Archive for the ‘Shifter’ Category

From Villain to Hero in One Easy Step
By Jennifer Ashley (aka Allyson James)
http://www.jennifersromances.com

Villains are tough for me to write, not because I don’t like them, but because I become so fascinated by them.

I dislike books with cardboard or unbelievably evil villains—poorly constructed villains can ruin an otherwise good story. On the other hand, really “good” villains can steal the show.

The villain is the hero of his own story. He thinks he’s good and right about everything he does. He might do really awful things (murder, assault, kidnapping, plotting to end the world), but he knows that whatever he decides to do is justified.

Writing a good villain means finding solid motivation for his actions. It’s not enough that the villain does what he does because he’s inherently evil (unless you’re writing broad comedy). He has to have a reason for kidnapping the heroine and putting her naked in chains in full view of the hero. A very good reason, and it can’t be “bad” to him.

The deeper I dig into the motivations of my villains, the more I like these guys. I like them so much, I decide to go ahead and make them heroes in their own books.

I’ve done this several times in my novels with success. My first hero-to-villain was James Ardmore, villain of The Pirate Next Door and hero of The Pirate Hunter.

James Ardmore as villain wanted to hunt down and kill the pirate hero of The Pirate Next Door. Why? Because not only was James a pirate hunter, but the hero was a pirate James blamed for the death of the woman he loved.

Good motivation. I really liked James! In The Pirate Hunter, James is still hunting pirates, but he works through his problems and runs across a heroine who challenges him.

In Dragon Heat, which I wrote as Allyson James, the villain, Malcolm, a black dragon, tries to kidnap the heroine to use her latent magic. Why? Because he’s trapped in the human world and wants desperately to go back to Dragonspace.

Malcolm is pretty bad—he coerces a young witch to help him, and the witch starts to fall in love with him. So much so, that when she’s attacked in The Black Dragon, she calls on Malcolm to help her. And he steps in and becomes a hero.

Penelope and Prince Charming introduced one of my favorite villains, Grand Duke Alexander. Alexander wants the charming prince (the hero) dead. Why? Because Alexander battled all his life to save his country from the tyranny of the hero’s father. Now he fears that the hero will come home and carry on the tyranny.

I loved writing Alexander. He acts not from personal ambition but for benefit of his countrymen (well, he that and his big ego). Alexander becomes the hero of The Mad, Bad Duke, where he meets a young Englishwoman who won’t let him get away with that big ego.

With my two current series (Shifters Unbound and The Mackenzies), the hero / villain delineation is a little more complicated.

In each series I have some bad guys who drive the plot, but the true villains in these series are more obscure. In the Shifters books, it’s the overall situation of humans vs. Shifters (Shifters are second-class citizens made to wear Collars and live in Shiftertowns). The Shifter heroes battle to keep the others Shifters in line in order to keep the peace and let Shifters get strong enough to end their situation. (The current book is the bestselling Primal Bonds, which came out this March.)

In the Mackenzies’ books, the villains are the Mackenzies themselves.

The entire world views them as “villains” (not criminals, but dangerous and powerful). The Mackenzies do as they please, uninhibited by society’s rules, because they don’t care about the rules. They have too many other things to deal with to worry about rules.

The youngest, Ian Mackenzie (The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, re-releasing August 2011), has Asperger’s Syndrome. Ian fights that demon every day, and his choices aren’t understood by most of the world.

His oldest brother, Hart, has done what he had to do to keep his younger brothers safe, especially from their father who was obsessive, jealous, abusive, and probably a little Aspy himself.

Hart’s actions regarding his brothers (and his father), can’t always be seen as “nice,” but he sees them as necessary and justified. More of his motivations and exactly what he’s done and why will come out in the August release, The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (about the womanizing, horse-training Mackenzie brother), and Hart’s own book, which I’m working on now.

As you can tell, I love giving villains a chance to tell their own stories. I love these guys so much, I want to give them a chance to fall in love and be happy.

“Good” guys can bore me—I think I’ll keep writing my men bad!

Jennifer Ashley Bio:

Re-Release August 2011

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Jennifer Ashley has lived and traveled all over the world, and now lives in the Southwest. She writes historical, paranormal, and contemporary romance as Jennifer Ashley; mysteries as Ashley Gardner; and paranormal romance and urban fantasy as Allyson James.

Jennifer’s/Allyson’s/Ashley’s novels have won RWA’s RITA award, the Golden Quill, RT Reviewer’s Choice awards, and the Prism award, among others. Jennifer’s novels have been also been translated into nearly a dozen European and Asian languages.

Jennifer enjoys writing and reading above all else, but her hobbies include cooking, hiking, playing flute and guitar, painting, and building miniature rooms and dollhouses.

If you have any comments or questions,
e-mail Jennifer at
jenniferashley@cox.net.

