Tag: diana reyes

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‘Tis the Season for Vampires!

THE CALLING Vampire Novels‘Tis the season for vampires, but not in the way that you think!

For me, the start of the fall season always gets me into vampire mode and today I’m going to try to share 13 reasons why, although I may digress with some news…

1. It’s dark when I head to the office.
2. It’s dark when I leave the office.
3. There’s a chill in the air, kind of like the temperature of a vampire’s undead skin.
4. Graveyard dampness in the mornings.
5. Fog. Today in particular, big, fat patches of it hugging the ground. Swallowing you up.
6. The leaves are getting wet and stuff is growing, giving the air that faint hint of death and decay.
7. Halloween. What better time for a vamp to go out and party?
8. Harvest moons. I don’t know about you, but whenever I see one of these, I get a chill up and down my spine.

9. The skitter and rustle of animals in the brush. Maybe it’s just a squirrel getting ready for the winter, but heck, I’m such a scaredy cat.

10. This is where I may digress. I’m writing the next Diana and Ryder book.

11. Yes, you read that right. Diana and Ryder from THE CALLING vampire novels will be back in late 2012 because…

12. I’ve signed a contract with Entangled Publishing to relaunch the series with my original vision for THE CALLING vampire novels! Woo Hoo!

13. The revamped series (BIG pun intended) will be called the REBORN series and Diana and Ryder’s first book is BORN TO SERVE.

I’m soooo excited! You may be wondering, why Entangled Publishing? Well, I’ve been hearing lots of good things about them and the books will be released in both print and e-book at the same time. I know many of you love your print books, much like I do, so I wanted to be able to go with a publisher who would do that for you!

I want to thank you all for the many years of supporting THE CALLING vampire novel series and for asking about Diana and Ryder. They are characters of my heart and I am so happy to be writing about them again. It’s wonderful to explore where their relationship is now and where it’s going to go bit by bit as they face a number of momentous life choices. I don’t want to say too much now and spoil it though!

For those who haven’t read THE CALLING vampire novels, there’s a great e-book collection with the first 6 books and the DESIRE CALLS novella. At just over $10, it’s a steal.

Thank you all for stopping by to share this Thursday 13 with me and the joy in my heart over Diana and Ryder. To visit more Thursday 13 participants, you can click here!

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Casting Call!

A funny thing happened on the way to my reboot of THE CALLING series.

To be sure that I had everything just right for you, I spent big chunks of the last week re-reading DARKNESS CALLS, DEATH CALLS and some of the later books in the series. Still have to go back and read the one that is tentatively titled VENGEANCE CALLS to make sure I’ve got the timeline right for you.

So what was the funny thing? Oh man, how I have missed this world and all these old friends. It only served to whet my appetite for starting the next Diana and Ryder book!!

Speaking of Ryder, today’s Guilty Pleasure Monday is a casting call. Ryder is dark, delicious and deadly and the picture above is how I had imagined him, but I’m wondering who I would cast if I were going to do a movie.

To me Ryder is kind of a blend of Clive Owen, Pierce Brosnan and Eddie Cibrian. Maybe with a little Joe Manganiello thrown in.

How do you picture sexy Southern vampire Ryder Latimer? Who would you cast in the movie?

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Tuesdays Off and THE CALLING Vampire Series

I may be taking Tuesdays off at the blog as I’m busy editing ROOKIE OF THE YEAR as well as developing the concept for BORN TO DIE which will be the next book in THE CALLING. I am so excited because this story will focus on Diana and Ryder and a momentous change that is about to happen in their lives. I plan to release BORN TO DIE in March 2012. Even more exciting, with BORN TO DIE I plan on relaunching THE CALLING series in a new direction. Think X-FILES meets BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Each story will revolve around Diana and Ryder and the many characters you’ve come to know and love from THE CALLING. Each story will be a new and unique paranormal suspense and I hope you’ll like this new direction in the series.

For today, I leave you with a reminder about THE LOST blog tour! Today’s stop is at YzhaBella’s BookShelf and you can leave a comment there for a chance to win a copy of the ROOKIE OF THE YEAR e-book.

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Wicked Wednesday – THE LOST and some good news!

Today is a very exciting day! I’ve got some good news for all of you who like my Nocturne novels. Nocturne has just acquired three novellas from me for their BITES collections. Even more exciting, one of the stories will feature Diana Reyes and Ryder Latimer, two of my favorites. For those of you who have read FATE CALLS in HOLIDAY WITH A VAMPIRE and FURY CALLS, you may have a clue on what might be happening in this story.

Other good news in case you’ve missed it is that the SINS series will be expanding with the addition of the Hunters, a unique race locked in a life and death battle to survive. The first book in the SIN HUNTER series, THE LOST, will be available in August 2011 and will have some exciting new characters for you with wickedly interesting powers. (You’ll get to see just one of them in this little teaser I’m posting for you today!). You will see some familiar names, including another member of the Carrera family – Bobbie – a Marine who has been wounded in Iraq and has come home to heal both her physical and emotional wounds.

