Carolina warns not to be fooled by the photo. "Even if you walk most of the race, you want to be sure to break into a run for the camera." Although most of her running days have morphed into walking days, she's completed over a hundred distance races - six of them marathons. Her short story about a murder on the streets she's actually competed on, in the Los Angeles Marathon, appears in a Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles anthology.
After a varied career as a registered nurse while winning awards and making sales writing freelance, she decided to retire to finish her first novel. Now she writes about searing passions and the sweetly explosive ecstasies of love.
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WHITE SHADOWS IN DARKNESS - An two story anthology from Carolina Valdez
When twilight deepens into nightfall, white shadows appear in the darkness - shadows created by strong men on whom nature has played a cruel trick. Each man reaches for acceptance and love despite the secret of the physical change he must endure when the moon is full and the world is dark.Previously available only in electronic format, these best-selling novellas of Gay Erotic Romance have now been combined for a paperback edition! Included are the tales...
TWILIGHT
Life is perfect for Cade "Lakota" Montana. Barely into his twenties, he escaped the poverty, illness and drunkenness prevalent on the Montana reservation where he was raised when he agreed to manage an uncle's small spread in Wyoming. His relationship with Dr. Lee Donaldson, his lover, and the ranch's new veterinarian, is secure, and now Cade's proven even wild horses can be broken without pain to carry saddle and rider. A recognized horse whisperer, he's excited about his plans to teach his methods to others.
Into this good life, an inherited quirk in his Lakota Native DNA brings an inescapable horror that forever changes who and what he is. The penalty for revealing the secret of this new shift in his nature to anyone, even to Lee, is death, so Cade ends their affair with sudden, permanent abruptness.
Lee, confused and stunned by Cade's unexplained rejection and refusal to talk to or see him after the split, comes to terms with the end of their relationship by planning to sell his practice and move away.
If there is a solution for staying together, will either man be able to find it?
INHABITING THE NIGHT
LAPD Detective Trent Edwards rents a house in a mountain community near the only reported sighting of his brother, who's disappeared without a trace. Martin Longhouse, who owns the local fitness center, takes Trent under his wing and introduces him to townspeople who might have seen his missing sibling. Soon, the lust that flares between the two men settles into something deeper.
But Trent doesn't know Martin has a secret, nor does he know exactly who lives in Little Grizzly Lake. Or who, and what, inhabits the woods at night.
When the secrets unravel, Trent discovers his rational cop's mind has a choice - let go of his love for Martin, or open himself up to other realities, other possibilities for his life...
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WIN - Leave a question for Carolina Valdez today at her Cyber Launch Party and your name goes in tha hat for ebook of TIE 'EM UP, HOLD 'EM DOWN! Please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are today's winner - Good Luck!
And head over to http://www.authorisland.com/ and check out the Contest page to see how you can win the BEAUTIFUL black and white necklace Carolina has up for grabs there!
Good Morning Carolina!!! And super congrats on another fantastic print anthology!
ReplyDeleteThis one contains two of your bestselling gay shifter romances. Are the books connected in anyother way?
For those who love shifter stories, do you have or plan to bring us more shifter romances?
Best of luck with the new paperback release and hope you have a fantastic time at your party today!
Hi DeNita:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments and the chance to share my book with readers.
First, let me say I misled you on the ebook I'm offering. It will be TIE 'EM UP, HOLD 'EM DOWN, my 2009 Passionate Plume finalist instead of one of the novellas in this paperback. This year's contest has just opened, and I encourage anyone who has a manuscript ready to enter.
The stories in WHITE SHADOWS IN DARKNESS are connected only by what the heroes become when forced to shift...the snow leopard and the white Bengal tiger...two absolutely beautiful and rare animals.
I love cats. All kinds of cats. I'm fascinated by how you can observe a domestic kitty and see the same movements and behaviors you see in the wild "big" cats.
My editor and some fans have encouraged me to write a sequel to INHABITING THE NIGHT. I'm thinking about it, but for now I'm writing a gay masquerade ball story for Amber Quill. I've just handed in a sequel to my vampire story, NIGHT TRAIN TO NAPLES.
Looking forward to your questions.
Carolina
Oh I love shifter stories and so glad to hear they are different types of shifters instead of wolves.
