Cover Reveal!!

Astraea Press is celebrating their first cover reveal; Wendy Knight's Fate on Fire novella, Feudlings in Sight! Available Thursday on Astraea Press, Amazon, and all other major ebook retailers!

Blurb: Boys of war suck at romance.

Charity Delyle has lived in the shadow of her Prodigy cousin and his powerful Guard since the day she was born. And she doesn’t mind—really. Except that being in Hunter’s shadow means that he can’t see her. And she’d like that to change.

Hunter has one purpose in life: Protect the Prodigy, or die trying. That means a social life, school, and even Charity come last until the war is over. For the most part, he’s okay with that—he can lose everything if he has to…except his seer.

Starting at a new school should be much safer than living in a war-ravaged Carules headquarters. But this new school is different than the others. Friendships are forged and destinies are questioned, and Hunter’s decision could cost them all everything they’ve been hoping for.

Excerpt: “Okay, do you want to practice the ones we learned last week or just start new ones?” She had carefully color-coded the spell book with sticky tabs — spells they had mastered, spells they had practiced, spells that would come in handy one day — she was very organized. And if the Council ever found out she put sticky tabs in a book that was over three hundred years old, they would kill her completely dead.

“Learn as much as you can, Shane. Gonna be hard to find a place to practice in the mountains of Utah, surrounded by Normals.” Hunter idly traced spells in the air, letting them fizzle and die without igniting them.

“Well, alright.” Charity flipped to the red section — spells that would come in handy one day. She started at the top. “This one is called an Al-able.” The odd word rolled awkwardly off her tongue. “It’s like… it looks like it’s sort of a flat triangle of flames.”

Hunter and Shane both walked over, studying the spell in the book before tracing it slowly into the air. The spell wouldn’t actually ignite until they lit it with the flames roiling through their blood, but they both wanted to make sure they could do it correctly so as not to explode them all to pieces or something.

“No, no, Hunter. Less harsh lines. Softer.” Charity glanced down at the page and then up at Hunter’s disaster of an attempt. Sighing she laid the book on the metal next to her and pushed herself to her feet. She took Hunter’s hand, trying hard to ignore the way her own blood seemed to explode into flames. There’s no magic there, she told herself harshly. “Like this.” She led his hand through the spell until the air smoked and the image burned in front of them. She looked up, got caught in his gold eyes. He watched her, an unreadable look on his face.

It made her heart stutter in her chest. Before he could say anything she dropped his hand. “Now try it on your own. I can’t do everything for you, you know.” Charity grinned playfully, dodging out of the way as he tried to push her over. She rescued the book from the twisted metal and perched, watching them expectantly. “Go. Do something.”

Shane rolled his eyes. “Give the girl a book and she’s suddenly the boss.” He moved away several feet so he wouldn’t accidentally ignite her. He’d done it before, and Charity didn’t relish the idea of it happening again.

BIO: Wendy Knight was born and raised in Utah by a wonderful family who spoiled her rotten because she was the baby. Now she spends her time driving her husband crazy with her many eccentricities (no water after five, terror when faced with a live phone call, etcetera, etcetera). She also enjoys chasing her three adorable kids, playing tennis, watching football, reading, and hiking. Camping is also big: her family is slowly working toward a goal of seeing all the National Parks in the U.S. You can usually find her with at least one Pepsi nearby, wearing ridiculously high heels for whatever the occasion may be. And if everything works out just right, she will also be writing. Twitter: @wjk8099 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorWendyKnight Blog: www.writethroughthenoise.blogspot.com Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7009940.Wendy_Knight a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read Kiddo Read

One of my favorite authors, James Patterson, is a big advocate of getting kids to read. Since the birth of his son, he has invested a lot of time and money into a campaign to encourage reading from young ages on up.

His program Read, Kiddo, Read is geared at attracting readers at various age levels. He believes, as most of us do, that reading is critical and fundamental skill for success in school and life as well as a method of relaxation and enjoyment. 

