Wow how time zips by. Shadow Magic is here!

 For fun, here’s an excerpt.

Excerpt from SHADOW MAGIC by Cheyenne McCray
© Copyright Cheyenne McCray, 2008.
All Rights Reserved, St. Martin’s Press

Paybacks are a bitch.

And Hannah Wentworth would see to it that Ceithlenn, a dark goddess from Underworld, paid. Big time.

Banshee, Hannah’s falcon familiar, made a soft cry and gripped her shirt tighter in his talons, reminding her of where she was and why she had come to this secluded pond deep in the forest.

Those . . . feelings she’d been having.

Ever since she’d been forced to leave San Francisco, Hannah’s instincts had told her things were about to get worse. Impossibly more dangerous.

Whatever was coming, Hannah wasn’t about to face it blind or unaware. She would find out what she could, or die trying.

Hannah knelt on the damp grass beside the pond and dropped the pack she held. She dug through the leather bag until she found her scrying mirror then drew it out and settled it on the grass in front of her.

Smells of moss and rich wet earth mingled with the scents of evergreens and wildflowers as she focused on the mirror. A breeze ruffled Banshee’s feathers, and stirred her dark hair and the shock of blond that swept down one side of her face. A night bird began its evening song, and Hannah thought she heard Fae voices joining in.

Her grandmother had given her the scrying instrument after Hannah left her socialite mother to live with her father. The strength of Hannah’s innate talent for alomancy, using the mirror and sea salt crystals to scry, had astonished the high priestess of her D’Anu Coven, and Hannah’s power over this form of divination as well as her connection to the Dragon Elementals grew greater as time passed.

The ornate ebony wood frame was a fashioned of two Dragons, each biting the tail of the other so that it was a never ending circle. Hannah rubbed her thumb over one of the intricate carvings. Ebony was the most powerful magical wood and was associated with all of the Elements—Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, and aided her in her communication with the Dragons.

They were her totem and always had been. Even her falcon familiar was the living embodiment of Dragons in her world.

Hannah tried not to grind her teeth at the thought that she and her Coven sisters had been forced to flee their homes in San Francisco for Otherworld, just days ago.

No time for that now. Deep breath. We are going to figure out how to toast that goddess-bitch.

She gripped the soft grass in her fingers as she looked over the mirror. Only Hannah could “see” in the black glass within the ebony frame when she scried.

Hannah pulled a vial of salt crystals from her pack and tugged out the cork before setting the cork aside. She leaned forward so that she looked directly over the mirror, her hair swinging forward at the sides of her face. The mirror didn’t show hers or Banshee’s reflections.

She concentrated with everything she had, pushing out all other thoughts to still her mind and prepare herself for the vision to come. Silently, she asked for the aid of the Dragon Elementals and the great Druid Ancestors, and she called on Banshee’s powers to strengthen her own.

The falcon’s magic joined hers as it flowed through her body.

Come on . . .

Her heart rate picked up as it always did before she scried something monumental. The world closed in on her until all that remained was her, Banshee and the mirror. The forest’s sounds and smells vanished and it was as if she floated outside her body.

Time slowed. She tilted the vial and studied the patterns of the salt crystals in the air as they spilled out of the vial and onto the mirror. The vial slipped from her fingers, dropped onto the grass, and rolled away as she braced her hands to either side of the mirror and analyzed those patterns, too.

The pounding of her heart grew even more rapid until it felt as if her entire body throbbed.

Images appeared in the mirror and she tumbled, tumbled into the vision, all five senses, body and mind and soul, as if the events she visioned were truly happening. As if she were truly there.

Her heart nearly stopped beating.

Rain pounded down so hard it soaked her to her skin, chilling her, and she had difficulty seeing. But through the downpour she made out humans fleeing from a San Francisco tourist pier. Their terror flooded Hannah so deeply she felt it in her bones. Blood and death and the acrid odor of fear mixed with the rotten fish stench.

Fomorii demons.

Magic sparked at her fingertips as she caught sight of malformed shapes attacking humans. A scream rose in her throat.

You can check out another excerpt at CheyenneMcCray.com and you can find Shadow Magic in all stores and also on Amazon.com. 

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt!

