I’ve known Julia Smith for eons now. Three lifetimes in a blogger’s life. Maybe more.

Julia and I have followed each other through some pretty major changes in our lives, and I’m thrilled to have her stop in today to talk about her new book, Saint Sanguinus. Which means, of course, that I asked her the Famed One Question Interview: What song makes you think of your book?

That is easy-peasy.

I wrote the initial draft of SAINT SANGUINUS while listening to the full length ballet score for Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev.

The only hard part is choosing one section to share with your readers.

So I’ll have to go with the dark, dramatic tomb sequence from the final act.

Instead of Romeo and Paris fighting in the shadows of Juliet’s tomb, let’s picture a vampire clan surrounding our hero Peredur as he’s tormented by Lord Muirdach and given the choice to join them—or die.

Blurb:
An elite brotherhood stands between humans and vampires, preventing one side from annihilating the other. Who are called to this service? Only those warriors who curse God with their dying breath.

Welsh warrior Peredur falls to a spear before he can claim Tanwen for his bride. Raging on the battlefield, Peredur utters the curse that seals his fate and leads him to another life. Using the power of a saint whose bone makes up an amulet, Peredur takes on the trials to become a true member of the brethren. Yet his need for the chieftain’s daughter Tanwen still burns.
Tanwen resists her father’s command to take a husband. The only one who understands her sorrow is Cavan, the wise woman’s son. When he promises that he can reunite her with her beloved, she agrees to his terms. But does Tanwen truly understand the depth of the price that must be paid?

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I meet neat people via Twitter. Our latest is @SweetSheil, or SG Lee. She’s a fan of mine, which automatically makes me a fan of hers.

Anyway, she’s got a new book out, called Love’s Labours Won. She sent me a .pdf copy, so I’ll get on the proper downloading of that soon (and hopefully the reading of it, as well, but man, you guys love to send me books!).

While I’m doing that, check out the songs she’s picked as the songs that most make her think of her book. I bet you never thought you’d see some of THESE artists on this here blog! (Hey, it’s good for us. All of us. Especially me. I don’t invite you guys here to talk about your favorite Metallica song, after all!)

Without further ado, here’s SG with her song picks. Buy links are at the bottom of the post. Use them!

Rasmus In The Shadows best describes Sarah because of the lyrics. Sarah has been waiting for family,waiting for her life to begin. She is disconnected having no family that she knows of and she feels like she’s been invisible all her life. Now, she finds what she has been searching for, but she is still
wary.

Artist: The Rasmus Album: Miscellaneous

No sleep
No sleep until I am done with finding the answer
Won’t stop
Won’t stop before I find a cure for this cancer
Sometimes
I feel I going down and so disconnected
Somehow
I know that I am haunted to be wanted

I’ve been watching
I’ve been waiting
In the shadows all my time
I’ve been searching
I’ve been living
For tomorrows all my life

In the shadows

In the shadows

They say
That i must learn to kill before i can feel safe
But I
I rather kill myself then turn into their slave
Sometimes
I feel that I should go and play with the thunder
Somehow
I just don’t wanna stay and wait for a wonder

I’ve been watching
I’ve been waiting
In the shadows all my time
I’ve been searching
I’ve been living
For tomorrows all my life

Lately I been walking walking in circles, watching waiting for something
Feel me touch me heal me, come take me higher

I’ve been watching
I’ve been waiting
In the shadows all my time
I’ve been searching
I’ve been living
For tomorrows all my life
I’ve been watching
I’ve been waiting
I’ve been searching
I’ve been living for tomorrows

In the shadows

In the shadows
I’ve been waiting

*But also Fireworks by Katy Perry because that is how Demetrious sees her.*
*
*
*Songwriters:* Dean, Esther; Eriksen, Mikkel; Hermansen, Tor Erik; Perry,
Katy; Wilhelm, Sandy Julien;

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there’s still a chance for you
‘Cause there’s a spark in you?

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

‘Cause baby, you’re a firework
Come on, show ’em what you’re worth
Make ’em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ’em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ’em falling down

You don’t have to feel like a waste of space
You’re original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you’re reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow
And when it’s time, you’ll know

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

‘Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on, show ’em what you’re worth
Make ’em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ’em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ’em falling down

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It’s always been inside of you, you, you
And now it’s time to let it through

‘Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on, show ’em what you’re worth
Make ’em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ’em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ’em falling down

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
*
*
*You can buy my book at Smashwords*
*it will soon be available at **Amazon,**,**Barnes and Noble, Sony, and
Apple.

Here’s the blurb:

Sarah is a young single woman in dire straits. Her rent is due, she was fired from her last job and she has no family to turn to. In desperation, she accepts the offer of a mysterious job interview. The job offers a magical world she never knew existed, but is it a trick to use her for evil purposes? As she explores her past to find her future, will Sarah face her greatest challenge yet?

One of the best things about Rocktober this year hasn’t been great book reviews or lovely sales reports (although those are quite nice, as well).

Nope. It’s been meeting other Rock Fiction authors. One of them is ME Purfield, who was kind enough to feature me on his blog — and to let our friend Mary at BookHounds re-run the same post.

Mike is good people. So, of course, on hearing he’d just published a new book, Breaking Fellini, I had to ask him that burning question of mine: What song makes you think of your book?

Here’s what he said:

I’m going to give you a trick answer for this one. The Trilogy songs from Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation: The Wonder, Hyperstation, and Eliminator, Jr. The rhythm of it is so New York, especially the lower east side.

I tried hard to bring a feel of the lower east side during the seventies in my novel Breaking Fellini. With any luck I hope the reader gets something fast, something droning, something weird, and something original. Just like the Trilogy on Daydream Nation.

