Samhain Publishing

Fall is my favorite time of year and usually my most productive. This year, it’s been a reminder of my loss, so I haven’t gotten a lot of work done lately, as you’ve probably noticed. I try to be upbeat, but last year at this time, my mother was dying of lung cancer. She wasn’t a smoker, so it was really unexpected. I dropped everything and only finished up a few edits and whatever else I owed people by using my laptop at her bedside. I didn’t write anything new while she was sick or for the first few months after she died.

Since then, I’ve been fulfilling contractual obligations, but that’s about it. This is all my way of explaining why I haven’t had a lot of new releases here at Samhain this year. I have every intention of writing new material for my ogoing series here, I just need a little time to get myself back on track.

They say the first year is the hardest. Whoever “they” are, I suppose they’re right. My Mom was my best friend, business parter and the inspiration for a lot of things in my life. I was reallly lucky to have the coolest Mom in the world. Lucky to have her and devestated to lose her so soon.

I’m sorry to bring you down here today, but I keep getting questions from readers about when the new books in certain series will be coming out. I thought it would be good to take this opportunity to set the record straight. I intend to have new stories in all my Samhain series – as soon as I get to writing them. This has been sort of a lost year for me. I hope you’ll understand and bear with me while I figure out how to go on.

The books will come. I have no doubt of that. It’s just going to take a little more time to get them down on paper. Thanks for your support and all your nice emails. I hope you understand why I’ve been slower than usual with the new releases, and I hope you’ll enjoy them when they eventually do come out.

In the meantime, enjoy the Fall. October is a magical month and Halloween is coming soon. The air is getting crisp here in the Northeastern U.S. and the leaves are changing color to set the forest aflame in the safest, most beautiful way. Be glad we’re alive to see it and say a prayer for those who’ve left us. Ready your garden for the Winter sleep and get out your bird feeders for when our feathered friends will have a hard time finding food. Those are some of my Fall rituals. They are things I learned from my Mom, who loved this time of year.

I’m happy to say one of my favorite characters is now in print. Grady Prime, alien warrior elite and total hottie is part of a permanent threesome, though he doesn’t know it until near the end of the book. Grady is a character that evolved as I wrote the series. When he first appeared, I wasn’t sure how he’d turn out – good guy or bad guy? I was thrilled when he began to show signs of definite hero-hood and decided early on that he’d make an excellent lead character for an interesting story. I hope you agree.

It all started when he began to exhibit echoes of feeling, which was surprising in such an emotionless race. Even when I have a definite plan for a series, as I did in the case of the Resonance Mates series, I like to keep a few things sort of loose so that I can keep it interesting for me as I write the story, but also – hopefully – keep it exciting for the reader too. Grady was one of those characters that evolved from a loose outline into someone I really wanted to know more about. I’m a sucker for warriors and misunderstood heroes. Grady fit the bill for me, and so much more.

So for those of you who don’t know about Grady, you could probably pick up his book and start there. But if you’re one of those people who like to read in “order”, you’ll need to go back to where it all began, the first book in the series, HARA’S LEGACY. Hara features three human brothers and the human woman they all love. I make the distinction that they are all human because later in the series, we mix it up with the aliens who have taken over the Earth.

Which leads me to DAVIN’S QUEST, the story of Chief Engineer Davin, an alien throwback who has feelings, unlike the rest of his race. He falls for Callie, the human daughter of the family in the first book. Together with a human renegade, they form an unbreakable triad to stand against the way the aliens have been treating the humans.

The third book is JACI’S EXPERIMENT, which follows a female lab tech, Jaci, who is exposed to an experimental substance that produces emotions in the otherwise emotionless race. Jaci is on the run from the rest of her people and falls into the arms of two human cousins who were her prisoners but who become the loves of her life. They flee together and begin working for human rights in secret.

Enter Grady. He teams up with a human woman warrior and a former CIA operative, a human male. The two men don’t want to share the woman they both love at first, but they come to terms and an understanding that will last their lifetimes.

There is one more book in this series that I am working on now. The fifth and final book in the Resonance Mates series will be about Harry, a human-alien hybrid who will begin the peace process between the two races who now share the Earth. I’ve already decided to write more books set in this universe. After Harry’s book, which will end the original 5-book arc, I’m going to start a spinoff series that will deal with some of the more colorful characters that have been introduced. Ruth, Sam and Bill, the winged alien, will get their story. As will Ronin Prime, the leader of a secret sect of aliens. I will also write about some of the characters I plan to introduce in Harry’s book. I don’t want to say too much here, lest I spoil the surprise.