Chey

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I keep a spiral notebook at my desk where I keep track of release dates for books by favorite authors. I’m pretty compulsive about hitting the bookstore on the Tuesday if a book is supposed to be on the shelf. I’ve been known to ask the clerks to go root through the new deliveries to find a copy for me. >:-D

One I had been waiting for came out recently and I immediately rushed out to scoop it up. The title is MAGIC BURNS, it’s the sequel to MAGIC BITES, by Ilona Andrews. If you love urban fantasies as much as I do, you might want to give this series a try. I love the heroine—Kate Daniels is strong and doesn’t take anything off anybody. Not even the leader of the shapeshifters, Curran can intimate her and he’s pretty darn intimidating! I love the energy between them. The world Ilona has created is very different—Atlanta where technology only works between waves of paranormal energy.

My other bit of news is that my Paladin D.J. Clayborne will be guest blogging at http://simplyromancereviews.blogspot.com this Friday. D.J. has his own blog on my website, and he’s been invited to take his show on the road! How cool is that? He has promised to bring along a couple of the other Paladins to answer questions, too, so it should be fun. Stop by and say hi!

She fights.
Janie Parker’s a supernatural assassin—not by choice, but what’s a girl gonna do? The only thing standing between her and decapitation at the hands of her hellish boss is a magical artifact called The Eye. To get it, all Janie has to do is find a dark, broody vampire named Michael Quinn and take it. Easy, right? Except if Quinn keeps kissing her that way, she just might lose her head…in more ways than one.

He bites.
Former vampire hunter Michael Quinn is determined to become human again. If he grabs hold of The Eye and makes a wish—then boom, everything’s good with the world. But now Quinn has a sassy tagalong with a long, delectable neck and orders to stake him on sight. He just hopes his first bite won’t be Janie’s last moment on earth…

Here’s an excerpt…

“Do you realize that I already know what you taste like?” Quinn breathed against her neck. “Just by how you smell. Usually it’s so subtle I hardly notice it, but sometimes, like right now”—his lips grazed her throat—“it’s unbelievably overpowering.”

Then she felt the wet heat of his tongue slide along her neck, and something happened that she didn’t like at all—something that scared her more than anything else that night.

Her damn knees weakened.

She was crushed up against a wall by a hungry vampire, who apparently already knew what her blood would taste like, and it was turning her on.

How completely embarrassing.

“You want to bite me?”

He groaned. “Oh, yes.”

“I thought you said you’d never bitten anyone before.”

His shoulders stiffened. “I haven’t.”

“Do it.”

“What?”

“Bite me. Just . . . try not to take too much.”

His breathing became even more erratic. “What am I doing? What are you saying to me? This isn’t right. Go away, Janie. Just go away.” He pulled away from her. Her eyes had become adjusted enough that she could see the outline of him in the darkness.

And he thought she was stubborn?

She wasn’t going to let him die out of principle and misplaced morals.

She slipped off her jacket and pulled her tank top off over her head until she was standing there in the dark in her tight black jeans and lacy black bra, her neck and shoulders now completely exposed to the air. She closed the distance between them and grabbed his face, pulling it down to her neck.

“Bite me or I’m going to kick your ass,” she hissed.

“You’re such a sweet talker, Janie.”

For a moment she thought he was going to pull away again, and that would have been it. She would have realized what a crazy, dangerous thing it was she was doing and grabbed her shirt and run away to her own room. Figured out a plan B, as it were.

But that wouldn’t be necessary.

The scent of her bare skin was enough to do it. She felt him press against her, aroused now with more than simple blood lust. He slid the bra strap off her left shoulder, then his hands traveled down the bare skin of her back. He pulled her closer against the hard length of his body, flattening her breasts against his chest. Just as she was adjusting to how surprisingly good he felt against her, she felt his fangs pierce her skin.

She knew that it took five minutes until the toxins exuded from a vampire’s fangs were enough to offset the balance of human blood and infect that human with vampirism. Janie counted, trying to concentrate, deciding to hold on and let him feed for three full minutes. That should be enough. Then she would make him stop any way she could.

—

If you’d like to read the first three chapters they’re available on my website… :-)

Here’s the back blurb from the book—

The rough and rugged Talion, sexy warriors who stop at nothing to deliver justice, star in this steamy new paranormal series from Alexis Morgan.

He’s on a mission to annihilate the enemy.
A Talion enforcer, Ranulf Thorsen has served his people for a thousand years, delivering the eye-for-an-eye justice by which his kinsmen live. Weary of the centuries long fight, the fierce warrior with icy blue eyes had secluded himself on a mountain far away from the chaos below. Now the Grand Dame has called him one final time to face the most dangerous battle of his life—and the fate of his people is on the line.

