biancadarc.com Blog » 2009

FireDrake – In Print Today!

March 31, 2009 on 11:20 am | In Dragon Knights, New Releases | 2 Comments

FireDrake comes out today in print! My latest dragon book, this one has earned all kinds of critical acclaim. Here’s what a few of the reviewers have been saying:

“The newest in D’Arc’s Dragon Knights is a showcase for an ensemble of wonderfully drawn human and dragon characters. Magical adventure and passionate romance combine for a riveting read.” – 4 Stars from Romantic Times Magazine

“It makes me wish dragons were real…The relationship between the three main characters is brilliant.” – Joyfully Recommended by Joyfully Reviewed

“Bianca D’Arc hits yet another home run… With incredible detail and a wealth of emotion, Ms. D’Arc weaves a tale of redemption that is deep and tremendously poignant.” – 5 Blue Ribbons from Romance Junkies

“…D’Arc once again delivers some twists that will be sure to surprise and delight her readers…an enthralling fantasy romance.” – 5 Bookmarks from Wild On Books

“The plot is extremely detailed and well planned – each scene and bit of information falling into place like a uniquely crafted puzzle…it is very easy to lose oneself in the storyline…I would HIGHLY recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a delightful foray into the realm of dragons, knights, and fantasy. It is by far one of the best series this reader has ever had the pleasure of reading.” – 5 Hearts from The Romance Studio

The book is already climbing up the Amazon Best Seller Lists, so thank you to those who have already bought it. I hope you enjoy it!

Click here to buy from Amazon

Click here to buy from MBAM

Click here to buy from B&N

Vid: Eagle Adopts Chickens

March 28, 2009 on 9:00 am | In Video | No Comments

More bird news (I just think this is SO cute!):

Wild Swans

March 27, 2009 on 6:00 am | In Creatures & Legends | No Comments

Since mid-February, I’ve been priviledged to watch huge flocks of migratory swans, snow geese and Canada geese flying and congregating in harvested farm fields near my parents’ home in Pennsylvania. Being a suburban kid, I’ve never had a chance to see such huge numbers of these gorgeous creatures. Sure, we have lots of Canada geese that seem to have given up migrating and just live on Long Island year-round now, but there’s nothing like watching flock after flock after flock of these birds flying overhead, hooting and honking as they head northward, signalling the approach of the end of Winter.

(Photo from the PA Game Commission site)

Last weekend, I saw the largest flock of swans I have ever seen in my life! There had to be hundreds, if not thousands of graceful, long-necked white swans congregating in an empty corn field as I drove by. Back at my mom’s, I was helping move some things out in the garden and heard the now-familiar noise in the sky, looked up and saw several large V’s of swans flying north. Just breathtaking!

I did a little research and found out that these are tundra swans that breed along the northern coastline of Canada in the Summer and spend the Winter on the coasts of both the Atlantic and Pacific. They are gorgeous. I’m used to seeing swans in pairs – a few at a time in a pond or something. I’ve never seen so many in one place and I have to say, the sight is truly breathtaking and a privilege to see.

I tried to snap a few photos on my new cell phone, but I haven’t gotten them downloaded yet (still learning how to use the phone). If/when I do, I’ll try to post some.

Inferno News

March 26, 2009 on 6:00 am | In Paranormal Tales | 4 Comments

Work on my newest book, Inferno, is moving right along. I’ve been editing it all this week and it’s going really well. The edits weren’t that intricate – just a lot of overused words and some commas about which I may disagree with my editor. (Do you prefer a comma before “and” in a compound sentence? I really don’t, but I was never an English major, so what do I know? *shrug*)

Anyway, I thought you’d like to know that I’ve put up the beginnings of a page on my website for the book, which is due out in ebook formats at the end of June. I don’t have a cover yet, but we do have an official blurb. It’s on the site, along with a few words about the main characters, but I’ll include the blurb here for you…

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

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.

The 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…

Wallpaper Wednesdays

March 25, 2009 on 6:00 am | In Dragon Knights, Wallpaper | 1 Comment

FireDrake will be released in print next week! Here’s a reprise of another wallpaper from my old site featuring a scene from the book…

1024×768 – 800×600 – 640×480

Click on the size you want, then right click and “save as background” on most systems.

STS-119

March 24, 2009 on 9:00 am | In Space | No Comments

Once again, I’ve got NASA TV running in a small window on my computer while I work. I LOVE watching spacewalks and even the more “routine” (though I suppose nothing is routine in orbit) tasks aboard the ISS (International Space Station).

Exciting things will be happening up there over the next week or two. First, the shuttle mission is bringing more power to the station. It means more full-time station inhabitants can launch from Russia to rendezvous with the station over the weekend and take up residence. The way I’m reading the schedule, it looks like the Soyuz module with Expedition 19 will launch on Thursday and the shuttle will leave the station just before the Soyuz shows up.

Although most of the recent shuttle flights have had a lot to do with construction of the ISS, it’s still super interesting to watch. The multitude of spacewalks necessary to get the station built are probably the most exciting parts – at least for me. As a writer, I like to see where we’re at as far as personal protection in vacuum and imagine what the possibilities for the future might be.

But that’s just me. So if you’re interested in the space shuttle mission, they’ll be up there for a few more days. You can tune into NASA TV if you have sattelite TV, or you can watch it on your computer at http://www.nasa.gov/, then hit “Multimedia” and “NASA TV”.

Con Lag

March 23, 2009 on 12:05 pm | In Appearances | 4 Comments

I had the most amazing weekend at Lunacon! But I’m definitely feeling the effects of too little sleep today. It’s 11:30 here in NY and I just woke up. Oh, boy. In short, I feel like a zombie.

