biancadarc.com Blog

Leap Day Giveaway!

It’s that weird day that only happens once every four years, so to celebrate, I’m doing an impromptu giveaway!

To enter: Send me an email at: BIANCADARC AT GMAIL.COM with the subject line “Leap Day Giveaway” and the answer to the following question: “Who are the main characters in Davin’s Quest?”

I’ll pick one winner at random tomorrow – deadline is midnight Pacific time tonight (to give everyone a chance to enter) – and announce it here. The winner gets to choose one free PDF download of one of my backlist books. Good luck!

The Writing Life: Last Night’s Talk

Author Michele Lang and I did a great presentation last night at a local library about ebooks and epublishing. We had folks in the audience from many different genres of writing who were all interested in learning how epublishing works. The discussion was lively, and by comparing my path with Michele’s, I learned an awful lot. We fielded a lot of questions and tried to iron out the differences between self-publishing, vanity press, and the various “flavors” of epublishers, among other things. It’s amazing how, as ebooks find their way, there are so many businesses popping up and the way some of the more successful epublishers are now doing a hybrid kind of business where they’re branching out to print books, but in a new business model that’s changing the way books are getting to market.

All in all, it’s an exciting time to be an author. There are many avenues to getting published today and more opportunities than ever before. Of course, one of the dirty little secrets of being in the “new media” is the need for the author to do a lot of self-promotion. Even doing the talk last night was another way to get my name out there, though of course, that was a secondary motivation for participating in the event. Still, every appearance and discussion with a potetial reader is a step in the right direction. The crowd last night seemed interested in the ways I’ve discovered – by watching and learning from folks who know way more about marketing than I do – of publicizing my ebooks and print books.

I’ve had good teachers, though most of them never knew they were teaching by example. But still, I’ve watched what other people do and the things I liked and thought would work for me, I did as well. I’ve also put my geeky nature to work by building a website and establishing a web presence of sorts. I learned a lot of ways to manipulate graphics and design things like bookmarks, postcards and other giveaways. Of course, I never realized I’d need to learn this kind of thing when I was sitting at home writing my first book! That all came later.

As for the presenation, I think it went well. We had an interested and lively group and I absolutely love working with Michele. Her first NY-published book came out this week and I just know she’s going to have great success with it!

Davin’s Quest is at #1!

I’m thrilled to report that Davin’s Quest hit the Number 1 spot on MBAM’s Best Seller List last night. Thank you to all who have purchased the novel and supported my writing these past years. I couldn’t be more thrilled! 

In honor of that accomplishment here’s a little snippet from Davin’s Quest for your delectation…

Rick woke to comfort. A comfortable bed, soft linens and a soft, decidedly feminine touch on his face. If he were dreaming, he wanted to stay asleep, but daylight tugged at his eyelids until he opened them.

“Good morning.” Callie’s voice floated to him as she sat on his bedside, her hand touching his cheek gently. The look on her face nearly stilled his heart. No woman had ever looked at him in just that way.

“What time is it?” He had to stop thinking about dragging her down so he could kiss her lips the way he’d dreamed of doing since the first moment they met.

“A little after noon. I just came to check on you and see if you were up for some lunch.” At that moment his stomach rumbled and she laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She stood from the bedside and picked up a tray from the dresser near the door.

Callie stopped a few feet away from the bed, the tray still in her hand and just watched him, her head tilted to the side, her eyes narrowed in concentration. Rick started to sweat under her scrutiny. She was so beautiful and she’d never looked at him quite that way before, concentrating on him, on his comfort.

“Something’s different.”

Rick sat up and rested back against a pile of pillows. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Callie placed the tray on the bedside table. She sat on the edge of the bed and stared at him as Rick tried to stay calm. He’d always been careful to school his thoughts around this woman.

She reached out to touch his face, but he shied away. Immediately he regretted the move when he saw hurt cross her face.

“You know I’m empathic.” He nodded, not liking where this conversation was heading but helpless to stop it. “Well, you’ve always been blank to me, Rick.” She spoke in a low voice, her hands cradled in her lap. “But you’re not anymore. I’m starting to pick up…things…from you.” She blushed and looked down at her hands.

Rick swore under his breath. “Ignore it, Callie. Just forget all about it.”

She looked up until her gaze met his. “What if I don’t want to forget it? What if I can’t?”

Guest: Michelle Hasker’s New Book

My friend and fellow Daughter of Circe, Michelle Hasker, had a new book release recently. Here are the details:

The Agency: Serpent’s Kiss by Michelle Hasker

ISBN: 978-1-59596-959-0

Genres & Themes: Paranormal; Action Adventure; Shapeshifters

Agent John Macallister is so deep undercover he’s not sure who he is anymore. Fortunately the Agency has sent one of their best operatives to rescue him — from himself. Only problem? She’s a giant anaconda.

