Meltdown, available Oct. 12 at Liquid Silver Books

Hey all! Today is a hodgepodge. The earth aligned recently so that I had three other blogs essentially due all at the same time, not including this one. So this one is a bit of a mix.

First, I’m happy to announce that MELTDOWN will be released at Liquid Silver Books www.liquidsilverbooks.com October 12 (after 7pm EST). MELTDOWN features a hot firefighter hero, no pun intended, a little danger, and quite a bit of paranormal. MELTDOWN is a reissue, so some of my readers may have already read it.

Second, I’m happy to announce that two of my other “old” novels are being reissued by Samhain Publishing www.samhainpublishing.com. MARSHALL’S LAW is what I’d call a romantic suspense, but it’s also a humor-filled piece that also features horny ghosts. That’s right, horny ghosts. I kid you not. I don’t have a cover to show you or an exact release date, but it’s scheduled for release sometime in January. MIDNIGHT ROSE, a book dear to my heart, will also be reissued by Samhain Publishing. MIDNIGHT ROSE is a big, meaty, paranormal historical set during the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888 London. The title has to be changed, because the publisher has just released a book by that name. We’re toying with DARK, DEADLY LOVE. I’ll let ya know! No release date on that one yet either. It will be fantastic to have this book out again.

Last but not least, I’m thinking of a writing sabbatical. Any authors here who have taken a sabbatical where you just don’t write for a few months. To clear out the cobwebs? Get the mojo turned on again? If so, scream and let me know. If you’d rather not comment here, email me at danovelist@cox.net

Rock of Cashel, Ireland 1983

Today’s post was inspired by true life stories. In my line of work, I write a lot about people in danger, particularly women. We all know that reality is a lot worse than fiction. I started watching the Biography Channel’s program I Survived a few weeks back. It is compulsive watching for an author who writes suspense in any small way. I don’t seem to be able to keep suspense out of my books. I Survived deals with people who experienced life altering, stomach-dropping situations and survived to tell us about it. There is nothing overhyped about this program. They do a good job relating what happened and the program is done so the watching is very suspenseful in itself.

As an author of paranormal, anything to do with ghosts has my attention. On Biography Channel is also Ghostly Encounters. I love how they’ve put together the interviews with people who have experienced ghostly encounters. Fascinating stuff!

When I write suspense or paranormal, I want to create a story that fills the reader with dread, that makes them tingle with that horror movie feeling. An example from my now out of print novel, FOREVERMORE:

A midnight moon hung in the sky as I brought the Land Rover to a halt at the bottom of the hill below Moor Castle.

Maybe it was the castle breathing.
**

Old cover for Midnight Rose

Supernatural suspense has always appealed to me, as you can see above. In my historical novel MIDNIGHT ROSE, I deal with real and unreal. Here’s an example of the unreal:

Anger spurted through her in waves, and she couldn’t tell if the fury she felt belonged to him or to her. As they ascended, she noted the stairs became narrower and darker. A vague sense of anxiety crowded in on her from all sides. Not again. Her mind whispered a plea. Enough feelings. Enough.
An unholy dread settled upon her. Hot, then cold, beat at her frame without mercy. She drew in a deep breath and struggled for control. Perhaps Flora felt this same odd fear earlier? Shivers coasted along her body, but she ignored them in favor of climbing the staircase behind Atkinson. Each step took on new meaning. Old marble seemed to whisper of terrible thoughts and worse deeds that once occurred on this same staircase. The wood and stone of the building groaned, speaking of days and nights in perpetual darkness. She heard the wind battering the structure, and she wondered if a storm would soon descend upon the city.

She couldn’t speak over the tightness in her throat.
**
If you’re visiting this blog, you must like romance and suspense. Tell me what scares the beejeebers out of you, and you could win a download copy of one of my ebooks!

Stop by my website at www.deniseagnew.com and you’ll find more suspenseful excerpts. Until next time, have a spooky good reading experience!

