But What Happened Before . . . . Writing the Prequel

When we started writing the novella, I did a little research on blogs to see people’s opinions of the prequel, and novellas in general. What’s the main thing I discovered? That readers have a love/hate relationship with the novella/prequel. There are those readers out there who hate the prequel story because it’s not a complete story. Others who love prequels but hate that it’s billed as a novella when it’s an introduction to what’s already happened. Still others don’t care what it’s called as long as they can get their hands or e-reader on it.

What is the difference between a novella and a prequel? From what I’ve read, the novella is a short, complete story that provides the happily-ever-after that readers love. While the prequel is more of a teaser of the series that it’s related to, that’s designed to make the reader want more of the series. I must admit, this confused me a little. You see, I thought that all novellas, or prequels in novella form, or even prequels in full-length book form, were supposed to make the reader want more or to give them more of the series they've fallen in love with.

So, that brings me to Before The Fall. Is it a prequel or a novella?

First, the teaser:

Zach was once the Order of Ancients' most feared warrior, beating back the hounds of hell to protect the unsuspecting human race. But since he left the Order ten years ago, he'd been living as a mortal...until now. The gates of the underworld are breaking open, and Zach is needed once again in the fight. But before he can answer his summons, there's one person he refuses to leave behind. Shanna may think Zach has a screw loose, spouting all this "hounds of hell" nonsense, but he has to get her to safety. The journey to the Order's headquarters is a dangerous one, and even a warrior like Zach might not be strong enough to keep the darkness at bay.

Novella or Prequel?

Well, if you follow the definitions, it’s a prequel because the story comes before Ascension, the first in the Dark Breed Novels. However, it also gives you a happily-ever-after ending—at least where Zach and Shanna are concerned—so that makes it a novella, right? I don’t know, but I believe if you go by our definition—a story that makes you want more of a series you’ve fallen in love with—you’ll find Before The Fall everything you’re looking for no matter what you call it.

Now, my question to you: Do you call it a prequel or novella or even care as long as you don't have to wait too long for the chance to read it? One lucky commenter will win a signed cover flat of our December release, Bedeviled, book 2 in the Dark Breed Novels.

A Devil Named Desire - Cover Reveal, Excerpt and Giveaway!

Congratulations to LadyVampire2u, Srshmitz, and Just.Val1974, who won a signed copy of DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE! Ladies, you should've received an email from me already, but if not, please contact me at TerriGarey@gmail.com with your mailing address to receive your book. Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment!

From the back cover:

Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest...

...and no one knows that better than Sammy Divine.  Once an angel, now cast down, Sammy's out to prove he's not the only angel who can be led into temptation...

Hope Henderson's sister has disappeared without a trace, and Hope will do anything to find her--even make a deal with the Devil.  An ancient text holds the key to unspeakable power, and it's the Archangel Gabriel's job to make sure it stays hidden, even if he has to become mortal to do it.  Lives, love, and the fate of the world hang in the balance, as Hope and Gabriel learn that when passion's involved, desire can be a devil that's impossible to control.

Whaddya think of those abs, or those pants?  ;-p

This is Book #2 in the Devil's Bargain series, and will be in bookstores January 31, 2012.  (It's available for pre-order already--e-book or paper--at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.) A continuation of Sammy Divine's complicated and sometimes surprising search for redemption, this is also the story of his oldest friend, the Archangel Gabriel, who you may remember from Book #1, DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE.

Take a peek and see what kind of trouble the world's original bad boy has stirred up this time:

"I'd really like to kiss you."

And then she did, and Gabe's universe expanded to include the sensation of soft lips on his own, the exchange of warm breath, and a throb in his lower belly that was near pleasure/pain.  He had no idea why he let her do it except that she seemed so precious and fragile, so vulnerable, as though she offered him her loneliness and her sorrows along with her body.

Heaven help him, he could not help but drink them in.

Closer she moved, and closer still, until her breasts were against his chest, and it was this that broke the spell; the desire to put his arms around her and drag her even closer came over him like a wave, and with it came the knowledge that if he let it, he would drown.

Abruptly, he jerked his head back, ending the kiss.  "Stop," he whispered, looking into her eyes.  "You must stop."

Hmm... I wonder if she stopped?  ;)  I suppose the answer to that question will remain a mystery until January, but in the meantime, you can learn all about Gabriel's complicated relationship with his one-time brother Samael the Fallen by winning and reading Book#1, DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE !

