Archangel's Consort Excerpt

...now up on the website!!

Friday Book Club

...coming to you on Saturday today. You all know I read Marcella Burnard's Enemy Within recently and thought it was fantastic.

Now it's your turn. What're you reading and enjoying this week?

Extra, extra! Jaci Burton is talking about and giving away a copy of Play of Passion on her blog, so check it out.

Here's a snippet from another new review of Play of Passion:

The sexual tension between Drew and Indigo is scorching hot and I love how it just adds more to the story instead of takes away...I am ecstatic to recommend this book to others, you won’t be disappointed.

Heather for NightOwl Romance ~ Top Pick

Woohoo! Onto the book club!

Guest Author: Marcella Burnard

I'm delighted to have Marcella Burnard on the blog today! I had a chance to read an early copy of her debut science fiction romance Enemy Within (out November 2nd) and thought it was fantastic. Dark and gritty and intensely emotional. Very much recommended if you like sf romance.

Please welcome Marcella to the blog everyone!!

Marcella Burnard

Monday morning, I opened my email and had to look twice. Was that..? Holy lima beans. It was an email from Nalini Singh with my book title, Enemy Within, as the subject line. I’d read Ms. Singh’s book, Mine to Possess and enjoyed it so much, I went right out and snapped up Hostage to Pleasure and Angel’s Blood. Devoured them…then deadlines hit and reading for pleasure came to a screeching (and it had better be temporary) halt. My point is that when Berkley bought Enemy Within, I was thrilled to be writing for the same house and even the same imprint, Berkley Sensation, as one of my new favorite authors. Little did I know that my sainted editor (who hasn’t been bribed with chocolate, I swear!) would send an advance reader copy of Enemy Within to Ms. Singh, who would then read it, like it well enough to email me to say so, and then graciously ask if I’d like to guest blog. I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough. Thank you for the invitation.

I’m Marcella Burnard. I write science fiction romance (SFR) for Berkley Sensation. The whole writing thing started when I was twelve, I think. I’d seen a B-grade pirate/adventure film and decided it had been done all wrong. I borrowed my mother’s Selectric typewriter, set it up in my bedroom even though I didn’t know how to type, and went to work on The Definitive Pirate story. The heroine was twelve. She had a black panther named Scott as a pet. And she was an expert swordswoman. Yeah. The seven seas were never the same. Neither was my school work, but that’s another issue.

So when I set out to write a slightly more grown up pirate story, I kept the swordswoman heroine, ditched the panther, and aged my gal up a bit so she could reasonably be a military captain in her own right. I handed her a handsome pirate who might know a thing or two about swordplay himself and who needed her space ship to save himself and his crew. Good times. I had the makings of a rollicking bit of fun in space.

Yes, Ari did start the book with a case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from having been a prisoner of war. That didn’t have to change my light, fluffy, action-adventure, did it? I remained wrapped in my state of denial right up to the last fight – you know the one at the very end of your favorite movies – Indiana Jones where everyone’s faces melt, or Luke in an x-wing making the last shot that destroys the Death Star and saves everyone. My characters whispered to me at night time when I couldn’t drown out their voices with activity. “You know what has to happen,” they’d say.

I did know. So I stalled.

One of my critique partners finally threw my manuscript pages on the table one day, turned to me, gave me *that* look and said, “What is your problem? This is horrible, awful and wonderful! Don’t come back without the ending! And make it worse!” I wanted to slit my wrists with my pen, but it was a felt tip and all it did was make a mess.

I went home, swallowed a huge lump of fear, and wrote the final quarter of the book in all of its bloody, gross nastiness. No one would want to read it. How could they? I hadn’t wanted to write it. But something happened as I did. The book started living and breathing on its own. It was a little frightening at first, then exhilarating, to have my story escape my control like that. It really had grown up and it wasn’t my pre-teen pirate story anymore, though I tried to fool myself that it was still light. Fun.

Until the day my fabulous agent, Emmanuelle Morgen, said, “No one writes grim scifi the way you do!”

Grim? Really? Even with pirates and swordfights? Dang. Should have kept that black panther sidekick…

____________________

Backcover Blurb of Enemy Within

After a stint in an alien prison, Captain Ari Rose wonders why she even bothered to survive. Stripped of her command and banished to her father's scientific expedition to finish a Ph.D. she doesn't want, Ari never planned to languish quietly behind a desk. She wasn't built for it, either. But when pirates commandeer her father's ship, Ari once again becomes a prisoner.

As far as pirate leader Cullin is concerned, Ari's past imprisonment puts her dead center in Cullin's sights. If she hasn't been brainwashed and returned as a spy, then he's convinced she must be part of a traitorous alliance endangering billions of lives. Cullin can't afford the desire she fires within him and he'll stop at nothing, including destroying her, to uncover the truth.

Link to Marcella's Blog

Catchup

What are you all up to this week?

Play of Passion

Less than a week to go before Drew and Indigo's story hits the shelves! I thought I'd post up a snippet plus links to two more great reviews around the blogsphere to celebrate.