Definitely like the Trilogy. That is some angry music.

Here’s the blurb for Breaking Fellini:

Breaking Fellini is a novel of No Wave and New York during 1977.

Sixteen-year-old Joni Corso loves to play rock guitar, but being in a local cover band just doesn’t excite her anymore. She wants to perform originals and join the scene in New York City were Blondi, Patti Smith, and The Ramones found fame.

Able to convince her mother to spend some time with her estranged father in Manhattan, Joni jumps at the opportunity to redefine herself and join a band. Amidst a whirlwind of classic rock, drugs, urban recession, and drag queens, Joni meets Phaedra a homeless girl with a mission to destroy rock idols and the mainstream. Joni joins her band No! and starts plays the kind of music she’s been craving. The kind of music that out punks Punk.

But Dad sees her as something else: a famous rock guitarist with a band on the Top 40 charts, something Joni doesn’t want to be anymore. Now she has to decide which musician she can live with being and for who or risk losing her new life and father she just found.

I left the Smashwords link above (oh, look. There it is again!), but if you’re a purist or something equally odd, here’s the Amazon link.

Ahh, blogosphere. Connecting writers to writers and writers to readers and readers to writers and everything bookish like that.

Today’s Featured New Release comes from an author I met online, Melissa Luznicky Garrett. Or, rather, she met me. I think she surfed over to check out some of my fiction — always the perfect reason to be here — and stayed. A friendship struck up, as it often does with me (as many of you know first-hand).

Which means that when I got word that Melissa had a new book coming out, you know I had to rush over there and ask her the Famed One Question Interview: What song makes you think of your book?

This question was super easy for me to answer. Although there were many songs that got me through the writing of TURNING POINT, only one became the unofficial anthem. And that’s Bling (Confessions of a King) by The Killers. I have no idea how or why they ended up giving the song that title, but I’m sure someone smarter than I can probably figure it out!

As is often the case when I’m writing a book, I listen to music. Usually it serves as nothing more than background noise. It’s not like I play music with the intention of finding my book’s theme song. But usually I just know, without a doubt, when I’ve come across that special song, the one that makes me think specifically of my book. Sometimes it’s the tone of the music, or a certain phrase. Sometimes it’s one specific word in the lyrics! (example: the word “perforated” from Death Cab for Cutie’s Transatlanticism – that song became the theme for my first book, PRECIPICE)

From the very beginning, I had a younger version of Brandon Flowers (lead singer of The Killers) in mind for the role of Dominic. Brandon sometimes has this vulnerable look about him that makes the audience instinctively feel “something” for him, and that’s the way Jenna (TURNING POINT’s MC) initially felt about Dominic. She couldn’t put her finger on why she felt so instinctively protective of him, she just did. It wasn’t until she figured out who he really was that she realized just how much he needed her. In fact, his life depended on her helping him out of a really crummy situation.

There are certain lyrics in the song that I can just imagine Jenna speaking to Dominic:

“When I offer you survival,
you say it’s hard enough to live.
And I’ll tell you when it’s over . . . Shut up . . .” (that makes me laugh, because Jenna would *totally* tell Dominic to shut up!)

and then

“Higher and higher, we’re gonna take it down to the wire, we’re gonna make it out of the fire . . .” (they have to go through A LOT of bad stuff before it gets better)

The LIVE version of this song is especially good. The energy is AMAZING, and it makes me want to jump up and down and scream: “Go Jenna! Go Dominic! You can do it!”

This is one of those songs that is so awesome, all I can say is, “Dude! This rocks!”

Here’s the blurb for Turning Point:

Convinced a fresh start is all she needs to escape the problems at home, seventeen-year-old Jenna Lyons runs away in the middle of the night. But when her car breaks down on the outskirts of La Grange, Missouri, population less than a thousand, she gets sucked into the small town, and one family in particular. Jenna discovers there’s a liar in La Grange, and he’s deceived everyone. Now she must decide whether to run away from the truth, or blow his secret wide open.

Here are some buy links!
Smashwords
CreateSpace
Amazon

**
Melissa left us a comment: When your readers are done here, they should click over to my site for the TURNING POINT Book Launch & Giveaway and enter to win one of five print copies.

The link to her website is above… use it well.

If you follow Rocks ‘n’ Reads, my spot for posting book reviews, you’ve seen my thoughts on Jeremy Wagner’s debut novel, The Armageddon Chord, which is the newest West of Mars Recommended Read.

Jeremy was kind enough to stop in and talk music as part of the ongoing Featured New Release spot here at The Meet and Greet at West of Mars. It wasn’t hard to get him to cough up a song that makes him think of his book. Heck, he’s a musician, after all. He could probably write a song that best embodies the book.

Our conversation went something like this:

me: Jeremy, what song makes you think of your book?

Jeremy Wagner: “The Armageddon Chord song, of course! Written by LUPARA. And all of you West of Mars followers/readers can hear it here.

This is not the cop-out it first seems. Click on through and listen. Okay, maybe it’s not as evil as the book made it out to be. In fact, it’s the sort of death metal I like: full of really good instrumentation and lacking those stupid-assed death metal lyrics delivered in a voice that makes Cookie Monster look like he’s singing soprano.

Dude. I can listen to THIS all day long.

Which, maybe, defeats the purpose of the concept of the song. I mean, hello? The song is supposed to be evil, so evil it melts amps and destroys favorite guitars and unleashes Satan onto the Earth. This is brutal, sure, but evil?

Nah. It’s too good to be bad. Or so bad it’s good. Either way, it’s NOT evil. Thankfully. I’d hate for life to imitate art, at least where The Armageddon Chord is concerned.

