UPDATE: The winners are…BN and Dana Zamora! *~*~* “Mayday” by Cindy Tanner – A miscommunication isn’t the end of the world—unless it is the end of the world—and your “ride or die” might just be undead. It’s me, hi, I’m the zombie story author. If you asked me why zombies? I would say, why not? But if you asked me on a deeper level, I would say years ago, when I read the Flesh Series by Kylie Scott, I fell in love. I…
UPDATE: The winner is…Mary McCoy! *~*~* “Most Wanted” by Darah Lace – A bounty on the line, a hunter who bedded then betrayed her, and a strip club—she’ll bare it all to get her man. Most of the time, ideas for my books come from current events, love songs, or movies/shows like Bounty Hunter with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Anniston. I think about what would happen if circumstances were different, what if this happened instead of that, and my imagination takes over….
UPDATE: The winner is…Colleen C! *~*~* “Secret Garden” by A.J. Harris — Hired by werewolf matriarchs to track down a bad-boy photographer, a private investigator discovers a deep connection with her past—and a secret garden of unspoken, sensual pleasures “The mask is me, but not me.” Just a few days ago, I saw a brilliant lecture/performance on crossing borders and Italian commedia dell’arte. One of the performers put on a mask and literally transformed themselves. They embodied this big, exuberant character—a man…
UPDATE: The winner is…Melissa Metz! *~*~* “Sex, Spies, and Subterfuge” by Elle James – Scottish UK SAS Agent on an undercover weekend assignment tangles with a beautiful Russian seductress and potential assassin. My inspiration for “Sex, Spies, and Subterfuge” was this dance scene in the movie True Lies. I wanted to write a prequel to my book, Belgium Betrayal, coming out in September. My protagonists are spies from opposing countries who are attracted to each other, trying to fight that attraction while doing…
UPDATE: The winner is…Jennifer Beyer! *~*~* “Thought You Were the One” by Gabbi Grey – He’s in for a surprise twist when he seeks a second chance to win the attention of his handsome, unrequited, high school crush. I completed my first novel in 2012. The high angst, mid-heat, contemporary small-town romance story is the book of my heart…but I couldn’t find a publisher. I did what mentors recommended—I wrote the next book. And the next. By 2016, I had 19 completed or…
UPDATE: The winner is…flchen! *~*~* “Baby, Take My Hand” by M. Jayne – After surviving a bullet to the brain, a detective hunting a serial killer is drawn to a mysterious man. A woman, alone, in a dark, desolate space, unsure and afraid. This photo is representative of “Baby, Take My Hand” in multiple ways. The most obvious is that the opening scene takes place in an alley with a female murder victim. Plus, the photo speaks to where Liz Barlow…
UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallens! *~*~* “Masquerade” by Brent Archer – After accepting an invitation to a masquerade, a coffeeshop owner finds himself on the run from a mafia hitman with a handsome harlequin. In the late 1980’s, I watched Public Television with my grandmother on Friday nights. The station aired out of Calgary, Alberta, so it played British comedies (Butterflies and Allo Allo were our favorites!). After the comedy would come Doctor Who. If I had a theater show or…
“In the Dark” by Reina Torres – During a blackout, an undercover NSA agent falls hard and fast for the military guy living across the hall with secrets of his own. When the call came out for stories about Secret Identities, I had a few ideas and started them, and they petered out, leaving me worried that I just didn’t have a story for the anthology in me. I can also be dogged when it comes to things, and that’s when…
UPDATE: The winner is…Mary Preston! *~*~* “Matsuri” by D.S. Dehel – An American woman searching in Japan for the man haunting her dreams is chased by a wily kitsune into a magical place where she meets a samurai warrior One of the rare times I did a mood board for a project, I stumbled across this image and was struck deeply by what is to me a paradox: I adore fall, but there’s a melancholy atmosphere to this image, a feeling…
UPDATE: The winner is…flchen! *~*~* “Perfect Stranger” by N. J. Walters – An undercover DEA agent must keep his identity secret from the woman he’s falling for, a woman he’s also investigating. When I started thinking about writing this story, the first image I had was of a man who resembled a modern-day Viking standing outside the diner where he’s working as a short-order cook as part of a DEA undercover operation. He’s investigating everyone who works at the diner, including the waitress…