Silhouette Nocturne Authors Blog

At first, the CW's hit television show, Supernatural, didn't sound like something I'd like. I'm not big on episodic monster-killing dungeon crawls and a story about two brothers running from the law in a muscle car sounded like a throwback to the Dukes of Hazard. But upon the wildly enthusiastic recommendations of my friends and family, I rented the first season I'd missed and popped in the disk.

Now, one thing Supernatural knows how to do is grab viewers with a stunning premise. A mother walking into her baby's room to find a dark stranger standing over the crib...it's iconic. The very first few minutes of that very first episode were so gripping that I was hooked. Sure, that first season was a little rocky. It was hard to swallow the idea that our heroes lived off of stolen credit cards and fake IDs, but the whole thing went down a lot smoother when I realized how brilliantly the writers used unusual and creative interpretations of ancient lore.

Smart writing and sassy dialog carry the show, but it's the celebrated bro-mance between Dean and Sam that make it something special. As a romance writer, I suppose I should be wishing for the Winchester boys to find true love with the girls of their dreams, but this show is really a love story about family. The unfolding family drama intensifies and matures each season. The writers are just as clever with their supernatural elements. They have an unfailing instinct for what will horrify--they know that evil in the guise of an innocent child is more upsetting than an ugly monster. They know how to twist the things that bring us joy and show us the ugly sides. So I'm a total squealing fan girl.

And while I'm not going to give away any spoilers, let me just say that the Season 4 Finale had me sitting there with my jaw dropped open. Not many shows do that.

Given that I write Greek Myth-inspired paranormal romances, one of my favorite episodes was about the siren. (Feel free to add that as an entry to my autumn contest in which you could win a gift certificate and a book just for brainstorming with me!)

So how many Supernatural fans do we have out there and are you a Dean girl or a Sam girl?

The man of your dreams has loped into your life and swept you off your feet and into his strong arms.  He's not exactly human, in fact, a couple days during the month, he's downright animal.  You met on a moonless night and his bow-legged swagger and easy charm has won your heart.  Your man is a werewolf, and that's cool with you.

Happy Friday the 13th!  For lots of different reasons, Friday the 13th is seen as an unlucky day...it's also a day that many movies, books and games of a paranormal bent are released.  Today is release day of the end of the world movie 2012 (not really paranormal, but close).  That, and the recent Twilight movie mania, got me thinking of great paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy movies.  Then I started to ponder what Nocturnes and other paranormal books I'd love to see turned into movies and who I'd cast as the hero and heroine.  So come and share what paranormal books you'd like to see on the silver screen. 

One of my childhood memories is getting in trouble in class because I was so absorbed in a book that I didn't even hear the teacher come into the room--much less call my name. The book I could not pull my nose out of was about the ancient gods of Greek mythology. I was mesmerized by the monsters, the magic, and the tales of heroism. I'm still mesmerized by these things today, which may be why I write dark and sexy myth-inspired romances. I always thought I was alone in my fascination, but now that I pay more attention to popular culture, I'm noticing a lot of Greek mythology cropping up in modern media.

That's why I decided to run my Autumn Contest. I need your help brainstorming books, movies, and songs with overt
elements of Greek Mythology in them! I’ll be giving away a gift certificate and a free copy of one of my Nocturne Bites. All you have to do is post here on my blog, and I'll give you a raffle ticket for each answer.

I hope you'll be as tickled by the replies as I've been. I've written about a lot of ancient creatures including underworld nymphs, gorgons, dryads, chimeras, hydras, minotaurs and Greek Gods, but I'm not alone. There seems to be a flourishing of modern takes on mythology in the coming year, and I hope other enthusiasts welcome it as much as I do.

Happy Day Before Halloween, folks! It's time to prepare for all the spooky goings-on, and get your paranormal priorities in order. You do have some?

As writers we talk a lot about 'refilling the creative well'.  A means to setting aside work and getting back the spark of creativity.  But I believe everyone who has a job (yes, even if it doesn't have a title and entails you staying at home being a housewife, mom, cook, and chauffeur) should take time every day to do a little 'refilling'.

