My birthday was a week ago today, but I’m still celebrating. I tend to make it a festival, a birthday fest, as it were. I figure another year alive is more than reason enough to celebrate. I’ll take myself out for breakfast one day and lunch on another. I’ll see a movie and go to one of my favorite stores and buy myself something…besides a new book, although buying a new book is always a good idea.
I write paranormal books, which got me to thinking. The number of birthdays I’ll have in my lifetime is finite, but that’s not the case with many of my characters. I’ve written werewolves, who live for about double a human lifespan. That’s not immortal, but it’s still pretty darn good. I’ve also written about vampires, who will survive as long as they drink blood.
Then there are my drakons, the hybrid sons of full-blooded dragons and human women. They have no idea how long they’ll live, although they’ve already been around for four thousand years and show no sign of aging. They may well live forever. I wonder what birthdays must be like after living all those years. Do they even mark the day? Do they even know the day? Back when they were born records of such events weren’t as meticulously kept as they are now.
That’s what it’s like in the mind of a writer. My thoughts wander down these paths asking questions most people never consider. I love my job.
Whether my drakons celebrate with cake and presents or if they just let the day of their birth pass by like so many other days before, I don’t know. But I do know that there is a new drakon book in my series, just released on November 26th.
Even if it’s not your birthday, you might like to treat yourself.
Drakon’s Tear
Blood of the Drakon, Book 6
Dying isn’t an option. I’ve survived a kidnapping, and now I’m on the run from the Knights of the Dragon who want my gift. There’s nothing a dragon loves more than treasure. I’m Abigail Owens, and I can sense gemstones. When I find myself drawn to a beautiful stone bracelet at a tiny shop in Moscow, I can’t help but have it — even though I can sense it’s power. But I didn’t realize with this one decision I’ve just put myself in the middle of a war between the Knights and a Drakon.
I guess I’m just lucky like that.
The only person I trust even a little is Vasili Zima, which is weird since I’m not sure if he wants to kill me or protect me. I’m drawn to him in a way I hadn’t thought possible, and he feels the same way, or he wouldn’t be risking his life to help me. He’s wanted by the bad guys just as much as I am, and staying with me, well, there’s a hundred percent chance I’m about to get us both killed. But I will not be going down without a fight.
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
It’s only a couple of days until all the kids are out trick-or-treating. On Halloween night, I like to light the candle in the pumpkin, turn off the lights, and put on my favorite Halloween movies.
There are tons of great ones out there to choose from, but here are 5 of my favorites:
1. The Crow (1994)—One of my favorite movies of all time and probably the one I’ve watched the most. It’s so dark, yet so hopeful. Brandon Lee’s performance is incredible. Great cast and story, plenty of action, and one fantastic soundtrack.
2. Underworld (2003)—Vampires and lycans are at war. Selene, a vampire warrior, makes the mistake of falling in love with Michael, a human who is sought by werewolves for unknown reasons.
3. Dracula Untold (2014)—A fresh look at the traditional Dracula story. I love this movie. I mean, what’s not to love about Luke Evans as Vlad Tepes, the prince who must become a monster feared by his own people in order to obtain the power needed to protect them.
4. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)—As promised, this movie closely follows Stoker’s version of Dracula. Great film. Gary Oldman plays a scary and seductive Dracula.
5. Lost Boys (1987)—It’s hard to believe this movie is 30 years old, but it holds up. It’s one of my favorite vampire movies of all time. And the soundtrack is amazing.
I know this is a top 5 list, but I have to mention Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp (1999) and the Disney animated version (1949). I love them both. The animated story is beautifully crafted. And while the Depp version of the story goes off the rails near the end, I still enjoy it. And Ghostbusters, because who are you gonna call when you need to get rid of some ghosts.
And if you’re looking for a book or two to read, might I suggest the Hades’ Carnival series.
Welcome to Hades’ Carnival, where a group of immortal shapeshifting warriors are imprisoned in their animal forms on a carousel.
Cursed by the very goddess they served—The Lady of the Beasts—in order to keep them out of Hell, now the warriors are being offered a chance at freedom and redemption. And it will take a very special woman to free each warrior.
Once free, they must stay alive for 24 hours if they want to save themselves from Hades once and for all.
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
NOTE: I know the first book is up at $0.99 already, but Reina is working with KDP to get the deal going for the other too! So check back!
