Nocturnal Journal

Behind the Story: Droid Wars

2007-10-27T19:01:00.000-05:00

I’m working on Droid Wars 2: Magnetic Attraction and thought I’d take a moment to put up a new feature I’ll be doing on my blog—BEHIND THE STORY. This one will touch a little on what inspired me to write the Droid Wars series. Contrary to what some might think, Star Wars and Star Trek had nothing to do with what motivated me. I know people will throw things at me but I still haven’t seen the last or newest (depending on how you look at it) Star Wars movies and I’ve never seen a Star Trek movie. I also only ever watched the original series on TV. I will throw down with anyone who doesn’t think Captain Kirk was the shit. LOL

What inspired me was an article I was reading in a science magazine talking about the advances in modern medicine and where they believed it would be five years from now and even further into the future. It made me think that if modern medicine was already to the point it was, growing skin and organs, advances in bone regeneration, etc, what would be capable of doing a thousand years from now. It made me think of a time when people thought the world was flat to what we now know to be the truth and to expand upon that, using my imagination to take medicine and technology on a path I could truly see it going. It also made me think of what extremes mankind might be forced to take to save their dying race from extinction at the hands of another, more advanced race. All of this started me on the path to writing the Droid Wars Series.

In the opening of chapter one of, Performance Criteria (Book I), you meet Dr. Aeron Braxton as she’s fastening the cranium chassis closed of the soon to be hero of the book and pulling the tawny flap of skin that had been grown in fibrin gel down over the cranium chassis. The hero has been a labor of love on her part because he’d been mortally wounded trying to save her life. I touch upon the process in which she’d rebuilt him from the “ground up” so to speak. A lot of factual information mixed with my imagination of where I could envision science and medicine being at that point came into play. I had to ask myself questions like, did I really believe that because brain activity would cease in him for a period of time, did that mean he would be unable to be revived? The answer I came back with was no. That already today there are ways to revive a person, granted the time you have to do so various on many factors and you don’t have anything close to the time frame I gave Aeron to work with but a thousand years ago they wouldn’t have believed what we can do today was possible. It’s all relative. Who knows what they’ll be able to do a thousand years from now. I know I love trying to guess.

Take a peek at how far robots/android technology has come already. This fembot is certainly heading in the lifelike direction. Wouldn’t you agree?

Mix advances in medicine with advances in android technology, along with a fertile imagination and you end up with the Story Behind the Story. Thanks for joining me in this glimpse behind what inspired me. Time for me to get back to work on Book II: Magnetic Attraction, coming Jan 08 to Samhain Publishing.

Have a Behind the Story moment you'd like to share with my readers? Email me at mandy@mandyroth.com for more details.

Top Paranormal Authors Teaming Up to Launch Interactive Dark Muse Society

2007-10-25T18:18:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (permission to forward granted)

Paranormal romance readers -- you're invited! When Halloween is over, the REAL celebration of Darkness will begin...

Beyond the rusted iron gates, moaning and creaking in the midnight breeze, lies an old and empty house. Trees strangled to death by the vines that enslave them line your path to the front door. The house is dark, encased in its own shadows—an unwelcoming entrance to say the least.

You feel a prickling working its way down the back of your neck as you pick your way overrotting roots and dark debris. The lump that has risen within of your throat makes you second-guess each step towards the shadowy front porch. Taking the steps slowly, one by one, your hand trembles as it reaches out for the doorknob. If you love your romance on the dark side, you're going to feel right at home here...

Step inside the Dark Muse Society, a unique, interactive online community that's home to some of your favorite paranormal fiction authors. The Society officially opens its doors on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2007, with contests, giveaways and your chance to meet the group's charter members -- L.L. FOSTER, DANIELLE DEVON, ERIN McCARTHY, MICHELLE PILLOW, DEVYN QUINN, MANDY M. ROTH and SARA REINKE.

Visit www.darkmusesociety.com for information and details about the grand opening celebration. The fun begins at 7 p.m. (EST, US) and last until 9 p.m. so mark your calendars and don't be afraid of the dark!

ABOUT THE DARK MUSES:

L.L. Foster is the speculative fiction pseudonym for New York Times best-selling author Lori Foster. The past recipient of the prestigious Romantic Times "Career Achievement Award" for Series Romantic Fantasy and for Contemporary Romance, Lori recently launched a new urban fantasy series with "Servant: The Awakening," availale now from Berkley.

