by Artist Arthur, author of Mutiny (Kimani TRU ebook exclusive novella, available free here) and Mayhem (Kimani TRU, August 2011)

What would you do if you woke up one day and didn’t know where you were? What if you didn’t know who was sitting next to you talking, where he or it came from and why it chose you?

Then your name would be Franklin Bryant. You would be a seventeen year old boy who one day had a girlfriend named Krystal and a father who was a weather man. You would be the boy who seemed to have it all.

Not.

Franklin Bryant isn’t in Lincoln, Connecticut anymore, he’s not even on earth.

He’s in Trance, the crossover realm between the Underworld and Hades. He’s there with a reaper named Naziel and a demon named Charon. And he wants nothing more than to go home, to return back to his life with Krystal and even the life of a somewhat famous teen in town. What he doesn’t want is to be dead.

In Manifest and Mystify Franklin was introduced as Krystal’s cute, but standoffish boyfriend. He only had eyes and words for Krystal so the other Mystyx sort of thought he was strange. And after he tried to steal Krystal’s eyes they knew he was more than a little off. As a matter of fact, Krystal’s thinking the same thing right about now. So how does this all effect where Franklin is now and the choice he has to make? Well, it’s simple, Charon wants the Mystyx dead or at the very least broken and defeated. What better way to accomplish that then to turn one of them against the others. And his first choice is Franklin.

But Franklin is torn between the love of his life and the path of his future. In comes Jake who steals Franklin’s girl, then all hell breaks loose. Usually that’s just a figure of speech, in this case, it’s the honest truth.

Writing from Franklin’s point of view for Mutiny was a challenge at first. But after about five pages I found myself submerged in Franklin’s mind, making the decisions he would make and doing the things he would do. He’s a complicated teen facing an unbelievable feat, but betrayals and dishonesty bring him to a stunning conclusion. Mutiny is the perfect bridge book between  Mystify and Mayhem as it introduces another element in the struggle of good vs. evil. It gives the Mystyx something else to consider when they’re planning their ultimate victory against evil. In the short time I spent writing Mutiny I found myself even more drawn to Franklin and eager to find out if he’d prevail. You can find out too when you read Mutiny.

My husband wakes up in strange places. During business trips, he will sometimes awake to discover that he is standing outside his locked hotel door at 3 am wearing only his pajamas. Or he’ll go to bed at home and wake up sitting in the living room. Sometimes he’ll walk around the house, still in a deep sleep, and turn on all the lights. He’s even carried on full conversations, with no memory of it the next morning.

He claims these experiences aren’t scary—just embarrassing. Having to ask the late night hotel clerk that you need to get into your room and don’t have an ID because, hey, you’re in your pajamas? It can be awkward. But his nocturnal trips make for some interesting stories.

Sleepwalking is something that comes up in the final book of my Past Midnight series, Beyond the Grave. Charlotte’s boyfriend, Noah, doesn’t understand why he wakes up in different places and has no memory of how he got there. But his wanderings are anything but harmless. Even though Noah is unaware of what’s going on, he is involved with something dark—and Charlotte is worried. The problem is, she isn’t sure how she can help or what, exactly, Noah is doing, and the potential answer is something she can’t bear to think about.

I don’t think I have ever walked in my sleep. I’m fairly certain I would freak out if it I opened my eyes and discovered I was somewhere other than my warm bed. But it’s something I have wondered about: what causes it? In Beyond the Grave, the cause of Noah’s sleepwalking is somewhat sinister. In reality, it seems to be a natural condition. But it’s a strange state of being and one that fit nicely into a tale of the paranormal. We hope that we are safe while we sleep. But what goes on when we are unconscious (or maybe semi-conscious) is, in fact, unknowable.

Can’t wait for Beyond the Grave? Don’t forget that Haunting the Night, an ebook exclusive Past Midnight series novella is available now. Download it for FREE at the Harlequin Teen Facebook page!

We’ve got a grab-bag of news for you paranormal romance fans today! First up, here’s a few links of interest:

• Eve Silver, author of the Otherkin trilogy from HQN Books, is giving away 10 signed advance copies of her next book, Body of Sin, on her website. Click here for details about the contest & how to enter.
• The School Library Journal is loving The Girl in the Steel Corset, Kady Cross‘s steampunk YA novel from Harlequin Teen. Here is a great review of the book, calling it “a wonderfully fun romp through an alternate history”, plus they highlight it again in a blog post about the steampunk genre.