Names have power, so I choose them carefully and over time, I’ve developed a system and I’m happy to share it.

1. Compile a long list of ethnically appropriate names
The first thing I take into account when choosing a name is the
ethnicity of the character. Cultural heritage comes with a lot of cues
and expectations. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad, but
either way, it’s something to exploit as a writer. If I can give the
impression that my hero is a hot-tempered Hispanic man simply by naming
him Antonio, an impression is formed in the reader’s mind before I
write another word. If my Russian hero is named Antonio–my readers
aren’t likely to take that at face value. They’re going to want to know
what the story is behind that name. Was his mother a fan of Spanish
bullfighting? Did he grow up in South America? That’s because a name
either tells a story or begs for one.

Back in lesson one – or the intro, I mentioned that September was the best time to befriend a dragon. Even though September is long gone, I thought it was time to discover why that was the preferred month.

Love to dress up for Halloween? Let your imagination fly and you can win a great prize!

eBook retailer Omnilit, Silhouette Nocturne Bites and Sony are co-sponsoring an online Halloween Costume Contest — with a grand prize of a silver Sony Pocket Edition Reader (one of their new eBook reader designs, worth $199!).  Other prizes include Omnilit $50 gift certificates for the Prettiest, Scariest, and Sexiest costumes!

Okay, so, like most authors, I love drama. It's about the best fun I have when I can put my characters into such a bind that I make myself cry. When I create movie-quality moments that are so vivid and emotionally charged that it makes my readers a little misty, I consider that a huge triumph. But in real life, I generally prefer to live in a NO DRAMA zone, except when it comes to love.

Oh sure, I like a quiet evening at home with chinese food and a good rental--but I also love to be swept off my feet every now and again. It still gives me a little hint of satisfaction when my guy gets all He-Man Protective of me. I even secretly treasure some of the spectacular screaming fights we've had, because they would make perfect movie scripts. (No one would believe they weren't fictional, after all.) And I still cherish some of the movie-perfect moments in my life--such as the time a smug ex-boyfriend came back into my life expecting to win me back and I got to kick him out in dramatic fashion.

So what about you? Have you ever been swept off your feet by a truly romantic gesture? Have you ever had the chance to live out a movie moment of your own? Inspire me!

And in the meantime, I'm running a brand new contest and you could be a winner if you help me brainstorm any modern work of fiction that has an aspect of Greek Mythology in it.

That's right MIDNIGHT CRAVINGS is available in bookstores again, after it's original release in April.  This time find it in a handy-dandy pocket-size similar to the Nocturnes.  So if you missed it in April, and still haven't downloaded all six stories online, now is your chance to pick it up for a sweet price.  Six stories!  Nice!

Michele 

I love stories that sweep me away into another world-a paranormal world where magic and creatures of the night exist, an emotional world where I feel all the ups and downs of falling in love and especially an exotic locale where I can wander cobblestone streets, absorb the history of an ancient city and feel very far away from my ordinary life. 

Some people might argue that setting in a paranormal isn't that important - it's all about the world building and its paranormal powers and rules.  But for me, the right setting enhances the paranormal world and sucks me away somewhere I'd love to visit.  How important is location in your paranormal stories and do you have any favorite settings?  Leave a comment for a chance to WIN my October Nocturne Bites, TAKEN BY THE SOUTH WIND.

The first day of fall might have only been a few days ago, but I’ve already broken out all the Halloween goodies at my house. Hey, that was showing restraint. I love the paranormal. I’ve got bats in the stairway, and a huge hair spider hanging in my entryway to greet people. I’m still working on the stretchy spiderwebs on our wrap around porch, but my little people have told me that the natural spiders have already taken care of most of that for me.

This time of year is just rife with potential ideas for a paranormal writer. Just the cold snap in the air and the fog hovering over the ground as the early morning light slants through it makes me giddy.

I was driving over the Tacoma Narrows bridge (which is suspended 290 feet over a narrow strip of the Puget Sound in Washington state just outside Tacoma) with a friend, the fog looked like it was literally boiling up around the edges of the cliff and filtering around the suspension cables of the bridge. “Hey, doesn’t it look kind of like a fire-breathing dragon might be just down there?” I told my friend, who incidentally is not a writer.

