Me! Scary I know. So here’s the situation: you’re walking through the RWA Literacy Autographing in San Diego. I know you want to get the big names autographs, but when you’re done, if you like shifters, stop by and say hello to me.
I’ll be wearing this (Pictured above): my Supernatural T-shirt. I’ll want to know if you’re a Sam girl or a Dean girl, or a lion-shifter or dragon-shifter (Or both like my chimeras) if you’re not a Supernatural fan, no worries, we can discuss our houses at Ilvermorny, or Hogwarts if you’re from across the pond.
If you take a picture of my shirt on this post and show it to me at the conference, I have prizes (Books) to give. I also have prizes for people I just feel like giving prizes to, so no worries if you forget!
My books arrived in the mail! It’s lovely to hold your physical book in your hands. The thrill never goes away!
I’m busy as a beaver working on getting Lion’s Prey ready for its August release. I hope the extra weeks I took will translate into a real keeper.
We romance readers are different from regular readers, we really do keep and re-read our old favorites. In fact, when I’m done with writing for the day, I’ve been reading some of my old category romances (and I mean old! One of them was from 1984!)
The book from 1984 is Ghost of a Chance by Jayne Ann Krentz. I have to say, the sexual tension holds up as does the central plot, but the hero is pretty high-handed and the heroine actually slapped the hero! Times have certainly changed.
I’ve also been watching So You Think You Can Dance. I didn’t think I’d enjoy the kids, but they’re amazing!
Life has been rather overwhelming recently, good and bad. On the good side: My husband and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary this week.
Here’s a pic from our Hindu ceremony which was followed by a wardrobe change and a Christian ceremony.
Meanwhile my clothes washer died and my passport application I sent in six weeks ago was returned sans passport. I have to redo it and pay more money! Ugh! We were hoping to take a cruise this summer, but given the wait time for a passport…sigh.
I’d love to hear from you. Do you have keepers? How old are they? Who are they by? Do they still stand the test of time?
Best,
Karin
PS If you haven’t joined my newsletter, please consider doing so. Newsletter readers get first shot at free ARC’s and other giveaways, and of course, news!
Those who’ve read a number of my blogs know I do most of my writing on the treadmill (Which doesn’t make me thin, just keeps me healthy), but here’s what it looks like when I write from my couch. This is my brindle basenji Ranger on my lap. Our vizsla Lali usually pushes in too, but she was prowling for unguarded food in the kitchen.
Today, I want to tell you more about the two books I have coming out this Spring/Summer. Last week I shared the blurb for THE LION’S SHARE (CHIMERA CHRONICLES 3) May 2016 Soul Mate Publishing. email Karin@Shahs.com to be put on the list for an eARC in exchange for an honest review when they’re available. I haven’t worked up even a draft blurb for my July release THE LION’S PRIDE (CHIMERA CHRONICLES 4) as yet, but it takes place immediately following the bank robbery in TSL.
The hero, Ty, is on the run from the law. He’s been balancing on the edge of going feral for a while and is further reeling because he believes his twin brother, Con is dead, killed in an explosion as they fled the bank. Now, forced to kidnap a female news reporter to escape the feds, he becomes stranded with her in a tiny Ozark town. The town is conservative and they’re compelled to pretend to be husband and wife to get accommodations from a blizzard. But what was supposed to be one night, turns into a full-time thing when the town is cut-off by a flood. Pretending he loves her starts to feel more and more real.
The heroine, Zara Coventry, quickly discovers there’s more to this supposed bank robber than meets the eye. He rescues her, helps the town fight a flood and even more amazing than the way he makes her feel, he can transform into a lion. He’s the story of a lifetime, if she can keep her distance.
But invading flood waters aren’t the only thing driven into town by the storm. Drug traffickers have lost a plane in the area and they’ll do anything to retrieve their product. With the law on his trail and traffickers trapped with them, Ty and Zara must fight their attraction and for their lives.
The first book in the duo was meant to be an homage to a Supernatural episode called Nightshifter and this one was supposed to be a classic Romantic Suspense, but I think the ending got a hint of another Supernatural episode called Jus in Bello. What can I say? I’m a fan.
Last night I was lying in bed wondering why my heroes are so often running from something. I guess, I’m always writing what I want to read and I love books and movies like that. I’m an action girl. A glimpse into my Netflix queue at any given time will have shows like Burn Notice, Leverage, XIII the series, Supernatural, and movies like the Bourne Identity, etc.
I love action, but I like fun action. I want to enjoy the fights, knowing the hero or heroine is going to make it out alive, and even better, fall in live while doing it. Which is why a glimpse into my kindle library will show a ton of Kresley Cole. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Nalini Singh, and Jayne Ann Krentz (in all her incarnations), authors that deliver great action, emotional intensity and fun. I try my damnedest to deliver the same.
The only way I know if I’ve succeeded, is if readers let me know, so if you’ve read one of my books, drop me a line or find me on social media, or be kind to your fellow readers and leave an a review on Amazon, GoodReads, or both!
Today I redo what I wrote yesterday. We writers are used to re-writing, but I went to edit a simple error–the date from yesterday–and managed to erase my whole blog!
The thing is I’m not a newbie at this whole computer thing… Moving on…
Buenos Dias, amigos! Today I am peeking out from my editing cave. (Chimera 3) THE LION’S SHARE is super close to going back to my editor at Soul Mate, which means–very, very soon I will have eARC’s to send to readers willing to review!
I’m not going to lie, my luck with reviewers has been pretty poor lately. Reviewers are busy, but the fact is, without reviews I can write as much as I want, but no one will read it. Reviews are the life blood of an author. So I am making a list of readers willing to read the eARC of THE LION’S SHARE and post a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Both would be awesome! It doesn’t even have to be a positive review. Just a few paragraphs about what you liked or didn’t. That’s it!