In case you missed it in our new releases post, this month Harlequin has two free short ebooks avaiable. First, Kimani TRU has a free short story Mutiny connected to its paranormal YA series The Mystyx by Artist Arthur. Second is Survivors by Sophie Littlefield, part of her post-apocalyptic zombie series Aftertime. Download both stories for free at www.ebooks.eharlequin.com.

Lastly, while at the Romance Writers of America conference earlier this month, I attended the annual literacy signing and snapped a couple picks of Harlequin paranormal romance authors!

HQN Books author Laurie London, signing Embraced by Blood.

Another HQN author Rhyannon Byrd, with her book Rush of Darkness.

And here’s Nocturne author Michele Hauf with a plethora of titles, including her contribution to the Gold Eagle Rogue Angel series.

“Survive like a child”

My short novella SURVIVORS (download it for free at Harlequin’s ebook store*) gives a glimpse into the life of Cass Dollar, heroine of the Aftertime trilogy, between the first book AFTERTIME (March 2011) and REBIRTH (August 2011, links).

In a world that has fallen to war, famine, and the zombie-like Beaters, Cass has found a measure of safety and community in The Box, a walled enclosure where danger is kept at bay and people take solace in whatever they can.

One day, a raiding party that has left the Box to search for supplies returns instead with an eight-year-old boy and his elderly grandmother, “squatters” who managed to wait out the fall of civilization in an abandoned house. They are dehydrated and famished. At first, all that the residents of the Box can get from the boy is his name, Feo.

“Feo” means ugly in Spanish, and I had envisioned a loving family who used this silly nickname for a boy who is both adorable and sweet. Little of the narrative is devoted to the boy’s past. This is intentional. In Aftertime, speaking of the past is considered rude, because it’s such a direct route to sadness and despair.  However, I do hint that Feo had been a loved child who had parents and siblings and a large extended family.

At the opening of SURVIVORS, Feo has been caring for his grandmother for some time, keeping her fed, sheltered, and safe from Beaters. I thought it was particularly poignant that after managing this considerable feat, it’s the simple, inevitable ravages of age that destroy the woman. She has had a stroke at some point and is also suffering from dementia, and though Feo has cared for her as well as he can, when the pair are found and brought into the Box it’s clear to everyone but the boy that she will not survive the night.

What does tragedy mean to a child? I thought about this question a lot while I was writing this story. Our own family has suffered the sort of everyday devastations that most families eventually do. Whenever loss and grief and misfortune find us, I’m keenly aware of my children’s response. As a parent, it is my job and goal to diminish the impact of grief and help them move as swiftly as possible back into their regular lives while still processing the emotions brought on by the event myself.

But what happens to a child like Feo who’s lost so much? His home, his family, his friends, his routine, his understanding of the world – all of these have been destroyed. On top of this he has witnessed horrors that no child should have to experience.

It was my thesis that children might weather all of this better than adults. That they would still be able to find simple pleasures and joys in life, even as their circumstances shift dramatically. You see evidence of children’s strength and tenacity in news photos from relocation camps, from battlefields, from lands ravaged by famine and disease. As long as they are able, children will find ways to play. They will make toys of what is on hand. They will form bonds with adults who care for them.

In short, children are survivors.

Feo is a spirited child, a composite of kids I’ve known. He’s scrappy and tough, and also vulnerable. His love for his grandmother is matched only by his longing for an adult who will care for him. In SURVIVORS, Cass – who has lost a child herself, only to win her back at great cost – tries to take on this role for Feo.

***

A year ago, my teenage daughter had to have surgery. Though the doctors assured me that they anticipated no problems and a smooth recovery, I was a mess. I spent the hours of her operation praying and crying and walking the stairs of the hospital. By the end of the day, her recovery was well under way, and she had her appetite and sense of humor back. She complained of boredom. She enjoyed grossing me out with the details of her wound care. She demanded macaroons and made room for me to share her hospital bed and let me read to her.

During that long night, I marveled at how quickly she bounced back. Keep her voracious – this was my prayer; that her appetite for life would never be diminished, that no misfortune would ever have the power to daunt her for long.