So without further ado, here’s a little wickedness from THE LOST.

The LOST Paranormal Suspense by Caridad Pineiro

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Kiss Me, Kill Me Tuesday – Revisions

It seems somehow appropriate on this dreary and rainy Tuesday to discuss something about which all writers worry. No, not the Dreaded Synopsis.

Revisions.

It’s especially appropriate since I just turned in a manuscript which required revisions and since at my Saturday workshop someone asked, “What do you do when someone asks you to change your work?”

The answer was simple: You do the revisions.

It’s one of those things that I often warn aspiring authors about – being a diva. I’ve heard more than one writer say that they won’t make any changes to their work and I often wonder whether they’ll ever get published or if they do, will they be able to sustain a career.

Although some believe that editors are like carpenters with a hammer and nail, give them paper and a pen and they want to make changes, the reality of it is that editors know the market and what’s selling. They understand voice and pacing and conflict. They oftentimes will see past what’s on the page to what the writer wants to accomplish because many times the writer has become so involved in their work and knows it so intimately that they fail to get what’s up in their heads down on paper.

It’s the editor’s job to make sure that gets done and a good editor will accomplish just that.

What if what the editor wants you to do is totally different than what you want to do?

That’s a tough situation for sure and the answer is not so simple. The first thing to do is divest your ego from the work. Look at it as an outsider would. Are the editor’s comments justified? Do you think that they might possibly make the work better or more marketable? If the answer is “yes”, then take a moment and try rewriting the first ten or so pages with the editor’s suggestions.

Now step back and look at it again. Is it better? More marketable? Then dig in and start rewriting.

You may have noticed that I’ve used that “marketable” word multiple times already because the reality is that if you’re writing commercial fiction (as in selling to the mass market), what you’re writing needs to sell. That means it needs to meet certain reader and bookseller expectations.

Your editor is the one who can best tell you whether or not you’ve managed to do that.

If you’re still not convinced about all the changes, then try a conciliatory approach rather than a confrontational one. For example, when I first wrote DARKNESS CALLS one of the revision requests was that I have the heroine, Diana Reyes, become a vampire at the end of the novel. In my heart I felt that the story was much too complicated and rich for that kind of ending. I also felt that there would be greater emotion and impact for the readers if the characters had that conflict hanging over their heads – Love me even though I will die before you do. It spoke of a much greater love and commitment if Ryder and Diana chose to get together despite that fact.

I discussed it with my editors and we agreed I would write the ending as I envisioned it and that if it did not work, I would revise it. Bottom line was, the ending worked and we left it as is. Everyone was happy with the compromise we reached initially and the end result.

So the bottom line is, be open to change. Be willing to compromise. Your editors know what’s best and what’s selling. Trust them to help you craft a better book.

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Wicked Wednesday – Darkness Calls

DARKNESS CALLS by Caridad PineiroSometimes a character just screams and screams at you to write their story. That happened to me recently with Dr. Liliana Carrera who gets her wish this November in STRONGER THAN SIN.

One of the first times it happened with me was with Diana Reyes from THE CALLING vampire novels.
I was actually in the middle of finishing up a baseball series (never published) for the Encanto line when Diana started her campaign to get me to write her story.

She was so loud in my head that I actually set aside the book on which I was working! What came to mind for Diana was a story about a determined and prickly FBI Agent who encounters a man who is determined to protect her no matter how much she tells him she doesn’t need it. At the time I had no plans on having that man — Ryder Latimer — be a vampire. But as Diana and Ryder stayed in the back of my brain while I finished the other book, it became apparent that the nature of their conflict demanded that one of them be dead. Or should I say undead.

With the first few chapters polished, my then agent sent it off. Nearly a year later – no bites. (VBG – Big pun intended.)

My agent and I parted ways since it became apparent I was not going to be the next Latina Terry McMillan. (I think every Latina author would be rich if they had a penny for each time they’d heard that phrase!)

Despite the lack of enthusiasm for DARKNESS CALLS and the general comments that there was no interest in vampire stories (LOL!), I knew I had to write this book. The characters kept calling to me, screaming that they needed to see the light of the day. Over a Christmas break from work, I went home and started writing. A couple of weeks later, the book was done and an amazing thing happened.

An editor from Harlequin wanted to see it. She liked my writing and the premise intrigued her. She sent it on to a colleague to read and the next thing I knew . . . I had a publisher for the book of my heart!

So there is a lesson there — persistence pays off. Never give up on those dreams.

Today I’m sharing with you the original version of a scene from the book — a Director’s Cut. We changed up some things along the way to publication, but I think you’ll find that both this scene and the one that ultimately made it into the final version are true to Diana and Ryder.