One of the other writers in my local Nano-writing group* wrinkled his nose at the news that I had published Shifter Romance. “What does that even mean?” He wondered out loud. Really loud. “How is that even real fiction?”
Okay, so I want you to know he is still alive and breathing, but only because jail is real.
I’m used to the rolled eyes when I talk about romance, but hey… to each their own… and I love myself some romance. And there are people who are uninformed and then there are people who are willfully ignorant. I chose to believe he was part of the first group and asked him.
“Have you read stories about Greek Mythology?”
“Of course!” He seemed affronted that I’d even ask him such a silly thing. “Greek Mythology is classic storytelling!”
He knew I had him when I smiled. Not my normal smile, but that teeth-baring alligator grin that usually makes my son cringe and walk away, because he knows I’m about to take a bite out of someone.
“Oh good… well let’s talk about Greek Mythology. The obvious start is King Lycaon. Some forms of his myth tells the story of how Zeus turned him into a wolf as punishment for trying to trick him into eating human flesh.”
“Sure,” he shrugged, “but that’s just one—”
“Well, what about Arachne. Athena changed her into a spider.”
“Okay, but—”
“Apollo mourned the death of the youth Hyacinth, changing him into the flower we know today.”
He gave me a sullen look. “And?”
“There are a ton of examples, but let’s just remember how many times Zeus had to change his form or the form of others just to get some love… physical love. So…”
Yes, I verbally beat him into submission with examples of what he considered “real fiction” — but what am I getting at here…
Mythology… origin stories… are a human way of trying to understand ourselves and where we come from. We see ourselves in nature, sometimes ascribing attributes of nature’s other creatures to understand what we feel inside. We’re skittish as a colt. We’re hungry as a bear.
We even roar like lions.
We find animalistic characteristics as both desirable and undesirable in ourselves… of course we’re going to seek them in our heroes… our lovers…
I guess that’s why I love writing shapeshifters so much. Heroes and Heroines who can not just dabble in those behaviors, but come by them naturally.
A shapeshifter trio of brothers, bears from the Orsino family who search for their perfect mate and find them in equally amazing women…
A tiger shifter who finds himself with the Catch 22 of all time—keep the secret of his kind… or save the woman who is his perfect match?
Where wild nature and the cultivation of love collide and co-exist…
It gives me the warm fuzzies… You too?
*NANOWRIMO – November is National Novel Writing Month – the group of writers I’ve belonged for more than ten years started as folks who participated in this event
Her UnBearable Protector
The head of Orsino Security was hired to protect her for a week. Instead, his bear wants to claim her forever.
It takes one look for bear shifter Salvatore Orsino to know that Natale Durante isn’t just his client… she’s his mate. His first instinct is to lay Natale’s curvaceous body over his shoulder, find a den, and claim her with his bite. But, this beautiful head-strong woman only grudgingly endures his protection even as she welcomes him in her bed. He’ll have to set aside his bear’s need to mark her until he’s eliminated the threat to her life. Once she’s safe, he’ll turn all his energies convincing her that he isn’t after a short-term dalliance, he wants her, with him… forever.
Natale Durante knows that Durante Fashion House is on its last legs. Her new line, designed for women of every size and shape, is her last attempt at saving her family’s legacy. But there are those in high fashion who prefer that things stay the same—curves belong on the road, not the runway. When complaints and hate mail escalate to threats of bodily harm, her father hires a bodyguard—Salvatore Orsino. He’s over six feet of deliciously seductive muscular male and a distraction she can’t afford. One look from him and she wants her infuriatingly persistent protector to rip off her clothes with his teeth, or she might do the same to him.
Can Salvatore eliminate the threats to Natale or will he lose her before he has a chance to claim her?
When he saw his mate for the first time, her life was in danger. Keeping his Tiger a secret was no longer an option.
Every day was a struggle for Tiger Shifter, Devlin Kerr. Booted from one Police Department due to his ‘questionable attitude,’ he’d landed in Sylvan City determined to give the career another go. What was an Alpha to do?
Three weeks of even more bull and inside politics was already souring him on law enforcement all together when his Captain suckers him into working extra security at a society event.
A society event that ends in gunfire and blood.
And smack dab in the middle of the crosshairs? His mate.
Secrets be damned, Devlin did what it took to save her and suddenly danger is coming at them from everywhere.
Death, he could handle. Mayhem? Sure, just another walk in the park.