I tried to make Feo exemplify this kind of strength. I suppose it’s inevitable that the children in all my books are drawn from the children I’ve known and loved – sturdy, exuberant, winsome kids, who are also at times needy and emotional and tender. In her response to Feo, Cass does what I hope I would do in the same circumstance. In this need-and-nurture cycle, I would hope two such people as they would help each other to survive.

Look  for Aftertime on the web, including the trailer:

www.SophieLittlefield.com

@swlittlefield

www.Facebook.com/AftertimeBooks

*Note from Amy: Survivors will be free for a limited time only, so don’t miss out and download your copy today! Look it for wherever ebooks are sold (discounted at retailer’s discretion) and we’ll also be posting the PDF here on the blog soon, once we work out some technical issues.

by authors Laurie London and Erin Kellison

Thanks, Amy, for hosting #DarkTour today! We’re Laurie London, author of the Sweetblood series, and Erin Kellison, author of the Shadow series, and we’re thrilled to be here. Stay tuned because we’re giving away a great prize package.

Erin and I met at the RT Booklovers Convention and discovered our e-novellas were coming out on the same day. (Hidden By Blood by Laurie and Shadow Touch by Erin) Because two are better than one…and more fun…we decided to do a mini-blog tour together and #DarkTour was born.

Oddly enough, both of our stories focus on a similar theme. It’s the heroines, not the heroes, who are struggling with their dark natures. These incredible women fight to do the right thing, fearing that their baser instincts will one day become too powerful to control. If that happens, the results will be devastating. The heroes paired with these strong women are extraordinary in their own right—tough, driven and very sexy—and yet both of them are completely human.

The heroine of Hidden By Blood, Brenna Stewart, is a vampire who does everything she can to keep her dark nature in check around Finn McKentry. But that proves to be very difficult—he’s a sweetblood, a human with a rare blood type that’s addictive to vampires. As a former Army Ranger, he is bold, spontaneous, and fearless—the perfect match for Brenna, a woman capable of killing him.

This is a reunion story of sorts because the two of them met months before the novella starts. However, Brenna kept one very important secret from Finn back then—the fact that she was a vampire. One night, after almost going too far, she suddenly broke things off with him, fearing she might kill him the next time. For many months, they go their separate ways until something terrible happens to Finn, which thrusts them back together again. And that’s when Hidden By Blood starts.

The heroine in Erin’s story has a similar, yet very different struggle with her dark nature. She’s…well… I’ll let Erin tell you.

Hi everyone! Erin Kellison here. DarkTour has been a blast from start to finish, and this is a great way to round out our tour. Thank you so much for having us, Amy!

Yeah, you could say that the heroine of Shadow Touch, Ellie Russo, has a dark nature—in the form of her impulsive shadow. Ellie’s dark half has a mind of its own and moves independently from her flesh and blood body. The shadow is motivated by instinct and curiosity. It has no shame, tells no lies, and does exactly what it wants.

You can imagine living with your shadow would be difficult, especially if it’s growing stronger every day, frighteningly so.  At the start of Shadow Touch, Ellie has had enough and seeks help from Dr. Cam Kalamos of the Segue Institute, a paranormal research center. She’s afraid of what her shadow may be capable of, and she has reason to be. Her dark half is out of control, or rather, her dark half is seizing control.

Cam studies magic in the form of (capitol S) Shadow, which is seeping into the mortal world from the realm of the fae. He’s been privy to some frightening and wondrous creatures, but nothing can prepare him for Ellie and her lusty shadow (lower case s). His intellectual curiosity is instantly aroused, as is his personal interest in this soul-split woman. It’s up to him to uncover the secret Ellie is hiding—and it’s as bad as he fears. He sure likes sweet, brave Ellie, and he’s more than a little aware of the temptation of her shadow, but if he and Ellie don’t do something soon, the shadow might just turn to murder.

For a limited time, you can read Finn and Brenna’s story in Hidden By Blood for free! Click here to download.

You can find Shadow Touch here:

Amazon ($.99): http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Touch-ebook/dp/B004NEW59S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306214552&sr=8-1

B&N ($1.49): http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Shadow-Touch/Erin-Kellison/e/9781420123951/?itm=1&USRI=erin+kellison

Friend and follow Laurie London and Erin Kellison here:

• www.LaurieLondonBooks.com
• www.facebook.com/LaurieLondonAuthor
• www.twitter.com/LaurieBLondon

• www.ErinKellison.com
• www.facebook.com/ErinKellison
• www.twitter.com/ekellison

This awesome prize package will go to one lucky commenter:

1.  Bonded By Blood, book 1 in Laurie’s Sweetblood series

2.  Shadow Bound, book 1 in Erin’s Shadow series

3.  Romance Trading cards and book marks from both series.

****Rules****

Giveaway is open to US/Canada addresses only.

