A Little More End of the World

Still in the mood for a little more post-apocalyptic action? Just want to get your paranormal fix on? The Dynamic Duo of Moira Rogers has a brand-spankin'-new-out-tomorrow-don't-miss-it after-the-demon-apocalypse, high-tech, sexy, The Island meets Constantine (not sure that's a good "meets"; must think about the "meets" some more) badass paranormal release: Demon Bait. It's sex demons and lockdowns and cyber-awesomeness, oh my! (And check out the insanely gorgeous sexified yin-yang cover.)

His mark could bind her forever—or finally set her free.

Children of the Undying, Book 1

Fifty years after a demon apocalypse devastated the world, summoners still bear the bulk of the blame. Marci lives in secret, hiding the gifts that could cost her a secure spot in one of humanity’s underground cities, and access to their virtual world. After all, her chances of avoiding the genetic-testing lotto are better than her chances of surviving topside.

The bastard son of a terrifying incubus, lust heats Gabe’s blood and sex fuels his magic. Innate charm and charisma help him navigate the cultural gap between the outcast town he calls home and the human settlements he infiltrates for trade. His latest mission nets him an unexpected asset—a summoner strong enough to soothe his darkest needs.

Trust a half demon, especially one who uses a lockdown to trap them together? Not in this lifetime. Yet Marci can’t resist Gabe’s offer to see her safely to a selective outcast settlement where she can live without fear. The journey alone is as dangerous as the way Gabe makes her heart race, but it could be her one hope of a real life.

If only she could be sure Gabe’s telling her the whole truth…

Product Warnings: Contains a virtual world where humans flee to escape the demon-infested earth, a dangerously seductive half demon with sex magic to burn and a network-hacking summoner brave enough to make herself vulnerable to him.

Grab it from Samhain :: Kindle :: Nook

I must say, boys and girls, the world Miss Moira has created is so deeply awesome. I just want to crawl inside it. Demon Bait is the kind of story where I can't wait for the next one to take me even deeper into the sexy demony-techy-depths of it. It sets the imagination a' whirling. Luckily for us Hammer Down is coming soon.

Thankful Winners!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend! I love seeing all the awesome thankful tidings at this time of year. Anyone else still stuffed from Thursday? Did you go shopping on Black Friday?

Should I just skip the preliminaries and get to the WINNERS? All right, y'all, here we go. Drumroll please...

The Winner of an ebook copy of my new release, post-apocalyptic romance Reawakening Eden is... Brenda Hyde!!

The Winner of an advanced digital copy of my Valentine's paranormal romance romp Ghosts of Boyfriends Past is... Susan!!

The Winner of an ebook copy of my Christmas angels & demons novella No Angel is... Jen B.!!

CONGRATULATIONS WINNERS!!!

Please email me at vivi@viviandrews.com to claim your prize. (If you've won something you already have a copy of, let me know and we'll work something out.) Prizes must be claimed by noon Pacific time on Tuesday (extended because I'm a couple hours late announcing the winners... mea culpa, I was busily wrapping Xmas presents!). If we have unclaimed prizes on Tuesday, I'll draw another winner at that time.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Be Thankful; Win a Book

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

You know what I'm thankful for? You. You guys rock. So today, to kick off the holiday season my favorite way, I'm giving stuff away. Comment on this post any time between now and Sunday at noon (pacific time) and you're entered to win. Just tell me something you're thankful for and check back on Sunday when I'll pick three winners - one of whom will get my latest release Reawakening Eden, one will get an ARC of my upcoming release Ghosts of Boyfriends Past, and the third will get a copy of my Christmas novella No Angel (tis the season!).

Thanks for my writing dreams a reality. It wouldn't be possible without you.

The Small Print: Void where prohibited. Must email me to claim your prize via email by Monday at midnight or it will be given to someone else. You can comment as many times as you like, but will only be entered one time per day (maximum 4 entries per person). Winners will be chosen randomly. Good luck and THANK YOU!

A Damn Good Interview, A Zombie Interview & the Passing of a Personal Icon

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today the release week frenzy continues with an interview and giveaway with the fabulous Book Pushers. We're chatting about pretty much every book I've ever written under the sun, so swing on by and feel free to chime in with any burning questions.

