You join me on the last day of my Quality Times Blog Tour, and I would like to thank Chantal for hosting me on her blog.

I’d like to end this tour by talking a little about what’s coming up next for Quality Times and  her travelling companion associate, Tim. After all, The Whispering Tombs is only the first in a (hopefully) long line of Quality Times stories.

I’ve already started writing the second book in the series, The Grandparent Trap, and hope to get it published later this year. Unlike The Whispering Tombs, The Grandparent Trap is told in third-person narrative and the reader will get a chance to enter Tim’s head and see what he’s thinking, as well as Quality’s.

I’m also opening up the Quality’s family tree with the introduction of her grandmother, Necessity  (yes, these unusual names run in the family!).

Here’s a peek at the ‘blurb’ -

Young Ben Foster is not happy. He’s due to spend his summer holidays at his grandparent’s house. His boring, old-fashioned grandparents who don’t even have wi-fi.

 

But when Ben knocks on their front door, he finds his grandparents have disappeared. In fact, most of the pensioners on the street have vanished.

 

When space and time-travelling adventuress, Quality Times, and her associate, Tim, encounter a distressed Ben, they decide to investigate the disappearances.

 

Where have the elderly folk gone to? What has it got to do with the new bus company that’s started up in the town?

 

To find out, Quality will have to call on the help of her flamboyant grandmother, Necessity.

 

Oh dear…

 

During this month, Camp NaNoWriMo is happening (for those who don’t know NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and the aim is to write a 50,000 word novel within a month), and I am attempting to write The Grandparent Trap as part of it. If things go as planned, then I should have the first draft finished by the end of June. I’ve got almost 3000 words done already, on the first day – the daily word goal is somewhere around 1500, so I’m doing well, so far. :p

I have a file on my computer full of storylines for future Quality Times books but, at this early stage, I’m not going to mention what they are, yet. Spoilers!

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those who have hosted me on my first ever blog tour – JC Cassels, Cary Caffrey, Patrick Stutzman, Wayne Basta, Misa Buckley, Pippa Jay, TM Hunter and, of course, the fragrant Chantal Halpin!

You guys rock!

 

Meet Quality Times, just your average 21st century woman who happens to own a shrinkable time machine. Along on her intergalactic adventures is Tim, a self-confessed sci-fi geek who takes everything in his stride.

In ‘The Whispering Tombs’, Quality and Tim are residing at the luxurious Baala Haven Resort, on an unpronounceable planet, when they’re invited on a quest to find ancient hidden treasure by a wealthy alien archaeologist. Reaching the caves of Azrokaran, however, loyalties are tested to the very limits as those within the group reveal their true colours.

A light-hearted mix of science fiction, adventure and humour.

(British spelling)

BIO

 

Gayle Ramage is a writer, living in the Scottish lowlands. She would love to grow her own TARDIS if only to go back in time to find out if her ancestors were as mad as she is.

LINKS

 

Website           http://www.gayleramage.co.uk

Blog                  http://www.gayleramage-author.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter            http://www.twitter.com/garam81

Good Reads    http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5121377.Gayle_Ramage

Smashwords    https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/164661

Amazon UK    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whispering-Tombs-Quality-Times-ebook/dp/B00858Z0K4

Amazon US    http://www.amazon.com/Whispering-Tombs-Quality-Times-ebook/dp/B00858Z0K4

I’ve spent all day freaking out that I had ‘lost’ all of last night’s edits. I was in edit hell last night. I didn’t eat and I ignored my family (sorry!). I just sat in my little cubby-hole, virtually in my own world; picking out abstracts and repetitions, checking pacing and sentence length, grammar and punctuation.

Tedious yet essential. I didn’t stop until I went to bed.

Today I couldn’t find it. I spent a whole day at work freaking out on the inside until I could get home and check my PC.

It had been saved in my ‘Downloads’. WTF??

To celebrate Beltane and the release of her debut  Sci-Fi-Rom, Keir,writer Pippa Jay is going to share a little ditty with us and that’s not all – she is also giving away a free ebook, entry details below…

Writing Demons into Science Fiction

Taken from Wikipedia – “A demon (or daemon, from Ancient Greek), is a supernatural being from various religions and folklores that is described as something that is not human and, in ordinary (almost universal) usage, malevolent.”

It might seem the most unlikely thing in the Universe to put into a science-fiction story. It isn’t a new idea though. The BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who has used it several times alone – see Doctor Who and the Daemons as an example, where the ‘demon’ in question is actually one of a technologically-advanced race of devilish-looking beings that visited the Earth. But in Keir, the male MC is feared and outcast for being a demon because of his weird blue skin – a genetic anomaly. His primitive society, without the necessary science to explain it, reverts to a mythological reason and condemns him accordingly.

