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Coming Up and Contest Question

April 26, 2012

I think it’s almost bedtime for me, even though I guess most of the people who will want to take part in the contest are just getting started with their evenings. Timezones are such funny things.

I wanted to talk a little bit about what’s to come. I was writing a lot last year and so far this year not that much, but I’ll get back to writing more actively soon, I hope. The writing I did last year and early this year has really paid off.

The next release I have coming up is book one of my shifter series. The series’ name is Finnshifters and the first book is called Chuffed. I’m working on book three and I’ve submitted book two, so they’re all coming up eventually, hopefully every few months or so. How many books are in the series? Probably four or five. Unless something new pops up.

Finnshifters is my take on the shifter genre. In my world, there are only “cats and dogs” as far as shifters are concerned, and it’s otherwise pretty much a regular world, just with shifters who live in secrecy. The series is a bit different, at least I think so, and the setting is Finland, which makes it unique in the M/M-genre. I hope you all will like it, at least I really do.

Another new thing I have coming up is a new novel. The working title is Technically Dead, and it’s about a young human who fell in love with a really old vampire and they ended up changing each other’s lives. The story begins in present day, where they haven’t seen each other in a decade and much has happened in between. And then much more happens and things change even more, you know the deal!

Chuffed will be out in May-June and Technically Dead in July-August. When I have the official dates, I’ll post them on my blog, which you can find from my website.

Since it is my bedtime, it’s also time for me to give you the last contest-question!

Because my upcoming shifter series, I want to know what kind of shifter you would want to be if you had to choose? It doesn’t have to be a feline or a canine breed, it can be whatever you like. Tell me why you chose this kind of animal and email me at tiafielding at gmail dot com with the two other answers to the previous questions.

When I have the contest winners, I’ll post them to my Facebook page and my blog. This should happen no later than Wednesday, May 2nd. If I don’t get many answers, I’ll extend the contest deadline and probably post it to a few other places too, just to get a few more emails to toss into the mix.

It has been fun, rambling along today! Let’s do this again some time, shall we?

Have a nice spring, everyone!

- Tia Fielding

Tia Travels Again!

April 26, 2012

I used to travel a lot as a kid. My family went through a holiday destination every year or every two years from the time I was six-ish to when I was fifteen. After that I’ve only gone abroad once, for my language course in England when I was sixteen.

I’m a low-income person, so I don’t have money to travel these days. I’d really love to go to the larger events and cons in the US, but the tickets are ridiculously expensive and I just can’t. Maybe one day. At least the thought will keep me writing!

Because I can’t go as far as the US, I decided to aim closer. There’s this event this year, the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet, in Brighton, UK. It takes place in September, and I’m really looking forward to it. My sister, she’s 14, is coming with me and she insists we go to London as well.

It wasn’t like she had to twist my arm… I mean I loved the few things I had a chance to see in London when I was there on a day-trip during my language course. I adore The Tower of London. I also want to go see The London Dungeon again.

Because my sister is a huge Harry Potter-freak, we’re also going to go to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. It’s going to be amazing and a treat even for me who haven’t actually read all the books or seen all the movies. I’ll have to before I go there, though. Not because of spoilers but because my dear friend who is probably coming with us will flay me if I don’t… You know who you are.

These are my travel plans for the future. I’m probably taking a little road trip (cue 5 hours of driving and bad singing. At least I’m doing it alone, eh?) soon to see relatives and friends in another part of Finland, but that doesn’t count, really. Because there needs to be an airplane involved for it to be a proper trip!

Contest-question number two: If you could travel abroad right this minute, where would you go and why?

Tia and Music, the Love Story.

April 26, 2012

I think I’ve always loved music. It is a huge inspiration and most of my stories tend to have songs or playlists. I’ve posted the playlist for my first novel By Any Other Name to my blog. You can find it here.

One of my first memories of a specific band or song comes from when I was about three years old. My mom had bought this new C-cassette of this Finnish band and we were listening to it in the car while driving to or from my grandparents’ house.

Since then, I’ve never really stopped listening. There was a boy band-period when I was about ten years old. Yes, it all started from this song.  New Kids On The Block forever! It’s been twenty years and I still remember the lyrics.

