The Fort Pitt Museum

What a place to get inspiration for an historical romance novel! I loved the little tableaus of people and events.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The Blockhouse at Fort Pitt Museum

 What a fascinating place this was! I love museums, especially ones like this that bring history to life!

Bewitching Book Tours Magazine

October 2013 Bewitching Book Tours Magazine by Roxanne Rhoads

Who would expect to find a waterfall in the middle of the city?

I can't believe it's three weeks since I was on holiday in the US with my hubby and dear friend and Author Roast co-hostess Mary.  It was great to meet up with Mary again, and also with Mary Beth, Sharon Donovan's lovely sister, who took us for lunch with Sharon's parents, who are such a special couple.

We had a fantastic time and below is a short video clip I took while we were in Pittsburgh. What a beautiful city, so many trees and fountains. I am a country lover but have to admit I certainly fell in love with Pittsburgh. We had a riverboat barbecue cruise starting on the Mon, and then going up the Ohio and Allegheny rivers, and visited the Pitt Museum among other things, before meeting up with Mary to travel on to Ohio and the Dreamhorse Guesthouse where we stayed last year. Cat and Allan treated us like family and it is such a lovely place, in the heart of Amish country, with four beautiful horses and a real character of a cat, called Woofie.

I'll try and put some more pictures up in the next week or so. We made wonderful memories and renewed friendships. Who could ask for more

The view from our hotel room

We walked to the fountain we could see from our hotel room

Me, Mary Beth and Dave about to take a triip on the three  rivers

Eva Gordon's Roast and giveaway.

Our party this week is set  in ancient rome.  Come along and join the fun and comment to enter the Giveaway.  Togas welcome.

www.authorroastandtoast.blogspot.com

To Steal a Highlander's Heart Book blast

I'm excited to be able to host a fellow 'Brit' writer today.  Read all about her latest book -

TO STEAL A HIGHLANDER'S HEART

By

Samantha Holt

BLURB:  

Alana sets eyes on Morgann for the first time in several years and what does he do? He captures her! But Alana refuses to go meekly with the sexy Highland warrior. Her kidnapping will reignite the rift that’s existed between the two clans since her father accused Morgann of theft and she doesn’t want to see her father harmed in the inevitable war that will ensue.

Unfortunately for Alana, the faeries seek to interfere with her plans to escape. The sidhe have a debt to repay and Tèile, the green faery, is determined to mend the rift between the clans for good. And that means ensuring Alana and Morgann marry.

Morgann has his own reasons for taking Alana and they are nothing to do with marriage or war. He wants to use her to reveal a secret from the past, the one that had him accused of theft. If only he didn’t find his childhood friend so attractive. When circumstances force them together, Alana’s life is threatened and war is imminent. Can Morgann reveal the truth without losing Alana? And will the faeries meddling help or hinder his cause?

EXCERPT:  

Excerpt 1

Endless moments stretched on as she waited for Morgann to look away, to break the connection, but he stared brazenly on as his gaze trailed over her face. What did he see? As she gaped up at him, the irate warrior dissolved into a flesh and blood man and she recalled how much she used to adore him. When Morgann was banished from her father’s lands, she’d been heartbroken at losing her friend, but with the blazing sensation of having him flattened against her, she remembered that it wasn’t just the loss of his friendship that hurt her so. She’d always silently hoped Morgann would play a bigger role in her future.

But that didn’t change the fact that he was taking her against her will and she would not go meekly, regardless of what she once felt. If only she could ignore the sensuous pull of his lips or the darkening of his pupils as a rough finger drew a path over her cheek.

A crack ripped across the sky and they both jolted. Pushing to standing, Morgann helped her up and grimaced as he eyed her. Aware of the mud coating her, she swiped a hand across her face as her cheeks heated. Titling her head up, she hoped the rain would at least be useful for something and would not only rinse away some of the dirt but also cool her down. The way the man made her skin blister was extremely disconcerting.

Morgann muttered a curse, drawing her attention back to him as he raked a hand through his hair and yanked some rope from the leather pouch hanging from his saddle. As he turned back to her, rope held out, Alana shrank away. “Ye cannae

mean to tie me up, surely?”

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Samantha resides in Warwickshire, England with her twin girls and husband. She's a romance addict and has been devouring all kinds of romance for as long as she can remember.

Having studied archaeology, Samantha likes to blend her love of the past with her passion for romance to create thrilling and passionate tales set to medieval backdrops. She thinks there's nothing sexier than a rugged warrior and a feisty maiden falling head over heels for each other.

Website/Blog – www.samanthaholt.org.uk
http://www.samanthaholtauthor.blogspot.co.uk/

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/romanticfiction

Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008FKHIXY

Click banner to follow her tour

Laura Bickle - The Outside -26th Aug

I'm so happy to welcome Laura Bickle to as my special guest again.  Make yourself comfortable, Laura, don't worry, you'll soon get used to the artificial gravity on the Flight Deck. Help yourself to something sparkling and begin by telling us what you like to do for fun when not writing?

I’m a complete nerd. My spare time is spent flipping through comic books, customizing action figures, and being harassed by my cats. I belly dance once in a while, and I just started karate lessons. Neither one of those activities is accomplished with much grace or expertise, but I have fun.

Wow, I can't speak for karate, but I've always thought belly dancing was so graceful and sensual. Getting back to your books though, when did you start writing?

I’ve always been scribbling, ever since I was old enough to hold a crayon. I loved stories – my mother was a librarian and was always reading to me – so I always wanted to try to tell my own.