I am ALSO at the flippin' amazing Moira Roger's Apocalyptathon 2011 today, giving away a copy of Reawakening Eden (because apparently I just can't seem to stop doing that) and talking about how I would react to a Zombie Apocalypse (note: I would totally kick ass).

***

And, in totally unrelated news on a much more somber note...

One of my writing icons passed away yesterday: Anne McCaffrey, 85, best known for her marvelous dragonrider books. Her passing feels particularly significant to me because her book Dragonflight was a turning point for me. It was the first book that swallowed me whole. It changed the way I felt about reading during one long can't-put-it-down-and-go-to-sleep night when I was twelve years old. Perhaps if it hadn't been that book, it would have been another, but all I know is that it was the first. The catalyst. Anne McCaffrey woke me up to reading as a passion rather than a pastime. And without that feeling about books, about the worlds they contained and the lives lived between the pages, I doubt I ever would have become a writer. So this passing is particularly poignant for me. She opened my door. Anne McCaffrey will be missed.

The End of the World is HERE!

Happy Release Day, ladies and gents! It's the end of the world as we know it (sing it with me now) and I'm feeling mighty fine.

Reawakening Eden is OUT NOW!!! (<-- I'm using up my lifetime allotment of exclamation points. Yeah. I'm just that excited.)

When life is a struggle, love is the ultimate luxury.

Librarian Eden Fairfax knows exactly where to find books about survival. None of them mentioned how to manage in the aftermath of a worldwide epidemic—with two young orphans in tow.

On a journey south to warmer climes, she finds sanctuary for all three of them among a community of survivors in Seattle. Until she realizes the children are the centerpiece of their bizarre new religion. There’s no choice but to run as far and as fast as her stolen car will go.

Former Army Ranger Connor Reed had planned to live out the end of the world in peace. Yet he can’t stand by and do nothing while a lone woman defends two children from an armed thug. Even if doing something means taking the trio in.

Eden’s not sure if the armed hermit is her salvation or an even more dangerous threat. A blizzard forces her to trust him with their lives, and in Connor’s arms she remembers what it’s like to live.

Just beyond the edge of the storm, though, the cult leader awaits his chance to get his hands on the children—and make Eden his next sexual sacrifice.

Warning: This book contains a strong, silent action-hero, a tough, tenacious heroine, a pair of steal-your-heart kids, and a pony-sized dog named Precious.

Read an Excerpt. Buy from Samhain :: Kindle :: Nook

Today, in the usual release festivities, I'll be dropping by the Samhain Cafe (though it'll be late afternoon EST since I'm currently in sunny Honolulu for the holidays with my family and the time zones don't play nice out here in the middle of the Pacific). Join me there for some excerpts of Reawakening Eden and all the End o' the World chat you can handle.

Also today, you can find me at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood blog where I'm chatting about the inherent optimism involved in falling in love when the world as you know it is gone (and giving away a copy of Reawakening Eden to one lucky commenter).

Get Under the Covers: Reawakening Eden Release Week

Today, join me at the Under the Covers Book Blog for their After-Dark Paranormal Event, including an interview with yours truly and a chance to win a copy of Reawakening Eden.

Release Week!

Happy Release Week! Reawakening Eden hits the digital shelves on Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday, boys and girls! It's almost time... for the END OF THE WORLD!!! (best if imagined in a deep, movie-announcer voice)

In a matter of days, the world will be ending... or rather already over, the apocalypse behind us, time to rebuild a new world out of the (metaphorical) ashes. What better ways to spend our last minutes pre-apocalypse than by checking out People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive edition. They even created, for our edification, a 100 Sexy Men in 1 Minute video.



Did you watch it? Hotness ADD. On speed. Gotta love it.

So... does People do a sexiest chicks edition? It never gets as much press as the Sexiest Man one if they do. Or are they afraid of objectifying women the same way they gleefully objectify the sexy dudes?

Do you have a favorite? Anyone you can't believe didn't make the Top 100?

Separation Anxiety

Fair warning: This has NOTHING to do with writing. At all. Not even a little bit.

You guys, I sold my car. And I'm feeling slightly traumatized.

