Bella Street Romance Goes Retro

Delicious drama, thrills, and cliff hangers...what better way to celebrate literature as fall approaches?  The Chicago Center For Literature and Photography is hosting a new 12-part serial audio anthology to run every Monday in September, October and November; entitled " CCLaP 's Podcast Dreadful," inspired by old Victorian "pennydreadful " publications, and features cliffhangers to every chapter and a dark, strange tone throughout , featuring around a dozen writers over the entire course of the run.    On Friday, September 21st, there will be performances of episode 4 in front of a live audience at Quimby's in Wicker Park , featuring not just four local authors but a crew doing real-time radio-style sound effects. (The total list of participating authors includes Kate Cullan, Jason Fisk, Kevin Haworth, Jacob Knabb, Keith McCleary and Sophia G. Starmack, John Reed, Jason Riley, Jim Ruland, Davis Schneiderman, Ben Tanzer and Karl Wolff, with mus...

Thank you to all who hopped! We have winners! Grand Prize Winners: Kindle Fire Winner: Laurie Goudge (from It's the Journey that Counts 's Blog) $130 Amazon Gift Card: Ellie (from Carrie Ann Ryan 's  Blog) Swag Pack: Cassandra  (from Dana Delamar 's Blog) Winners of my book choices were Latishajean and Patti Apocalypse Babes: The Complete Series Thank you to all who participated! And keep an eye out for  future hops and promotions. Kindle Fires, gift cards,  and Juicy Couture will abound! 

One of my favorite scenes from Princess Bride was when Fred Savage asked his grandpa (Peter Faulk) "Is this a kissing book?" And he was really, really hoping the answer was no .  And yet what was missing for little Fred when the book ended? Yep. That kiss. And according the S. Morgenstern, “Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.” For me, this is why I read romance novels. I probably wouldn't read it if it wasn't a kissing book. Heck, if my High School text books had some kissing in 'em, I would've gotten better grades!  My favorite screen kiss is from the film Never Been Kissed . They had to get it right, and oh, baby, did they. I still get chills when I watch it. Mmmm mmmm. Kissing is so meaningful because it's the moment when guards are lowered and a tentative test is made--a test with sensitive body parts--the lips.  ...

Zombies can be fun...honest! Just because they shamble endlessly toward your ruin and tear off strips of your flesh and slurp down your brains when they catch up to you (and they will) doesn't mean we can't find the humor in the living dead. To whit: Shaun of the Dead . Simply the best zombie movie EVAR. Though this new film looks like it will be in the running: Along with great zombie films, are great zombie books. I've read (and enjoyed)  a couple of the classics, The Zombie Survival Guide and Day By Day Armageddon (super scary).  My latest zombie reads have been: My Life As A White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland. Angel Crawford is a loser...and becomes a zombie tho she has no clue how. What follows is a hilarious but gory story where she's not only fighting for her undead life but coming face to face with her misspent past. I just finished the second book in the series called Even White Trash Zombies Get ...

It's been said that the apocalypse is the end of the world as you know it. Sometimes it's something big like war or disease. And sometimes it's when the boy you like dumps you at the dance. Apocalypse. The word has so many possibilities. Books and films have had a heyday exploring apocalyptic themes...zombies, ebola, the Vietnam war, zombies, rogue weather, children killing children, zombies... Yeah, zombies are big for some reason. But what are some other apocalyptic scenarios? What would you like to see people running from? I have a soft spot for camp, so what about zombie spiders? Or zombie kittehs?  http://plmethvin.deviantart.com/art/ZOMBIE-KITTEH-169510826   Or no zombies at all? Think up something crazy and reply at the Apocalypse Whenever's Goodreads page for a chance to win a 6 book series about some babes in Apocalypse land.  http://amzn.com/B006OFBP5E While zombies, nightmares, space ships, frenemies, Soviet plots, and pink...

With over 8,000 comments, the winners have been chosen! The commenters, who were chosen by Random.org, for my books are Feathermaye ( Apocalypse Babes ) and Maureen Fisher ( Kiss Me, I'm Irish ). Congrats, ladies. And the other winners are: KINDLE FIRE WINNER: Michele Ann Oboyle (from Carrie Anne Brownian ’s Blog) $50 AMAZON GIFT CARD: Daphne Deaton (from Kristine Cayne ’s Blog) SWAG PACK: Jan D (from Karen McCullough ’s Blog) Thank you to EVERYONE who entered! Congrats to all, and keep hopping!

Men . They're the real reason we read romance novels, savvy? Of course we all love strong female leads, fast-paced plots, and exotic locales...but we really like the heroic honeybun hotties who populate the pages of our favorite novels. As a romance author, I will often peruse celeb websites looking for someone who matches my mental images of my characters. It's never the other way around for me--I don't use a celeb as a hero. I just try to find someone who's a close match. Scott Speedman For my Apocalypse Babes series, one of the male lead characters-- Trent --really reminds me of the guy in this picture. Not the guy in Felicity --at least personality-wise, but the way this guy on the right looks --cranky and delish. In my book Kiss Me, I'm Irish , I imagine my moody, Irish musician hero Liam to look something like the guy below in all his blue-eyed, scruffy yumminess: Matt Bomer If you'd like a chance to meet either one of t...