Sedona in August 09

Okay, I love Halloween. In fact, I love to read and write scary stories. When weird happens to you on vacation and your birthday week, well, you gotta wonder. My hubby and I spent a week in our time share in Sedona, which turned out to be pretty unimpressive (let’s just say we plan on trading next year to another place). Don’t get me wrong. We love Sedona to pieces. Short of Scotland, it’s our favorite vacation spot. It was the “resort” that was less than impressive and parts of the vacation were a tad strange. I laughed at the quirky things that happened to us, and wondered if some of our experiences might wander into one of my novels some day.

Soon after we checked in, we discovered that we could count on insects and spiders every day in the shower stall/toilet room. Joy! Gozilla the spider got my attention. Spiders and me…no way.:) I let out a girly scream. Okay, it was more a girly squeak.

My iPod and my cell phone batteries drained in less than a couple of hours even though I hadn’t used either one of them since I charged them the day before. The cell phone probably drained because it was constantly searching for a signal as we were coming toward Sedona. Not sure why the iPod drained so quickly. One of the remotes for one of the televisions would work sometimes but not all the time. On the second day of our stay, the power kept going off and on for several hours. The morning of my birthday, we awakened to no water. Water wasn’t restored for about three hours. Good thing we didn’t have anything set up for the morning. When water came on, all we had was cold water. Such was the situation for the rest of the day. Okay, a person can shower in cold water and I wash my hair in cold water anyway because of a scalp condition. I don’t know about you, but taking a cold shower isn’t as happy-happy as the books make it sound. How many people do you know that take an ice cold shower on purpose? I know romance novel heroes take frequent cold showers, though I don’t think I’ve had one take a cold shower in any of my novels.

More Sedona August 09

The weirdness continued. While opening a Pepsi One, I noticed it was freezing. Really. Freezing. Guess what, the can started leaking. There was another can in the refrigerator that was expanding and expanding. Weirdness.

My hubby went golfing twice. One time I went with him and the people he golfed with were just learning. A round of golf that would normally take about four hours took six hours.

My favorite T-shirt place, where I’d hoped to buy some new t-shirts, remained closed all week because the owner was ill. We hope he’s doing all right.

Right before we headed to our favorite restaurant in Sedona for my birthday dinner, a small tan and black striped lizard made his merry way across the living room. I’m not particularly intimidated by lizards. Probably because we encountered a ton of lizards in Hawaii. In Hawaii one day I was working on my computer upstairs and a small lizard fell off the ceiling and landed on my shoulder. Talk about a good girly scream. I thought it was a roach. I flapped about until I realized I’d knocked a lizard off my shoulder. I once had a lizard peek over the side of a coffee table and cause me to jump outta my skin because I wasn’t ready for it. So, this little lizard crossing the living room in Sedona, though a different color, was interesting. My hubby hearded him toward the door with two coffee filters. It took a bit of work. Finally he managed to herd the tiny lizard out the door. I’m sure he was scared as hell. The lizard, I mean. But I’m glad he wasn’t in the room with us. I’m afraid I would have stepped on him in the middle of the night. EWWWW!

I’m proud to say my birthday dinner at our favorite restaurant in Sedona was wonderful and delicious. Nothing weird happened thank you very much. So you could say I had a splendid vacation even though it had some extremely quirky moments. Do you think I can squeeze any of this into a Halloween book? By the way, if you’re interested in reading hot romance in a scary paranormal setting, check out my vampire trilogy at Ellora’s Cave, Deep Is the Night. The books in the series are: Dark Fire, Night Watch and Haunted Souls. Because the books all take place in October and culminate in a big bang on October 31, you absolutely have to read them in order to get the full effect. You can find them at www.ellorascave.com. You can also read excerpts at www.deniseagnew.com Don’t forget to enter my contest at my website.

Combustion available August 17 at Liquid Silver Books

Plus, my latest novel, COMBUSTION, is available at Liquid Silver Books www.liquidsilverbooks.com on August 17 after 7pm EST. It’s a reissue of a book released in 2002. It’s hotter, scarier and more intense this time around. Enjoy.

Until next time, I hope your next vacation is quirk free.

