Welcome Guest Author Cera DuBois! #Vampires

Welcome Guest Author

Cera duBois

to the blog today!

See below for her contest!

Welcome back, Cera!  Please share a little about yourself, your genres, any other pen names you use.

Thanks for having me back, Laura!

I live in Central Pennsylvania with my hubby and two teenagers. I grew up on a farm that I couldn’t wait to get away from when I went to college…but now I write Westerns because I miss that way of life. I’ve been writing with the hope of publication for about four years. I write paranormals under my pen name Cera duBois and contemporary Westerns under my real name Sara Walter Ellwood.

Awesome! So, tell us a little about your latest or upcoming release.

I’d love to… I like to think of it as The Black Dagger Brotherhood meets CSI (although, I just recently read the BDB. I was amazed by some of the unintentional similarities in themes between my Hunter’s Dagger Series and Ms. Ward’s BDB).

Here’s the blurb:

The serial killer stalking Clayton, Pennsylvania, isn’t all that has Chief of Police Grace Wallace worried. For a year, she’s tried to forget Special Agent Ian McHenry and now he’s the expert the FBI sent to catch the killer. She can’t stay away from him, but something primal is telling her to run to save much more than just her heart. Despite the strict code of ethics Ian vowed to follow as a vampire hunter, he craves Grace’s blood above all others. If he chooses to stay, Ian risks losing his chance at divine forgiveness. But if he leaves Grace unprotected from the evil he’s hunted for over a century, he loses more than just his soul…

Oh, my! Sounds awesome! Which character is your favorite and why?

I love the hero, Ian McHenry. I love his honor and his compassion for others that he doesn’t see.  He’s also sexy as hell!

Swoon! *grins* As the author, what surprised you about this story?

That I actually got it published. This was my first book after I decided to stop writing fan fiction and try writing something “publishable” (meaning original). After getting about 25 rejections, I decided that it would never be published. We writers all have files on our hard drives of unpublished works, right? Well, after I’d decided I wasn’t going to write paranormals and focus on my contemporary Westerns, a male (non-writer) friend of mine who had read the rough draft talked me into rewriting it. I’m thrilled that I did. My first book became my first published book. Surprise, surprise...

Great story! Will there be any sequels or other books in the same series?

Yes, this is the first book of at least a three book series, but I’m tinkering with the idea of a fourth book… We’ll see if that happens.

The second book, A Hunter’s Blade, is currently in the final stages of editing at The Wild Rose Press and hopefully will be release either this fall or early next year.

I’m currently writing the third book, A Hunter’s Wings. I’m hoping to have it submitted by March of next year.

Although I have a good idea what the fourth book (if there is one) will be about, I haven’t come up with a title yet.

Tagline:

All that stands between Evil and Humanity is the strength of The Hunter’s Dagger...

Awesome! What was the hardest thing for you about writing this story?

Honestly, this book was one of the easiest I’ve ever written. If anything was hard about writing it, it was working in the info that was important to the story that had originally come out in the scenes I had cut when I removed the villain’s POV.

Interesting! So, what are you working on right now?

I’m finishing the editing process with The Wild Rose Press for A Hunter’s Blade (book two of The Hunter’s Dagger series). I’m in the midst of writing A Hunter’s Wings (book three) and I’m editing/revising Gambling on a Heart (book two of The Colton Gamblers series).  The other project I’m finishing up on is a novella I’m planning to self-publish soon, a paranormal fantasy titled Fangs and Faerie Wings. Also I’m working on edits for my two contracted Westerns—Gambling on a Secret (book one of The Colton Gamblers, Jan 2013, Lyrical Press) and Heartstrings (May 2013, Lyrical Press).

Wow! You’re a busy lady! What happened to the first book you ever wrote?

The first book I ever wrote was in eleventh grade. I still have the three notebooks that I filled with the twisted romance set during the Civil War on a Georgia plantation.

That’s actually pretty cool! What do you find easiest and hardest to write?

I find the ending of stories easier to write than beginnings.

Have you incorporated actual events or people from your own life into your books?

No, I try very hard to make sure I don’t incorporate events from my life or people I know in my stories.

Is there a theme or message that runs through your work?

Redemption and self-acceptance.

