Winner of Dark God Descending

Below is a note from Tony-Paul de Vissage author of Dark God Descending

The winner of the (recent PVN) contest was "Ainfinger" who answered the question :  Name 3 actors who played Dracula.  Answer:  Bela Lugosi, Ferdy Mayne, Udo Kier.

For those who wish to know, other actors were:  Ferdy Mayne, Max Schreck, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr, John Carradine, Christopher Lee, Denholm Elliott, Jack Palance, Udo Kier, Jonathan Massey, Frank Langella, Louis Jourdan, Klaus Kinski, Duncan Regehr, Stefan Lindahl, Gary Oldman, Leslie Nielsen, Gerard Butler,
Patrick Bergin, Dominic Purcell, Richard Roxburgh, Marc Warren, Keith-Lee Castle, Rudolf Martin, Al Lewis, Stephen Billington,  Juan R Caraccioli, Francisco Quinn.

Thanks to all participants.

Keta Diablo - The Sin Eater's Prince - Publication Day & Contest

The Sin Eater's Prince - Keta Diablo

1842 - Wales
RAVENOUS ROMANCE (Jan 14, 2010)

(Male/Male Vampire Erotica)

About the book: "Owen Rhys, a sin eater in Wales, has been shunned by the local villagers his entire life--except for Andras Maddock, the local physician. In love with the one man he thinks will never return that love, Owen is shocked when Andras saves him from death at the hands of a vampire and admits he cares deeply for him.

Dagan, son of Traherne, the vampire Andras killed to save Owen, will stop at nothing to avenge his father’s death and obtain the Prince of Wales’s mystic sword. The divine claymore holds the power to grant immunity from the sun’s harsh rays—the one exemption the dark Lords of the Underworld has sought for centuries.

Star-crossed love, sorcery, and bloodlust collide on a vengeful path where only one side can remain victorious. Revenge and redemption. Dark versus light. Good versus evil."

Today is publication day! Congratulations, Keta!




CONTEST - You must be 18 years or older to enter!

Keta has generously offered a copy of The Sin Eater's Prince to 2 lucky readers.
All you have to do is leave a comment AND follow one of Keta's blogs.
Mention in the comments section which blog you are following.

The Stuff of Myth and Men

or

Keta's Keeep


For additional chances  - Link to this contest on any of the social network sites or your own page. Let me know the url. One point for each link.

If your email is not associated with your ID, please put the address in your response.

The contest is open worldwide.

Contest ends Jan. 21, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST


For more chances to win visit The Cajun Book Lady

Adrian Phoenix - Interview and Contest

A big PVN welcome to Adrian Phoenix author of Beneath the Skin her recently released book in The Maker's Song series. This is such an excellent series, and I am delighted to welcome Adrian. She has graciously offered a signed set of her series to one lucky reader. The contest is open internationally! See details at the end of the post.

The contest portion has ended. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Read a REVIEW of A Rush of Wings (Book One of the Maker's Song


Read a REVIEW of In the Blood (Book Two of the Maker's Song)

 
 

PVN: For those new to your series would you please introduce them to Dante, the main character of your books. 

AP: I'd be happy to, Patricia! Without giving too much away to new readers, Dante is nightkind (vampire), frontman for the industrial band, Inferno, rumored owner of the hot nightspot in New Orleans, Club Hell, and a young man whose lost past holds very dark and dangerous secrets.

PVN:: Who are the fallen angels and what is there relationship to the vampire Dante

AP: The Fallen are the Elohim, those rumored to have been cast out of Heaven. In Beneath the Skin, the Morningstar scoffs at that long-held mortal belief. As far as their relationship to Dante - well, I'll let your readers discover that as they pick up the books. ;)

PVN: What references did you use for your research on fallen angels and what were some of your findings?

AP: The Old Testament contained in the Jerusalem Bible, Gnostic gospels, and various myths and legends - including Celtic lore. In an old book on Celtic history that was published in the very early 1900s, the author mentioned that the Celts believed they were descended from fallen angels since they claimed to have been born of those "who'd fallen from the sky." Gotta admit, this intrigued me, and my imagination ran with it. That's why a lot of the Elohim words in my stories are derived from Welsh and Irish.

I also learned that the gnostics believed that the God of the Old Testament was actually a fallen angel, which made a helluva lot of sense to me. Yahweh (I AM) or Jehovah seemed petty, cruel, jealous, and often behaved in very brutal fashion. He seemed a tad on the insane side to me. So I put all of this to work and developed my own mythology.

PVN: What attracts you to the paranormal?

AP: The mystery, the sense of wonder and awe, and all the dark possibilities. I like thinking there is more going on around us than we realize, that there are layers upon layers of existence and that more than humans (and animals) walk this earth.

PVN: How did you get your start as a writer?   

AP: I started writing little short stories in grade school, then wrote more emotionally complex stories as a teen for my sisters and friends. I wrote sporadically as an adult  (busy with raising a family and dealing with/ending an unpleasant marriage) and didn't get serious about it until 1990 when I sold my first short story to a professional magazine, Amazing Stories. I sold a handful more, then stopped writing while I focused on raising my kids. Kids raised, I resumed writing and wrote my first novel - A Rush of Wings.
 
I was very fortunate in landing an agent with a prestigious house as quickly as I did (within a year) along with a two-book contract with Pocket. I've been running ever since. LOL.
 