Okie dookie. I was at a loss for what I wanted to gab about this week. So you’re getting the whole sink. This summer is hot, hot, hot. And I don’t mean the desert. In August, my firefighter romantic suspense novel, COMBUSTION will be reissued by Liquid Silver Books www.liquidsilverbooks.com. I don’t have an exact release date in August for you, but keep your eyes tuned to my web page at www.deniseagnew.com. This book has been tweaked, made even hotter and scarier. The suspense is also notched up a bit. I love books that combine hot romance and thick suspense. Love it.

Anyway, what else am I writing these days? More than one thing. Sometimes I do that, write two books at once. I’m working on a werewolf romance trilogy and a series of paranormal historicals that deal with time periods not often seen in the traditional publishing arena. I find that writing a historical that deals with complicated subjects along with the romance and hot sex is the ideal combination for me. I can sink my teeth into that type of story.

Last but not least, I am still training my now almost eight month old mini schnauzer puppy. Actually, the picture above is when he was about six months old. He’s so smart, but he keeps me on my toes, believe me. Wish me luck.

So, tell me what little details are taking up you summer world? Speak up now you hear?

Book 3 in the Heart of Justice series

This month the third book in my Heart of Justice SWAT series, UNDER HIS PROTECTION, was released by Liquid Silver Books www.liquidsilverbooks.com. It’s been a crazy month for me, so I’m a little flustered. But I do know that many readers enjoy the allure of a hot SWAT guy. So to tantalize your tastebuds, I’m giving you a mini excerpt of this new story. Here’s a series overview, blurb and that mini excerpt. Enjoy, and at the end of the excerpt, I’ll have a question for you and a contest!
**
Adopted and taken under the wing of SWAT officer Justice MacGilvary when they were teens, Mick, Trey, and Craig learned the meaning of truth, integrity and a desire to protect the innocent. When Justice died in the line of duty, each man worked that much harder to carry on the lawman’s SWAT traditions. Their affection for each other runs as deep as if they were blood brothers. Dace Banovic, another SWAT team member, is one of their close friends. When these men encounter four very special women, they discover nuances within themselves they never expected. Capacity to love, strength in any storm, and heated passion more intense and thrilling than any dream.

In UNDER HIS PROTECTION:
SWAT sniper Trey MacGilvary likes his women wild and hot…
Trey’s adventurous streak once served him wrong, now it makes him dangerous to criminals and devastating to female hearts. Englishwoman Olivia Scott’s quiet life as a librarian is about to fall apart…With nothing more exciting to cogitate on than which video to rent on a Friday night and which pie to create for the local bake off, Olivia isn’t prepared for violence. When Trey rescues her from a man’s brutal attack, he vows she’ll be under his protection from that point forward. The enthusiasm and unpredictability of his life stirs erotic passions within her that threaten to reinvent the woman she always thought she was. Trey attraction for the plucky, bookish woman boils sky high but he’s not in relationships for the long term. Still he battles with emerging feelings he never thought he’d have again for a woman. After all, she’s returning to England in six months. There’s no way they can forge a lasting relationship, even if they wanted to. As a vengeful criminal resurfaces with revenge in mind and promises to harm everyone he loves, Trey’s skills as a sniper, a brother and a lover are tested. As danger closes around her, Olivia must find a core of strength she never knew she had, and capture a red hot passion she never hoped to find.

**

Cohen held Olivia tight to his body with the gun pressing to her temple. Her skull ached. The library wavered around her, the bookshelves too close, the counter lower to the ground than it should be. Craziness. Even the lighting flickered, the enormous cast iron chandelier dangling over the counter with precarious closeness. Crowded and with growing urgency, she tried to move. Nothing happened. Fear strangled her breath. Her limbs stayed immobile. Maybe this wasn’t a dream. Maybe this was all real and everything else in her life imaginary. She struggled with Cohen and shouted. A loud blast went off, and she froze. He’d shot her. Shot her in the head and killed her–

Olivia broke from her nightmare with a gasp. She sat up, heart pounding and breath short. Her face felt damp, and she palmed her cheeks. Tears. Her eyes burned as if she’d cried a long time, and not just during an annoying dream. She fumbled for the bedside lamp, and as light illuminated the room in a rosy glow, she grabbed for her water bottle before remembering she hadn’t brought one to bed. She’d forgotten.