So there’s lots going on in this futuristic world – when I get to writing about it. In the meantime, I had a new ebook release last week from Samhain: WARRIOR’S HEART is the beginning of a military paranormal series that I think will appeal to anyone who likes Grady. More warrior hotties with special abilities will be appearing as I have time to write them.

Thanks to all of you who read my books and have asked about them. I truly appreciate it. As you know, I’ve been going through a very rough patch in my life since the loss of my dear Mom a few months ago. With your support and encouragement, I hope to be back to my usual speed-writing form soon. My loving thanks for all your kindness during this incredibly difficult time.

Bianca
www.biancadarc.com

Good Saturday to you, everyone! I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my raison d’etre… Why am I here? What is my purpose? All those big issues that come into question when there are major changes in your life. Today, I’m trying to put all that on hold and just trying to live one moment at a time and making it the best moment I can. Such a simple concept, so hard to do. I find myself drawing on my early experiences with the martial arts to accomplish this… and so much more…

When I was in my 20’s I was a very serious martial arts student. My teacher, who had earned the title Shihan, was so highly ranked in his form of martial arts that he had to travel to Japan to be tested for his next ranking because there weren’t enough people of sufficiently higher rank in the U.S. to be able to test him. The dude was serious. He looked sorta like an old beach bum – longish, streaky blonde hair, a Buddha shaped body that wasn’t fat, but if you didn’t know how much power the man packed, you might assume him to have the beginnings of a beer belly. He was a walking, talking example of why you shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover.

This guy made a huge impression on my young life. I was a pet project of his. I was going to be his next female black belt. There weren’t many women in this dojo. It was mostly cops and ex-military types. Shihan trained police departments in hand-to-hand combat methods as a sideline. I think I was one of maybe 4 women in the entire dojo and one of only 2 who was ranked high enough – and was gung-ho enough – to train with the more advanced guys.

Shihan was a Buddhist. He made us meditate after every 2.5-hour class. It was an eye opening time for me and I find myself using bits of this experience in my writings to this day. As an example, the layout of the dojo in my paranormal shapeshifter romance, CAT’S CRADLE, is based on the dojo I studied in. Some of the things I learned in that dojo were also used in DRAGON STORM, which delves more deeply into the culture of Tibet and the various forms of Buddhism.

Without doubt, I call on my fight training and the actual sparring I once did with a bunch of big, hard, sweaty guys… whoa… sorry… got off track there for a moment. As I was saying, I use that experience in every hand-to-hand fight scene I write.

I also try to remember that discipline now, as I battle depression and grief over the huge hole the loss of my beloved Mom, my best friend, has left in my life. It’s funny how something I did so long ago has had such lingering effects on my life to this day. To be brutally honest, I wound up in that dojo because this guy I was dating studied there. Without him as the lure, I doubt I would’ve even tried to compete on that level. Though he ended up breaking my heart, I still owe that bum a lot, though he’ll never know it. He got me to that dojo and that teacher. He caused me to be in the place where I learned lessons I call on to this day.

Crazy, huh? It’s these little twists of fate that make life interesting, don’t you think?

