Guest Post and Giveaway: Herbology 101 with author Hailey Edwards

Poultice

     While writing A Feast of Souls, I researched herb lore because the heroine, Mana, is a spirit walker. In the Araneae world, that makes her a spiritual leader for her clan, one who can walk in between worlds and aid in healing from the spiritual plane. Mana also studies herbology. During the course of the book, she mentions making a poultice to draw infection from a sword wound.

    
     A poultice, or cataplasm, is a soft mass (made from bread, meal, or clay and medicated with herbs) spread on fabric and heated before being applied to sores or cuts. They are used to draw out infection, treat boils and abscesses or to cure itchy rashes.

 

     Here are a few cool facts about poultices:

 

1.      Poultices can also be used to remove stains on porous materials, such as granite and marble countertops and floors.

             2.      Because they ease inflammation, poultices are commonly used on horses.

             3.      Applications for poultices are only limited by their ingredients.

     So my question is this—have you ever tried a home remedy or herbal cure? If so, did it work for you? Leave a comment to let me know and you’ll be entered to win your choice of title from my backlist in any digital format and an Araneae swag pack. Contest is open internationally.

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A Feast of Souls Excerpt

     Tonight we fought for our freedom. If we lost…I wanted to know this male’s kiss.

     Vaughn cleared his throat. “We could make up for lost time.”

     “You’d do that, for me?” My smile was impossible to stop. I should be afraid—of him, of this night, of the outcome of two bound prisoners against a score of Theridiidae. “How kind you are.”

     But I wasn’t afraid. Vaughn’s presence enveloped me, kept me safe against all odds. My skin tightened and my head ached as I was forced to consider perhaps it had never been him I feared, but his effect on me. Tradition demanded I save myself for my soul mate. My heart, well, it was less inclined to wait. With no visible aura and no possible future, I gave myself to this moment.

     Vaughn closed the distance between us. “This is not the first kiss you deserve.”

     “Who said this was my first?” I was a warm-blooded female and males had interested me.

     His brow furrowed. “You’re Salticidae.”

     “I am.” I wished my hands were free to shape his broad shoulders. “I’m also waiting.”

     “Then we’re even.” His head lowered. Our breaths mingled. “I’ve waited for this.”

     Surprise parted my lips, and he claimed my mouth with hunger that sank into my bones. One brush of his lips and I was lost. His tongue traced the entrance to my mouth, seeking permission I granted by inclining my head. Desire fogged my mind, the low rumble in the back of his throat making tension coil low in my stomach. Our bodies pressed so close, I realized how well we fit.

     The thrust and glide of Vaughn’s tongue mirrored the erotic turn of my thoughts. No. I could not indulge in this male when I had one of my own somewhere. When the gods brought my soul mate to me, I would not go to him sullied or disgraced for being so weak I gave away my virtue.

     Suddenly the bite of rope on my wrists was a welcome reminder of our circumstances. Over the pounding of my heart, I heard his raw breaths and saw wildness glint in his eyes. I withdrew.

     If our display hadn’t earned us the full attention of our guards, I might have considered a roll in the snow to cool the heat making it hard for me to breathe. Gods’ web he had my mind dazed.

 ****This post contains general information about medical conditions and treatments.

The information is not advice, and should not be treated as such. Click for complete disclaimer.****

 

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About the Author:
Born in the Deep South, Hailey is a lifelong resident of Alabama. Her husband works for the local sheriff’s department and her daughter is counting down the days until she’s old enough to audition for American Idol. Her doxie, Black Ilex, helps Hailey write by snoozing in his recliner in her office.
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Her desire to explore without leaving the comforts of home fueled her love of reading and writing. Whenever the itch for adventure strikes, Hailey can be found with her nose glued to her Kindle’s screen or squinting at her monitor as she writes her next happily-ever-after.

Guest Post by Tracey Sinclair: Why Do We Love Bad Boys?

Why Do We Love Bad Boys?