Because of Trey MacGilvary. His off the cuff humor, his masculine presence disrupted her routine. Her safe, sanctified pattern. She could return to bed, but the dream haunted her. She glanced at the clock. Barely two hours had passed since she’d fallen asleep. Unnerved and desperately wanting a drink of water, she decided to head to the kitchen. With measured movements, she eased open the bedroom door and used the hall nightlight to navigate. She’d reconnoitered through her own apartment in the dark more than once, so making it to her fridge would prove a piece of cake. Moonlight streamed through the open drapes on the sliding glass door and threw eerie daggers across the living room floor. Trey sprawled across the couch, one foot on the floor, one arm thrown over his eyes. She almost tiptoed into the kitchen. After easing open the fridge door, she snagged a bottle of water.

“Olivia?”

She jumped about a foot as Trey walked toward her through the darkness. Momentary panic leapt into her throat–after all, he was a man. A big, strong man and–

Half naked.

She held the water bottle to her chest as she watched him ease through the moonlight. She grappled for the light switch and snapped it on.

Big mistake.

Illuminated, Trey represented a clear sexual threat. Her gaze darted up and down his body. His wide shoulders, powerful arms, and impressive chest took her breath away. A sprinkling of dark hair covered his molded pectorals, and skated down a six-pack stomach and disappeared into…open jeans. Yep, the button on his jeans hung open, but thank God they were zipped.

Trey’s gaze pinpointed her like a laser, and those eyes heated as he started at her head and slipped downward with thorough assessment.

Oh, bugger. I should have worn something old and ratty.

Instead she’d forgotten she had a guest and had jumped into her usual nightwear, a silky sleeveless nightie that cupped her breasts and only came down to the tops of her thighs.

I might as well be naked.

She crossed one foot over the other, aware of the cold floor and her vulnerability.

“Everything all right?” He hesitated at the kitchen entrance as if he worried he might spook her.

Too late, he already had.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” she said.

“You didn’t. I can’t sleep, and it’s all your fault.”

“What?”

“Sometimes, after a SWAT operation, I get keyed up.”

Shamelessly, the girly part of her melted. “You’re on a SWAT team?”

“Yep.”

Right. That was hot.

“I didn’t know the Sheriff’s Department had a SWAT team.”

He nodded. “Yep. It’s not a full time thing, just when there’s a situation that requires SWAT assistance. Normally I work out to bleed off some of the tension after a big situation like tonight. I go to the gym and practice Keysi with friends.”

“Keysi?”

“Keysi Fighting Method. It’s a type of martial arts. My brothers and I know it and work out together sometimes.”

“You should have worked out. You didn’t have to stay with me.”

He smiled, this time with a teasing edge. “No, I didn’t have to. I wanted to. Don’t worry, I’ll live. It was worth it to stay here and make sure you’re okay.”

She rolled her gaze to the ceiling, exasperated. “Other than my father, you are the most annoyingly protective man I’ve ever met.”

He stuffed his hands into his jeans. “You think I’m bad, you should see my brothers. My oldest brother Mick dotes on his fiancé like you wouldn’t believe. My younger brother Craig is like a bulldog. He doesn’t take flack off anyone, and when it comes to women, he’s extremely protective.”

Overbearing, probably. She knew the type. Half the men she knew in England were like that.

He stepped over the threshold into the kitchen. “Did you have a bad dream?”

Startled by his insight, it took her a moment to answer. “No. Why?”

“Your hand is shaking.”

She looked down at the hand clutching the water bottle and it trembled the tiniest bit. “Oh.” Holding the icy bottle to her flaming cheek, she fixated on the tile beneath her bare feet. “All right. I had a bad dream.”

Instead of asking about the content of the dream, he came even closer, until she took in his delicious, earthy male scent. His hair stuck up in several places, unruly and thick. Untamed and glorious. Those eyes drew her in, their scrutiny disturbing and flattering at the same time. His gaze went to her hair, which tumbled over her shoulders and down to mid back.