Bad Boys vs Assholes

There are all kinds of heroes in books. I write just about every type you could think of from the good guy to the tormented hero. However, there’s a breed of hero out there that I think is gaining a lot of momentum with readers: the heroes who aren’t all that sterling. Of these not so wonderful heroes, the two I like most are the bad boy and the asshole (jerk.)

The bad boy is the guy who appears to be not squeaky clean, not the boy next door, and definitely not the sweet, good guy. The bad boy may not be all that bad in actuality. He may not have a criminal record or have done anything that could remotely be called bad. He may be a bad boy simply by virtue of the fact that he’s unconventional. He wears biker boots or work boots instead of wingtips. Faded, ripped Levis instead of a suit. He may ride a motorcycle or drive a beat up truck instead of a sports car or fancy sedan. These guys are bad boys by virtue of their appearance.

Then there are bad boys who actually aren’t all that nice. These guys could be suit wearing corporate raiders or leather jacketed ex-cons. Their commonality is that they do what they want and brush aside the feelings of others. In other words, they are arrogant assholes.

In my series Tales of the Darkworld, I have both bad boys and assholes. In Ride the Lightning, the hero Vahid Delrey is a total asshole. He spurns his destined mate in favor of moving in with his boss’s sister. He’s horribly rude to his mate, judgmental and uncaring of her feelings. Eventually, he begins to change his attitude and his feelings about her. In the end, he takes responsibility for his poor behavior and the detrimental affect it’s had on Emily. He realizes that he needs to put her and her needs first and his attitude does an about face.

Seth Dylan who first appears as a secondary character in Common Ground gets his turn as the bad boy hero in Sunstroked. He’s the boot and jeans wearing, scowling and dour Scots werewolf who doesn’t recognize his mate when he finds him. I think Sunstroked’s readers found Seth to be pretty much a classic bad boy. He admits that his sexual relationships with men aren’t relationships. He admits to using those men to get off with complete disregard for whether they might be interested in more from him. When the man who took his virginity appears in his life after nearly two years, Seth realizes he’s held himself distant from other men because it’s Corey he wants, needs and loves.

The penultimate bad boy in my series is black dragon Sean Antaeus who won’t have his own book until the very last book. Sean is both bad boy and asshole. The arrogant, take no prisoners head of the Antaeus family and the conglomerate Antaeus International can be ruthless when he needs to be with family, friends, and in business. But a good portion of his bad boy image is just that, an image. One that equals the leather, ripped jeans and motorcycles of other bad boys. Sean uses it to hide how much he loves his family and how much they mean to him.

Whether you’re a fan of the bad boy hero or not, you can’t be indifferent to them. They always bring out some sort of emotion in you even if it’s annoyance. But I see more and more readers of my series calling for Sean’s story and exclaiming over Vahid’s redemption. The asshole and bad boy heroes are gaining ground on the nice guys. I like to think it’s because we all admire a man who is strong and forceful but still caring and loving. We all want to believe that everyone has good qualities. And who wouldn’t want to be swept away by a primal man with a fiercely loving heart?

Coming Soon to Pink Petal Books

Bio:

An award winning, multi-published PAN author, Lex is a member of Romance Writers of America and EPIC. Her publishers include: Ellora’s Cave, Pink Petal Books, MLR Press, Liquid Silver Books, and Cobblestone Press. She is published in both ebook and print. The Tales of the Darkworld series can be found at Pink Petal Books.

Born and raised on California’s Central Coast, Lex moved to Southern California in 1992. She lives in Orange County with her daughter Nikki and Rott, her long haired, tattooed DH. She loves loud music, builds her own computers, and has very weird dreams about Nikki Sixx. Lex works full-time at a cemetery as the network administrator.

LINKS:
Website: http://lexvalentine.com
Blog: http://sunlightsucks.com
http://fivedarkrealms.com
http://talesofthedarkworld.com

Cat Marsters—The Original Sinner: Striker

When I first wrote Striker he was going to be a villain, plain and simple. He had one function: to tempt my heroine, Chalia, away from the man she loved. Striker had varous magical powers and he wasn’t above using them to get what he wanted. When he got angry he’d explode things. Like buildings. People. Cities.

I kinda liked him.

And that was the problem. I wanted him to be the bad guy. I even tried to kill him off. But I couldn’t do it. Well, I did, but no one stays dead for long in my books. At the last count, Striker had been declared legally dead three times. He’s still walking around.

But herein lies the rub. I can’t make him a romantic hero. He kills people for fun. He once cut someone in half, vertically, with a sword made out of fire. Got angry and flattened an entire city. He explodes pickpockets. Kills people for looking at him a bit funny. He’s a psychopath. A proper unhinged nutter. He’s a villain. So why do I like him? Why does everyone else?

Well, he’s hot for one thing. A giant walking pheromone. But we’re not that shallow, are we? He’s funny, for sure—he has a very nice line in sarcasm. He can do anything. I mean quite literally, anything. Travel through time (what, like it’s hard?). Kill immortal beings. Being people back to life. Make it snow, just because Chalia says she likes it.