Play of Passion is another fantastic installment in the Psy/Changeling series. Singh has an amazing ability to balance propelling the overarching story of the series forward while never losing focus on the main couple. And Indigo and Drew's love story is a hot, spicy and entertaining one to read...Play of Passion offers everything we expect from Nalini Singh, smart, fiesty heroine, delectable hero and plenty of action. This book is not to be missed!

Read the full review at Katidom

From Play of Passion

“Tell me.”

Her touch locked the air in his throat, threatened to steal his words, his soul.

Indigo nudged again when he didn’t answer. “I’ll find out anyway, you know.”

Glad she’d misunderstood his silence, he made a face at her. “All I said was that he should shave.”

Leaning down until her nose almost touched his, she narrowed her eyes, “Uh-huh. Which part of him did you suggest he shave?”

____________

Drew just melted my heart and I fell in love with Drew and Indigo as a couple. Drew’s ...playfulness and desire, warmed my heart and made this story such a good one to read. This is an excellent romance and I...just adore the Psy-Changeling series!

Read the full review at That's What I'm Talking About

Play of Passion Review from ARC Winner

Bella, who won one of the ARCs of Play of Passion has just posted her (fantastic!) review over at Beguile Thy Sorrow so swing by and check it out!

I'll have more links to reviews later this week :-)

Good Stuff

I just found out that I've been nominated in the Bookie Awards, organized by the readers of the Authors After Dark Convention. Thanks everyone!

The nominations are for:

Anthology of the Year - Burning Up
Cross Genre Novel - Archangel's Kiss
Fantasy Novel - Archangel's Kiss
Series - Guild Hunter

Talking of Burning Up, I'm giving away a copy over on Oddshots. All you have to do is drop by and tell me what you think makes a good author website. Even if you don't want to enter the giveaway, I'd love your thoughts!

Also, the AAR Top 100 Romance Books ballot is now open. It's all about nominating your favorite romances, regardless of when the book was published.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Armageddon Signing

A quick reminder that I'll be signing from 12.30-1pm at the Borders stand today! See some of you there :-)

Friday Book Club

I read a fantastic book in a new paranormal series featuring dragons this week - it's not releasing until mid-2011, so I won't torture you with more info yet, but I think you're going to love it.

Your turn - what're you reading and loving at the moment?

Cover Love: Kiss of Snow

I love this cover!! Hawke, you gorgeous, sexy, lickable man!!

Thank you to the wonderful cover art department at Berkley!!

Links & Updates

I handed in Kiss of Snow yesterday. Woohoo!

The next project I'm planning to tackle is a Guild Hunter novella that's going to be releasing in an anthology next year with novellas by Sharon Shinn, Meljean Brook and Ilona Andrews. <-- How cool is this lineup?! If you haven't read Sharon Shinn's Archangel, you have to check it out. It's a fantastic book.

Edited to add: The novella will focus on Noel, who appeared in Archangel's Kiss - you'll get a hint of his story in Archangel's Consort as well.

Also, if you entered my agent Nephele Tempest's Play of Passion ARC giveaway, she has announced the winner.

And talking of Play of Passion, Heather from The Book Reading Gals has just posted her "A" review of Drew and Indigo's story. The Book Reading Gals are also giving away an early copy of the book, so swing by and enter!

Friday Book Club

Book club time! What're you reading and loving this week?

Play of Passion ARC Contest!!

My fabulous agent, Nephele Tempest, is giving away an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) of Play of Passion. Entries close Monday, Oct 18, so be quick!!

(Closing comments on this post to avoid confusion.)

Play of Passion

A little snippet :-)
_______________

His wolf sat up in anticipation—he’d never wanted easy. He’d always wanted Indigo. And tomorrow, he’d have her all to himself, far from the den and the hierarchy…and the rules that she used to keep her own explosive response to him under vicious control. But he knew. He’d tasted it.

And he was going to make Indy admit it—even if he had to sneak in under her defenses using every dirty trick in the book. This was war. Who the hell cared about playing fair?

(c) Copyright 2010 by Nalini Singh

Armageddon Expo Signing

I'll be doing a book signing at the Borders stand at Armageddon from 12.30pm to 1pm on October 23rd. Hope to see some of you there!

Fun Videos

I posted some fun ads over on Oddshots, so check it out :-)

Play of Passion Video Interview

Look!!



p.s. The camera does totally add twenty pounds! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :D

Friday Book Club

I mentioned The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook over on Oddshots but I want to post about it here as well - because I adored this book!

It's the first full-length book in Meljean's new Iron Seas series. There was also a fantastic novella "Here There Be Monsters" in the Burning Up anthology. (Both stand alone, so you can read them in any order.)

The Iron Duke is one of my favorite reads for this year. I picked it up and literally couldn't put it down. It's set in a wonderfully realized world and has an amazing overarching plot, but Rhys and Mina's love story is the center of the book. Both beautifully drawn characters, these two have the most sizzling chemistry.

Quite simply, I loved, loved, loved it!

If you want to read some detailed reviews, Meljean has links to several over on her blog.