I love vampire romances.  A lot of people do, to judge from the current trend that finds vampires around every corner, in every store, in every movie theater.  But have you ever wondered about all those ancient, brooding heroes seducing mortal high school girls?  It's enough to squick a person out.

 [note: squick = squirm + ick; squicky = squirm + icky) 

I'm always curious about what makes other people tick. I'm hot-tempered, whereas my guy is laid back. That got me thinking about what other people's romances are like, and how my own preference might influence my writing.

You see, when writing romance, I think an author really only has two choices. Either opposites attract, or lovers are drawn together because they're so much alike. This choice is especially important when writing for Nocturne, because we promise readers a story with both a powerful hero and a powerful heroine. We also promise that our dark and paranormal heroes and heroines will collide in unique and explosive ways!

When it comes to Nocturnes, one of my favorite opposites-attract novels is Kathleen Korbel's Dark Seduction, in which a very matter-of-fact English Earl falls in love with his complete opposite: a very flighty otherworld fairy. I figured that opposites-attract must be my preference, but as it turns out, my own heroes and heroines seem to come into conflict because they're just too similar. In MIDNIGHT MEDUSA, I enjoyed throwing rage-filled Renata into the mix with a Greek demi-god of fury. And in WILD, TETHERED, BOUND, I found myself weaving a conflict between two complete and utter control freaks. What's more--in my forthcoming full-length novel for Nocturne, I've paired a dark nymph of the underworld who is struggling with her identity with a shape-shifting hydra who has lost all sense of self.

So when it comes to love, what's your preference? Did you find your cosmic twin or is your partner the yin to your yang? And is your real life love preference the same as what you like to see in paranormal romance?

Morning!  Sorry about missing our last "lesson". Had a 4-legged child emergency that's been an ongoing thang. Gotta love "kids" of all kinds at times.

To get on with it:

Now that we’ve tricked our dragon into lameness, we can begin our study.  As you inspect your beast, be certain to pay close attention to its scales and note the soft underbelly. That smooth, nearly flesh-like hide is one of the reasons for the dragon’s interest in shiny things.  Dragons that have survived learned their hoarding behavior early on in life.

One of the reasons for collecting shiny things – ie: gemstones in particular – was because they discovered that when they lie on the stones, some of them stick to that soft underbelly, creating a layer of protective armor.  

Is Jessie! Jessiecue.

Jessie, please email me at:

bonnievanak@aol.com with your snail mail to collect your prize.

Thanks everyone for entering! 

Have you tried a Nocturne Bites?  If so, what do you like about them?  What keeps you coming back for more of these intense bite-sized stories that pack a punch?  If not, what's stopping you? 

My latest werewolf/vampire Nocturne is out on bookstore shelves right now.  Moon Kissed.  It follows the hero Severo's quest for a mate, and his struggles against the vampires to finally be free from a wicked past.  For those of you who have read my previous books in the Bewitch the Dark and Wicked Games series, you may have seen Severo pop up before.  I love the hairy dude.

(Author’s note:   I’m giving away a copy of my upcoming October Nocturne, IMMORTAL WOLF, to one lucky commenter.

One thing that I've found personally freeing about the romance genre is the wide variety of stories that you can actually tell. Starting with MIDNIGHT MEDUSA, my own series for Nocturne has been about adapting ancient Greek Myths to modern problems and that has inevitably brought me up against some taboos.

Hi Everyone

I'm soooo excited!  TIME RAIDERS series is off to a galloping start!  THE SEEKER, book 1 of 4 for Silhouette Nocturne have been  scheduled every month from August through November 2009 is finally here.  And, to keep you updated, here are all four books and authors:

The Seeker--Lindsay McKenna -- August, 2009

The Slayer--Cindy Dees -- September, 2009

The Avenger--PC Cast -- October, 2009

The Protectory -- Merline Lovelace -- November 2009

And, if you like the idea of time travel, ancient history, adventure, kick-butt, take name heroines and heroes, not to mention some hot romance, this series is for you!