He encourages parents to keep their kids reading during the summer months, which is an important goal of mine, too. His website Read Kiddo Read offers a lot of wonderful books for kids and is broken down by tabs for Great Illustrated Books (for younger readers), Great Beginner Books (6 & Up), Great Page Turners (8 & up), and Great Advanced Books (10 & Up).

Patterson, however, hasn't really focused much on the slightly older reader, so this week, I am highlighting some young adult books by some wonderfully creative authors on a special YA Recommended Reads tab.

Why not click over there and check out this week's picks:

The Super Spies and the Pied Piper 

by

Lisa Orchard

Late for the Ball

by 

Heather Gray

Perfect Summer
by Karen King









And remember to Read, Kiddo, Read...no matter what your age is!
~ Stephanie

Life on the Edge - Or How I Spent My Weekend

There's no nice way to say it - I'm a klutz. It's true. To illustrate my point, it came as no surprise to my friends and family to hear I managed to pop something in my ankle while I was letting my dog out last week. I was in my own house, barefooted, without the excuse of falling or a pair of ridiculously lovely shoes, or anything else. So, I spent the weekend doing RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) therapy...mostly with my foot on a sofa cushion and my nose buried in my Kindle. As my friend Peg S. pointed out, at least I had a decent pedi for the event.


But what does being a klutz have to do with Life on the Edge? Well, my weak ankles have plagued me all my life, but I still used to love to figure skate as a kid. I had to lace my skates extra firmly to support my ankles, and I couldn't skate for long before they gave out, but I loved it. As an adult, I love to watch figure skating. I am awed by the speed and grace with which those athletes glide across the ice. For me, Figure Skating - Pairs, Dance, Men's, Women's - is the most important sport at the Olympics. I watch the other  skating competitions, too, and probably watched the movie, The Cutting Edge, at least ten times. So, I was tickled when I learned one of my fellow Astraea Press authors, Jennifer Comeaux, has a series of romances set in the figure skating world.

As luck would have it, Life on the Edge and it's sequel Edge of the Past are on sale at Amazon for just 99 cents each -- a heck of a price for a big 400 page book! So I downloaded them and started to read. From page one, I was swept into the competitive and exciting behind the scene world of figure skating.

I stayed up until 3 A.M. in order to finish Life on the Edge, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves romance and figure skating. I started book two today, but had to share this one.

Life on the Edge 
by Jennifer Comeaux

Nineteen-year-old Emily is new to pairs skating, but she and her partner Chris have a big dream -to be the first American team to win Olympic gold. Their young coach Sergei, who left Russia after a mysterious end to his skating career, believes they can break through and make history.

Emily and Chris are on track to be top contenders at the 2002 Winter Games. But when forbidden feelings spark between Emily and Sergei, broken trust and an unexpected enemy threaten to derail Emily's dreams of gold.

Available at
Astraea Press, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

You can check out Jennifer's other books at these booksellers, too.

Don't wait for a sprained ankle to do it -- the sale is still on!

Happy reading, happy writing,
~  Stephanie                  

So Many Books and So Little Time

I have to admit this picture amused me. I don't watch TV very much, and what television I do watch is about as far from the Jersey Shore's paean to Gym and Tanning as you can get. I'm more likely to be watching Law and Order, Castle, CSI or some other police action show.

I also tend to have my nose stuck in a book -- or more likely these days in my Kindle or iPad book app. It's great to be able to carry your library with you wherever you go. The downside to that is that I subscribe to several eBook sites whose goal in life seems to be to introduce me to new books and new authors. So, I always have dozens of books waiting to be read. They call to me when I should be sitting at my desk working on my next book. 

Today, I'm being tempted by a new title from Astraea Press,
The Enchanted by Elizabeth Cantrell. 

Prince Alan has been forced into a marriage he doesn't want. To top it off, he finds his bride isn't the sweet submissive creature he expected. 