But when he meets the beautiful heroine he has sworn to defend. . . .
Ranulf and his bitter rival and fellow Talion, Sandor Kearn, must find the bloodthirsty Kyth rogue who set a violent fire in a nightclub. The near-deadly blaze’s unlikely heroine, Kerry Logan, is also a Kyth, possessing the ancient Nordic people’s unique ability to manipulate human energy. She just doesn’t know it yet.

Who will protect his heart?
Kerry finds more than comfort in her warrior’s embrace, and Ranulf hungers to both defend and claim the petite powerhouse for his own. But with time ticking away and their lives on the line, Kerry proves she possesses the inner strength to match her Viking lover’s.

I’m excited to announce that my romantic suspense novel, MOVING TARGET is in stores today! It’s been reviewed by the Romantic Times and received an awesome review:

4 ½ Stars!

“The sex sizzles and the danger crackles in McCray’s hot new tale. Staying one step ahead is the name of the game in this dynamic story that races cross country and tests the loyalty and character of all involved. No matter what the genre, McCray is hot!”

~Romantic Times BOOK reviews

Here’s the contest:

***Everyone who posts today will go into a drawing for a set of the first three of my “Magic” series books!

This novel was quite a journey. Here’s a snapshot:

COMING OUT OF THE DARK
Ani King left her entire life behind when the Russian Mafia brutally murdered her family. The Witness Security Program has kept her safe for two years, but with one simple phone call her cover is destroyed—and there is only one man left who can save her.   
 

AND IN FOR THE KILL…
Protecting the brave, beautiful Ani became more than just a job a long time ago for Deputy Marshal Daniel Parker. And now, just days before the trial where she’s slated to give a damning testimony, the criminals who want her dead are on her trail. To keep Ani safe, Daniel has to keep her close—and her enemies closer. Because soon there’s nowhere for Ani to hide…but in his arms.
 

And here’s an excerpt for you:

Daniel came out of the bathroom with a distracted expression. Ani barely held back a groan of appreciation at how delicious he looked. He was wearing Wranglers, a plain black T-shirt, and blue overshirt. His hair was damp from his shower and his eyes filled with concern.

“Listen, Ani?” He braced one hand against the doorframe to the bathroom and glanced down at his booted feet. He raised his head and his gaze met hers. “I’m sorry about this morning. I don’t know how it happened.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ani was sitting on the side of the bed and she gripped the sheets in her fists. “It’s okay, really.”

He raked his hand through his wet hair. “No, it’s not okay. I’ll need to get another Marshal assigned to your case as soon as possible.”

Panic rose like a geyser in her chest. She pushed herself from the bed and walked up to him. “No. Don’t leave me, please. You’re the only one I trust.”

Daniel placed his hands on her shoulders and the heat of his touch went straight through her. Her head was tipped back as she looked at him.

He was close enough to kiss. “I shouldn’t have called you so much this past year, Ani.”

“I needed you,” she whispered. “I looked forward to every single call.”

A serious expression crossed his face as he rubbed her shoulders. His jaw tightened “Goddamnit, I can’t do my job like this.”

She felt him slipping away from her and tears stung at the backs of her eyes. “I mean it. Don’t leave me, okay? I still need you.”

Daniel brought her roughly to him in a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his chest. He smelled of spice and male, just like the T-shirt she still wore. She heard his heartbeat and felt the comfort of his embrace.

He buried his nose in her hair. “I can’t do this. I want to, but I can’t.”

“Just give it some time, please?” She didn’t care if she sounded like she was begging. “I don’t know if I can go through this without you. Testifying against the Russian Mafia, seeing Dmitry Borenko . . .”

“I’ll take care of you, I promise.” Daniel’s deep inhale was audible. His voice lowered and he squeezed her tighter. “No way in hell is anything happening to you.”

He ran his palms up her arms then drew her away from him. She tilted her head up and saw him looking at her mouth. He looked hungry and the thrill it sent through her belly made her want to reach up and kiss him.

But no, she didn’t want to lose him.

Season’s Greetings from Raven Hart!

Alexis was kind enough to invite me to blog today about my new release, The Vampire’s Kiss, book three in the Savannah Vampire Chronicles from Ballantine books. The Vampire’s Kiss is the sequel to The Vampire’s Seduction and The Vampire’s Secret.

