Showing posts with label Montlake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Montlake. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Episode 9 of Storm Force and RELEASE DAY!

Congrats to Susanna Sandlin and the release of her book Storm Force today! Wishing you a wonderful day!

Storm Force
Omega Force #1
Susannah Sandlin
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Date of Publication:  March 19, 2013, in serial form for Kindle; July 9, 2013, in print, digital, and audio.
ISBN: 978-1477807576
ASIN: B00BI0M8OM
Word Count: approx. 90,000
Amazon

An Eagle’s-Eye View of the Omega Force Team

Susannah Sandlin

Storm Force is a paranormal romantic thriller about an elite team of Army Rangers and shapeshifters, working together to solve cases of domestic terrorism. The only woman on the team is Robin Ashton, a golden eagle shapeshifter and the team’s tracker. Since Robin’s outnumbered by these big old alpha males (most of whom are afraid of her), I thought I’d give her a chance to tell us about the rest of her team, literally from an eagle’s eye view.

I caught up with Robin early in the morning at the Camellia Grill in uptown New Orleans, a city where she’s lived for the past few years after leaving her native small hometown of Laurel, Mississippi. It’s steamy hot outside and icy cold inside. The streetcars rumble past the windows as the cooks banter with the guests around the open counter that surrounds the kitchen space.

You’re going to have to talk loud. We should’ve gone across the street to La Madeleine; it’s quieter.

Robin: It’s quieter because all the customers are in stupors from all those carbs. I’m a raptor-shifter. If it ain’t meat, I don’t eat. *looks at menu* I’ll have the cheese omelet and steak, and a side of more steak.

So, let’s talk about your Omega team.  What was it like for you, as a shifter, to go through Army Ranger School with that bunch?

Robin: *Guffaws* Oh, those guys SO underestimated me. Gadget wasn’t so bad, but the rest of them… *shakes her head*

Tell us about Gadget.

Robin: Well, he does have a real name. I think it’s…uh….Garrett? Yeah, Garrett Foley. He’s big and blond and wears these cool geek glasses. The man’s a genius, especially for a human. If it is on a computer or has a computer chip in it, he can figure it out. I haven’t worked a lot with him, although I have gotten the idea he’s been on a long dry spell in the romance department. And he left cases of orange soda in my apartment in New Orleans when he stayed there recently. Who over the age of twelve drinks orange soda?

Gadget’s one of three humans on the team, but what about the other shifter members, Archer and Adam Logan?

Robin: The Double-A train. They’re brothers, and they’re both black jaguar shifters from Tennessee. Jags are an endangered species in the wild, and there aren’t a whole lot of the shifter version left either. They’re both good guys but total opposites except for looks—they could almost be twins in the looks department. Adam’s quiet and polite and kinda shy. I think I scare him even though the top of my head hits him at about the armpit. Archer’s nuts. He’s never met a woman he didn’t like, although I’m working hard to earn that title.

You don’t like Archer?

Robin: I adore Archer. I’d like to dislike Archer just because every other woman adores him too, but he’s just so damned charming. Don’t read anything into it, though. He’s a cat and I’m a bird. You know how that would end. I’d peck his eyeballs out, right before he tore my limbs off with his teeth and spit out the feathers.

Let’s move on, then, now that I’m stuck with that disturbing mental image. What about Jack Kellison, aka Kell, your team leader, another human?

Robin: Kell is such an asshat. Mr. Bigshot Army Ranger. You should have seen him the first time I doubled his record on the bench press. I thought he was gonna stroke out. He’s coming around, but I still think he resents it that there are things shifters can do better than humans. He’s really good at the tactical stuff, though. He just has a bad habit of thinking he can do everything better himself. And God forbid the man should ask for help, unless it’s from Nik. And, just so you know, I do realize he calls me “Razorblade Robin” behind my back.

He also says you go out hunting at night and eat rats, tail and all.

Robin: *narrows eyes* Oh he does, does he?

Moving on…Let’s talk about Nik—he’s Kell’s second in command, and you two have, um, spent time together.

Robin: You mean we shacked up during the last case? Yeah, yeah. You blame me? Have you seen the guy? He’s got that whole soulful Greek thing going on. He might be the sexiest human dude I’ve ever met.

So it’s just physical?