But to get back to the fun of the weekend, it was beyond my expectations. It had been about 15 years since I last saw Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. I met them through a mutual friend in NJ, when they were newly married and full of the joy of being newlyweds. We spent a memorable day playing guitars and singing some of the great songs Misty has written to go with her books as well as some shared favorites by British musician, Chris de Burgh. (“The Tower”, “Crusader”, “The Girl With April in Her Eyes”, etc. If all you’ve heard is his old hit “Lady in Red”, you’re missing the real de Burgh!)

That one day from all those years ago is still a highlight of my college years. I loved her Valdemar books then and still do. Every once in a while I’ll go back and reread certain volumes of those books and they transport me back to those halcyon days in my mind. My college years were truly excellent. They were followed by the hardest work I’ve ever done – working full-time in a lab while attending grad school at night, building up a huge debt in student loans that I felt compelled to repay as quickly as possible. As a result, I worked like a dawg for years after, still going to grad school for another degree, totally burning out in an attempt to become debt free. Those were not such good times, although I achieved great success in the eyes of the world. In my heart, I was never as happy as those carefree days in undergrad. (See how melancholy and introspective sleep deprivation makes me? Sorry.)

Anyway… if you’d asked me last week what I would have experienced at this con, I would have thought it would be all about seeing Misty and Larry again – from a fangirl point of view. Sure, there was that, but I guess I forgot that I’ve changed a lot since those early days. I was unprepared for the welcome I received as a (fledgling) author in my own right. They’d set me up for a “signing” time and I fully expected to sit there, all alone, looking pathetic. In fact, when I arrived a little early at the table in the hallway where I was supposed to sit for an hour, there were three guys sitting there already, chatting. I was glad. They stuck around and kept me company for a bit and it turned out we had a really interesting conversation.

But then people started arriving, looking for my books. What a great feeling! Romance readers at a sci fi con! Then someone walked up, already carrying a big stack of my titles, wanting them signed. I almost blubbered like a baby. Seriously, it was really nice to know that some folks in the SF&F community “get” my work, even if it is marketed and directed in large part toward the romance audience.

Then there were the panels. I think the best of the bunch was the last. We talked about epublishing and ebooks with a great panel of people with experience covering the spectrum of the epublishing world. It was moderated by my friend, Michele Lang, who later said it was like herding cats to keep us all in line. LOL! She was right – we grabbed the topic and away the discussion went! It was a great discussion in which I learned quite a bit and was able to gauge the SF&F community’s reaction to the idea of ebooks, which is surprisingly guarded.

That fact continues to amaze me. As a former lab geek, I was absolutely THRILLED when my friend (who used to work at the Sci Fi Channel) gave me a copy of The Lord of the Rings to read on my Palm Pilot. This was way before there were ebook readers. It was before the movies came out. In fact, I was re-reading LOTR in preparation for the movies because I hadn’t read it since I was a teen. After reading the entire trilogy on my PDA, I was hooked! I looked around the Palm store and found these weird vampire books by someone named Feehan. I had no clue who she was, but I sure liked those sexy vamps. LOL. Then I branched out, looking for more ebooks and found Ellora’s Cave and the super sexy futuristics and paranormals they had to offer. I was a happy camper!

I’ve gone e in a big way, and will likely never go back to schlepping around piles and pounds of paper books. I prefer to buy e and will only buy print if I must. I figured the SF&F community would be like me, but I was SO WRONG. They’re just starting to see the advantages of ebooks and it’s still a hard sell to get many of them to even try. Wow. That’s totally not what I expected, but I guess it will catch on as people learn the advantages of being able to carry around your entire library on a USB drive.

So it was a great weekend, filled with good conversations with interesting people and a surprising feeling of being “worthy” to share my opinions on books, the changing state of the publishing world as seen from a relatively new author’s point of view and life, the universe and everything! I definitely have con lag. I barely slept in the toxic hotel that was undergoing renovation and caused allergies to arise the likes of which I have never experienced. But it was all cool and I can’t wait for next year’s Lunacon! If you’re in the area, you should definitely plan on it. It was great!!!

Wieliczka Salt Mine Chapel

March 20, 2009 on 6:00 am | In Just For Fun | 3 Comments

I’m leaving for Lunacon today, but I thought I’d leave you with an interesting destination to fire your imagination. I’ll try to check in from the road, but you never know what internet connection is going to be like from a hotel, so I make no promises. Now, if your dreams run to the underground halls of Tolkein’s dwarves and their mithril mines, take a look at this place…

Near Krakow, Poland, there is a salt mine that’s been in operation since the 13th century. Because the miners spent days below ground and Poland has long been a very religious country, the miners actually carved chapels out of salt right within the mine. There are about forty chapels in all, the largest being the Saint Kinga Chapel.

*Note: These two photos were taken from this site, which has more detailed information and more photos of the carvings within this amazing mine.

Everything within the chapel – the altar, the frescos on the walls and even the chandeliers are carved from salt. This is one of those places, I’d love to see for myself. It apparently ceased operating as a mine in the 1970′s and is now open for tourists. One of the cutest things I was able to find about the mine was this photo:

Gnomes were good luck to the miners and many carvings of them are found in places within the vast mine complex. This grouping has been artistically lit to good effect, don’t you think?

And here’s a video taken by a tourist that gives you a 360-degree view of the Saint Kinga Chapel. I think this place is just amazing!

Getting Ready for Lunacon

March 19, 2009 on 9:54 am | In Appearances, Uncategorized | No Comments

I’m packing my bags (I just know I’m going to forget something important!) for Lunacon this weekend in Rye, NY. I’ll try to check in from the road, but I’m uncertain about internet connection in the hotel. (Hotels are always hit or miss for internet in my experience.)

So if you’re in the neighborhood, please drop in and say hello! Get more information here: http://2009.lunacon.org/