Monday, November 24, 2014

HMK Romance Readers Event- Oct 1-4, 2015

Spotlight price is $325
 This gives entry to the book signing, hosting of a minimum of one workshop/panel (currently no maximum), access to all events throughout the weekend, and an intimate encounter. And all provided meals.
 
Featured price is $275
 This gives entry to the book signing, hosting of one workshop/panel, access to all events throughout the weekend, a spot in the Author Speed Date, and all provided meals.
 
Readers price is $200
 They get access to all workshops/panels/events and all provided meals.
 
Panel/workshops/events proposal needs to be in by March 30.  This is the same deadline to let us know if their event will include alcohol. 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

A character interview with Master Vampire Laurent Bovier from Dirty Valkyrie – The 3rd book in the Dirty Series published by eXtasy Books.





Interviewer – RM Sotera

Interviewee – Laurent Bovier New Orleans Vampire and part of the world of the Dirty series

RM: Hi there HMK Blog Followers. Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you the interview I did with Laurent Bovier, New Orleans vampire extraordinaire.

Location – RM Sotera’s Office – November 8, 2014






RM – Sitting in my home office across the desk from the man of the hour I’d cleared my throat. “Let’s start our interview today with your name.”

LB – His Lips twitched as he hid a Wickedly sexy smile. “Ma cherie you know my name. Do you not?”

RM – “Okay, let’s move past that. You’re right. I do know your name, Mr. Bovier.” The damned man had a way of making my body quake inside. The way he annunciated words, and the way the words rolled off his tongue made his talking x-rated.

LB – He leaned forward and then tossed back a lock of long black hair that had fallen across his chest behind him before he’d leveled me with an incredulous stare. “Call me Laurent, RM. Or else I shall have to address you as Ms. Sotera.” That lip twitching thing started again. “And please don’t forget that I can read your mind. X-rated, huh?”

RM – “How about we move on to the next question. I know in book three, Dirty Valkyrie, you married Jett Donivan’s twin sister Brandi. How is that going?”

LB – “My beautiful demi-goddess vampire wife is doing very well, thank you.” He studied me for a moment and then added. “We’ve been tossing around the idea of a playmate in the bedroom as of late, would this arrangement interest you?”

RM – I’d almost swallowed my tongue at his rather bold comment, but instead cleared my throat for the second time in less than five minutes. “Brandi doesn’t seem like the type of woman that would want to share you.” Hell, I’d written her and I knew she wasn’t. Had my characters been holding out on me?

LB – He laughed, it was a sexy sound that lit up his gorgeous features. “We are vampires, ma cherie. Our sexual appetites know no bounds. You should know that.” By this time he’d risen and walked to the other side of my office fumbling through the books on my bookshelf. “I can take you places sexually you’ve never been, if you’d consider giving yourself to us.”

RM – I was definitely not prepared for this sort of interview. But yet, I should have been since I had designed the man standing in front of me or rather in front of my bookcase. “How about I think about it and we move on with the interview?” Was I insane? Think about what? The man was a figment of my imagination…right?

LB - “Ask away your questions, RM. “ He’d thumbed through my many books and then pulled a specific book and stopped at the places I’d paper clipped for quick reference.

RM – “If you had a free day and your only mission was to enjoy yourself, what would you do?” At this point he closed the book but didn’t take his finger from the page he was reading.

LB – “I’d take my wife, and you if you’d agree, back to the Cayman Islands for a weekend of fine dining, water activities, and endless nights of love making. I’d make sure neither of you would ever want to return. I’ve been told through the centuries that I make a very good lover. Brandi knows that I am. Would you like me to show you?”

RM – I was sure the temperature in my office had risen several degrees when the sweat on my brow started slowly dripping down my cheeks. “Although accompanying you and Brandi on a romantic retreat sounds enticing, I’m going to have to pass. I do have a husband and a child and I’m sure they’d miss me if I just vanished for a few weeks.

LB – “Perhaps.” A wry smile curved his lips. “You could say that you are attending a writer’s convention. This could be Tropical Romantic Con in January. It does have a nice ring to it.”

RM – Changing the subject was in order. “When you wake up in the morning what’s the first thing you do?” Probably the wrong question to ask from the snort he gave me.

LB – “The first thing I do when I wake up is reach for my lovely wife. I ravish her completely once and then a second time before she’s even completely awake. You know, as I told you earlier, vampires have very sexual appetites. Always.”

RM - He ran a hand down his thigh and of course I looked and then gasped at the site. It was more of him than I should have taken in on a Saturday at noon. I had to change the subject fast so out of left field I asked, “Do you think you've turned out the way your parents expected?”

LB – With that question he tucked my book under his arm and came back to take a seat in front of me. “Probably not. I am dead, ma cherie.”

RM – “Yeah, about that. How did you die?” He’d stared at me in only what could be described as total disbelief. “What?”

LB – “That is a story in itself. One that you have yet to write. I’m afraid we don’t have enough time for me to go into that fiasco, since I am a bit in the dark when it comes to my existence. However, I do know that the dark gift was given to me centuries ago. At least that is what you’ve led me to believe.”

RM – Yeah, I knew that I really did need to get my butt in gear and start writing his book. I glanced back at him and once again he was examining the book he’d pulled from my bookcase. “Do you regret being given the gift, Laurent?”

LB - He flipped the book open to one of my tabbed pages. “Regret is a waste of time. Why do you have this specific section tabbed?”

RM – All of a sudden I was in the hot seat again. The interviewer up against the wall. Figuratively speaking. The page he’d opened was the part in the story where the hero bound the heroine during sex with rope.

LB – “Not exactly with the regrets.” He glanced at the open book and then at me, again. “But I can arrange the action in this book if you so wish it.” He grabbed my wrist. “I do have a lovely collection of rope.”