That’s a great one! What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

That I didn’t know how to read until I was in the fourth grade. I have dyslexia and hated to read. I read my first book (well, the first book that wasn’t forced upon me) in eighth grade when I read the novelization of the TV miniseries The Blue and the Gray.

Wow! Of all the characters you’ve ever written, who is your favorite and why?

My favorite characters come from my upcoming contemporary Western, Gambling on a Secret. Due out in January from Lyrical Press.

The hero, Dylan Quinn is a wounded veteran with PTSD, he’s the town drunk, a hard-ass with a bad attitude, but he has incredible honor and a great sense of humor. He’s not afraid to tell it like it is, as my dad might say.

Charli Monroe is the heroine, and she’s a super rich heiress with a hellish past as a runaway drug addict trying to heal. I love her determination to make things right with herself, with Dylan, and with a teenage girl following in her footsteps.

I can’t wait for that! Okay, now, just for fun:

Milk chocolate or dark chocolate? Milk chocolate

Salty or sweet? Sweet

Bed or kitchen table? Bed

Beach or mountains? Beach

Give or receive? Give

Excerpt:

“I’m in love with the man inside the vampire.” Grace moved her hand to thread through his silky hair. When she rested the other over his heart, a soft sigh escaped his lips. Underneath her palm, the slow beat was barely noticeable.

His thumb grazed her cheekbone and slowly trailed down to the hollow of her throat. Her breathing quickened at the zinging anticipation as he caressed the pulse point where he’d claimed to have taken blood from her. He glanced at the spot with eyes as haunted as he sounded. “I’m not a man.”

“But you were once.”

He met her gaze again. “Yes, once.”

His fingers lingered over her pulse. Her heart raced under his touch. She tilted her neck as if his touch awakened some base instinct to offer the sacrifice. “Do you still want my blood?”

Ian stepped away and locked his wide-eyed gaze onto hers. At last, he rasped, “No, I don’t want your blood. Oh, God, I still crave it. You have the sweetest I’ve ever had, but I will never hurt you again.”

She didn’t know what possessed her to do so, but she whispered, “You can take...some of it.”

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he acidly said, “No, Grace. I can never taste your blood again. It would kill you.”

Fear of what she’d wanted him to do tumbled through her. She stepped away, and for a moment, she considered telling him to leave. How did she know any of this was real? She couldn’t imagine she’d ever freely offer a vampire her blood. Did she really believe him? He was sucking her into his insanity. But if this was true and he could make people do things against their will, maybe he could control her feelings.

“Maybe I should go?” Ian backed away another step and headed toward the counter where he’d left his dagger. He turned back to her with the sheath in his hand. Her heart shattered with the knowledge that, if he walked out the front door, she’d never see him again. “Goodbye, my sweet angel.”

His jagged murmur ripped at her soul as his eyes took on a blazing intensity and snared hers. She felt a pressure in her mind, and she knew what he intended to do. He wanted to erase her memories of him.

No!

Thanks for coming on the blog! Where can we find you on the web?

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page

Buy at The Wild Rose Press | Amazon

A Note from Cera: To find out more about A Hunter’s Angel, check out my website for a schedule of my blog stops over the next month. I will be presenting a series of short stories called The Vampire Encounters. Follow me as I interview Ian McHenry, Master Vampire Lucas Pomeroy, Vivian van Dyke Pomeroy, and have a scary run-in with Shane Chamberlain. Hope to see you along the way.

Contest

Please leave a comment and your email address to be eligible. (Sorry, only USA and Canada residents are eligible for any prize that needs to be mailed. Non-residents and residents of USA are eligible for free PDF copy.)

*One Lucky Poster will win either a custom-made pair of angel wing earrings, charm bracelet, or necklace (check out my website for photos).

*Two others will get a PDF copy of Bloodwine (for info on this short story check out my website)

*1^st Stalker Prize: Every Poster will be entered into a drawing for a chance at a $5 gift certificate from The Wild Rose Press (four to be given away)—drawing to happen on September 1.

*2^nd Stalker Prize: Every Poster will also be entered into a drawing of a $25 gift card from either Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice)—drawing to happen on September 1.

Now, what to comment? Name a favorite line from the excerpt! Thanks for reading!

Laura