The Last Rising by Rachel Firasek

I’m very pleased to have with me today my friend and fellow author Rachel Firasek. Rachel has a new paranormal romance with a twist on Egyptian mythology, THE LAST RISING. Rachel is here to tell us a little more about her story and the inspiration about it. So without further ado, here’s Rachel!

Every story has a tone or a mood. Your setting creates the backdrop for your characters to tell their story, but does your novel have a color? To date, every book I have has a color. That may be the artistic part of my brain running crazy, but I see in colors. They are so much more interesting than the black and white print on the page.

We are taught at a very early age that colors are tied to emotions. Red=anger, blue=calm, yellow=cowardous, green=envy and so on and so forth. I can’t remember if one person taught me all of this or if it was a collaboration of teachers, parents and, later in life, my own interpretations.

So, it wasn’t until my most fabulous friend and fellow author, Autumn Shelly, showed me these pretty little salt lamps that change colors. These lamps reminded me of my art background, how much color means to me. I bought one, it runs on my USB port and sits on the edge of my laptop. When I sit down to start a new story, I think of the theme. Then I think of the emotions for my heroine/hero. Then I pick a color. That color will be the mood for my book.

The Last Rising, my latest release, is purple & red. There’s anger and passion on every page in some way or another.

Heather Howland did a great job creating my cover to match the mood of this book.

I’m writing the second book in this series and it has a very distinct/different color. Green is my mood for this second book and I’ll bet you can only guess why. Green not only portrays envy or jealousy, but it’s also the color of nature. Its a grounding color. My heroine is definitely in book two is an earth. I adore her. And yes, Heather Howland again created a beautiful masterpiece to bring my story to life.

Now, I dare you to study your the story you are reading and find the color in the mood. It’s there, in every page and in every book, you’ll find it. If your not reading right now, then think about this on your next read. Take those black and white pages and thrust them into full Techno-color. You’ll be amazed at how much more you get from the story.

Drop me a note and let me know your color. Everyone has one. I’m totally a red. I’ll let you guess why….

A little teaser for THE LAST RISING

After paying two millennia’s penance to Osiris, world-weary Phoenix Ice has had enough. Saving souls without any hope for her own redemption isn’t how she imagined spending eternity. Fed up, she decides her next death will be her last. But when she sacrifices her own life for a sexy Texan in a catastrophic plane crash, she has no idea the consequences will be so great…or that she’ll end up back in his life for her next assignment.

Now that Turner Alcott has survived the worst, finding a wife and mother for his son matters more than ever before. When the mysterious Ice comes into his life, Turner knows she’s the one—but love is the last thing Ice wants. If he wants to win her heart, Turner must teach Ice how to forgive herself, and prove that love is the ultimate sacrifice.

Excerpt

“Why is it I can’t get you out of my mind? You say we haven’t met, but my dreams remember you.”

Oh yeah, he’d dreamt of a woman for months now. She resembled his dream woman in so many ways, but he’d never seen his fantasy lover’s face.

She struggled against his clutch. “Mr. Alcott, I assure you we haven’t met. And for your other question, I don’t know why, but you need to release me.”

Why did that quivering bottom lip make him suspect she was lying? Turner rested his forehead against the top of hers and sucked in her scent. “Please, tell me I’m not losing my mind. Tell me you don’t visit me every night and I’ll promise to leave you alone. I just need to know.”

He sounded like a crazy man but she had to tell him. She was the only one who could put a stop to his mind’s constant fantasizing, and this feeling of déjà vu every time he saw her.

Ice wriggled in his arms, her thighs chafing against his slacks. “Mr. Alcott, you need to let me go.” She glanced around his shoulder. “Brodie is probably staring out that glass window and I would hate for him to get the wrong impression.”

She was right. He needed to get ahold of himself, but he didn’t have the strength to walk away. His hands traveled up and over her shoulders, stalling on her neck. Brushing his thumbs against her jaw, he pressed her head back and stared into hard eyes—no emotion. Couldn’t she see the battle he fought?