Put your email address in your comment so that we can easily contact you if you win.

Erin and Laurie will use Random.org to pick a winner on Monday, 6/20. Good luck!

Robin Goodfellow.  Puck.  Nearly everyone has heard of the notorious prankster, made infamous by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Since then, Puck has graced the pages of countless books, stories, poems, and plays.  He has taken many forms, from a long-eared elf boy to a goat-legged satyr playing the panpipes, but one thing that has never changed is his trickster personality.  Despite all his incarnations, at his core, Puck remains one of the most famous pranksters in the world.  He embodies all that a faery should be; he’s witty, mischievous, and just a little bit dangerous.

But for everything we know about the genius prankster, Puck’s true thoughts and feelings often remain a mystery.  What would it be like to get inside his head, to hear his thoughts and see things from his perspective?  Is he really just a happy-go-lucky trickster fey?  Or do his tricks and laughter hide something darker?

In Summer’s Crossing, Robin Goodfellow finally lets us into his secret thoughts, the conflicting emotions he keeps hidden behind his light-hearted façade.  During a life as long as his, he’s bound to have made a few mistakes, and has several regrets.  His complicated relationships with a once-best friend and the girl that they both love is at the heart of this story.  When faced with the ultimate choice—betray his friend and win the girl, or help his former friend pull off the ultimate prank—what will Puck decide?  Only Robin Goodfellow knows the truth.

I hope you enjoy Summer’s Crossing, told from the eyes of the one and only Puck.  It is available for free download at harlequin.com*, and also as an audiobook at audible.com.

Last week I blogged about Harlequin TEEN’s new Steampunk series The Steampunk Chronicles (lead by the prequel ebook The Strange Case of Finley Jayne and book one, The Girl in the Steel Corset) by author Kady Cross – as well as the series’ awesome book trailer.

Today I have even more steampunk goodies to share — this time from Harlequin’s digital first imprint, Carina Press. In the last week of April, Carina Press released a slew of Steampunk books for our own “Steampunk Week”, including a free ebook Photographs & Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape. We also made this awesome video to highlight them and the genre. Take a look:

Learn more about the books featured in this video (plus a couple additional titles), click the links below:

• The Mysterious Lady Law by Robert Appleton
• Badlands by Seleste deLaney
• The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell
• Photographs & Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape (FREE!)
• Island of Icarus by Christine Danse
• Steam & Sorcery by Cindy Spencer Pape
• Like Clockwork by Bonnie Dee
• Journeyman’s Ride by Marie Hart
• Alchemy of Desire by Crista McHugh

Are you on board with Steampunk? Steampunk is a genre of fiction that blends history and science fiction along the lines for The Time Machine or Jules Verne. Imagine the Victorian era with robots that run on clockwork, workhouses with air ships flying above, and fantastic machines powered by steam.

Want to find out more? Check out this awesome trailer for the first book in Kady Cross‘s Steampunk Chronicles series from Harlequin Teen, The Girl in the Steel Corset (on sale in June):

AND, download a prequel story to The Girl in the Steel Corset called The Strange Case of Finley Jayne, which will introduce you to the heroine of The Steampunk Chronicles — that would be Finley — and the thing inside her…

Finley Jayne knows she’s not ‘normal’. Normal girls don’t lose time, or have something inside them that makes them capable of remarkably violent things. Her behavior has already cost her one job, so when she’s offered the lofty position of companion to Phoebe, a debutante recently engaged to Lord Vincent, she accepts, despite having no experience. Lord Vincent is a man of science with his automatons and inventions, but Finley is suspicious of his motives where Phoebe is concerned. She will do anything to protect her new friend, but what she discovers is even more monstrous than anything she could have imagined…

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne is available wherever ebooks are sold — and look for it FREE on ebooks.eharlequin.com!