After the boy bands (also Take That, they were awesome!), I went punk-ish, but also listened to rock music. I remember this period where I listened to a lot of things, and during it I was on a vacation with the family in Turkey when I was about fourteen. I was sunbathing near the pool of our hotel with my Walkman and my cassettes and my favorite songs that week in the sun were anything from Oasis, Aerosmith, Green Day, Offspring and yes, Take That.

There have come periods in my life when I’ve listened to a certain kind of music for a long time, but I’ve always gone back to Green Day eventually. In 2010 I had the opportunity to go see them live in Helsinki, here in Finland. The funny thing was, I took my kid sister with me, and I suddenly realized I’d been a fan for a longer time she had been alive. Where did all those years go?!

Mike Dirnt of Green Day in Helsinki.

Lately, and I’m thirty now, I’ve cultivated my extremely random taste in music a little. I know instantly what I like, and I know what I won’t touch with a stick. So anything from Eminem to Dave Matthews Band to Muse to Linkin Park and Mozart, I’ll be there. I said cultivated, not “stopped being random”.

I have a favorite song at the moment. While I don’t like the original, I greatly enjoy this Glee version (by the lovely Darren Criss and the even more lovely Matt Bomer) of Somebody That I Used to Know (originally by Gotye ft. Kimbra).

And here’s my first contest-question: What’s been playing in your head or your player lately? You know that one song you can’t stop listening whether you like it or not?

Remember to collect all three questions (the other two are coming later today) and email them in one email to me at tiafielding at gmail dot com to win some nice prizes listed in a previous post!

Contest Details!

April 26, 2012

For the contest, I have figured out a few prizes.

Here we go:

1. Any three (3) of my Dreamspinner Press e-books (including my next release, Finnshifters 1: Chuffed).

2. A special package from yours truly via mail (this is valid worldwide and will contain something special) AND one (1) e-book of mine from Dreamspinner Press (not including any future releases).

3. A $15 gift card to All Romance Ebooks.

4. One (1) of my ebooks from Dreamspinner Press (no future releases).

I’ll randomly pick four people, and they get to pick a prize of the above four. So the first person can pick one, and the second can pick one of the remaining three and so on and so forth until there are no prizes left. Is this clear enough?

What you need to do to qualify to win is to follow my posts today. I’ll put three questions into the posts (they will be marked, don’t worry) and then you will have to email me your answers. There are no right or wrong answers, they’re open questions and I will pick the winners randomly, but you will have to answer all three to qualify.

My email is tiafielding at gmail dot com, and that’s where you need to send your answers.

If you get here later than tonight, don’t worry. You have until midnight of April 29th to take part and send in your answers. (I’ll check them my Monday night, which means anyone anywhere will have time to THEIR Sunday night.)

The first contest question will be posted soon-ish.

I can't wait to see these outside. So far there's only snow, but at least it's melting!

“No Quarter” Day – Titles and Languages and a Giveaway.

April 3, 2012

It’s getting on towards my bedtime here in Australia, so before I go for the night, I leave you all with a giveaway. Leave your name and email address in a comment to this post and when I get up in the morning, I’ll announce the winner of a copy of “No Quarter.”
And just how did “No Quarter” get its title?
Well, basically, titles are my nemesis. “No Quarter” went through over twenty titles before my good friend, Meredith Shayne (author of “Equilibrium” also out with Dreamspinner Press) suggested “No Quarter.” It fit perfectly, especially as I’d just written a line about Gabriel giving no quarter in war and no quarter in love. I love my characters, like all authors do, and I wanted them to have a title that reflected the story and their personalities. So when “No Quarter” was put to me, it was very much a lightbulb moment.
Some of the other titles the novel had that just didn’t suit at all included “Craving to Entwine,” which made me *cringe*; “Masquerade of Stars,” “Flying for Lovers,” another that made me cringe, but it might get used in something else. “Hope Remains,” “Angels Speak in Dark and Light,” which was a little too close to one of my favourite books, “Creatures of Light and Dark” by Roger Zelazny, and so it was definitely a no.
“No Quarter” was Meredith Shayne’s 4am brainstorm, and her thoughts matched mine as soon as I saw it. No quarter is given in wars/battles between angels and demons; no quarter is given in love, when it’s the possessive, primitive sort of love that Michael and Gabriel have.
Now, because my Archangels represent all the races of humanity, and Michael is Chinese with Gabriel being British with a love of Russia, I wanted them to have pet names in Chinese and Russian. The Russian was easy enough, I’d researched Russian pet names and swear words several years ago for a role playing game, and I remembered the affectionate <I>solnyshko</I> and <I>solnyshko moyo</I> for (loosely translated) ‘my sun’ or ’sun of my life.’ Finding the Chinese pet names for lovers was a little harder.
I’d studied Mandarin Chinese in high school, but I don’t remember a lot of it, much to my regret. So, I did a lot of Googling to find the right terms, because I am big on research, and found a site where you could ask a Chinese speaker to translate things. Someone had already asked about terms of endearment, happily for me, and the answer was <I>da bao</I>, which means ‘big treasure.’ Perfect!
Thanks again for reading along, everyone, and don’t forget to leave a comment with your name and email address to go into the running to win a copy of the novel!

