Meljean Brook

Where are Lilith, Hugh, and Colin five years later? Here’s a little bit from DEMON ANGEL (Warning: includes SPOILERS! for “Falling for Anthony”) (more…)

Venture into a world beyond the ordinary, where the dark passions and voracious appetites of vampires, werewolves, demons, and a few undaunted mortals combine to unleash a potent…

HOT SPELL

Here are lovers like you’ve never dared to imagine: Eyes that glitter with keenness born of ancient knowledge. Hands that move with a tenderness belying superhuman strength. Inviting smiles that reveal exquisitely lethal fangs. Rippling, leonine muscles. There’s danger in the air—and heat.

Steam rises up off the pages of these four scorching novellas, sensuously crafted by four acclaimed authors who beckon you to slip into the shadows and experience the otherworldly pleasures of the night…

In Emma Holly’s The Countess’s Pleasure, a lower-class demon and a lonely widowed countess share a week of unbridled passion that evolves into more than they anticipated.

Sparks fly in Lora Leigh’s The Breed Next Door, when sexy Tarek claims Lyra as his lifemate. (Read an excerpt!)

The wolfking and a vampire’s daughter find that not even the war between their clans can keep them away from each other in Shiloh Walker’s The Blood Kiss. (Read an excerpt!)

And a desperate lady is Falling for Anthony when a childhood friend comes back from the dead to protect her brother from an unnatural evil in Meljean Brook’s novella. (Read an excerpt!)

Ordering info… (more…)

Okay, so originally I was only going to give away five copies, but I got ten author copies and I’d only earmarked one to give away, so with my l33t math skeelz I determined that left nine…and what the hell am I going to do with four copies of a book? Except hide them when my father-in-law visits?

I mean, really.

So, using a random number generator, it has been determined that:

1. Amy S.
2. Little Lamb Lost
3. racy li
4. Crystal G
5. Sanjay
6. Valeen
7. Hasna
8. eileen
9. the archduke

You’ve won a copy of HOT SPELL! Congratulations! I’ll be sending you an e-mail tomorrow.

To everyone who entered — thank you!

To enter the contest to win a copy of HOT SPELL! Just leave a comment that tells me your favorite horror novel and movie.

I was able to read Demon Angel last saturday and I was honestly blown away. It isn’t at all a perfect book but for the first full length novel from a new author it gets close. And Meljean takes the paranormal genre and makes it her own. I haven’t been this excited about a series since I read JR Ward’s Dark Lover.

Sweet. Click here to see DA in purple.

First, have you entered the contest yet? It’s HOT SPELL week!

I’ve discovered that one of the best moments in this publishing process is getting that first look at the cover. When I saw the first version of the HOT SPELL cover, I think I died. There was a guy with wings. And he was way good-looking (okay, and I think I squealed: holy crap, he looks like Anthony!). And he was in the act of doing something, instead of just posing.

What I didn’t notice until a few minutes later was the chest hair. Sparse, scraggly chest hair.

I love this cover, even though I don’t normally go for the bare-chest-guy covers. I don’t know if it’s just because it’s good (I think it is) or because it has my name down at the very bottom. Click to see the first draft of the cover (it’s a big file).

So it was lavender (kind of like DEMON ANGEL is now), which I thought was fine (although the dark blue they ended up with is much better…I guess they thought it was too light for a paranormal erotic romance anthology?) Her nails were unpainted. The wings showed less. And he had icky, straggly chest hair. (And OMG! my name was centered right over his angel-nip! …it was meant to be, angel-titty and me.)

And it solved for me a question I’d long asked: why are all of the cover models waxed (which I actually prefer, but it hardly reflects the hero inside?)

It’s because hair looks Icky.

First: have you entered the contest yet?

Okay, so one of the FAQs I see on other authors’ sites a lot is “where do you get your ideas?” and usually the answer is “everywhere, nowhere, the ether, my muse,” and etc. Sometimes, there’s a specific story to go along with it: a first line, a title, a cloud formation (I just read this somewhere…a cloud formation.)

Anyway, I can tell you exactly how I came of with the idea of “Falling for Anthony”: pure, unadulterated shock.

Okay, not exactly. But pretty much. This is what happened.