Yet the original translation for “daimon” in Ancient Greek meant “spirit” or “divine power”, and didn’t carry the stigma of being a malevolent entity at all. The medieval concept of a “demon” being evil comes from Roman culture and has persisted into modern times. Demons are supposed to possess living creatures, or to be hideous fang-toothed, long-taloned monsters that like to rend and eat human flesh. Despite the fact that Keir looks entirely human aside from his odd coloration, displays no magical abilities at all, (and certainly never ate anybody) doesn’t save him from the accusations.

Although I tend to write science fiction more than anything, I love fantasy too and I’ve tried to blend elements of both into my work. In Keir, the medieval style society into which he was born condemns his freakish appearance as being demonic. The spawn of something darkly supernatural. On his world, such beings are completely mythical and the result of superstition, although the religion is not a predominant force in his culture. Much to his own horror, he learns that the truth behind his strangeness is something all the more terrifying for being real.

But I’m not going to tell you what that is. You’ll have to read the book to find out.

So on that note I’m offering a free e-book to a random commentator on this blog. Just tell me what your favorite supernatural being is and why (and leave your contact details please). Also, if you stop by my blog here on the 7th May (the official release date for Keir) there’s a special prize up for grabs too. J

Keir – a science-fiction romance available 7th May 2012 from Lyrical Press Inc

http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=81&products_id=513

Blurb:

Outcast. Cursed. Dying. Is Keir beyond redemption?

For Keirlan de Corizi–the legendary ‘Blue Demon’ of Adalucien–death seems the only escape from a world where his discolored skin marks him as an oddity and condemns him to life as a pariah. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise: Tarquin Secker, a young woman who can travel the stars with a wave of her hand.

But Quin has secrets of her own. She’s spent eternity searching through space and time with a strange band of companions at her back. Defying her friends’ counsel, Quin risks her apparent immortality to save Keir. She offers him sanctuary and a new life on her home world, Lyagnius.

When Keir mistakenly unleashes his dormant alien powers and earns instant exile from Quin’s home world, will she risk everything to stand by him again?

BIO:

A stay-at-home mum of three who spent twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals laboratory, Pippa Jay bases her stories on a lifetime addiction to science-fiction books and films. Somewhere along the line a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her characters, she spends the odd free moments trying to learn guitar, indulging in freestyle street dance and drinking high-caffeine coffee. Although happily settled in historical Colchester in the UK with her husband of 18 years, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.

LINKS:

Blog site: http://pippajay.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  @pippajaygreen   http://twitter.com/pippajaygreen

Facebook:

Keir – Beyond Redemption (book page) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keir-Beyond-Redemption/114058821953752

Pippa Jay (profile) https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001581482219

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5054558.Pippa_Jay

I’m all discombobulated. Nothing I read stirs me. I want to read something amazing, but every thing I’ve started recently I have quickly put down, again after picking it to shreds. This totally sucks!

I blame the writing course. It makes me so critical of my own work (not a bad thing, mind) and there seems to be some seepage.

So I have turned to the good people at Goodreads for inspiration. I’ve downloaded a couple of prospects from Amazon. I’ll  let you know how it goes.

 

Also I was at a motorbike shop this morning (they do the best cooked breakfasts!) and had a little try on one of these ;

That would blow the cob-webs out! Hmm maybe if I’m a good girl hubby might think I deserve a pressie

So this years Romantic Times Booklovers Convention has been to Chicago with a dazzling array of authors turning out for signings, panels, work-shops and all general book loving who-ha!

Some of my fave writers were there such as; Charlaine Harris of The Southern Vampires fame,

Ilona Andrews who you all know because I yak on about them all the time.

Nalini Singh who writes The Archangel and Psychangeling series and Jeaniene Frost who writes the hot, hot Night Huntress series.

You can see the full list of authors who took part in signings here.

Next year’s shin-dig is in Kansas City (every time I say that I want to add, “We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto”) and I would love, love, love to go!

Maybe one day my name will be on that list too. Now back to the shortie I’m writing…

I prefer Easter to Christmas. The weather is (usually!) better and you don’t have to break the bank. This Easter I have been writing furiously for the next assessment on my writing course which is due in Thursday – yikes! Then it is all kinds of crazy until the course finishes at the end of May when I can get back to normal. Whatever that is.

