Interview with paranormal mystery author Ally Shields

Novelist Ally Shields is in the hot seat today and we’re talking about her new romantic paranormal mystery, Ghost Witching (Maggie York Paranormal Mystery Book Two).

During her virtual book tour, Ally will be awarding a $30 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Ally Shields grew up in the Midwest along the Mississippi River, still considers herself "a river rat," and currently resides near Des Moines. After a career in law and juvenile justice, she turned to full-time fiction writing in 2009. Her first urban fantasy, Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1) was published in 2012, and she currently has twelve published novels. She loves to travel in the US and abroad and incorporates many of those settings into her books. Ms. Shields welcomes reader contact through her website and can frequently be found on Twitter.

Welcome, Ally. Please share a little bit about your current release.

Ghost Witching is book two in the Maggie York Paranormal Mystery series set in New Orleans. Up until a year ago, Maggie was a homicide cop at the top of her game. When she was struck by a sniper's bullet, she coded twice but was brought back in the ER. Only everything had changed. Now she sees ghosts of murder victims who expect her to solve their untimely deaths. Her new gift is especially hard to accept when she doesn't believe in ghosts or magic.

What inspired you to write this book?

I love mysteries with a touch of romance...and paranormals...and New Orleans. It seemed like a no-brainer to put them together! As for the actual plot, my characters come first, and they tell me their story, the kinds of things people with their skills and personalities would get into. That was very true of Maggie, a hard-nosed cop who'd suddenly had her life turned upside down.


Excerpt from Ghost Witching:

Maggie sat cross-legged in the witches' circle, listening to the night sounds of the Louisiana swamp giving way to a hazy dawn. The sluggish air failed to stir the moss-hung cypress trees, and humidity clung to her skin. It would be another scorcher.

Her candle flickered, and she turned it to allow more of the wax to trickle down the side. How had her life evolved to include this? A year ago the hard-nosed cop in her would have scoffed at the idea covens actually existed. Now she was part of one. Not that she'd bought the whole occult package, but her denials rang hollow in the face of collaborating with a ghost to track down a killer. Nor could she explain away the knowledge her distant relatives, Dalia and Selena, gleaned from the Beyond.

Dalia's hard stare brought Maggie's attention back to the circle of thirteen. Spooky how the quiet, unpretentious woman knew things…like Maggie's wandering thoughts. She raised her candle in unison with the others as Selena spoke the words approaching the end of the blessing ceremony.

In contrast to Dalia's petite form, Selena was larger than life, literally and figuratively. The priestess raised her arms, her long, ashen hair braid falling over her shoulder, the white muumuu fluttering in the morning air like a giant bird about to ascend. Her voice matched her size, echoing around the clearing, bringing Maggie and the other participants to their feet.

Although Maggie wasn't positive the white witch rite actually did anything, attendance at coven ceremonies had been one of Selena's requirements for teaching her how to assert greater control over the ghostly apparitions who were bound to make more appearances in Maggie's future. The old woman had been particularly insistent tonight, piquing Maggie's curiosity. And a little apprehension. Had Selena had another of her visions, possibly foretelling trouble in the near future? When asked, her cousin had given a typically cryptic answer. "Good and evil are always in motion."

Which told her nothing new. Maggie sighed, darting a glance at the focused women around her. No matter. The future wouldn't be changed by worrying. Besides, she had no real objection to being here and supporting the coven's hopes of healing one member's gravely ill four-year-old niece, for a laid-off worker to find a new job, and a universal plea for greater wisdom. They could all use a dose of that.

While calling upon the Goddess to bless and protect them, Selena made a three-sixty turn, her gown billowing as she included every participant. Maggie suddenly stiffened and peered behind her cousin. Had something dark and wispy swooped past? No, of course not. The lifting dawn mist had fired her overactive imagination.

Yet her heart beat a bit faster, and she joined in the final lines of the closing chant with more gravity than usual.

"In calm or stormy days to come, light our pathways safely home.

Gracious Goddess, grant our plea. So mote it be."

Maggie was tempted to add an "Amen" for good measure.

As they blew out their candles, her cell phone buzzed. She checked the screen. Police dispatch. Her real world snapped back into place. While they'd been surrounded by the hope inherent in these pre-dawn gatherings, someone else had committed the most grievous assault upon society…the murder of one of its citizens.

What exciting story are you working on next?