My series stars two sexy Savannah vampires–wealthy southern aristocrat William Cuyler Thorne and Jack McShane, a blue-collar, NASCAR-loving good old boy who didn’t know what he was getting into when he volunteered for everlasting undeath. Both are drop-dead (if you’ll pardon the expression) gorgeous, of course. They don’t always get along, but they need each other to protect the people of Savannah from unhuman predators and maintain the secret of the vampires’ existence.

Here’s the official scoop on The Vampire’s Kiss:

A dark and brooding creature of the night, William Cuyler Thorne has spent five centuries mourning the deaths of his beloved wife and son. In that time, he has also grown into Savannah’s most powerful vampire, attracting rich, beautiful women and commanding fear in all who dare cross his path. Now he seeks revenge. For it appears that his wife and son are not dead, but rather undead, having joined a malicious clan of European bloodsuckers–and that same group has now captured Renee, the young daughter of his dear friend, a voodoo princess. Leaving his suave sidekick, Jack, to hold down the fort in Savannah, William travels across the Atlantic to save Renee and settle the score.

Jack gets reacquainted with a fuzzy former friend–sexy werewolf Seth Walker, who has a powerful history with Jack’s lady love, Connie the cop. As Jack puzzles over the mystery of Connie and Seth’s past, he must remind himself that Connie is more than merely mortal. The fact that Connie’s also a Mayan goddess is bad enough, but what else voodoo mambo Melaphia discovers about her could mean the end of Jack, William, Werm, and the rest of the Savannah fang gang!

While Jack contends with the seductive Connie and a rebellious band of werewolves, William must confront a defiant temptress who betrayed him and an even more sinister threat. For the evil vampire lords will do much more than retaliate if William rescues Renee and her magical blood: They will wreak havoc on humans everywhere.

Check out the cool book trailer for “The Vampire’s Kiss” on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IcSdktdv-U, and be sure to visit www.ravenhartbooks.com where you can register to win a free copy, read an excerpt, and check out the other books in the Savannah Vampire Chronicles series!

Raven has been a newspaper reporter, a speech writer at a K Street PR firm in Washington, D.C., and for most of her career, a technical writer. Believe it or not, though, writing about how to keep your crane hoist in good working order didn’t satisfy her creative urges. So she decided to become a novelist, at least part-time. Since the romance genre makes up half of all paperback fiction, she figured her chances of getting published there were somewhat greater than those of being hit by a meteor. So she joined Georgia Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America. During the years that followed she wrote romances for Harlequin and Zebra. Later she sold stories for literary anthologies published by Belle Books. However, while she liked to read good romance novels, horror stories had become her favorite. She was hooked on the sinful, sensual, soul-challenged vampires of Anne Rice. So Raven created a vampire series of her own set in the most haunted city in the world, Savannah, Georgia.

I ordered and received a copy of the fifth and final Dante Valentine book, To Hell And Back, from Amazon today. (Well, I ordered it two days ago, and it came today.) I’ve also received independent confirmation from other Readers that it’s shipping through Barnes & Noble as well.

I’m sure some Readers are going to be angry and others are going to be happy, but what I’m feeling right now is huge relief. Once a book goes live, it’s out of my hands. Of course a writer always wants to revise everything, even the printed version; there’s always some way you can make it better. Or so one thinks, as one keeps growing as a writer–which is, after all, the point.

But once the book is on the shelf, I feel a massive relief. The performance anxiety is over, it’s on stage, it’s put up or shut up time. It’s like stepping out under the lights, out from the wings, and having the audience’s attention. All the training in the world won’t stop the butterflies, but there’s nothing you can do now. You’re committed, for better or for worse. You have drawn your sword and made your move.

I thought I would take this moment, having finished a very tight five-book arc, to talk about what it means to say goodbye to those characters.

It’s wrenching.

For five years I was always boiling with the next book, or in the revisions stage, or in the heat of creation. The characters were not only in my head, they were living with me, ordering Chinese food and putting out their cigarettes in my ashtrays. They were always there, a subsonic song under all the other daily noise in my head, and having their story finished and on the shelves is very much like seeing people you’ve lived with finally move all their stuff out. One is left looking at empty spaces and dust bunnies.

There is a grieving process, and I suspect that grieving process was made more intense by the fact that I was under tight deadline for the fifth and final book. It gave me no time to think about what would happen once the blade fell and the story was finished, gone, finito. I would not have traded the experience for anything–it was a tremendous rocketsled ride from beginning to finish, and I enjoyed every goddamn second of it.