There’s something about a bad boy…

From Stefan Salvatore to Eric Northman, what is it about those bad boys that sets our pulses racing? We might crave the happy ever after with the nice guy, but we all want to dabble in the dark side – who didn’t find Spike more fun than Angel, after all, with his peroxide hair, the leather coat and the sexy British snark? It was enough to make you overlook the terrible accent. It’s not exactly a new phenomenon – you just have to look at a book like Wuthering Heights, where Cathy’s safe marriage never makes up for the wild passion of her tortured, tempestuous relationship with the brooding and borderline-demonic Heathcliff. We even like our good guys with a hint of darkness – Angel going Angelus, Stefan turning Ripper; even Sam Winchester got sexier once he started guzzling demon blood.

Partly, of course, this is because the devil gets all the best lines: the good guys are often left with little but po-faced sincerity.  Undying love is all well and good, but sometimes a girl likes a laugh: and all too often writers seem to think that being a hero means being serious all the time. You only get to be sarcastic if you’re a loveable rogue, Han Solo-style , and then it’s proof of your roguishness. You could argue, of course, that there’s the world of difference between that ‘loveable rogue’ type – think Han Solo, Mal Reynolds or Dean Winchester and the genuine bad boy so prevalent in vampire fiction (let’s not forget, both Eric and Spike are stone cold killers, and Damon has not only casually killed a lot of women, he has also compelled plenty to have sex with him – which is basically rape). But deep down, the fantasy is the same: that under that rough exterior beats a heart of gold, and all they need to change them is the love of the right woman. That woman being, of course, us.

You can argue it’s a pernicious ideology – how many women have stayed in awful or abusive relationships because they think ‘he’ll change!”? Certainly it’s a terrible, terrible way to live. But who said fantasies have to be politically correct? If that were the case, nobody alive would have bought 50 Shades. The very point of a fantasy is that it allows you to explore your own limits, to vicariously indulge in behaviours that in life are beyond the pale: personally, I’m a woman who only travels first class on trains and stays in hotels with cable TV and great room service: I’d last about 5 minutes ‘roughing it’. Does that stop me fantasizing about Dean Winchester sweeping me off into the horizon in the Impala to live a life on the road? Hell, no.

Because the bad guys appeal to our own wild side – we might live by the rules, but who doesn’t dream about behaving as badly as we want to, damn society and the consequences? Bad boys don’t live by anyone’s rules but their own: often, we want them simply because we want to be them, to have that freedom ourselves. “Don’t do anything stupid,” Elena tells Damon, in The Vampires Diaries, and he replies, “But stupid is more fun.” And sometimes you can’t argue with that.

[You might wonder how I approached this when I wrote the love triangle in my own book, Dark Dates: how to avoid the boring hero? Simple: I made them both bad boys. Problem solved – and a LOT more fun to write….]


Tracey, thanks so much for this awesome post! You definitely know your bad boys!

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About the Author:

Tracey Sinclair is a writer and editor. Her novel and collection of short stories (Doll and No Love Is This, respectively) have been published by independent publisher Kennedy & Boyd,and her new paranormal romance, Dark Dates, is now available.

Her work has appeared in magazines as diverse as Sky, Printer’s Devil, Yours and Woman’s Weekly, as well as having been performed on the radio . Her first play, Bystanders, was premiered as part of the New Writing Season at Baron’s Court Theatre earlier this year. She also a regular contributor to online theatre magazine Exeunt (www.exeuntmagazine.com) and writes the Fangirl Unleashed column for www.unleashthefanboy.com

Her blog http://bodyofageekgoddess.blogspot.com was shortlisted for this year’s Cosmopolitan Blog Awards.

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Her newest novel Dark Dates is available for purchase on Amazon.

(Click here for my review of Dark Dates)

Guest Post by Amy Lignor: Can A Soulmate Be Replaced?

I'm so glad to have Amy Lignor, author of Until Next Time, here today! This post really emphasizes the themes found within her story. Thanks SO much for taking the time to write this amazing, thought-provoking post :-D  The main tagline in the book's synopsis is: "How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?"

-Thanks also to Tribute Books for allowing me a spot on the tour!

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Can A Soulmate Be Replaced?

