I’m doing double duty over this holiday-filled (and a full moon!!) end of the month by posting on both my Weekend Writing Warriors and Paranormal Romantics blogs with the same Woo Hoo for Woo Woo post for my vampire romance MIDNIGHT REDEEMER, now on SALE for only $0.99 (!) through the end of the month.
I love smart men and women playing dangerous cat and mouse games. But which one is playing which role in this sixth book of my Touched of Midnight series? Scientist Stacy Kimball is looking for a cure for the blood disease that will eventually kill her, as it did her mother. Mysterious philanthropist Louis Redman could provide her funding . . . and the answer to immortality. All she needs is a sample of his rare blood type. What Stacy doesn’t know is they share the same driving interest. He wants her blood, too. Here’s a peek at MIDNIGHT REDEEMER.
Midnight Redeemer (Touched by Midnight Series - Book 6)
Hunt or be hunted . . . A centuries-old obsession stalks a noble family fighting to hide their dark secret from an ever-changing world. Sink your teeth into Nancy Gideon's Touched by Midnight series.
Will his dream . . .
Centuries-old vampire Louis Redman is desperate to believe an inquisitive researcher's claim that she's close to finding a cure for his age-old curse. Determined to become human again, he must trust the lovely geneticist who has pushed her way into his guarded life . . . and heart . . . not to betray him to the government agency that wants to uncover his secrets for their own purposes.
. . . be the death of her?
Scientist Stacy Kimball discovers potential fame and the answer to immortality in a murder victim's blood sample. But as she gets closer to the truth, danger stalks her from the shadows. Who wants to silence her from making the breakthrough of a lifetime? Is it the agency that funds her work? The killer who's terrorizing Seattle's night scene?
Or the mysterious Louis Redman, whose kisses seduce her beyond caring . . . ?
"A rare treat . . . this exciting thriller will keep you up all night as Ms. Gideon weaves her spell." — Romantic Times
"Nancy Gideon is one of the best supernatural writers on the market today!" — Midwest Book Review/BookWire
The Excerpt
Almost six centuries . . .
The life of Florentine noble, Luigio Rodmini—a life that instead of ending after an expected number of years, continued with new names in new cities. In the early 1800’s he surfaced in London, wedding Arabella Howland, the daughter of an acclaimed physician. He was then Louis Radman. As his surname changed to Radouix and his residence to France, Arabella bore him a daughter, Nicole. As Louis Radcliffe, he appeared in New York near the Turn-of-the-Century, living with his grandmother, Bella, who was his most likely wheelchair-bound and aged wife. After her death, he married Cassandra Alexander, heiress to a newspaper empire. They disappeared in Europe, their businesses handled by proxy. His daughter, Nicole wed a French expatriate and lived with their daughter, Fredrica, on the island of Martinique. Then, more silence as the family seemed to vanish, from print, at least, until wealthy eccentric, Louis Redman set himself up in Seattle.
How could Rodmini and Redman be one in the same?
How could they not be given all the evidence before her?
How, indeed?
I loved writing this book because it’s got a bit of everything I like to read: A paranormal love story, a Who-Done-It mystery with Frankenscience ethics, sneaky government ops, and a return of characters and complications I adored from previous books (You don’t have to have read them to appreciate them here) along with an unexpected extra – a new hero by the name of Frank Cobb. I couldn’t wait to give him his own story. And then there’s that almost otherworldly nighttime world in a setting that’s almost another character—Seattle—the dreamy site of my first romance writers’ conference waaaay way back. All this for only $0.99 through the end of the month!
After this fantastic sale, I’m back to updating (not rewriting!) the books in my By Moonlight series that I’ve gotten the rights back to. Talk about walking in two very different worlds. Vampires or Shapeshifters – which is your favorite?
I plan to spend the rest of this quixotic sunny-to-cold-to-who-knows-what of an early spring weekend visiting your excerpts before the cats start yowling for their second trip into the great outdoors (need a few more degrees and a little less snow, but try telling them that!).
Where were you the last time it happened? In your car? In line at the grocery store? Just falling asleep? At work? At the kids’ baseball practice? Chances are you never expected, and were unprepared . . . for inspiration to strike.
It would be nice if the creative process was predicable and on command. You’d sit down at the keyboard and there it would be, just pouring from your poetic soul onto the page. Yeah, right. How often does that happen? Writing is mostly hard work, herding those slippery, evasive words into an intelligible format one sentence at a time - kinda like cat wrangling. But ideas, those little buggers, can pop up at any time, lightning across the blank heavens of your thoughts, blinding, illuminating, and gone in a flash.