Go pick up the book. Here’s the link to Powells, since you all know I like them best of all the online bookstores.

Yeah, I’ve been quiet. Lots going on behind the scenes as we get ready for school to start in these parts. So I asked my good friend Thea Atkinson to stop in and talk about her new book, Throwing Clay Shadows.

You guys know what that means … I had to ask her the famed West of Mars Question: What song makes you think of your book?

Like is starting to be the trend around here, she outdid herself. Bring it!

It’s pretty hard to pick a song that would fit Throwing Clay Shadows since it’s set in 1800s Scotland and deals with a young girl who thinks she has killed her mother with bad words. It’s the story of this child finding a way to overcome her sense of guilt, a guilt that is nothing, really, but an echo of the remorse she feels from betraying a loved one in an earlier incarnation.

Usually, I have a full soundtrack that hits on themes and plot points from the entire novel. So to pick one song is even tougher.

I would say that I listened to “Orestes” a lot by A Perfect Circle because the singer uses the metaphor of the Orestes myth to speak of making the decision to pull the plug on his mother’s life support. This is probably the closest song in the soundtrack that translates the agony of losing a loved one and feeling responsible. It’s a beautiful, haunting song that delivers an evocative message about the bond between a child and mother.

.

All about Thea:
Thea Atkinson is a writer of character driven fiction; call it what you will: she prefers to describe her work as psychological thrillers with a distinct literary flavour. As in her bestselling novel, Anomaly, her characters often find themselves in the darker edges of their own spirits but manage to find the light they seek.

She has been an editor, a freelancer, and a teacher, but fiction is her passion. She now blogs and writes and twitters. Not necessarily in that order.

Please visit her blog for ramblings, guest posts, giveaways, and more, or follow her on twitter, or like her Facebook page.

Book Blurb:
On the Isle of Eigg, in 1807, four-year old Maggie believes she has killed her mother by saying bad things, and now she won’t say a word. It’s true that Ma’s voice stays in the cottage, and sometimes Maggie can see her in the shadows, but it’s not the same thing as having a real ma. She’s worried if she says anything, she will kill her da too. She doesn’t want him to die, and so no matter how much he tries to get her to, she won’t speak.

The trouble is, the consumption that really took her ma and her premature sister’s lives, has marked Maggie too and forces her da to marry Janet so she can have a woman to look after her.

It gets harder to stay silent because Janet tries just as hard to get her to talk. Maggie’s not sure she can hold out when this new ma reveals secrets that make her squirm, that make her feel like Da is doing things he shouldn’t be.

It seems there is more to worry about than a few words. He is indeed in trouble and much of that danger comes from the things his new wife isn’t saying.

If she can just understand what Ma is telling her from those corners, Maggie will be able to face her fears and find her voice and true power. And her true power should be enough to bind the family together even against the darkest secrets.

Book buy link

Now, I knew Maria Savva was one of the coolest of the cool women who I hang out with (at least online, since Maria is in England somewhere). That’s why I invited her to join us over here for a Featured New Release spot for her new book, The Dream. I knew she likes to rock out, too, but to this extent? No way.

Anyway, here you go… The song that makes Maria Savva think of her book, The Dream.

There are a few songs that I think of when I think of ‘The Dream’. ‘Stranger in a strange land‘ by Iron Maiden, because of the time slip element, ‘White Wedding‘ by Billy Idol, because the story starts off with Lynne, the main character thinking she’s marrying the wrong man. But I’m going to say, ‘Stairway to Heaven‘ by Led Zeppelin is probably the one that conjures most memories of the book for me. The fantasy type feel to the song, and the line ‘there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run there’s still time to change the road you’re on’, fit well with the time slip element of ‘The Dream’ and the way the book explores whether fate dictates our lives.

Here’s the book summary:

Lynne cannot shake her feelings of dread; her dreams tell her she is making a terrible mistake, she must not marry Adam. But, how can she believe the dream? Lynne and Adam have shared their lives for three years now. She is certain she loves him. It is not that love, which her dream warns against. It doesn’t matter that she loves this man she will soon marry. If she marries him, the voice in her dream says her soul mate will die. Her true love will perish. Soon, Lynne’s world is transformed and becomes almost unrecognisable, except for the déjà vu. Time doesn’t seem to mean much anymore, and things are not quite as they seem. As her world spins out of control, Lynne must sort out what’s real and what isn’t to fulfill her destiny

This one link will take you to a spot that’ll connect you to your favorite book retailer. Pretty spiffy, no?

I asked my friend, Darcia Helle, the famous Featured New Release question. Ready for her answer? It’s a doozy.

I’ve been asked to name one song that reminds me of my book. Given that I’m a music addict and lyrics have always been my focus, that should be an easy task. It’s not. This is difficult, though not because I can’t come up with one song. I could name many and narrowing the field to one is the hard part. Snippets of songs, one line or an entire verse, will make me think of a character or a scene or a situation from my book. My characters are quite real in my head and I relate music to their lives in the same way I relate it to my own.

But you asked for one song and I have one that is, in my opinion, a perfect fit: This Is Your Life by Switchfoot. The song is simple. You won’t find literary genius or complicated lyrics. What you will find are words that could be the backdrop for Max’s feelings and for what death, and the light, teaches him.

One line that is repeated often in the song sums up the premise: This is your life. Are you who you want to be?

Long before I wrote Into The Light, this song struck me. That one question is powerful. How many people could answer a resounding yes? Life offers no do-overs, as Max discovers all too late.

