2014 Recap

2014 was an exciting year for me. I figured I'd share some of the highlights

First off, I dipped my toes into the Indie pool and launched the first book in my Urban Fantasy Romance series, BRIDES OF PROPHECY.

These characters have been in my head for FOREVER, but since the traditional publishing houses are reluctant to take on paranormal, especially vampires, I couldn't find a home for these stories there. But since that world is so important to me, I decided to release the series myself.

I present, WRENCHING FATE! 

After that, I also got two new front teeth... okay, two crowns and a filling. After nearly dying from an abcessed tooth in 2013...seriously, I almost DIED. I decided that taking care of my crappy, poor white trash teeth was a priority. I still have a long way to go.  

Umm...I'm not posting pics of that.

In May I got to attend the RT BOOKLOVERS CONVENTION in the city I've always wanted to visit, NEW ORLEANS!!

Me and author Sarah Humphreys at a Mardi Gras party they threw for the attendees. How cool is that?

It was such an incredible and busy experience that it took 4 blog posts to recap it. Here's part one if you want to read about the awesomesauce.

Unfortunately, just a few days after I got back, a good friend of mine passed away. RIP, Bill Kieffer. You will always be dearly missed. :(

I'll never forget all the times we had fun talking about music, movies, and other quirky things. I'll never forget the time we got drunk on the front porch talking about every topic in the book until the sun came up. I'll never forget that you chose to aid me in a crisis, despite disapproval from some people you'd known longer.

Okay, after the sad stuff...

Over the summer, I was invited by editor, Alex Johnson to submit a short story to a heavy metal horror anthology. 

I ACTUALLY had one gathering dust in my hard drive because I never found a home for such an oddity even though it won 1st place in the 2012 Idaho Writer's League Short Story Competition. 

AND IT WAS ACCEPTED!

I'm pleased to announce that I will be featured in AXES OF EVIL II: RISE OF THE METAL GODS, which will be released soon!

Check out this badass Iron Maiden inspired cover!

And if you're a metalhead, you'll know which album inspired this!

I finally had the opportunity to return to another beloved project. The restoration of my 1980 Datsun 210. 

Her name is Little Beast. I'd rebuilt the engine, but her body's been a bashed-up mess. But I finally found new body parts for her so hopefully she'll be on the road and pretty by next year.

Right now her front end is all torn up, but do you see her shiny engine compartment?

I got some requests for the Heavy Metal Romance I wrote back in 2012.

It's called HIS ROADIE for now...and good lord, we need to find a better title. But right now I have 2 publishers looking at it and the first sent me a Revise and Resubmit request and now I'm waiting to hear back. Even if they don't accept it, I got some excellent feedback that helped to make it a better book.

I fell in Love.

It's really hard to nail down the exact time that happened, especially since we were friends for so long, but damn he's wonderful. I call him "Sexy Genius." Our first official "date" ended up with us working on a car together... which is totally my style. And I've never been treated so well.

Huckleberries.

An annual North Idaho tradition. In 2013, I had to sell all of mine. This year I got to keep some to eat! Seriously, if you're ever in the Northwest, you have to try these berries! 

Release of ONE BITE PER NIGHT!!

This was another important book for me.

When I got the offer for Bite Me, Your Grace, I had NO ideas for future books in the series. But it was a 3 book deal so I had to come up with something.

I wanted to put a different spin on the guardian/ward trope, and play with another fun setting in England: Cornwall, namely a castle! Ideas for a heroine came into play, but I was at a loss for a hero. I didn't want to the typical "tall dark and handsome alpha vampire" that I did with the last book. I wanted something different.

So, I had an acquaintance that had really cool hair, striking looks, and was as kind as he was mysterious. I inspired the hero after him.

We ended up getting to know each other and he actually came to my signing!

I now call him "Sexy Genius"

ONE BITE PER NIGHT ended up being well received with reviewers. I was almost too scared to click on the link to Publisher's Weekly's review because they can be mean sometimes. (They were pretty nice to me with BITE ME, YOUR GRACE, though they threw in a bit of snark).

Publisher's Weekly LOVED IT!!!

But there was no rest for the wicked. 

Since I'd decided to go hybrid, I also had my Indie series to deliver.

In October, I released Book 2 in my "Brides of Prophecy" series: Ironic Sacrifice

Before I was published, this book was a favorite of my beta readers. Razvan is definitely the most alpha hero I've ever written and people LOVE him!

He also has a twin brother, but you won't get to know him until book 4.

Thrills and Chills Book Signing

That month I also had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a multi-author Halloween themed book signing with Shelley Martin, Bonnie R. Paulson, Frank Zafiro, and Kaye Thornbrugh.

