Blog tour stop and contest with Julieanne Lynch

I'm excited to be hosting a stop on the In the Shadows blog tour, an event brought to us by the fabulous Roxanne of Bewitching Book Tours. Ha, that sounded like Sesame Street for a second. All kidding aside, this looks like an interesting book and I look forward to reading it. As part of the book promotion there will be a tour wide contest and I will post the contest form (again) at the end of this post. Lots of goodies up for grabs, so good luck! Now, let's turn the floor over to Julieanne Lynch and get her take on the vampire experience...

The lure of the vampire in literature has definitely become a hit with 21^st century readers. It would be foolish to ignore the fact that most young adult readers are drawn to the blood sucking nightwalker. But what is it about the vampire that makes for compelling reading?

As a writer of mythical creatures the temptation to write about the vampire was all to easy not to resist. They make great villains, desirable lovers, frightening monsters and above all else, the thought of immortality is something most humans think about. It ignites the question - what if?

Yes there are readers who think the whole vampiric subject is old, past its sell by date and clichéd, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. People have a love/hate relationship with vampires. As much as we pretend that we have no interest in novels or movies about the blood sucker, we have this tendency to give in to the temptation and end up loving what we see or read.

Having recently had my own novel In The Shadows released, my experience with readers has been refreshing and in a sense inspiring. This to me alone proves that the fantasy behind vampires is far from dead and some of the bad press (haters) that has followed new releases since the days of Twilight is in a decline, simply because authors are delivering new and fresh material every day. No two takes on vampirism is ever the same and I feel this is an important attribute when it comes to creating something that can have such a profound effect on readership.

Women particularly are drawn to vampires. There is something about these Gothic symbols of manhood that make every woman weak in the neck. Monsters have always been able to elicit thrills and chills, but for a lot of women lately, those shivers are more of delight than fright. With the added level of sensuality of being claimed, it’s hard to ignore the allure.

What is more appealing is the danger, the inherent conflict in the relationship right up front of you because of who he or she is - “I want you but I’m could kill you.” It’s the perfect mixture of internal and external conflict.

Long gone are the days when the vampire was seen as a gruesome monster of the night, who fed on the young and weak, he has been replaced by a creature who can give women sexual gratification. In a time that is continually evolving, so are our attitudes towards sex. We are no longer living under societal constraints and self expression is one of our greatest powers. I see nothing wrong with expressing such emotions in writing or reading novels that surround their plots around vampires, and to me as a writer of supernatural elements I feel that the freedom to create such odysseys is proof enough as to how well the vampire is evolving. 

About the book: 

In the Shadows

By Julieanne Lynch

Published July 21st 2011
Strict Publishing International
ISBN 9780857791962

“In The Shadows”, the first of The Shadows trilogy, is an urban fantasy of vampires and the supernatural, and much, much more. In the shadows you will find lust and passion, battles for power and for blood, and death and fear around every corner. In the shadows you are carried away to an unknown future. Your destiny awaits, and you are no longer who you thought you were. You have a thirst, for blood perhaps, but a thirst for very much more than that.

Giselle was a normal girl with an attitude common to most girls of her age. Her
family might not have been perfect (whose is?) but she loved them, and her future
looked bright. She had an awesome best friend and a steady boyfriend, but how
could she possibly have been so wrong about someone she loved? And how could
she have been prepared for the darkness and for what she was to become?

The Buzz:

“In The Shadows is a must read for anyone who loves urban fantasy.” ~Review by
Dawn and Wini Book Lovers

“ Julieanne writes so eloquently you can feel and picture everything Giselle is
going through, with no question as to what role every character in the book plays.”
~Review by Ada McEwan

“Julieanne is a great story teller with a vivid imagination for the supernatural. I
absolutely love everything about it.” ~Reviewed by Firefly and Wisp

Click here to be directed to the contest form.

The Vampire Who Loved Me Blog Tour and Contest with Theresa Meyers

Our special guest today is Theresa Meyers, author of the Sons of Midnight series for Harlequin Nocturne. She's here to tell us a little bit about her new book and one lucky reader has the chance to win a copy for their very own! Contest details will be listed at the end of the post. So let's give a rowdy Bite Club welcome for Theresa Meyers.....