The song goes on to say: This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be when the world was younger and you had everything to lose…

As I said, the lyrics are simple. Yet, I think for most of us, they strike deep. Max had let the tide of life carry him along. He’d put his dreams on hold, forgotten the passion of his youth. This is a familiar scenario for many of us, though most of us won’t realize it until the end.

You can hear the song here.

But I don’t want you thinking that Max and his story are all gloom and doom. He’s got a goofy side and his personality, even in death, is a lot larger than he realizes. He is not about to give up before he’s ready. We could toss in some Don Henley here:

I will not lie down. I will not go quietly.

And I have to mention one song that makes me laugh. No, the song itself isn’t funny but, as I wrote Into The light, I couldn’t listen to it without cracking a smile. The song is – Is There A Ghost, by Band of Horses: I could sleep, when I lived alone. Is there a ghost in my house?

Max literally haunted my sleep. He kept me awake. He was the most demanding, stubborn character I’ve had in my head so far. (I shudder to think another character could be stronger!) The story had to be written. Of that there was never a doubt. Max also quickly taught me that the story had to be written his way.

Then there’s Joe Cavelli, the P.I. who has both the misfortune and the luck (yes, an oxymoron there) to be the only person alive who could hear Max. Is there a ghost in my house? Yes, that ghost was in my house and in Joe’s. I’ve set Max free now. I’m hoping he’ll be off to haunt other houses for a while.

How’s THAT for an answer??? Wow!

Buy links!

Paperback

Smashwords

Kindle

I met Katie Salidas over at the BestsellerBound.com forums. I think I’ve mentioned them before; it’s a great community, full of awesome writers. If you’re a reader, you’ll want to check out this group. I haven’t found a clunker book among our catalog (although I admit I haven’t read nearly as many as I’d like to).

The group is SO strong, in fact, that this is the first of three Featured New Releases I’ll be bringing you guys in the near future.

Katie’s new book, Pandora’s Box, is the third in her Immortals series.

Here’s what Katie said when asked the famed Question:
What song makes you think of your book?

This, being book three in my Immortalis series, has its own song. Each book has had a specific feel. Sometimes fast paced, and sometimes slow, depressing, and moody. But Pandora’s Box I feel has more creepy yet touching feel. For this reason I choose Haunted by Poe.

Just listen to it. The feel of the melody, the lyrics, the spooky background sounds. It’s a very good song!

You know, I hear about Poe fairly often. I have a friend who even sent me a CD, but… to no avail. I know. I ought to fix that.

YOU ought to fix it, also. And while you’re fixing things, why not pick up a copy of Pandora’s Box? Or even the whole series; Katie would like it if you did that.

She even made it easy. Here’s a TON of buy links:
Amazon US Kindle

Amazon US Print

Amazon UK Kindle

Amazon UK Print

Barnes & Noble

Author Autographed Copies

And… now, about the book!

After a few months as a vampire, Alyssa thought she’d learned all she needed to know about the supernatural world. But her confidence is shattered by the delivery of a mysterious package – a Pandora’s Box. Seemingly innocuous, the box is in reality an ancient prison, generated by a magic more powerful than anyone in her clan has ever known. But what manner of evil could need such force to contain it? When the box is opened, the sinister creature within is released, and only supernatural blood will satiate its thirst. The clan soon learns how it feels when the hunter becomes the hunted. Powerless against the ancient evil, the clan flees Las Vegas for Boston, with only a slim hope for salvation. Could Lysander’s old journals hold the key? And what if they don’t? And how welcome will they be in a city run by a whole different kind of supernatural being? Werewolves…

I’ve been mentioning CJ Lyons here enough that you guys ought to have figured out by now I’m a fangirl. Of CJ’s writing. Her storytelling. And, mostly, of who she is as a person. She’s what you’d want from a pediatric ER doctor: calm, in control. She exudes these qualities and best of all, she’s funny at the same time.

When she said at the Pennwriters Conference last month that she’d just put out a new book, I got very excited. “You have to stop in for a Featured New Release for it!”

And, so, here she is. CJ Lyons, answering the famed one-question interview: What song makes you think of your book (and why)?

I always write to music and often find one song that I play over and over again because it resonates so much with the theme and characters of a book, so this question was easy!

For NERVES OF STEEL, the first in the Hart and Drake series, the song was Chad Kroeger’s Hero (from the Spider Man soundtrack). He sang a line about needing a hero, “but I’m not going to stand here and wait.”

That so perfectly summed up the main character of NERVES, Cassandra Hart, an ER doc who is so passionate about protecting her patients that she risks her career and her life to save them.

SLEIGHT OF HAND, the second in the series, was just released and it’s more about the relationship between Hart and the police detective she becomes involved with, Mickey Drake.

They’re both wounded heroes, fighting to regain their balance after the trauma they experienced in the first book. They guard their hearts, frightened by the feeling of vulnerability love brings–especially after almost losing each other in NERVES OF STEEL.

The song that I kept coming back to, over and over, while writing SLEIGHT was Godsmack’s Touche.

The refrain is: I’ll only do for you what you’ll do for me….perfectly capturing that post-honeymoon phase of a relationship (especially one so young and fragile and already bearing scars) where it’s a give and take between two people, until they both surrender and learn to dance together rather than spar.

Another line from Touche that struck a chord was: wasting time like it was free…again, reflecting the essence of both Hart and Drake’s inner conflict, that they want to do so much more with their lives but outside forces keep curtailing them, drawing their focus from what is truly important: their love and their passion for protecting the innocent.

SLEIGHT OF HAND really ups the ante on an emotional level while also raising the stakes for both characters until they end up risking everything but discover that the one thing they can’t lose, no matter how hard they try or what the outside world throws at them, is each other.

