Cover reveal: Christine Pope's Darkangel

Cover by Indie Author Services

My friend Christine Pope--aka the hardest working writer in romance fiction--has a new book coming out this month and I can't wait. It's called Darkangel, and it's the first in a new series for her.
Here are the details:

Finding the man of your dreams can be a real nightmare….

As the future prima, or head witch of her clan, Angela McAllister is expected to bond with her consort during her twenty-first year, thus ensuring that she will come into her full powers at the appointed time. The clock is ticking down, and her consort has yet to make an appearance. Instead, her dreams are haunted by a man she’s never seen, the one she believes must be her intended match.

But with time running out, and dark forces attempting to seize her powers for their own, Angela is faced with a terrible choice: give up her dreams of the man she may never meet and take the safer path, or risk leaving her clan and everyone in it at the mercy of those who seek their ruin.

Darkangel is the first book in the Witches of Cleopatra Hill, a paranormal romance trilogy set in the haunted town of Jerome, Arizona. 

If you've read Pope's Sedona Trilogy, you know she has mad love for the area, and the setting here is Jerome, the funky little town that neighbors Sedona. For more about Christine Pope and her books, go here. The latest book in her Gaia Consortium series is now available here.

Christine Pope's Sympathy for the Devil

Romance writer Christine Pope is a friend of mine and I really enjoyed her latest book, which is an update of a book she originally published through Pink Petal Press. She updated it, gave it a slick new cover and has now sent it out into the world. It's a paranormal romance that's devoid of vampires, but it does have a hilarious set of supporting characters who disrupt the romance for their own devilish ends. Check it out here.

Binding Spell by Christine Pope--a book review

Taken from her aunt's estate by kidnappers who were actually after a royal princess, Lark Sedassa finds herself in the hands of a nobleman who is in no hurry to correct his mistake when he discovers his beautiful captive is herself the daughter of a wealthy and influential family. Not only does he not intend to return Lark to her family, the golden-eyed Kadar Arkalis intends to make her his bride.

Binding Spell is the latest of Christine Pope's fantasy-romance series "Tales of the Latter Kingdoms," and she's painting with a darker palette this time out. There's malign magic at work in Kadar's castle, and secrets that could prove deadly for himself and his people. Lark, who practices her own magic in secret, must face the threat this evil poses and finally accept her own powers, which she has always kept hidden.

As always, Pope's writing is lushly sensual, hauntingly descriptive without shading into purple prose like those fantasy novels where there are so many adjectives readers begin to wonder if the writer was being paid by the word. The Latter Kingdoms may be fantastic realms, but the details of the day-to-day lives of the characters that live there have a realistic familiarity.  Gowns get dirty; food stores have to be replenished; inconvenient mistresses need to be sent away.

The characters share that reality and are dimensional and believable. Lark is a serious-minded young woman whose growing love for her husband eventually extends to everyone in his domain. Indeed, one of the best scenes in the book occurs when Lark uses his ability to sense lies to dispense justice in Kadar's "Hall of Grievances."

Kadar is a flawed man whose flaws bring him to the brink of terrible actions, but those flaws also make him more than the usual "alpha male" hero. The attraction between him and Lark goes beyond chemical into the alchemical, and their bond is stronger than any magic. (Pope makes her readers wait for her lovers to consummate their passion but she makes the wait worth it.)

What fantasy would be complete without an evil magician? There's one here, and he's a great character, the kind of manipulator you would get if you crossed Iago with Grima Wormtongue.  You'll know he's trouble the moment you see him, just as Lark does.

Fans of the Latter Kingdom series will be amused by the references Pope makes to plot-points from earlier books, and be intrigued by the teasing hints she offers of characters that will appear in later books. With each "tale," this series gets richer and more developed and while the books stand alone, readers really should treat themselves to all of them.

Valentine's Day Sale on Fantasy!

From now until February 14, you can get a select group of fantasies (including Christine Pope's Dragon Rose) for just 99 cents. See here for details.

Book Review: Desert Hearts by Christine Pope

Desert Hearts is the sequel to Bad Vibrations, and the second in Christine Pope's "Sedona Trilogy" of romantic adventures. Set in that beautiful red-rocked city (whish the author clearly adores), Desert Hearts ups the ante in every direction and the stakes are nothing less than saving the world.

Psychic Persephone, the heroine of Bad Vibrations, is back, but this time the focus is on her friend Kara Swenson, whose book store is a hub for UFO enthusiasts (both locals and tourists). Kara is a geek--her dog's name is Gort and he is a terrific character--but working in a bookshop, even one she owns, was not how she expected life to turn out. She's feeling overwhelmed and under-loved when the book opens. And then a handsome, green-eyed stranger shows up and shakes up her life.