Danielle Devon is the multipublished author of sizzling paranormal romances, including the sensual vampire tale, "Forsaken" available from Liquid Silver Books and "Divinity in Chains," a dark fantasy coming April, 2008 from Samhain Publishing.

USA Today best-selling author Erin McCarthy pens the wildly popular Vegas Vampire series, a humorous spin on the paranormal. Her latest release, "My Immortal" explores the darker side of the genre with a "story of shocking sin and stunning sensuality," raves author Rebecca York.

Michelle Pillow earned 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Erotic Romance. Futuristic, fantasy, dark fantasy and more -- Michelle isn't afraid to walk on the wild side of speculative fiction. Her latest releases include "The Rogue Prince," available now from New Concepts Publishing, "Commanding the Tides," Book Two in the "Lords of the Abyss" series from New Concepts Publishing and "Stop Dragon My Heart Around," an anthology with Mandy M. Roth from Ellora's Cave.

Devyn Quinn is one of erotica's hottest rising stars, with two releases from Kensington's Aphrodisia imprint scorching bookstore shelves in 2007 -- "Flesh and the Devil" and the sequel, "Sins of the Flesh." She calls her tales "goth-erotica," and describes them best as the struggle of the ordinary person to accept extraordinary happenings in their lives -- usually from a supernatural source.

Mandy M. Roth's "Loup Garou," available now from Samhain Publishing, was named a Romantic Times BookClub Magazine Reviewer's Choice Nominee for Best Erotic Paranormal/ Sci-Fi/ Fantasy 2006. Her latest releases include "Demonic Desires" from Ellora's Cave,"The Guardians" from New Concepts Publishing and a story in "Black Lace Quickies 5," an anthology of erotic fiction,

Sara Reinke's latest release, "Dark Thirst," available now from Kensington's Zebra imprint, was called a "fascinating and unique romance" by Romantic Times Book Reviews Magazine and "a great keep-you-up-all-night read" by New York Times best-selling author Karen Robards. It's the first in The Brethren vampire romance series, with the sequel, "Dark Hunger" due out in July, 2008.

For more information, visit online: www.darkmusesociety.com.

BLOG HAS MOVED

2007-03-30T07:51:00.001-05:00

http://mandyroth.com/blog/

NEW BLOG!

2007-03-17T09:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry to do this to everyone but I'm getting sick and tired of the new blogger. It's limiting what I can and can't do with my posts (who can comment and so on). For the sake of my sanity, I enlisted the help of Melani Blazer. She got me up and running on Word press! Whoohoo! Melani needs an award for putting up with me.

Angie W has gone in and started the widget/plug in/ tweaks for me there! Big thanks to her too!

new blog addy http://mandyroth.com/blog/

Please change your links/bookmarks to the new one. I have smiles now too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(that is like the coolest thing evvaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!)

Marketing with Mandy: Link you might want

2007-03-16T18:49:00.000-05:00

My post today is super short. Sorry for that (damn deadlines).

Jaci Burton did a fabulous write up for AuthorMBA. I wanted to link to it because I think it will help anyone interested in marketing/promotions greatly!

Taking Your Career Seriously

As always... if you have comments or links you want to see posted up in the Marketing with Mandy sections of my blog please email me or post them in the comments section. I know that blogger is a pain the arse so I understand if you need to email instead. My email addy is mandy@mandyroth.com

Marketing with Mandy: Websites—Getting Started

2007-03-14T15:13:00.001-05:00

Since my education and background are in the art/marketing end of things I thought I'd start a little something extra on my blog. I'll call it Marketing with Mandy mostly because it lets me talk about myself in third person and feel really important. *grin*. These will pop up on my blog as I have time to get them out and will deal with topics/questions I see popping up on the net from other authors. I hope you find them helpful.

Q: I'm an author. Do I really need a website?

A: Yes. This will be one of your most powerful and affordable marketing tools. I know it can seem overwhelming at first but trust me, it's worth it in the end.

Q: I'm a new author and I don't have a website yet. How do I go about getting one?

A: There are many ways to do it. I suggest finding a hosting site. Here are some I recommend.

Go Daddy
They have hosting plans starting at 3.99 a month. Used them when I first started. At the time they just didn't have enough space to offer me (I'm a webspace hog… if you ever use as much as me I'll be shocked LOL) This has since changed and they're now offering plenty of space.