RM – An uneasy laugh left my lips as I attempted to break free from his grasp. “Tell me about your best friend. How did you meet?”

LB – “And we change direction once again. Well, as you are well aware my best friend is Jett Donivan, the character you so flawlessly designed in Dirty Dancer. Although he was a pain in the ass in the beginning, we have turned out to be great friends.

RM – “Well you do need to give him a break. I mean you did try to bed his woman and then you went after his sister. He was a bit gun-shy when it came to you.”

LB – That’s an understatement. He’d wanted to slice me open, but unfortunate for him I’m already dead.”

RM – I’d managed to get him to free my wrist. He grabbed the stapler on my desk and started fiddling with it. “But it all ended well. I mean you did marry his sister and gave both his sister and his wife the dark gift.”

LB – “Yes. I did. Would you like me to give you the dark gift?”

RM – “I’m flattered, but no.”

LB – “My. My, Rm. You know that to experience an event is much more potent that another telling you about it.”

RM – Once again I’d managed to look away from him and gather my wits. “What are you most ashamed of in your life?” At my question is gaze turned sad. It was the first time during the interview that I’d seen vulnerability in his eyes.
LB – On that question he set my book on the desk. “I regret the way I killed my wife, Brandi.” His eye color shifted to a dark black, and to be quite honest scared the crap out of me. “There was no gentleness in the way I took her life. My bite was hard, deep and full of rage. I was beyond the point of animalistic. And if you remember, she did not want the dark gift. She was still battling with her Norse heritage and her place as a valkyrie.”

RM – “But you were driven to that state. As I recall you were kidnapped by your nemesis and bled out. And then Brandi was put into the cell with you. You were vulnerable.”

LB – “Bull-shit. I know the semantics of what happened, RM. But knowing them still does not change how I feel. If I could change the way I’d taken Brandi’s life, I would.”

RM – “But you two are happy now, and that’s what matters.”

LB – The tenseness in his shoulders settled as the color of his gaze shifted from black back to brown. “Yes. We are extremely happy. So happy and content with each other that we are looking to bring a third person into our bedroom escapades. My offer still stands.” He ran a hand over the book on my desk. “Perhaps we can bring your fantasies into reality.”

RM – I really had thought we’d moved past his infatuation with my reading material. “Well, it looks like we’ve run out of time. Is there anything else you’d like the readers to know about you?” LB – He laughed and leaned back on his chair. “I see that I’ve stumped you once again, RM. As you recall, I am dead so I have all the time in the world. What do I want your readers to know? Just that once they have met me, they will find it hard to forget me.” He pushed himself forward until the front legs of the chair were touching the ground and then he stood. “And that goes for you too, ma cherie.”

RM – Before I could open my mouth in reply his lips touched my ear. His vampire speed made it impossible for me to see him move, I only knew that there he was his breath on my neck. “There are two things from you that I want. I want you in my bed and I want my own book. Preferably in that order.” And with those two declarations Laurent Bovier was gone. After a few moments I’d let out the breath I was holding, took a glance around my office and headed out into the safety of my living room. My characters really did have a life of their own.

And damned if I didn’t write quite the character with Laurent Bovier. His own book? His bed? I’d sent a mental shout-out to my muse, Styxx. A little conversing was in order. 

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Joining us today is our own RM Sotera


When the Muse Decides to ‘get up and go’ and You Think Your Writing Career is Over – There Can Still Be a Somewhere Over The Rainbow!


By: RM Sotera




Sometimes life sucks. The past year has been both positive and negative for me. I am so blessed to be a founding member and Vice President of the HMK (Hot Mojave Knights) Reader Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. To be quite honest, it’s been my saving grace. Without it, the writing dry spell, new book proposal rejection letters, and sudden reverting of one of my published book rights back to me from a company because of my low sales, could have possibly broken me. This is the first time in my life, I’d seriously thought about walking away from the business. The first time I truly felt like a bonafide loser.

Over the years, I’ve heard people say many times that in writing and publishing the good times can be out of this world and the bad times can knock you down to the point that it hurts every inch of your body to get up and face the music again. I can honestly say that I can relate.

So…how did it happen? Well, first of all on the writing side my muse disappeared for quite some time. As my day job began to take every ounce of my time, I’d pushed my muse to the background hoping that he’d wait in the wings until I could etch out some time for him. The more I’d pushed the more of him disappeared until finally I didn’t hear him anymore. With his absence came the negative thoughts, the ones that made me believe I wasn’t a true writer, and that the eight books I’d published were all flukes. As I battled with losing my creativity the publishing world shifted around me and I’d felt lost in the movement.

And so that leads me to where I am today. After some serious soul searching my muse, Styxx reappeared after a long hiatus and I’ve embraced him. I’ve learned to give him the time when he’s knocking. I’ve finished two novels and one novella. All three of my new books are with editors as we speak. I’ve learned with the shift in publishing that hiring an editor before the submission process is a good fit for me, and that advertising and promotion is another avenue that I must show diligence. Since I don’t have the time to do most of the promotions I’ve hired someone for that too. I’ve finally realized that investing in my writing career – spiritually, emotionally, creatively and financially – is a must if success is in my scope.

With the love and support of my writing friends I’ve survived and I’ve come back stronger than before. These awesome friends in my writing community were my ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ and I thank God every day for them.

In closing what I hope you’ve learned from my experiences is never give up and when the muse is knocking let him/her talk. And…keep your eye on the publishing field because it changes rapidly from one year – even one month – to the next. Do what is best for you and your career! 


Visit me at
www.rmsotera.com to view my book list and my links.

Keep a look out for my newest releases on the HMK blog.

All the best,
RM Sotera