The first book in my second series will be out the end of June - Black Dust Mambo, and book 4 of The Maker's Song - Etched in Bone, will be out the end of December.

PVN: What thrills you about writing?   

AP: Watching the story unfurl from beneath my fingertips and realizing my subconscious has been very busy. LOL. I like the sense of discovery, of getting so lost in the characters that they continue to talk in my head even after I've walked away from the keyboard. I'm thrilled when a vivid and visceral image flares in my mind and I know a scene from the book, a scene I haven't written yet, has just crafted itself behind my eyes.    

PVN: What is your writing environment like?

AP: My office is filled with things, pictures, and images that inspire me. To name a few: a poster of Trent Reznor. A picture of Brandon Lee as The Crow. Drawings of different characters by friends, a collections of little wolves and gators, small Goth dolls, a werewolf with movable jaws and arms, a drawing of John Keats on his deathbed, pictures of New Orleans, Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde dolls, books, books, and more books. My desk needs to be neat and tidy, I need a cup of coffee, and tons of music.

PVN: Will there be more books in The Maker's Song series

AP: Yes, definitely. Book 4, Etched in Bone, will be out the end of December 2010, and I have more planned. I also hope to do a stand alone about Von, and a book (or more) about Lucien.

PVN: What other projects are you working on?  

AP: I'm working on my second series about a hoodoo apprentice in the bayou who runs into mystery, magic, murder, and sexy nomads, I'm also working on a dark fantasy about John Keats. (Still. I've had little free time to work on it.) I plan more Maker's Song books and - as mentioned above - the stand-alones about Von and Lucien. Oh! And I still hope to a series on ghosts, paranormal investigators, and things dark enough to steal the breath away.

PVN: What do you like to do in your spare time, assuming you have any :-) ?  

AP: LOL! I like to read and see movies. I've had very little time for social activities, but I hope that'll change once I'm writing fulltime. I'd also like to return to bellydancing which I stopped doing several years ago when I got too busy. Um . . . but for fun and exercise, not performing. For small gatherings, that was okay, but I think I can live without all the performance anxiety. LOL.

PVN: Where can readers find you on the Internet?

AP: I'm everywhere. LOL.
Website:http://www.adrianphoenix.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/adriannikolasphoenix
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adrian-Phoenix/55403659403?ref=mf
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adrian-Phoenix/55403659403?ref=mf#/?ref=home
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AdrianPhoenix
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/944594.Adrian_Phoenix
Club Hell Forum and Message Board: http://clubhell.yuku.com/
Dante's Club Hell Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dantes_club_hell/


PVN:  Anything else you would like to add?

AP: Just a thank you to you and your readers, Patricia, for having me. I've enjoyed being here and I really appreciate the invitation! I hope to return soon!


PVN: : Adrian, the welcome mat is always out for you at PVN

Now for the contest - open worldwide!


One lucky reader will win a signed set of the three books in The Maker's Song series.

To be eligible do one or more of the following:
* Ask Adrian a question - 1 point
* Link this interview to your own site or any if your social network sites, and be sure to let me know the URL - 1 point for each link

If your email is not associated with your ID, please put the address in your response.

Contest ends Jan. 19 at 11:59 PM PST



BEST OF LUCK TO EVERYONE!!


The contest portion has ended. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Bloggiesta - Finish LIne

When I signed up for Bloggiesta I was feeling enthusiastic and healthy!

Bloggiesta To Do List

*Write Reviews and clean up drafts
*Bring Book reviews together
*Bring Interviews together  Done
*Bring associate programs together  Done
*Template  for contest phrasing and contest answering  Done
*List books for review
*Have backup posts  Done
*Invite guest posts
*Cleanup tags
*Make a list of what I want to cover in 2010
*Edit About Me Page
*Write review policy
*List and Link other challenges
*Prepare for upcoming posts - Partially Done
 
On Friday, when the challenge began I put in seven hours, having started in mid-afternoon. Saturday and Sunday was not as productive.

The first thing I did was clean up up the sidebar associate program sites so that now at least they are all together.   Done

Then I made up templates that I can use when running contests so that the list of rules is more uniform. Done

I put together 3 backup posts. Very time consuming, but definitely worth the effort because now I have some breathing room.   Done

Prepare upcoming posts - which means having posts ready for the entire coming week. Very valuable! (still have one more to do)  Partially Done

I now have a post - see Events and Contests sidebar - that has links to the various author interviews on PVN.   Done

Total hours - 17


What Bloggiesta has helped me do is organize my thoughts on what needs to be done on PVN. I hope that when I have finished everything on the TO DO List that it will give the site more value to my readers.

As you can see I had lots of Bloggiesta plans for the weekend, but late Friday evening the symptoms of a nasty bug showed up. I've spent the last 2 1/2 days feeling achy, listless, and unable to concentrate on much of anything, even mindless TV. But in my moments of clarity - and there were a few - I worked on the Bloggiesta challenge! Most items were not accomplished this weekend, and that's OK. Now I have a plan.

Thank you, Natasha, and the many others who made Bloggiesta possible!

Deep Kiss of Winter - Winners

Using Random.org I have selected two winners for Deep Kiss of Winter from Pocket Books.

See Tour and Contest information

Congratulations to kalynnick and chelleyreads

Please send your mailing address to patriciaaltner(at)gmail(dot)com