Writing as Laura Bickle and Alayna Williams, I wrote four urban fantasies. Two are best summed up as “Ghostbusters in Detroit with dragons and arson” (EMBERS and SPARKS). The other two, DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE, are about a criminal profiler who uses Tarot cards to solve crimes.

My most recent work includes a pair of dystopian fantasies. THE HALLOWED ONES is a YA thriller described as “Witness meets 28 Days Later.” The sequel, THE OUTSIDE, releases September 3.

I read the first chapter of 'The Outside' and it really has me hooked, so tell me, what comes first: the plot or the characters?

I’m a plotter. I love building a skeleton of a story and then adding flesh to it. Staring at the blank page scares the daylights out of me, and the outline is my security blanket. I find that the characters grow organically out of the plot, and that I grow to love them more than the story. They bring life to the story, while the plot structure supports them.

It's so interesting how people answer that question. characters growing out of the plot sounds so logical - for me it's actually the other way round! :) Tell us about your latest release and what you think readers will enjoy about it

At the end of THE HALLOWED ONES, Katie and her friends were exiled from Katie’s Amish community. As the title to THE OUTSIDE suggests, Katie must confront the devastation in the world beyond her community. Her chief challenges will be her own survival and protecting those she loves.

My favorite thing about the story is taking Katie from her familiar world and bringing her into ours. This is something that she wanted to experience before the disaster, when she longed to go on her Rumspringa. But she must now cope with it in a very dangerous new landscape, without any guarantees for a safe return.

This is such an interesting premise, and you've built Katie's world so well.  How do you write - do you listen to music when you write and if so, what kind of music – or do you find it distracts you?

I like instrumental or ambient music. It keeps my dreaded inner editor mollified while not being too distracting.

What is your favourite source of inspiration?

If I get stuck, I reach for my collection of Tarot cards and randomly pick some cards. More often than not, the cards I’ve drawn lead me to a new insight on the scene I’m working with.

That's an unusual and very interesting way to be inspired, Laura. Is there any advice, as a new writer, that you were either given, or wish you had been given?

The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is to set up a word count calendar and use it. It’s too easy to let the days and weeks slip by without anything productive happening. I keep a writing calendar and to commit to writing a certain number of words a day. Otherwise, I tend to procrastinate. If I don’t set deadlines for myself, I would never finish a book

I really suggest that writers try National Novel Writing Month at least once. It got my excuses and blocks out of the way, and helped me learn that what I thought were my limits were not really limits. They were just walls I’d set up in my head.

A word count calendar is a really useful idea. I agree about NaNo too, I've done it three times and now have three drafts to edit! Sowho is your favorite character in your book and why?

Katie is my favorite. Katie was an interesting character to write because she's very strong in a quiet, enduring kind of way. And she’s a young Amish woman – which was a very exciting challenge for me to write! Katie struggles to develop her own moral compass, independent of her parents and community. That requires a great deal of fortitude, just as much fortitude as dealing with the evil creatures in her world.

Great answer, I like Katie too.  Sadly we're coming to the end of our interview, but before we take a look at your book, where can readers connect with you?

My website is www.laurabickle.com. I’m also on Facebook and Twitter, usually exclaiming over cutecat pictures.

Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog, it’s been a thrill having you here and learning more about you and your writing. I wish you much success now and in the future.

Thank you so much for having me! I really appreciate it!

BIO

Laura Bickle’s professional background is in criminal justice and library science. When she’s not patrolling the stacks at the public library she’s dreaming up stories about the monsters under the stairs (she also writes contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams). Laura lives in Ohio with her husband and six mostly-reformed feral cats.




Buy links for THE OUTSIDE:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-outside-laura-bickle/1114076447?ean=9780544000131

http://www.amazon.com/Outside-Laura-Bickle/dp/0544000137/ref=la_B004HNFOCA_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1358385659&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/The-Outside-ebook/dp/B00AUZS6PQ/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1358430184&sr=8-1

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780544000131

http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780544000131-0

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Outside/Laura-Bickle/9780544000131?id=5673744139677

http://www.hmhbooks.com/hmh/site/hmhbooks/bookdetails?isbn=9780544000131&srch=true


THE OUTSIDE
by LAURA BICKLE

One girl. One road. One chance to save what remains…

After a plague of vampires is unleashed in the world, Katie is kicked out of her Amish community for her refusal to adhere to the new rules of survival. Now in exile, she enters an outside world of unspeakable violence with only her two “English” friends and a horse by her side. Together they seek answers and other survivors—but each sunset brings the threat of vampire attack, and each sunrise the threat of starvation.

And yet through this darkness come the shining ones: luminescent men and women with the power to deflect vampires and survive the night. But can these new people be trusted, and are they even people at all?

In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, it’s up to one Amish girl to save her family, her community, and the boy she loves . . . but what will she be asked to leave behind in return?

Advance Praise for THE OUTSIDE:
* “Top-notch. . . . A horror story with heart and soul.”
—Kirkus, starred review

“At once horrifying, hopeful, and hauntingly beautiful, this gorgeous read with its rich textures and spine-tingling suspense kept me glued to the pages in utter fascination. Laura Bickle is a master storyteller.”
-Darynda Jones, NY Times Bestselling author of The Darklight Series

Excerpt link: http://www.laurabickle.com/the-outside//?action=excerpt


THE HALLOWED ONES, the first book in the series, is on sale in August! The Kindle version is $1.99 right now. Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Hallowed-Ones-ebook/dp/B0098OHQNS/ref=sr_1_20?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1375456006&sr=1-20