Quick Final Note: The contests end… And a few sentences of not-quite-sex from Delsyn’s Blues

January 2, 2012

… three days from today, which will be Thursday 1/5. So if you haven’t entered, there’s time, and if you have, please be patient.

As long as I’m here, a teeny little titilating excerpt from Delsyn’s Blues:

Sonny looked at him and he got warm. More than a little. Sonny’s hair, wet and dark, sending rivulets meandering down his just-cut-enough belly, pooling in his navel and in the hollows inside his hip bones, then soaking into the rough white towel he’d wrapped around and tucked at the waist. Luki’s breath went a little ragged, and he raised his eyes from the spectacle to find Sonny watching him back.

Sonny’s eyes had that look. The one that said “take me, you’re in charge,” but conveyed clearly that he knew Luki was twisted right around his finger. Or his dick. Didn’t so much matter which. Luki didn’t really care who had whom by the balls, so to speak, and he could play too. He licked his fat lips, knowing quite well what that did to Sonny. “Come here,” he said, not so much a request as an offer.

Sonny rolled his eyes, but it didn’t mask the heat rising up his neck. “What, again?”
***

Whatever books you’re spending time with now, folks, happy reading. Au Revoir!

The big red dog—or how readers helped write Delsyn’s Blues, part 2 (Oh yeah, and another contest)

January 2, 2012

Back on June 20, 2011, on this very blog, a release party was in progress for book 1, Loving Luki Vasquez. In introduced my assistant, Boudreau. Here’s one of his pics, for those who haven’t yet met him:

Several readers/party attendees commented on the subject of cats and dogs in general, and I mentioned that I thought Vasquez and James might acquire a dog in Delsyn’s Blues. That led to “name that dog” contest at my Goodreads author blog. Now, Bear is a chow-mix totally devoted to Luki, despite Luki’s best efforts to discourage him. Here’s the picture readers used to name the new, bulky, four-legged character:

And another contest!

My last post was an excerpt. Tell me the name of the boat Sonny was driving, and their destination, and your in the running for ebook copy of Delsyn’s Blues. (If you entered the other contest, you can enter this one, too, but you can only win once, okay?)
Like before, answer in a comment here, or email me direct at lou(dot)sylvre(at)gmail(dot)com. Please enter! I love contests!

Vasquez and James Contest # 1

January 2, 2012

About contests…

Not yet had a chance to read Loving Luki Vasquez and want to do so? Read LLV and want to read Delsyn’s Blues? Of course, I hope your answer to one of those questions is yes, please!

Sooooo… I invented a contest, and if you win, you choose the ebook. I first posted this at Coffeetime Romance and More on 12/30 (last year!), and then posted it also at the Dreamspinner Press discussion forum on Goodreads. The competition continues, and I’m upping the stakes and increasing the opportunity, to celebrate release day.

First, Part one, as previously posted:

The prize: Vasquez and James ebook of your choice (Loving Luki Vasquez or Delsyn’s Blues). (There will be 1 winner chosen at random by having a child too young to read draw the name out of a hat. Failing that, I’ll throw the names down on the floor and see which one my cat/assistant sits on or steps on first.)

To play,
• (1) go here— The Luki and Sonny Interview
• (2)read what Luki and Sonny had to say when I asked them questions posed by readers
• (3)and answer either of these two questions:

What would be Luki’s profession if he couldn’t be a badass?
What is the 1st favorite food Luki names?

Or…part two of the contest, follow the same link, but find out some stuff about Sonny.

