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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

It's Mardi Gras!


It’s MARDI GRAS…

…and Toni Sweeney’s celebrating…

…by talking about her own version of Beauty and the Beast, Space Opera style…her latest novel, Sinbad’s Pride… at Paranormal Romantics




…and reviewing  THE LOST BOOK OF THE GRAIL for the New York Journal of Books.

Stop by….enjoy the fun!

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

How I was Conned into Writing a Novel


Tony-Paul de Vissage talks about how was he was conned into writing
ESSENCE OF ABSINTHE

In a blog for Barbara Edwards, horror novelist talks about how a close friend talked him into writing Absinthe...



 Absinthe, voted #2 in M/M Historical Horror for 2015 by the Paranormal Romance Guild's Reviewers' Choice.Absinthe, voted #2 in M/M Historical Horror for 2015 by the Paranormal Romance Guild's Reviewers' Choice.





... and then did it a second time, with Essence of Absinthe as the result.





http://wp.me/p1tms3-As

 


Linda Nightingale Interview



Linda Nightingale is interviewed by “John Magee of the Dublin Evening Star” about her novel FOUR BY MOONLIGHT:

Linda talks about the characters in her novel, especially the fallen angel Azazel, from the story Night After Doomsday.




Saturday, February 18, 2017

Jeremy Higley Talks About THE SON OF DARK





When writing a “swords and sorcery” style fantasy like The Son of Dark, it is very easy to let the sorcery overpower the swords. I’ve noticed this trend in so many fantasies, and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For my book, though, I wanted a more even playing field. I wanted magic to be ever present, certainly, but when fight scenes came I didn’t want my non-magical characters to be deadweight.

To make this work, I had to do two things. First I had to build my magic system with weaknesses that sword-users could take advantage of. Second, I had to write non-magical characters who could still hold their own in a world full of magic.

In many ways the magic system for The Son of Dark is very traditional. For wizards, magic is performed through a language of power, and the strength of the spell comes from the energy of the wizard’s soul. This has its obvious disadvantages when fighting. It takes time to explain to the elements around you that you want them to do something, and whether your spell is offensive or defensive, time is something a swordsman isn’t going to give you. The very versatility of language becomes a drawback. There are a hundred things a wizard might say in response to a sword thrust. While all the possibilities are crossing the wizard’s mind, his practiced opponent doesn’t need to think deeply in order to deliver a killing blow with a sword.

Further, the wizard can’t influence the swordsman directly with his magic.

The magic still has its bite, though. Wizards can call swords to them or turn them against their opponents, turn sand to glass and throw shards of it in all directions, or conjure flesh onto dead bones to create terrifying allies. Dragons can possess humans, or create a magical kind of fire that ignores flesh and cloth and burns the very blood inside your veins. Thrown into this magical world are characters like Zar, Morkin, and Largalarg.

Zar is easily the least magical major character in The Son of Dark. He’s a pirate turned merchant, and his most valuable asset in a fight against magic is his quick decision-making. He takes in a situation quickly and determines the best, most logical course. Before swords are drawn and spells are spoken, he has often already leveled the playing field by changing the environment to his advantage.

Morkin quickly becomes Zar’s most trusted ally, in spite of a vague background and even vaguer motives. The idea behind Morkin has always been that of a man who has turned a disability into a weapon. He and his entire people are cursed with silence…they can neither hear nor be heard. This silence extends to all human noises, including footsteps, clapping, and breathing. As a result, Morkin has perfected a ninja-like regimen of skills.

Largalarg, on the other hand, is a ten-foot-tall troll known as a Grag. Grags are known for making good non-magical mercenaries, and sure enough Largalarg serves as Zar’s personal bodyguard. His weapon of choice is a ball and chain, and his superior size and strength makes this a formidable choice indeed. Though impractical on a medieval battlefield, I figured that in a one-on-ten fight, wielded by a behemoth like Largalarg, a cannonball on a length of chain would be a sensible option.

Balancing the world so that characters like this could hold their own against magic-users was a personal goal of mine as a writer, as I hope I can demonstrate with the excerpt below.






Excerpt from The Son of Dark:

Marga pointed to the south. Zar didn’t turn, but he heard a gasp of recognition from Skel.
“Aja-aja,” he said with concern. “Three of them, about two miles away.”

Zar sighed in trepidation. The aja-aja were rare, enormous snakes prowling the Eltar plains, preying on elephants and any herders foolish enough to attack them. They had three heads each and stocky, powerful bodies to match, and could grow to over forty feet long. They killed and then predigested their prey by spitting streams of corrosive poison from their mouths.

“The aja-aja will be no problem,” he bluffed, staring into Marga’s eyes. “I have two magic-users with me now, a wizard and a Phage. They’re perfectly capable of dispatching a few overgrown snakes.”