Yes, it was the most logical thing to do. (The alternative being putting it in storage for anywhere between four and seven months while I'm in Hawaii, Alaska, and Europe, and then having to replace the battery and god-knows-what-other problems that cropped up from long months of sitting around. Cars need to be driven like dogs need to be walked.)

Yes, I knew in advance that I was going to sell it this weekend. I fly out for Hawaii on Monday, so this was really the last possible minute.

Yes, everything went perfectly and the first buyer to test drive it handed me an envelope of cash and drove off with my Baby. (Yes, I named my car Baby. She's so cute and tiny! Don't judge me.)

It wasn't until the hand-off was complete that I realized I hadn't had a chance to say goodbye.

I know, I know, it's an inanimate object. But it was my inanimate object for eight and a half years! She was the first car I ever bought new, slapped down my own money for and made every payment. That car has 101,000 miles on it and I put on every single one. She took me to every state (except Hawaii and Vermont), and half the provinces of Canada. She fit my random crap beautifully on multiple cross-country moves - a subcompact with a massive trunk compartment... heaven. She was reliable and had the smoothest, sweetest transmission of any of the cars I test drove lo, these many years ago. And now she's gone. Poof. Ain't my car no more.

I know the new owner will be happy with the car and treat her well (and, yes, she's inanimate, so she won't really be conscious of a difference... won't even know I'm not there anymore) and yes, I've been planning on trading her in for a shiny new model for the last few months... once I'm done with my current airborne gallivanting. (And I've felt guilty every time I've uttered the words "new car" while driving her, as if I am betraying her trust by even mentioning a new automobile.)

Okay, inanimate objects only have as much personality as we give them - but life is more fun when we assign human personalities to our possessions, so is it any surprise we get attached?

This was probably the one object I owned to which I had grown the most attached and now she ain't mine anymore. It'll take a bit of time to sever those ties.

Farewell, Baby. I hope you have a good (mechanical) life.


And could you guys please tell me I'm not the only one who gets attached to Things like this? What have you had the hardest time selling?

Reader Throwdown, or The Venn Diagram of Rockstars

Dear Minions,
I love it when you send me emails and leave notes on my blog. It makes me feel all warm and squishy inside. Today I would like to chatter about a trend I have noticed in said notes and emails which I find fabulously entertaining. Are you ready? We're gonna call it, the Venn Diagram of YOU, my rockstar readers.

You see, boys and girls, you may not realize this, but you have factions. Observe:



On one side are the Karmic lovers. When is the next Karmic book coming out? you ask me. Will you write Karma's book? or, at times, why the hell is it taking you so damn long to write Karma's book?!

On the other side are the Shifter lovers. When will you write more shifters? you pester. What could possibly be more important than some hot lion lovin'?

And in the middle, the cross-section that makes the Venn all Venn-y, we have the Book Lovers. You beautiful people don't care what I put out next, as long as I get off my ass and put something out often. Voracious readers who need to be fed. What are you working on? When's it coming out? Why is it taking so long? Why do I have to wait sooo long? One more week? Might as well be forever!

For the record, darlings, I love all you factions equally. How could I not when I completely understand series favoritism as a reader myself? (Okay... I love you almost equally, I will confess a slight additional affection for the ones who encourage me to write whatever the hell I please as long as it comes out fast - you will notice that they got purple in the diagram. I love purple. But the favoritism ends there. You're on your own in the Battle Round, Purples.)

Now, you may be wondering why you should care about the fact that you have self-divided into factions. (Though I hope some of you are already picking out your Thunderdome costumes for some No Holds Barred Reader Deathmatching to determine which faction shall rule as my lieutenants when I become the Evil Overlord of the Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape.)

Yep, I've decided it's time to turn you against one another. (If there isn't at least a little bloodshed as a result, I will be highly disappointed.)

Dear Shifter-Lovers: The reason I do not have time to write another shifter book is because the Karmic Lovers are being so demanding. Insisting that I actually finish the series I started with them. (Sheesh, right?) Bring out the claws!

Dear Karmic Lovers: The reason you do not already have Karma's book in your hot little hands is that the Shifter Lovers came out in greater numbers and kicked and screamed until I wrote their novellas first. Unleash the demons!