It was a blast!

Edits, edits, edits

Honestly, I would dub 2014 as "The Year of Edits" for me. I did not write a complete brand new manuscript the entire year. Instead I hacked away at stuff I wrote in 2012 and 2013 and added thousands of better words. 

Not only that, but I also launched my freelance editing business and despite not having gotten around to putting up an official website, word of mouth grew, and I made almost as much money off of editing as I did on book sales. And as a bonus I got to help some awesome authors make their books shine!

Art projects

I was an artist before I was anything else, and it was a joy to finish off the year with my first love.

Here are the pieces I did:

Freddy Krueger: Pumpkin Carving

Pinhead from Hellraiser: Scratchboard

Trippy Zebras: Scratchboard

My aunt's dog: Pencil.

All in all, I had a pretty good year, but I have more goals for the next. Stay tuned! 

New Release: Kissing the Devil by Shannon Eckrich

There are three rules in the small town of Leeds Point, New Jersey:

Never stay out after dark.

Never go into the Pineys.

And, more than anything, never speak of the Jersey Devil.

Serenity Cantwell knows all too well the Jersey devil exists. The recurring nightmares of his glowing green eyes make their way into her dreams, causing her to relive her encounter with the beast every single night. But as people she knows start to disappear, and end up dead, in the middle of the Pine Barrens, she pushes away her fear of the forest in search of answers.

What she finds will change her life forever. Secrets will be revealed, a curse will be set in motion, and friendships will be tested. But most of all, love could prove to be deadly.

Purchase Link: http://smarturl.it/kissingthedevil

Author Bio:

Shannon Eckrich is a YA paranormal author with Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing. Her novel, Haunting Lia became an Amazon International Bestseller shortly after its release in October 2013. The first installment of her Elemental Short Series, Goddess of Fire: Burn, quickly followed suite when it was released in June 2014.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorshannoneckrich

Website: https://www.shannoneckrich.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShannonEckrich

TSU: https://www.tsu.co/authorshannoneckrich

Check out these other books by Author Shannon Eckrich:

Haunting Lia : http://smarturl.it/hauntinglia

Goddess of Fire: Burn: http://smarturl.it/goddessoffireburn

Goddess of Fire: Smolder: http://smarturl.it/goddessoffiresmolder

Goddess of Fire: Ignite: http://smarturl.it/goddessoffireignite

Goddess of Fire: Inferno: http://smarturl.it/goddessoffireinferno

Goddess of Fire: Fire and Ice: http://smarturl.it/goddessoffirefireice

On Quoting Song Lyrics in Your Novel (Part 1)

So I'm working on my 3rd Brides of Prophecy novel and it's the point where we get deeper into some of the said Prophecy. It's also where the series veers from Urban Fantasy to straight fantasy, but I'll get into that more another time.

For now, onto the music.

I actually wrote Xochitl's story back in 2001. It SUCKED so bad that I'm glad my old computer died and I was only able to get some of the book off my floppy discs. Yes, you heard me, floppy discs. I was even more poor back then.

However there was a part about it that I liked. Xochitl is the lead singer of a famous metal band. The band had formed back when they were in high school. They learned how to perform an epic rock song so well that their peers finally started taking them seriously and later it helps them get their start in the business.

That song ended up cementing their bond in the end as well as accomplishing something VERY important that I can't say because spoilers.

In my ancient crap draft the song was "November Rain" by Guns & Roses. Which is a great song, don't get me wrong but REALLY would have been a terrible idea in the book.

Sometime around 2005, I heard a song (much older than "November Rain") that gave me chills and accelerated by pulse like no other. The vocals, the instrumental, the LYRICS! For about the 1st 20 listens, I just reveled in the beauty of the song. But as I listened to the words, something eerily familiar about it. OMG, it's a lot like that one part of Xochitl's book! And I could totally imagine Xochitl singing it.

THIS IS THEIR SONG, I decided, and went back to turning wrenches and working on Book 1.

Now that I'm working on book 3 I've learned enough about the world to know that I need permission to use copyrighted song lyrics in my novel. At first I thought I would need to contact the writer of the song's lyrics or his manager/ agent. Since he is deceased, then it would be his widow/ manager/ agent which I'd thought would be easy since she's the same person. I was wrong. There is no contact info to be found.

I couldn't even find contact info for her record company, but I DID find contact info for another record company affiliated with hers.

Thankfully they got back to me right away and directed me to ANOTHER record company... who didn't have the song, then I got directed to ANOTHER, which directed me to BMI, which I should have checked in the first place.

