Cover Reveal – The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf: Chains of Silver

As an author, the publishing process happens in little steps. After the acceptance, there comes the contract, edits and copy edits. One of the most-exciting milestones has to be seeing the cover for the first time.

Finally, here’s a sneak peak at The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf: Chains of Silver.

Ravenous Romance design guru Allan possesses a flair for capturing the feel of a novel, and offering up some enticing subjects. Wait until you read how that roller coaster in the background ties into the storyline!  

And, don’t you think that the hunky male looks a little bit like a certain, um, teen werewolf? Oh, yes, that’s where my imagination keeps going.

The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf: Chains of Silver releases on Friday, November 18, via Ravenous Romance, and will be available on Amazon and ARe soon after.

Been riding this high all day long. Thanks for letting me celebrate! Now back to writing my Christmas novella … 

Nominated for Best Erotic Paranormal – Wizard or Witch

Good news travels through “innocent” Tweets!

Here I was, minding my own business and right before I went to turn into bed, I checked onto Twitter. Oooh, I had a few “mentions.”

Shay MacLean musing on a series title to encompass her novella “Shooting Stars” and upcoming full-length release, “Falling Star.” (Don’t you think “Wish Upon a Star” sounds like a great series title?)

Wait? What’s that one from @RachelFirasek?

@Louisabacio Hey, congrats on your TRR nom. […] Goodluck!

(And Rachel’s up for an award, too, for her book Piper’s Fury!)

The Romance Reviews nomination? I was nominated? Whoo-hoo! Thrilled to announce that The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf: A New Orleans Threesome is up for Best Erotic Paranormal Romance in the category of Wizard & Witch.

Voting runs through Nov. 30, and now comes the plea! Please go vote! (Big puppy-dog eyes …) Please!

Here’s the magic link:

http://www.theromancereviews.com/bookvote.php

Now for a little tease! Got a glimpse of my cover for the upcoming sequel Chains of Silver. The art designer/magician at Ravenous Romance is not holding back at all! Yes, it’ll be coming soon!

Grazie! 

Courtney Sheets Unveils "The Hooded Man"

First let me say Thank You to Louisa for having me! I’m very excited to be here today.  As some of you know, I normally write Hawaiian Paranormal and Paranormal short stories but my newest book, The Hooded Man, takes us into Medieval England and is a new twist on the traditional Robin Hood tale. It will be available from Decadent Publishing.

I thought the best way to share my excitement for Robin Hood and The Hooded Man is to tell a bit about the stories my book is based on.

Who was Robin Hood? Was he a mere man made into myth by constant oral storytelling or a symbol of a much simpler time? One could say that he is an exciting mixture of both, a unique melding of myth, hero, and man. While the legend of Robin Hood is rooted in history, it is also a combination of human interest and pagan mythology. So once again we can ask who was that hooded man? 'Was he man, or spirit of the forest, like Robin Goodfellow or the Green Man?"

In many intellectual circles, Robin Hood has been thought to have been a real man named Robert Fiztooth, the Earl of Huntingdon. While the true identity of the legendary outlaw has been highly debated throughout academia, history and Hollywood, Fiztooth probably is the most widely accepted character for the mythical woodsman. Another alter-ego belonging to the English Rogue is Robin of Loxley, a Yorkshire fugitive. Yet another identity is that of a humble forester who was outlawed for killing a deer in the Royal forest. Perhaps Robin Hood was a composite of all the mediaeval forest outlaws of England. Never the less, Robert Fitztooth's grave at Kirklees is considered to be the burial place of Robin Hood. It is visited many times over by tourist every year, searching for Robin Hood.

If Robin was not a human, perhaps he was a "God." From the pagan standpoint, Robin of the Hood is connected to the Green Man. The Green man, according to the Celtic Pantheon of Gods, is Cernunnos, the God of Vegetation and fertility. Cernunnos is also the Lord of the Trees. The oak tree is sacred to Cernunnos. "The Green Man represents the male aspect of nature." Robin is consistently described as wearing Lincoln green and living in the forest. In Sherwood Forest there stands a mighty oak tree simply called The Major Oak. The tree is believed to be the meeting place for Robin Hood and his merry men. "The gargoyle-like carvings of the Green Man show a human face almost completely camouflaged by leaves." Robin has an uncanny ability to blend in with his surroundings, becoming part of the forest, much like the Green man.

The Green Man has two personas, the Holly Lord and the Oak Lord. The Holly Lord, or "old man winter", dies at Beltane and is reborn as the Oak Lord, or "baby new year". He then marries the May Queen. The horned God aspect of the Green Man is just another form of Herne. Herne is the Celtic hunter god. He is most often portrayed with stag's horns sprouting from his head. In many of the original gestes, or tales, Robin is referred to as Herne's son. This approach is taken many centuries later in the popular British television show, Robin of Sherwood. "It seems likely that Llew's [a Celtic sun god] mediaeval successor, Red Robin Hood was once also worshiped as a stag."

Kona Warrior
Courtney Sheets

Another legend that Robin Hood may be associated with is that of Puck. William Shakespeare used the character of Puck, giving him the name Robin Goodfellow as well, in his play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Although Shakespeare, who may have been influenced by the Welsh Pwca, refers to Puck using both names, Robin Goodfellow and Puck are in all actually two separate creatures. Now however, they are considered the same character. Puck was a shape-shifter. Robin Goodfellow was a master of disguise. Both had an uncanny ability to give travelers a hard time, much like Robin Hood. Shakespeare's drinking buddy and fellow writer Ben Johnson even used the Robin Goodfellow character in his unfinished Robin Hood play, The Sad Shepherd. "Since the Robin Goodfellow ballads appear later then the Robin Hood ones, it's possible that the faerie may have taken his name from the outlaw-not the other way around."

