Showing posts with label Shifter Month. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shifter Month. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

More Shifter Month Give-A-Way

Since we having so much fun celebrating Shifter Month,
 we have a second contest running until the end of the month.

I'll be giving away dowloads of the first two books in the Legend of the Spirit series:
Crow Magic 

Eagle Dance

 a pair of goldtone dangle feather earrings


 a pair of silvertone dangle feather earrings


ENTER THE RAFFELCOPTER NOW


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, August 18, 2014

Looking for a Lesbian Werewolf Erotic Romance?

 Sometimes such a simple thing can lead to such an unexpected and wonderful future…

“Second Saturday.” Ed. Liz Silver. Musa Publishing, Forthcoming July 2012.
ISBN: 978-1-61937-295-5

I'd like to welcome Stan Hampton 
who joins us today to talk about his hot Lesbian, shifter, erotic romance.

Give us the  Story Behind Second Saturday

            So, what is the inspiration behind the lesbian werewolf erotic romance, Second Saturday?
            Pardon me while I play Loreena McKennitt’s Nights from the Alhambra, particularly The Mummer’s Dance and Huron ‘Beltane’ Fire Dance. I have always enjoyed her music, whether I am relaxing or writing.
            Anyway, the inspiration?
            Well, I once saw a Call for Submissions for a lesbian shapeshifter anthology. The subject sounded interesting, even challenging, as I had never written anything like that. After all, I am a man. What did I know of lesbians, especially lesbian shapeshifters? I finally decided to give it a try—and the story was not accepted for the anthology.
            Second Saturday is a fairly simple story made up of several elements.
            There is in Las Vegas, a monthly arts event called First Friday. Once a month, on the first Friday of the month, the arts district located not far from Fremont Street in Old Las Vegas hosts an evening long art crawl. Large crowds wander among the various shops and studios, and arts and crafts stalls, food stalls, and beer stalls.
            By nature and experience I am a photographer and a people watcher. I also have an interest in painting, drawing, and sculpting—unfortunately, in spite of having taken several college classes, I have yet to discover my natural talent for those skills. One can always hope.
            And regarding the two characters, Sharon Rogers, a bicurious UNLV art student, and Patricia Renner, a lesbian and an attorney… Not meaning to sound sexist, but is there not something beautiful about two women making love with one another?
            As for the shapeshifter element—researching a different story I once read of the Greek historian Herodotus and his claim that northwest of the now-Black Sea there was a tribe that turned into wolves once a year. The tribe was called the Neuri.
            After Second Saturday was rejected for the anthology I let the story sit for a little while, then went back and did some writing and editing. I knew that I had a viable story, and even a subject that was deserving of additional stories.
            Fortunately, events proved my belief correct.
            The chaos that is life sometimes gets in the way of writing; I have not added to the story of the Neuri since the publication of Second Saturday in 2012. But I have not forgotten them.
            So, for a moment imagine yourself in a Mycenaean king’s columned hall, one of many gathered around a smoky, flame-filled hearth. The evening has already heard of Jason and his search for the Golden Fleece, and of Helen and the Mycenaean and Trojan heroes who fought over her before the walls of Troy.

            There remains other tales to be told before the fire becomes glowing embers in a silent night—tales of strong warriors, part wolf, who came from the frozen north where colorful spirits danced in the night sky. Even the Neuri women, born with sword and spear in hand, were unafraid of men and death and were likewise unafraid to love other women…

Tease us some more....
BUY NOW

BLURB: Sharon Rogers is a young university student in Las Vegas, working part-time at a nearby donut shop. She is hard at work one morning when Patricia Renner enters the shop--and Sharon's life. Not long after meeting Patricia, she begins dreaming. Sharon turns her dreams of male and female warriors with wolves' heads into sculptures. When Sharon and her fellow art students band together to host an "art crawl" for the public, she invites Patricia to attend, hoping to seduce her. However, Sharon discovers that Patricia is intent on seducing her; not only that, Patricia is very territorial and will not permit rivals for Sharon's hand. Patricia has a secret, though, and Sharon must accept it if they are to be together forever.