I enjoyed the taste of dread and adrenaline, the wondering if anyone would like this crazy tale eating up my brain, the long walks playing music for the characters through my Ipod and plotting out scenes in my head. I enjoyed sleepless nights over revisions and the beat-your-brain-against-the-wall of tying together plot strands. I loved writing those books, dammit. If they have gone wrong, if I have faltered somehow in telling the tale, it was for no other reason than I am a flawed person, and of course the art’s going to be flawed, m’dear. The agony of being a creative is seeing so clearly what one wants to accomplish and failing, sometimes, to capture the details of perfection in one’s head.

That being said, I don’t think I did a half bad job. There’s some things in the books that I reread and I don’t remember writing, gifts the Muse dropped in my lap with her usual nonchalance, scenes that made me cry while I wrote them and still tear me up when I read them. Whatever errors were made, were made with love.

Publishing being what it is, no book is created in a vacuum. There were the people who kept me sane while writing, there was the agent who believed so strongly in the tale and in me, there was the editor who fought for me and cared for the books the way a dedicated gardener cares for a huge garden. There were the copyeditors who went over every word, the editorial assistant who took my frantic calls, the cover artists and art departments and the ever-faithful, unsung heroes of Production, who get the book from egg to quiche. There were the reassurances from friends and family, both blood and chosen, that kept me on the rails. There were gifts from strangers and Readers alike.

So for me it’s time to say goodbye to Dante Valentine. She wasn’t a comfortable person to hang around, but I think we taught each other a few things. I certainly learned a lot. Now I can only hope that the Reader likes it, that the tale will find a kind ear. Or two.

Once one finishes any massive undertaking, there’s a point where one has to sit back, look back at the slope of the mountain just climbed, and think some version of, holy %$#&, I did THAT? I must have been nuts! Which is, I suppose, where I’m at. I put all five of the books together earlier tonight and looked at them. Five books, all in a row. A story told as best as I knew how. Something I can point to and say, my God, I did that.

You know what?

It’s one of the best feelings in the world.

Thank you. Thank you all.

Any Way You Want It is available now.  I think.  And to celebrate my exciting new release (in limited theaters).  I’m going to post an excerpt…

     “So are you having fun in the Big Easy?” he asked, his voice a little husky yet smooth, reminding her of the lowest chords on a violin.  A soothing sound, as if he was aware of her anxiety and trying to calm her. 

      Almost against her own volition, she did relax in her chair, leaning against the back.  Calm like that created by the cheap wine, weakened her limbs.  Although she had to admit, his voice was much nicer than the wine.

     “Are you doing the usual tourist stuff?” he asked again, his smile curling up slightly in one corner as if he knew she’d already forgotten he’d asked a question.

     Maggie quickly swallowed the drink she’d just taken, nodding as she did.  “Yes.  We’re having a great time.”

     “What have you done?”

     “We went to Café Du Monde,” she slowly trying to recall something she’d done.  It wasn’t easy with his eyes so intent on her.  “And we went on a cemetery tour.”

     She paused to think about what else she’d done.  Why did everything suddenly seem discombobulated?  As if her thoughts, and the room for that matter, had become strangely scattered.

     “How was the cemetery tour?” Ren asked.

     Maggie focused on him, thankful that she could. 

     “That’s one place I’ve never been,” he added, and Maggie noticed wryness in his tone that she didn’t understand.

     “It was interesting,” she said, relieved that she wasn’t feeling quite so dizzy.  “I even made a wish at Marie Laveau’s tomb.”

     Ren raised an eyebrow.  “Did you?  What did you wish for?”

     “A wild fling,” she said, then snapped her mouth shut.  Oh dear, had she really announced that to him.

     Judging from the slow unfurling of his Cheshire cat smile, she had indeed.

     “That’s a good wish,” he said.  His knee bumped hers again under the table, and the brief contact shot need through her body as if he’d run his hand up her thigh.  What would she do if he did?  Holy…

     She took another sip of her drink.  She needed to get this situation back on less–obvious terms.   

     “Have you enjoyed the band?” he asked, before her fuzzy mind could find a new topic.

     She nodded.  “Yes, you are all so good.  Do you like playing with them?”

     Ren seemed to consider that for a moment.  “I guess. And it pays the bills and keeps me fed.”     