Good news! INFERNO is now in print! And who doesn’t like a good paranormal with menage? LOL. A lot of people were asking me about this, so I’m relieved to finally say, yes, it’s available in print. I even signed a bunch of them yesterday at my book signing in the North Haven, CT Barnes & Noble. In fact, I had a great conversation with a reader about my paranormal series. I use the word “series” loosely because the way these books were released, I’ve written them so you can read them independently of one another, yet there’s an internal sort of chronology to the storyline within the books. I was asked about future plans for books in this series and we had a great discussion about various characters I plan to write about. For example…
I’ve been asked about Matt Redstone, the werecougar shifter we first meet in SWEETER THAN WINE. I do have plans for not only him, but his brothers as well. I also just started jotting down some ideas for a werewolf story featuring Duncan, the fey knight who first appeared in LORDS OF THE WERE and played a leading role in INFERNO. I also have some notes on a story for Betina, the High Priestess from LORDS OF THE WERE, as well as Rocky, the werebear, from that same book. I just don’t know what I’m going to get to first.
As many of you know, I’ve been having a rough year. I lost my Mom at Christmas. Prior to that, I’d spent a few months caring for her after a sudden diagnosis of cancer. During that time, I managed to finish the projects I had contracted with another publisher, but didn’t get to start anything new. So I’m running a little behind. The loss of my Mom is probably the worst loss I will ever experience. She and I were closer than close and it’s been hell trying to come to terms with how I go on from here.
So stay tuned. I do plan to keep writing. It’s just that the schedule I’d planned last year is all blown to hell and back. I’m not sure what I’ll get to next or when. For now, there are a bunch of books hitting print this year, so those of you who are print-only fans will be kept busy. INFERNO is out now, with the futuristic menage, GRADY’S AWAKENING, coming in June and DRAGON STORM, the dimension-travel shifter menage, coming in September. Busy year for print! I hope you enjoy them all.

This unique print book is the compilation of three separate, but related, vampire romance novellas: ONE & ONLY, RARE VINTAGE and PHANTOM DESIRES. I’m really glad to see these in print because they are the foundational novellas that began my vampire romance series several years ago. Here’s a little more about each of the stories:

Three mortal women discover the loves of their lives…the vampires of their dreams.

One and Only
Vampire Atticus Maxwell stands at the edge of his own oblivion…until the faint heartbeat of a desperately wounded mortal woman calls him back. The terrible crash that almost took both their lives has brought him a woman who just might give him a reason to live again. No barrier to their love seems too great—until they learn the crash was no accident at all…

Rare Vintage
Marc LaTour is drawn to Kelly when she goes to work for the newlyweds Atticus and Lissa at their vineyard. He moves into the mansion on the pretext of needing a place to stay while his own home is remodeled. Then an upstart vampire challenges him to a fight to the death. Kelly is willing to trade her life for his—but can he save her from himself?

Phantom Desires
Dmitri Belakov enters the scorching hot dreams of the woman who just bought the farmhouse that rests above his secret lair. He must either bargain with her or kill her, but she is much too intriguing to dispose of so easily. When he discovers she is his One—his perfect match—he’ll do anything to keep her by his side…forever.

Warning: This book contains three individual tales of vampire lust, sexy neck biting, a little naughty dreamwalking, a touch of ménage action and lots of everlasting love.

New Year, new life. Or at least, I have to find a new life for myself, without my beloved Mom, who died 2 days before Christmas. I don’t want to be a downer here, but this event is one of those defining moments of life that should be commemmorated and examined. I am learning by leaps and bounds about tragedy, grief, sorrow and despair – emotions I thankfully didn’t have much experience with before. As a writer, I tend to sit back and watch life pass me by, examining each happening with a kind of weird detachment. This is one of those times that it’s especially hard to be detached, but that learned detachment is at times helpful in dealing with the overwhelming emotional storm. At times it can also cause there to be a distance between me and my fellow man that is disturbing.

All of these things are part of my internal dialog as I try to figure out what shape my life will take from this point forward. See, my Mom was my best friend. I know that’s a cliche, but let me explain a bit. For the past eight or nine years, since just after 9/11, I’ve been working for myself and living back at home with my parents. I’m a native New Yorker and was working in Manhattan until two weeks before the Towers fell. I always felt a higher power guided my decision to quit that job on Wall Street two weeks before the attack, but that’s another story…

9/11 caused a radical change in my life. I went from independent Wall Street executive to unemployed single girl living back at home with her aging parents, living off her savings. It took a while, but I figured a way to create a new life and new career for myself. I was realy happy, going back to the bosom of my family and spending lots of quality time traveling and sharing everything with my favorite person in the entire world – the only person who really “got” me and that I trusted to give me wise counsel – my Mom.

Then in September, she fell ill and in October she got a diagnosis of Stage IV cancer. By late December, through a series of unfortunate events, she was gone. It shouldn’t have been so fast and I believe we made decisions that seemed reasonable at the time, but that actually hastened her death. I feel cheated out of the time we should have had together and strongly feel she should be here now. Something is just WRONG with they way it all went down, but I’m helpless – as I was at the time – to do anything about it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

Going through this incredible grief is something I have never done to this deep an extent. It’s also time to reassess my life path again. Living comfy at home these past years and becoming a writer has made me into a bit of a hermit. At a time like this, that’s really not good. I don’t regret a moment of the time I spent with my Mom and Dad. My only regret is that it was too damned short.