Wow! And CJ says she doesn’t like to do promo… she’s NUTS, I tell you. This was a fantastic answer, probably one of the most detailed explanations we’ve ever gotten around these parts. Just… wow. Awesome.

Go pick up Sleight of Hand. (Yes, this link is an affiliate link, which means if you use it, I’ll get a few pennies. Those pennies will either support maintaining this site, or they’ll go into some cool gives for you guys. It’s all up to you!)

And can I just comment on how most excellent CJ’s musical tastes are? Chad Kroeger and Sully? Two very hot singers, indeed. (But they ain’t got nothing on a certain Mitchell Voss, now, do they???)

I made friends with Suzan Harden ’cause she’s friends with Christie Craig. I met Christie through Win a Book (and to think I’m toying with the idea of shutting it down!). See how this works?

Suzan’s followed a road similar to the one I’ve taken: which route to publication do I take?

As you guys know, it’s a hard road. A hard decision. And Suzan’s finally made her choice, which is good for me ’cause I get to tell you about her debut novella, Seasons of Magick: Spring. It’s 99c at Smashwords! (and yes, that link is the affiliate link, so I’ll get some pennies if you use it to buy the book. Which you ought to do.)

This means I had to ask Suzan the Famed One Question Interview (do I need to trademark THAT, too?): What song makes you think of your book?

Her answer shocked me. Ready for it?

Okay, this sounds incredibly geeky but it’s Barry Manilow’s ‘Ready to Take a Chance Again.’ The lyrics match my hero Adrian’s despair after he lost his wife and the return of hope after he meets Tessa. I know. I’m such a sap. LOL

The opening to that video is a hoot. Go check it out!

And here’s the extended book blurb. So you know what we’re going on about today:

Extended Description
Welcome to Morrigan’s Cauldron! But be careful what you ask for because this little Greenwich Village shop can deliver your heart’s desire. Or your greatest nightmare.

Tessa McClain’s life has spun out of control. Thanks to her con artist ex, she’s lost her job, her money and her reputation. Desperate, she talks her way into job at a local New Age shop. There’s just one problem—Adrian Holloway, the hunky store manager. The last thing she needs is another bad boy in her life. But her body hungers to break her brain’s ‘no men’ rule.

After the death of his wife, Adrian abandoned his Wall Street world and found peace in the quirky Greenwich shop, Morrigan’s Cauldron. Or he did until an April wind blew smart-mouthed Tessa McClain through the front door. While he’s ready to take another crack at love, convincing Tessa may be more trouble than he bargained.

There ya go… another new book from another new voice. I love it.

A year or so ago, my book club finally read Those Who Save Us, Jenna Blum’s debut novel. I liked it quite a bit; didn’t love it, but most of my book club did. (What held me back? Personal shit. Don’t ask. I won’t answer.)

Somehow, I was snoozing when Jenna put out her second book, The Stormchasers.

This is a good thing, because in the meantime, we’ve chatted via Twitter quite a bit. She’s exposing me to a brand new world: that of the real, actual, honest-to-goodness stormchasers.

This is also a good thing because my son and I got sucked into last season’s Stormchasers TV show on Discovery Network. I’m now following series star Reed Timmer on Twitter (and, okay, Facebook) and am learning LOTS about weather. It’s actually quite fascinating. And it definitely has given me a new, better approach to the power and beauty of thunderstorms. I’d love to go chase storms with people as smart as Reed and his gang.

You see how all of this has come together into a perfect storm of sorts.

So… with the news that The Stormchasers, that book Jenna wrote that somehow slipped under my radar, is coming out TODAY in paperback, I asked if she wanted to drop in and tell us what song makes her think of this new gem of a book. (Really, I am DYING to read it!)

Here’s what she said:

That’s a tough one in a way, because the book has a whole soundtrack. Its twin hero/ heroine come of age in the 80s, which as far as I’m concerned is a Golden Age of music (this is coming from someone whose hair on just one side of her face used to be bigger than her whole head). So while I was writing the novel, I’d listen to its soundtrack on my iPod during my evening walks (sometimes, I’m afraid, conducting).

The STORMCHASERS soundtrack is available on my blog.

If I had to choose just one, I’d say it’s Copland’s Appalachian Spring, the allegro movement. It’s bold and beautiful and strange, with some majestic crashing discordancy that to me is reminiscent of Charles Hallingdahl’s manic episodes, followed by a tender coda that reminds me of his sister, Karena. THE STORMCHASERS is a quintessentially American book, and the Copland piece sums up everything I love about the wild beauty of this country, its people and their bravery in the face of their struggles, and its weather.

(And, hey, this YouTube video that I linked to? It was posted by someone named playingmusiconmars. I TOLD you this was a perfect storm!)

The Stormchasers. Jenna Blum’s follow-up to her monster hit, Those Who Save Us. Available today.

I love meeting fellow writers. You guys know that. You guys also know I don’t give two figs how an author gets into print. That’s why this Featured New Release spot can highlight a friend or an author whose books I love. Or both.

Today I bring you Morgan Gallagher, a new-to-me friend. Her new, first book is called Changeling, and it looks AWESOME. It’s set in London back in the glorious 1980s (hey, if a vampire was made with big hair, were they stuck with that big hair for all eternity? Wow. Talk about a nightmare!), and yep, it’s about a vamp.

Before I give you the real blurb, let’s ask Morgan our favorite question: what song makes you think of your book?

Her answer?

Ah, obviously really. I didn’t need to think too hard, as I do think of Dreyfuss every time I hear this song. I think of lots of other things too, but this is the one that makes most connection for me, most times.