To chase away her nervousness, she unscrewed the bottle and took a long sip.

He stopped within a foot of her, gaze concerned. “How’s the head?” Before she could answer, he tilted her chin for an examination. The brush of his fingers along her skin generated sweet sparks in her belly. “You’re already getting a bruise above your left eyebrow. Your eyes look okay, though.”

“My eyes?”

A small grin flitted over his lips and he released her. “Sorry. I have some EMT training. Quite a few guys on SWAT do. I was checking your pupils. Head injury you know.”

“Thank you, but I’m good. I don’t even have a headache now. Really, I may have hit my head, but I fell mostly on my bum.”

Another cocky but sweet grin spread over his face, and a blush heated her face. His gaze darted downward, as if he wouldn’t mind seeing her bum right now.

“Right. Lovely,” she said by way of defense, not at all certain what was either right or lovely about the situation.

As she stared at Trey, her gaze snagged on his chest. God, but I need to give these hormones a lobotomy. Warmth coiled low in her belly, and she recognized high-test arousal. Deep, primal interest that came from somewhere she thought she’d shoved aside for a long time. That silly lust that consumed a body on short notice, demanding feral attention, flushing the cheeks, warming spots that hadn’t blasted off in so long she couldn’t say for certain if they existed anymore.

“You want to talk about it?” he asked.

Her lust for his bod?

“About what?” She managed to squeeze the innocuous question out of her throat.

***
Okay, here’s the contest. Stop by my website and discover what color Trey’s eyes are and what his quirks are. First person to post the right answers here on the blog wins a print copy of my contemporary romance, MEANT TO BE.

It’s intriguing where writers obtain their inspiration, and it can come out of nowhere from the most incredible places and circumstances. This week while I was sneaking in a smidgen of computer work (sneaking because my puppy was napping), I saw a fantastic video featuring singer Susan Boyle. By now many of you may have heard of her. If you haven’t, Google her and you’ll come up with many mentions. Check out her debut on You Tube where she sang on Britain’s Got Talent. I don’t watch American Idol or Britain’s Got Talent. Plenty of other shows I’d rather record on my TiVo. Susan Boyle, though, touched something inside me that instantly made me want to blog about her and inspiration. So many times over my life I’ve seen people (including myself), teased or underestimated because of our looks. Yeah,that’s right. I was not a popular girl in school. If I wasn’t teased, I was mostly invisible. I’m not blaming anyone for that. I’m so over it. I live my life now and understand many of the reasons behind what happened to me.

In our society looks count for a lot. People can underestimate you because you’re not glamorous or gorgeous. They can do the same if you ARE gorgeous. Everyone gets an impression of people, rightly or wrongly, on first sighting. It’s built in and its hard not to judge. I could see on this video, though, that people probably had judged Susan Boyle many times and hadn’t stopped for a moment to consider that she was a nice person or that she might possess some other glorious talent. Then she begins to sing. What a miraculous voice. I loved the song, too! I hope she does get a music contract. I’ll keep my eyes open for a CD and I’ll be in line to buy it!

So what does this have to do with writing? I’ve seen some talented writers give up along the way for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they decide that this business is too stressful and the business side of it destroys their ability to enjoy writing a book. If they decided another side of life proves far more interesting and fulfilling, I can understand giving up writing. But these people left writing behind because they thought they couldn’t do it…even when the evidence was right there that they could.

There are many writers who don’t even start a book, afraid to give it a chance. I say go ahead. You may be a great talent. You may love writing and discover a well of enjoyment inside you that you never knew existed. You may startle yourself and the world with your writing.

So I say, if you want to write, write. Don’t let anyone or anything tell you that you shouldn’t or can’t. It’s up to you to chase your dream.

Have you fulfilled one of your most cherished dreams? If so, tell me about it. You could win a download copy of WITHIN HIS SIGHT, the novella that starts off my Heart of Justice SWAT series.