The seven-book Guardian Witch urban fantasy series was completed in March 2015. My publisher has requested a series sequel (it may actually be 3-4 books). The first draft was mostly completed during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. I'm currently rewriting and smoothing out the rough edges. If I meet my deadlines, Embers of Fire (Guardian Witch Legacy #1) should be released by Etopia Press in the first part of 2017.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1) was published as an ebook in September 2012. By December I held a paperback copy in my hands. It's still hard to believe, and I pinch myself at times.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I'm a full-time writer, although I'd be biting my fingernails from month to month if I had to live on my royalties.

I write every day, but my schedule is flexible. I'm not a morning person, so writing often doesn't start until nine or ten o'clock and may continue until one or two the next morning. I often come and go during the day, always returning to the computer until I have completed the day's goal: 2k new words on a first draft; 30 pages on rewrite; 70 pages of editing/proofing. These goals will vary if I'm ahead of or behind schedule. I always have a schedule.

My writer's cave—office—is where I do ninety-nine percent of my writing surrounded by an extra computer and numerous books for research. I outline as I go and jot hundreds of notes!


What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I have an incurable tendency to show expressions and emotions by use of the word "brow"—"quirked his brow," "lifted, raised or arched her brow," "lowered his brows." Well, you get it. I do a special search to cut down the numbers before submitting every manuscript.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A musketeer, a rock star, and a foreign journalist—all before age ten. I actually became an English teacher, an attorney, and finally a writer.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Only how grateful I am to those who read my series. Without their support, I couldn't keep doing what I love to do—or at least it wouldn't be published. Thank you. As long as you keep reading, I'll keep writing.

Links:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Google+ | Online Newsletter | 

Email Newsletter | YouTube

Amazon (all of Ally's books) | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBookstore | Google Play | Kobo | Etopia Press

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

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Book excerpt for romantic thriller Nowhere to Run by Jeanne Bannon

I’m happy to feature the romantic thriller, Nowhere to Run by Jeanne Bannon today.

Jeanne is doing a virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. During the tour, Jeanne will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Blurb about Nowhere to Run:

What’s a girl to do when she falls in love with the man whose mission it is to bring her down?

With the murder of her only sister, Sara, just a few months past, Lily Valier—a woman of beauty and substance—tops the sheriff’s list of suspects in small town Maine, and for a very good reason. Dear old Dad had willed his fortune to Sara and only Sara, leaving Lily to fend for herself. However, with no murder weapon or witnesses, the evidence against Lily is only circumstantial.

Enter P.I. Aiden O’Rourke, black-haired and blue-eyed, charged with gaining Lily’s trust and learning her secrets, all to finally get the goods on her. Things move fast and feelings run deep, yet when Lily discovers the truth about Aiden, everything begins to come apart.

Aiden’s torn. Despite his feelings for her, Lily is the most logical suspect, with a great big fat motive. Except something’s not quite right. Aiden trusts his instincts and they’re screaming at him to have a look at a former suspect with far more to hide than first appeared. With little left to lose, Lily decides to stand her ground, and staying put has its consequences when the murder weapon finally turns up—and it’s Lily’s gun.

What happens to love, when trust is betrayed?

Excerpt from Nowhere to Run:

The ghosts of those we love never leave us. They live on in our hearts but break them too, Lily thought as she flipped the sign on the door of the Higgstown Diner from “Open” to “Closed.” Then she sank wearily onto a stool at the counter, finally at the end of the workday. Now she could let loose the heaviness weighing her down. Hot tears stung her eyes and she let them. It was OK. There was no one around to witness her breakdown. She rested her head in her hands and heaved with sobs.

“Sara, please talk to me. Give me a sign you’re still around,” Lily said to the air. “I miss you so much.” More tears washed down her cheeks. It had been three months since her sister’s death, and there was still no escaping Sara’s ghost. Even the chipped Arborite counter where she now sat, with the wonky red upholstered stool that swiveled just a little too much to the right, brought back memories. Lily could see her older sister as plainly as if she were standing in front of her now, black hair piled high in a bun and that blue eye shadow she was so fond of. Lily smiled through her tears.

Sara had been a whiz at the grill, whipping up orders faster than Lily ever could. God, how long had the diner been a part of their lives? More than twenty-five years, she guessed. They were just kids when their mother, Nancy, bought the place—Lily, seven, and Sara, twelve.

A creak came from the back of the diner. Lily lifted her head to listen. Another small groan of the floorboards. Could Sara be giving her a sign?

