The Dynamic Trio - Blog

1) Marilyn Lee’s Dumont brothers…all of ‘em! (Bloodlust series)
2) Virginia Henley’s Sean O’Toole (Dream Lover)
3) Lauren Dane’s Cade Warden (Cascadia Wolves series)
4) Judy Mays’ Brianna and Char Alalakan (Celestial Passions series)
5) NJ Walters’ Dalakis brothers…all three! (Dalakis Passion series)
6) Stephanie Burke’s Flame and Kendall (Keeper of the Flame)
7) Nathalie Gray’s Sekmeth Meroh (Femme Metal 1)
8) Sherri L. King’s Edge (Horde Wars series)
9) Barbara Karmazin’s Rulagh Lugraanrown (The Huntress)
10) Tiffany Aaron’s Kalan (The Veil-Angels and Demons)
11) Nia Foxx’s Lorne De La Roux (Gargoyle’s Quest)
12) Shelley Munro’s Felix Mitchell (Peeping Tom)
13) My own Kenoe Hatsept (Vampire Council of Ethics series)

Link up so I can visit you, then leave me a post, m’kay?

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After a hell of a lot of laughing our butts off, we finally picked our two winners. AND, there were so many awesome entries we had to pick a couple of runners up, too!

Our two first place contest winners will receive the choice of an eBook or print copy of CARINIAN’S SEEKER, a cool deck of new romance bookcover cards (these cards were distributed at RT 2007, and are on sale at the publisher’s site for $6.99 each!) and some of my awesome bookmarks (as seen in the August issue of Realms of Fantasy magazine).

The two runners up will also receive a deck of cards and some cool bookmarks.

Our two winners are: leebezner @ yahoo.com and rwestgaard @ ameritech.net
Our two runners up are: freddie7713 @ hotmail.com and amy.toohey @ gmail.com

Congratulations! Now, without revealing who said what (in other words, to protect the names of the guilty *snark*) here are the winning contest answers (warning - DO NOT DRINK COFFEE WHILE READING THESE!):

Send your snail mail addy’s to contests@tjmichaels.com and for those who won books, also send your format preference. (Important: You have one week to claim your prize)

Congratulations, again! We have some very creative readers, eh?!

ROFL!

TJ

Preferences, ah, the meat and potatoes (or the tempeh and potatoes) of the book universe. We all have them and they drive our choices. Sometimes we take a chance and discover something we hadn’t expected (always a wonderful thing).

For instance - true mate storylines. Some people hate them and complain endlessly about them while others love them. I’m always of the “why are you reading these books if you don’t like them?” school. I don’t read capture bondage, I hate it. I don’t read “forced seduction” either and I stay away from other storylines unless an author I really trust is writing them.

But back to true mates and why I like them and why I think other people do as well - there’s a lot of emotional power in the idea of seeing someone an *knowing* they’re meant for you, forever. In the right hands, it’s a storyline I adore. Not because it’s realistic, but because the idea is incredibly appealing to me. And based on the popularity of those titles and the sales of the books I write with mate storylines, they’re appealing to a lot of other people too.

An alpha male, probably a man who loves women and loves to play the field, comes into the story. He meets the heroine and that’s it. There will usually be tension, and why not, who likes to be wrenched out of their habits and into an unfamilar place? It’s scary and no one likes to be scared. At the same time, there’s now a solid bond between the hero and heroine and how they end up together is the device. A smart author can work that dozens of innovative ways and even though you know it’ll end up HEA, the journey is wild.

I love the appeal of the big, bad man brought to his knees by something as powerful as connection to another person. It’s why I love werewolf books so much - the males have a reason to be alpha and dominant and wolves mate for life. The appeal of paranormal and fantasy then, is the ability to take real things and twist them. I love that!

I write contemporaries and paranormal/fantasy. I love both for different reasons and a different skill set is needed to approach each sub-genre. I find that each has cliches that appeal for different reasons. Cliches are part of our subconscious and some of them can be drawn upon for the best kind of wish fulfillment.

I think next Tuesday I’ll talk about contemporary cliches and which ones I like the most. In the meantime - what are your absolute loves and dislikes about paranormal storylines and why?

