Welcome to the 12th and FINAL stop on the Blog Tour de Force! Congratulations to all of you who have made it this far. You WILL be rewarded!
Without further ado....sit back, relax, and prepare to enjoy yourself and win more stuff!
As Dog is My Witness....
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| Animals in boxes are good, too. |
No, that's wrong. I love animals in books. I love the ordinariness of cats and dogs that act just exactly like cats and dogs. I also love it when I must suspend disbelief and accept behavior that simply would never happen in real life. Even made-up, fanciful animals are fun. In fact, it's not just in books where animals delight me. Movies, TV, plays, you name it. The animals can steel the show and seal the deal for me.
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| Eddie is the inspiration for "Blackie" |
In Heartsblood, the book that kicked off this blog tour on January 17, Carolyn McCray includes an animal we have never seen before. She uses our very human reaction to an unknown animal (caution at the least, fear at the most) to masterfully play up the tension in the story. We see what this animal can do before we encounter it, and by the time we see it, we're terrified -- and have no trouble understanding why the protagonist is shaking in her shoes.
If I were giving a class on writing, and instructing my students on hooking the reader by their emotions I would recommend studying the way animals interact and their behavior patterns in order to understand the visceral way we humans interact. To make trust and love believable one has only to observe animals -- the ones who have been nurtured and the ones who have been damaged -- to find out what a reader will find believable in the characters we create. Melissa Ecker, would get an "A" in my class for her erotic romance Pull The Trigger the book that preceded mine in the blog tour. She uses very steamy scenes to lead the reader to understand her character's journey to trust and love.
Animals in stories. They're endearing, useful, illuminating.
Now, a short word from my sponsors ....
Pop over to Jessica Subject's blog site, "Mark Of The Stars," to read an interview Jessica did with me. She asked some great questions about my journey as an author and posted an excerpt from Death By A Dark Horse. I think you'll enjoy it!
"Conversations With Self" has a review of my book. Len Lambert hails from London, England and puts an international spin on things.
Don't forget to "Bring A Friend" to the blog tour. You still have time, and you'll get even more chances to win that Kindle and other great prizes! Go to the Blog Tour de Force home page if you don't know how to do this.
And Now......
PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES!
Win: 20 free tickets for the Kindle drawing and...!
How: GO to Smashwords and download a free sample. THEN post a comment, HERE, on my blog with your favorite line from anywhere in Death By A Dark Horse. Every single one of you will win 20 free tickets for the Kindle drawing!
But WAIT there's MORE!
Be sure I have your email address, because 100 of you will receive a coupon for a FREE copy of Death By A Dark Horse!
Even More? Yes!
At the end of the tour ALL of you are entered to win a gift basket, full of goodies bought just for you in Snohomish PLUS a Death By A Dark Horse mug AND a trade paperback copy of Death By A Dark Horse
One final goodie -- if you go over to Conversations With Self , type in a comment and add somewhere, "The Black Queen's Bishop" you'll get 5 extra entries in the Kindle drawing!
Thanks to each and every one of you for participating in this amazing Tour de Force.
I hope you've all enjoyed what we 12 authors and 25 sponsors have had to offer.
Don't forget to go to the IBC Home Page tomorrow for the final prize hunt.
It will be well worth your effort!