“If so, then I’ll simply have to wait longer to be reunited with my precious one,”
the Wyvern said, eyeing the flattened snake corpses around her.

Something inside Zar began to burn like a fuse at the words “precious one.”

“You knew her before, I presume,” he continued, his voice much quieter. “Before you kidnapped her, I mean, and took over her mind.”

“She was mine to take,” the Wyvern retorted through Marga’s lips. “She was always mine to take.”
The last words hissed from Marga’s mouth like a challenge. Zar’s fingers wrapped around his sword’s hilt. He wanted nothing more at this moment than a way to strike at
his enemy, but the Wyvern was far, far away.

“If you want her,” Zar said, “you’ll have to kill me.”

“Too risky,” the Wyvern replied. “You crave nothing more than to die for her. To kill you might break my grip.”

“If you don’t kill me she will never truly be yours,” Zar said. He walked to within an arm’s length of her. “As long as there’s breath in me, I will always be fighting to free
her.”

“I’m sure you mean that,” the Wyvern said. “Once you’re dead, there’s nothing to stop me from singing her back to me.”



Buy Links:









Learn More about Jeremy at:

                   https://www.facebook.com/darksomethorn/






Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Class Act Books Announces February Releases...and Love is in the Air!


Love is in the air!!!

Our February Releases prove it…

From WW2 to the 24th Century…

Sinbad’s Pride (Book 4 of the Adventures of Sinbad) by Toni V. Sweeney




   
Julia’s Bombardier by Bob Young




 
Buy Links:

Class Act Books, www.classactbooks.com



Author Sherry Derr-Wille is Interviewed about "Mistaken Identity"


CLASS ACT BOOKS Author Sherry Derr-Wille is interviewed

today...







Tuesday, February 14, 2017

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

CELEBRATE by reading JAMES AUSTIN MCCORMICK’S SciFi Dilemma at:



Saturday, February 11, 2017

IT'S DON"T CRY OVER SPILLED MILK DAY, AND YOU HAVE CHOICES...

Just mop it up, then read Class Act books’ author Rick McQuiston’s blog at:

http://pamswildroseblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/saturdayspotlight-is-on-rick-mcquiston.htmlhttp://pamswildroseblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/saturdayspotlight-is-on-rick-mcquiston.html

 Or go to Linda Nightingale’s booksigning at the Houston Author Bash today,
The Cellar Door
829 S Mason St, Suite 180
Houston, Texas, from 10:00-3:00. 

Friday, February 10, 2017

IT'S UMBRELLA DAY!!!

If it's raining...stay inside and read a Class Act Book...

We've westerns, romances, scifi, and other genres to keep you dry while it pours outside.

www.classactbooks.com

LOVE IS SILENT Nominated for Award

Love is Silent by Icy Snow Blackstone is an entry in the Paranormal Romance Guild's Reviewer's Choice awards this year, in Historical Romance, Novels & Novellas division.

http://paranormalromanceguild.com/


Wednesday, February 8, 2017

It's Frozen Yoghurt Day...and you're in for a Treat!

Today is Frozen Yoghurt Day!

Enjoy a frozen treat while you see what our busy Class Act Books authors are up to:



Tony-Paul de Vissage guests at Myra Nour, with an apocryphal story about imagination and success.

http://myranour.net/author-guest-post-tony-paul-de-vissage-2/













Linda J. Burson is today’s HIGHLIGHTED AUTHOR, talking about The Agreement, the latest entry in the Marcy series.
http://highlightedauthor.com/2017/02/welcome-linda-burson/






Rock McQuiston is interviewed by Barbara Edward concerning his new horror novel Eat the World.

http://wp.me/p1tms3-Ag


Sunday, February 5, 2017

VOTE FOR CLASS ACT NOVELS


We are in the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewers Choice awards again this year.  Your vote is appreciated.


Categories:

Historical Romance & Novellas (The Lost Sons is in this category,too,  but it's also in series, so vote for it there, please):

Love is Silent - Icy Snow Blackstone


Historical Romance Novels & Novellas - Series:

The Lost Sons, The McCoys, Book 6 - Toni V. Sweeney


Romantic Fantasy/Sci/Fantasy Novels & Novellas:

Hidden Shadows by Linda Shuler


Thanks everyone.




Thursday, February 2, 2017

GROUNDHOG DAY!

If we have six more weeks of winter, that gives you more time to enjoy Class Act Books' novels.

See our website, www.classactbooks.com, for titles or refer to right sidebar for more.



Wednesday, February 1, 2017

A Blog and An E-Book Giveaway



 Class Act Books author Sherry Derr-Wille blogs about MISTAKEN IDENTITY, her romantic mystery.






There's an e-book  GIVEAWAY for some lucky commenter.

Stop by Linda Nightingale's blog:

https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/