Is that it? Do we like him because he loves his woman? He’ll quite literally do anything for her, up to and including mass homicide (she’s never asked, but he’s waiting for the opportunity). Making it snow is nothing: when she died he brought her back to life. When she decided she wanted a baby, despite the gods attempting to keep him from procreating by making it physically impossible for the only woman he loved to carry a child (okay, so he can’t do everything—cut the guy a break, he’s a homicidal maniac, not a fertility expert) he travelled in time to change the course of history and befuddled the gods out of noticing until the baby was born.

Or do we feel sympathy for the devil? Striker was, after all, once an ordinary person. A very good-looking, smart, rich, and mischeivous person, but with no more inclination to mass murder than you or me. And then a random accident got him stranded in an alien world for twelve years, all alone and with just a few magical powers lent to him in order to survive. Telling himself every day he’d get back to the woman he’d left behind. Thinking of the one and only night they spent together. Pickling in his own madness. By the time he returned he was lean and hard and strange and cold, and he might still have turned into something resembling a human being were it not for the fact that his One True Love had buggered off and got engaged to someone else, and told him in no uncertain terms that she wanted him out of her life.

So he flattened a city. As you do.

The thing is, he does love Chalia, but that’s about his only redeeming feature. And it’s not much of one. He loves her selfishly, like a child loves. He doesn’t want to share her. It’s kind of hard to figure out whether he really loves his daughter or not—even I’m not entirely sure if he does, or if he just takes care of her because Chalia wants him to. I wrote about Striker’s relationship with his daughter, Chance, in my first Ellora’s Cave book, Almost Human. She doesn’t know what to make of it, and neither does he.

She knows her father is the most evil man in history. That’s going to give a girl quite a complex.

Excerpt from Mad, Bad & Dangerous, available now ffrom Ellora’s Cave.

Was this how Striker had become so terrible, so powerful and so dangerous? Was this why he’d rampaged through Euskara twenty years ago, murdering Magi and stealing their power, flattening cities, roasting people alive—just to mirror his own pain?
What the hell could have hurt such an inhuman man so badly?
He found himself on the ground, back in his human body, staring at the scryer in his palm. It glowed red then the face resolved into Striker’s visage.
“Who the fuck are you?” he asked.
The same shock of fear and disgust ran through Bael, but far less powerfully than it had before. “Why did you do it?” he asked.
“Do what? Who are you?”
“Kett’s— I’m…a friend of Kett’s,” Bael said through the bad taste in his mouth.
“Oh yeah.” Striker’s mouth twisted cruelly. “You ran away.”
“You murdered hundreds of my people.”
Striker shrugged, as if he couldn’t see what the two things had to do with each other.
“Why did you do it? You flattened the city of Vaticano twenty years ago. You stole power and tortured innocent people. Why did you do it?”
Striker shrugged again. “What are you, a groupie? I did it ’cos I wanted to, kid. I enjoyed it. I’d do it again—”
“No, you bloody wouldn’t,” came a female voice, the voice of the brunette at Nuala’s house. Chalia. Chance’s mother…
Understanding stabbed Bael in the heart.
“You did it for her,” he said slowly. “Because she hurt you.” With every word he became more certain, the knowledge creeping into him like fog.
Striker’s face turned to granite.
“Because she did something to you,” Bael went on. “Because she hurt you so badly it screamed inside you, and all you wanted to do was make everyone else feel as much pain as you. To hurt and maim and burn and slash and kill, because that’s what she did to you. And she never stopped you. She stops you now but she didn’t then. And you went on sucking power out of people so you could destroy more and more, bigger and bigger, until you’d destroyed a city and killed thousands—”
A jolt of power suddenly surged through the scryer, like the shock from ungrounded metal, making Bael flinch and lose his thread.
The view on his scryer tilted, as if someone else had taken hold of the device, and Chalia’s face appeared, pale and shocked.
“It was you,” Bael said, and her lovely dark eyes swam with fear and guilt and pain.
“What did you do?” Bael asked her.
Her hand went to her throat, lovely and unlined even twenty years after Striker had burned and destroyed cities in her name.
“I got engaged to someone else,” she said distantly. “Who are you?”
“Baelvar.” The world had narrowed to the scryer in his hand and the anger pulsing through him.
Chalia regarded him through the scryer. “You’re Kett’s mate, yes? The Nasc. With power.”
Bael clenched his fist and looked away.
Striker laughed softly. “What did she do?”
“Someone else,” Bael said.

Bio:

Cat Marsters lives in Essex and belongs to a pride of adored cats. On occasion she can be persuaded to admit ownership of a demon puppy (but not if you suspect your flowers have been trampled). She enjoys watching TV and films that showcase the looks and talents of Richard Armitage, David Tennant and Hugh Jackman, reading books that make her laugh, dyeing her hair, and talking about herself in the third person.
Cat has been writing all her life, but in order to keep herself rich in shoes and chocolate, she’s also worked as an airline check-in agent, video rental clerk, stationery shop assistant, and laboratory technician. She’s still aiming for the fairytale cottage of her childhood dreams, and asks all potential Prince Charmings to apply in writing with pictures of themselves and their Aston Martins.