He teased the corner of her mouth with his thumb and her breathy gasp pleased him. So, she wasn’t completely immune to him. He dropped his head until his mouth hovered over hers.

“Mr. Alcott—”

“Shhh. I just need a taste of the sunshine.”

A Tough Time in the Publishing Industry

Please stop piracy!Everywhere I turn lately there is bad news in the publishing industry.

The NY Times reports that mass market sales have fallen 14% from 2008.

The AAP reported that while e-book trade sales rose, overall sales were down 11% with trade print sales down a whopping 36.5%.

The closing of Borders is surely impacting the market overall. With the loss of 399 locations and layoffs of 11,000 employees, there is certainly the affect on the publishing industry, but also the greater toll on those who may lose their jobs. My heart goes out to all my bookseller friends at Borders who were always so wonderful to me.

Add to all of the above the piracy situation. On a daily basis I get alerts pointing me to sites where my books are being stolen. In the past my practice has been to send the links to the publishers, but with more and more pirated materials, I am sure they are overwhelmed.

I finally took the step to send out my first take down notice to Blogger over a site that not only offered links to my book, but to dozens of other books. Google was quick to respond and the post with my content was taken down, but not the entire blog. Really? One look would have shown that this blogger had link after link after link to pirated materials and yet the blog is still up.

What’s sadder is that after reviewing the policies of many providers, which are compliant with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA ), it’s clear that authors need an easier way to locate offending materials and have them removed from these sites.

The Curtis Agency and E-reads recently announced a program to help combat piracy and it may be worth it to check it out.

Now there are some who say that pirating books actually boost sales. I’m not sure about that. If someone was unwilling to buy a book in the first place, what makes them suddenly decided to pay for a book? The proverbial tiger changing its stripes?

On that note, is all of the above enough to keep me from writing? Nah. I love it too much. But it certainly makes me consider that it’s time to try new things and new ways to share my stories with you.

How do you feel about what’s happening with print/e-books/piracy? I’d love to hear from you!

Photo Credit: Thanks to Intense Whispers Blogspot for the piracy graphic.

Inspiration for Heroes

This morning I’m sharing with you a little of the inspiration for the hero in THE CLAIMED, although I won’t spill his name because I don’t want to spoil things for those of you who have not read THE LOST.

When I think of heroes, especially in a series, I try to mix up what they look like so that you guys won’t get bored of the same old same old. Adam was all light and the hero in THE CLAIMED is all darkness. I will tease you a little and just drop a hint that the hero in the third book, tentatively titled THE SHATTERED, is going to be what the British call “a ginger.” LOL!

Translation: red-haired. Strawberry-blondish to be more precise.

Which brings me to a question for you today: What do you like seeing in a hero? Do you like them blond or dark? Tattoos or clean? Lean or big?

Also have some other news today. I am doing a guest blog for my buddy Cynthia Eden who has a new release out titled BOUND IN DARKNESS. Visit at 1 pm Central Standard time and leave a comment for a chance to win a giveaway and to help raise money for a breast cancer charity. For the first 50 comments, I will donate $1 per comment to the charity.

There’s still hope for America

I only watched part of the game last night because the BURN NOTICE finale was on, but now I’m sorry I missed what looked to be an incredibly patriotic moment. For a taste of it, check out this clip of the flyover of 4 F16s by the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. If you can’t see the clip, you can cut and paste this link into your browser:

http://youtu.be/Jbe9w7rof6U

Also click on this link to see the pictures of the Green Bay Packers crowd getting patriotic with an immense stadium-wide flag.

As the writer of that piece noted, it gave him goosebumps and I second that. It makes me believe that there is still hope for America. That there are still people who love it and the values for which it stands.

I know I do. America has given me everything and because of that I bleed red, white and blue. Some may criticize acts like this flyover and flag, as well as my extreme patriotism, as jingoism.

