Obligatory New Year's post ;)

Happy New Year! So far, I seem only to be missing a resolution.

But we're in the third day. As of yet, I have no complaints, and the year is certainly looking more kindly upon me than last year.

New Year's Eve was spent with dozens of friends that filled the walls of my small-ish town house almost to bursting, but everybody seemed to have fun. We put the kiddly-winks up to bed at about 8.30pm, but I think we all knew they were still up closer to ten.

The night flew by with cheese and dips and more sugar than we could actually consume, and then somebody was suddenly running around yelling that it was only ten minutes till midnight.

Which was around the time we realised someone local had fireworks and was letting them off behind our back fence. While we oohed and ahhed about that, the time grew ever closer to midnight, and then there was the countdown, and then there was a lot of kissing. I was incredibly lucky this year. I got to spend New Year's Night with all but three of my very favourite people in the whole world.

New Year may not have brought around much in the way of resolutions for me (yet, but I reserve the right to make them, even as late as February!) but it has prompted a bit of a spring clean and adding of material to this humble little site. I now have three new tabs across the top bar, posting a little about me, the various places to get hold of me around the net and one of my up-coming projects.

I've also been reading and thoroughly consumed by the Puzzle Quest game (which is actually eating into quite a bit of my reading time...). The books I'm reading are The Secret Life of William Shakespeare, a historical fiction by a writer I'd never heard until I happened across the book in my local library. Jude Morgan also writes historical fictions based on the friendship between Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley, and also about the Bronte sisters that are now on my to-be-read list, and, of course, my other novel is an old favourite: Kushiel's Mercy from the series by Jacqueline Carey that I don't think I'll ever get sick of.

Lastly, I have a couple of chats coming up this month, on the 19th and 26th of January with Coffee Time Romance, where I'll get to talk about my novel Gothic and maybe a little bit about my upcoming novel Revelry, too. More information about those soon.

Chat with Anastasia Plum from Keeper of the Golden Dragon's Heart by Gemma K. Murray

Well, our lovely Gemma K. Murray had intended on blogging today, but she’s a little busy working on Book 3 in the Cedar River series. I’m Anastasia Plum and I thought I’d help one of my favorite women out. After all, she managed to help me catch my favorite flyboy, Bowie. Oops, speak of the devil himself, here he comes.

Bowie: What are you doing, babe? (cocking an eyebrow)

Ana: I’m helping Gemma. She’s so busy working on Brady and Silver’s story and I know how important this is to her.

Bowie: (shaking head) Darlin’, do you know what you’re doing?

Ana: (glares at Bowie) Are you saying I can’t manage to tell our story without screwing it up? Get out, Bowie! (points finger toward the front door)

Bowie: (bends to kiss his wife) I never said that, but I love you. Take it easy today. (waves to the readers)

Ana: That man aggravates me! Okay, where was I? Oh right, let me tell you about the woman who I blessed with our story.

Her name is Gemma K. Murray and she resides in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I watched her for a while before deciding this was the author to tell the stories of Cedar River and their residents.

See, Gemma had a hard time believing in her talent, so her writing career was simply not a career. One night I snuck into her dreams and allowed the story to unfold. We butted heads, she and I. Foolish woman tried to make me a wolf-shifter. (I stopped speaking to her for about a week over that mistake!) Finally, the story was finished. Bowie and I told everyone in Cedar River about Gemma. They began to clamor at the gates of her dreams, begging for their story to be told as well. When Keeper of the Golden Dragon’s Heart was released in March, Gemma cried, but she returned to her keyboard and began Adam Thomas’ story. Once again, foolish woman thought she knew whose story to tell next…she was wrong.

(Ana takes a sip of her tea and nibble of chocolate) Let’s see, I should tell you about Cedar River. Cedar River is a small community set along the shores of Lake Superior in the U.P. Shifters of every shape and size call Cedar River home. We’ve managed to stay hidden for many years, but now there are some religious zealots who think shifters need to be destroyed. Keeper of the Golden Dragon’s Heart allows the reader to step into our world.

Do you want to see the cover? The artist made me look FINE!

 

Blurb-The Upper Peninsula of Michigan seems like it is another country. The rawness and beauty of the land draws people from every walk of life. What most people don't realize is there is a little town nestled on the banks of Lake Superior that an entire group of supernatural beings call home. Shifters of every shape and size live there. They raise their families there. Tourists come from near and far to visit the quaint town of Cedar River, Michigan. The tourists never realize they are walking among some of the most unusual beings on earth.

Bowie Golden is a dragon shifter who is in charge of Cedar River's safety. Until now, the biggest threat to anyone's safety was Anastasia Plum, a witch/puma-shifter. She has been the town hellraiser since she was a teenager. Now someone has discovered the secret the residents of Cedar River keep for one another. These radicals are determined to eradicate the entire town. It's up to Bowie to keep them all safe.

Ana has always idolized Bowie. She may have stirred up trouble from time to time, but Bowie or one of his brothers would always get her out of the trouble she was in. One day, it happened. The unthinkable, the unimaginable occurred. Anastasia Plum fell for the "golden" boy. What an unlikely duo- the sheriff and the hellraiser!

Just as these two discover their passion for one another, a group of people is determined to keep them apart. It's up to Ana to prove that she is the only Keeper of the Golden Dragon's Heart.

Ana:Doesn’t that sound like a great book? (I may be a little biased.) I promised Gemma I wouldn’t talk too long.

If you’re looking for a wonderful story, you can pick up Keeper of the Golden Dragon’s Heart for your e-reader at these places on the web:

Amazon

B&N- 

Coffee Time Romance e-bookstore

Leap of Faith Publishing 

Now, if you’re looking for Gemma, you can find her here:

Website- http://gemmakmurray.com (She’s got some great stuff on there.)

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/GemmaKMurray

Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5781668.Gemma_K_Murray

And I (along with Adam’s lady, Luna McIntyre) “encouraged” Gemma to start up a Cedar River series Facebook page. This way, we can interact with the readers. At any given time, there will be a resident of Cedar River available to answer any questions you might have.

Cedar River Series on Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/CedarRiverSeries

Stop by and chat with all of us. Prove to Gemma I, I mean, we weren’t wrong in asking her to do this for us.

On behalf of Gemma, I want to say “Thank you” for allowing us to come visit with you today! I had a blast and I know Gemma will be on to answer any questions a little later on. The woman has to take a break sometimeJ Have a bright and beautiful day filled with blessings! Bye-bye!