“Sara?” Lily slid off the stool.

A tall, dark figure loomed in the doorway.

Lily froze, her heart near exploding. “What do you want?” she choked out in a thin voice.

He stepped nearer. “Open the register.” His voice was a deep whisper.

A balaclava hid his face; the seams of a dark gray coat strained over a thickly muscled physique. He aimed the gun in his right hand at her chest.

Her feet seemed rooted to the floor.

“I said, open the register.”

The man moved close enough for Lily to catch his scent—a mix of sweat and cheap aftershave. He shoved her forward, snapping her from her stupor, and followed as she made her way behind the counter to the cash register.

A glowing red light caught her attention. She hadn’t turned off the coffee maker! In one quick movement, Lily grabbed the pot’s plastic handle and launched the scorching brew at the woolen knit of the intruder’s balaclava. The gun landed with a thud between his booted feet as he clawed at the steaming mask plastered to his face.

Now was her chance. Lily shouldered past him to the front door. Her fingers, thick and clumsy with panic, fumbled as she tried in vain to turn the two deadbolt locks. She ordered herself to calm down. Take a breath. C’mon, you can do this, she told herself, but her heart jackhammered in her chest, and her ears pulsed with the rush of blood behind them.

Suddenly, a face appeared on the other side of the glass front door of the diner, sending Lily backward, nearly tripping over her own feet.

The stranger on the other side of the door took her in. A look of confusion flickered across his face. Then, as if coming back to himself, he yelled, “Hurry. Unlock the door!” The cold night air whipped his dark hair wildly around his face. His pale blue eyes locked on hers.

Panic had hijacked her brain. She didn’t know what to do. He could be an accomplice.

Author Bio and Links:

Jeanne Bannon has worked in the publishing industry for over twenty years, first as a freelance journalist, then as an in-house editor for LexisNexis Canada. She currently works as a freelance editor and writer and is represented by Karen Thomas of the Serendipity Literary Agency.

Jeanne’s debut novel, Invisible, is a young adult paranormal romance, published by Solstice Publishing and has recently been optioned for film. Invisible is an Amazon bestseller both domestically and internationally and continues to receive wonderful reviews.

Nowhere to Run is Jeanne’s latest novel released by Etopia Press. Nowhere to Run tells the story of Lily Valier, a woman of substance and beauty, and her dilemma when she falls in love with a man whose mission it is to bring her down.

Currently, Jeanne is finishing up work on her third novel, Dark Angel, a paranormal thriller.

When not reading or writing, Jeanne enjoys spending time with her daughters, Nina and Sara and her husband, David. She’s also the proud mother of two fur babies, a cuddly and affectionate Boston Terrier named Lila and Spencer, a rambunctious tabby, who can be a very bad boy.

Links:

Amazon | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon | Goodreads | Website

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Interview with romantic suspense author Jesse Pearle

Today's hot seat is occupied by romantic suspense author Jesse Pearle. She's touring her newest novel, Second Skin, with Goddess Fish Promotions.

Jesse will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card to two randomly drawn winners. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit other tour stops and enter there, too.

Bio:

Jesse Pearle grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina in a place where there was no danger in dancing naked in the moonlight at the top of a mountain. Always possessed of a creative mind, but never quite the right amount of focus, she wandered for decades. She received a degree in fine art which she put to poor use working an uneventful desk job for an engineering company when she started writing her first really ambitious piece of fiction. She lives in sunny Southern California with her ever supportive husband and four attention-whoring cats.

Welcome, Jesse. Please tell us about your current release.

Second Skin is part love story and part coming-of-age story. It’s a love triangle, and there are three main characters. Pilar Flores is the daughter of a drug lord, eighteen at the beginning of the story and trying to find her place in her father’s business. Leo Reyes is one of her father’s employees and the leader of an LA street gang who becomes her father’s right hand later in the story. Sam Blanco is a boy in the neighborhood Leo’s gang holds dominion over, whose goal is to make enough money selling tattoos after high school to get the hell out of dodge and away from his abusive father. The three characters’ worlds collide in unexpected ways, from Pilar’s first encounter with the tragic hero, Leo, to the complicated entanglements that occur when the young tattoo artist, Sam, comes into the picture. While the love story is most definitely between Pilar and Leo, every love story has its obstacles to overcome. Sam is one of those obstacles for Pilar and Leo, but in truth he may be the catalyst that allows the two lovers to understand each other more.