Still, one thing was troubling. You can "Buy" the rights to songs from BMI and major music sites like Warner, Universal, and Sony, but they only sell rights to play or perform the actual song, which doesn't work because A.) you can't print sound and B.) FICTIONAL people will be performing it. They don't offer anything on just the lyrics.

Still, BMI was useful.

....Which I would have known if I'd read Literary Agent, Virginia Lloyd's Blog Post.

Not only does it tell you about sites like BMI to see who owns the publishing rights to a song, it tells you how to ask to use them. I emailed the publisher pretty much asking how to ask BEFORE I stumbled upon Virginia's post.

HOLY WOW, they responded 6 hours later! Even more impressive was that I emailed them in the evening and they responded 1st thing in the morning.

Luckily, they were gracious about my lack of experience with this scenario and outlined their requirements EXACTLY like Virginia said.

Here was what they asked for:

Book title:

Context of lyric use:

Term of license required:

Territory:

Print Run:

After supplying that info, they said they'd provide me with a quote... which I may or may not be able to afford. From further research, the price could be anywhere between 50 and 2000 bucks.

Also, I did not have concrete answers for some of those questions because A.) the book isn't finished yet. I figured I'd check on permissions first so I know how important a role that song is allowed to play in the story. B.) I really don't yet know what a reasonable term to ask for is. I know you have to renew the permission (with more money) when it runs out, so I asked for more clarification.
C.) I just put the territories that my books seem to be selling most in.
D.) This is my Indie series, so I don't have a print run. My Indie series is just getting off the ground, so I went for only 1000 copies with option to renew once I get close to selling that amount.

I highly doubt I'll hear back from them as quickly but cross your fingers for me that they won't quote a price outside of my range.

I'll also keep you all posted on what happens next.


   

Belated Halloween Recap

Sorry I've been absent. I had the misfortune of getting the worst cold ever for the entire week of Halloween. I'm barely now able to breathe.

Still, that didn't stop me from doing my damnedest to enjoy my favorite holiday.

First, I spent several nights in October with The Halloween Horror club mass screening horror movies and exchanging snark.

Here's a few that I was able to watch:

The Legend of Hell House

Candyman

Dead Alive

Brain Damage

Night of the Demons

Night of the Demons 2

Night of the Living Fred

Phantasm 2

ReAnimator

Funky Forest

Spookies

Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter

FunHouse

Street Trash

I definitely want to do that again next year!

I also had a ton of fun carving my pumpkin. I spent 8 hours creating Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street. Then I roasted pumpkin seeds in butter and Johnny's Seasoning Salt.

I read some spooky Horror novels, including Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and Peter Straub's GHOST STORY.

For the big day, heavily doped up on nyquil, I went to my local pub for a costume party and karaoke. My singing was worse than usual with the cold, but I still had a lot of fun.

What did you do for your Halloween?

Multi-author Book Signing October 25th in CDA!

If you live in the Coeur d'Alene area, you're in for a treat. On October 25th at the Coeur d'Alene Hastings (101 Best ave) I will be participating in a multi-author book signing. The other authors attending are Shelley Martin, Bonnie R. Paulson, Kaye Thornbrugh and Frank Zafiro.

To keep with the Halloween spirit, we've dubbed out signing, "Thrills and Chills" with Shelley, Kaye, and I providing the "thrills" with Vampires, Fae, Gargoyles, and Phoenixes, and Bonnie and Frank supplying "chills" with Zombies, Serial Killers, and apocalyptic thrillers. I think Bonnie's even bringing some cowboys along, so there should be something for everyone.

There are going to be lots of swag and prizes.

I'll be handing out these scrumptious candy bars and raffling off a basket of books.

So if you're in the Spokane/ Coeur d' Alene area, stop by and get your thrills, chills, books, and treats! 

AWESOME NEWS, AWESOME DAY!!

You guys, this is one of the best days I've had in awhile. First off, after over a year of agonized secrecy, the cover for book 3 in my Scandals with Bite series is available to the public.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you BITE AT FIRST SIGHT

As gorgeous as my other covers are, this one is my favorite of the 3. It has been agony to wait so long to show it off. I mean, it's so HOT!!!

Speaking of hot, did I mention that this is Rafe's book? Those of you familiar with the series know what I'm talking about. Mrrrrrrrowww!!!

Even better, the book is up for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and probably other places as well.

Here's the blurb:

"When Rafael Villar, Lord Vampire of London, stumbles upon a woman in the cemetery, he believes he’s found a vampire hunter—not the beautiful, intelligent stranger she proves to be.

