How dinosaurs became extinct.

(Thanks, Jo!)

Future Predictions, Take 9

Number Nine: Privacy.

If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7 "they" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. And "they" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.


All we will have that can't be changed are Memories.

Tonight I'm Hosting LaVerne Thompson on Blog Talk Radio!

Tonight on Other Worlds of Romance on Blog Talk Radio, I'm hosting LaVerne Thompson.  She'll be reading from her sci-fi romance DAY IN THE SUN.

Show begins at 11 pm est.  See you there!

Would You Read a Book Series if the HEA Came Later?

Question:  Would you begin a series if you knew the HEA for the hero and heroine would come in Book 2 instead of Book 1?
Romance readers love having an HEA at the end of the book.  But in most cases, books are stand-alone stories - one book, one couple, one story.  I've read stand-alones without an HEA (Happily Ever After) or HFN (Happy For Now), and can somewhat tolerate them as long as the author hasn't killed off one of the couples (which means there can never be an HEA for them! Grr!)

But if you as a reader knew that there would be a Book 2, and that it would contain the inevitable and long-awaited HEA from Book 1, would you be willing to take a chance on the series?

What if an excerpt/chapter from Book 2 was included in the back of Book 1, wherein you could "see" how that HEA might come about?

I'm the Guest Author on Coffee Time Romance's Erotic Eloop Today!

Please join me today at Coffee Time Romance & More - Erotic email loop (join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karendevinkaren/ ) from 7:00pm - 10:00 pm EST.

We'll be talking erotic romances, and you just might win a goodie or two!

I'll Be at APOLLOCON This Weekend!

I'll be signing copies of my newest release this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 25-27, at APOLLOCON 2010.  It'll be at the DoubleTree Hotel Houston Intercontinental Airport in Houston, TX.

For more information about guests and programs, go here.

Now Available for Kindle! FIRELIGHT, an erotic paranormal romance

Now Available on Amazon for Kindle!
FIRELIGHT
An Erotic Paranormal Romance
(ebook) ISBN# 978-1-4507-1941-4
Word Count: 10.3K
$1.99

An old cottage. A cold winter's night.
And shadows on the wall reflecting
two bodies in the heat of passion...
except that one of them died over a century ago.

At first, Connie thought the disembodied voice in the room was due to her exhaustion. But when the apparition insisted she was the reincarnation of his lost love, she had no choice but to allow herself to become swept up in the moment, the memories, and the romance.


For more information, go to my website

New Contract!

My dark, erotic urban fantasy romance series now has a home!  I'm especially excited about this because this is the book that garnered me an agent back in '07, but she was unable to sell the book to NY because it doesn't contain werewolves/shifters or vampires.  In fact, one pub said it wasn't an urban fantasy, and even implied that I had mis-represented it!

After multiple rejections, my agent and I parted ways, and I sat on this book until recently.  Whiskey Creek Press Torrid is thrilled to offer me a contract for this proposed 3 book series.

Expect book 1 to be released in June, 2011.

Blurb:

Forget everything you think you know about mass murderers and crimes of passion, because now you’re going to learn the truth. People don’t decide one day to go out and kill as many people as they can, or wake up one morning, grab the nearest shotgun or axe, and proceed to hack apart their loved ones. They do it because they’re infected with a jewel, a creature of intense beauty and danger. Once the jewel takes over a host’s body, that person dies, leaving the jewel in total control to thrive on fear and horror.

Cutler Glass is a lapidary, one of an unknown group of people who’ve dedicated their lives to destroying jewels. But in order to keep the jewels from slaughtering innocent victims, she has to kill the host and then eat the jewel that emerges from the body.

Except this time the jewel she's assigned to go after, a diamond, has infected a very wealthy and influential man who has hired police protection. When Detective David Fellowes clashes with Cutler, it’s going to take more than a simple explanation before he believes her outlandish tale.

Struck

Want to see something that'll bring tears to your eyes?

Thanks to Emily over at EREC, I watched this award winning short film on its website here, and I was so taken by its simplistic beauty, and the loving HEA, that I had to share.
Be sure to bookmark it so you can go back later and rewatch it or share!

Check Out RJ's Summer Newsletter Contest!

Romance Junkies is having their Summer Contest from now until Aug. 31st.   Go check out the authors and publishers (including moi), and put in your bid for some of the neat prizes being given away.

I'm giving away a copy of my newest book and a $5 Starbucks gift card to the person chosen as my winner. Entering is easy! Just click on the postcard and follow the directions! (Hint where to find me: It's no fairy tale!)

Happy Father's Day!

To all the Real Men and Fathers out there, meet your ultimate grilling machine.  Nothing says "macho" like the ability to burn meat, right?

To my hubby, if you insist we get one of these, I'm filing for divorce.  Only kidding.  I love you dearly, but something like this wasn't in the vows.

To my daddy, now residing in Heaven, I miss you every day.

Is It Really a Contest If You Have To Buy The Book First?