At its heart, it is Sam’s story, even though the “happily ever after” isn’t his. At least not yet.

What inspired you to write this book?

I wrote a fan fiction back in 2012 that needed a fresh, original character to play a small role—the role of a rough and world-weary tattoo artist approaching his 50s. The character sprang to life so vividly in my mind at the time that I just had to know what his life story was, so I began writing it. The teen-aged Sam came first, then the other characters gradually began to evolve out of my imagining of the story of this young artist who aspires to be a famous tattoo artist like his idol. Sam’s little sister, Celie, came next, followed by Pilar and Leo, then Benny, then the rest of the cast of characters came to life, one by one. They each told me their stories as they evolved.

My plan for the Second Skin series follows Sam through significant milestones in his life, every event shaping him into that older, wiser, but still rough around the edges and incredibly sexy man.

Excerpt:

(Leo’s POV)

The small plane touched down on the runway of the airfield outside Los Angeles. After taxiing to the hangar, Leo powered down the engines and pulled off his headset. He felt like a weight had been lifted, but anxiety twisted in his gut as he worked through his explanation to the old man.

Gustavo had needed to be taken care of, that fact had been clear to him for months. The only reason he hadn’t gone to Arturo Flores about Gustavo’s consistent series of fuckups was because of his promise to Pilar to leave her father out of it.

The deed was done, the memory of the corpse he’d left behind in the little shack in the Sonoran desert still left him ice cold to his core. He’d had to ignore the spark of memory of another pair of eyes whose light the same gun had extinguished two years earlier. Two years to the day, he thought.

Leo no longer regretted any of those bullets, starting with the very first one from his brother’s gun that had pierced his own chest. Each had brought him closer to her. Now all he had to do was claim what was his.

The phone at his hip buzzed as he made his way across the tarmac to the parking lot. He settled in his car and started the engine, turning the AC on full blast while he checked his messages.

911! Call me when you land!

It was from Pilar. Goosebumps rose up on his arms in spite of the hot August air that baked the interior of his car.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I have too many projects to count at the moment! I have a series of paranormal erotica novellas in progress that are written under a separate pen name to protect the innocent (or guilty?). These novellas feature dragon shapeshifters and their human lovers.

I am also planning a short series of romantic suspense novels with a tough female protagonist dead set on revenge against a man who wronged her. During her quest for vengeance, she develops a deep connection with a man who works for her, and it grows into an intense love affair neither party expected. All they were after was a casual fling, but it turns into love. Who’d’a thought? There are tattoos involved in that story, too… (you might be noticing a trend here).

And, of course, the sequel to Second Skin is in progress, along with the rest of that series. I am planning five books for the series, each one exploring a different segment of Sam’s life and his ties to his past that somehow keep haunting him even from thousands of miles away. He’s met a new woman, but will she be his happily ever after?

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I’ve been writing my whole life, though not to the degree that it monopolizes my waking hours. It wasn’t until November 2011 that it really hit me that writing was my true passion and something I needed as much as I need air to breathe.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I do write full-time. My work day is a lot of struggling to avoid the internet and stay on track. I actually turn off my wi-fi if I’m on a deadline (which I set for myself) and I use a Pomodoro timer to segment my work time vs break time. I have 25 minutes of concentrated writing followed by a 5 minute break. Every two hours I take a longer break to eat/exercise/clean house or whatever else needs doing. Before I wrote full time I tried to squeeze writing in wherever I could, which was generally after work and late into the night. I can’t say I get more sleep now than I did when I had a full-time day job.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I like adding Easter eggs in my writing. In particular, I like to include a dragon somewhere in every story, even in my non-dragon related stories. I’m just a little bit gay for dragons. There’s one in Second Skin, as well as each of the following books in the series. I don’t always manage to find a good spot for it in my shorter stuff, but I try.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an architect, but once I got to college I completely lost focus. I even dropped out, once I found the internet (this was the early 90s, too… so my internet options were limited to chat rooms. Read into that what you will). It took me seven years and three college transfers before I finally graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (summa cum laude, even… who knows how I acomplished that!) and I still had no idea what I really wanted to do.

Now I finally know at the ripe age of 41 and it’s incredibly liberating!

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Second Skin is a pretty steamy story as it is, but if anyone’s interested in steamier (and shorter) stuff, there are links to my alter-ego on my website’s main menu. I also have several Pinterest collections that I add to when I find inspiration and I love getting new pin recommendations!

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