How to catch them before the sizzle fades, that’s the trick. The biggest trick of our stock and trade as writers.
We all remember exactly what we were doing at some momentous event in our life time. The impressions are still as rich and fresh as they were then. Why can’t inspiration be like that, instead of that spark that fires and fades before we can capture it?
"Be prepared!" That all inclusive Scouting motto serves a writer well. Expect the unexpected. If you get those bolts from the blue at a particular (and inconvenient) time, be ready with that Mason jar to trap them while the light’s still bright. When you’re in bed? Keep a flashlight and a notepad on your night stand. In the car? Use the record app on your phone or keep a small notepad in your console to make notes – at the next stop light! At the kids’ events? Again, carry a notepad with you - At All Times! Or send yourself an e-mail or text message (again, NOT while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle!) so you can refresh your memory later.
Post-It notes are my best friend! They’re my Mason jar of ideas, bits of dialog, topics for that next pesky blog post. And they come in great colors to excite my OCD/ADD soul. The inside of my purse looks like a murder board, with bits and pieces stuck all over it. They’re small, light, re-stickable and your new bestest ever inspirational friend. When plotting, I’ll use the inside of a file folder and begin sticking Post-Its with scenes, characters or dialog along a timeline (you can use a color for each - if you're REALLY OCD!). Nothing fancy and completely portable, giving a visual overview of your mental process as it's ticking happily along. Just tack additions in, move them down the timeline, make adjustments wherever and whenever necessary.
My "favorite" place to get inspired is in the car on the way to work in the morning, during the long open stretches along MSU farmlands from Lansing to Okemos. Peaceful, quiet (except for my CD songtrack for the current WIP) and just enough coffee to stir the ole brain pan. Yesterday, I was driving in, bemoaning the end of the last book in my four-book House of Terriot series that will lead to the last in my 10-book By Moonlight series. Ten years of my life. What to do next . . . I didn’t want to leave these vivid characters behind . . . and there it was. That sudden bolt from beyond, whispering, “Next generation YA/NA . . .” Needless to say, I was scribbling like mad when I got into the office, even before I turned on all the lights! Those Post-Its are in my purse as I type.
Be prepared.
And just in case you're in the mood for a little escape from the barrage of work thoughts, let me offer a getaway . . . the rerelease of my w/a Dana Ransom contemporary, TOTALLY YOURS, is on sale for just $0.99 until month's end. A vacation for the mind if the body and bank account can't afford to take one.
Thanks to the coaxing of a friend (Thanks, Diane!) I’m thrilled to join Paranormal Romantics as a regular contributor on the 25th of each month. Since I tend to be more lurking lone wolf than pack animal, it takes quite the push for me to join a crowd, but how could I resist such wonderfully kindred company?
Like all of us here, I love things out of this world – the unimaginable, the strange, the unique, the unexplored, the sometimes frightening, but at heart, I’m a true romantic. It’s all about two characters who connect and pull the reader into an irresistible love affair that’s juuuust a step beyond the expected.
I’ve been a fan of the preternatural since the original Dracula on Midnight Creature Feature had me closing the curtains tight for most of my growing up years. And don’t even get me started with The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. I love that walk on the scary side (with a night light) which is why my heroes tend to be dark and dangerous and my plots filled with chilly suspense. Then toss in that too independent for her own good heroine to heat things up.
I can’t resist a story that takes a bite out of my imagination (sorry, couldn’t resist!). One book is never enough to satisfy. I’m a series junkie, both in what I read and what I write so it’s no surprise that my paranormals come with numbers attached, currently one through nine with both my vampires and my shape-shifters. Welcome to my “Midnight” and “By Moonlight” worlds.
I’m currently putting the finishing touches on REMEMBERED BY MOONLIGHT, the 9th book in my dark paranormal shape-shifter series, bringing fan favorite central couple, Max Savoie and Charlotte Caissie back in search of their happily-ever-after. And I’m excited to announce that ImaJinn Books will be re-releasing my entire “Midnight” vampire romance series, including the loooong out of print first three books, with new covers, one-per-month in 2015. That’s a lot to sink your teeth into!
Looking forward to seeing you again same time next month!
Nancy Gideon is the award winning author of over 55 romances ranging from historical, regency and series contemporary suspense to paranormal, with a couple of horror screenplays tossed into the mix. She works full time as a legal assistant, and when not at the keyboard, feeds a Netflix addiction along with all things fur, fin and fowl. She also writes under the pen names Dana Ransom and Rosalyn West.