ReplyDeleteWhat made you think of these types of shifters? Your love of cats?
Btw, I've checked out the contest you have for the necklace and it's beautiful, I just enter and fingers are crossed!
I'll be putting the ebooks of both these books on my to buy list. I read most all books on the Kindle my hub bought me last year for Christmas.
Hi, Laurie:
ReplyDeleteYes, shifter stories can be fun! And a writer has the freedom to choose any kind of shape she wishes for her characters. My love of cats led me to study the big cats in the wild. There I learned of the white snow leopard and white Bengal tigers.
White tigers are not albinos. Their DNA dictates their white coats, blue eyes and pink noses.
Buy the (Mobi)PRC format at Amber Quill Press for your Kindle. Kindle owns Mobipocket. I have a Kindle 1 and love it.
Best of luck on the contest and have a great day!
Carolina
Hi Carolina, happy release day. I love shifter stories. But I've read only the werewolves ones so far so it would be interesting to read these ones.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDear Nas Dean:
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how different publishers use the were prefix and spell shapeshifter. Werewolves were the first shifters written, I guess. They seem to own were and animal as one word. If it's not a werewolf, you may see a hyphen between were and the other word - i.e. were-tiger. You may see a hyphen between shape-shifter or a complete separation into two words.
It could drive an author crazy in the desire to be correct. You trust your editor to keep you in line with your publisher's preference.
One of the challenges for a writer is to figure out what to do with a human's thoughts when he/she is in animal form.
Happy holidays!
Carolina
Congratulations on your print release. I love anthologies and shifter stories.
ReplyDeleteYour stories take place in different locals and the characters have a variety of occupations and backgrounds. Where do you get your ideas?
acm05atjuno.com
Hi Carolina. Congrats on the release! I have read Inhabiting the Night in ebook & really enjoyed it. I haven't read Twilight yet, I will have to grab a copy on Sunday when I am grabbing some other books that cone out then. Was already planning in getting Night Train to Naples so I could be ready for the sequel.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your favorite book that you have written?
Brandi
Scssugar(at)yahoo(dot)com
Congratulations to your release.
ReplyDeleteI like single author anthologies, so I don't have to buy an anthology knowing, that I only want to read one or two of the authors.
Hi, Carolina.
ReplyDeleteI love your book covers. Do you work with one particular artist? How long does it take to create a cover.
Thanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
Hello, Anne:
ReplyDeleteFirst, I should finish my answer to DeNita, who wanted to know what connection these two stories had. I asked the publisher to combine them in paperback because Cade's shifting begins at twilight and Martin shifts at night. So, the time of day for changing their form also gave them a connection.
I suppose asking an author where they get their ideas is like asking a jazz musician where she/he gets improvisation ideas. They come out of their heads while they're performing.
But, here goes. I decided to write weres. I'd had shifters in my M/F stories "Sweet Chocolate Ecstasy" and "Tears Of The Dragon." Because this time it was about weres, I needed to choose animals. There's a lot of lore about shifters in Native American cultures,so Cade and Martin became NAs. I've watched horse whisperer Monty Roberts work, and I wanted to include horses and ranches. I knew about the mustang auction, and that seemed interesting.
Things just went from there.
Carolina
For Brandi:
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed Inhabiting The Night. I like Inhabiting The Night very much. Readers, and my editor, have asked for a sequel. Maybe I will. I absolutely loved writing about vampire Alexandros Nicolaides and his Italian lover, Dante Rocco. I immediately informed my editor I would tackle a sequel because their story wasn't finished. She applauded that decision. Now I'm working on a third book, Night Train to Venice, due for release next year. Fans who've read the first book tell me they're waiting for its sequel.
Carolina
Hi Uteh:
ReplyDeleteI know. I think it's nice, too.
Carolina Valdez
Booklover0226:
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the Amber Quill Press covers. Award winning cover artist Trace Edward Zaber, one of the owners, designs all of them. I have no idea how long it takes this remarkable man to design one.
Cover designers are professionals who have their own ideas, and Trace often comes up with something totally different from what I'd pictured in my head.
Fact is, I'm a word person, not an artist. Trace is both, but I'm just a wordsmith and grateful for his creative skill.
HI CARO! CONGRATS, I SURE WANNA READ THIS BADLY!