Where did he go on a field trip that made him want to be a weaver?
What is first on Sonny’s list of favorite foods?

Extra prize incentive! Answer all four questions and you’re in the running for your choice, either both ebooks, or a paperback copy of Delsyn’s Blues!

To enter, you can comment here, or email me your response at lou(dot)sylvre(at)gmail(dot)com. I hope you find the reading a pleasure, and I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

“Blue Notes” Musical Soundtrack

December 30, 2011

So, if you haven’t figured it out already, “Blue Notes” is about music and musicians, among other things. While I was writing the book, I listened to a lot of different music, mostly classical.  There are three pieces that formed the basic soundtrack for the book:

1)  Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118, no. 2.   The American protagonist in the story, Jason, is a former classical pianist whose favorite piece of music is the Brahms.  It’s a totally romantic, angsty piece which I can listen to a million times and still turns me to Jell-O!  I can’t even count how many times I listened to it while writing the book (until my husband and kids finally told me to stop!).

2) Sibelius Violin Concerto This concerto is the first piece that appears in “Symphony,” one of the other books in the Blue Notes series (co-authored with my buddy, Venona Keyes).  And, good lord, that first movement is SOOOO romantic!

3) Tenor/Baritone duet from Bizet’s “The Pearlfishers”:   This is the “theme” for “Aria,” a WIP and another music-themed novel (about an opera singer), and is sung by the two male leads in the opera, who are best friends and rivals for the same woman’s love (talk about the closest thing to M/M sex in opera!)  Bromance at its best! They should just have ditched the girl and walked off into the sunset together…

All the links are to recordings you can listen to for free. And don’t forget that you can win enter a download of my favorite Brahms recording from Amazon by leaving a message on the blog.  Enjoy! -Shira

“Blue Notes” by Shira Anthony – Contest: What’s so sexy about classical music?

December 30, 2011

“Blue Notes” is a love story about musicians Jason Greene and Jules Bardon, and the first in a series of music themed romances with interconnected characters (spinoffs). Most of the stories involve classical music, and “Blue Notes” is no exception. So what’s so sexy about classical music? For some people, maybe this is a no-brainer, but for me, a former opera singer, it wasn’t such an easy concept – that classical music IS sexy.  Strange, I know!

I grew up on classical music. Sure, my dad listened to the Beatles and Led Zeppelin in the Sixties and Seventies. But the heart of our home, the soundtrack (because there always one) was classical: Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven and, later, when my mother switched from playing piano to harpsichord, Bach, Scarlatti, and Rameau.

I studied music theory from about the time I could read. I began playing the violin when I was four or five years old. My younger sister followed with cello. My mother, whose perfect pitch I wished I had, would accompany us. We sang in the car on long trips from Ohio to New York. My dad, not to be left out in spite of his tin ear, would “sing” along. Out of tune. Every time. But even he would play classical music on his stereo, graduating from a turntable to CD’s, and later a Sony Digital Audio Tape Recorder and, finally, internet streaming. Years later, my dad still listens to music on his tablet, and my mother has a harpsichord in New York and France. She still performs.

And me? I hated it. Or at least, that’s what I told myself for years. Forget Bach. I wanted Elton John, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper. So what changed? I stopped thinking of classical music as “work” and started to listen to it for fun after I stopped singing professionally. And then my friend and fellow Dreamspinner author, Venona Keyes, suggested we co-author a story about a violinist and a conductor. I pulled out recordings of the violin music I remembered playing through in high school, starting with the Sibelius Violin Concerto, and I was hooked.

“Blue Notes” features one particular piano work prominently, Brahms’s Intermezzo, Opus 118, no. 2. It’s in your face romantic, brooding, and an absolutely perfect representation of Jason Greene, the American lawyer. Strong, but with a deep emotional connection he doesn’t show others often. Sexy, understated. Just like the Brahms. Want to hear what I mean? Take a listen to Nikolai Lugansky playing the piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iF4Rn2b4T8&feature=related

Would you like to win an mp3 download of my favorite recording of the piece and the other intermezzos? Leave a comment on DSP’s blog, on Goodreads, or on my blog, and you’re automatically entered to win “My Favorite Brahms,” by Van Cliburn, from Amazon.com. One winner will be drawn on January 31st. -Shira