The other night I was writing the Nocturne BITE due, uh, tomorrow!  Clean House was blaring on the television in the background. They’re searching for the messiest house in America. Love that show, because it makes me feel good about my house, especially when I’m on deadline. I look at the clutter on that show and chortle, “Ok, now I don’t feel so guilty about my rabbit farm of dust bunnies.”

I’m writing and glancing up to see Niecy Nash in the woman’s kitchen, which looks like last year’s dinner got lost somewhere between the stove and the fridge. Then Niecy sorts through items in the kitchen for the yard sale (there’s always a yard sale to get rid of items the homeowners loathe to part with, but must).  Niecy combs through a box and says, “You have books in your kitchen.”

Last month I blogged about some of the delicious dark, sexy heroes Nocturne and Nocturne Bites have given us.  But where would these heroes be without a strong, tough heroine to match them?  Which Nocturne heroine's shoes would you like to step into?  Whose story couldn't you wait to read?  I want to know who your favorite heroine has been so far and what kind of heroine you're still waiting t

Hi Everyone

I have a Nocturne due August 1st.  It's a story involving angels, demons, vampires, psychopomps, and I'm sure there's a crying baby in there somewhere, too.  I like this story.  It has some great characters in it.  But right at this very moment...I loathe this story.  I don't even want to look at it.

I’m back from the Romance Writers of America annual conference, this year in Washington, D.C.  As always, it was great!  Lots of people attended.  Lots of excitement and enthusiasm filled the air--and was contagious!

HI EVERYONE

you aren't gonna believe this, but right now, as I type this missive to you, I am in the master bathroom of our condo here at the LODGES at CANMORE, Alberta, Canada.  If this wasn't so serious, I'd be laughing, but it's not funny.  People pay big bucks to this resort and in their brochure it says: WIFI.

Since the Kindle arrived, we've seen a real explosion, online at least, in ebooks. And Harlequin has been in the ebook game for a while now. I'm curious how many people here at the eHarlequin site have ebook readers or buy ebooks and read them some other way.

I love first lines of books.  Sometimes they can be so powerful, and sometimes a subtle nudge.  But they are always important and can usually tell you what type of book you are reading.

Here are some of my first lines from my Nocturne series...

Hi Everyone

Hi Everyone

So the Romance Writers of America National Conference is in a few days, and I can't wait to be there! Our nation's capital is a fabulous place to have a convention, and I am excited to meet the other romance writers--especially the ones who write for Nocturne.

 In the meantime, I've finished up my edits just on time for the August release of my new Nocturne Bite entitled: WILD, TETHERED, BOUND. This is a story about a hot and heroic soldier who wanders into an Afghanistan forest guarded by a special kind of nymph, known as a Dryad. It's a sexier story than I've written before, because when the soldier eats the fruit of her heart tree, it becomes a game of catch and capture between them.

 I'll be talking more about the symbolic themes in the story later--attachment, the exchange of power between a man and a woman in love, and of course, the price of pride. But right now I just want you to check out the gorgeous cover!

Hi Everyone

At last!  The video trailer on THE SEEKER is available!  Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/user/lindsaymckenna

This is book 1 of 4 of the TIME RAIDERS series that starts in August 2009.  Silhouette Nocturne.  If you like a blend of history with paranormal, strong female leads, and famous women that history has shoved under the rug, you will love our new series!!

Contest for my galley proof on THE SEEKER is going on right now at: www.timeraidersseries.com

Have fun!

Good morning…err, evening…whatever (I apologize for posting this so early -- I have a full day on the 1st...running...running and more running...yada yada yada, so it's now or not). Since Cam and Ariel are being a pain in the arse of late, stopping to do a blog post is a blessing. How characters can drive me as insane as these two is beyond my understanding. It seems they don’t like each other. Explaining that ‘yo, kids, we only have X number of pages to get it together’ isn’t of much help.  ARGH.