Cassandra Burton is enthralled by the scarred, disfigured vampire who took her prisoner. The aspiring physician was robbing graves to pursue her studies—and he might turn out to be her greatest subject yet. So they form a bargain: one kiss for every experiment. As their passion grows and Rafe begins to heal, only one question remains: can Cassandra see the man beyond the monster?"

And for my other bit of good news, which admittedly is not nearly as phenomenal is that I get to host a mass screening of NIGHT OF THE DEMONS on Facebook's Halloween Horror Club. Every night we stream a different movie and exchange snark. 

I am so happy I found this group. Not only am I discovering new horror movies, but I get to have company when I watch them and I get to share my favorites with others.

With my boyfriend and son hating horror movies, I was getting really lonely this Halloween season.

I know I've talked about this movie before on this blog, but I must reiterate that this film is the epitome of 80's Cheezy Goodness.

So tonight, I am prepared with a fitting snack:

The film is up on youtube if anyone cares to check it out: 

And if that's not your thing, be sure to pre-order BITE AT FIRST SIGHT and check out the 1st two books in the series!

Hope everyone's having a great October and enjoying the Halloween season! 

Happy Book Birthday to Ironic Sacrifice!!!

I am so excited to announce the release of book 2 in my Brides of Prophecy series, IRONIC SACRIFICE.

 

Wrenching Fate left off with Akasha and Silas happily married but trouble encroached on their wedded bliss when their old enemy, a psychotic leader of a vampire cult, takes over the town next door.

This is Razvan's book. :)

 

Here's the pretty cover I made!

 

And here's the blurb.

"Jayden Leigh wants to commit suicide. Her clairvoyant powers have become so intense that she lost her job and home. Death is the only way to make them stop. Opportunity presents itself when she comes across a sinfully handsome vampire ready to make a kill. Jayden begs for him to take her instead. A blissful death in his arms, or the visions ravaging her mind? She'd gladly take the vampire. 

Razvan Nicolae is captivated and amused by the beautiful seeress who sacrifices herself for a stranger. Killing such a pleasing asset doesn’t interest him. If he could get her powers under control, she just might be the key to finding his missing twin. 

Controlling her visions and working for a seductive vampire? Razvan’s offer is like a dream come true. But her dream turns into a nightmare when a mad vampire cult leader seeks to exploit Jayden’s powers to stop an ancient prophecy. 

As Jayden finds herself at the center of a vampire war, she realizes that the biggest threat isn’t losing her life, it’s losing her heart." 

 

Buy links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

 

And to celebrate the special occasion, book 1, WRENCHING FATE is FREE for the entire week!

Apple (ibook store)
Barnes & Noble (Nook and Print) 
Kobo
Google Play
Amazon

Gearing up for IRONIC SACRIFICE RELEASE!

So the 2nd installment of the "Brides of Prophecy" series releases October 10th. So excited!!! My budget is too low to do any big events at that time, however I will be throwing a kick-ass party on Facebook chock full of guest authors and giveaways. And because it's October, the party will be Halloween themed and you are ALL INVITED!!

Here's a list of attending authors by theme.

Vampires: Brooklyn Ann
Werewolves: Trina M. Lee
Witches: Ashlyn Chase
Demons: Sara Humphreys
Zombies: Bonnie Paulson
Shifters & Demons: Alisha Payne
Fairies: Shona Husk
Gory Horror: Alex S. Johnson
Horror Comedy: Jeff Ö'Brien

The party will take place 5pm to 8pm Pacific time this Friday on Facebook. Here's the event link.

Not on Facebook? Don't worry. There's still something in it for you. Book one, WRENCHING FATE, will be FREE today until next Tuesday! 

Movie Review: The Exorcist (Original 1973 version)

My mom raised me on horror movies. Nightmare on Elm Street and JAWS were particular favorites. But there was one horror film that she didn't want me to watch, and that was The Exorcist. She said it was "evil" and that lightning struck the screen of the drive-in theater (I heard this happened at a lot of drive-ins across the country) and that meant that God didn't want you to watch it.

Of course this TOTALLY made me want to watch it. And when I was having a sleepover at my best friend's house, I related what mom had told me about The Exorcist. She said, "We have it." Then she asked her mom if we could watch it and she said, "Go ahead."

We were nine, I think.

I was all, "Really? After your mom got upset that my mom let you watch Freddy Krueger with us?"

We shrugged and popped it in the VCR. And we discovered that aside from the last twenty minutes, it was boring. (The terrifying crab walk scene and possibly the disgusting and disturbing crucifix masturbation scene were omitted in the edition we had) but those 20 minutes were absolutely riveting.

Still afterwards we wondered what the big freakin' deal was.

Then when I was fifteen I discovered the BOOK.

