Friday, April 29, 2011

Desert Breeze Publishing Birthday Bash


Welcome to the Desert Breeze Publishing Birthday Bash Tour. Tomorrow the tour ends at the Desert Breeze blog. On May 1st, Stephanie Burkhart will pick the lucky winner of a GC from Amazon.

My giveaway as a part of the tour is a copy of one of my books from the Kingdom of Arnhem series - Woman of Honor, Knight of Glory, or Champion of Valor. All you need to do to win is to make a comment on the blog today. I’ll pick a winner tomorrow.

Why I Love Desert Breeze Publishing

I first learned about Desert Breeze through a publisher chat on a yahoo group. As the chat was winding down, Gail Delaney (the EIC) mentioned that she loved series, especially for fantasy and a few other genres. I mentioned to her that I had an unfinished manuscript that would be part of a series and briefly described it to her. She said to send it to her when it was finished.

The story I had mentioned was a Nano story (National Novel Writing Month when authors around the world try to write a 50K in November). I abanonded all other side projects and focused on the novel until I completed it. After finishing it, I submitted to Gail and waited. Shortly thereafter, she emailed me an acceptance for Woman of Honor.

Desert Breeze is a non-erotic romance publisher, which is perfect for me. My novels tend to have crossover appeal. Woman of Honor is a coming-of-age fantasy romance, so it's definitely for YA and adults.

Anyhow, I had mentioned to Gail about the series during the yahoo chat, and we worked together to figure out the direction that the series could take so that the entire series was fantasy romance, each book centering on a different couple.

Woman of Honor is the tale of young Aislinn, a girl who wants to become a knight and finds love along the way.

Knight of Glory is about Geoffrey as he travels across the continent to find allies for Arnhem, while he tries to decide between two very different, mysterious ladies.

Champion of Valor focuses on Selliki the selkie and Gabrael the mage amidst the finals battles between Arnhem and Speica.

I am so happy to be with Desert Breeze the past two years. My covers are gorgeous - Jenifer Ranieri is masterful. My favorite cover of the three is Champion of Valor. The contrast of the dark clouds with the glimmer of light - and the awesome castle - pure genius.

I already mentioned Champion of Valor. It releases May 1st, and I'm so excited for its release! I'm organizing a huge blog tour for it, and I hope you join me. At the end of the tour, I'm going to give away a copy of the entire series to one lucky winner, as well as small prizes at each stop. I'll post more about the blog tour tomorrow.

Champion of Valor blurb:

The Mystical Conch Shell of the Sea has been stolen, and it's up to Selliki, the selkie, to get it back. Selliki sets across the continent of Alethereia to find Arnhem, and Gabrael, the mage she loves. Selliki knows that no union between a selkie and a human have ever had a happy ending, but neither can ignore their feelings. Each night, they experience terrible, real dreams that show how doomed their love is.

The final war between Speica and Arnhem is threatening the entire world. Lucifer has aligned himself with Speica and wants nothing less than to bring about the Apocalypse before its time. In the last battle, cowardice is revealed, promises are broken, and many people die. Trolls fight icthyocentaurs, dwarves armed up against the Drow, angels against demons. Only one kingdom will prevail; that is, if the world doesn't end.

9 comments:

Charity Bradford said...

Yay, I'm the first! Or maybe the second if someone hits publish before me. LOL, it's going to be an odd day.

Charity Bradford said...

Ok, I'm back to agree that your covers are amazing. It is one of the first things I noticed about your series.

I also love that this started as a Nano project since mine did as well. There's hope! Thanks for that. It also sounds like your publisher is great. I'm adding them to my list for when the time comes.

Thanks for sharing all of this!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Looking forward to hosting you next Wednesday!

Talli Roland said...

Can't wait to have you on my blog!

Barbara Scott said...

It's hard to believe this Birthday Bash Tour is nearly at an end. Happy to read your story, Nicole, as we were both there at the start.

Diane Craver said...

Hi Nicole,
I loved Woman of Honor! I'm so glad Gail gave you a contract for your wonderful series! Woman of Honor is one of my favorite books I've read. Also you were so helpful when I first became a DBP author - I'll always remember how sweet you were when I asked you questions.

Happy Birthday to Desert Breeze!!!!

Toni Noel said...

What a fun-sounding series. I'm just beginning to read fantasy and look forward to reading all of these.

Toni Noel

B. J. Robinson said...

I think it's super that you were able to write a novel in the month contest and publish it. Congrats. BJ

N4M3L3SS said...

+1 from blog hop cool blog