Anywho before I sound like I’m completely unbalanced, let’s get back to the study of dragons…

It seems that the science of dragonology started with Merlin. Unfortunately, the wizard being Druid and all, didn’t record his knowledge.  It wasn’t until 1904 when   Dr. Ernest Drake of St. Leonard’s Forest took pen to paper to record the ancient findings along with notes from his own research.

 (Um, you’re buying all this, right?)

It's not my turn to blog today,but I was so excited I wanted to share with everyone the cover to my August Nocturne Bite, DARKNESS OF THE WOLF. This is Guy and Kayla's story.

I love this cover! This is a great depiction of Guy, dark, brooding, wary.

What do you think of the cover?

There are lots of things I love about writing vampires, but one of the most interesting things is the ability to look backward into their past lives so that I can build their lives in the future.  All those years of past life experience have really helped to create some very memorable characters for me.

...is the characters.  Whether I’m reading them or writing them, it’s the characters who draw me in more than the setting or even the plot. What I love most about paranormal characters is how REAL they are. I know that sounds unusual, given the unusual plots of paranormals. But, like real people, these characters are flawed. They are not black or white but many shades of gray. They wrestle with doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and the right thing for the wrong reasons.

Other genres, particularly in romance novels, seem to have that clear-cut hero who is moral and admirable and brave.  Paranormal heroes are often in doubt – are they good or bad? The hero or the villain?  Maybe that’s what makes them so interesting and so exciting – to read and write.  The reader – and sometimes the writer – have no idea what this character is going to do next.  It’s so much fun to write a hero who doesn’t have to be nice or polite or particularly heroic. Because they are flawed characters, they’re very human...even if they’re not human at all...like the heroes in my upcoming October Bite and the novella I wrote for the Holiday with a Vampire anthology that will be out in December.

What is your favorite part of paranormal romances? 

In a few more days, Wild Wolf will be out.  I'm very excited about this because this story was one of my absolute favorite books to write.  If you get a chance, look it up on this site.  There's a blurb and everything <G>!

You have favorite books, right? Books/authors that even if you haven't read them in years you still remember and still list as a favorite? My question for you today is...What about them do you remember? What is the thing that makes them stand out from all the other books you've read?

For me I think it varies. I remember Dara Joy for her heroes and just how sexy they were, but I don't remember a darn thing about the heroines. Catherine Coulter, back in her historical days, wrote some amazing scenes...as in making me feel like I was sitting in the setting room with the characters, but I really don't remember the heroes. Connie Willis, author of my all time favorite book The Doomsday Book, hit me in the gut with emotion with that one. I cried and felt uplifted. Iris Johansen--do you remember her historicals? Wow...they made me squirm a bit as if I really shouldn't be reading some of these things, but they were so dark and different....How could I resist?

Hi. My name is Linda Thomas-Sundstrom, and I'm a werewolf-aholic.

I admit it. I confess. Right here and now. You know, werewolves... Those guys who run naked in the moonlight with all that silver light cascading off their truly spectacular muscles. Those guys with backsides you could, if you dared, bounce a quarter off of. The ones who nip your neck playfully and make growling noises deep in their throats when they're excited or happy. Yes, those guys.

I'm addicted, big-time, to the idea of sexy, hot-blooded alphas with longish hair, incredible eyes of whatever color, and plenty of danger genes hotwired into their DNA. Yum! I like guys who are, for all intents and purposes, normal for most of the time, and only have three days, maybe less, when they cross that line separating Human from Other. And I am so  lucky I've been able to spend some time with these guys lately, with the promise of more contact in the future.

Well, not really.  Here, it’s all about the books (or the hotties *grins*)  But when it comes to writing, it’s usually all about the music for me.  It’s a muse of sorts, and definitely the boost I need when I’m stuck in a scene or need some extra motivation. 

I used to wonder why I wrote so much better to music.  At first, I thought it had to be the zoning out factor.   I mean, I just had to slip on the headphones and away went the dog, the cat, the kids, the chaos of life.   Bye-bye. 

Just got back from seeing Angels & Demons.  I read the book a few years ago and thought it was great (save for that helicopter scene at the end;please!).  Anyway, I rarely read the book first and then see the movie, because I expect to be let down.  I was let down.  It didn't have the sense of urgency the book had.