People going after his mate? That wasn’t going to fly. He was going to do whatever it took to keep her safe from danger…
…but who was going to keep Paige Lundin safe from him? Less than a day after they’d met, she was The Tiger’s Innocent Bride.
*This is Book 1 of the Sylvan City Alphas Series. As the series goes on you’ll meet Alphas of a number of different species who will find their mates amongst the citizens of this city, complete with lush woods and fields as well as a concrete jungle. These hard-edged heroes and their lusciously-curvy mates are turning this island into a shifter paradise filled with Happy Ever Afters*
I make my living as a freelance writer and editor. Therefore, I find that my standards for professional quality content differ from that of many self-published authors, because I cannot separate the quality necessary for my clients from the quality necessary for my own stories.
Being an avid reader as well as a writer and editor, I encounter far too many self-published books that make me cringe. From misused apostrophes to malapropisms to incorrect grammar to tense switches between past and present so frequent as to give H. G. Wells whiplash, these writers lack understanding of what I call the mechanics of language.
However, correct grammar in itself does not translate into good writing. Writers who commit the sins attendant upon poor language mechanics also and often fail to grasp the intricacies of good storytelling: minimize passive voice, avoid information dumps, use adverbs sparingly, reduce expository description to only that which is necessary, and eschew obfuscation. (If you didn’t get the two instances of irony in that last sentence, then you probably shouldn’t consider yourself a professional writer.)
The hallmark of a professional writer lies in the skill with which he or she executes an idea.
If one subscribes to the literary authorities regarding story plots, then one must also admit that every overarching plot has already been written. In his 2004 book, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, Christopher Booker declares that literature has only seven basic plots that storytellers everywhere and in every medium continuously recycle: 1) overcoming the monster, 2) rags to riches, 3) the quest, 4) voyage and return, 5) rebirth, 6) comedy, and 7) tragedy. (Yes, the plots can and do overlap within a story.) Other authorities cite the number of distinct, archetypal plots to six, nine, and thirty-six. The Guardian reported on an academic study, conducted in 2016, that analyzed commonalities among the plots of 1,737 stories. According to the article, the two most popular plot archetypes basically fall into two general story arcs reminiscent of Oedipus and Cinderella.
For those who write romantic fiction, the Cinderella archetype reigns. Look at practically any story within the umbrella genre of romance or its myriad sub-genres and you’ll find that requisite happily ever after or HEA ending. Sometimes, the HEA is temporary, labeled in the industry as happy for now or HFN. Regardless of whatever tragedy befalls the protagonists throughout the story’s journey, the story ends on a note of hope and happiness.
Those who write romance then ought to understand that their overarching plots are not original. What is original is how the author treats that selected plot. The permutations upon a well-used plot often fall within the parameters of certain sub-genres, of which the most obvious copy of the Cinderella story is the billionaire romance. The tired old plot becomes fresh with the addition of unusual circumstances that affect the characters, with the writer’s skill in creating witty repartee, and the writer’s ability to convey emotion and ambiance such that that reader shares the main characters’ experiences.
Great storytelling requires more than a good idea, because all the good ideas have already been used.Great storytelling demands expert execution and manipulation of language to refresh the old idea and give it new vigor.
Bear of the Midnight Sun
After a thousand years, immortal polar bear shifter Sindre finally finds his mate—on a talk show. In the city where anything goes, an impromptu wedding is just a taste of what’s to come. Startled into going through the ceremony, Miranda can’t stop the big, virile man from staking his claim on her and releasing her bear. Sindre can’t believe his good luck and will do anything to keep his mate at his side, up to and including taking marital advice from Atlas Leonidus. An independent woman with a successful career, Miranda melts at his touch and shuns his control, except she can’t control her bear.
Holly Bargo has over 25 years of professional writing and editing experience. She has published 20 books spanning the fantasy and romance genres and writes from the perspective of having made all the mistakes and helping other writers learn from those mistakes. Her latest book, Bear of the Midnight Sun, will be released on October 31, 2018, in both e-book and print format. Holly lives on a small hobby farm in southwest Ohio.
Throughout history, The Lady, Goddess of the Lycan world, has gifted werewolf packs with humans who carry her mark. Theodora Morrissey’s plans to return to college for her graduate degree are ended when she is awakened by an otherworldly voice on a rarely used airstrip in Nebraska. Injured and disoriented, she has no idea the discoloration on her back has marked her as a Seer, and that she is now a possession—and the prisoner—of the Novus Pack of Lycans.