“You’re So Vain (I bet you think this song is about you.)” by Carly Simon.

When I hear it, I often hear “You’re so vain, I bet you think this book is about you…. ” in my head. And the thought of an ex, in exactly the same way Carly puts into the song.

Before I get to more of the book’s good stuff, let me point out that the video I linked to is from a 1987 concert. Big hair, boys and girls!

Okay. More about the book. Here’s the back cover blurb:

London, April 1987

Dreyfuss holds all the cards: money, power and no conscience. He steals Joanne from the busy streets in a moment; she wakes in a room with no windows. He spends months schooling her to obey, tearing her down with pain and terror. When she begins to break, as hope of escape fades… he reveals his final madness: he is vampire. She too, will be vampire: his Changeling. A greater battle begins. All she has is her will and the need to be free. Can she keep fighting, or will he win?

How long can she stay human?

Changeling is the first novel in the Dreyfuss Trilogy: a compelling and unique vampire mythology for adults.

Nice, huh? You can buy the e-book at Amazon, or via Smashwords. I’m not seeing it in print yet… be sure to let Morgan know if you’d like it that way!

**One small note: The Smashwords link will let me take a small cut of the goods, via the affiliate program. Not so for Kindle. Regardless of that, I always suggest using Smashwords for ANY of your e-reader’s formatting needs. They’re good to me. I like to be good back.

It’s a blog swap of sorts today, as I’ve written a guest blog post for my friend Harris Channing.

She’s here, answering the famed one-question interview: What song makes you think of your book?

Her pick? Devil Went Down to Georgia

As for why:

Stella has returned to Silverton Georgia to bury her dead aunt…who happens to be a witch. While she’s cleaning the old bat’s house house to sell it, she realizes that with the death of the nasty piece, the devil must have come to Georgia to claim her soul….WHooo Ohhhh Ohhhhh!

Okay. Look at some of these words and phrases Harris uses: “the old bat’s house” and “the death of the nasty piece…”

Are we in for some fun with this read, or what?

Here are your buy links. As always, I suggest picking the book up at Smashwords. Not only do I get the affiliate money (whee!) but Harris gets a bigger royalty. You can get it in ALL formats. And c’mon. It’s 99 cents. How can you go wrong? And what do you mean, you want it in print? That’s between you and Harris.

The Demon is in the Details at Smashwords

The Demon is in the Details at B&N’s Nook store

The Demon is in the Details at Amazon

Wait! I almost forgot! The blurb!

Returning to Silverton, Georgia, thirteen years after a brutal attack, Stella is determined to bury her past alongside her evil Aunt Lou. As if that’s not hard enough, she must face not only what happened all those years ago, but the new evil that is brewing in the small town.

In an answer to her prayers, immortal protector, Zane Weathers appears at her door. He offers her more than just his protection. He offers his glorious face, strong hands and able body.

Together they must not only overcome obstacles from their pasts, but a hellish horror that could very well take over the world.

Last week, I asked Maria Savva our famous one-question interview. Not to be left out, here’s her co-author, Jason McIntyre, telling us what song(s) make him think of Cutting the Fat.

Two songs come to mind when I think of my co-written novella, “Cutting The Fat” and both are reflective of the main bad-ass from the book, the man we all love to hate: Nestor Maronski.

As you might know, the fat bastard I love and hate at once, is a very powerful, very rich, very greasy and self-centred book reviewer for one of the largest papers in the country. He eats writing careers for dinner and then washes them down with a row of three cherry brandys. But he does it all with a prim and proper voice and in bold type so we can
all witness just how right he is. The thing about Nestor is that he believes he is always right and that his actions speak for themselves. We should all understand his motivations as we would understand the text of the bible and that he is, simply, doing the best thing for all of us.

“Reckoner” by Radiohead, plays in my mind as I think of him unknowingly getting ready to meet his maker and pay for the damage he’s done — to writers, to families like the Jamesons, to the whole of the world who have been scribbled on by his poison pen. Beautiful falsetto lyrics are sung against the jangling noise behind, maybe a rhythmic shaking of all the keys to all the rooms in the Massive Maronski McMansion on a hill. “You can’t take it with you,” Thom Yorke sings of Maronski’s fortune, of his folly, his false self-esteem. This is a man who will not understand until he stands before a tribunal of the afterlife to pay for his sins that he did anything wrong.

The other tune? “Like Eating Glass” by Bloc Party. Loud and raucous, this song has all the perfect sarcastic sentiments for Nestor as his band of wronged writers prepares to dispatch him:

“And I know that you’re busy too
I know that you care
You got your finger on the pulse
You got your eyes everywhere
And it hurts all the time when you don’t return my calls
And you haven’t got the time to remember how it was”

And, added to that, wouldn’t we all like to force those evil book reviewers to “eat glass”?

Remember to pick up Cutting the Fat from the Kindle store. Hopefully it’ll soon be available in other formats.

Last month, I ran an interview Trevor and Eric did with another fictional character: Isabelle, the maid of the horribly-detested Nestor Maronski.

I understand if you feel left out of the loop.

Time to change that. Maria Savva and Jason McIntyre were the original, organic forces behind Cutting the Fat, the tale of Nestor Maronski. It’s a fun romp, and it’s hard to believe something this polished sprung up on a message board (and without my input! I’m ashamed of myself, especially because this is AWESOME.).

To help raise your awareness of Cutting the Fat, I asked Maria to stop in and answer the West of Mars’ famed one-question interview. You’re about to see why I like Maria so much:

West of Mars asked: What song makes you think of your book?

