Magic Thursday: Your Opinion is needed

Righto, I didn't get any responses to my question that was in the Weekly Overview regarding the blog, so I'm thinking because it was at the bottom of the post people may have missed it.

I'm in the process of thinking about redesigning the blog, and thought this would be a good time to ask about what you like and don't like about this blog.

This also includes content. What would you like to see MORE of, or LESS of? What do you like about the blog? What don't you like about the blog? Are you happy with dark look of the blog, or would you prefer it to be more traditional?



To help you along, here are the columns we do

Weekly Overview - shows what is coming up in the coming week, and where the DarkSiders were in the past week.  (Weekly on Sundays)

Good News Day - pretty self explanatory - good news of our members (Weekly on Tuesdays)

A Bite of... -  has an extract from our member's works. (Fortnightly on Wednesdays)

Magic Thursday - blog posts about different topics by our members regarding books, the paranormal, myth and magic. Sometimes with giveaways, which are announced on Mondays. (Weekly on Thurdays)

What We Are Reading - a look at what DarkSider members have read and a quick review. (Monthly on Fridays)

Darklight On... a spotlight on one of our members (monthly on Saturdays)

Enchanted Orb - a look at the inspiration behind the stories (monthly on Saturdays).

We also have pages of Latest Releases and Upcoming releases, Book Trailers, Our Member Web Hangouts, Our Bios, Contest news (for writers), Agent and review site info, and market news.


Basically, now is the perfect time to speak up. All comments will be taken into consideration, fed into our computer, collated, analysed, correlated, go into warp speed to come to the conclusion of what we should do next.

Truly.

So okay, you have got me there. While all comments will be considered, it will be by the blog team. So help the team out and less know.



You can leave comments below, or if you prefer, you can email us at darksidedownunderATgmail.com

Thanks!


~Eleni and the blog team

Good News Day!

Welcome to this week's good news...

SALES 

Eden Summers has just recently signed her third contract for a Halloween Anthology with Etopia Press. Go Eden!

SHORT STORIES

Maggie Mundy has a short story called Bumble Bee that will be online with Alfiedog.com on September 16th!

COVERS & RELEASE DATE

Nicole Hurley-Moore's new book, Until The Stars Burn Cold will be released on the 20th Sept. by Pink Petal Books. It's a paranormal/time travel novel.

Forbidden love...
Long ago in ancient Persia, there lived a pair of star crossed lovers. In a desperate bid, the lovers sought to flee the town of Adwan. But they were caught and torn apart.
For his insolence, Jinn is cursed into a ring. Ages pass and empires crumble... and Jinn is still forever bound in a circle of frozen silver. Bound, that is until present day antiques dealer, Mia Templeton accidentally releases him. There is more to Mia than just her beauty... somehow she seems familiar.
Is love eternal and evil everlasting? Can the power that destroyed Jinn's life in Adwan, reach through the centuries and threaten his future?


Mel Teshco has Beneath the Light of a Silver Moon coming out in November with Momentum's Hot Down Under line.

Kristen Treymore isn't living anymore – she's existing.
Trapped in marriage to Jack, an alcoholic who uses his fists to communicate, Kristen has given up her freedom in an attempt to protect his daughter.
When Conrad Doyle, childhood friend and the man whose heart she unwittingly broke, shows up on Kristen's doorstep and offers her a lifeline, she can't refuse.
What she never dreams possible is how much she still wants him—but is that enough to keep them together when terror still beats deep in her heart?

Momentum is the new digital-only imprint of Pan Macmillan Australia and they'll be releasing a series of 13 erotic short stories by new and established Australian romance writers, including some of our Dark Siders - Rhyll Biest, C.T. Green, S.E. Gilchrist, Shona Husk, Kylie Scott and Tracie Sommers (aka Tracey O'Hara).

Shona Husk has just received a cover for Saved by the Trickster, out later this year with Ellora’s Cave! It's an erotic fantasy romance with demi-gods, magic and a fallen Celestial Warrior addicted to ambrosia.