Buy link: http://www.jasminejade.com/p-8185-mad-bad-dangerous.aspx
Website: http://catmarsters.com
Blog: http://etaknosnhoj.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/K8JohnsonAuthor
Facebook: http://facebook.com/catmarsters

Out Now!

Villains! I love the little devils. Not because I’m secretly a sadist who likes to see all her happy little characters tormented by some nasty villain…well, OK, maybe I do, but mostly I love villains because in them, I see the opportunity of redemption.

There’s nothing that chimes my bells more than a bad boy character, a person who at some point in his life, made a choice that led him into a path of no return. Mind you, I don’t like characters who were born bad—Magoth, a demon lord in my dragon books, is one of my favorite characters, but despite wishing I could turn him around and make him a hero, I know in my heart I can’t because he never truly was ever good to begin with—but give me a man who made some bad choices and was damned because of them, and I’m on the spot ready to bring him back to the fold.

That’s one reason why Baltic, one of my dragon heroes, is my favorite of all the dragons. He started out as the villain, a man who had committed acts so heinous, everyone feared him. So far as anyone knew, he was a psychopathic murderer bent on the destruction of everyone and everything. He remained that way through the three silver dragon books, with only a hint in the last one that perhaps there was more to him than was obvious.

Coming to NAL Signet May 3,2011

I knew the moment I first wrote the words “dread wyvern Baltic” that some day, I was going to take this uber-villain, and turn him into a hero. I couldn’t resist—he was just so bad, so apparently focused on everyone’s destruction, I had to find out what had made him that way, what forces had driven him to become the most hated character in all of dragon history, and spin him around.

It turned out the force that had sent him on a spiral of villainhood had been love. Baltic loved and lost, and that loss drove him more or less insane with grief. The depths of his love, the power it held over his mind, and how it forced him into choices that others would never have made is what intrigued me. I loved exploring just how far his vengeance would take him simply because I knew how much pain he suffered every single moment of his existence.

The joy, of course, was when it came time to write Baltic’s books. Redemption, how sweet thy name! I reveled in the opportunity of taking a villain that readers had despised for three books, and finding a way to not only make them love him, but more importantly, make him whole again. The answer was again love—what once destroyed him, now could make him a warm, funny, loving person, one who still had enough naughty quirks to satisfy my bad-boy lust, but who could now be free to conduct heroic acts…even if they were done with a villainous flair.

Heroes are well and fine, but give me an angsty, tormented villain, and I’ll happily plot his redemption, glorying in his badness every step of the way.

For an Excerpt from the upcoming The Unbearable Lightness of Dragons Click Here.

To Pre-Order (print): Amazon,B-A-M,  Barnes & Noble, Book Depository,  Borders, Chapters, Indie Bound, Penguin, Powell’s

To Pre-Order (eBook): Kindle,  Nook

Katie’s page: http://katiemacalister.com/

Bio:

For as long as she can remember, Katie MacAlister has loved reading. Growing up in a family where a weekly visit to the library was a given, Katie spent much of her time with her nose buried in a book. Despite her love for novels, she didn’t think of writing them until she was contracted to write a non-fiction book about software. Since her editor refused to allow her to include either witty dialogue or love scenes in the software book, Katie swiftly resolved to switch to fiction, where she could indulge in world building, tormenting characters, and falling madly in love with all her heroes.

Two years after she started writing novels, Katie sold her first romance, Noble Intentions. More than thirty books later, her novels have been translated into numerous languages, been recorded as audiobooks, received several awards, and are regulars on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. She also writes for the young adult audience as Katie Maxwell.

Katie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and dogs, and can often be found lurking around online.

Heroes are always a complex subject, especially in fiction and particularly in romantic fiction. On the surface of it, they seem simple. The hero is the good guy with the perfect moral compass, who always does what’s right and gets the girl. Right?

Yeah, I suppose. But, being honest? That’s the sort of hero who bores me to tears. I don’t like reading them and I sure as eggs is eggs don’t like writing them. A writer has to like his or her hero, and even fall in love with them a little themselves, otherwise how can we do their story any justice or even write a story that is credible?

My heroes are usually deeply conflicted, not perfect, and even sometimes can be considered down-right bastards. But deep within, there is something there that is redeemable. Something about them which is just waiting for the right circumstance, and the right woman to come along to make them shine, or show them the way to being the man they want to be, and of course, the hero I want to write about.

Let me share with you my thoughts on one of my favourite heroes. I make no secret of the fact I am a Jensen Ackles fan. I’ve been hooked since watching him play on Dark Angel with Jessica Alba. But my favourite role of his has to be Dean Winchester.