Yahoo.com

They have an easy to use template and interface for those who are a bit nervous.

Dot 5

They offer Frontpage extensions (this is something those of you building in front page will want to have to make it easy on uploading) They start at 4.95 a month and are saying that they'll give you're your domain name free.

IX Web Hosting --PC World Mag rated them #1 so I guess that's saying something

1and1.com---
I use them and I love them, they offer packages as low as 2.99 a month linux and MS hosting servers to host on (if you don't know the diff, don't worry but I'm guessing you'll want to host on MS hosting ones. I use linux ones but it's your call. If you don't know which, ASK THEM. They are nice people. Also, they have front page extensions too. The others ones might but I didn't go digging to find out. You get one free domain name with the 2.99 package.

Q: I don't really have the extra money to spend on a .com or .net/my own domain. Can't I just use a free service?

A: You can. I would HIGHLY advise against it. For one, you get what you pay for when it comes to these. I really don't think it's a good idea to have your homepage cluttered with ads and popups. I also think it's impossible for anyone to remember your web addy if it's longer than The Faces' number 12 hit You Can Make Me Dance Sing Or Anything (Even Take The Dog For A Walk, Mend A Fuse, Fold Away The Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings).

I think you see what I'm getting at here *snicker* It's much easier to remember www.yourname.com or .net than it is something long with a lot of backslashes in it. In addition to all of this, you're very limited on what you can do on the free sites.

Q: I don't have any skills when it comes to building webpages. Is there an easy way to do it?

A: Most of the places I listed have website creator programs that they offer for quick set up. Microsoft Frontpage is a great program that comes with templates built into it. There are many places that sell website templates some are even for free. Just read everything they say. Some require you to have certain programs loaded on your computer to use. Like Frontpage or Dreamweaver.

Templatemonsters

Freewebsitetemplates

There are also a good number of people/companies out there that market web design to authors. (I know nothing about these places but some of the authors they have listed are names I'm familiar with… if you use someone or offer this service be sure to post your/their link in comments section!)

Dream Forge Media
( I lied I know a little about them. Several authors I'm very close to use them and love them)

Romance Designs

Author Avenue

Q: What should I have on my website?

A: You need to have your books there/easy to find (Make sure you have BUY links for your books—make it easy for the reader to find them). Trust me when I say making them go on a hunt in search of how to buy your book will NOT result in a sale. It will leave them clicking the close button and moving onto to something else.

Excerpts from your contracted works is always nice. Be sure to put your copyright info on there.

An author bio.

A little bit about your coming soon books/projects (remember not to post WIPs on the web).

Email/Contact -- a way for readers to contact you.

Those are the basics of what you should have on your site. If you offer more, WONDERFUL! If not, you'll at least have the barebones of what you should have.

Q: What should I NOT have on my website?

A: This represents you in the writing world. Use caution as to how you present yourself. I've seen author sites that have pictures of their cleavage and nothing else (not a head shot either, just breast one). While having a nice rack is an admirable quality, it's not really going to put your best foot forward. Yes, it's putting something forward but I don't think it's what you'll want in the end.

Avoiding hard to load images (ones that are too big) is another biggie. Text that can't be read because it's either too small, too big or too bright. Keep in mind, not everyone will have the same fonts you have loaded on your computer, loaded onto theirs. It's best to stick with fonts that are preset on both PC and Macs. If you have something special you want to show up with different text, like your header/banner, you'll need to make this in a picture/photo program and save as either a jpeg or a gif.

When designing for the web the resolution needs to be lower than it would be for printing. So, 72dpi-150dpi tops (I do almost all of my graphics at 72 dpi for faster load times).

I'll get more into this in the coming weeks, giving you a glimpse at how to create graphics for the web. In addition to this, I'll be talking about various tools/outlets for marketing yourself and your books (banner ads, print ads, cover ads, blogs, more about websites, name branding, bookmarks, brochures, press kits, book videos, and just about anything else I can think of to toss at you) in future Marketing with Mandy posts.

I also plan on having guest bloggers on to talk about various aspects of marketing in the world of writing. Look for posts in the coming weeks from Jaci Burton, Michelle Pillow and Shannon Stacey just to name a few. I'll also be linking to blogs and sites discussing valuable marketing information for authors. Feedback is welcome and encouraged. In the meantime if you have any marketing questions specific to writing (or not) please ask away. If I can't answer it, I'll do my best to find someone who can.