I think we all know what the answer is to that question. At any age, even if we have a background that includes those painful break-ups, we still hold dear to the fact that there’s a ‘one-and-only’ wandering the proverbial moors just waiting to cross our path. Soulmates is the very basic concept that we learn from the moment we’re old enough to listen to our mother speak the words: “Once Upon a Time.” From then on, there’s a knight, a prince, a king, even a pauper, perhaps, who will prove to us that there’s only one perfect person to fall head-over-heels in love with.

Is this still too naive a thought to have in this messy, mean world? Well, I have to say, if you have nothing romantic left to believe in then this would be a very dismal world. Right now, even the nay-sayers out there who wish to express the fact that there’s no such thing as ‘true love,’ still - somewhere very deep down - believe in it.

The plotline that appears in almost every genre is still romance, which says a great deal about readers out there. And with the huge resurgence of the ‘love triangle,’ that came about with the ‘fanged ones,’ romance seems is almost a necessity for bestsellers.

Perhaps your soul mate - the one specially made for you - IS a bad influence on your life. Whether it be because of their job, their ‘human frailties,’ or even the fact that they have fangs - any of these can cause a romance to become harsh, leading the main character to fight in order to see their love shine. But what about ‘Contestant Number 2?’ On the other point of that love triangle lies yet another perfect guy or girl. The love they have for you is just as intense, and in many cases you have far more in common with that person than the one who’s supposedly made for you. This ‘non-soulmate’ will treat you well - like a queen, in fact. They will protect, defend, make you laugh, and make you feel better when that soulmate makes you seriously angry or upset, and they seem to have no negatives whatsoever. But, alas, there’s one…

There is only one soulmate; that’s just the way that writers, not to mention Fate, works. That other ‘perfect specimen’ is amazing and can make you happy, but what they end up to be is a really good friend. You see, they will never possess that ‘key’ that will supply you with “Happily Ever After.” There will always be a part of you looking off into the distance wondering why you and your soulmate didn’t ‘meet up’ this time around.

When I began to write Matt & Emily I needed to be unique. I didn’t want the ‘love triangle’ that’s quite easily seen and easily understood. I wanted Emily and her audience to not have a clue when it comes to love and who her soulmate truly is. Hence, she’s extremely happy with Jason. As a human, he’s the one who can give her that much-sought-after fairytale. He loves her with the fiercest of passion and will do anything to get her to say, “I do.”

However, in this specific triangle, Matt holds much more power than a ‘friend.’ Matt is Emily’s warrior, her confidante, and a young man who’s slowly learning and adapting to the new world around him. He finds himself looking at Emily in a different way, as they begin to feel human emotions.

When Emily’s the angel, Matt is the one and only being in existence who understands her. He knows when she’s sad and when she wishes to fight; he can antagonize like a annoying little brother, yet the next minute stand before her and defend her from absolutely any danger that crosses her path.

Jason and Matt are two completely different characters from different worlds, and Emily truly loves them both. Therefore, how will she decide? How will she actually know, in the end, who that soulmate truly is? And once she does, will it end up being the one she left behind?

This is where the power of a soulmate comes into play. IS it possible there were two soulmates created? Until Next Time opens the door for anyone who still believes in the power of soulmates to attach themselves to a romance that hasn’t been seen before. Perhaps it will even take the second time around for the soulmate to be revealed! After all, that is one person who can NEVER be replaced…so choose wisely.

Until Next Time, Everybody,

Amy

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To find out more about Amy Lignor's book, Until Next Time, check it out on Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, or The Angel Chronicles's Website or Facebook page

You can also find out more about Amy by checking out her Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Website.

Quick Tips to Help You Survive a Zombie Outbreak. A Guest Post by Jim Beck

I'm happy to have the author of Patient Zero, Jim Beck, guesty posting today! Patient Zero is a zombie outbreak book told from the point of view of the zombie virus. Who better to give a few survival tips than the author himself?

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Quick Tips to Help You Survive a Zombie Outbreak

by Jim Beck

At some point while I was writing Patient Zero, I asked myself whether or not I would survive a zombie outbreak if one were to occur in my neighborhood. And, if I'm being honest with myself, that answer is, unfortunately no. Yes, I know how to fire a gun. Yes, I can aim for the head with pretty darn good accuracy. Yes, I'm in good shape. And yes, I'd like to think that if it came down to it, I would be able to put loved ones out of their misery. But I'm simply not prepared.

