Caridad Pineiro® Romance Author
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Romance Author
I’m off to the Book Blogger Convention, but I hope you will enjoy this cool video that takes you behind the scenes and into a writer’s mind. I discuss the inspiration behind the characters in SINS OF THE FLESH and STRONGER THAN SIN! If you can’t see the video below, you can follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhO265fUl9Q
It’s really cool if you watch it full screen as it’s in HD!
Today’s Thursday is a Talkfest! I had the opportunity recently to be interviewed by two wonderful ladies – Linda Mooney from Other Worlds of Romance and Luci Weston from Here We Are with Luci!
You can listen to the interview I did with Linda at the RT Convention by clicking here or following this link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/other_worlds_of_romance/2010/04/29/romantic-times-guest-author–caridad-piniero
You can listen to the interview I did with Luci as we chatted about juggling careers and how to stay inspired by clicking here or following this link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/here-we-are/2010/05/16/featuring-new-york-times-usa-today-best-selling-au
Tomorrow I’m off to a Book Blogger Convention and Book Expo America, but I’ll have a very special treat for you — A Writer’s Cut, namely, a behind the scenes look at what inspired the characters in SINS OF THE FLESH and my upcoming November release STRONGER THAN SIN.
I am so excited to have my friend and fellow author Kaye Manro here to tell us a little about her latest release. Plus, we’ve got a contest for you since I’m also doing a guest blog over with my friend JoJo to help her celebrate her birthday! So, if you leave a comment at JoJo’s blog, you have a chance to win an ARC of STRONGER THAN SIN, my November release, a copy of SINS OF THE FLESH, the first book in the SINS series as well as a T-shirt! Double your chances to win by leaving a comment here and also, if you’re selected at JoJo’s site and leave a comment here, you will also win a copy of your choice of either FURY CALLS or SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS!
So without further ado, here’s my buddy Kaye!
Thanks to the lovely Caridad Pineiro for inviting me, a new author, as a guest on her blog today! I’m so excited to be here, and to share my short ebook, FORBIDDEN LOVE, which is not a paranormal, but a science fiction romance!
Readers may not know exactly how sci-fi relates to the romance genre. So let me show you. In the subgenre of science fiction romance, authors use technology and not magic. Rather than fantasy characters such as shape shifters, the characters are alien or human. The settings are anywhere, but it is common to see stories taking place on alien worlds or on advanced spaceships. For an author, this genre, called SFR can be very exciting and fun to explore. I have to say it was for me.
Forbidden Love released at Red Rose Publishing on May 13, and has consistently stayed on the bestseller lists. Here’s a little of what you’ll find in the story:
Forbidden Love is a futuristic sci-fi romance. There is space travel at FTL (faster than light). But there is also lots of sensual exploring between the hero T’Kon and the heroine Maya, who hail from different galaxies and evolutionary paths. Rules on T’Kon’s planet forbid interspecies mating. Yet when he crashes his spacecraft on Maya’s world close to her desert home, what else is he to do but let this audacious alien tend his injuries?
For those who are new to this exciting genre, I have included a Science Fiction Lexicon on my Website. You can find phrases that may be unfamiliar to you there. The terms relate directly to those used in Forbidden Love.
For example, FTL is the ability a spacecraft has to travel in deep space far exceeding the speed of light. While in FTL, your ship could essentially reach billions of miles per second or more.
Now back to Forbidden Love, which is first and foremost a romance even though the subplot is science fiction. Here’s an excerpt so you can get a feel for the Forbidden Love romantic elements:
…She was upon him so near he could feel her breath, sense her warmth. She reached out and ran a hand through the air, searching the length of him.
“Maya,†he blew her name on a sigh.
“Take me with you,” she implored, as tears filled her astounding tawny eyes. “I want to be with you, T’Kon.†She melded her body against his invisible one.
“You know nothing of me or my world.â€
“Teach me, show me everything.â€
He felt her heat burning inside him, yet the absurdity of her request burned brighter. “What you ask is not possible.â€
“Will you please become visible so I can look at you?†She asked. “We need to talk about this before you go flying off into the universe.â€
He unshielded his body so she could see him. “I cannot take you.â€
“Why not? You can’t say it was coincidence that you happened to crash land in my back yard.â€
No, an unfortunate accident. The truthful certainty traced across his mind. Yet his arms enclosed her and he lifted her up. Her legs straddled his waist, and he held her close against his body. A fit so right he could not deny it.
“I wish it were not so, but it is,†he whispered, breathing in her pungent scent. “You would not survive on my world.†He dropped his head to taste her lips before she had a chance to counter his words. “Just one last kiss.†Her mouth opened to allow his tongue entry and he explored the soft moistness, losing himself in her tang.
The stars help him. He did not want to leave her.
Without warning, a sudden and dangerous noise yanked T’Kon from his enamored stupor. He sensed peril approaching. In a rapid-fire move, he raised his palm. A copper arch flashed and shimmered before them revealing the entryway to his concealed spacecraft. He dragged her inside. Tapping a pad the opening closed leaving them hidden behind an undetectable shield.