If you liked Bad Vibrations, you are going to love Desert Hearts, which can be read as a stand-alone. The characters are all back, including Jeff Makowski, an unkempt hacker who forms a deep attachment to Kara's sister Kiki, Lance the taciturn UFO hunter with a mysterious past, and Michael Lightfoot, who has seen a lot of odd things in his life and is fazed by none of it. This cast of characters is joined by a sexy Man in Black with a sense of humor, Kara's nosy neighbor who is very interested in her house guest, and various and assorted friends, colleagues and villains. The "world" of the story is fleshed out nicely, and the characters have context. We believe these people are friends. And Kara's relationship with her younger sister Kiki feels real and honest. They love each other, but they also know how to push each other's buttons, just like real siblings.

Everything is bigger in this book--the romance, the action, the tension. There are some truly scary scenes here and Pope does a fine job of balancing sex and suspense. (Let's just say Kara does not feel under-loved by the end of the book.) Whether you like romance with a dash of mystery and adventure, or like your adventure leavened with a little love, Desert Hearts is the book for you.

The Next Big Thing

Nuyorican Noir writer Richie Narvaez tapped me for The Next Big Thing (read what he had to say about HIS next big thing here). If you haven't read his outstanding short story collection Roachkiller and Other stories, do yourself a favor and buy it for Christmas. Or you can sample his story "Hurricane" for 99 cents.

The idea is that everyone on the blog tour answers the same questions, then taps another five writers to move it forward. Here are my answers:

1) What is the working title of your current/next book?  Misbegotten.

2) Where did the idea come from?  Several years ago I wrote a story about a vampire with senile dementia for John Donald Carlucci's Astonishing Adventures Magazine. The protagonist of the story was a crime reporter named Kira Simkins and I really enjoyed the world of the story (a not-so-normal Los Angeles), so much so that I've written around 20 or so stories set in the world since then, some with Kira and some without, but all about supernatural crime.  I decided I wanted to write a larger story for Kira, who is a "misbegotten," a not-quite-human born of a mother who was bitten by a vampire while pregnant with her. That's where the title came from. 

3) What genre does your book fall under? Urban fantasy melded with mystery with a dash of noir.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?  Liv Tyler or Selma Blair for Kira. The vampire in charge of L.A. in my story is a folksy, avuncular guy who hides his evil under a bland exterior so that you only get glimpses of what he's really like. Scott Wilson or Beau Bridges would be perfect. For Michael Etebari, the head of a security company and the alpha wolf of a local werewolf pack, I'd love Oded Fehr. Kira is older than she looks (a benefit of her "Misbegotten blood" that means she's slow to age), so her on-again/off-again love interest, John Dannon (head of LAPD's paranormal crime unit) is the same age but looks older. Idris Elba would be wonderful.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  A paranormal crime reporter is caught up in a power struggle when war between vampire factions breaks out in Los Angeles.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I've had a nibble of interest from an agent but the book will be published under the Dark Valentine imprint that I run jointly with Joy Sillesen. (Dark Valentine's latest books are the Nightfalls anthology and Christine Pope's fantasy romance Dragon Rose.)

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft?  I've been working on it off and on since forever, it seems like, but once I got started in earnest, about six months. I hope to have it done by January 15 at the latest.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series; Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series; Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville books.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?  Well, isn't everyone writing a novel? Basically I wanted to stretch my boundaries. I'm  pretty comfortable writing short stories, but I really wanted to explore my supernatural city and my characters. I also wanted to write a paranormal book that made these creatures seem real and not just fantasy objects with tattooed shoulders and shimmering skin. That was how the first story about the senile vampire (called "Tired Blood") came about. I wondered how a really old vampire's mind would hold out.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?  I think I've created a spin on the tired old tropes, offering an Urban Fantasy about characters that have a ring of reality about them whether they're human or not. There are no tramp stamps here and no emo longings for forbidden love. Kira has a very practical attitude toward the paranormals in her circle (who include shape-shifters and were-bears and goblins and fire demons, not just the usual vamps and weres)--they're all monsters. Sleeping with monsters never ends well, in her opinion. You either end up a monster yourself, or you end up dead. 

The writers I'm tagging are:  Canadian horror writer G. Wells Taylor, whose vanpire novel Bent Steeple is one of my favorite books.

Christine Pope, whose lush fantasy romances and zippy contemporary novels are entertaining and smart. Check out her latest, Dragon Rose.

Kat Laurange who's a double menace--a writer and an illustrator who balances a career, a life as a wife and mother, and half a dozen other responsibilities. I'm a hard worker but she makes me look like a slacker. 

Steven Luna, a friend of a friend whose story for the Nightfalls anthology ("Last Shift") was just superb. Check out his Joe Vampire stories.

Joanne Renaud, also a writer and illustrator whose romance novella, Question of Time, has just been published by Champagne Press.