Maria said:

There are three songs that come to mind that remind me of Cutting The Fat:
Firstly, Misery Loves Company by Anthrax. That song came into my head when I wrote some of the book. Anthrax wrote the song about Stephen King’s ‘Misery’, and I wrote a bit in Cutting The Fat that referred to Misery — the part when Russell Flemming was trying to force Nestor Maronski to write a book for him.

The second song is ‘Holier Than Thou’ by Metallica, because it sums up Nestor’s character very well. He thinks he’s better than everyone else, but really it’s just his inherited wealth that makes him influential.

Finally, ‘Burn’ by Papa Roach makes me think of how the indie writers in the book feel about Nestor, how much they want to get revenge.

See? I TOLD you Maria kicks it. Although that Papa Roach video almost didn’t get linked to… that live Metallica is some good stuff.

Having read the book (and watched it evolve), I can vouch for these three songs. (Yes, Maria gets bonus points for being like Trevor and picking more than one song. Trevor likes threesomes.)

Now, go pick up the book from the Kindle store — and if you don’t have a Kindle, why not stop in at Bestseller Bound and ask for it to be on Smashwords, or in print, or…

I know. Usually, when I do this sort of thing here at the Meet and Greet, I feature a book that’s been released around the day the post goes live. My friend Darcia Helle’s book, The Cutting Edge, has been out since July. (Sort of like Trevor’s Song!)

To help raise the book’s visibility, on December 20 (that should be today, if you’re reading this when it goes up) she’s doing a campaign to try to lift her Amazon ranking. For me, one of the best components of this campaign is that she’s taking a page from my book and donating all profit from her Kindle sales to “Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa, FL, which is a nondenominational church that runs a food bank and also fixes meals daily for the homeless and the poor in our area.”

I can get behind that in a big way. I hope you will, too — especially since she’s dropped the price of The Cutting Edge to 99c. A buck will get you a book and let you help someone! How can you resist?

Now, down to business: I asked her the usual question: What song makes you think of your book?

Here’s what she had to say:

The song is Terrible Thought by a little known artist called Poe. When I hear the song, I can hear my main character Skye singing. The music is kind of messy and dark, which mimics the confused state Skye’s mind was often in. The lyrics could be grabbed right out of Skye’s thoughts. She’s sick of her job, sick of her clients, and has these dark fantasies that she can’t seem to control.

The first line in the song is, “A terrible thought has moved into my mind…” That sets the stage for Skye’s entire dilemma. The tone of Poe’s voice when she sings is, at times, reluctant acceptance, tinged with a bit of awe that this thought could have so easily taken over her mind.

At the end of the song, her father’s voice breaks in. (Poe’s real father, taken from recordings he’d made before he died.) He says, “What is your greatest worry because you seem to be worried all the time?” That is something Skye’s hippie father would have asked. Poe answers, “Sometimes I can’t hear myself think,” which is how Skye often feels, with her clients constantly needling at her.

This song could definitely be the background music for The Cutting Edge. You can read the lyrics at: http://www.lyricsdepot.com/poe/terrible-thought.html

You can hear a clip of the song on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Terrible-Thought/dp/B0026GFB3C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1291912523&sr=1-1

Poe is not well known enough to have many YouTube videos. I could not find one with this particular song. However, if you want to see her performing a different song – Control – at an outdoor concert in RI, you can watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rkhp71j7VY&feature=related

So there ya go. The Cutting Edge at Amazon today. Can’t wait, or you buy through Smashwords? Here’s the link over there.

Amy Ruttan and I have been blog friends for years now. So long, I’ve watched her quit her day job, get pregnant with a third kid, HAVE said kid, and celebrate said kid’s first birthday. Not to mention the books she’s written and gotten out into the world.

So why hasn’t she stopped in for a Featured New Release sooner?

I do not know.

Let’s focus instead on the fact that she’s here NOW. And she has a new release to talk about: Gladiator’s Revenge.

Here’s the blurb:

Taranis had one thing on his mind since the Romans enslaved him. Revenge. Until he laid eyes on the innocent beauty of Lavina, a daughter of his enemy. It was then that he knew how to wreak revenge against those who’d wronged him—by taking one of Rome’s daughters, over and over again.

Lavina is humiliated by the decadence, greed and violence of Rome. When she meets the gaze of the condemned gladiator across the Circus Maximus, he stirs a deep yearning in her heart, but it is not meant to be. She is destined to marry a man who’s soul is as black as night.

On a whim, Emperor Nero grants Taranis freedom with his choice of a wife. Taranis chooses Lavina, much to the horror of her parents. Only Lavina is not disgusted by this prospect and revels in Taranis’ touch. He finds himself caring for and falling in love with the little Roman.

Yet, a shadow falls on their happiness and soon Lavina will have to choose between her home and her heart.

Ooh, Amy! Ancient Rome!

So… what song makes her think of her book?

The band is called ES Posthumus. I’ve never heard of them, but it’s playing as I type. It’s gorgeous. Definitely a band to explore more deeply. This could be a movie soundtrack, folks. Oh, I love it!

I can see why Amy chose it, but here’s her reasoning in her own words:

I find the song powerful. It builds up dramatically and it evokes the feeling of someone betrayed rising up and taking control of their life again. Taranis, my hero, is a slave or Rome and he wants revenge on those who wronged him, but he forgets about revenge when he finds love with the heroine Lavina. When Rome tries to take her away, he fights back to save her.

Wow! Go get this book, gang! It’s a release from Ellora’s Cave, so you know that means it’ll be sexy sexy.

Okay, so Lori and I have been chatting for a bit now about doing something to feature her book, The Last River Child. She even had two copies sent to me so I could read one — and I did! A bit ago.