THE LION’S SHARE was based on the Nightshifter episode of the TV show Supernatural, so if you share my love of Sam and Dean, but wish there was a little romance (and the shifters weren’t the bad guys) or just love Paranormal Romance with a lot of action, this might be the book for you!
The boys
Here’s the draft blurb: Former Army Ranger and Chimera shifter Connor Gunn is fighting a battle with his lion side. Just released from prison for a crime he didn’t commit, the last thing he needs is to get blackmailed into a bank robbery along with his twin brother, Tyler. Worse, there is a FBI agent already in the bank and she affects him as no woman ever has, awakening his body and drawing his lion even closer to the surface.
FBI agent Embry Lane has learned a few things over the course of her six years with the bureau. 1. The FBI is more than a career. 2. Men are nice for a distraction, but eventually they leave.
3. No man can match up to the lover who comes to her dreams at night anyway.
When she runs into Connor on the street her instant attraction to him makes her doubt what she’s learned–until she meets him in a tactical mask at the bank with a rifle in his hands.
Trapped in the bank, Connor and Embry must fight for the hostages and battle their attraction because with SWAT outside and enemies within one wrong move could see them all dead.
Interested? Just email me at Karin@shahs.com. I need your name and you email, so I can send you an eARC when I get them in the next few weeks.
Galavant on ABC. With music by Alan Menken, a pretty cast, and hilarious lyrics and one-liners, this irreverent cross between Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Once Upon a Time is not to be missed by musical fans! And we Psych and Supernatural fans get the bonus of Timothy Ormundson as the bad King Richard. He sings, he dances, he hugs. ‘Nuff said!
More TV. Josh Gates from Destination Truth returns in a new Travel Channel show called Expedition Unknown! If you don’t know him, you should. I love his tongue in cheek sense of humor. I wrote a ode to his old show Destination Truth (too ten reasons you should watch Destination Truth) and I listed him twice.
Still more TV. (I think we know what my Kryptonite is) American Haunting on Amazon Prime. This, new to me, ghost show fits the low bar I’ve set. It’s about ghosts, but the first episode was very satisfying, as instead of just investigating and leaving the family to their haunted life, they end up ghost free.
Edits for my new YA Fantasy Romance HALFLING. Technically, since this is my actual work, it’s not a distraction, but it’s certainly concerning me. I actually love this part. Unfortunately, I love it a little too much and spend waaay too long thinking of the perfect word, simile, or metaphor! 🙂
I helped my daughter make this model of the Taj in 2014. Hours and hours of work
Shiny Things January 1st 2015
Things interesting me this week:
The old year.
New Year’s is always a time for reflection. Shortly after the start of 2014, I got the shingles. I still have some neuropathy (pain in the nerves) from that, so I suggest everyone get the shingles shot. They’ll tell you it’s uncommon for under fifties to get shingles. They’ll tell you insurance won’t pay, but they’ll also tell you it’s not so bad for under fifties, and I can’t list the number of opiates they would have let me take that did zero for the shooting, stabbing pain in the nerves affected. Nor can I count the sleepless nights resulting. I would gladly pay for the expensive shot to get those six months of my life back.
Ok, end of public service announcement.
Good things last year, I got a book out despite my illness. Yay! This book was particularly close to my heart because I got to revisit characters from BLOOD AND KISSES and IN LIKE A LION and it was inspired by my addiction to all things ghostly (though, I’m a skeptic).
Shows like A Haunting and Ghost Adventures are ripe with stories that light the fires of my imagination. ENTITY MINE was inspired by an episode of A Haunting in which a woman kept dreaming about a photograph of a dead soldier who used to live in her house. When haunting activity began, she felt he protected her from a malevolent spirit also in the house.
My daughter graduated from sixth grade and started seventh. My son passed his OAA’s despite us sweating it and moved on to the fourth grade.
Both my children got their black belts in Taekwondo.
I attended the Central Ohio Fiction Writer’s retreat and RWA 2014 National Conference. I can’t say enough how other writers continue to support and nourish my career. Hugs to you all! Especially, Debby Gilbert, publisher and owner of Soul Mate publishing who is a good friend and a fabulous editor.
My husband started trail running in 2014, so I have some fond memories of cabins and lodges we stayed at, with and without dogs.
Things I’m looking forward to in 2015:
I have a book coming out soon! I’m in edits for a YA Fantasy (draft title HALFLING)
I’m also working on Bk 3 of THE CHIMERA CHRONICLES in which we meet Connor, third youngest of the Mara brothers. He and his twin, ex-rangers, and ex-cons through undeserved circumstances, are blackmailed into a bank robbery. Those who know Supernatural will recognize the inspiration for this installment.:-)
RWA National is in NYC this year. Two of my favorite things together!
What events shaped your 2014? What are you looking forward to in the new year?
1. A serious message from the Authors of Soul Mate Publishing http://youtu.be/xDsabUwY_vE #kindle #books I worked hard on this homemade video. I hope you’ll take a gander! This video sucked away about ten hours of writing time What non-writing/work projects are sucking up your time?
2. Still Christmas shopping. I started early, but when I looked to see what I had it wasn’t as much as I thought. Going into panic shopping mode. This is difficult as I am the queen of indecision! How’s your shopping going? This is the first year I’ve shopped this far from Christmas. It was supposed to relax me, and make Christmas easy, but so far no dice.
3. I’ve got my latest hero and heroine inches from the clinch and every time I sit (or walk) down to seal the deal, I suddenly find something more important to do, like laundry.
Hope you’re enjoying the season!
Me! Scary I know. So here’s the situation: you’re walking through the RWA Literacy Autographing in San Diego. I know you want to get the big names autographs, but when you’re done, if you like shifters, stop by and say hello to me.