Like my heroes, on the surface Dean isn’t hero material. He’s rough, violent, has questionable morals when it comes to women (okay, the lad’s got the morals of an alley cat at times) and has a more meaningful link with his car than most people. He’s a liar, a conman and for a good portion of the series’es (how the hell do you make series plural anyway?) he’s wanted for murder.

If we dig a little deeper though, there is something compelling and actually heart-rending about the character. He lost his mother at a very young age, but not young enough that he doesn’t remember her like his brother, and grew up dealing with his Dad’s one-man war against everything that goes bump in the night.

He didn’t have a normal childhood, instead moved from pillar to post as John Winchester hunted, and being responsible for his little brother for large periods of time. Both boys were brought up with the knowledge that the monster under the bed isn’t a story, but is real, and how to kill it in a variety of bloody and brutal ways.

As the story progresses, we see different facets of Dean’s character revealed like little gems. His ability to kill can’t be questioned, and he’d rather take that on himself than let his brother do it and suffer agony over it. He spent time in hell and started the apocalypse, but he fights harder than anyone to put that right.

The sweetest episodes for me are the ones were we see what Dean actually wants. Far from the gung-ho, action-driven lifestyle he has, and which most men would kill for in their dreams, he wants a home and family. He wants to be normal.

However, when the shit hits the fan, and the world is about to end…even though he can’t do anything and the very attempt will probably kill him…he doesn’t back down. He faces down the devil himself to try and save his brother.

Violent, egotistical, arrogant…determined to do right, unbelievably noble and sweet as all hell. That’s why Dean Winchester is one of my favourite heroes.

Coming to Ellora's Cave March 11th

Mina Carter Bio:
Mina Carter was born and raised in Middle Earth (otherwise known as the Midlands, England). After a slew of careers ranging from logistics to land-surveying she can now be found in the wilds of Leicestershire with her husband and young daughter…the true boss of the family.

Coming to Summer House Publishing March 28th, 2011

Suffering the curse of eternal curiosity Mina never tires of learning new skills which has led to Aromatherapy, Corsetry, Chain-maille making, Welding, Canoeing, Shooting, and pole-dancing to name but a few. A veteran Star Trek RPGer, she’s run both games and groups of games but now finds her home in Bravo Fleet, one of the internet’s oldest Star Trek simm groups.

She juggles being a mum, working full time and writing, tossing another ball in the air with her cover artwork. For Mina, writing time is the wee hours of the morning before anyone wakes up and starts making demands, or any spare minute that can be begged, bought or conned.

Her first stories were penned at age 11, when she used a stationery set meant for Christmas thank you letters to write stories instead. More recently, she wrote for her own amusement and to save on outrageous monthly book bills. Now she’s totally addicted and needs her daily writing fix or heads roll!

Website: http://mina-carter.com/

What makes a hero tick?

Well, that’s a bit of a loaded question. Because for as many types of men (and women) out there, there are just as many heroes. The silent, do-it-all-or-die type. The in-your-face type. Even the ones who are nothing but heart.

My heroes tend to be a mixing bag of all of those traits and whatever else happens to work for that story and for them. Each character is unique unto themselves and I love that about them. Even when they add to my gray hair.

Examination room one: Xavier’s Way
Our hero: Xavier De Los Santos
A hard working, self-motivated type of man, from a family of strong men (all brothers. You kinda feel sorry for their mother, I know I do!). What happens though when life throws him a slow and sexy curve ball in the form of one Jordan Belton? He shakes in his work boots is what happens! And the incredible thing about how he handles that curve ball is by admitting he’s scared. Admitting he may be wrong. No matter what direction he tries to take, but takes it anyway.

So he’s one type. Flexible. Accepting, able to stand up to a challenge. But sensitive to the fact that once the cat is out of the bag-Jordan’s personal attraction-he doesn’t give fate the finger. He stands up to it and challenges himself to embrace it.

Terrifying, isn’t it? You’ll have to read his story to see just how he handles it.

Xavier’s Way Book Info:

Pubilisher Link:http://www.etopia-press.net/

ARe Link: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-xavier039sway-499574-145.html

Kindle:http://www.amazon.com/Xaviers-Way-ebook/dp/B004GHND16/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1299255904&sr=8-4

Nook:http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Xaviers-Way/Diana-DeRicci/e/9781936751044/?itm=4&USRI=diana+dericci

Examination room two: Wolf Brother’s Legacy: Resurrection
Our Hero(ine): Angela Merrick (Yes a woman)

This woman has had life kick her while she’s down and even when life doesn’t let her catch her breath, she..doesn’t..stop…living. I will have to admit, this chick was hard to write. Stubbornest damn ass of a person…but that’s a side rant. In truth, just staying alive and on her own two feet is her biggest challenge because she’s dying. She knows it. She’s accepted it, now if the rest of the damn world would just let her be until she can’t fight back any longer, she’d be content. Yeah, life doesn’t happen that way.

She’s the type of woman that personifies inner strength, because even when life is kicking her ass, she kicks back. Hard. She doesn’t stop when her mind and heart are set on something. She will fight tooth and nail for what she believes in. The lioness. A fighter.

