Black Lion Book Tours Presents The Nymph's Labyrinth! #Giveaway!

Welcome to the New Year Book Extravaganza!

We're featuring 15 authors, all with book giveaways AND you'll have a chance to enter at each stop for the $100 Grand prize Giveaway!

Meet featured authors and learn more about them and their books on the dates below. You may also enter their giveaways at any time on the kick-off post! Scroll down for glimpses of the books!

The Nympth's Labyrinth

Aworld shrouded in mystery and intrigue, the Sisterhood of Epione must not beexposed.Shape-shifting nymph, Ariadne Papadakis, is tasked with keeping the truth ofthe group’s existence and their ancient mysteries far out of reach of theAmerican archeologist, Beau Morris and his troublemaking son, Kaden. Whenforgotten and forbidden passions are awakened, Ariadne is forced make achoice—fall in line and continue to be overrun and pushed down by thesisterhood, or follow her heart and put Beau and Kaden’s lives in danger.Can she have the man she loves or will the pressure and secrets of her pastkeep her from her heart’s desire?Their quest to find each other across a treacherous wilderness will test thelimits of courage and endurance, guided only by their dreams--and by the beliefin the true love they share.

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Chapter One Present Day

Shoveling dirt in a dark, forbidding hole wasthe last place Ariadne Papadakis wanted to be. She used the trowel in her handas a weapon to scrape the clay away. A drop of sweat trickled down the ancientblack tattooed snake on her arm, past her elbow, over the serpent’s weavingbody, and stopped at the base of her wrist as if it was afraid to enter herpalm where the head of the snake was poised for attack.

The city of Gournai sat at the base of a Cretanhill, a blister of light in the callous night. Ariadne could remember when thetown had been nothing but a few villas and a market, perfectly rural—a greatlocation for a secret. Now it bustled with modern life and somewhere within thepublic maze, sat an archeologist who wanted to expose the Labyrinth she and hersisterhood of nymphs had kept hidden for so long.

How had Beau Morris found their secret…a secretthat had been hidden for thousands of years? She couldn’t know for sure, butnow she had been ordered to deal with the consequences of his action.

Earlier that day, while Ariadne had been workingat the museum in Heraklion, a braying couple from Alabama had been amongst thehandful of visitors. They had laughed at the bare breasts of the statue ofEpione, the snake goddess. They had snickered and made jokes of the serpentsthat graced her arms and her ample breasts. They never paused to consider whatthe woman had once meant to so many and still meant to Ariadne’s sisters andall nymphs. They had just laughed and gawked at the oddity before them. StupidAmericans.

Did no one revere what is sacred anymore? Hadculture changed that much?

Ariadne pushed the thoughts from her mind. Therewere some things about the modern world that she just didn’t understand, andDr. Morris’ ardent desire to destroy the nymph culture by exposing the secretsof the Labyrinth was at the top of her list.

Couldn’t he just leave some things alone?

If he found the Labyrinth, the artifacts wouldsit in the museum, and like the statue of Epione, be pointed at and mocked—orthey would be misused. The sacred Labyrinth needed to stay exactly as it was,hidden from science, from prying eyes, mocking laughs, and greedy hands.

She jabbed the trowel into the hard earth.

The trowel-marked square walls around her seemedto move in a little closer as Ariadne worked. She swallowed back her fear asshe looked up at the night sky. When she was done, she could get out of thisplace and never come back.

Her gaze fell to the exposed light gray columnat her right. For a moment she stared at the moonlit carved stone, it remindedher of the thousands of years that had passed since she had been born. Eachyear brought a new challenge, a new set of problems. She ran her finger againstthe arid dirt and brought her fingers to her nose to smell the burnt sage, thecitric aroma of oranges, and a hint of olive.

To have an archaeologist sticking his nose whereit didn’t belong was an invasion tantamount to war. Subterfuge was the game andnymphs had thousands of years of practice. 