Now it’s just me and Dad. He’s having an even harder time than I am with all of this. My parents were married for 54 years and were happy each and every one of them. They had what I consider the perfect marriage. I’ve been planning my conference schedule for the year and realized I can’t really leave Dad alone in this house full of memories. If I go to any events this year, it’s likely I’ll drag him along. So if you see me with an older guy, please say hello.

To those of you who’ve been through this, you have my deepest sympathy. I never really understood this depth of despair before. As a writer, I’m finding it a learning experience. As a single woman who’s missing her mother, it’s just awful. A small part of me is hoping that this new understanding will somehow make me not only a better person, but a better writer.

I’ve always believed in the advice “write what you know.” I’ve always hoped my experiences as a scientist, business woman, traveler, city dweller and martial artist have helped add hints of authenticity to my books. I can only imagine how this emotional tsunami will impact my writing in the future. Hopefully it will be for the better. If not, I’m sure you’ll let me know.

Speaking of which, I’ll have a new book out from Samhain next Tuesday. I hope you’ll like it. My promotional efforts have been paltry at best because of the incredible upheval in my life. My Mom was so supportive of every little success I had. The last significant event – the arrival of my first-ever box of paper ARCs from my NY publisher – was impossible to celebrate. Mom saw the books and smiled, but she was so ill from the chemo, what should have been a happy milestone on my career path turned to a cause for tears, knowing that she couldn’t join in my joy – a circumstance that turned my joy to ashes. Since then, more boxes of books have shown up on my doorstep and all they do is serve as bitter reminders of that moment.

I suspect it will be a long time before I can enjoy the little milestones of this career without remembering how I used to tell my Mom every little thing and receive that unconditional happiness for my every small success. Sure, my Dad is supportive, but it’s not the same. He’s a very quiet man and not very demonstrative. We’re growing closer and talking more as a result of recent events and that’s a good thing, but it’ll never be the incredibly close relationship I had with my Mom, who was more like an older sister and/or best friend.

But I continue to write. I have contracts to fulfill. I’m not sure how recent events will change my perceptions and my “voice” as an author. As I said, I’m sure you’ll let me know. In the meantime, I hope you’ll all take a moment from the frivolity of celebrating the New Year to examine your lives and your families. Cherish the ones you love and give your Mom – if you’re lucky enough to still have her – a hug for me.

I started reading ebooks back in 2005 or so because I could find the kinds of stories I wanted in much larger quantity in ebooks than in the bookstore. I still remember combing the spines (back when I didn’t know how else to find certain sub-genres) for logos that might indicate the book was a futuristic or sci fi romance. I would spend hours in the bookstore, reading every blurb and examining every cover, looking for some hint that the book might contain elements I’d like. Then I discovered ebooks. Sci fi & futuristic romance abounded, as did paranormals that were edgier and more creative. I was hooked. Then I tried my hand at writing the kinds of stories I liked to read and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, celebrating the relase of GRADY’S AWAKENING, my 17th story with Samhain (Can you believe it’s that many? I can’t!), I look back on everything with a sort of satisfied grin on my face. I never really thought I could build a career out of writing the kinds of books I liked to read. I am happy in this case to be proven wrong.

It’s funny how life takes turns you don’t necessarily expect. Writing is my… um… probably my fourth full fledged career and it’s one I’m really enjoying and have yet to tire of. Yes, I sometimes have a short attention span and get bored easily. But writing is something new every time and I can’t imagine ever growing tired of it. Maybe I’ve finally found the “keeper” profession I’ve been searching for! (About time. tsk, tsk)

I studied everything under the sun in college and grad school, but never took many English or literature courses. (I guess that shows sometimes when I abuse the language with abandon.) I think it’s funny that I prepared for careers in completely different disciplines and ended up doing something that I didn’t go to school for at all. You never can tell where you’ll wind up, I guess. And it also goes to show that writers can come from all walks of life.