Kaye’s Bio: As a romance author, I lean toward the adventuresome in my writing. I love science fiction and all the enticing quantum theories surrounding it. Where characters rush through outer space at FTL, or teleport into another time, and even slipstream into an alternate reality. I like creating sizzling love scenes too with sexy heroes, and captivating heroines. It just seemed natural to combine all these elements together in my stories.
Kaye Manro
You can purchase FORBIDDEN LOVE by clicking here or visiting this page:
http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=772
For more information on Kaye, please visit her Website at http://www.sfr.kayemanro.com or Kaye’s blog at http://kayemanro.blogspot.com/.
Thanks so much!
Thanks to my buddy Karin for this Friday’s inspiration and video!
As noted on Youtube, “On Saturday, April 24th, the Opera Company of Philadelphia teamed up with the Reading Terminal Market Italian Festival for a large-scale “Flash Opera” event! Over 30 members of the Opera Company of Philadelphia Chorus and principal cast members of LA TRAVIATA performed the famed “Brindisi” in the aisles of Reading Terminal Market, entertaining hundreds of Philadelphians, and proving that the perfect accompaniment for all things Italian is a little Verdi! The Opera Company sincerely thanks members of the Opera Company of Philadelphia Chorus and cast for generously volunteering their time and talents… BRAVI TUTTI!! LA TRAVIATA runs from May 7 – 16 at the Academy of Music. For tickets/info: 215-893-1018 / 215-893-1018 or go to operaphila.org.”
I can only imagine the shock and amusement as people were eating their cheesesteaks or sticky buns from the Amish!
If you can’t see the video below, you can click here to see the Flash Opera Singing Event by the Philadelphia Opera Company or cut and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zmwRitYO3w
Hope you all have a safe and wonderful weekend.
I love New York City and I guess by New York City I mean the island of Manhattan. It’s one of the big reasons I decided to set THE CALLING vampire series in Manhattan — I wanted to give you a flavor for the different parts of the city. If you’ve been reading the books, you know that the stories move from Tribeca to SoHo to Spanish Harlem. In future books in the series (ARDOR CALLS and VENGEANCE CALLS – dates of release to be known shortly), you’ll see shots of Midtown and Times Square.
I thought I’d share on these Thursdays some little known facts about Manhattan and also about some of the Jersey Shore locations in the SINS series.
Today’s New York Minute is about Sixth Avenue also known as Avenue of the Americas. Much like hearing someone say Houston St. (like the city in Texas) instead of like “Howston”, it’s a dead giveaway that you’re a tourist if you say Avenue of the Americas. It’s also very confusing since most New Yorkers call it Sixth Avenue.
The problem began in 1945 when Fiorella LaGuardia, one of the city’s most beloved mayors, renamed Sixth Avenue. In the years since then, the lamp posts bore plaques donated by the OAS – Organization of American States to symbolize each of the countries in the Americas. I remember seeing them as a kid whenever we came into “the city” for some event. Unfortunately, the plaques were lost when the city put in new lamp posts in the early 1990s.
Forgotten NY has wonderful shots of these plaques. You can click here to see the Sixth Avenue country plaques.
There are also a number of statues all along Sixth Avenue to honor famous people from the Americas. From the western most edge of Bryant Park (also along Sixth) to where Sixth runs into Central Park, there are gorgeous bronzes to be admired. This is a statue of Jose Marti, a leader for Cuban Independence from Spain. The statue sits at the entrance to Central Park on Sixth Avenue.
Above Central Park, Sixth Avenue once again changes names, this time to Lenox Avenue/Malcolm X Boulevard, also creating confusion with the use of two names!
Beneath Sixth Avenue run a number of things –The IND Sixth Avenue subway lines (B D F V trains) as well as the PATH Trains to New Jersey. As for how long Sixth Avenue is — it’s one of the longest in the city running from as far south as Canal Street at the southernmost part of Manhattan up through Harlem.
Want to know more? You can read more about Sixth Avenue by clicking here and visiting Forgotten NY!
Sometimes 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
This weekend will be hopping for me! First there is the Liberty States Fiction Writers Mayke It Happen get together! Can’t wait to go and hang out with all of my buds and talking about our writing projects.
I’ll be down the shore and hoping to see some sun! But just in case it’s rainy, I’m sharing a fun project with you from my friend Kathy Cano-Murilla, the Crafty Chica aka the Goddess of Glitter! As writers and readers, we always seem to have a vast collection of pens and I thought this crazy pencil cup would be fun to share with you!
If it is sunny, I hope to get some time in along the boardwalk, researching some more spots for . . .
As you know, STRONGER THAN SIN will be out in November 2010 and you’ll be able to read both Books 3 and 4 in 2011 if all goes as planned! I can’t wait to share these exciting paranormal romance stories with you and I know you’ll all like to see what’s up with Mick, Caterina and Liliana as well as find out more about the dark creatures who will threaten the Carrera clan. As for who will be the hero and heroine in book 3 — here’s a hint: You’ve read about them already in one of the SINS-related books/prequels and you’ll see more of them in STRONGER THAN SIN!
That’s all the beans I’m spilling for now! Hope you all have a great weekend!