So what would it take to make me more likely to survive a zombie outbreak? These are my thoughts...

Guns, Guns, Guns

Knives and bats and metal rods just won't cut it. The more guns you have, the better. Shotguns are excellent, as they spread out and are more likely to hit the head if your aim is a little off. But don't discount handguns, especially for close combat. You may also opt for military grade weapons, such as assault rifles, grenades, and whatnot, but those may be hard to come by. Also, make sure that everyone in your household is trained in the proper use of every piece of machinery.

Stock Up

I'm going to steal something here. Not sure where I read it or heard it, but when a zombie outbreak occurs, the first thing you should do is fill up your bathtub with water. Chances are, if the world goes to hell, water will be hard to come by, and you'll have gallons of water sitting there for your use. You'll also want to stock up on canned and boxed foods, flashlights, batteries, first
aid kits, and anything else that comes in a run-of-the-mill emergency preparedness kit.

Two Story House

If it all possible, buy or rent a two story house. When the outbreak occurs, immediately take your family and all of your supplies to the second floor, then somehow destroy your stairs. Zombies are feeble creatures, slow and plodding. They already have trouble climbing stairs, so they definitely won't be able to make it to the second story without any stairs to help them. Just be prepared to stay up there until help comes.

Hope and Pray for Slow Zombies

I don't have anything against fast zombies. Regardless of what some people will have you believe, Romero's zombies weren't always that slow. In a real life zombie outbreak, though, you better hope and pray that they're the lumbering, plodding kind. Slow zombies are scary because of their sheer numbers, but we have a chance to fight them off. If they are fast zombies, it's almost certain -- barring quite a bit of nuking -- that we will lose. I can't remember who said it -- I think it was just a random message board poster -- no matter how fast you are, no matter what shape you're in -- EVERYONE who plays tag eventually gets made "it." Truer words have never been
spoken.

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You can find out more about Jim and his book Patient Zero on his Website or Author Page.

Amazon and Smashwords

A Romance-y Guest Post by Susan Denney

My Inspiration: Georgette Heyer, the Queen of Romance

A Guest Post by Susan Denney

If you met me, you might be surprised. I’m really not the romance novelist type. I don’t curl up in a window seat with a cat and a cup of herb tea and you’d be hard pressed to find anything with a ruffle on it in my wardrobe. And my former high school students remember me more for my strict classroom management than for my aura of femininity.

So why am I a romance novelist? I write romance novels because of one person named Georgette Heyer. I fell in love with her books so long ago that that I was in junior high and not middle school. Georgette Heyer invented the modern Regency romance which is based on that early nineteenth century era so beautifully described by Jane Austen. I drooled over her clothing descriptions and absorbed a culture so different from my own. But I also loved her characters and their happy endings.

When I started acquiring my own set of Georgette Heyer books, I had to scour used bookstores. Then eBay was invented just so I could complete my collection. Now her wonderful books are being reprinted and are available everywhere. As my books fall apart, I can replace them with a new edition.

What’s so wonderful about her books? They’re believable. She did so much research that I’m guessing that today some contemporary Regency romance novelists don’t bother with research but just lift details from her books. But Heyer’s romances are also witty, bright and well-plotted. Her heroines are often feisty and her heroes have flaws. But in every single one, you end up the book by believing that these two people are in love and that it will last.

My modern romance with the enormous title of Snarky and Sweet: A Romantic Comedy about Twins, Texas and a Big Red Diamond was written just for fun. I wrote a book I was looking for in libraries and not finding. I wanted to read something a bit more intellectual than most romances, but also clean. I wanted to write a book that leaves a lot to the imagination. My view is that reading what goes on in a bedroom is not half as interesting as finding out how that couple got to the bedroom in the first place. But in the deepest recesses of my heart was the hope that some element in my book might approach the writing of that queen of romance, Georgette Heyer.

