Getting back to business!

Apologies for my lack of posting! My internet has been down for the past few days and I've been doing some massive catchup time before the end of the month. I have one short story deadline and also an author appearance in Second Life which I'm very excited about. Also some finishing touches on my website for some new pages that will premiere at the beginning of the month and a few reading related goodies once I get organized.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Dark Succession by Teresa D'Amario ~ A Paranormal Romance Favorite for 2010

Boy, is it good to have Teresa D'Amario back! I lost count of the many times I read SheWolf since the first time and I've been waiting for Nora's story as well as Ryland's. I was very interested in seeing how a villain could be turned into a hero for the next book as its one of things on my wishlists for romance themes.

D'Amario doesn't disappoint! Dark Succession is a sexy paranormal romance but it's also a gut wrenching fantasy and suspense all rolled into one. After being captured and tortured then saved by Anna, heroine of SheWolf, Nora (daughter to the former pack leader Sean and Laura) has moved on to college where the guys give her attention more for her status than for herself. After almost being attacked by a group of college guys, Ryland intervenes and rescues Nora then takes her back to his compound where he hides a harrowing secret not only within his pack but also one he doesn't know about that's been hidden as a lie within his own family. Soon, members of Ryland's pack being to disappear and as Nora uncovers the reasons why, a pattern emerges bringing them close to the pack as things begin to unravel. 

Parallel Universe at The Galaxy Quest

Heather is hosting Parallel Universe in conjunction with this week's RWA Conference in Florida. Check out a conglomerate of posts from different authors discussing the theme of SFR and how diversity is tied in with the subgenre. Click the banner to check out the posts and keep an eye out for yours truly's post on SFR and diversity in film.

July 2010's Broad Pod is now live!

Hey folks! If there are any military SF fans, you'll want to check out this month's edition of the Broad Pod which is sponsored by the Broad Universe. Yours truly is the guest host for this edition and I had a blast organizing and introducing such great authors. For those SFR fans, there's a bit of romance in some of these books so be sure to check out the excerpts read by the authors themselves. :-)

Trot on over to listen and/or download the episodes at


http://broadpod.posterous.com  or http://broadpod.podbean.com.

My SFR Cup Runneth Low? ~ 2010 Reading Challenge Checkup

For 2010 reading that is. Eek.

Lately I've been feeling more action/futuristic lately so I'm going to try to shift a little away from contemporaries and paranormals and head straight into the future.  The SFR challenge will definitely help get me going on that. I'm still reading (and loving!) Dark Succession and I'm trying not to read too fast so the story will be over too soon (don't you hate it when that happens while reading a good book).

As for other challenges:

The POC (people of color) Reading Challenge

I meant my goal for the POC challenge! WOO HOO. I'm definitely going to be reading more because there's still some books on my short list pile that I want to get to soon. Most of them are IR books but since I've been taking a break from contemporary romance, they've been on the side for now. To be included:

 

I'll probably beef up that number by the end of the year. I still have a few books that I'd like to get to soon that will fit in this challenge as well as...


The YA Reading Challenge

I'm on a definite YA kick since reading Laurie Halse Anderson's speak and completely glomming the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. LOVE it. I have a few more books to check out and I'm pretty confident I'll make my goal. Right now I'm in between audio books and I may start the Percy Jackson series or The Red Pyramid if something else doesn't catch my eye. I loved the Percy Jackson movie which was too fun and I'm sure the book will be even better with all the scenes and characterization to differentiate it from the cinematic version.

I also came across a pretty cool looking YA SF book by Dom Testa thanks to Dragon Page:

I'm not sure if it has an IR relationship in it but apparently it's part of a series and it sounds like it's got some awesome action between it's pages.

Another book I recently added to my shelf that DOES have a romance centered in it is Anne Osterlund's Academy 7, which I should have added to my SFR Challenge list, but this is definitely one I want to read soon.

I'm also currently reading In Enemy Hands so there's also that one coming up the review end.

Finally there's the 2010 TBR Challenge of which I am a bit behind. I got up to April and then was sidetracked so I'm reading to dive on back into this one.

Let's see...

May	Friends to lovers or reunited lovers	May 19, 2010
June	YA fic­tion: romance, fantasy	June 16, 2010
July	Unusual pro­fes­sions or not your usual setting	July 21, 2010

Okay. May's book has been on my immediate shelf (read my bedside) for a while now. That would be The Other Woman by Patricia Kay. June is taken care of since I read Winter's Passage (yep I'm counting it ;-)) the Iron Fey series in between Books 1 & 2. So that leaves July and May.