Sleeping with the man you’re guarding is a bad idea. Especially if you’re a snake shapeshifter pretending to be nothing more than a six-foot-long, yellow anaconda and you’re in love with the man you’re guarding. As if not being able to have sex with John isn’t bad enough, they’re in the middle of a drug dealer’s paradise and everyone wants him dead. Kim doesn’t know which is harder, keeping John alive or keeping her hands — and her identity — to herself.

To buy: http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=814

Guest: Aline de Chevigny’s New Book

My friend and fellow Daughter of Circe, Aline de Chevigny, recently released a new book. Here are the details:

Chronicles of the Cursed: The Ravenson Project (Book 2)

By Aline de Chevigny

Available 22 February, 2008 from Aspen Mountain Press

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/new-releases/ravenson-project/prod_79.html

Blurb

Malek DeWinter, learnt the hard way that the Raven Lord he’d thought had aved him from death so many years ago, wasn’t what he appeared to be. After a night of passionate lovemaking with his new found mate, he wakes from his cursed sleep to find himself chained to the dungeon walls. With his mate at the mercy of his Lord, the house he’d thought had abandoned him comes to his rescue. Can he make things right before it’s too late? Or will he lose his true love to the hands of a traitor?

Davin’s Quest – Character Inspiration

For some odd reason, this photo of Hugh Jackman is one of my favorites. When I first saw it, I thought that was a sword in his hands. Later – much later – I realized it’s a golf club. Duh.  

Anyway, this photo actually inspired the addition of Rick St. John – a main character in Davin’s Quest – though I’m not usually one of those writers who keeps photos of hunks around for inspiration. Honestly, I usually prefer to imagine my characters in a very nebulous sort of way. Attaching a famous person’s face to them kind of ruins it for me. Especially when said famous person turns out to be a jerk in real life.

But for whatever reason, every time I think of Rick, this photo comes to mind. I think it’s the grumpy look on his face, the definition of those muscles – like he’s lived a hard life (which my charater, Rick, definitely has) – and the devil-may-care attitude of appearing in public in a canary yellow towel. The whole thing just says, “I’m gonna do what I want and wear what I want. What’s it to you? Now get out of the way.”

So for those of you who are interested in such things, this is where the character Rick comes from in the second book of my Resonance Mates series. The first book (Hara’s Legacy) is due out in print any minute now, and Book 2 (Davin’s Quest) is now available in ebook and will be in print in late December/early January.

Davin’s Quest – Available Now!

Which man will Callie choose, the alien or the warrior? Or can she have both?

Resonance Mates Book 2

For each Alvian, there is one perfect match—a Resonance Mate whose soul blends in perfect harmony. Unlike the rest of his race, Davin has emotions and suffers for it. Without a mate, he is doomed to go mad. Searching for answers and understanding, he seeks out Callie O’Hara, a human woman with strong empathic gifts. Could this fragile human be his Resonance Mate?

Rick St. John is a tough-as-nails survivor of the Alvian occupation of Earth. He doesn’t believe in much, but when he sees Callie for the first time, he starts to believe in love at first sight.

The Governing Council is gunning for Davin, the upstart who dares to defy them. And they’ll kill anyone who gets in their way. Davin and Rick must come to terms with their feelings for Callie in order to keep her safe, while she has to find a way to save them both…with her love.

Warning: Warning, this title contains hot alien love, explicit sex, graphic language, and ménage a trois.

Read An Excerpt Online

Party on the Chat Group Today!

Con Report – FarPoint

I didn’t get to the con until Saturday, but had a very good time, nonetheless. I shared signing times with Allyn Gibson, who is a Star Trek author and interesting conversationalist. We were also on a “pro” panel with a few other Trek authors – I definitely felt like the odd man out at first – but as soon as the jokes started, I was right at home. These guys were hilarious!

One thing I found interesting about the con itself was the prevalence of very serious Trek fans. Most cons I’ve been to have more of a mixture of other shows/genres than just Trek, but here it was pretty obvious that was the core group. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it was definitely strange to me. Still, there was a large StarGate contingent and other fandoms represented as well.

And there was a guy in a ghilly suit for the masquerade that looked pretty impressive. He had a camo Boba Fett thing going on that was cool.

On a celebrity note, James Callis (from the new Battlestar Galactica) has spikey hair now and is a bit shorter than I expected and Erin Gray looks really great! I remember her from Buck Rodgers and she looks just as perky and hardly any older. (Don’t you just hate her for that?! LOL)

Don’t forget the Davin’s Quest release day party tomorrow on my chat group! I hope to see you all there!

ARe Awards!

I won two awards last night! Wow! ARe hosted a great ceremony in their chat room with videos made by ScrapFairy Designs just for the occasion. You can see my winning vids on YouTube at:

Best Author: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2PVvh041Ww

Best Book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9lh7FnZdrs

Sorry, I have yet to learn how to embed a video on this blog (any WordPress fans out there willing to coach me through it?). If I can figure out how to post them to my website – which will undoubtedly be easier – I will.

Thanks to ARe for the honor!