Susan Denney remembers writing very bad poetry at the age of nine. Luckily, she realized early on that fiction was a better choice for her. She writes stories about things she knows and loves. Her first novel, Snarky and Sweet: A Romantic Comedy about Twins, Texas and a Big Red Diamond, draws on her experiences as a Texas schoolteacher and as the sister of identical twin brothers.She has degrees in French literature from Louisiana State University and the University of Iowa. She writes on a variety of topics for adults and children in magazines and in her local newspaper.

She presently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband who writes very good poetry.

To connect with Susan you can find her on Twitter or check out her Blog.

Find her book on Goodreads, Amazon, B&N

Guest Post by Kate Fuentes: Through the Eyes...

I am so happy to have Kate Fuentes on My Tower of Books today! She is the author of the Elements Trilogy, a YA Fantasy series. Her debut novel, Elements:The Beginning, was released April 2011. She has followed with Elements:Veil of Darkness, book two, and will release Elements:Kingdom of Aqueous in the spring of 2012.

Her post will offer you a glimpse, a small slice, of what life can be like for a woman that plays many different roles in her own life. Enjoy!



Through the Eyes…

Dawn sends her refreshing beams of light soaring blindingly through the window pane to seek its vengeance on those who defy the morning call. Your body repels the movement and ventures a last stand against the daily ritual by sending spasms of pain jolting through your limbs and popping your joints. You pull the warmth of the covers away from you only to expose the chill waiting anxiously to pounce its victim before you can wash the night away in the comfort of the shower. Sheets of alluring water trickle down your skin to rid you of the hours spent tossing away in a dreadfully dreamless state. A twinge of relief pulls its way out of the chasms of darkness and surfaces for a moment before the shrill of small voices shatter the blissful atmosphere. Children bellow loudly, asking where their shoes are and what the plan shall be for breakfast. A small eruption of emotions commandeer the kids and a tiny fight breaks out over who shall get the last applesauce for afternoon lunches.

Time has played a cruel trick and you no longer have but five minutes to ready yourself for the day. The world will have to see you as intended, a haphazard shell of a woman reporting for duty. After the family taxi and chauffer, a.k.a. mom, has delivered the children safely to school, she drives calmly and quietly to work only taking a moment in the parking lot to appreciate the quietness of the car. AAAAHHHHH…

Clock in for work, sit down in front of the computer and hope the two of you are on pleasant terms. Pray the electronic device has pity on you and doesn’t crash. Answer the clanging phone, scour the list of ‘things to get done’, watch the clock slowly tick down the minutes until lunch, quickly fill your body with nourishment, count down remaining hours until 5pm.

Jump in the car and dread the onslaught of traffic waiting to swallow you into the abysmal lines of smog and lights. You clench your jaw and create a massive headache with a slight ringing in your ear and hope you remembered to take out a meat product of some sort for your famished brood awaiting your arrival. Open the door to the clicking of eight legs of excited canines rushing to greet you and snag your leggings with no hope of repair. Another five dollar investment down the tubes. Note to self: go to store, buy more leggings! You hear the rush of wind coming toward your face and duck at the last moment. The blur of a football and the grunt of the receiver standing inches away alerts your mind you are indeed home. The sight of your body passing through the game of toss-back now attracts the attention of the two starving boys and they can no longer hold back their cries of hunger. Dinner is the number one item on the agenda. Slip off your gorgeous platform heels and place them out of danger from the slobbering teething puppy.

Halfway through food preparation, kiss your spouse wandering in from work and continue the dinner service. Eat, talk about our day, clean up dinner, assist with homework, bellow out orders for showers and bedtime. Prayers, kiss the kids and turn off all the lingering lights left on inside the house…everywhere. An hour or two of adult time passes then the whisper begins to tickle your ear and call you like a tempting siren. Words fill your tired mind and beckon to be released in a fury. Your fingers twitch in anticipation, your stomach convulses in excitement. The story is captive inside your head and must be unshackled or risk being lost forever. Time is again your enemy, but now it passes by quickly only to reveal the blaring clock saying 2:30am. It felt like sheer moments had passed by instead of four hours. Adrenaline has been tapped out and your body gives in. The cycle must begin again and you must relinquish your control to the sanctum of sleep. Goodnight sweet story, until we can meet again.

The remnants of a wife, mother, worker, writer….