The Author DanicaWinters is a best-selling author who is known for writing award-winning booksthat grip readers with their ability to drive emotion through suspense andoften a touch of magic. When she’s not working, she can be found in the wildsof Montana testing her patience while she tries to understand the allure ofvarious crafts (quilting, pottery and painting are not her thing). She alwaysbelieves the cup is neither half-full nor half-empty, but it better be filledwith wine.

Connect with Danica!

http://www.DanicaWinters.net

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Giveaways last through 1/14/2012

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Participating Blogs

Jan 7th - Black Lion Tours Blog

Jan 7th - MK McClintock Blog

Jan 7th - Laurie's Non-Paranormal Thoughts & Reviews

Jan 8th - Melissa's Midnight Musings

Jan 8th - I am a Reader, Not a Writer

Jan 8th - My Escape

Jan 8th - Journey with Books

Jan 9th - A Writer's Life

Jan 9th - Deal Sharing Aunt

Jan 9th - My Syreniti

Jan 9th - Open the Page

Jan 10th - My Devotional Thoughts

Jan 10th - Romance Meets Life

Jan 11th - I Know that Book

Jan 11th - Oh Chrys!

Jan 11th - Bookworm Lisa

Jan 11th - The Bunny's Review

Jan 12th - Books, Books, the Magical Fruit

Jan 12th - Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf

Jan 13th - Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Jan 14th - Kimberly Lewis Novels

Jan 14th - MK McClintock Blog

Writing with Tension, by Guest Blogger Paranormal Romance author Chris Karlsen

Tension is one of the best means to hold a reader’s attention and keep them from putting your book down. It is also a feeling that isn’t always clearly defined.

If you ask for an example of what adds tension to a story, the first response you often hear is actually an action scene. The problem with that answer is: action isn’t necessarily tension. The car chase through Paris in the movie “Ronin,” is fantastic action. However, the movie’s tension isn’t the high speed pursuit and crash at the end, but comes from the conflict within the group of mercenaries gathered together to obtain a valuable suitcase. Some are trustworthy, others are not. The viewer is on the edge of their seat throughout the movie, wondering if Jean Reno, or Robert De Niro, or Stellan Skarsgard is a traitor.

In any genre there are different ways to inject the story with tension. In a scene from my novel Golden Chariot, Charlotte Dashiell, my heroine, believes that the characters from The Iliad, by Homer, may not have been only fictional. She engages in a heated discussion with Atakan Vadim, the hero. For every point she makes, he presents a challenging counterpoint and thus creates tension. I will paraphrase the dialogue from the scene.

Charlotte: “The story of Troy and the war was retold through the centuries. I’m saying it wasn’t a mere war story. It had to be more.”

Atakan: “No. The bones of the story were given to him (Homer)...a tale which happened to include a few accurate details. Like many bards, he filled it with people from his imagination.”

Charlotte: “Something made the story unique. I say it’s the people.”

Atakan: “He took bits of old tales, injects the legends with heroes and villains for entertainment purposes. Why do you dispute the logical?”

This is a small section of dialogue. Atakan’s disbelief, his doubt and the fact he forces her to defend her beliefs drives the tension between them.

Combining tension with action can be especially fun to write as we as paranormal romance authors can vicariously live experience with our characters. In the following, Charlotte, who’s a nautical archaeologist and part of a shipwreck recovery team, is out swimming in the sea near the team’s campsite. Unbeknownst to her, there’s been an undersea earthquake, which has triggered dangerous tides. What was a relaxing swim becomes deadly dangerous for her.

Like all the team, she was a strong swimmer and tried to power through the swells and turn back. Fighting the tide, she wasn’t making any progress. The current was sweeping her the opposite direction and toward the open water. She kicked harder as the waves surged over her head, pushing against her strokes, the salt irritating her eyes. Every time she opened her mouth to take a gulp of air after the first set, the whitecaps smacked her in the face, sending seawater into her lungs than air.

She caught glimpses of the increasingly distant beach. If she screamed for help no one would hear.