Blame one another!

Dear Book Lovers: Feel free to get into this fight wherever you please. I hope you will be the lovely little chaos-makers in the middle, making sure things stay nice and riled up. Feel free to go all havoc-y and full-on Urban Fantasy Heroine with a Grudge or just chant "Fight fight fight fight!" if it makes you happy.

Y'all ready? Let's get ready to rrrrrumbllllllllle!

There can be only one... of me. Which is why I can't make everybody happy. Doing my best, boys and girl. Doing my best. Now back to my writing hole.

The Early Word on the End of the World

It's T-minus one week to the release day of Reawakening Eden and we have our first review, y'all! The first vote on this post-apocalyptic lovin' is in, courtesy of Night Owl Reviews. "Reawakening Eden is well paced, sexy and thoroughly enjoyable." It's a Reviewer Top Pick, earning 4.5 Stars! Can I get a woohoo?

Thank you, Night Owl!

You can check out the full review here, though I should warn that I think it is just a smidge spoiler-ish. Though, really, aren't all reviews? That's what being a review is all about, right? Because how can you really talk about a book without talking about the book, amirite?

If you can't wait a week for the post-apocalypticy goodness, Samhain has a trio of other post-apoc romance novellas currently on the virtual shelves in the End of Days stories.

And, if you're more in the mood for some cowboy lovin', the fabulous Ms. Vivian Arend has a sexy new release out today - Rocky Mountain Heat, Book One of the Six Pack Ranch series. Dude, how much do I love a woman who names her ranches after washboard abs? Oh, the fabulousness!

Tapping Out

I'm calling the fight, boys and girls. It's official. NaNo has won. I cede victory. I admit defeat - and yet don't feel even the least bit defeated. See, here's the thing. NaNo doesn't work for me. I have a system that has proven successful through um... kind of a lot of books, and that's what I need to keep doing. NaNo is a fabulous tool for lots of folks, but it doesn't do me any good. These first two weeks have been less productive than my normal weeks because the NaNo mindset just screws me up.

So even though I'm giving up, this is good news! I'm reinvigorated by being back in my normal work mode. "I yield" is my battle cry!

Nothing works for everyone, so do what works for you. And try not to get suckered in when your fellow writers are gushing about how amazing this one thing is and you'll love it if only you try it - trying new things is good and all, but don't let it derail you. Every writer's process is different. Mine apparently does NOT include NaNoWriMo.

How's your November going? Are you NaNo-ing? Getting geared up for the holidays? Enraged by the presence of Christmas commercials? See, I am kind of loving the Christmas commercials this year because I'm traveling and there is NO SNOW here. Without the Christmas commercials, how would I even know it was winter?

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veteran's Day, everyone!

Today the Rubies are talking about military heroes and have a lovely tribute to the Vets in our lives. Both my awesome grandfathers were veterans of World War II (though I only had a pic in one in uniform to share at the Ruby site - and all the commenters seem to think I'm the spitting image of him, which I've never heard before). Two fabulous fly-boys, fighting over different oceans, in different air craft (one bomber, one fighter), but both serving honorably.

Thanks to all those who serve.

Self-therapy Books

Write what you know. Common writing advice. The problem with that is that each one of us only knows so much. Oh, you can do research, you can stretch yourself and broaden your horizons, and as people we are always growing and learning new things, but there is only so much we can know with any level of expertise.

I think this applies to authentic emotional conflict also.

A while back, a reader criticized Serengeti Sunrise for being a reprise of Serengeti Lightning. I was surprised by this, but in the reader's eyes Zoe's restless, independent soul and Mara's need to leave the pride so she could nest and build a family felt the same - because they both wanted out of Texas (though for very different reasons). I hadn't seen that similarity, but it doesn't surprise me that someone reading my books might notice a trend of itchy feet. My gypsy blood refuses to settle and that likely comes through in my writing whenever I'm feeling particularly restless. Feeling trapped or penned in are things I can write with absolute authenticity.

I try to keep things fresh, but there are themes that are bound to recur in my books because they are issues that are real to me. I hope only people who know me well can tell which issues are mine and which are borrowed, but I think it is natural (if scary at times) to put our own concerns onto the page. There is an honesty in it.