Top Ten Things Vampires Shouldn’t Do on Summer Vacation

10. Eat ice cream quickly. Think about it, if you get a brain freeze eating the frozen goodness that is ice cream, just think what would happen to your resident vampire with extra large canines. Of course my vampires have retractable fangs, so that helps, but still…vampires should cool it when it comes to ice cream.

9. Go on a summer vacation in Alaska. Vampires don’t like sunlight. For some it’s because they go all sparkly. For mine it’s because there naturally enhanced eyesight is more light sensitive (kind of like when you get out of an eye doctor appointment with your eyes dilated). Too much exposure can give them migraines and in some cases a nasty sun burn. Since Alaska’s summers contain many more hours of daylight than dark, best to choose it as a winter destination vacation if your vampire.

8. Transport into a party uninvited. Vampires might materialize in a socially awkward situation or in the case of my vampires into dangerous territory. It’s better to know who’ll be there when you transport than appearing by surprise and getting an eyeful of something you don’t intend to.

7. Party near a bonfire. Really any location that contributes to mob mentality (even a microbrewery, but especially those places involving wood and fire) should be eschewed for social events by vampires. Why give them easy access to materials for stakes and torches for pity’s sake? Vampires are much more suited to locations involving kicking ass after hours, such as Sangria, the vampire club of choice for the Cascade vampire Clan.

6. Take up a night job as a phlebotomist to fund your summer socializing. Frankly I feel the temptation is just too great. Anyone who collects blood for a living ought not to be the same person who drinks to be living. I mean really, can you even imagine? “That’s one tube for your test, one tube for me, one tube for the test, one tube for me…”

5. Wear silver jewelry or get summer piercings. Sure it’s pretty and shiny, but when the metal in question could disrupt your nervous system impulses, it’s best to choose something else. The vampires in the Sons of Midnight mini-series might not be sensitive to garlic, but silver can be debilitating.

4. Drink any cocktails spiked with Dead Man’s Blood. Eww. Ok, but beyond that, in The Vampire Who Loved Me, Dead Man’s Blood is a very potent poison to my vampires. It contains no life force so it would be like downing a slug of liquid nitrogen – painful, unpleasant and definitely not safe.

3. Watch the season four kickoff for True Blood without lots of snacks. Really, you think vampires don’t watch television too? And with all that action and what’s sure to be a hot and heavy season opener, it’d make even a mortal hungry, let alone a vampire.

2. Tick off the Goddess of Chaos. Hey summertime fun and games is fun, but not fighting. Especially not with Eris, even if you aren’t a vampire. As the daughter of Ares God of War, Eris is not a chick you want to mess with. She might look like a Reese Witherspoon clone, but she thrives on the misery, agony and festering emotions of people so stirring up some trouble is her pleasure. Avoid her and find better people to party with.

1. And the number one thing vampires shouldn’t do on summer vacation: Fall in love with a mortal. You’ve likely lost everyone mortal you’ve ever known or love by the time you’re a decent aged vampire. How do you ever expect it to work out? Mortals are so young, so firm, so full of blood, but you don’t date a juice pouch, much less willingly put yourself in danger of being beheaded to save one. That is unless you’ve found something in your mortal that makes your entire eternal life up to that moment seem meaningless. Then, and only then, might a mortal be worth it.

I hope you’ve had fun with my Top Ten Things A Vampire Should Never Do on Summer Vacation. If you were a vampire, what would be on your list? 

For a perfect beach read, check out my newest release THE VAMPIRE WHO LOVED ME for the dark and sexy Sons of Midnight mini-series from Harlequin Nocturne or visit me online at www.theresameyers.com.

Want to win a copy? Leave me a comment with something you think a vampire might want to avoid during summer vacation, or any season for that matter, OR tell me what sexy vampire you'd like to encounter on the beach, at night of course, and I will toss your name into the drawing. I'd happily take a midnight stroll with Achilles, the super sexy hero of The Vampire Who Loved Me! This contest is open to U.S. residents only. Please leave an email if one isn't easily located in your profile. The contest ends on July 1st and I will announce the winner the following weekend.

