Congratulations to Melissa Rudberg, Angie Thomas-Davis, and Ghia Arroyo for taking home signed copies of Fated, UK style. It requires a great deal of skill to be selected by a random number generator, so never take that for granted.
And a big thank you to everyone who left your comments and thoughtful words and who helped to spread the love about Fated and Breathers. I’m grateful for your support. Thank you for reading.
It’s September 1, which means it’s the release date for my second novel, Fated, in the United Kingdom. To celebrate, I’m giving away several signed copies of the UK edition.
So how can you enter for a chance to win? It’s simple…
Just leave a comment on this post and presto! You’re entered.
But if you’d like to improve your chances of winning, all you have to do is share a link to this post on either your Goodreads, Facebook, or Twitter profile. Or simply mention Fated if you’ve read it and enjoyed it. Then let me know where you mentioned it in your comment to this post and you’ll get a second chance to win. Bonus!
However, while you’re more than welcome to spread the word in more than one place, there is a limit of two entries per person.
So who will win? Is it fate or is it destiny? Only time will tell.
Contest ends Sunday, September 4 at 11:59PM PST.
What happens when your publisher lists your dark comedy and social satire about fate and destiny as a Contemporary Romance on their website? You get invited to participate in a Beach Party Chat and Giveaway for mystery and romance authors, that’s what happens.
Tonight from 8:00-11:00pm EST, dozens of mostly mystery and romance authors will be dropping in to chat all evening on Writerspace and there will be hundreds of prizes — two Kindles, autographed books, gift cards and more. You don’t have to be present to win, but you must be registered. To register, and for details on all participating authors and the prizes they’re giving away, visit www.writerspace.com/beach.
I’ll be chatting from 9:00-9:30pm EST, or from 6:00-6:30pm PST. For those of you who live in Hawaii, Arizona, or Indiana, I have no idea what time I’ll be chatting.
However, I do know that I’ll be giving away two signed copies of the UK edition of Fated, the cover of which is right over there. 
So grab your sunglasses, put on your swimsuit, and head on out to the Beach Party for your chance to win a bunch of prizes. And don’t forget the sunscreen!
I’ll be attending Comic-Con in San Diego from July 21-24 and will be appearing at the following signings and panels:
THURSDAY, July 21
Signing: Geekscape Booth (#4016)
1:00pm – 2:00pm
I’ll have bookmarks, postcards, and a limited supply of 11″ x 17″ posters of Breathers and Fated that I’ll be giving away. While I won’t have any novels with me, feel free to bring along your copy and I’ll be happy to sign it. You can also purchase Breathers and Fated at the Mysterious Galaxy Booth (#1119)
SATURDAY, July 23
Panel: Room 6A
1:45pm – 2:45pm
Vampires and Others – How to make a relationship work when you or your significant other lack a pulse, or face other mortal-challenged issues.
Relationship advice from: Patricia Briggs (The Mercy Thompson series), Nancy Holder (The Crusade series), Linda Thomas-Sundstrom (The Golden Vampire), S.G. Browne (Fated), Clay & Susan Griffith (The Vampire Empire series), and Christine Cody (Bloodlands).
Autograph session for the panel to follow:
Signing: Autograph Area 8
3:00pm – 4:00pm
At this point I don’t anticipate any additional appearances, so if you’re at the convention on Thursday and/or Saturday, swing by the Geekscape Booth or the panel and say “hi.”
I recently watched half a dozen episodes of the reality television series Jersey Shore in the name of research. Since I don’t watch much TV, and rarely, if ever, watch reality TV, I felt it was imperative to get some insight into the dynamic for the short story I’m writing about the Seven Deadly Sins living together in a reality TV type environment.
I have to admit, while the first three episodes of Jersey Shore were for research, the last three episodes were because I couldn’t look away. Fortunately, I haven’t given into the temptation to do more research by watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
When it comes to research, I tend to be more of an armchair researcher rather than going out into the field, using the world at my proverbial fingertips to help add details to my writing. These details, I feel, help to enhance the mythologies and universes I create and ground them in a sense of reality.
While writing Breathers, for instance, I added a good deal of information as to what happens to the human body when it decomposes and what cadavers are used for when donated to medical science. Most of this information I found in STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Had it not been for that book, I wouldn’t have known that a cadaver head is about the same size and weight as a roaster chicken or that when maggots feast on subcutaneous fat it sounds like Rice Krispies.
In addition to the various aspects of human decomposition that helped to give Breathers it’s somewhat dark tone, I also researched wine, recipes, reality television, granaries, the SPCA, the Sistine Chapel, Social Security numbers, and how to apply makeup. All of this was accomplished by using the Internet, though I did visit the Soquel Cemetery to add atmosphere to those scenes. And all of the headstones I mention truly exist there.
As for Fated, the time I spent in Manhattan definitely helped to add some details to the scenes that took place there, details I otherwise would have missed. Like being able to hear the traffic on the Hudson River Parkway while sitting on the promenade beneath the cherry blossom trees. Or that there were cherry blossom trees to sit under. However, I never set foot in Scandal’s in Queens to get a lap dance or had a drink at Iggy’s on the Upper East Side.
Since Fate has been around since the dawn of man, I wanted to include his personal relationship with humans over the millennia. So I did a fair amount of research on world history, using details about Henry VIII, the sinking of the Titanic, Neolithic man, the Renaissance, the Hindenburg, Moses, the birth of the Roman Empire, and the Black Death, among others. This helped to add a realistic element to my supernatural universe.
I also researched the ingredients of crystal methamphetamine, celebrity deaths in Los Angeles, shopping malls, world population, the Greek Gods, New York City real estate, strip Scrabble, BDSM, the Daytona Beach Dog Track, and the fact that in the state of Minnesota it’s illegal to have sex with a bird.
Oh the things you can learn on the Internet.