So if you have a dream of writing, brush up on your skills but don’t worry if you don’t have a PhD in English Lit. I guess that’s my message. If you’ve followed my rambling observations to this point, perhaps that’s the take-away message of this stream of consciousness. That, and a hearty thank you to all those who read my work and make it possible for me to continue on this surprising, unexpected and throroughly delightful career path.

Grady’s Awakening is the longest book I’ve written for Samhain to date. It packs a heck of a lot of story in with a sizzling menage romance and development of a lasting relationship. It’s all about alien super soldier Grady Prime. His missions routinely lead him in unexpected directions, but his latest assignment—to kill a rogue warrior—is far beyond routine. This time he meets a woman who embroils him in an adventure of the highest order. Love.

Gina has lived among aliens so long, she’s lost her fear of them. She is undeniably attracted to Grady, even though their respective duties force them apart. Then, on a mission to a far-flung outpost, an encounter with a man from her past leaves her torn between her flaming desire for Grady, and her still-simmering love for an old flame.

Jim and his group of human dissidents live in secret, away from alien patrols. He has responsibilities, and covert operations to manage. But when Gina re-enters his life, only one thing matters—being with her.

Brought together by chance, the three form an alliance that pushes the boundaries of desire and make unexpected connections that could save the human race from alien conquerors…

Warning: This book contains red hot alien loving, ménage a trois, super sexy alien soldiers, wicked fast martial arts masters, explicit language, explicit sex and explicit love. Always love.

Here’s a little excerpt:

Everything was set when Grady Prime walked back to the mess hall. He had left early, intending to intercept Gina before she had a chance to go inside. He arrived in the nick of time, calling out to her as she was about to open the door. She spun, a smile lighting her face when she saw him. She moved toward him and he stopped dead, entranced for a moment by the feminine loveliness of her.

Her smile turned questioning as she neared, her head tilting to one side. “What?”

“You are beautiful, Gina.”

A becoming blush stained her cheeks, and he could tell she was pleased with his unguarded words. He breathed a sigh of relief. This small woman could easily send him off course. She shook him up almost as much as he wanted to upset her composure—in the best possible way. So far, so good, judging by her expression.

“I have a surprise for you. Will you come with me so we can dine alone?”

Her expression softened with pleasure. She agreed, preceding him down the path. When she hesitated where the path forked, he placed his palm on the small of her back, guiding her. He kept his hand on her until they reached their destination, liking the feeling of her supple body under his fingers.

He guided her to a small clearing he’d found under the shelter of one of the largest of the redwood trees in the grove. So massive was the tree’s girth and the spread of its leaves that the ground around its base was relatively bare except for a soft layer of compacted leafy debris. With the moon just rising overhead in a twilight sky, the setting was perfect for romance.

Grady had thought ahead and had a small lantern ready for when darkness fell completely, but since the moon was nearly full and shining through an opening in the leafy canopy, he didn’t think they’d have to use it except perhaps when they made their way back to the encampment…eventually.

He’d taken a thick blanket from his quarters and spread it in the open area, then topped it with a snowy white tablecloth. The glasses, dishes and utensils he’d borrowed from the cooks were set out on top and the meal was waiting. It had been kept warm in self-heating containers the cooking staff had packed for him, ready to serve.

Grady had even gathered a few blossoms from the surrounding forest and placed them in a glass of water at the center of the tablecloth. He knew females appreciated flowers, and he also liked the scent.

Gina turned to him as they reached the clearing, and she saw what he’d arranged. There were tears in her eyes he found hard to interpret, and his heart stilled.

“You don’t like it?”

“No, I love it.” She bit her lip to still whatever emotion she was feeling while Grady’s emotions rode a wave of high and low. He didn’t understand. Was she happy or sad?

“Something is wrong?”

“No.” She turned to him, placing a hand on his forearm, squeezing once as she looked up at him. “This is the nicest thing anyone’s done for me in a very long time. I could almost believe I’m back in the old world, on a picnic. You thought of everything. Flowers, dinner and is that wine?”

“It is.” He began to feel better about her reaction, though the tears in her eyes worried him. “Do you like wine?”

“I do. Even living with the Zxerah, I don’t get to have it often. Only on very special occasions.”

“This is a special occasion, Gina.”

“Our first and last date.” She looked so sad. He had to kiss her. Just once. Just a light brushing of lips to take her mind off whatever he’d done to make her sad.