Overall, not too bad for halfway through the year. :-)

A New Reading Challenge and Book updates!

Woo hoo! I just got my copy of Jess Granger's Beyond the Shadows in the mail and I'm soo eager to start it. I'm currently enjoying Teresa D'Amario's Dark Succession (is there a Ryland wandering out there anywhere? hehe) and I'm pretty shocked that I like him even more Kieren from SheWolf (who was yummy all his own).

As if I didn't have enough reading challenges, I'm not adding on a new one which I'm hosting right here at AWD. The 2010 SFR Reading Challenge! I'm hoping this will help spread awareness of the genre a little bit and also to get some great reads spread around the blogsophere. New readers, new voices and new authors. Sounds like win win all around!

To join, hop on over to the sign up page here. Don't forget to check out the rules and grab a button before getting started! There's some explanation about the genre and a few links to some great titles to get your started reading. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone is reading out there!

As for me, I'm not in the habit of picking out my reads beforehand (which is strictly optional for the challenge, fyi ;-)) but I want to add a few TBR books I want to tackle (or at least try to) specifically for the challenge:

Beyond the Shadows by Jess Granger
Appleseed Vol. 3: The Scales of Prometheus
R. Garland Grey's Darkscape: The Rebel Lord
Speculative Sky by Clare Dargin (I LOVED her Cold Warriors book, which I may give a re-read for the challange)
Starjacked by Karin Shah
Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair
In Enemy Hands by K.S. Augustin
Royal Cargo by Ava James
Blood Sin by Toni V. Sweeney
Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Guardian (Time Hunters #2) by Angela Knight

I'm starting a bit smallish with the "Moon Challenge". How about you?

Happy reading!

Sign up for the 2010 SFR Reading Challenge Here

July Calendar of Events

Hey folks!

Do you ever get the feeling that you're cruising through life? Or that maybe time is just zipping by while you're in the car driving merrily?

No?

Just me then. ;-)

I could've sworn it was Friday a minute ago!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and to all you USers, I hope you enjoyed your "long" weekend. This month's newsletter is on its way along with a brand, spiffy new FAQ page coming right up to answer all the questions you guys asked me in the past list. Stay tuned for the linkage.

Now that it's time to hop on back to work, I thought I'd give all you lovely readers out there a heads up for things happening this month. The event calendar at my site is updated and is in the progress of being updated with more stuff so check back when you can to see the new goodies.

In the mean time, here's a post to give you a heads up. Second Lifers (wow, that sounds a bit pirate-y).

July 8th - I'll be posting at PopCultureDivas. Something a little bubbly, a little sweet and, of course, poppy.

July 14th - *SL Event*  I'll be on a panel to celebrate The Community Virtual Library Book Fair. I'll be chatting about writing in the virtual world. 6 p.m. SLT (PST)

July 20-31st -*Major SFR Event* Heather over at The Galaxy Quest is hosting a week of SFR guest posts for the second annual Parallel Universe to coincide with Romance Writers of America’s 30^th Annual National Conference (July 28-31 in Orlando, FL). I'll be guest blogging during the event (day to be announced) and enjoying the other posts the other week. Be sure to stop by and hang out with us!

July 31st - *SL Event*  The Sci-Fi Portal hosted at Info Island will be holding a Meet the Author discussion event at 1 pm SLT (PST) where I'll be chatting about my short illustrated novella 'The Eye of Alloria'.

I'm going to be taking a mini break and take my author hat off for a bit, while I kick back a little and focus more on my reading. Which means I'll be checking out some bargain reads on the web (stay tuned for those posts) and some new reads from authors I haven't tried out yet.

So hang tight for some more releases, including a novella, coming this fall. I'd love to host a writing challenge to get me back on my themed reading days. Possibly something I haven't seen around the blogosphere lately. If anyone out there has an idea and would like to hop on, hit me up in the comments for some themes you'd like to tackle in your reading pile.

ETA: Shame on me, I forgot one of the biggies this month! I'll be hosting Broad Universe's BroadPod with the theme of military sci-fi and we have a great lineup of authors reading excerpts from their current books. Stay tuned for an announcement and link when the episode goes live!