best writing in video games I've seen since Baldur's Gate (yes, I'm a fan!) and the Silent Hill series. The idea of including a romance (and in the case of ME1 and ME3, full on love scenes) in a futuristic video game continues to bring SFR to the forefront of media.



Next up to try on my vid game list is Dragon Age Origins also made by the same company, BioWare. The ME series has really upped my expectations for video gaming. Make me proud game companies!

Hey folks!



In the midst of my upcoming projects, I've added another:




The SFR Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop!




On June 22, I'm joining a great roster of authors including: Kaye Manro, Pippa Jay, Misa Buckley, Kayelle Allen, Diane Dooley, Pauline Baird Jones, Melisse Aires, Ella Drake, Jaleta Clegg and A. R. Norris to name a few.



I'll be showcasing A Feast of Shadows and a host of other goodies for my readers and folks who visit the blog. Don't forget to drop by here and then hop on over to the other great blogs!



More info to come soon. :-)

Well, after a pretty rough move and a weird bout of the flu (after not being sick for months), things are finally settling down enough for me to get back to blogging, reading and all sorts of other goodies.



Before the move, I had planned to write a blog post about change. There's something bittersweet about moving from the place where you have spent the last 10 years. I got used to my desk against the window looking to the backyard and I got into the routine of writing there whether writing way early in the morning or way late at night. I loved the quiet sounds of the city streets outside and the quiet chirp of crickets and birds. Now in a new location with many more neighbors than I had before (some who love to argue and slam doors lol), it's time to reacquaint myself with a new routine...at least until I move again.




Read more after the jump!






Speaking of change, while I was away I didn't realize how much had changed! Blogger has a whole new (and confusing) layout. Goodreads has a whole new layout (and love affair with Facebook). And Facebook forced it's timeline on me (grrr). Thanks goodness for mobile editions!







Before I left, I also wanted to write a gushy love post about the Phantom of the Opera play. I had heard about the play a long time ago because my mom is a huge fan of going to plays in New York (she loved Cats). I wasn't too much into it being a Californian and only having gone to one play when I was younger. I did manage to see the movie sometime back and I loved the set designs, the music and the story. I kept hearing about how much better the play was with more emotion and impact than the movie. It wasn't until I was moving and had a chance to check out the 25th anniversary of the play at the Royal Albert Hall on PBS when I fell in complete love with the broadway musical.







Let me tell you, I previously loved Gerard Butler's Phantom but Ramin Karimloo's Phantom made me want to hop through my television set, kick Christine out of the picture and run away with him on the streets of Paris. He was AMAZING with a gorgeous voice and so much raw, sexy emotion. Despite kicking her to the side for the Phantom the gorgeous Sierra Boggess was an awesome Christine with an amazingly hypnotic voice. The height of the play where they sang the theme song was filled with such romance and emotion. I also fell in love with the Music of the Night from Ramin's emotionally raw and sexy voice. I had to grab the soundtrack after to relive the experience over and over again. I simply fell in love with the production!



At the end, Webber brought out Sarah Brightman, the original Christine, and the 5 Phantoms (including the original Phantom, Michael Crawford) who had played throughout the years on stage. It was breathtaking. If I was in the audience, I would have definitely joined the viewers in a standing ovation. SO much emotion and sexiness (I love when the Phantom urges Christine to sing for him. Such a hot scene!)



Check it out:


























I still couldn't get The Phantom of the Opera out of my head and I was curious about the continuing story. Thankfully I stumbled upon Love Never Dies, Webber's 2010 sequel to the Phantom. I was bummed to find out Ramin and Sierra weren't showcased in the DVD version. It would have been awesome to see them continue the story but I enjoyed seeing the new cast members bring Christine and the Phantom life, with a little something extra in the storyline. It turned out to be a tragedy but the emotion was so powerful, I couldn't help seeing it many times after that first time.



Naturally I had to hunt down some Phantom stories in literary format. I came across these goodies (based on recs and reviews) which I quickly added to my TBR Pile:






























And, of course, I couldn't leave out the original Phantom of the Opera novel by Gaston Leroux which was much less romantic and more edgy than the plays present.



One thing is for sure: I'm a new die hard Phantom fan!





As for the blog, hopefully I can get things updated on a regular basis from now on whilst posting some works here on the blog. It's been ages since I posted new work so I think it would be a great treat for my readers out there who have been hanging on for something new from me.



Hope everyone is having a great spring into summer so far!



I leave you with my fave scene from Love Never Dies. When Christine finds out the Phantom has survived the fire and has been living in NY all along (and is also her benefactor for bringing her there, hee hee).