I'm giving away THREE autographed copies of DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE today, complete with matching bookmarks, to three lucky people who retweet the following tweet, and/or leave me a comment here on the blog.  If you're on Twitter, just cut and paste this tweet into your Twitter feed:

The Devil made @TerriGarey do it! Go to http://bit.ly/bH1kfo for a devilishly delicious book excerpt + giveaway! Please RT!

If you DON'T tweet, that's okay, too - just leave a blog comment, and you're still entered!  All comments, and all tweets, will be included in the drawing, which I'll hold tomorrow (September 15th) at 7pm EST.

Good luck to you all, and hope you enjoyed the excerpt!

Crazy Dreams

THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR DREAMS WITH ME! THEY WERE SO INTERESTING. I USED A RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR TO PICK THE THREE WINNERS OF A COPY OF HUNGER UNTAMED. PLEASE EMAIL ME AT PAMELA@PAMELAPALMER.NET.

AMY PLUM

STEPHANIE

CHELSEA B.

I'm a dreamer. Most novelists are, I suppose, but the kind of dreaming I'm talking about here are night dreams, the ones we can't control. I know there have been a lot of books written about dreams and how to interpret them, but I'm not sure how much I buy the psychology behind dreams. Sometimes I think my brain just needs to play.

I have multiple dreams every night, most of which I remember upon waking. And I even start to dream before I'm fully asleep these days. In fact, that's how I know I'm close to falling asleep--I start to see dream people or scenes. Just little snippets.

My reason for writing this blog, though, is to know more about your dreams. I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours, as it were.

One of the weirdest things about my dreams, to me at least, is that every single time I dream I'm in my house (which is fairly often), it's nothing like my house, or like any other house I've ever dreamed about. The setting is different, the layout, the decor. Sometimes it's much larger than my real house, sometimes far smaller. I'm beginning to think I have a frustrated architect lurking in my subconscious. Why does my mind keep creating new houses? It doesn't make any sense to me, not when I've lived in this one for thirteen years and I both live and work here. You'd think that just once I'd dream my real house. But no. Never. It's always some place I've never seen.

The actual dreams themselves are sometimes the usual 'I need to be somewhere and can't seem to get there' dreams. But more often than not, they're crazy. And in a weird way, fun.

Two nights ago, I dreamed I was in a group getting ready to run a race. A marathon-type road race, I think. My mom was standing beside me in lime green high heels and I was in flip flops, thinking we hadn't prepared for this very well. The race was indoors, but not on any kind of straight track. The track was dirt and quickly disappeared from sight after the first length which was at a solid forty-five degree angle to the ground. And, okay, climbing a forty-five degree angle dirt incline with no hand holds would have been tough, if not downright impossible, but this was my dream. Just as the race began and my mother went zipping up that incline in her lime green high heels, all these rats and mice started pouring down the path as if looking for an escape. My mom's terrified of mice, so I was glad she hadn't seen them, but it occurred to me that animals escaping like that probably meant we were about to experience a natural disaster, probably another earthquake. I shrugged, decided I could run pretty fast, and headed after Mom.

In last night's dream, I was in a house with several others. We'd realized, too late, that the aliens/monsters were in there, but there was no escape. Our only chance of survival was to lie down amongst the bodies littering the floor, pretend we were dead, and hope they couldn't tell that we weren't. I remember thinking that most of the bodies were lying on their backs, but there was no way I could fake it like that, so I laid down on my stomach, partially hiding my face. After awhile, my DH, who had followed the monsters out, came back to tell us they were gone. Now, this should have been a nightmare, but I don't see dreams in detail, not full detail, at least. I see snippets and my brain fills in the rest. I never saw the dead bodies except out of the corner of my eye, and then only a hand or face here and there, and no blood. I remember thinking I was breathing too hard. The monsters would know I wasn't dead. But my heart wasn't racing. I wasn't really afraid. It wasn't real enough to scare me, just real enough to be kind of exciting.

I have these kinds of dreams all the time. The latter, especially, I call my action/adventure dreams and I love them.

Oh, and another thing. Sometimes, in my dreams, I'm one of the teenagers. Sometimes one of the adults. And it can flip in the same dream.

What about you? What I really want to know is, do you create new architecture with every dream, like I do? Do you dream you're a teen (if you're not any longer)? Tell me anything about your dreams (even that you don't remember them) and I'll choose three posters to get a signed copy of Hunger Untamed.