Sick ‘puter mommy?

2007-03-14T07:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my youngest son comes to me and asks to play the computer. At the time, I was doing scheduled maintenance on the machine I put him on and wasn’t about to let him on my work computers. I explained that I was checking the computer for viruses. His eyes glossed over and he stood there staring at me like…what are you talking about, lady? I then launch into how sometimes a computer can catch a cold too. Just like him.

He leaves well enough alone and runs off to play. So, this morning, I’m in the kitchen making breakfast for them and he asks me if I think what he did will help the computer feel better so he can play it. Of course I’m like…WHAT DID YOU DO?

I head down to find the computer covered in a thick blanket. Under the blanket is a box of tissues and a bottle of water. I turn to my youngest who is grinning from ear to ear. He proudly tells me he gave it what it would need to feel better and wanted to know if I wanted to give it the medicine that tastes like bubble gum.

Life at the Roth house is never dull.

The way of the Mac....

2007-03-11T08:17:00.000-05:00

Moving into the MacBook Pro has been different to say the least. I used to work on nothing but macs when I was in the world of marketing/graphic design. Seems like 4 years ago was a lifetime ago now. I'm still trying to doublclick everything and its brother in here. I still have issues navigating around the system and WTH is up with the yahoo messenger for mac...I can't find anything. LOL. That being said, I'm loving the computer. It runs VERY smooth and packs as much punch as its desktop buddies, if not more.

I owe a big thanks to two very nice gentlemen who helped in my decision making process. One, worked at the store I was buying it from--he was VERY helpful and it wasn't because he was going to make anything off the sale (he wasn't). Just general nice guy who was swamped with people but who kept taking time out with me while I heehawed back and forth about getting another Sony laptop or going to a MacBook Pro.

The other man who helped in my decision was a customer walking past the computer section. He stopped and talked with me about macs. He's in the military and prior to that was in the field of education. We discussed how he was a recent mac convert (in the last couple of years I think) and how he couldn't rave enough about everything they offered to make my life easier.

Their enthusiasm and knowledge sealed the deal for me. It didn't hurt that my husband was buying an iMac 20inch at the same time. He'd already had it in his head that he was going the way of the mac. He too started on HPs, moved to SONY (which I have to say I have a soft spot for SONY computers), cycled through several of those and decided he'd had enough of the viruses, spyware and registry issues...he was going the way of the mac.

It also didn't hurt that I totally adore the commercials Mac is putting out with the kid from Galaxy Quest (Brandon on there, unsure what actors name is but he's so adorable) stands and talks with the man who is a "PC". Those things crack me up. I loved the newest Vista one. They hit the nail on the head with that one!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I'm here, mostly moved into my new computer and so far I'm loving it. I figure if it survives me, its a keeper and everyone should have one. I need to beta test computers. People would come from far just to say..."that survived Mandy".

You’ve got the Look…

2007-03-09T10:03:00.001-05:00

It must have took… a whole 6 hours just to make your links finally show in the right place. Okay, I'll stop singing now. I gave my blog a facelift and I'm trying to decide if I like it or not. For the amount of work I had to put into it I'm thinking of just keeping it but I'm not sure. Any thoughts?

I've been doing some more reading during my forced break. Nothing else has leapt out at me just yet… not enough I'd want to share but I will post as soon as some does. My TBR pile looks delicious and I plan on devouring some of it later today/tonight. I'll be running out of break time soon and it will be back to the writing grind with me. I thought I might share some fun research sites/books with you when I get back into the swing of things.

Take care and have a great weekend!

Safety Dance…

2007-03-08T08:34:00.001-05:00

How do you know you have an obsession with the 80's? Oooo, I got this one! You find yourself making a pot of coffee at seven in the morning, swaying in the kitchen while humming "It's safe to dance". Yeah, that almost sums it up. But, if you want to take it further, you realize you're not only swaying but doing the *gasp* 80's version of dancing. I'd describe it but really, you'd all just end up with upset stomachs.

Onto a less depressing topic…what I read last night. Suffer in Silence by David Reid. GREAT BOOK! It gives you a glimpse into SEAL training. I really don't know how those men do it. They are amazing! It's an intense story for an intense training.