1101 Elder Street in downtown Houston is a well known address to ghost hunters, thrill seekers and the just plain curious, like me.  Before it’s conversion into lofts, Jefferson Davis Hospital, an abandoned psychiatric facility, was considered one of the most haunted places in America.

The hospital was built over an old city cemetery where thousands of Civil War veterans, former slaves and yellow fever victims were buried.  That alone was sufficiently creepy to send a shiver up my spine, never mind the boarded windows, the ominous smokestack rising over the rooftop and the records of deceased patients marked for the crematorium.  Or the tales of phantom footsteps, darting shadows and the lingering smell of anesthesia.  Or the descendant of a Civil War hero who claimed she was followed home by the spirit of a soldier buried beneath the hospital.

I personally only ever observed Jefferson Davis from the street.  I was too chicken to go inside, but I’ve known people who explored those murky hallways and saw some pretty harrowing reminders of the hospital’s dark past—rib spreaders, reels of X-rays and film, padded rooms, an isolation chamber accessible only from the roof, gurneys, beds and a lone wheelchair, circa 1940.  And…no animals.  Even though the building had been abandoned for decades, no one ever spotted any animals on the premises.  Not a single bird, rodent or stray cat.  Neighborhood dogs would chase cars right up to the property line and abruptly turn back.

Since the renovation, reports abound from current residents of continued paranormal activity.  I’ve also heard a rumor that short-term leases are encouraged because so many people don’t want to stay there longer than three months.   I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t.

Pre-restoration Jefferson Davis—ghosts and all—was the inspiration for the psychiatric institution in THE ABANDONED, the prequel to my new series, THE GRAVEYARD QUEEN.  Built by the powerful Farrante family in the early 1900s, the gloomy old asylum not only houses troubled souls, but a dark secret that spans generations.

THE ABANDONED will also introduce Amelia Gray, a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts, and John Devlin, a police detective haunted by his past.  Look for the beginning of their saga in THE RESTORER.  You can read an excerpt and watch the trailer at my website (http://thegraveyardqueen.com).  And don’t forget to download THE ABANDONED.

Got ghosts?  I’d love to hear about them!

Happy Restorations!

Amanda

My friend Nicole hosted the greatest slumber parties. Her house featured a finished basement and her parents didn’t mind if a gaggle of 15-year-old girls made too much noise well into the morning. She also possessed an expertise of all the best games to play in the dark, the kind that required quiet concentration and a desire to witness something weird.

We would wait until the clock chimed twelve to begin the first game, which was usually “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board,” in which we would raise a girl from the floor using only the tips of our fingers. Then we would take turns going into the windowless bathroom, where we would turn off the lights and stare into the mirror reciting “Bloody Mary” thirteen times. And we always ended the evening crowded around an Ouija board, which we were sure had contacted the confused spirit of a gorgeous teenage guy.

These slumber parties were thrilling to me. We were taking risks! We were experimenting with unseen forces! There was endless supply of cheese puffs! But really, the best part about the parties was knowing that we were surrounded by friends and perfectly safe. If Bloody Mary decided to appear in the mirror, all we had to do was scream and run upstairs. I thought about those parties when I wrote One Hundred Candles, the second novel in the Past Midnight series. Because what if you participated in a late night game that wasn’t so safe? That maybe unleashed something that should be permanently contained?

“One Hundred Candles” is a real (although obscure) game. It requires a group of people to sit in a circle and reveal their personal ghost stories. After each story, a candle is lit. When all one hundred stories have been told and all one hundred candles are glowing, one hundred spirits will join the group. That’s when the game really begins. Participants claim that weird things begin to happen, from doors opening to clocks chiming. It will continue (supposedly) until the circle is broken.

Although this wasn’t a game I ever played at one of my slumber parties, I thought it was a great concept for a book. Charlotte Silver, the main character in the Past Midnight series, is drawn into the game at a New Year’s Eve party. The results are not what she expects.

Maybe we all want to witness something strange and mysterious, something beyond our realm of understanding. Maybe that’s why late night games played in the dark appeal to us. And maybe we don’t really expect anything to happen. But if something does happen? Well, that’s a whole other story.

During the month of February, Harlequin TEEN is offering Raising the Dead, a novella in the Past Midnight series, for free. You can download it to your computer, Kindle or Nook here.

This book takes place shortly after the events in Past Midnight. A severe storm hits Charlotte’s town, causing flooding that unearths old coffins—and a strange mystery.