By Kate Fuentes, author of Elements, a young adult fantasy series
http://www.katefuentes.com/
http://twitter.com/fuentes_kate1
http://www.facebook.com/elements.series

Guest Post: Are Zombies The New Vampires?

Are Zombies The New Vampires? A Guest Post by Rusty Fischer, author of Vamplayers and Zombies Don’t Cry

I recently attended a horror convention where I was on an author panel called “How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse.” Now, I was on several other author panels that weekend – how to write for YA, writing supernatural for YA, etc. – and there were a dozen or two people in each one. Not bad, but the zombie apocalypse panel? HUGE. I mean, standing room only, hanging out in the halls just to catch a word huge.

Probably 100 or more people crammed into one of those little hotel conference rooms. It was a great experience, sharing the panel with some bonafide zombie experts and a real live – sorry, living dead – zombie! But I couldn’t help feeling a *little* like an imposter.

I mean, these were hardcore zombie fans; some were even wearing makeup and all were out for blood, if you know what I mean. I couldn’t help but feel that if any of them actually got their hands on a copy of Zombies Don’t Cry, well, forget the zombies – they’d be tearing me limb from limb!

It made me think how far zombies had come from the day, two years earlier, when I’d consciously chosen to sit down and write a zombie story. Back then, of course, zombies weren’t the hottest ticket in town – it was vampires.

In fact, the whole reason I decided to write about zombies in the first place was because they were the literary underdogs at the time. Back then you pretty much had Stacey Jay, Amanda Ashby and the Generation Dead series; period. E. Van Lowe’s Never Slow Dance With a Zombie was brand new when I first sat down to write Zombies Don’t Cry. And now look at us. You literally can’t turn around these days without hitting a new zombie YA release.

Don’t get me wrong; I love it because you’re seeing all these new and exciting variations on the zombie themes, like the great things Jonathan Mayberry is doing with Rot & Ruin and exciting things happening like Warm Bodies being made into a movie.

But I’m wondering how long it’s going to be before the same folks who said “no more vampires” a few years ago are going to say “no more zombies”! So I have to ask… are zombies the new vampires?

It’s funny because if you have the word “zombies” in your title, all different kinds of people are going to read it. (You know, if you’re lucky and all that!) And some of them will be open and curious to read a new take on zombies, and others will want their hardcore zombie fix of blood and guts and BBBBRRRRAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!!!!

Maybe that’s true of all genres, though. When I read a new vampire book, I’m generally looking for some twist on the genre, something unique and original, like Fat Vampire or The Reformed Vampire Support Group. But I’m sure there are many, many more folks who are looking for straight up love triangle, suck your neck, garlic and stake vampires as well.

But lots of folks, if you don’t write “their” type of zombie; look out – bad reviews a’ comin’. But I don’t think zombies are going anywhere soon. For one, there’s a lot of mythology and world-building left to do. Vampires have been around, it seems, forever. But zombies are fairly recent phenomenon and I think folks are enjoying the world building a lot – both writers and readers. And Hollywood seems downright obsessed with zombies, so that’s a good thing if they keep making good movies like Zombieland, and I have high hopes for World War Z.

Either way, I think I’m Team Zombie on this one. I can’t hate on vampires, though. I’ve got a few more vampire books in the pipeline, and I enjoyed writing them very, very much. It’s fun to work within the old lore and still try to do something new. But there’s something about zombies that keeps me coming back for more. I guess because, no matter how popular they’ve become, there’s still a lot of catching up to do if they want to be as popular, or even “cool,” as their vampire brothers and sisters.

So I guess, even though it may not seem like it at times, zombies are still the supernatural underdogs. And I’m always on the underdog’s side! How about you?

Yours in YA,

Rusty

About the author: Rusty Fischer is the author of several YA supernatural novels, including Zombies Don’t Cry, Ushers, Inc., Vamplayers, I Heart Zombie and Panty Raid @ Zombie High. Visit his blog, www.zombiesdontblog.blogspot.com, for news, reviews, cover leaks, writing and publishing advice, book excerpts and more!

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Thanks from My Tower of Books to Rusty Fischer for the time and effort put into this post. Very interesting stuff :-D