EXCERPT: Sharon Rogers opened her eyes and stared at the darkness of her bedroom ceiling with the echo of the tremulous howls still ringing faintly in her ears. Many times before, she had dreamed of powerful warriors; men and women, who ran with giant wolves across moonlit steppes. With the fading of the dream she felt an unexplained pang of loss.
            As a matter of routine, Sharon woke very early; when she wasn’t a starving university student, she worked part-time at the Mom and Pop Donut Emporium not far from the university. Baking and icing trays of donuts and serving coffee was her momentary purpose in life.
            Though she had the day off, she grumbled about having such an early rising job—in spite of the Ground Zero recession with so many Las Vegans out of work—and went back to sleep. When she finally awakened, she lay naked in her large bed and stared at the whirling ceiling fan.
            It was Saturday, the first “Second Saturday” for the Maryland Parkway Salon, as the local group of university students called themselves. The students who lived in the weathered apartment buildings had spent two months planning this art crawl. For a few hours, the public could visit apartments where art work was for sale, help themselves to refreshments in the sandy lot between the buildings, and visit with the artists in their workshops at the back of the lot.
            If Second Saturday was successful, they planned to hold more art crawls every couple of months.
            But for Sharon, Second Saturday had the potential to be much more than an art show.
            First, there were the more than a dozen foot-high clay figures that she had sculpted and fired. The figures were of naked men and women with wolves’ heads—warriors armed with shields, spears, and swords. As an artist, Sharon appreciated the human male and female form, and she loved wolves. The two subjects complemented one another, reinforced by dreams she’d had. She was hoping to sell one or more of the figures.
            Second, was the boorish Rodney Boatman, a sometime-patron at the donut shop. He was a delivery driver for a local company. He hit on her frequently, never taking no for an answer. When he saw the flyer announcing Second Saturday, he had promised to show up and take her out for dinner and drinks afterward. She dreaded his possible appearance.
            Third, was Patricia Renner…


Wowaz! Since he's new here, I thought I'd give a little bio for him.
            Stan Hampton, Sr. is a full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced grandfather to 13 wonderful grandchildren, and a published photographer and photojournalist. He retired on 1 July 2013 from the Army National Guard with the rank of Sergeant First Class; he previously served in the active duty Army (1974-1985), the Army Individual Ready Reserve (1985-1995) (mobilized for the Persian Gulf War), and enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in October 2004, after which he was mobilized for Federal active duty for almost three years. Hampton is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle (2004-2006) and Iraqi Freedom (2006-2007) with deployment to northern Kuwait and several convoy security missions into Iraq.
            His writings have appeared as stand-alone stories and in anthologies from Dark Opus Press, Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy, Melange Books, Musa Publishing, MuseItUp Publishing, Ravenous Romance, and as stand-alone stories in Horror Bound Magazine, The Harrow, and River Walk Journal, among others.
            In May 2014 he graduated from the College of Southern Nevada with an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Photography – Commercial Photography Emphasis. A future goal is to study for a degree in archaeology—hopefully to someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology (and also learning to paint).
            After 13 years of brown desert in the Southwest and overseas, he misses the Rocky Mountains, yellow aspens in the fall, running rivers, and a warm fireplace during snowy winters.
            As of April 2014, after being in a 2-year Veterans Administration program for Homeless Veterans, Hampton is officially no longer a homeless Iraq War veteran, though he is still struggling to get back on his feet.
            Hampton can be found at:











Ravenous Romance





_


Sunday, August 17, 2014

Shifter Month Winners Announced


Thank you to all who participated.

Crow Art Beaded Necklace
Shelley Summers (US)


Crow Dangle Button Earrings
Eleanor Harkins (US)


Silver Dream Catcher Pendant with Garnet Bead & Feather
Handmade by a Native American, comes with certificate of authenticity, chain not included
Caroline Toye (UK)


 Silver Feather Dangle Earrings
Angela Matheson (Canada)


Contest ran Aug. 1-16, 2014

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

#HumpDay Hottie - John Quinlan as a Shifter

Look who stopped by to celebrate Shifter Month with us!
The delicious John Quinlan! 

Congrats John on being named 
Most Tattooed Cover Model 2014. YAY!  


Check out this really cool pix John brought us. I love how artistic it is.

Let's have some fun now with a party game...
Hey, John ...it's shifter month.
If you could shift, which animal would it be?


"Lion.....king of the jungle and most feared!"


What do you think?

If I put John in a book
what animal shifter should I make him?


Celebrate with us and enter the contest on the sidebar for a chance to win a piece of Legend of the Spirit inspired jewelry.