The book was excellent. That's where it's revealed that the girl was possessed by an Assyrian demon named Pazuzu (which I thought was a badass name and immediately gave it to my new kitten) not the devil. You also get a lot more insight into the characters, especially Father Karras and his mommy issues and struggle with his faith.

I've since watched the film several more times and I still maintain that the first half is boring. I think the main problem with it is that it tries to cram so many details of the book into little scene bits simultaneously with things the director felt like throwing in. If it had been streamlined into one or two character arcs instead of 10, it would have been better.

The child actress also acts way too immature for a twelve year old and her babyish voice is annoying.

That said, there is also a ton of AWESOME in this film. I love how they sneak in visuals of the demon's face in random places. I love the dynamic of the battle between physiology, psychiatry, and religion expressed in the process of diagnosing Regan's possession.

I love the makeup and special effects.

Once Regan is fully possessed the film is masterful in creating some of the most memorable, traumatizing, and pants-shittingly terrifying scenes ever.

Like this one:

So despite having trouble figuring out who was who and why I was supposed to care, I recommend THE EXORCIST to any horror fan who hasn't seen it. And I HIGHLY recommend the novel.      

OMG, HALLOWEEN IS COMING!!!!

You guys, this is my favorite holiday. I'm decorating my house with spooky goodness and trying to settle on a Halloween costume. So many choices! I'll also be binge-watching horror movies and posting reviews on a few.

 

And on OCTOBER 10th, IRONIC SACRIFICE releases! I'm having a party on FB to celebrate the new release as well as kick off the Halloween season. There will be both paranomal and horror authors attending as special guests and we're all giving away books! Here's the event link. https://www.facebook.com/events/644547328996467/?ref_dashboard_filter=hosting

For those not on Facebook I'll also probably do a giveaway here too.

OMG I gotta decide how I'm going to carve my pumpkin!

What's your favorite part about Halloween?

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY TO ME! ONE BITE PER NIGHT IS OUT!!!

OMIGOD, it's finally here! ONE BITE PER NIGHT released today and I went to my local Hastings and there it is!!

My awesome son also took a picture of me with my books.

I also spotted a few books by some of my awesome author friends. Here's HOW TO MARRY A COWBOY by the wonderful Carolyn Brown..

And books by Victoria Dahl, Lynsay Sands, Jess Haines, and Cheryl Brooks, and others!

z                                             

And a closeup of Jess Haines's fantastic ENSLAVED BY THE OTHERS.

And look! HERO OF A HIGHLAND WOLF by TERRY SPEAR!!

It's a happy day at the bookstore today, so stop by yours and pick up a copy of ONE BITE PER NIGHT or some of these other fantastic releases!!

ONE BITE PER NIGHT virtual tour!!!

As you've observed, I haven't blogged in almost a month. The reason why is because I was busy writing posts and answering interviews for my virtual tour for ONE BITE PER NIGHT, which releases, OMG, on TUESDAY!!!

The tour commences tomorrow and I will be giving away books at every single one, so please join in the fun and come see me at all these awesome places on the interwebz!

Date	Blog	Link	Notes
1-Aug	Bookhounds	http://maryinhb.blogspot.com/
Weekend
4-Aug	Ramblings from this Chick	http://ramblingsfromthischick.blogspot.com/
5-Aug	My Book Addiction and More	http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.com/
6-Aug	MamaKitty	http://mamakittyreviews.com
7-Aug	Fresh Fiction	http://freshfiction.com/
8-Aug	SOS Aloha Book Blog	http://sosaloha.blogspot.com/
9-Aug	Jess Haines Blog	http://jesshaines.com/blog
11-Aug	Manga Maniac Café	http://www.mangamaniaccafe.com/
12-Aug	Book Lovin' Mamas	http://booklovinmamas.com/
13-Aug	Night Owl Reviews And Rabid Reads at the Stomp Vs. Romp Event!	http://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5 http://rabidreads.ca/
14-Aug	Long and Short Reviews	http://www.longandshortreviews.com/
14-Aug	Bitten by Love Reviews	www.bittenbylovereviews.com
15-Aug	Romance Junkies	http://www.romancejunkies.com/
Weekend
18-Aug	Casa Author Blog	http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/
19-Aug	Joyfully Reviewed	http://www.joyfullyreviewed.net/
20-Aug	The Qwillery	http://qwillery.blogspot.com/
21-Aug	Harlequin Junkie	http://harlequinjunkie.com/
21-Aug	Reading Between the Wines	www.readingbetweenthewinesbookclub.com
22-Aug	All Things Urban Fantasy	http://allthingsuf.com/
Weekend
25-Aug	Paranormal Haven	http://paranormalhaven.com/