BLAZE...

2007-03-07T19:22:00.000-05:00

So, I took some time off to catch up on my reading. I'd never read any of the BLAZE books before and grabbed a handful when I was at the store. I won't take up a lot of your time. I'll just post the covers of two I really enjoyed!

If you get some free time be sure to check out Alison Kent and Jill Monroe.

Oh Mandy!

2007-03-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, darling.

Since blognapping seems to be the fad (brilliant Idea, Angie) I thought for this wonderful event, a la Mandy's birthday, we'd celebrate by redecorating in brilliant pink.

Beautiful, ain't it?

Here's a pic of Mandy to go with it. Please stop and wish her wonderful birthday wishes!!!

Bitch –napped Blog

2007-03-02T09:16:00.001-05:00

This was cute so I wanted to share. Angie has bitch-napped Jaci Burton's blog for the day! Stop by and tease J about it.

http://jaciburton.com/blog/?p=481#comment-4849

Oh, Mandy, you came and you talked for an hour...

2007-03-01T10:17:00.001-05:00

Didn’t think you’d be getting another one so soon, did you? *wink* We’d continue to brag, but we’d only jinx ourselves….

So without further ado, come over to the Raven where secrets will be revealed!
http://www.ravenhappyhour.com/raven.htm

Also, if you haven’t heard the latest Raven Podcast! Take a listen!

Thanks!
M&M

IO3-- best selling book at fictionwise…

2007-02-28T11:35:00.001-05:00

I was excited and wanted to share! I'm not sure how long I'll sit in the top spots for bestselling book and author at fictionwise but I wanted to share while it was up! Plus the lineup is amazing. Some really great books/authors on there!

http://www.fictionwise.com/topstories.htm

Best Selling eBooks: Recent

1. Radar Deceptions [Immortal Ops Novel] by Mandy M. Roth [ROM]

2. A Rogue in Texas by Lorraine Heath [ROM]

3. The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry [SUSP/THRILL]

4. The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt [ROM]

5. The Price of Desire by Leda Swann [ROM]

6. Bite Me If You Can by Lynsay Sands [DARKFANT]

7. Innocent in Death by J. D. Robb [MYS]

8. Two Weeks with a Stranger by Debra Mullins [ROM]

9. Phoenix Rising I by Morgana de Winter & Marie Harte & Michelle M. Pillow [ROM]

10. Her Best Man by Jana Richards [ROM]

11. A Little Bit Wicked by Victoria Alexander [ROM]

12. Tigra by R.J. Leahy [SF]

13. The Blonde Bomb Tech by Lara Santiago [ROM]

14. What a Lady Wants by Victoria Alexander [ROM]

15. Kissing Sin by Keri Arthur [HOR]

16. Phoenix Rising II by Angelique Anjou & Mandy M. Roth & Donna Grant [ROM]

17. The Sicilian's Marriage Arrangement by Lucy Monroe [ROM]

18. Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips [FIC]

19. The Italian's Forced Bride by Kate Walker [ROM]

20. B*E*A*S*T* of Burden by Rebecca Goings [ROM]

21. Emily's Beau by Allison Lane [ROM]

22. The Polyamorous Princess by Melodee Aaron [ROM]

23. The Protectorate: Patriarch by Dana Warryck [ROM]

24. How to Abduct a Highland Lord by Karen Hawkins [ROM]

25. The Millionaire's Pregnant Wife by Sandra Field [ROM]

Best Selling Authors: Recent

1. Mandy M. Roth

2. Sean Michael

3. Kaitlyn O'Connor

4. Viola Grace

5. Victoria Alexander

6. John Norman

7. J. M. Snyder

8. Lorraine Heath

9. Jaden Sinclair

10. Lara Santiago

11. Michelle M. Pillow

12. Reese Gabriel

13. Lisa Andel

14. Keri Arthur

15. Steve Berry

The Neverending Sig Line...