Guest post: R.A. Nelson

R.A. Nelson is here today to talk with us about his new YA novel, Throat, and to discuss why writing for the young adult crowd is so much fun. So without further ado...

Hello, Bite Club, it’s great to be here! Thanks for having me.

The funny thing is, when I began working on the idea for Throat, I had no idea it was
going to be a vampire book. I started with a character that fascinated me: a girl named
Emma Cooper who has epilepsy and feels her condition is ruining her life. I tried to fit
this character with a bunch of ideas I was working on at the time, but nothing seemed
quite right. Then, as usual, the idea for Throat came completely out of the blue: what if I
turned her into a vampire with epilepsy?

I had to admit, I had mixed feelings about this. I was really taken with the idea, but at
first tried to kick it right out of my head. The only vampire book I had read at that point
was Dracula a million years ago. Also, I didn’t want to seem like a copycat, adding yet
one more bloodsucking book to those tables you see groaning under the weight of these
novels at the book store. So I tried my best to shake free from the story over the next
couple of months, but it simply wasn’t letting go. As fall moved into winter, I caught
myself writing scenes in my head, so I knew at that point I had to give up. Throat was
going to be my next book.

Once I committed, I started to get really excited about it. I wanted to make my vampires
totally realistic and believable – I wanted the reader to experience just exactly what it
would feel like to really be in that situation, weighted down by that curse. Because what
would the life of a vampire really be, anyhow? You’re basically talking about a homeless
person with super powers that happens to drink blood. Who can never own property,
never stop hiding, is unable to travel very far at a time due to the necessity of constantly
finding new shelter and avoiding the sun. In spite of all their grand abilities, it would be
an awful, restricted existence.

Now I was having fun with it and felt I was on to something fresh. A completely new
kind of vampire. I was determined not to hold anything back. I wanted to write as
realistic a story as possible, blending in science and my background with NASA to help
make even the most outlandish concept plausible (like the fact that some of the vampires
in Throat worship the sun). This book was going to be a gritty, realistic, true story of a
new half-human vampire trying to make her way in the world (while somehow staying
alive in the process).

But who was going to be the audience for a vampire book that was this wildly different?

Teen readers are sharp. One of the reasons I love writing for them is that most of
them can approach books with completely open minds, and I have great faith in their
intelligence. I think they can handle pretty much anything I can throw at them. It’s the
adults I worry about. (Just kidding. Sort of.). But of course I was hopeful Throat would
appeal to readers from both groups. Lots and lots of readers. J

But truthfully I never think very that much about the age of my audience. I guess I just
love writing about characters that are living at that that time in life where everything
feels balanced on the cusp of so many exciting possibilities and challenging decisions. As an added bonus, as a YA author I don’t have to write about things like mortgages. PTA
meetings. Work weeks. Bad backs. ED. Etc. I want to concentrate on the freedom my
characters have. The freedom to take fabulous risks, succeed gloriously, or slam head on
into “epic fails.”

I love how wide open people are at that age, before life has really had a chance to squat
on their craniums and cram their dreams down into their necks. I love the energy my
readers bring to the books they read; that energy fits perfectly with a book like Throat.
I love to read (and write) books that are popping with big ideas and crazy interesting
characters. And I trust that my readers are looking for just that: a book that can transport
them, allow them to live a little while in a very strange new place.

But what I’m talking about in a reader is not something that can be measured so much in
years, but in dreams. I’m fascinated by the mind that never grows old. That’s the kind of
reader I’m thrilled to cultivate and capture. Imagination doesn’t have an age.

Follow R.A. Nelson on his blog tour for

THROAT

Monday, April 25th	Books with Bite	http://www.bookswithbite.net/
Tuesday, April 26th	Patricia’s Vampire Notes	http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, April 27th	Bite Club	http://vampchixreadbooks.blogspot.com/
Thursday, April 28th	Suvudu	http://suvudu.com/
Friday, April 29th	Random Acts of Reading	http://randomactsofreading.wordpress.com/
Saturday, April 30th	Dangers Untold and Hardships Unnumbered	http://rhiannon-hart.blogspot.com/

We’ll be tweeting about R.A. Nelson's blog tour on @RandomHouseKids!

(Follow the author: @RANelsonYA)