If you cannot see the e-reader version below, you can click here for the DARKNESS CALLS Director’s Cut or cut and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.scribd.com/full/31600879?access_key=key-h0k8kg2o9cwynduurtu

Darkness Calls Director’s Cut

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Wicked Wednesday – HONOR CALLS

FURY CALLS by Caridad Pineiro, Silhouette Nocturne, March 2009The next full length book in THE CALLING is FURY CALLS in March 2009, but in February there’s a great new novella that will be available in February — HONOR CALLS. The hero in this novella is someone you’ve met before — Jesus Hernandez, the FBI ADIC who is Diana Reyes’s boss. The heroine is brand new and quite interesting! I’m hoping to do a full length book with these two characters in the future, but for now, I hope you like this excerpt from HONOR CALLS.

Wishing you all the best for the New Year! I’ll be back on Friday as I have guests for New Year’s Day and will likely not be able to post!

Chapter 1

Michaela had been tracking the vampire since she had sensed the thrum of elder power during her scouting mission in Central Park.

He wasn’t the one she sought, but the heightened beat of his power told her he had just killed. Reason enough to track him until she found the right vampire and dispatched him. Then and only then could she leave New York City for a kinder gentler place.

She discovered the elder vamp’s victim just beyond one of the jogging paths. The kill was fresh, the remnants of the elder strong on the female runner who had been tossed into the underbrush like garbage. As she bent to examine the jogger’s body in its shredded clothes, she realized the vampire had not just been content to drain her of blood. The woman had been sexually assaulted as well and in the most brutal of ways – ripped apart by the vampire sating his lust.

Michaela opened her senses to pick up every last scintilla of the elder’s trail, from the metallic taste of the victim’s blood on his breath to the unique wake of energy the immortal left behind.

She reached the southern end of the park and something ahead of her spooked one of the horses attached to a hansom cab waiting along Central Park South. The animal reared up, hooves flailing at the air.

She darted behind the hansom cab as the driver attempted to calm the animal and caught a glimpse of a blurry figure speeding through Grand Army Plaza. As she raced to the fountain in the center of the square, the pulse of undead power beat at her more strongly, signaling that she was getting closer to the ancient vampire.

Another indistinct flash weaving through the scattering of pedestrians on Fifth Avenue confirmed the immortal was within reach.

She focused on that vague shape, keeping a watchful eye and a respectful distance as she chased after him. She could not engage the vampire elder out in the open where either humans or other vampires might see what was happening. To do so might expose her presence in the city and possibly bring down the wrath of the vampire council.

At some point the elder must have sensed that he was being followed.

He increased his speed and movements, weaving in and out of the humans on the sidewalks; climbing up to the rooftop of a building in lower Midtown Manhattan and leaping from one structure to the next before dropping to the ground once again. The vampire moved at an almost frantic pace, as if he knew the nature of her mission.

Michaela kept up her determined pursuit, patiently waiting for the moment when the time would be right. Dodging pedestrians and vehicles as the vampire attempted to elude her. Well aware that she had to act before the immortal reached the safe haven of the Blood Bank.

If he made it there, she would have to pull back and wait for another night. There were too many undead in that place to risk a confrontation within its doors.

Too many and she was just one against them.

She drove back the crush of loneliness that nearly choked her, reminding herself that there could be no other way. Her life was filled with too much death and destruction for any kind of personal commitments.

The few people she had allowed to get close had either ended up dead or run away when they discovered the truth about her existence.

The truth about her.

In Union Square, the vampire geared down to human speed, using that pace to lose himself amongst the many mortals still present in the park. The beat of the humans’ life forces and their scents served to disguise his presence.

Michaela paused at the far edge of the square, examining the walkways. Attempting to set apart the humans from her undead prey, but she was unable to pin down the immortal amongst the many humans in the park. She waited, hopeful that once the elder moved beyond the boundaries of the crowded area, she would be able to pick up his presence once again.

Her wait was futile.

Long minutes passed with no activity that she could discern.

She finally acknowledged that she had been bested by his subterfuge, but that didn’t mean the chase was over.

She knew just where the vampire was likely to go.

If she could beat him there, she still might be able to take him out before he reached the safety of the club.

Hustling at a breakneck speed, she arrived at the mouth of the small cobblestoned street which led to the Blood Bank. At the club’s door was the ever present vampire bouncer and crowd of humans waiting to go within and mingle with both wanna-be and real vampires. Not to mention the occasional shapeshifter or two that was brave enough to cross into bloodsucker territory.

Michaela had never understood the human fascination with the undead. The almost veneration for the amoral creatures who had taken so much from her and others.

Vampires weren’t meant to be idolized, she thought.

They were meant to be exterminated.

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