Her type is very in your face with her strength, but feminine. A spine of steel with a conscientious heart.

Wolf Brother’s Legacy: Resurrection Book Info:
Publisher Link: http://purplesword.com/zencart/
(Releasing this summer)

Examination room three: Beneath the Shield
Our hero: Jack Torres
Now here is a yummy example of alpha male that has been wounded so badly, he’s drifting, mostly hiding, living, but on the very edges. He’s the type to let you run into his fist, not hit you. His heart is in desperate need of CPR, and a certain doctor has just what he needs.

Jack learns to let go, that living is now. He is a deep strength, because only that in human nature allows us to forgive ourselves. Being a police officer shows he’s not immune to the world around him, and he shows that, but woe be to the one who dares to reach him.

So that’s three strong, very similar characters, but in each story they are as individual and unique as the world between page one and ‘The End’.

How do I see heroes? I see them in all shapes and sizes, everywhere, from the young man who helped me one afternoon to aid the driver of a car that had flipped–yes, flipped–barely thirty feet in front of me on a busy highway, to the kindness of making someone’s day by taking donuts to work–when you don’t work there. They are all around us, in the small and big things they do. There is no age limitations, no city-to-cowboy delineation, not even male versus female. We all are heroes, and I want my readers to recognize that facet of themselves in the characters I write.

Beneath the Shield Book Info:

Publisher Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/books.php

ARe Link: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-beneaththeshield-516664-144.html

Kindle Link: http://www.amazon.com/Beneath-the-Shield-ebook/dp/B004OL2J7S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1299255904&sr=8-6

Diana Castilleja/Diana DeRicci Bio:
With more than half a dozen ebooks currently to her credit and her first print book released in 2008, Diana Castilleja has kept busy since she started writing professionally in late 2004. Diana currently resides in central Texas with her husband and son. When not focusing her energy on her family and her writing, she loves to travel and haunt bookstores. She’s lived in several states across the south and midwest, as well as traveling to Mexico. With moving every year or changing schools since the fourth grade to her sophomore year, she learned reading was a fast escape. The freedom to read about anything and everything has fueled her adult imagination. She also enjoys romance, horses, and yes, still loves to read. Right now, she’s probably attacking her keyboard writing her next book. If she’s not, she should be!

OUT NOW at Changeling Press Last Call Europe: Dog Sled!

BLURB:
Werewolf Silvano wants a break from the drama in pack business. A night out is exactly what he needs. He doesn’t count on his rival’s familiar Hexuba strolling into Last Call.
Black cat shifter and wizard’s familiar Hexuba has always wanted Silvano even though he’s the enemy. One night is all she asks to indulge her wildest fantasies with him. Come morning she’ll be gone.

Will one night be enough?

BUY LINK:
http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1373

EXCERPT:
Last Call Europe: Dog Sled
Selena Illyria
All rights reserved.
Copyright ?2010 Selena Illyria
This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

Silvano stood in his bathroom staring at his foggy reflection in the mirror. He drew in a breath and blew it out. Tension sung through his body as he prepared himself for the monthly fuckfest. Or, as his elders liked to call it, the compatibility test. He didn’t buy it for a second. Find your mate by fucking them. He scoffed at the notion but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Either he slept with all the available females in his pack to find a suitable alpha female or he lost his pack. So it was decreed in the pack bylaws, the rules his father had followed as laid out by his father before him and so on and so on, ad nauseam.
As a hormone-driven youth, he’d reveled at the chance to fuck so many willing women. Now, as an adult of thirty-four, with his thirty-fifth birthday right around the corner, he was tired of it. All of it. He’d fucked practically every available woman in the pack. His father had even thought of bringing in women from an allied pack to see if he would fit better with one of them. He’d turned them all down. It wasn’t just the sex that was tiresome, but also the elders and his second lieutenant, the rules, the obligations…

He was alpha, the leader, and yet he couldn’t make up new rules or lead his people the way he wanted. The system was antiquated, governed by laws and decorum that didn’t fit into today’s world of paraphiles, people obsessed with the paranormal and all aspects of it. The young pups lived in a sort of static environment, caught between tradition and the modern age where werewolves could blend in with the normal populace without being shunned for doing so.

The other problem on his horizon was twofold. One was from an ex-pack member, Turk. The man had been begun to dabble in the dark arts, accessing the magick in his blood from his wizard ancestry all in a bid to take over the pack that had exiled him long ago. Silvano feared for his once childhood friend. According to reports, Turk was going insane, being driven by dark forces. There was very little Silvano could do short of killing the man, and he was reluctant to do so. Many in both packs had blamed him for Turk’s current behavior. Silvano had refused to step aside during the pack challenge and let Turk win.

He shook his head. Silvano couldn’t have allowed that. The man was unstable. And now there was the problem of Turk’s black cat familiar: Hexuba. Just thinking her name heated his blood. His cock went from flaccid to semi-hard. He could see her face, the velvety dark chocolate colored eyes. Just a glance made him want to drag her someplace private, away from distractions, and discover what secret places on her body made her cry out and moan.

