Writing Buddy Wednesday - Rachel Bailey

Rachel Bailey is a USA Today bestselling author and now Ms Prez of Romance Writers of Australia. She is one of the sweetest, most supportive people I know, and is constantly looking out for others. As such, she has volunteered for RWAus in all sorts of roles. You can't keep a good woman like Rachel down.

I've known Rachel since we did the inaugral Claytons conference together, which now seems like a lifetime ago, and got to know her better at Bootcamp (she was the organiser) and her time as Hearts Talk editor.

Rachel writes for Harlequin Desire (formerly Silhouette Desire). Her stories are sensual and have a lot of emotion, and I love seeing the Rachel sense of humour make some appearance as well.

Her current release is Million-Dollar Amnesia Scandal.

 Truth, Lies and Seduction...

An accident left April Fairchild with no memory, ownership of a multimilliondollar hotel and the nagging sense something wasn't quite right in her life. It also brought her intensely sexy businessman Seth Kentrell, whose late brother had left her the property. Seth believed her a gold digger - and how could April deny it, when she couldn't even remember her name? Now Seth was ready to play hardball to get the hotel back.

But April knew enough to refuse to sign over the property until her memory returned. And if that meant Seth needed to persuade her... well, that was something she could enjoy! At least until the whole truth came out...

You can find out more about Rachel at her website, and find her with the rest of the LoveCats over at the LoveCats DownUnder blog, as well as the Desire authors blog.

Upcoming release - Oct 11 (US), Nov (Aus/NZ)

Here's Rachel's backlist....

 

I hope this entices you to pick up one of Rachel's books.

~yia~

Buddy list and regular columns

If you have missed out on past Writing Buddy Wednesday posts, never fear, I have created a page called Writing Buddy List with, yep, you guessed it, a list of the authors.

So if you are ever looking for something to read - why not try something from these authors?

You can find a link to all the Writing Buddy Wednesday posts on that page, or on the sidebar under Regular Columns. Also listed in the sidebar are the Stunning Saturday and the Super Sunday posts.

Update....

Well, August is coming to a close, and so here's a little update of what's been happening on the writing front:

• Claytons Conference. Yep. Big time spent on that.
• GTH novella final polish and working on submission info (you know query letter and synopsis)
• Submitting short stories
• I started working on a superhero story by longhand. I've realised that I want to change the direction it's going but it really got my brain flowing again on a different type of story.

Also continuing RWAus roles. Did I tell you I'm next conference's committee? The theme is Diamonds are Forever and the conference will be on the Gold Coast. I haven't been to the GC since 2003 and so hoping to go.

Now for a little interesting picture....

I saw this a few weeks back and thought how clever it was. You know, it looks pretty too!

You can find the original photo here.

~yia~

Super Sunday

"Who seeks shall find." ~ Sophocles

 A little Star Wars inspired fun...



Youtube link


~yia~

Stunning Saturday

Today I'm featuring some historical book covers...

As usual, they are all remarkable but I'd say Naamah's Blessing is my favourite. 

How about you? Any favourites?

 Have a great weekend!
~yia~

Writing Buddy Wednesday - Keri Arthur

Keri Arthur is the New York Times Best-Selling of the Riley Jensen Guardian dark urban fantasy series. (Woohoo! - proud of her for that). A former chef, Keri is one persistent and talent writer who shows that if you believe in your work, it will find a home - eventually.

I met Keri in 2002 at the RWAustralia's conference in Melbourne back when she was published by small press, ImaJinn. I purchased Dancing With The Devil and I just loved Keri's style and voice, which I think has improved with every book I've read. The last book of Keri's I read, Moon Sworn, just blew me away and ended the Riley Jensen series in a very satisfying way :))

Keri continues to be a lovely person and is just as down to earth as I first met her. Keri and I both moderate the Paranormal e-loop of the RWAus. This group is what forms the DarkSiders...

Mercy Burns is Keri's latest release. It is the second book to the Myth and Magic series. I really enjoyed Destiny Kills, but haven't had a chance to read Mercy Burns yet. Here is the blurb:

Half dragon, half woman,can she save her friend’s soul -without losing her heart?

Mercy Wilson is a reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area, but she’s also more — and less–than human. Half woman, half air dragon, she’s a ‘draman’, unable to shift shape but still able to unleash fiery energy. Now something will put her powers to the test.

Mercy’s friend Rainey has enlisted her help to solve her sister’s murder. Then a horrible murder claims Rainey’s life, leaving Mercy only five days to find the killer. If Mercy fails, according to dragon law, Rainey’s soul will be doomed to roam the earth for eternity. But how can Mercy help when she herself is a target? With nowhere else to turn, she must join forces with a sexy stranger – the mysterious man they call ‘muerte’, or death itself, who’s as irresistable as he is treacherous. But can even Death keep Mercy alive long enough to find her answers?

You can find more about Keri on her website (which includes her blog)

Her upcoming releases are books 1 and 2 from the Dark Angels Series (a spin-off from the Riley Jensen books)

And here's some cover love from Keri's books. 

Nikki & Michael Series

The Damask Circle series

Ripple Creek series

Spook Squad series

Riley Jensen series

  

  

  

Myth & Magic series (UK covers)

 

Others

 

These covers have international versions. 

~yia~

Claytons Wrap Up

Well the Claytons was a couple of weekends ago. In one way it seems so long ago, and in another, I can't believe it's over. For us on the conference team - Mel Teshco, Anne Whitfield and Neely Lyon - it was months of preparation. And I think that preparation paid off.

The Claytoneers seemed to enjoy the 3 full on days.

We had:

• writing challenges (super heroines, ludicrous plots, short stories, synopsis)
• special editor guests (Sasha Knight from Samhain, and Meghan Conrad from Ellora's Cave)
• Workshops from wonderful authors (Diane Gaston, Sami Lee, Tracey O'Hara, Erica Hayes, Anna Hackett, and Natalie Anderson, oh and I gave a blogging workshop)
• Guest author Q&As (Michelle Diener & Darlene Gardner), 
• Fun and games   (Scavenger Hunt, Bookmark Contest, Caption contest, Trivia Quiz, Best sidekick prize)
• Chats & parties - (Friday Night Costume Party, Saturday Awards Night, Sunday Chat - for those still going).



My starry theme: a Wicked wannabe! 

• and close to 2100 emails to the loop. 

Boy, oh, boy what a weekend.

I think our participants took away enthusiasm for writing and that's the best thing you can hope for at a writing conference. 

Thanks Claytoneers for making it so much fun!

~yia~

Super Sunday

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.    

~ Ayn Rand 

This is hilarious.




You Tube link

Enjoy!

Have a great week!

~yia~

Stunning Saturday

Some more wonderful fantasy art this week....

Artist: Derk Venneman

Artist: Michael Glauss

Fantasy Art Design.com

From cghub.com

Enjoy!

~yia~