Morgane has the heart of a dragon and beauty beyond compare, and she's not to thrilled about the marriage either. 

When black treachery threatens the kingdom, the pair must embark on a perilous journey that has an excellent chance of ending in failure and death.

Sounds like another book to add to the Kindle library, and one more excuse to keep from writing. Darn!

Have a great day -- I'll be over here reading!
~Stephanie 

There's Trouble in Paradise or, in This Case, Paradys

I'm excited to announce the upcoming release of a second book.

Trouble in Paradys, to be released in late June, isn't part of the Stitching Post romances (the next story in that series is still in process). My new story is a bit different. It's part fantasy, part comedy, and all romance.

Here's a bit about it:
Psychology professor, Peggy Oster intends to spend her summer vacation doing nothing more than watching classic sitcoms and reading her backlog of romance novels. Instead, she wakes up the first morning in a strange dimension where all the residents look like they were chosen for their roles by a Hollywood casting agent.

Xandro never planned to be wizard; he wants to be a chef. The inept magician can make a perfect soufflé, but his spells leave much to be desired. Still, he’s not ready to relinquish his Court position when a fiery-haired young woman shows up at the castle gate.

Can the unlikely pair put aside their differences in order to rescue the Royals, who have been abducted? If not, Peggy will be stuck in this strange world with no way back to Kansas.

Where are all the ruby slippers when a gal needs them?

Happy reading/happy writing!
~ Stephanie

Using Adverbs is a Mortal Sin - Ten Rules for Writers

Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, The Guardian, a British newspaper asked authors for their personal dos and don'ts for aspiring authors. I'm posting's Leonard's list below and will highlights some of the others in the days ahead. I'm also going to ask some of my fellow authors for their list, so check back and see what they have to say!

Elmore Leonard: Using adverbs is a mortal sin

1 Never open a book with weather. If it's only to create atmosphere, and not a charac­ter's reaction to the weather, you don't want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead look­ing for people. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways than an Eskimo to describe ice and snow in his book Arctic Dreams, you can do all the weather reporting you want.

2 Avoid prologues: they can be ­annoying, especially a prologue ­following an introduction that comes after a foreword. But these are ordinarily found in non-fiction. A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want. There is a prologue in John Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday, but it's OK because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about. He says: "I like a lot of talk in a book and I don't like to have nobody tell me what the guy that's talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks."

3 Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But "said" is far less intrusive than "grumbled", "gasped", "cautioned", "lied". I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" ... he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances "full of rape and adverbs".

5 Keep your exclamation points ­under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.

6 Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose". This rule doesn't require an explanation. I have noticed that writers who use "suddenly" tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points.

7 Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. Once you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apos­trophes, you won't be able to stop. Notice the way Annie Proulx captures the flavour of Wyoming voices in her book of short stories Close Range.

8 Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, which Steinbeck covered. In Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", what do the "Ameri­can and the girl with him" look like? "She had taken off her hat and put it on the table." That's the only reference to a physical description in the story.

9 Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. You don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.

10 Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them.

My most important rule is one that sums up the other  ten: if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Hmmmm, Mr. Leonard sounds like a tough editor.  What do you think?

My advice? Keep writing! (she said with an exclamation point)
~ Stephanie

Stop by and visit us!

Today, my co-author, Patricia Kiyono and I are guests on the blog of a fellow Astraea Press author, Lindsay Downs.  Among Lindsay many titles is the Emily Dahill, CID, series about an Iraq veteran, who pursues a new career as a Criminal Investigation Department Special Agent. 

It is such an honor for me to be on Lindsay's blog, and I'm very grateful for this opportunity to meet some of Lindsay's readers.

If you get a chance, Stop on by.  

Joint interviews are fun to do. You'll get to learn a little bit about both of us, how we write, and a bit about our backgrounds.  

To stop by for a visit, click below.
Lindsay Sands, Murders and Mysteries

Talk to you soon!
~ Stephanie