To the Novus pack, the word of their leader, their Laird, is the law. With compelling gray eyes and long dark hair, Raider Black rules his pack with intelligence and ruthlessness. To cement the security of his pack, Black has committed to mate another Packleader’s daughter. But he’s finding it impossible to fight his attraction to the pack’s alluring new Seer, claiming her as his own.
Sweet, fearless, and unintentionally funny, Theo upends Black’s world and pushes the boundaries of his rules. How far is Raider willing to go, and what will he sacrifice, to save both his pack and the human Seer who’s found a way not only into his bed, but his heart?
Okay, I’m going to come right out and admit it. My confession/admission might get me in trouble with some erotica readers, but I have my big girl pants on and can take it.
There’s a popular among some people erotica genre that focuses on a submissive/dominant relationship that IMO takes a relationship to the extreme. I’m talking about daddy/baby scenarios. I admit I’ve only read a couple of them all the way through, but I’ve read enough blurbs to feel I understand how they’re structured. In essence (and correct me if I’m making this too simple) the dominant male insists that the female under his control act and is treated like a small child, complete with diapers and a crib. For reasons I don’t get, the women go along with the treatment. They might object in the beginning, but then it seems, something kicks into their brains and they decide to explore and even enjoy the situation. Often the so-called hero has staff or relatives that help raise the ‘child’. The whole house is set up to accommodate what doesn’t seem at all like playacting to me.
Okay, here’s where I jump on my soapbox. No way do I see any redeeming qualities in a man who treats a woman like that. I also don’t think much of a formally independent woman who goes along with such a demeaning show.
That said, to each their own. After all, I often write about capture situations. Note that I didn’t say the word fantasy since in my stories, the capture and its aftermath is the real deal and not some play situation the characters have agreed to. A shrink might say I need help. All I know is a lot of readers buy into those stories, and I’m here to thank them.
Wolf’s Storm
Forced together by a mountain snowstorm and their smashed cars, two loners are fated to spend a night together. Once the cabin door closes behind them, need takes over. They must have sex, only sex, not a relationship. But the nearby dark wolves have their own agenda.
Quite a bit, actually. Whether we like it or not, people make assumptions about us based on what we wear.
I’m currently wearing a white short-sleeve T-shirt and a pair of black capri leggings with a hole just above the knee. What does that say about me? I like comfort. I’m relaxed at home. I’m not concerned about seeing people. Maybe I need to buy some new capri pants. 🙂 Or maybe, that I’m a writer on a deadline.
I have at-home clothes and clothes I wear when I go out into the world. It’s funny how my wardrobe changed after I quit my day job back in 2005 to write full-time. Over the years, the selection in my closet has dwindled. Now, it mostly consists of comfortable clothes. There are a lot of leggings and T-shirts—both short and long-sleeved in my closet. I tend to find something I like and buy it in multiples and different colors. Saves on shopping. These days, I even wear leggings when I go out, just not the grubby ones with the holes in them.
And we all know that everybody’s crazy about a sharp dressed man. Just ask ZZ Top.
Which brings me to Luther Henderson, the hero of Drakon Unchained, the latest book in my Blood of the Drakon series. He is the head of security for a member of the Knights of the Dragon, a secret society that traps and uses dragons for their own gain. Most of the men he works with wear your typical black combat-style clothes. Maybe they think it makes them look tough. Maybe it’s for ease of movement. Maybe it simply helps to hide the bloodstains.
But Luther wears custom tailored suits. Custom because he’s tall and extremely well-built. Nothing off the rack is going to fit him. Over the years, he’s discovered that him wearing a suit puts people at ease. They relax around him and tend to forget just how dangerous he really is. It’s a mistake they often regret as Luther doesn’t hesitate to use it to his advantage.
Drakon Unchained
Blood of the Drakon, Book 5
Victoria Marshall is living a lie. She works for a member of the Knights of the Dragon, a secret society that traps and uses dragons for their own gain. As a child, she made an unlikely friend—a drakon. He went missing, and she’s spent the past twenty years searching for him. The only thing distracting her from her mission is Luther Henderson, her boss’s new head of security.
Luther is also living a lie. One, if discovered, could lead to a fate worse than death. He’s attracted to Victoria, but can’t fully trust her, doesn’t know if she’s truly innocent or a true member of the Knights. It’s not only his life at stake, but those of the people he loves.
As they’re thrust deeper into the dangerous dealings of the Knights, they each have to share their secrets in order to survive.
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.