Grady leaned forward, taking her in his arms at the same moment he claimed her mouth with his. She was as sweet as he remembered, as warm, as delicious in every way. The salt of her tears brought a pang of regret to his heart. He didn’t want to think of how little time they had together before they had to part. He pushed that thought aside in the glory of holding her, the feel of her feminine curves that were made to fit so perfectly against his body.

She gasped when he pulled her closer and he took advantage, licking inside her mouth like he wanted to lick her lower down. Soon that wasn’t enough. He ran his hands over her lithe body, wishing the fabric that separated them away. Eventually the distraction of her clothing brought him to his senses.

He lifted away from the kiss by gradual degrees, his head spinning in the most amazing way.

“Dinner first,” Grady said when he could speak. The smile she gave him tempted him to forget dinner altogether, but good sense won out. For the time being.

He led her to the edge of the blanket, charmed when she kicked off her shoes. He followed suit and assisted her to sit, though in truth she needed no help at all. He didn’t want to completely let go of her and the lovely tone they produced when they touched. It vibrated through him, making him feel alive as nothing else. Even the new emotions coursing through him and making his life so very precious these last few months was nothing compared to the sound of their Hum.

“You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.” Her quiet words brought back his wandering attention. “This is really lovely. I haven’t been on a picnic in years, and never in such a romantic setting.”

“I’m glad you like it.” He reached for the wine as he sank to his knees opposite her, across the center of the improvised table setting. Removing the already loosened cork, he poured two glasses of the light-colored vintage.

Dinner progressed from there. They ate slowly, savoring the excellent food, the exceptional company and the beautiful night. Gina enchanted him with her conversation. At first they talked of simple things, recent events and their thoughts about the Zxerah. Eventually, they strayed to more emotional topics. Gina told him about her family and her sorrow at losing them. Then she asked him about the experiment and what prompted him to take part. She went further, asking him what he thought would come next and Grady felt a sense of ease, sharing his hopes and fears with this warm, intelligent woman. Her compassion was genuine and easily seen on her beautiful face. She also had some good insights into things that had plagued him.

“It was difficult to accommodate the aggression at first. Warriors are trained to control it, of course. Even that training failed when I felt real anger for the first time,” Grady admitted. He’d never discussed this with anyone—not even the techs who had witnessed his near meltdown.

“What did you do?”

“When I started fantasizing about smearing one of the scientist’s faces against a wall, I took myself to the gym for some unscheduled training. I pummeled a training droid, all the while imagining it was that scientist.” He had to laugh at the memory now. “I actually broke the droid.” Gina gasped, then laughed along with him. “I knocked its head clean off. The gym tech said they’d never seen anything like it before.”

“We have a few of those things at our home base. They’re built solid. I can’t believe you did that!”

“Neither could I. The gym tech explained it away, saying the droid must’ve had a flaw in manufacture, but the lab techs walked wide around me for the next few days. They’d heard the story and had of course been monitoring my levels. I wore sensors at all times in the early days of the experiment. It was actually an adrenaline surge that gave me that momentary strength. The techs were dumbfounded by it at first. Apparently the level was off their charts.”

“Oh, I’ve heard about that kind of thing in humans. In moments of utter rage or dire need, an adrenaline surge can give someone a moment of super strength. It’s not common, but in the old world, it did happen.”

“Well, it hasn’t happened in Alvians—at least not at that level—in generations. They tried to get me to repeat it, but I never could. Frankly, I didn’t want to feel that kind of raging anger ever again. I was close to murdering that man. It’s not something I’m proud of or want to repeat.”

“That says a lot for you, Grady.” She raised her glass and drank, watching him over the rim of the stemmed wine glass. “And the fact that you controlled your anger and channeled it into something that wouldn’t hurt anyone. Well,” her eyes sparkled with merriment, “except for the droid.”

Buy GRADY’S AWAKENING today from MBAM: http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/grady-s-awakening

I’ve been in a whirlwind for a while, with lots of great things happening. My wonderful editor, Bethany, and I have been working on my next ebook release, INFERNO, the long-awaited sequel to LORDS OF THE WERE, which will be out next month. I probably won’t have a chance to blog here before then, so I’ll take this opportunity to tell you more about it later in this blog post. I should also mention that Jaci’s Experiment will be released in print officially in June (though you can already get it from Amazon right now, if you’re so inclined). In addition, I’ve been working on some new material and revisiting old favorites like my dragons. With any luck, I’ll have a new dragon book finished for later this year or early next. Stay tuned to my blog – http://biancadarc.com/blog – or website – www.biancadarc.com – for more information on that, as it becomes available.