I’ve been enjoying everyone’s postings here at the Nocturne blog.  Each of us has a different take on the genre of paranormal romance, who we write about, and how we write.

I especially liked Theresa’s posting on Wednesday about how to make what we write about seem real, the elements that are found in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary worlds.

But why do we like paranormal?  Why do we want to read about beings who may share some characteristics with us and with other humans, but who also have qualities that are unique--that you and I can’t ever hope to acquire, even if we wanted them?  I mean, why are we so interested in beings who can only survive if they drink others’ blood, or who shapeshift like members of Alpha Force (the covert military unit in my Silhouette Nocturne ALPHA WOLF and my Nocturne Bites CLAWS OF THE LYNX), or who can see into others’ minds or souls?

Or who can bring back people on the verge of death, like Skye Rydell, the K-9 cop with Valkyrie powers in my latest Nocturne, BACK TO LIFE?

My response?  Because we all, hopefully, have lives we’re basically happy with, families we love, work we enjoy (and there’s nothing more fun than writing--although I do enjoy my law career now and then, too!).  We may have chosen to do what we do, be who we are, happily deal with spending hours on the job, paying bills, feeding kids, husbands and/or pets and cleaning up after them, washing the car, whatever.  Normal life.  Everyday life.  There are also some of us who aren’t happy with our lives, or elements of them.  In either case, it’s our reality

Writing is a different world, especially when you are writing paranormal romance for the Silhouette Nocturne line! But just how does an author go about creating a world and making it real enough for our readers even when there’s magic, time-travel and creatures afoot?  I’ll let you in on a little secret. . .

It has to be exactly the same, yet totally different. (This is a mantra taught to me by my dearest friend Cherry Adair.)

What do I mean? Looking at the most popular paranormal fiction today (I’m talking Harry Potter, Twilight, etc.) Their world isn’t so different from ours. In fact it meshes with what we experience everyday. They still have families with family members they don’t like, still have jobs, still struggle, still have to find a person they truly want to be with, just like us. The biggest difference is our heroes and heroines get to have extra abilities to deal with their problems. But it’s all a balance, extra powers = extra problems.

....Werefan, Orchid-Hin and Kea!!!!

Congrats ladies and please contact me with your eHarlequin eBook store email and password, and I'll order you the books!

Nocturne and Nocturne Bites have given us some fabulous dark, sexy stories and some delicious dark, sexy heroes.  Which hero stuck with you?  Whose story couldn't you wait to read?  I want to know who your favorite hero has been so far and what kind of hero you're still waiting to see.  Leave a comment and you could WIN a copy of my July Nocturne Bites, Savage Dragon.

One of the criticisms most often leveled against the Romance Genre is that it supposedly doesn't address "serious" issues. They say this as if love (or lack thereof) were not one of the most serious issues most people face in their lives. But even setting that aside, writing for a great line like Nocturne has proved to me just how wrong those critics can be. As fans already know, Nocturne heroes and heroines aren't ordinary people--they have extraordinary powers. Because of that, the challenges they face have to be epic.

For me, as a writer, it also means my heroes can face the serious issues of our contemporary world that sometimes seem too big, too controversial, and too overwhelming for us mere mortals to tackle.

For example, in my first Nocturne Bite, MIDNIGHT MEDUSA, my hero and heroine struggled with the messy reality of international war crimes tribunals when private revenge would have been easier and far more satisfying. Similarly, in my upcoming novella, tentatively titled WILD, TETHERED, BOUND, my heroine is a forest nymph in a war-ravished land and my hero is a soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress. Not only did I learn a great deal about deforestation, but I also interviewed a number of active duty soldiers for that story--and let me tell you, it doesn't get more serious than that.

Now, we know that romances have a happy ending. But that doesn't make them less serious. It makes them hopeful! 

My theory is that romance readers are ready and willing to tune in, learn, teach and reflect upon serious matters, as long as you don't weigh them down in cynicism and sadness. What do you think?