When I read books by friends, I can see the pieces of themselves that sneak into the books. A friend who grew up in foster care, writing about the system. A weight-conscious friend writing about a heavier heroine. Whether it's a kind of self-therapy, a way of working through our issues, or something else entirely, it just is. Good, bad, or other.

It's a terrifying display really. You make your character's fears open to the world and in turn expose your own. Perhaps it is normal for readers to feel that they know you by reading your books, because there is so much of us in them. But it is also a mistake to think you know me for that very reason, because I am more than my books... and my books are more than me. We are a Venn Diagram. If you see me and my books together, the overlap will be obvious, but seeing only one, you can only speculate on the other.

Which of my books are self-therapy? I'll never tell.

Have you ever written a book - either intentionally or by having it just sneak in there - to work through an issue or fear in your own life? Read a book that helped you do the same and made you feel a kinship with the author because you felt they "got" it?

How Long is a Book?

A few days ago a friend asked me what I would call a book - obviously a three hundred page tome is, but what about a 55 page story? A decade ago I would have just said that a book is a physical book and that it may have one or more stories inside it, but epub has muddied the waters. Since novellas are sold alone now, and even short stories, and they look no different on your Kindle than that full length tome, how do you define a "book"?

I was stumped by the question. I call all of my releases "books" mostly for the simplicity of it, but I tend to evade when possible and use "story" to refer to the lot of them or "work" or "release" or whatever other verbal dodge I can come up with. I don't think of A Cop & A Feel as a book (considering it's less than 20,000 words long), but when I'm talking about the Karmic Consultants books, it gets lumped in. Imprecise, but sometimes the best answer to the question of How many Karmic books are there? isn't two novels, one novella and two short stories. It's five so far. Or maybe the answer they want is two? For just the novels?

Perhaps the problem is a lack of shared definition anymore. When someone asks me how many books I've written, I don't know how to answer. If I say, "a bunch" they feel like I'm blowing them off. If I say, "Do you mean just novels or novels, novellas, and short stories combined?" then I also feel the need to clarify, "Do you mean books I've written, or the ones I've had published already or the ones that are under contract?" Yeah, I suck at small talk. I always want to be precise.

What is a book to you? I feel like we've gotten beyond the "ebooks aren't really books" argument (woot!), but now what length constitutes a book? And does whether an author has written a full length book sway your decision? For example, if someone had only written two fifteen thousand word short stories (so about sixty pages or so) would you say they had written two books? But if they had written one novel and one short story of that same length would it change the number?

How long is a book?

Anonymous - The Shakespeare Attachment

The movie Anonymous seems to have hit a lot of people's buttons. I love the idea of it, the possibility (which I have heard argued before) that the man Shakespeare was a front for the real man with the pen - but when I mentioned I was going to see the movie, I had several people express outrage and insist that I not believe any of that garbage. To which I have two responses: 1) I don't believe everything I watch. I promise. 2) What would be the harm if I did?

Why does the man who wrote those plays need to be the man from Stratford-upon-Avon with a grammar school education who left his wife his second best bed? Shakespeare, as he is known to us now, is the pen name, the body of work. Why this attachment to the man? Why this need to connect what he did to a birthday and a rather vague and unimpressive personal history? If Monet were really a frontman for the real painter, would those water lilies be any less beautiful? Would he be any less Monet?

Do I want people giving someone else credit for my work? No, but I'm alive. Which, unless Shakespeare is a vampire living in Forks, is not something the Bard can say. Once I and all the people who knew me have passed away, my memory becomes whatever of my work lingers and the idea that people construct of me based on my words. It is my legacy not my self. So why does that legacy need to be bound to a particular body? It is speculation. Ideas. We will never know for sure if Shakespeare the man was also Shakespeare the playwright, but we still have all of his plays to enjoy and even if the man and the muse did match up in one body, we know very little about that body, so why the fuss? Why the attachment?

Is it because of his epic reputation? People who've never even heard of the histories and the political impact they had on sixteenth century England like to spout off "It ain't Shakespeare" as a slur. It's like there's perfect and then there's Shakespeare. This whole other level of flawlessness. He can do no wrong. God forbid you even suggest that some of his plays are less than brilliant.