Mythology is not the only place that manifests different types of "Robin Hoods." Literature has several versions of the tales under different names. The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy is yet another re-telling of the Robin Hood stories. Sir Percival Blakeney even wears "Blakeney Green." While he does not rob from the rich and give to the poor, he does save several poor souls from the guillotine. The Pimpernel acts almost in a reverse of Robin Hood. Sir Percy "steals" the rich aristocrats out from under the noses of the poor French mob. He is an eighteenth century Robin Hood. He must win the love of his wife, Marguerite, whose name happens to be the French variation of Marian or Mary. Marguerite is just as spirited as Maid Marian, maybe even more so. And the villainous Chauvelin is constantly trying to seduce her, much like the Sheriff in several Hollywood versions of Robin Hood.

Who was that hooded man? Great debate has continued throughout the ages looking for historical basis as well as mythical proof as to the existence of Robin Hood. Did a single man live to take on the tyranny of injustice or was he something more?

Robin Hood is a hero for all ages. He and his legend have enthralled us for centuries and it will continue to do so for many more to come. 

For more interesting tidbits on history please feel free to check out my blog, History’s Mistress at www.historysmistress.blogspot.com

My first book, Kona Warrior, is currently available from Ravenous Romance. The Hooded Man will be released by Decedent Publishing this winter. 

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Courtney -- Love that mixture of retelling mythology. What a fantastic set-up and background for your novel. I look forward to reading more from you. Please let us know when you have a release date!

Holiday Gift to Readers from Paty Jager

What do you like about the holiday season? For some it's that wonderful sharing spirit that simply infuses the air. But, you know what ... gifts are nice, too! Paty Jager's visiting today, and she's offering readers a very special present.

My love of the west and the area where I grew up, led me to write the Christmas Novella I’m giving away free. Christmas Redemption came about from my reading a story about a man from Joseph, OR who robbed a bank as a young man and twenty-seven years later became the vice president of the same bank. 

Christmas Redeption
Paty Jager

Van Donovan doesn’t become the bank president but I used the premise as the catalyst for the story.  I also gave him an occupation you don’t see much in westerns. He’s a boot maker. I spent several hours in the shot of Bootmaker DW Frommer II learning the process of making boots in the 1800s. While I spent all the time learning about the pine pitch that is boiled down and rubbed like wax into the threads that sew the boots together, hair from the back of a boar’s neck that can be split and used like a needle, and how the hole patterns the bootmaker makes with an awl can distinguish his work. I ended up using very little of this information but hope the authenticity shows through in what I do have in the story.

Christmas Redemption Blurb

Van Donovan returns to Pleasant Valley, Oregon where twelve years earlier as a boy of fifteen he left in handcuffs after standing guard for a bank robbery. He's learned a trade and excelled at it and is ready to prove to his father and the town he can amount to something.

Upon his return he learns the fate of the daughter of an innocent man who died in the robbery crossfire. To make amends he takes her out of the saloon and gives her a job, not realizing she'd been squatting in the very building he'd purchased for his business.

Can two battered hearts find solace or will the past continue to haunt their lives?

Excerpt

Van worked hard to wash away the images of the men handling Tessa like she was a whore.  He'd witnessed the fear and humiliation in her large green eyes. Now fear widened those same eyes. Only this fear was almost frantic.

"What's wrong?" He stepped closer.

"I-I…" She glanced at the building in front of them and then at her feet.

The calico cat slinked around the corner of the building, set its yellow eyes on Tessa, and trotted over, lacing back and forth around her ankles.

"You and the cat seem to be friends."  The minute he spit the words out it dawned on him- Tessa was his squatter.

She bent, scooped the cat into her arms, and buried her face in the animal's thick fur. Van's heart squeezed.

"I have a feeling it's your pallet in my storeroom." He motioned to the cat when her face and wide eyes appeared over its back.  "The cat and I met before. In the back room."

She sucked in air then coughed. The cat launched out of her arms. Tears streamed down her rosy cheeks.

Van slipped an arm around her and maneuvered her into the building, away from the prying eyes peering through the saloon doors and from the street around them. Inside, he closed the door and moved to add wood to the potbelly stove he'd started before heading to the saloon.

She stood just inside the door, huddled in his coat, the whole time he added two sticks of wood and placed a chair beside the stove.

"Sit and get warm." He maneuvered her to the chair and she sat.

"W-why are you doing this?" she asked, gazing up at him, searching his face. He could stare into her spring green eyes—round and wondering like an innocent child—all day.

"You didn’t look like you wanted those men pawing you, and I need help setting up and running my shop."  And I can't let your life be awful because of me.

"Who are you? Why are you here? In Pleasant Valley?"

Van swallowed the wad of shame strangling his throat and studied the stove. She deserved the truth but would she understand his part in her father's death? He wouldn't know until he told her. He looked her square in the eyes.

You can download Christmas Redemption Free at all ebook outlets.

Kindle

Smashwords

Nook

Also available at Apple iBooks

Paty Jager

www.patyjager.net

www.patyjager.blogspot.com