In the meantime, there’s Dante to consider… Some of you may remember the vampire who plays a rather key role in LORDS OF THE WERE and his half-fey warrior friend, Duncan. Both of them star in INFERNO, along with a feisty young werewolf girl named Megan. Here’s the blurb for the book (you can also see it on the Coming Soon page):

A forbidden union forged in love — and tempered in hellfire.

Tales of the Were, Book 2

One last task and Megan will be free of the debt of honor owed by her family. Spying on Dante, a powerful vampire with questionable friends, sounds simple enough. But her mission is complicated by the fact she’s got something every vampire wants—tangy, powerful, werewolf blood.

It’s easy to capture his attention. The hard part will be getting out with her heart—and soul—intact. Not to mention her life, thanks to a crazed bomber.

Dante isn’t the kind to forgive or forget easily, especially the grudge he holds against werewolves. Still, he is instantly drawn to the injured lone wolf in his care. When he and his friend Duncan treat her wounds, they discover something that marks her as much more than she seems.

That mark is a neon sign warning to be careful, but Dante can’t help himself. He wants her and nothing will stand in his way. Not her species. Not his. Not the strange woman who keeps trying to kill him.

Not even the magical poison in Megan’s blood…

Warning: This book contains sexual healing, ménage a trois and quatre, hot sexy vampires, an irresistible fey warrior and a lone wolf bitch on the prowl.

INFERNO will be out on June 30th. Mark your calendars! And don’t forget about JACI’S EXPERIMENT, if you’re a print reader. Availble officially in June (though it’s out now in a number of places), from MBAM and a bookstore near you.

Finishing a book is a really, REALLY good feeling for an author. In the past month I’ve finished two new projects, one that has already been sold to Samhain and one that I’m hopeful will be picked up soon. The one I can talk about is called Inferno and is the long-awaited sequel to Lords of the Were.

It picks up the story with Dante, the bad-boy vamp who played a key role in the first book. Someone’s trying to kill him and a lone werewolf girl is sent to spy on him. All kinds of naughty mayhem occurs before he realizes she’s special. In fact, she’s the One.

I was working on this project while another was percolating. Unlike many writers, I tend to always have more than one project going on at a time. I like to change things up and write whatever I’m in the mood for, when I have the freedom to do so. I know my process is a little different from many writers, but it works for me.

This week, I managed to finish up that other project – the next book in my Resonance Mates series, titled Grady’s Awakening. So the sense of accomplishment is running high in my world. Since the beginning of the year I’ve finished two novels (both with word counts close to or exceeding 100,000 words) and have sold one, with the other still under consideration. It’s a really, REALLY good feeling.

But I’m not resting on my laurels. Not by a long shot. I still have quite a few projects waiting in the wings. I’ve already started the fifth and final Resonance Mates book as well as my next Dragon Knights book. No rest for the wicked!

So what’s up next? Well, quite a bit, actually. I’m doing a lot of appearances this Spring and I hope I’ll see some of you there. In about two weeks, I’ll be a guest at Lunacon in Rye, NY (details are on my personal blog if you’re interested). I’m also planning on I-Con, RT, Lori Foster’s Get Together and a couple of booksignings in the Northeast.

As for books… Phantom Desires, the final novella in the Brotherhood of Blood trilogy, will be out in ebook form on April 3rd. All three of my vampire novellas will be put together in print sometime next year. And speaking of print, please look for FireDrake, which will be released in print on March 31st! I love to hear about “sightings”, so please drop by my blog or my chat group and let me know if you’ve seen the book in a store near you.

Now, just to see if anyone has actually read all of my rambling, I’d like to direct you once more to my blog (sorry for that, but I don’t know where else to do this). You see, I’ve set up a contest there that will run over the weekend. The winner will get to choose an ebook of their choice from my backlist and all you have to do to enter is comment here or over on my blog – http://biancadarc.com/blog. (If you leave comments in both places, your name goes into the hat twice!) That’s your reward for sticking with me to this point. Thanks, everybody!