But what is Shakespeare? Ribald comedies with rampant sex and innuendo and a happy ending with everyone paired off - so telling me my romance novel ain't Shakespeare, um... okay. And brutal slasher-style gore-fests (cough, Titus Andronicus, cough) - so telling Stephen King he isn't Shakespeare... really? Twisted, revisionist histories designed as propaganda - so telling Oliver Stone he isn't Shakespeare... um.... yeah. The sonnets - would they have been song lyrics today? The tragedies... the comedies... the histories... the sonnets... Is his versatility the reason he is Shakespeare (with a GIANT capital "S")? Or is it really the quality level that sets him apart? How many people actually enjoy reading or seeing Shakespeare anymore? How many people understand it?

I love Shakespeare, but I actually love his work, not his legend. I think his legend is kind of ridiculous. And I almost think the mythos of it detracts from real enjoyment. Because you have to almost start from the assumption that everything is perfect and an unsatisfying ending or unbelievable character reversal were there to make a point - because He would not have made a mistake. Or tried a risk that didn't pay off.

One thing every writer knows is that not everyone is going to love your work. No one is universal. Except Shakespeare? But even then, it isn't his work that gets a pass, it's his reputation. A reputation which somehow exists separate of both the man and his work.

If he were alive today, what would be be? An Aaron Sorkin? A Seth MacFarlane? Would he be a writer at all? We don't know. But we are basing so much passion on the idea that he was a poorly educated actor from Stratford-upon-Avon. Why? Because the Shakespeare mania fuels a tourist industry in a small English town? Because we need him to be a "man of the people" rather than an educated well-born man in order to satisfy our American self-made-man mania?

Why couldn't Shakespeare be a lord?

Are you protective of Shakespeare's persona? Can you tell me why?

**Side note: The movie premise was interesting, but I think they went a bit far with it. No, my friends, I did not believe the Earl of Oxford was really Shakespeare, but I don't think the movie was really trying to convince me. Their goal was to entertain (not unlike Shakespeare's goal) and that they did quite well. Very interesting film.**

NaNo Writing Tips

Are you NaNo-ing? Looking for some pointers on how to get through your book? Michele Stegman is hosting a series of tips from published authors on how to push through. Today, you can get a fresh, juicy tip from yours truly, but don't miss the bevy of other helpful info.

ALSO today, if you swing by the TRR YES! Party and answer a couple questions, you can win an advanced copy of Reawakening Eden. Good luck, boys and girls!

Ghost Sex!

This is just, um, too me to ignore, you guys. For anyone who loved The Larrinator, apparently he wasn't the only horny ghost on the block.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Oh, Colbert...

RT Squee!

Guess what, you guys? The Sexorcist has been nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award! Best Indie-Press Paranormal/Futuristic/Fantasy! Can I get a woohoo?

I found out a couple days ago, but was sworn to secrecy until the fifteenth. However, in this digital age, apparently secrets are impossible to keep and the list was leaked and now we've been given the all-clear to shout it from the rooftops, so shout it I will! Squeee!

This remains one of my favorite books I've written and I'm so thrilled to hear it resonated with the reviewers enough that they remembered it these many months later and honored me by including it in their list. Some great books on there, boys and girls, some really great books. What a thrill to be considered!

CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST OF LUCK TO ALL THE NOMINEES!

Moira Rogers Is Post Apocalyptically Awesome

I'm not the only one with some End of the World Awesome coming out this month. The dual geniuses that comprise Moira Rogers will release Demon Bait, Book One of Children of the Undying, at the end of the month (omigod, the badassness, you guys!) and all this month at her blog she is hosting the Apocalyptathon 2011! Thirty Days of World Ending Romance! Not to be missed. Hie yourself on over and prepare for the end of days with some steamy-hot lovin'.

TRR's Year End Splash!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, The Romance Reviews is hosting their Year End Splash party with Games and Quizzes and Prizes Galore. Test your memory by matching covers. Win beaucoup books and gift cards.

The contest runs all month so play at will, but be sure to visit on November 6th & November 23rd when you'll have a shot at picking up advanced copies of Reawakening Eden. Win it before you can buy it!