Robin: You asking if he’s good in bed? Huh? *evil smile* Let’s just say right now, at this time in our lives, it’s a good thing for both of us. Nik is a psychic—you failed to mention that little detail, Einstein. He touches things, or touches people, and gets voices and images that drive him crazy. He can’t get anything by touching me, which means I’m sort of his quiet place. And I…well, let’s just say I have some voices in my head I want to shut up, too.

Ah, something you want to tell us about?

Robin: Nope. Got to fly. Gotta see a man about a birdhouse.

Chicken.

Robin: Wrong species, bird-brain. Outta here!

Leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card—or equivalent-valued book(s) from the Book Depository. Which Storm Force character would you most like to get to know? International entries welcome.

Book Description:

As leader of the elite counter-terrorism team Omega Force, former army ranger Jack “Kell” Kellison is always focused on getting the job done. So when a Houston high-rise is bombed and the governor killed or missing, Kell’s mission is clear: infiltrate the group suspected of the bombing and neutralize the threat by any means necessary. But once Kell meets beautiful chief suspect Mori Chastaine, he realizes there’s more to this case than meets the eye. And more to Mori than any man—any human man—could imagine.

Mori Chastaine is running out of options. Suspected for a crime she didn’t commit, forced into a marriage she doesn’t want, she sees no escape—until Kell walks through her door. A lifetime hiding her true nature warns her Kell might not be who he seems. But he could be the only one able to help save more innocent humans from becoming pawns in an ancient paranormal power play. If Mori reveals her secret, will Kell join her fight? Or will she become his next target?

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About the Author:

Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night. A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?) The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.

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Friday, April 5, 2013

Writing the Modern Vampire by Susannah Sandlin

by Susannah Sandlin
 
Think about your favorite vampire. Pretty old pair of fangs, yes? Maybe he’s a former Norse warrior or a Civil War veteran (waves at Eric and Bill). Maybe he’s a centuries-old gigolo and prison escapee (yo, Bones!). Or maybe he’s a damaged former sex slave, a parentally abused son of an executioner, a cursed dragon-shifter, or a blind ancient king (doffs hat to Zsadist, Vishous, and Wrath).
One of the fun things about writing vampire heroes (or heroines) is the absence of time limitations. Your story could be set in the present or future, but your vampire could be from any era or any country or from any background. He’s a walking blank canvas with fangs. So the temptation is always there—with the entire world from which to fill in your canvas with color and shapes and histories—to go for the ancient and exotic.
I’ve certainly done that. In the former mill town of Penton, Alabama, a scathe of vampires and their willingly bonded humans has settled down to ride out the problems plaguing the vampire world. A vaccine developed to fight a human pandemic has resulted in the blood of vaccinated humans being deadly to vampires, so the vamp world is on the brink of starvation and civil war.
At the head of the Penton scathe is Aidan, a centuries-old Irishman who was a farmer before being lured into the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. His second-in-command, Mirren, is also about 400, a former Scottish gallowglass warrior turned executioner for the vampire Tribunal...until he faked his own death and went “straight.”
But I thought my sexy old guys needed some sexy young guys to hang with, so in the most recent book, Omega, I featured Will and Cage.
Cage is a Brit and a psychiatrist who was serving with the British Army during World War II when he was turned vampire. He’s adapted well with the times—better than the older guys. And his training in psychiatry makes him an interesting character, especially as he interacts with the other vampires. His tendency to analyze everyone makes them downright paranoid. (Of course, he gets in his own psychological and moral quandary and has no time to psychoanalyze his fellow vampires after a while.)
Then there’s the hero and heroine of Omega, Will Ludlam and Randa Thomas. Will’s a bit of a playboy and a bit of a smartass. In 1969, at age 22, he was turned vampire by his father. (And if you don’t think that gives Cage something to psychoanalyze, think again!) So he comes from that whole counter-culture, antiwar, hippie generation. While he’s abandoned the bell-bottoms, long hair, and tie-dye, he is comfortable with technology (unlike Mirren, who gets kind of freaked out by a stove) and clings to his fondness for Jimi Hendrix.
 Randa is the baby of the vampire group, turned only five years earlier while serving in the U.S. Army. She likes country music and is, of course, the most at home in the modern world—or she would be, if she didn’t hate being a vampire so much.
Writing the modern vampire turned out to be a lot of fun, and let me focus on their inner journey more than how they’ve adapted to the modern world. After all, how often do you find two vampires arguing about the merits of Brad Paisley versus the Grateful Dead?
What age is your favorite vampire? Leave a comment to win your choice of a print, digital or audio version of one of the Penton Legacy books, Redemption (Aidan’s story); Absolution (Mirren’s story); or Omega (Will’s story, with the beginning of Cage’s story).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Omega
Penton Vampire Legacy, Book 3
Susannah Sandlin
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Date of Publication: February 5, 2013
ISBN:978-1612183596
ASIN: B0073XV3L2
Number of pages: 328