Now your turn! What've you been reading and loving lately?

Polish Cover: Angels' Blood

Here's the beautiful Polish cover for ANGELS' BLOOD (KREW ANIOŁÓW). The book is now out, so if you know someone in Poland, let them know! :-)

Guest Author: Laura Wright

Winners: Thank you for all your wonderful comments everyone, and thanks Laura for visiting. The random numbers have spoken and the winners of the two signed copies of Eternal Hunger are:

Jen (comment left at 12:54pm)
Valerie (from Germany)

Congratulations! Valerie, I have your email. Jen could you please drop me a note at nalinisinghwrites AT gmail DOT com so I can forward your info onto Laura? Thanks!

______________________

I'm delighted to welcome Laura Wright to the blog today. Laura and I first knew each other while writing for Silhouette Desire. She's now come over to the dark side with a new vampire series.

I had a chance to read the first book, Eternal Hunger early and enjoyed it so much I gave it a cover blurb - I believe the words "Dark, delicious and sinfully good" might've been used. If you're looking for a dark and sexy vampire romance, this one is very much recommended!

Please welcome Laura to the blog everyone, and don't forget to enter her contest.

The Birth of the Roman Brothers
Laura Wright

First of all I want to say thank you to Nalini for having me over for a romance writer playdate today. Nalini is such a genius and an incredibly generous person, and it’s an honor to be guest blogging here. :-)

When I was brainstorming blog topics for today, I came up with all sorts of ideas around the vampire theme. The appeal of vamps, fangs, bites, blood consumption...But there was one thought that stood out – a question actually, that I’ve started getting lately.

‘How did you come up with the idea for the series?’

This is such a great question and, I hope, kind of a cool answer. I had actually intended for ETERNAL HUNGER to be a category novel, even pitched it to my wonderful editor at Silhouette with hopes we could do a trilogy for Desire. But something happened.
HE showed up in my mind.
Who is HE?
Lol..
That would be the illustrious and sexually gifted Breeding Male.

**For those of you who haven’t read HUNGER yet, the Breeding Male is a vampire of purest blood who, many centuries ago, was taken by the rulers of the breed and genetically transformed into a ferocious, aggressive breeding machine. He is able to not only impregnate at will, but decide the sex of the child. This was very useful in times of war, when one sex or the other was being wiped out. The Breeding Male would be called upon to repopulate the species. Problem was, many of the females he mated with were forced to lay with him by their families. He became an animal, rutting with any female that crossed his path, and soon had to be caged and controlled.**

Yes, so this horribly awesome creature came into my head, and like a seed in the dirt, it sat there for a while getting water and fertilizers (aka, questions - lots of questions.) Like - who were the children of the Breeding Male – and the females who were forced to lay with him. When they became mothers...how did they treat their young? What was the family dynamic? Would these children run away from their home? Their communities? Would they themselves live in fear that one day they too would become a Breeding Male?

I knew this would be a big story with really dark histories and graphic love scenes, and I didn’t want to hold anything back. So, I set out working on the world and the beginning chapters. I had (for starters) three sons of the Breeding Male, Purebloods and Impures living together in communities called, credentis. I had those who escaped and started a life in the human world, I had a ruling class - and I had a threat of a villain who was going to force the rulers and the rebels to work together.

It became a world I was not only fascinated by, but one I wished I could enter. Well, for a few weeks anyway. Just so I could meet those Roman brothers face to face. Or should I say Fang to Fang :-)

What about you? Is there a world an author, or authors, has created that you’d love to jump into for a few weeks?

I’m giving away 2 signed copies of ETERNAL HUNGER today. Leave a comment by 12 noon Thursday 7 October 2010 New Zealand time and you’ll be entered to win* :)

Link to excerpt of ETERNAL HUNGER
Link to Laura's Author Page on Facebook

*Winners to be picked by random.org and their names posted in the comments and at the top of this post. Void where prohibited.

Kiss of Snow

I have some fairly major news to share - Kiss of Snow will be releasing in hardcover first.

I know not everyone's going to be excited by this, but I have more news that should make you all smile.

The release date has been moved up to June 2011, plus the book has ended up quite a bit longer in length (more Hawke!).

Also, the paperback will be releasing only 6 months after the hardcover, in December.

The e-book edition will release the same time as the hardcover.

Monday

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I completed the almost-final draft of Kiss of Snow. Woohoo!! It's off for a beta read, and in the meantime, I'm working on copy edits for Archangel's Consort.

I also managed to twist my ankle - so it's working from the recliner for me today. Now if only I had a butler like Montgomery...

Also, while you're blog-hopping, drop by this post at Babbling About Books and leave a comment supporting Kate's contribution to the "It Gets Better" anti-bullying campaign. She's pledged to donate $1 for every comment, up to $500.

Play of Passion & Friday Book Club

The Kindle pre-order link for Play of Passion is live! The other ebook links should be available soon :-)

Edited to add: Nook pre-order link now up! Plus Books on Board! :-)

Now, onto the book club. What've you been reading and loving this week?