I have also been reading and can recommend Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghost series. This is not your usual urban fantasy – it is gritty and packs a helluva’ punch. The heroine is a junky who walks a fine line between being a respectable Debunker for the Church and just losing it completely. There is romance, but you have to fight for it! The fourth in the series, Sacrificial Magic, is out in the UK on May 10th and I cannot wait. But start with Unholy Ghosts;

…you find out your fave authors are also really awesome people too?

I may have mentioned, once or twice, that Ilona Andrews are (yes; plural – they are a dynamic duo!) my fave writers as I love their books and they are also really cool people.

Well I would also like to give a shout out to Kim Harrison who writes the fabulous Urban Fantasy series called The Hollows, which btw is coming to the small screen (wowzers!) and Patricia Briggs the Wolf Queen who writes the awesomely fantabulous Urban Fantasy Mercy Thompson series and Alpha & Omega series.

Here is a filmed Q&A session of them at a book signing in Seattle courtesy of Harper Voyager. In it they made me laugh really out loud and clap along with the fans present (and I’m English, we just don’t do that sort of thing!) and they also give lots of great writing advice.

A pure gold nugget of that was the answer to a problem that I have mulled over off and on; how to keep track of all of your character’s movements through time and chapters. My own solution was a messy and long time line, but Kim Harrison’s was this Character Grid:

I love it – I’m off to start mine now

Little Zombie

Here is the poem by my 12 year daughter that I previously promised y’all – enjoy!

Little zombie at my door,

I blow your brains across the floor.

 

Another zombie comes to die,

to eat me in a lullaby.

 

You are just a touch too slow,

how many killed? I do not know.

 

The living dead, they want my brains,

their blood instead flows down the drains.

 

Their bodies lay at my feet,

to zombies we are living meat.

 

Why eat us? I once asked,

that zombie was the very last.

 

I blew his brains across the floor,

there are no zombies at my door.

Cute huh? Anyone have a number for a therapist?

So this half term has been all about docs, dentists and hairdressers – all the things I never normally have time for. I still haven’t gotten around to the opticians though. I seem to be putting that one off as I think I’m going to need glasses for the first time ever, but it’s cool I can rock it – I reckon they’ll make me look more intelligent.

Anyway the kiddies both had gorgeous hair cuts yesterday and I noticed that they changed my youngest’s parting to the other side of her head. No biggie, I was just going to move it back next time I did her hair. Well unfortunately after sleeping on it her parting was trying to move back on it’s own and her hair kept getting in her face so she took action. Yes, that’s right – she cut her hair off to the scalp! OMG my baby balded herself!

(*please note she is not really a baby, just my baby and old enough to know better, otherwise she would be nowhere near scissors*)

Apparently she hadn’t heard that good tip; never cut your own hair. I must remember to warn her off yellow snow.

The other thing I’ve been doing is catching up on my reading. One I was waiting for with much excitement is Third Grave Dead Ahead by Darynda Jones. This is the third in her Charley Davidson Urban Fantasy series and it just keeps getting better and better.  It is goes full circle from laugh out loud like that crazy lady on the bus to real tears.  Those clever economists could match a downturn in productivity with these book’s release dates as I am sure there is an uncanny and purely coincidental increase in sick days.

I have also had the pleasure of Gin Blanco’s company from Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series. If you like your Urban Fantasy gals to kick-ass then do not miss this series. I consumed the first three books one after the other. There are 6 plus a novella so far in the series and I can’t wait to get caught up.

I also took a cheeky punt on Fury of Fire by Coreene Callahan. This is a Paranormal Romance and as such follows a pattern but I was in the right mood for something to cuddle up with. The hero is a big, tough, dominant male and the heroine is feisty and keeps kicking. The twist is that the men are dragon shifters. I have a real soft spot for dragons so that won it for me.

But just a warning – it is very Black Dagger Brotherhood-ish, for me that was a good thing but the Hhardcore Lhadies may draw comparisons.

Next up I shall be reading Kalayna Price’s Grave Witch which has come highly recommended. I shall keep you posted.

My hubby is always very good at the romantic gestures. He doesn’t just buy me an ipod – he puts all my favourite songs on it first. When he fills champagne flutes with Love Heart sweets he makes sure he removes all the mean ones that say things like “You’re Dumped!” – little things like that.

He also loves buying me things and he couldn’t resist giving me this year’s Valentines pressie a wee bit early. He has bought me my own domain name!! Oh how well he knows me – I have been meaning to sort this out for ages but being a bit of a techie-phobe I was never going to get to it so he decided to do something about it.

So soon I will have a real live site (which will prob re-direct here for a while) and an email address for writing.

Hmmm now does that mean I have to get him something???