ReplyDeleteIN CASE I DON'T WIN, WHERE DO I BUY IT?
ReplyDeleteI love the m/m genre and love the wild sound of this story. Having it be a shifter story is an added benefit. Happy Release Day/Week/Month!
ReplyDeletejoderjo402 AT gmail DOT com
Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteThis gives me an opportunity to ask a question that has been on my mind since I went from writing strictly m/m erotica to m/m romances. I've noticed how many successful authors of m/m romances are women. In my one attempt to write a paranormal gay romance, my main character, as he was coming out, was also discovering his Powers. when he comes out to his girlfriend, she convinces him to have sex 'one last time', and he finds himself experiencing HER body sensations as well as his own enjoyment of their sex.
A good concept; my problem was describing what sex felt like for a woman, being a man. (I think I did a decent job of it, and I didn't attempt to go into details)
How do you women writers get he details of gay male sex AND sexuality (the emotional part) down so well???
I know that Patricia Nell Warren went to see a lot of gay porn when preparing to wrote "The Front Runner" (I heard her speak about it when the book was a bestseller, and the story was hysterical).
How do YOU do it?
Hi Ike:
ReplyDeleteI never read porn. I shy away from reading gay writers of gay romance because I want my voice to be mine. When I do read something by an Amber Quill gay man, I find his description of the act and the feelings is about the same as mine are.
My first introduction to gay sex practices was as a student nurse on a psychiatric unit. It was a unique setting, one of the top psych hospitals in the nation. Diagnoses selected for the nursing units were chosen to teach the psychiatrists. The ratio of patients to nurses was 2:1...a rare treat. Most of the men on my unit were gay, and I read about sex practices in their charts. Later, I taught an erotic romance class and did more research on the biology and emotion of sexual response.
Many women authors are married, so we know something about men. We often ask our husbands what it's like for them.
As an aside, readers seem to be split into two groups when buying gay romance...some will not buy a story with a female in it. So, what I'm saying is those are two different markets. There's m/m or m/m/m (whatever number) and there's m/m/f. Amberquill has learned not to mix the two markets in an because you're killing both the all-male and the menage markets. anthology mixing.
Good question! You may get a different answer from another author.
Carolina
I meant to say that mixing m/m and m/m/f stories in the same anthology will kill both markets for your book.
ReplyDeleteCarolina
Ms. Valdez, first of all, Congratulations on the paperback release of a book that happens to be in my FAVORITE genre. Awesome job. Second, I have a couple of questions.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: I read in one of your posts on here that you taught a class on erotic romance. I didn't even know they had those! Are classes like that only for fellow authors, or for readers too?
Question 2: I read the Blurb for your book "White Shadows In Darkness", and i noticed that a common theme in both stories was one man having to give up the one they love because of a secret. Is that a common theme in all of your books, or just these two stories?
Congratulations on your print release. I love shifter books and have all different kinds of them. Do you plan on writing more shifters books and do you plan on writing about a different kind of shifter? What is your favorite genre to read and to write?
ReplyDeletesstrode@scrtc.com
Hi Zuradia:
ReplyDeleteLyndi Lamont, also an Amber Quill Press author who writes erotic romance, and I taught the class together through the Yosemite Romance Writers chapter. We don't plan to do it again. It was open to anyone who paid the fee.
I can highly recommend Angela Knight's book on writing erotic romance to you. It's a great reference and easy reading. You can find it on Amazon. com/books. Just put her name in the Search box and every book she has there will pop up.
Carolina
Hi Sherry:
ReplyDeleteThe only shifter book I'd write anytime soon would be a sequel to Inhabiting The Night. I just handed in a gay contemporary reunion story to my editor, and I just finished the edits for my January release, Night Train To New Orleans. I've begun a masked ball story due in January and am committed to writing another story due in March.
So I am busy!
I read so many things and enjoy the works of so many authors in the mystery/suspense/thriller/humor/erotic romance genres that I can't say I have a favorite. I love to read. Period. Most writers do. I'm not only a member of RWA but also of Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles.
As for a common theme re secrets in my stories, hmm. Have to think about that. It's not true in my Night Train series or my February release, In From The Cold. Perhaps it'll show up again in my masked ball novella. We'll see.
Thanks to everyone for such wonderful questions and dialogue.
Carolina