2007-02-27T19:33:00.000-05:00

Yeah, we all knew it would happen. That day I up and decided to rant again. It’s here. I’ll start off by saying that I belong to so many online groups that I’ve lost count. I do my best to keep up on the influx of mail and answer when I feel I have something worth saying (so, I don’t talk so much….lol). As I was waiting for my messages to download, I first thought many of them coming through were falling victim to the ‘forget to clip’ers’. Oh, if only that were the case…my fodder for this blog would not be. Nope. Most of the email was the person’s sig line. The thing just about qualified as a short story. I kid you not. The thing was longer than some blurbs I’ve read. As much as I want to have easy access to a web link, I really don’t want all the details of everything since the creation of mankind to come too. I LOVE having the authors/persons web site/blog/myspace right there, at my fingertips. I’m not one to take the extra steps to google a name I see so if the link is there and I’m interested, I’ll click it.

I struggle with sig lines (or I did until I found one I liked and said to hell with it). I’m curious to know what other people think of them. Do you like them to be 20 lines long or does 2-5 do the trick for you? Do you like them at all?

Round 4…

2007-02-26T07:02:00.001-05:00

Believe it or not but the Roth household has been struck yet again by some sort of stomach bug. My youngest has it coming out both ends. The poor kid sits up and the next thing he knows, he needs his mom to bathe him and scrub whatever he was on because it's covered in everything you can imagine. I'm really at a loss as to what to do. Since xmas we've been nailed four times with stomach bugs of some kind or another. I'm an absolute freak about wiping things down and hand washing. Still, we've been hit hard. It seems like we're struck again before we can all get on our feet from the last go round.

Is it a horrible year for it all or am I imagining it?

Please tell me I'm not alone. I barely have skin left on my knuckles. LMAO

I slept with my computer last night…

2007-02-21T10:08:00.001-05:00

I woke up on my office floor this morning.

Grab your attention? I thought so. Now, I'll set the story up. My office in adjacent to the family room. My computer table sits against the wall and on the other side of the wall is one of two long sofas that flank the walls of the family room. My husband is partial to the sofa nearest my office (so much so that he avoids the other like it has something deadly he might catch…might be why that one still looks brand new). Anyway, since I moved down here (had been on center level until a few months back) he's fallen asleep EACH AND EVERY night on the sofa on the other side of my office way. That wouldn't be so bad if he didn't snore loud enough to wake the dead and then get grumpy when you try to wake him up and convince him to go up to bed.

I have begged and pleaded. I've bitched. I've moaned. Still, the man ignores me, laughing as he gets comfy to watch a whole ten minutes of TV before passing out cold. Finally, I snapped. I went out and took ALL the sofa cushions and pulled them into my office. I then locked my office door, sat down, put headset on and worked until the wee hours of morning.

Ah silence at last!

It got really late and I didn't want to go up and walk past my son's rooms because they have mommy-dar…you know…they can hear me coming and are instantly awake and wanting something. I looked back at the mound of comfy throw pillows and cushions and gave into temptation. I curled up on them and woke up there this morning.

My husband comes down, finds me asleep on them all and laughs. He then acknowledges that I did manage to find a way to keep him from passing out on sofa. I winked and told him I'd keep doing it and if he found another way to fall asleep out there, snoring so loud that I can't work, he'd come home and find I'd given away all the furniture making TV viewing standing room only.

Yes, I do feel quite proud of myself…even if there is a kink in my neck from sleeping on floor of my office.

Snowed in

2007-02-14T09:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, we were hit hard with the storm! Here are some pics.

This is one showing the side yard...that is a five foot (at parts 7 feet) drift of snow that goes over the entire side yard. There "was" a pond under it. LOL

There is another pic taken last night out there. That's my hubby. He's 6 1". The drift at the time was 4 feet.

Raven Podcasts

2007-02-12T10:07:00.000-05:00

CONTEST: Raven Podcasts! (to find us on itunes you must type in raven podcasts in search area)

Mandy and Michelle are currently setting up to begin Raven Podcasts (update...they've started). Yeah, you have to listen to us now too! LOL

Anyway, in honor of the setting up process, we're holding a contest. Submit reader questions or topics we can use in our podcasts that you'd like to hear us talk about and be entered for a chance to win your name in a book dedication! There will be two winners, one in a Michelle book and one in a Mandy book (of our choice)

UPDATE: You can option to just have your first name in the dedication or a nickname. We'll put it in as you give it to us, so no worries if you're a closet reader ;) Authors are welcome to enter, you have just as good a chance as everyone else to win

Contest is open to those 18 years and older. Winner will be randomly drawn from names of entrants.

To enter:
Simply post your topic as a comment to this post. You can enter more than once. More than one winner may be drawn for the same dedication if there are several entries.