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Book Description:

The bloody war between the Vampire Tribunal and the defiant scathe of Penton, Alabama, rages on, forcing its residents and their bonded humans to retreat into the underground fortress of last resort: Omega. There, Will Ludlam is charged with the care of Penton's humans, though he longs to fight alongside his vampire brethren. He knows the risks: as the renegade son of the Tribunal's vicious leader, Will's capture could doom the resistance.

Yet he is determined to prove his worth to his adopted scathe, to his vengeful father and to former US Army officer Randa Thomas, his beautiful, reluctant partner. Randa has little faith that a former member of the vampire elite has what it takes to fight a war. But as their enemies descend upon Omega, Will's polished charm and Randa's guarded heart finally give way to the warrior within.

Fans of Susannah Sandlin's Penton Legacy are sure to devour this long-awaited third installment of the steamy paranormal series.

ABSOLUTION
The Penton Legacy, Book 2
By Susannah Sandlin

Release date: October 9, 2012
Publisher: Montlake Romance

Book Description:

With the vampire world on the brink of civil war over the scarcity of untainted human blood, battle lines are being drawn between the once peaceful vampire and human enclave of Penton, Alabama, and the powerful Vampire Tribunal.

A Scottish gallowglass warrior turned vampire in the early 17th century, Mirren Kincaid once served the Tribunal as its most creative and ruthless executioner—a time when he was known as the Slayer. But when assigned a killing he found questionable, Mirren abandoned the Tribunal’s political machinations and disappeared—only to resurface two centuries later as the protector and second-in-command of Penton. Now the Tribunal wants him back on their side—or dead.

To break their rogue agent, they capture Glory Cummings, the descendant of a shaman, and send her to restore Mirren’s bloodthirsty nature. But instead of a monster, Glory sees a man burdened by the weight of his past. Could her magic touch—meant by the tribunal to bring out a violent killer—actually help Mirren break his bonds and discover the love he doesn’t believe he deserves?

It’s a town under siege, a powerful warrior in a battle with his past, and one woman who can make the earth move—literally—as the Penton Legacy continues.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

REDEMPTION
Book One Penton Legacy series
By Susannah Sandlin

Following a worldwide pandemic whose vaccine left human blood deadly to vampires, the vampire community is on the verge of starvation and panic. Some have fanned into rural areas, where the vaccine was less prevalent, and are taking unsuspecting humans as blood slaves. Others are simply starving, which for a vampire is worse than death—a raging hunger in a creature too weak to feed.

Immune to these struggles—at first—is Penton, a tiny community in rural Chambers County, Alabama, an abandoned cotton mill town that has been repopulated by charismatic vampire Aidan Murphy, his scathe of 50 vampires, and their willingly bonded humans. Aidan has recruited his people carefully, believing in a peaceful community where the humans are respected and the vampires retain a bit of their humanity.
But an unresolved family feud and the paranoia of the Vampire Tribunal descend on Penton in the form of Aidan’s brother, Owen Murphy. Owen has been issued a death warrant that can only be commuted if he destroys Penton—and Aidan, against whom he’s held a grudge since both were turned vampire in 17th-century Ireland.  Owen begins a systematic attack on the town, first killing its doctor, then attacking one of Aidan’s own human familiars
To protect his people, Aidan is forced to go against his principles and kidnap an unvaccinated human doctor—and finds himself falling in love for the first time since the death of his wife in Ireland centuries ago.

Dr. Krystal Harris, forced into a world she never knew existed, must face up to her own abusive past to learn if the feelings she’s developing for her kidnapper are real—or just a warped, supernatural kind of Stockholm Syndrome in which she’s allowing herself to become a victim yet again.

Susannah Sandlin’s REDEMPTION is the first in the Penton Legacy series. Book two, ABSOLUTION, will be out September 18, and book three, OMEGA, on December 18.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author:

Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night. A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?) The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Susannah will also be live on Blog Talk Radio Today!!
 
April 5/6 Live Radio Interview
Bewitching Book Tours Radio 
12 midnight EST ,Central time 11 pm, 
Mountain time 10pm, west coast Pacific time 9pm, 
Alaska time 8pm