Magic Thursday: A whole new adventure

Back in June 2009, I decided to take a break from The Novel That Would Not End, and decided to take on the 50Ks In 30 Days challenge that the Romance Writers of Australia had organised. The result - the first draft of a paranormal romance novella, Gateway to Hell.

I loved building this world of Warders and a girl who could shut the Gateways to Hell down. She's not your typical heroine physically but she has an inner strength that is extraordinary. I loved that about her. As well as her reserved nature and her quick tongue. And so did the hero. He's drawn to her on more than just the physical level and that made me love him.

But more than that - I love the world. I love that there are Warders out there defending unsuspecting humans from the supernatural bad. Yeah these supernatural bad may not be something I would want to encounter personally, but my hero and his family fight against them. Leaving room for more stories.

And yep, you guessed it I have at least two more novellas in the series, but really there can be a whole lot more. The ideas are flying around and I plan on writing the sequel to Gateway to Hell very soon. I'm loving that this Warder world can continue and that I can explore it.

I love that I can go on this whole new adventure with the characters even if it's at a shorter length.

Gateway to Hell (A Warder Tale book 1) was released last week by Musa Publishing, and I give one commenter a chance to win a copy.

Tell me - do you like connected novellas?

The winner will be announced on Monday 17th September. 

Blurb:

Zeta will protect the one she loves, even if it means living in Hell.

Mastering a unique power was much safer for Zeta Kosmos with a mentor to help her along. Now that he’s disappeared, Zeta must continue alone with her calling—closing Gateways to Hell.

Daniel Richards is in the family business—Warding supernatural evil from causing havoc on humans. As such, he’s only interested in the safety of one-night stands. Until Zeta. This bad boy now wants a long, lasting relationship.

But Zeta can’t let go of her past, nor can she ignore the secret demonic threats against Daniel’s life. She’d rather fight demonic spawn and be dragged into Hell than allow anything happen to him. Can Daniel convince her to stay? Will she have to pay the ultimate price?

Good News Day!

Welcome to this week's good news...

SALES 

Lilliana Rose has just sold her short story, 'New Skies', to Less Than Three Press, LLC.

Rowena Corey Daniells has sold King-Maker, King-Breaker (working title) to Solaris Books. This is Book #4 and the last installment in the King Rolen’s Kin series. The book is due for publication at the end of 2013.

BOOK LAUNCH

Eleni Konstantine launched her novella, Gateway to Hell, on September 7th. She began the celebrations with an e-launch on Facebook. The fun has started with giveaways there as well as on her blog.

COVERS & RELEASE DATE

Shona Husk has a cover for the first book in her new paranormal romance Annwyn series, The Outcast Prince, and it's due for release July 2013.

Denise Rossetti's The Dark Rose is the fourth and last book in the Four-Pentacle series. It comes out with Berkley Intemix on Tuesday (Sept.11th). She'll be visiting the Romance Bandits then with a giveaway - drop by and say g'day - she'd love to see you there!

Even beautiful things cast dark shadows...
Rosarina of the Garden is the most desired courtesan of her time. She is also a spy, sent on a deadly mission to Green IV. She canot afford to trust anyone, least of all the Quintus, a Technomage with his own agenda - and the unnerving ability to crack her cool composure.
Rose is a challenge Quin can't resist, but he's a threat she's been ordered to...neutralize.

Angela Castle's newest book has been released by Evernight Publishing.

Arriving home from work, Master Brendon fiinds a wonderful gift awaiting. Tied to a chair is the lush Jay Becket, his sub's best friend. Being bi-secual, Brendon explores the delights of Jays submission. All too quickly he finds himself falling under her spell, in more ways than one.

Jay has always lusted after Brendon and agrees to her best friend's plan to become Master Brendon's new submissive, to help ease the pain she knows is coming.

But emotions spiral out of control when Brendon learns the truth behind Jay's sweet submission. A secret which could teat their new fragile bond apart.

Winter Fusion is Anna Hackett's coming release (out December 3rd, 2012) from Carina Press and will also be part of their sci-fi holiday anthology, 'A Galactic Holiday'.

Nicole Murphy's contemporary romance story, ‘Small Silky Thing’ will appear in the HarperCollins e-anthology URL Love. It's available from Apple or Amazon.

From Texting to Twitter, the Hottest Online Love Stories!
We all love a hot romance ... and what could be more relevant to the way we live now than a love story involving text messages, Facebook, online dating, emails or tweets?
URL Love is a collection of ten sexy, sweet and sassy stories about love in the digital age. For fans of  E.L.James, Marian Keyes and everyone in between!

CONTESTS

Congratulations to DarkSider, Cassandra Shaw. She recently found out she's a finalist in the Urban Fantasy section of the FF&P, On The Far Side Contest for her entry, 'Evition Eyes'.

Harlequin Desire author & Dark Sider, Paula Roe (writing as Polly Archer) has finaled in the Para/UF/SF section of the LERA Rebecca contest, with her erotic medieval fantasy, For Her Majesty's Pleasure. Final judge is Adam Wilson of Pocket Books. Old habits die hard, eh, Paula?

Congratulations to C.T.Green who has placed 2nd in the FF & P section of the Celtic Hearts Golden Claddagh, 2012, with her entry Halo Book 1—The Angel Lord.

And a huge wahoo to Carolyn Wren who won the RWA Emerald Award (category section) for unpublished writers! Dark Siders rock!

REVIEWS

A 4 star review from Book Chick City for Bec McMaster's Kiss of Steel. Here's a snippet:

McMaster takes fairly standard romance, mixes in a little steampunk, a little paranormal and creates really great story. I was gripped by this novel from the first few pages and doing anything else went out of the window until I had finished.

And a 4.5 rating from Paranormal Haven as well!

There is a lot going on in this book, hopefully this is only the beginning for this world. I would love to see a few others get a book and story. Over all the story was amazing and the romance was just as amazing. This one is a definite must add to the ever multiplying TBR list.

Congrats, Bec!

OTHER

Nicole Murphy talks about Kobo Author Notes on her blog this week. It’s a marriage between Kobo, Apple and Facebook that allows readers to read a version of the story annotated by the author and to interact with those notes, either chatting to the author or to other readers about it.

Her publisher, HarperCollins has made KAN available with her The Dream of Asarlai series. Find out more about this here.