Mr. Munro decided he wanted to tidy up the office yesterday. He sprung it on me without warning. I gaped at him, my mind not working quickly enough to offer up reasonable excuses as to why we shouldn’t rearrange the organized clutter in the office.

His excuse was so there was room in the bookshelves for my print titles. Yep, he was doing it for me!

About two minutes later I had various items shoved under my nose. Do we need this? Throw. Chuck. Toss. He dropped things into the rubbish bin before I could offer an opinion. What are you doing with this? He frowned at my towering pile of Romance Writers of America and RT magazines. Do you need all those?

I cautiously agreed that perhaps I didn’t need all of them. About half an hour later, shelves looked remarkably tidy, the clutter reduced. Mr. Munro triumphantly arranged my print titles on a shelf - all nine of them - and propped them upright with a Mexican stone bookend.

“There,” he said. “I told you that would look better.” The satisfaction on his face screamed of “mission accomplished”. Yes, he looked decidedly smug.

Nodding, I said, “Thank you. That does look better.” It was nothing less than the truth, but next time, I’m going to make a run for it when I see the slightest glint of “cleanup bug” in his eyes.

Mr. Munro in cleanup mode is a scary thing.

Shelley

The day is getting closer. It’s almost time. The ribs are in the fridge marinating. The sweet ‘n spicy rub is a-waiting to be loving smoothed over the succulent fare (okay, am I going overboard or what?) Can you tell…I LOVE BARBEQUE!

I am the Queen of the Grill, baby! And soon I’ll be soakin’ those wood chips and getting them ready for smokin’ .

Hey, now that I think about it, I haven’t written that into any of my books yet. What’s wrong with me? Having all this barbeque prowess and skill, yet I haven’t give it to any of my characters? Well, damn it, that’s going to change. TODAY!

I’m working on Hatsept Heat, Book 3 in the V.C.O.E. series. And of course, the characters you’ve already met (Carin, Bix, Tameth, Alaan, etc.) all make a reappearance. So, it just stands to reason that if such a cool group of folks are gathering for anything, then BARBEQUE HAS TO BE INVOLVED!

So, let’s do two things: First, I’ve got my daughter sitting here watching me type this. And of course, she’s laughing at me. I’m going to type her recipe for the spicy rub she’s prepared for The Grill Goddess, me.

Second, I’ll post a couple of new excerpts from my upcoming books - SERATI’S FLAME, V.C.O.E. Book 2 releasing in August, and EGYPTIAN VOYAGE (which is in FLE but I have no release date yet. I’ll pass on what I know when I know it). Links for the excerpts are at the bottom of this post.

AND NOW, DA’ RUB INGREDIENTS:
Start with a 1.5 cups sugar
1/4 cup salt
2 or 3 tablespoons of granulated garlic (NOT GARLIC SALT. NO, NO, NO!)
2 or 3 tablespoons of pepper
Fill a measuring cup with 1/4 cup of your favorite spice. So, if you want it savory, you might choose sage, cloves or corriander, or all of ‘em. If you want it sweet and spicy, you might choose ginger, chilis, or lemon peel. Get it?

(For a distinctly Asian rub, you’ll want to sprinkle the rub on the meat, minus the extra 1/4 spice, and douse your fare with soy sauce. Finish with chili paste.)

This should be enough for two slabs of ribs, if you rub. If you sprinkle instead of massage your meat (I know, that sounded really bad, but oh well, a little meat massage can go a long way…okay, let me stop) you’ll have enough for ribs, chicken, veggies and more.

AND DA EXCERPTS ARE HERE:
Sneak Peek at EGYPTIAN VOYAGE
Sneak Peek at SERATI’S FLAME

Let’s see…I’m getting ready to go to Lori Foster’s Reader Author Get Together next weekend. I’ve never been so I’m really excited about it. I get to finally meet Barb and Pam in addition to many other authors and readers I’ve known online forever so that’ll be wonderful. I also get to see the ever-so-wonderful Anya Bast, who I just love to death and I haven’t seen her since October so I can’t wait! I’ll be at the book signing on Saturday, June 2 from 4 - 6 at the hotel (Cincinnati Marriot North) so come by and say hello if you’re in the area! If you’re attending the get together, please find me and say hello!