“Fucking hell.” He fisted his cock at the base and stroked slowly, allowing the arousal to grow. “Hex.” He hissed out her name as his mind painted her image among the wisps of steam. Her delicate nose, high cheekbones and lush, full lips came into view. He groaned again as his thoughts drifted to feeling those lips against his as she explored his body. Silvano could feel the pebbled tips of her nipples scraping across his belly as she moved downward. He wanted to feel her mouth on him, feel her tongue lap at the slit atop his cockhead before swallowing him whole.

The fantasy continued to build as his imagination painted Hex on her knees, lips dragging along his hardened length. The minx would tease him, giving him just enough pressure to send pulses of pleasure up his spine and throughout his body before releasing his cock. She would lap up his seed while pumping him with her hand before returning to torment him with her mouth, and he would love every minute of it.

“Silvano, are you ready?” a high-pitched female voice called out.

The fantasy evaporated just like the steam and he swore. His cock lost some of its hardness as real life came crashing in. With a sigh, he shook his head. “Time to do my duty.”

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Out Now at Aspen Mountain Press Chocolate Snake Bites: Blurb: Every relationship has problems and for months now all Dale and Val have been doing is fighting. He wants it to stop. So drastic times call for drastic measures. Dale takes the Love?s Bane potion hoping that Val will be too busy lusting after him to fight with him, but sex can?t solve every problem. Val doesn?t want part of her lover. She wants all of him, even the dark aspects of his sexual desire. She yearns for his brand but every time she brings up the subject he shuts her down. How can they communicate when he won?t open up? Will the arrival of his brothers and a trip to the Demonic Snake court help their relationship or hurt it? Buy Link: http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/chocolate-snake-bite/prod_315.html Excerpt: ?Don’t do it,? Cody warned. Dale looked up into Cody’s hard sea blue gaze and nearly reconsidered his actions. His thoughts turned to Val and the last few weeks. He shook his head, path resolved. ?I have to do it. There is no other way.? Cody shook his head. ?This kind of magick isn’t something you just pickup. It’s not something you mess around with. Do you even know what’s in this so-called ‘aphrodisiac.’? Dale winced. ?No. Look, it comes from a reliable person. I trust my source.? ?What does Pietro, say about this? After all, that kind of potion is restricted for demons.? Cody picked up a glass and started cleaning up. His eyes focused on Dale making him squirm from the intensity. ?He doesn’t know?? Dale’s voice trailed off as guilt surfaced for the umpteenth time. Ever since the thought had entered his mind about gaining a small sample of the Love’s Bane, he’d felt guilty. Pietro, King of the Demons was one of his best friends. If he found out what Dale was up to, Pietro would have his balls. ?Let me remind you of why it’s banned. Love’s Bane is an aphrodisiac that is highly addictive. Taken in high qualities it could poison you. It there hadn’t been a pact between demons and warlocks the magickal beings would still be trying to destroy your asses with it. So, I don’t care how bad your relationship problems are. Don’t. Do. It.? Cody emphasized the last few words in short clipped tones. With a sigh Dale looked away from Cody. ?Look, I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t know what to do about Val. She and I have been fighting lately, a lot. I mean we’re a passionate couple but it’s just too much lately. I’m starting to worry that she’ll want to break it off with me.? He loathed feeling so vulnerable. ?I’m Dale Thornston, heir to the Serpentine Throne, the fourth most powerful house in all of Demon world and I’m here, sulking in a bar, drowning my troubles in some drink called Chocolate Snake Bites and talking to you about things I would never tell another soul, not even my best friends or brothers. It’s pathetic. I should be at home fucking the daylights out of my mate, not here. If she hadn’t had to work late again?? he stopped talking and dragged a hand over his face. ?I’m tired of being alone at home.? He would have felt a lot better if he didn’t feel she was avoiding him because of their last fight, which started off over with if there was coffee left in the pot and escalated to not spending enough time together. Dale didn’t know what they were talking about anymore, it was all shouting and crying lately. He didn’t want to lose her and he would do anything just to know that she still wanted to be with him. ?Then why don’t you ask her about her feelings instead of doing something stupid?? Cody asked. ?Such a simple question. Don’t you think I’ve tried that? We either getting interrupted or in a fight and I always end up sticking my foot in my mouth. It just feels like we’re never going to stop fighting. It doesn’t help that there’s a new guy in her office and it’s very clear that bastard wants what’s mine.? His stomach roiled and raged. Anger boiled in his veins as an image of Val’s new co-worker and boss, the werewolf Alexander Hughes rose in his mind. The bastard had made it clear that he wanted Val and would play dirty to get her. ?That son of bitch,? he growled. ?He’s scheduled a week long business trip to Italy with Val. She loves Italy. How the hell can I compete with that? I don’t have time to go to Italy. No one in the garage is responsible enough to be left in charge. Why the fuck did I hire so many morons?? Dale rested his head on his forearm and groaned. If Pietro could see him now he would be kicking his ass. With a heavy sigh he threw back the rest of his drink and looked up at Cody. ?Look, you love her. That should be enough. Show her you still care. Fights come and go but love?? Cody shook his head. Dale nodded and slid off the bar, throwing down a few dollars and a tip. ?Thanks, man. Um, question. Why the hell did you give me a Chocolate Snake Bites? That’s not my usual.? Cody shrugged and then a smile curled his lips. ?Thought you’d get my humor, you are after all a Snake shifter demon and your bite well, I’ve heard things.? http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/chocolate-snake-bite/prod_315.html