Saving Sara is Angela Castle's latest release from Whiskey Creek Press. It's the 5th book in the Warriors of Kelon series.

Sara, abducted from Earth by cruel aliens, is used as a torture slave and left to die.
Solron, a healer of Kelon, is annoyed at being ordered to go on a cleanup mission to check abandoned enemy war bases. When he and the crew discover a small human woman on the brink of death, Solron manages to save her. But the beautiful little human stirs more within him than his need to heal. Under Solron’s care, Sara falls deeply in love with the alien doctor and he claims her for himself. But when confronted by the Xerson who tortured her, Solron demands a fight with him.
Sara knows she has no choice but to let them fight, but will she now lose the man she loves to the curled Xerson, or will justice at last be served? 

REVIEWS

Bitten By Paranormal Romance have reviewed Annie Seaton's paranormal romance, Blind Lust.

A wager between the gods can change your life. Even if you are a witch…
When Venus has a wager with Cupid, that prudish librarian, Lizzy Sweet cannot be enticed to love, she neglects to tell her son that Lizzy is a three hundred year old witch.

The first man Lizzy sees after Cupid shoots his arrow is Josh Deegan, a famous country and western singer who has come to town to rediscover his muse, in an old farmhouse haunted by a culinary ghost.

Local warlock, Wesley Gordon, who has been hitting on Lizzy to no avail for over one hundred years, is not impressed.

The quirky old folk of Silver Valley watch fondly as the battle between love and lust plays out. Leaden and golden arrows zing around, spells are magicked, potions stirred, and ghosts hunted.

Who will fall in love and who will let the other go forever?

You can read the full review here! 

Kiss of Steel, Bec McMaster's debut steampunk romance is a Night Owl Reviews Top Pick!

"Unique, spellbinding, thrilling and complex are only a few words that can describe this fantastic book. This has to be a must read from paranormal fans and steampunk fans alike. Even historical fans may like it if they enjoy urban fantasy books. I wasn’t sure I would be able to like a book with so many various elements but they come together in such a way that you wonder why this isn’t done more often.
I have to highly recommend this book and wonder when the next in this new series will be out. I think I’ve found another auto buy author!"

Click here for the full review.

Under the Covers has also reviewed Kiss of Steel. A snippet:

"...Blade...has promptly been added to my list of book boyfriends, a very bad boy who has a soft spot for those he considers his family and of course the woman he loves and a tortured past, how was I supposed to resist that? But you can't swing a cat in the romance world and not hit a hero like that, but Blade had that extra something that had me panting, darkly sensual and struggling with inner demons but determined to do right by the people he protected I was doomed to love him."

You can read the full review here.

And Kiss of Steel has also been reviewed at The Romanceaholic:

"The gloriously dark world-building, the steampunk elements blended beautifully with the paranormal, the luscious romance and the incredible chemistry all added up to a must read for any fan of gothic romance with a steampunk twist."

Full review here.

OTHER

Debut author, Bec McMaster continues her Kiss of Steel blog tour. You can find out more about Blade, Honoria and the steampunk world they live in at these blogs - and there are giveaways up for grabs!

• USA Today Books (Happy Ever After) - talking about the appeal of bad boy heroes, Spike & Damon, & steampunk romance
• Urban Girl Reader - delving into the world of Kiss of Steel and finding out one of her fav.scenes
• Reading Between the Wines - revealing what drew her to steampunk romance
• Book Savy Babe - talking about the research behind Kiss of Steel
• The Qwillery - an interview covering her writing quirks, favourite authors and facts about the book
• That's What I'm Talking About - lots of snippets about Bec's book, her background and reading habits

Kylie Griffin visited The Book Connection in Dubbo (NSW) September 7th for a book-signing event. She met readers from the central west of NSW and was interviewed by PhotoNews, one of Dubbo's local newspapers. In all, a great day!

Kiri & Rae (two of the staff) from The Book Connection with Kylie

Weekly Overview

Coming up this week...