Books may appear in both ebook and print. By entering the contest you are agreeing to 1. have your name in the dedication and related material whether print or electronic--for example on my and the publisher website or in a podcast. 2. allow Mandy and Michelle to use your topic in a Raven podcast, in whole or in part, as they see fit. No other compensation will be given.

Oh, yeah, now you have to listen to us too!

Before download, be sure you have your speakers turned on and if you're using headsets, be sure they aren't the kind with one ear piece only.

Podcasts Mp3's

Want to be a guest on a RAVEN PODCAST?

Email us to see what spots are open and please have a topic to recommend for your time. Also, you will need to have SKYPE installed on your computer along with a decent microphone. Skype is a free program.

By agreeing to be a guest you give us permission to record you, and post for public as we see fit.

Listen to podcasts here:

http://www.ravenhappyhour.com/raven_podcasts.htm

http://ravenpodcasts.podomatic.com/

When Voyeurism is Good

2007-02-05T23:53:00.000-05:00

Join us today on the Raven Blog as guest author Candice Gilmer pays us a visit to discuss

When Voyeurism is Good

A guest blogger will be joining us each and every Monday to help kick off the week with a paranormal twist.

If you're interested in becoming a guest blogger please email us to get on the schedule.

Video Entries To Date for EXPRESS contest

2007-01-19T12:27:00.001-05:00

Okay, we’ve been trying to get all the vids that have been entered loaded onto the hosting sites. Yes, we know we’re still missing some and we PROMISE to get them up soon. The darn hosting places tend to lag and take forever. Oh and myspace has decided to eat every third or forth upload we do. *snicker* Nice of them…huh.

Anyway…

The ones we have posted can be found here (they are in no particular order)

http://mandyroth.com/contest_vids_page_one.htm

The contest rules and info can be found here

http://mandyroth.com/express_yourself_contest_page.htm

We’ll be uploading more videos today through the weekend (we’re actually hoping to have all the ones submitted to date up by tonight). If you want to play along, you still have plenty of time! This contest will be going on for a few months. We’ll be drawing winners each month and you stay in the hopper for the following month (s) as well. AND…you can enter as many times as you want. Each one gets your name put into the bowl we force my sons to draw names from (child labor at its finest folks…snort) Ooo…please email me or Michelle prior to sending the video via email, so we can be ready. Our poor lil’ inboxes have threatened to runaway if we don’t start treating them better. We’re also planning to get a separate video email going soon to help stop the issues we’ve had getting them in.

Also, if you’re interested in making the vids but aren’t sure you can, we have some helpful hints on our contest page and here is another helpful link

http://www.apeekatromance.blogspot.com/

Everyone, if you get the chance, please stop by and take a look at the vids entered to date. People have put a lot of effort and heart into them and we want them to know we MORE than appreciate it! Plus, some are downright funny (no, we’re not being mean…they were aiming at being funny) and others are so sexy they could melt your socks off (is that even possible?), some are so dead on that we’re thinking of asking these people to outline the books for us for notes for use later. LOL.

Mandy M. Roth & Michelle M. Pillow

Ciar Cullen Contest

2007-01-16T07:43:00.000-05:00

I’m just going to go ahead and forward this since Ciar has been so wonderful about doing this!

******

Mandy Roth was kind enough to let me gush about her writing. Wait a

minute... Well, anyway, she donated a copy of Talons: King of Prey
(http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/talons-king-of-prey) to one very
lucky member of my Yahoo group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CiarCullen. Read the review on my blog!
http://ciarcullen.blogspot.com

Contest ends Friday!

xoxo
Ciar Cullen

Manic Mondays w/M &M's...

2007-01-15T11:08:00.000-05:00

Join us today on the Raven Blog as guest author Charlene Teglia pays us a visit to discuss the Paradox of Ghost Stories in the Modern World. A guest blogger will be joining us each and every Monday to help kick off the week with a paranormal twist.

If you're interested in becoming a guest blogger please email us to get on the schedule.

Bad Influence...

2007-01-13T15:13:00.000-05:00

Sam, I am.

So, I'm over at my friend Melani's blog and read this.

*big grin* Oh, yeah, you know you're doing something right when you've got a friend dreaming about dressing up in a wedding dress and hitching rides with barely legal hotties to get to you.

See if you can help her figure it all out.