It seems this summer slowdown of mine hit well before the summer started.

Still, author Lori Bloomfield hasn’t released a new book, so we’ll call The Last River Child a Featured New Release. Which means that in addition to giving away both copies of this book (I dare you to tell me which I read. ’cause… I can’t tell. Yep, I’m THIS gentle on my books.), I asked Lori THE question:

What song makes you think of your book?

Her answer?

After much thought about what song reminds me of my book I am going to go with “Stolen Child” by Loreena McKennitt. Wow, I feel like I’m on a game show, or something. It was a fun question to roll around my mind. Really, I was searching for a song that created a certain mood and I think this fits the bill.

Know what? This song is THE BEST representation of the book. If this book were a song, it’d be this one. Nicely done, Lori!

Here’s the book’s blurb:

In the summer of 1900, a meteorite lands on the day of Peg Staynor’s baptism, barely missing the small church in rural Ontario. This, along with Peg’s almost colorless eyes, is enough to resurrect a local superstition that will haunt Peg and her family for years. Many believe Peg to be a river child, taken over by an evil spirit from the Magurvey River that winds its way through the town. Feared and shunned throughout her childhood, Peg is blamed for every misfortune, from drought to ailing livestock. When her mother, her fiercest protector, dies suddenly on the same day WWI is declared, young Peg must face not only the mistrust of the villagers, but of her father. His grief has driven him to take solace in drink and old superstition, leaving Peg with only her head-strong older sister, Sarah, for support. It will take the terrible reality of World War I to shake off the grip of old world beliefs. As the town’s young men begin to return mentally and physically damaged, or not return at all, the sheltered atmosphere of the town is broken. A bright flame of change will sweep through everyone’s lives, leading Peg into the future.

So. To win one of the two copies… just leave me a comment, telling me WHY you want to read it. What strikes your fancy? Being sincere when you say you want to read it ’cause you trust my taste and judgment won’t get you bonus points but WILL make my day.

I’ll send at least one copy around the world, and keep the other one for you US or Canadian friends. But if I pick two North Americans, so be it. I’ll pick the winners in the usual way — random kid power! And… I’ll give you ten days to enter. That makes July 16.

Oh, yeah. If you don’t leave me a way to contact you, your entry doesn’t count.

And for the disclaimer garbage: Lori had her publisher send me both copies. Actually, she asked that one be sent, and so one was. Twice. In two envelopes, even. So that’s why I decided to give this charming book away — be warned; it lingers. That’s all I got out of it, really. Nothing financial. Just a good read, and darn it, but that’s good enough for me.

Okay, ready for the story behind this one?

Thanks to Win a Book, I met Rebecca Chastain, who runs Number One Novels. Every week or so, Rebecca interviews a debut author and gives a few copies of the debut novel away. It’s a great site; Rebecca has fantastic taste in books. Yes, this is a hint!

One week, I actually entered — and won. The book was Rebecca Cantrell’s A Trace of Smoke, which I thought my book club might like (I’m going to pass it around among us, in fact. Once my desk spits it back out). I read it. I Tweeted about it …and attracted Rebecca Cantrell, the author of A Trace of Smoke (I know! Lots of Rebeccas around here. No wonder I just named a character that!). We got to chatting, as authors do.

Yesterday, A Night of Long Knives, the sequel to A Trace of Smoke, was released. So I HAD to ask Rebecca my favorite question: what song makes you think of your book?

Here’s what she had to say:

Song of a German Mother, lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill, sung by Lotte Lenya. I only have the English version (from the Lenya Sings Weill album).

It’s a political song that sums up the horror that would engulf Germany. At first the mother is proud that her son is doing something, part of something, but then she realizes that the brown shirt she bought him (storm trooper uniform) will be his winding sheet, because he has been killed. I feel sad every time I listen to it.

I can’t find this particular version of the song on YouTube. Here’s some Lotte Lenya, singing a Kurt Weill song. What a very period voice she has!

I couldn’t find the song itself, either — at least, not a terribly audible one. Holler if you’re more successful than I am… and in the meantime, pick up the book!

Here’s the cover blurb:

Journalist Hannah Vogel has vowed to never again set foot in her homeland of Germany while the Nazis are still in power. She has good reason: three years ago in 1931, she kidnapped her son, Anton, from the man claiming to be his father–Ernst Rohm, head of the Nazis’ SA. A powerful man not to be trifled with, Hannah knows that Rohm will never stop searching for them.

Hannah is asked to write about a zeppelin journey from South America to Switzerland, but Switzerland turns out to be too close. The zeppelin is diverted to Munich, where Hannah and Anton are kidnapped and, to Hannah’s horror, separated.

It’s unlucky timing for Rohm, however. Hitler has ordered the execution of Rohm and hundreds of his storm troopers and is determined to wipe out any remaining traces of his name. The Night of the Long Knives has begun.

When Rohm is killed before Hannah can ascertain Anton’s whereabouts, she desperately enlists all of her remaining sources and friends to locate Anton before the Nazis do. And the Gestapo is closing in…

Thrilling and powerful, A Night of Long Knives breathtakingly recreates a shattered and betrayed city as it plunges into darkness.

And, if you missed it above, the buy link for A Night of Long Knives. And for good measure, since you’ll want to start at the beginning and pick up both of these books, here’s the link for A Trace of Smoke.

Don’t miss these. There are more under contract, too!

(As always, I’m an affiliate at Powell’s, so if you click through and buy stuff, I’ll get a few pennies. If those pennies ever add up, I’ll turn them into goodies for you guys. No direct profit for me on this deal!)