I’m blogging my reads in the 10,000 books challenge at eharlequin. I did a count a few days ago but every day I remember other books I’ve read. I should keep better track, LOL. I think blogging them will help me do that. I did make a personal decision not to blog the books I hate. Yes, yes I know some people get shirty about that and I’m sure I’ll be accused of something or other because of it, but it’s a personal decision. Generally, I don’t want to spend time on books I hated over books I love. Now I will talk about books I enjoyed but may have had flaws. But I have my share of wallbangers too, god knows I have preferences just like anyone else. Still, I think I’d rather talk about books I want everyone to read instead of books I didn’t like. I bitch enough without that.

It’s a long weekend, yay! I hope it means a lot of writing but in truth it most likely means breaking up a lot of inter-sibling bickering, laundry and the cleaning of bathrooms.

Ascension will be out in less than two weeks! Whee! And then Making Chase on the 12th! It’s going to be a really good June.

I’m reading Gennita Low’s Virtually His, nearly done as a matter of fact and it’s so good! It’s also movie night for me and my dude.

Okay, off to clean the kitchen…

OH! Anya Bast’s Witch Fire is starting to show up in some bookstores! This is such a fabulous book and Anya is one of my favorite authors so you should go and grab it. If you like paranormal romance, magick, really hot chemistry, sexy heroes and smart heroines - this is the book for you. I’ll be reviewing it later in the week along with an interview with Anya as well.

I visit the Antarctic conservation blog on a regular basis. Their most recent post is about the quarterly polar dip the residents take. They have a video clip as well as photos of them preparing the ice hole. They had an unexpected visitor pop out of their swimming hole and have a photo of said visitor. I don’t know about you but I felt cold just looking at the photos. I guess I’m just not the polar swim type!

And in other news I was sad to see that the Taj Mahal is starting to turn yellow due to pollution. I’ve visited the Taj Mahal, and it’s such a beautiful place and full of atmosphere. Magical. I have a photo on my website of the “monument to love” during its “white” days. The photo was taken not long after sunrise and I remember it was freezing cold.

I’m giving away a download of one of my Ellora’s Cave Quickies. (I have four different ones for the winner to choose from). All you need to do to enter the draw is comment on this post or any other post written here before 3 June. If you visit and comment every day you’ll have a better chance of winning ;)

Comment starters:
Have you ever done a polar bear swim? Would you if you had the opportunity?
What monument would you leave to commerate your love for a special person in your life?
What are you doing for the holiday weekend?

Today is Thursday and I’m so happy I could just scream. I’m supposed to be doing the Thursday Thirteen, but it’ll have to wait until after work. Speaking of work - it has been from hell lately and I’m so ready to move on. Have you ever been in a position where you were so ready for something else, but were sorta afraid to take the leap because there’s nobody there to catch you?

So to take my mind off of things, I went hottie surfing and found a gorgeous Marine! This is Sgt. Reyes and he’s frickin’ hot!

Did you know that there’s a reality TV show called Manhunt - Search for American’s Most Gorgeous Male Model? And they’re good looking, too! Too bad they’re all so damned young!

Check it out… Manhunt

I debate on this a lot - should I talk about the downs of being a writer as well as the ups? And if so, how deeply do I delve? In the end, I think I try to go with a middle path.

Today I want to talk about the in between place. I’ve been here a while now and it’s frustrating and at times, debilitating. What I mean is this - I’ve achieved a certain level of success, which is wonderful and I’m sooo grateful for it. At the same time, I want to take new paths and one of those is to a New York publisher.

(a very long and not always shiny entry behing the “read the rest of this entry” tag…)

Read the rest of this entry �

I confess. I’ve been watching American Idol. Ryan and Simon crack me up and even Mr. Munro laughs at some of their comments. I find him watching the show even though in his words, “It’s rubbish!” We’re a week behind in New Zealand, and I’ve been very carefully avoiding anything “Idol” related on the internet so I don’t learn the results.

But, it had to happen and did.

I was innocently reading a blog feed and there it was in black and white. Melinda was out! I groaned because I’m a Melinda fan, then I muttered and went to tell Mr. Munro. After all, if the surprise was gone for me, he had to suffer as well.

Now I have to avoid all blogs so I don’t learn the identity of the newest Idol before the final show airs in New Zealand. Somehow, I don’t like my chances.

Do you watch American Idol? Are you a fan? Who do you think will win?