     Maggie frowned, surprised by his words.  He was such an obvious showman and so good at working the crowd, encouraging them to have a good time, she just assumed he’d have to love it to be so at ease up there.  But he words didn’t reveal that.

     “I’ve been playing a long time,” he said in way of explanation.  “So I guess I’m a little burnt out.”

    “Well, it doesn’t show.”

    “That’s good, I guess.”

     She looked at him, realizing he was the one who was now uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.  She tried to think of something neutral for both of them.

     “I had a woman read my tea leaves today, too.”  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew that wasn’t it. 

     And unfortunately, Ren’s interest was piqued.

     “Oh yeah.  And what did you find out?  Something about having a wild fling with a long-haired, white-eyelashed musician?”

     From her violent blush, Ren realized his flirtatious joke had been dead on.  Well damn.  He had to find that tea leaf reader and give her a big kiss.

Hi, Everyone!
I’m very excited to be chatting with you today—especially since it’s the official release day for Parallel Desire, the final installment in my Midnight Warriors Series.
 

I am thrilled to finally be sharing this book with all of my fans and readers! As you can guess, it feels like such a journey from the point when an author begins a book up until release day.  So thanks for sharing this special occasion with me! This series was such a fun and challenging journey for me to write, and I’m personally very proud of what I accomplished with each book in the series.
 

Parallel Desire was such a satisfying writing experience because I finally got to explore and tie up the loose ends and questions that so many of you asked about regarding the earlier characters. I think fans will be pleased to learn what happens to Jared and Kelsey and Marco and Thea. Not only that, but Parallel Desire answers the much-anticipated question of whether or not Jake Tierny ever gets his happily-ever-after.
 
With every door that closes another one opens, and so while I’m putting the Midnight Warriors aside for the time being, I’m hard at work on my new series, the Gods of Midnight. Book one of the series, Red Fire, will launch next October.  Stay tuned to my blog and website because I can’t wait to begin to share the details about this exciting new series.
 

In celebration of Parallel Desire’s release, I’m going to give away a signed set of the full Midnight Warriors series. The lucky winner will be the first person to post the titles of each book in the series, including the Amazon short!
 

Good luck and thanks for the awesome support!
 

To stay updated on the latest news, contests and give-aways for all of Deidre Knight’s books, be sure to join the YAHOO! E-Group designed especially for fans! 

**********************

Thanks, Deidre! Now everyone run over to Deidre’s sexy site and be the first to post every book in the series including the short!

Chey

Check out the awesome trailer!

                I don’t know about everyone else, but for me the official release date for a book always brings with it a mixed bag of reactions.  Of course, I’m thrilled to see all the long months of work and waiting to finally come to its conclusion.  From the moment I wrote the first word of the story, it takes a lot of effort by a lot of people to get the book to this point. 

Michelle Grajkowski,  my wonderful agent, is a source of constant support and wisdom who helps keep me focused on the big picture.  We laugh a lot together, and that always helps.

Micki Nuding, my editor at Pocket, lends her deft hand to making the book the best it can be.  And she’s only the tip of the iceberg at my publisher.  There are the other editors, the art department, the sales staff, marking and publicity and a whole bunch of folks I don’t have direct contact with, but still are part of the process.  Like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a dedicated organization to birth a book.

Then there are my friends, both in writing and outside of it, who patiently share their wisdom and their friendship  with me so generously.  Whether it’s listening to me complain when the words won’t come, or yet another long phone call on the ups and downs of this business, they are there for me.  There are too many people for me to name them all, but thanks, ladies and gentlemen.

And finally, there are the readers out there who share the world of my Paladins with me.  Without all of  you, where would I be?   Thank you so much for such wonderful support of my guys.  Words cannot express how it makes me feel when you let me know that my characters have come alive for you in the words of my books.  It means I’ve done my job and given life to the wonderful people who populate my dreams.

But along with all the good thoughts and excitement of seeing the book on the shelves, there’s the fear, the memories of long hours of staring at a blank screen, and the tenuous hope that this book is as good as the last one . . .  or maybe even a little bit better. 

So it’s with great excitement, I want to welcome Cullen Finley and Lusahn q’Arc’s story to the shelf of books in my office.    And to celebrate, I’ll be picking one lucky person to receive a signed copy of REDEEMED IN DARKNESS.    

Wishing you all a lot of release dates in  your future,

Alexis