But the facts of my life only reaffirm for me the true meaning of America and the values which we should hold dear and reinforce to our children. I truly believe that keeping these American values are what will keep our Nation great.

What values? Well, here goes…

Success is the reward of hard work and no one should be ashamed of success.

You should not covet what your neighbor has, but strive to find your own path to what you want.

The most important things are not things.

You should respect the right of others to have different opinions, much as they should respect that you may have different opinions.

To quote John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Pay it forward. If you’re successful, become one of those “Thousand points of light” that the first Mr. Bush mentioned.

Respect our Nation, the flag and our military. We would not be free without the sacrifices of the men, women and families of our military.

I leave you with those thoughts on the eve of the 10th Anniversary of 9-11.

God Bless America.

My Love/Hate About Rainy Days

Today’s Thursday 13 is all about my love/hate relationship with rainy days! Especially considering the last week or so we’ve had in the Northeast.

This morning the rain was so bad, the road to the train station was flooded! Hubby had to drop me off a block earlier so I could traipse through rushing waters in my trusty rain boots. I wish I could send just a little bit of the water to all my friends in Texas who need it so badly.

Anyway, here is my attempt at 13 things I love/hate about rainy days. Feel free to help me out with your comments.

1. Love staying home tucked under the covers.
2. Hate having to commute in this mess.
3. Love curling up with a good book and a cup of tea.
4. Hate wet feet. I must be part cat.
5. Love the thunder and lightning.
6. Hate the thunder and lightning when I am out of doors and know it’s more likely I’ll get hit by the lightning than win the Lottery.
7. Love how the rain makes all the plants perk up.
8. Hate how the rain rots out my tomatoes.
9. Love standing beneath a tree after the rain and having the wind shake loose those last little drops.
10. Hate seeing the big trees with too few roots come down in the rain.
11. Love splashing through the puddles in my rain boots.
12. Hate finding out my rain boots are not as waterproof as I thought.
13. Love snuggling with my hubby in the morning, holding hands and listening to the rain hit the roof.

Thank you for dropping by today! Please share your love/hate relationship with rain. Visit more Thursday 13 participants by clicking here.

After Hurricane Irene

First of all, to all those who suffered damage or injury during Hurricane Irene, my thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope things get back to normal for you soon!

I hope you all had a fine Labor Day weekend. We had fairly nice weather along the shore and spent lots of time out of doors savoring the last “official” weekend of summer.

Hurricane Irene took its bite out of the towns I visited this weekend. Lots of erosion and sand pushed up beyond where it normally is. The dunes in Bradley Beach and Ocean Grove held up and seemed to have kept the waters from the boardwalk areas. Belmar, Avon-by-the-Sea and Asbury Park, where the waters rose up quite a distance, seem to have already gotten things back in shape for the big Labor Day weekend.

Here are some photos of what things looked like. The water was relatively clear and not too cold. Shells up on shore, but not as many as you would expect. I did pick up some nice bits and pieces that I plan on using to create some memory boxes to giveaway to you guys. I am going to get to work on them as soon as I finish up some writing deadlines.

Anyway, here are the photos of the Jersey Shore this weekend! If you can’t see the slideshow below, you can click here or use this link:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150292972395913.332073.178249385912&l=7c803da088

Fun Friday – Double Fun Today!

I want to thank Rebecca Sinclair for sharing this fun photo for today which begs the question, “Is there such a thing as a simple cat?” I’ve had a few cats in my life and the last way I’d describe them is “simple.”

Our second Fun Friday treat comes from the wonderful editors at Forever Romance. If you haven’t liked them yet on Facebook, please do so! They are always sharing lots of interesting things and holding giveaways.

Thanks to Selina and Laura who found this fun “What Color is your Aura?” quiz, especially since auras are so prevalent in THE LOST. I took the quiz and had a blue aura (Yeah, like Adam!). What’s the color of your aura?

Share your aura color or cat stories today in the comments! I hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend. Stay safe!