Tension doesn’t always have to be big. We can connect with readers by giving our characters moments of tension that we all experience in our daily lives. Your protagonist absolutely must make a particular flight. But as paranormal romance writers, we are compelled to make things difficult. We torment him in all kinds of ways: He can’t find his car keys. The drawbridge he must cross to get to the airport is up and what seems to be the slowest boat in the world is passing through. He misses the shuttle bus at the long term parking by seconds. The TSA officer chooses the protagonist to pull out of line and perform a thorough and lengthy search of. Haven’t we all had days like this?

As you write, I suggest to look for a way to ramp up the tension in every scene, whether in a small or big way--it will keep your readers wanting to turn the page.

 

 

Paranormal Romance Author Chris Karlsen Presents: Where Does Inspiration Come From

Dear Friends,

This week, I have the honor of presenting you with my friend and fellow paranormal romance author with Books To Go Now Publishing, Chris Karlsen. Chris Karlsen is a retired police detective. She spent twenty-five years in law enforcement with two different agencies. The daughter of a history professor and a voracious reader, she grew up with a love of history and books. Check out her paranormal romance books:   on Amazon check out the following link: HEROES LIVE FOREVER or JOURNEY IN TIME.

Enjoy!

-Danica Winters

Where Does Inspiration Come From

by Paranormal Romance Author Chris Karlsen

As a [paranormal romance] writer, the most frequently asked question I get is: “Where does your inspiration come from?” My answer is always: “It depends on the story.” Inspiration can hit me like a lightning bolt or it can creep up on me like a ladybug on my arm or it can be an idea that was buried deep within me and has clawed its way to the front of my thoughts.

With my first [paranormal romance] book, “Heroes Live Forever,” the inspiration was an idea buried in my psyche for years. I love a good ghost story and always thought what fun it would be to be a ghost. But then, as I really examined the possibility, I realized how sad it might be too. In the case of my two medieval knights, Basil and Guy, they fought and died for king and country during the 14th century, only to see their homes and family destroyed three-hundred years later because of loyalty to a king. They’ve seen wonderful advances in the world over the centuries, but they’ve also seen everyone they cared about die. I was inspired to explore both the good and bad of their ghostly world because they do still have fun with mortals.

While writing the paranormal romance “Heroes Live Forever,” I found myself liking Guy and enjoyed writing him so much, I was inspired to give him his own book. What to do to him and for him came from my fascination with time-travel and medieval English history. What to do to my characters came to me like the lightning bolt I mentioned.

In “Journey in Time,” Guy has been given another chance at life. Guy, as Alex Lancaster leads a happy, modern world life as a music producer. He finds himself deeply attracted to Shakira Constantine, a successful London attorney. Because he’s her client, it takes a lot of charm for him to get her to agree to spending a weekend in the country with him.

The marriage of time-travel and medieval history gave me the opportunity to torture Alex and Shakira with a world of problems, life threatening problems. Sending them back to the year prior to Guy’s death in battle, I was able to put Alex in the position of facing his death again, if he can’t return to the modern world. His death put Shakira in the position of potentially having to face a very frightening time alone.

“Heroes Live Forever,” and “Journey in Time,” are from my “Knights in Time,” paranormal romance series.

With a  book I’ve just finished from a different paranormal romance series, “Golden Chariot,” inspiration crept up on me and over several months.

While walking the ruins of Troy, in Turkey, I thought about the Trojan War. I found myself wondering how it must’ve felt to a citizen of Troy to look out over the Dardanelle Strait and see the masts of hundreds of enemy ships, invaders by the thousands coming to sack and burn your home. From that thought, I wondered what if Homer got it wrong in the Iliad. What if the Trojans didn’t lose the war?

Over the next few months, thoughts of the Iliad’s heroes and villains crept into my head. Another visit to the Troy ruins brought more questions regarding the mythical characters. When it came time to write a paranormal romance story about my curiosity, I gave the heroine my same questions.

I have paranormal romance writer friends who’ve been inspired to write stories around nightmares they’ve had or human interest articles they read in the paper. Some are inspired to write paranormal romance about events they’ve experienced and people they know.

I’d say imagination is a paranormal romance writer’s greatest inspiration. If you can imagine it, you can write about it.