Blurb:
Cover artist Kelsey is on a deadline for Bedtime Press but her elemental powers are out of control. As a cat shifter, she’s in heat, which is interfering with her concentration. An electrical surge, power outage and the appearance of two sexy digital models come to life may be the answer to her prayers.

Buy Link:
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Excerpt:
Bedtime Stories: Inspiration
Selena Illyria
All rights reserved.
Copyright ?2010 Selena Illyria
This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

One session and you were hooked like a moronic fish.

Shut up, you, before I find the catnip. Besides, look at what we can do now.

Oh, of course it was all worth it. Digital models you can drool over. Do they come to life? Are they willing to fuck us to stop this damn heat? Hmmm? Didn’t think so.

Kelsey rolled her eyes. She opened a few images of her past work. Comparing then to now showed she’d improved immensely. Life before the Electric Ray 3-D plus package had seemed mundane. Going back to outdated models that looked awkward and at times not even attractive was impossible, not when she could make them so lifelike.

Kelsey whimpered as she looked up at the walls. Framed artwork of some of her digital art goddesses were lined up neatly in a row. Gorgeous models in various erotic poses and situations with so much detail they were surreal. Effective use of layering, colors and utilizing various brushes, all to create mini masterpieces. With Electric Ray 3-D she would be one step closer to the perfection she found in work from Leslie Stella or Anne Ren?e. Kelsey cursed her current situation.

To make things worse, the cover art requests were piling up. She’d just managed to send out her last cover only to get five more last minute requests. A scream rumbled up from her throat. It expanded and pushed upward, ready to burst forth. All she could do was swallow it down. No use getting frustrated. Work was work. Getting paid to feed her software habit was of the utmost importance.

Besides, anger was not good in this situation. Her energies were acting up. It was bad enough being a cat shifter who had gone into heat, but to be an elemental witch, as well, whose gift was electricity, was very dangerous to her equipment. She couldn’t afford to call Troll and request another custom built system along with the charge that went with reloading her software. Every time she was late with a cover or asked for some new software or computer equipment, that was another year to her contract. So far she was up to twenty years.

With a sigh, she got to work. Kelsey brought up her favorite new models, Jonny and Maximus. A quick scan of the printout for the cover art request form and she was off to the races. She’d blindly reach out and hit repeat or play on her little CD player while adjusting this and that. After four hours, she was almost happy with what she’d gotten accomplished. The poses were what the author had requested, and the background was almost right, but something felt off.

She peered at the screen. They don’t look lifelike enough. Kelsey saved her work and put it on her backup disc before she went searching on the internet for something that would help make it look right. Scrolling through the forums of her favorite artwork sites, she tried not to drool at some of the things she saw. There was a new package out for elf garb and some new action features she coveted with a vengeance. Then there was the movie star look-alike bundle that made her fingers tingle with want.

“It’s too bad I can’t use any of this,” Kelsey murmured with a sigh. She didn’t have enough hours in the day to test out the latest rendering tech. Vacation time was impossible when you were on Troll’s clock.

After two hours, she still hadn’t found what she was looking for, so she loaded up her art program again and got to work trying to figure out where she went wrong. After deconstructing her cover she discovered what the trouble was. There was no spark, no it that made the models look alive. No amount of rendering software could replace the ghost in the machine, as it were.

“They don’t look lifelike enough, but I’ll damn well try. Gotta keep tweaking the UV map and shader editor.”

Kelsey got up and put on another pot of coffee. She did a few yoga stretches before pouring a cup of java and getting back to work. Life faded around her until it was just her and the cover art. She used every trick she could think of to make the models seem as close to human as possible. Midnight had come and gone, and she was so buzzed she felt jittery, but none of that mattered. She was so close to finding what she was looking for.

Kelsey took a moment to look at the screen. She saw the sharp features, rugged good looks and chiseled abs of Maximus and almost drooled. Then there was the lean, athletic body of Jonny with high cheek bones, a boyish grin and a twinkle in his eye. “Damn, I wish these guys were real.”

Energy surged through her body. The hairs on the back of her arms and neck rose. Kelsey cursed before a major burst of power erupted from her fingertips, frying the keyboard and monitor. The lights in her office flickered before they went out.

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