It’s a cool forty degrees out this morning and about 6:20am when I wrote this blog post on my AlphaSmart. I thought I would get another nap in before the puppy decided he’d wake up from his nap. No joy. Still, it’s better than yesterday morning when Bogey the mini schnauzer puppy thought 3:50am might be a better time to come awake. A marked change from the puppy that wasn’t getting up until 5:00am every morning. So this morning’s 5:00am wake up proved a blessing. On the other hand, the last two mornings he decided a two hour nap after running outside in the dark backyard and eating kibble was a good thing. A half hour nap proved enough for him this morning. Darn it! more

Okay, so what types of adventures have I experienced with this cute as hell monster. Yeah, he’s accumulated a lot of names in the last two months since we’ve had him.

Bogeymeister
Bogeyman
Bogey Monster
Puppy Wuppy
Cutie
Wee Beastie (a favorite of mine)
Beast

Beast is a good one. He’s taken to grabbing my pants legs and playing tug of war, although I’m not participating. When I stop dead, don’t move, and refuse to look at him and play along, he stops pretty quickly. I’m hoping that will nip things in the bud fast. No pun intended. He’s decided that he’ll pee when he meets visitors, which he wasn’t doing before. Happy, happy. So we’re going to have visitors ignore him when they first come in and not greet him or pet him until he calms down.

Barking. Ah, barking. The only time he used to be vocal was when my husband left for work in the morning. Then it was more of a trill as if to say, “Da is leaving?”

Now it’s, “Oh, man, there’s a dog on the other side of this wall. That means I need to bark.” So far we’ve tried two methods, based on advice, to make him go quiet when asked. One is to say quiet and if he doesn’t, we bring him indoors immediately. He doesn’t like that so he shuts up. The minute he’s brought inside he attacks my pants leg. I go immobile. I’m a statue. He isn’t getting any renforcement negative or positive this way and he stops pants tug of war. I take him outside again. He barks at the dog on the other side of the wall, we take him in. This went on quite a bit yesterday. The other method (which I’d tried before and it failed miserably) is to use a gesture and also say “quiet.” Distract him by telling him to sit, then stay, then come and giving him a tiny bit of carrot as a treat. Only took three times (he’d go back to running to the wall and barking) before he was distraced by a toy and decided not to bark. (Update. Tried the quiet command with suggested hand gesture, then asking him to sit and shake hands or stay. He seems to take to that command and stop barking sooner. Progress.)

Eating everything outside. Yep. Our backyard is all rocks, plus leaves and sticks. The rocks he used to chew on, now he doesn’t seem to care so much about that. Now it’s eating leaves and sticks relentlessly. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t expect the dog to constantly entertain himself. I play ball with him several times a day. I also play ice hocky in the hallway with him. He hops around in excitement when I remove ice from the freezer. When we get to the hallway I slide pieces of ice down the hallway. He chases them about. Of course, he crunches the ice. We play toss the squeaky toys. We train. I have him shaking hands, sitting down, staying, come, and just the other day he started to understand “down” as in lie down. I’m working on “stand” which is what I’m asking for after he lies down.

I bought him a puppy Kong for outdoors only. He seems to love that. Doesn’t keep him from going after leaves and sticks eventually, but it helps.

So what else have I learned since we brought him home. Two hour puppy naps are heaven. Yes! That a snuggly, sweet puppy sitting on my lap is great.

I’ve also been reduced, when half brain dead in the afternoon, to watching shows that aren’t my normal diet. The Real Housewives of Orange County. The Real Housewives of New York City. General Hospital (used to watch this a bazillion years ago when I was a kid up until ’94 and then stopped). One Life To Live. Used to watch that a bazillion years ago. Dr. Phil. Watched that off and on once in a while anyway.

When do I get a chance to write? When he’s outside and I’m sitting on a chaise with my sunglasses and big SPF50 hat (gotta wear it). Pen and paper have been my friend the last two months. And so is my AlphaSmart.

So when pressures from puppy, or husband, or kids, or other obligations surround you, how are you coping these days?

Until next time in puppy adventures, enjoy your writing and reading. I’ll pick someone late tonight to win a download of WITHIN HIS SIGHT, the first book in my HEART OF JUSTICE SWAT series.