Tues 24th May

Good News Day

Wed 25th

Winner announced for Jenny Schwartz's Three Wishes

Thur 26th

Magic Thursday -  Amanda Ashby with giveaway, Fairy Bad Day

Sat 28th

Darklight On… Wendy Godding

What's Up....

• This week is the start of a new feature - where are DarkSiders have been (or will be) during the week. 

• Welcome to our latest DarkSider, Maggie Mundy.

• Eleni had a rant on TV programs over at her blog, Eleni's Taverna.

• Kylie has done a FAQ on her blog, and an blog post on deep POV.

• Mel has done a post over at the LoveCats blog on the roles of horses in novels.

• Jess has a blog post on the first thing she bought with her royalties.

• Nicole has a blog post about the electronic revolution, over at the Supernatural Underground blog.

• Jenny has been interviewed over at Christine Bell's blog.

• C.T. Green has a post about Ranting Mistakes and other about the Sweet Smell of Success over on her blog.

• Rowena has a post on the Countdown to the Aurealis Awards 2011 over at the Ripping Ozzie Reads blog.

Good News Day!

Welcome to this week's Good News!!!

Releases

Shona Husk

Kissing Phoenix was released last week by Ellora's Cave. Congrats Shona!

Release Dates

Pia Moonglow

Don't Press Enter has a revised release date of 11th April. 

Reviews

Jess Anastasi

Dead Reality has received 4 books from The Long and The Short Reviews AND a 4 heart review from The Romance Studio.  

Christina Phillips

RT Book Reviews has an Erotica Spotlight on Captive on their Everything Erotica page. They have also given it 4 stars! 

(LINK UPDATED as feature went to the archives...)

Great going ladies!!

 

New blogs

Shona Husk

Shona is a member of the Truly Madly Deeply Romance Authors. 

~ See you again next week with some more good news!

3 months on....

Three months ago, we set out on this Dark Side adventure. It's been a pleasure to see more and more people join us here.

Personally, I can't believe it's been three months. Can you?

I think we have found our rhythm now. What with good news, giveaways and blog posts on different topics, and of course a highlight - darklight - on our members.

So how do you think we are doing?

Good News Day!

Welcome to this week's Good News post and what a bumper of week it has been!

Releases

Jess Anastasi

Jess' Dead Reality is released today from Noble Romance Publishing. Happy release day Jess!

Nicole R Murphy
Nicole's Power Unbound is out now. It is Book Two of The Dream of Asarlai series published by Harper Voyager Australia.

H.C. Brown

H.C's erotic romance, Shifters & Demons (The Vane Book 1) is out now via Noble Romance Publishing.

Covers

Keri Arthur

Keri has the UK cover for Darkness Unbound, the first book in her upcoming series, Dark Angel! What a fantastic looking cover! 

Sales

Jess Anastasi

Great news for Sanctuary fans. Jess has just signed a contract for Severance, the second book to Sanctuary. The release date is 14th February. Yay!

Shona Husk

Shona has sold a story called Mutiny on the Scarborough, about a Vampire convict surviving transportation to Dead Red Heart, an anthology about Australian vampires. Sounds fascinating.

Nicole R Murphy

Nicole's story The Protector's Last Mission will be in the More Scary Kisses anthology. The table of contents was announced this past week. That is two for two for Nicole as her story The Anstruther Woman was in the Scary Kisses anthology published in 2010. Congrats Nicole.

Blogging

Jenny Schwartz and Janni Nell

Carina Press authors Jenny and Janni are part of a new blog called Here Be Magic, which is by Carina authors who write stories that are fantastical in nature.

Reviews

Maree Anderson

Maree's From The Ashes, received a 5-hoot review from reviewer, Karia at Nocturne Romance Reads. Go the hoots!

Congratulations to all our Dark Siders with their good news. 

New Member

We welcome Paula Roe to the Dark Side!! Paula writes for Silhouette Desire.

See you all next week for some more good news.