I recently had a contest where readers could win several copies of my latest release, and all they had to do was either show up or put their names in a hat, per se.

The reason I mention this is because on one blog I happened to peruse the other day, an author is giving away two gift certificates to a bookstore as a prize.  But in order to have a chance at winning one, you have to either write review about her book on her blog, or write the review for her book on Amazon.

In other words, you have to buy the book first, read it, and give her a favorable review before you can be entered to win.  (I seriously doubt a bad review would make you eligible.)

To me, that's a contest that's going about it all wrong.  Or am I missing a very crutial point?

Future Predictions, Take 8

Number Eight: The "Things" That You Own.

Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.

In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

**Can everyone say DRM?**

Future Predictions, Take 7

Number Seven: Television.

Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing all lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

**Just yesterday a friend of mine predicted at video rental shops like Blockbuster will no longer exist as such.  People will want to buy their movies on disk, but I predict a time when we'll buy a "box" that will store all our movies, much like burning songs onto a disk.  Think of it as a Kindle for video viewing.**

I'm at Tilly Greene's Blog Today! And You Could Win!

I'm at Tilly's blog today, promoting my new release FROM OUT OF THE SHADOWS.  Go by and make a comment, because I'm giving away a copy of my book to one lucky reader!

New! FROM OUT OF THE SHADOWS, an erotic paranormal fantasy romance novel!

FROM OUT OF THE SHADOWS

Erotic Paranormal/Fantasy Romance
Whiskey Creek Press Torrid
(ebook) ISBN# 978-1-60313-829-1
(print) ISBN# 978-1-60313-863-5
Word Count: 75.5K

Croat was a Lupan, one of the half-man, half-beast creatures long thought to be extinct or fabricated from fairy tales. Lupan were folklore, nothing more than a myth.

Tora was a Sensitive. Her kind really existed, and normal people feared Sensitives because it was common knowledge that all Sensitives were evil and practiced the dark magicks.

Captured and thrown together inside Baron Agrino’s dungeon, they discovered a connection between them that defied all reason, and a love that transcended all boundaries.

But is their love strong enough to stop the baron from what he’ll do with every Lupan he plans to capture? Or, worse, what he’ll do with Tora once he learns what she is?

Warning! Contains torture, imprisonment, severe beatings, nasty bad guys, public nudity, molten wax, old wives' tales, forest folk, bad horsemanship, and lots of pissed off townspeople.

Tonight!  From 6-10 pm est!

I'll be chatting on the Love Romances Cafe eloop, and giving away a copy.  So come by and say, "Hi!"

Tonight on Blog Talk Radio, I'm Celebrating My New Release! And Giving Away a Copy!

Tonight on Other Worlds of Romance on Blog Talk Radio, I'll be reading an excerpt from my release due out tomorrow entitled From Out of the Shadows!

And then I'll be giving away a copy to one lucky listener in my chat room!

Show time is 11 pm est.  See you there!

Coming June 15th, My First Ever Wolf/Shifter Novel! And You Could Win a Copy!

Well, if you don't know by now, my next book is due to be released Tuesday, June 15th. FROM OUT OF THE SHADOWS is an erotic paranormal/fantasy romance novel coming from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid.  And I will be giving away FOUR copies! Here's how you might win one!

1. Monday night, June 14th, from 11-11:30 pm est (10 pm cst), I will be reading an excerpt from my book at Blog Talk Radio on Other Worlds of Romance. Afterwards, I'll choose someone from the chat room to win a copy. You can get there at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/other_worlds_of_romance


2. On Tuesday the 15th, I will be having a chat on the LoveRomancesCafe eloop from 6-10 pm est. During that time I'll be giving away a copy.

3. On Tuesday the 15th, someone from my eloop list (Linda Mooney's Other Worlds of Romance) will win a copy. If you want you name to go in the hat and you're not a member, just join!  You can join below on the right-hand side, or go to my website  http://wwwlindamooney.com/ and join at the box about midway down the front page.  Then all you have to do is email me on the loop and ask to be placed in the hat!

and finally

4. I'll be on Tilly Greene's Big Huge Reader Contest Blog on Wednesday the 16th. You can reach it here http://tillygreene.blogspot.com/  All you have to do is comment that day, and I'll pick one of the comments as the winner!

Good Luck!  And thanks for participating!

Future Predictions, Take 6

Number Six: Music.

This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply heading toward self-destruction. Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalog items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."

**Hubby and I now get the majority of our music off of iTunes.  The iPod has so revolutionized music, my Kindergarten students did not recognize a record album, 8-track, or even a cassette when I introduced them.**

Future Predictions, Take 5

Number Five: The Land Line Telephone.

Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they're always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.

**We got rid of our house phone number that we'd had forEVER (it seems).  It had gotten to the point where we were paying $49/mo so that scammers, charity organizations, and pollsters could call us any time of the day or night, regardless of the fact that we'd put the number on the national Do Not Call list.  Besides, anyone who really needed us had our cell phone numbers.**