Editor: Hey, I read your chapters for TEMPTING HUGH (the title for DEMON ANGEL way-back-when). I like the idea, your characters and voice are great, but your execution sucks.

Melissande Brooke (because that was totally going to be my non-fanfic erotic-paranormal-author psuedonym): Okay. That’s way cool.

Melissande Brooke’s heart: *dying, even though I know she’s right*

Editor: But though they aren’t strong enough to offer a contract on that book, I can offer you a spot in an anthology.

Melissande: Wh….whuh?

Editor: With Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, and Shiloh Walker.

Melissande (who knew exactly who all of these people were, because she’d been on an Ellora’s Cave kick for a while, and had discovered Holly through AAR): Oh. Cool.

Melissande’s brain: I think you may have died. Or accidentally inhaled some really strong-ass copy toner. This is a dream sequence. Oh, and mothereffing *squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*!

Editor: So it’d be a really great way to work out the details of your world, and an introduction to it. Let me know when you have an idea. I’ll have them send out the contract.

Melissande: Oh. Cool. Can I be called Meljean instead?

Editor: Sure thing. (Or something, but way more awesome.)

Meljean: *puts down phone*

Meljean: *thinks* … and it goes something like this: (more…)

Yeah, that’s right. This week is all about HOT SPELL (and a little about DEMON ANGEL). If you haven’t yet entered the contest to win a copy, now is a good time to do so. Or anytime between now and next Sunday.

But the book isn’t just about me! HOT SPELL includes a novella “The Countess’s Pleasure” by Emma Holly that is set in the same universe as THE DEMON’S DAUGHTER and her new release PRINCE OF ICE (which got an awesome review over at AAR). A steampunky universe — Victorian England meets a technologically advanced demon culture — and the result is pretty damn fantastic. And, did I mention, way hawt?

And then there’s Lora Leigh’s “The Breed Next Door”, which is part of her uber-popular Breed series (available at Ellora’s Cave). Set a few decades in the future, these genetically engineered Breeds (HOT SPELL kicks off the start of the Lion Breeds) are fighting for their lives and their humanity. Tarek, the hero of “The Breed Next Door”, also shows up in Leigh’s single title follow-up, MEGAN’S MARK, which is available now. HARMONY’S WAY, the second single title in the series, releases this December.

And, for some sweet vamp/wolf luvin’, there’s Shiloh Walker’s “The Blood Kiss”, a Romeo and Juliet story (but with, of course, a much happier ending.) Though not set in the same world as her popular Hunter’s series at various e-pubs, it’s a great introduction to her style — particularly if you haven’t read her yet. (Okay, really, who hasn’t that’s been ordering from e-pubs or buying EC’s print versions?) Walker’s paranormal Hunter’s series (shifters, vamps and witches) for Berkley kicked off this summer with HUNTING THE HUNTER, and in April, HUNTERS: HEART AND SOUL will be available from Berkley Heat.

Alrighty. I’ve got a couple of copies of HOT SPELL to give away. Last time, my contest was something like “choose which excerpt from a Harlequin Presents is fake” but I’m too lazy still too busy working on the proposal to write a fake excerpt this time. But Halloween will do my work for me!

So, here are the rules:

In the comments, tell me what your favorite horror novel is (or story, if it’s not novel length.)

That’s it. I’ll choose five winners by random drawing in…ah, hell, let’s make it Nov. 5th, since the 7th is the release date, and I’ll get in touch with the winners via e-mail. (So, er, fill out the e-mail section (I think it’s required?) but don’t leave your e-mail addy in the comment form itself (because you might get spammed). I won’t do stuff with it, like sell it. But even if you don’t leave it, I’ll announce the winners on the 6th, so if you see your name up there and it says, “EMAIL ME!” that means I don’t have your e-mail address, or it bounced, but you won a book.)

Oh, if you want to be entered twice, tell me what your favorite horror movie is.

And here’s an excerpt from “Falling for Anthony” (a different excerpt that is on the main site.) (more…)

I just got my copies of the mass market reprint of HOT SPELL — which means I should probably have a contest.

Does anyone read this blog that hasn’t read it yet? (Out of pity, if no other reason?) If you haven’t, stay tuned! I’ll come up with a contest ASAP.

Oh, and it’s not just me, remember — Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, and Shiloh Walker all have novellas in the anthology. So if you like them, stay tuned, too!