Happy dreaming!

Remember

Ten years later, and I still can't bring myself to watch/read/write/talk about 9/11.

I prefer to remember in silence.

Oh the Memories...

It's nearly mid September and by now all the kiddies are back in school. Let's be honest moms and dads.....feels pretty damn good doesn't it? To have some routine and maybe a clean house for longer than twenty minutes? If you are like me it's a 'hell yes' moment that's bittersweet. My oldest is in Highschool and the youngest grade 7, so they're not little babies anymore. They're growing older and having a lot of firsts in the next few years.....got me to thinking about my firsts!

So, I thought it would be fun to share a bunch of firsts and I'm hoping you all will too....great way for me to get to know our readers!

1. FIRST KISS....mine was in grade six and when I kissed George Dailey out behind the bleachers at the arena. It was wet and sloppy and I broke up with him the next day.

2.FIRST CRUSH/REAL PERSON...mine was a boy, Dave, who I crushed huge on for years. Years people...he was my obsession. When we finally dated however I was into dudes with long hair so it didn't pan out, but man, how intense were those feelings?

3.FIRST CRUSH/CELEBRITY....I had a few and this will show my age...but David Cassidy....I mean hello! And Leif Garrett.....








On a side note, Leif played boyfriend to Kristy McNicol on the television show Family and I had a big girl crush on her!

4.FIRST SLOW DANCE WITH A BOY....was at a family function. I remember wearing a white dress and one of my older brother's friends asked me to dance...he was cute...I was excited...but as we danced all I could think was...he smelled like cows and barns....oy

5.FIRST DATE....I was 14 and my parents allowed me to go on a car date...14 people....that won't be happening with mini me. Nope.

6.FIRST FAVE BAND....Styx...I loved everything about them...their music, they're concepts...the songs...and I especially loved Tommy Shaw. Boat on the River is still one of my all time favorite songs.

7.FIRST LIVE CONCERT....I have a great one...Prince and the Revolution on the Purple Rain tour. I saw them in Toronto 2 nights in a row and to this day it is probably the best concert I've ever seen. Prince rocks in so many ways.

8.FIRST ROMANCE READ....This Calder Sky by Janet Dailey. Loved all those books.

9.FIRST CELEBRITY FREAK OUT....um, standing beside Jon Bon Jovi in a toronto club while Skid Row was performing and well, freaking out when I realized he and Ritchie were there....right beside me....I screamed, and jumped around and started a near riot....LOL

10.FIRST BOOK SALE....I sold His Darkest Hunger 3 years ago on September 11.

So, Please share all your firsts with me!!!!!! I'd love to get to know you all better!

Where Addiction Begins

A good book can be the start of a lifelong addiction. After reading Amanda Arista's blog post, I started thinking about what I was reading when I was a kid and whether it lead me to where I am now (which is working on the revisions for the first book in my new series).

I have admit that I don't think I started out reading anything particularly out of the ordinary for my age. I've been an avid reader for as long as I could remember. When I was in elementary school, I read every Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and E.B. White book I could lay my hands on. I read about Fudge, Ramona, and Stuart Little. These books were light and dealt with just the normal everyday things a kid faced such as annoying little brothers, bullies, and tests at school, folded in with the occasional talking animal (because we all wished our pets could talk).

In the fifth grade, I stumbled across a book called My Brother Sam Is Dead, which focuses on a family that was trying to survive the Revolutionary War. It was my first really serious book and I remember reading it a couple times. This seemed to be a turning point for me as the light-hearted books that I read before no longer seemed as appealing.

Fast-forward a couple years to Saturday visits to the library with my father. It was the highlight of every weekend. I would get an enormous stack of books and carry them down to a table on the main floor where I would read while waiting for my dad to make his selections. It wasn't long before I moved to the, then, very small young adult section. It was there that I found Robin McKinley's The Outlaws of Sherwood. I loved the story! I loved the images of Sherwood forest and the heroic tales and struggles of Robin Hood. But something wasn't right. I felt like the story was missing something. So, not long after finishing the story, I started writing my own version of Robin Hood. It was the first book that I finished writing. I still have it packed away somewhere with a few other old dreams. McKinley's Robin Hood was quickly followed by Parke Godwin's Sherwood and Robin and the King.

From Robin Hood, I found myself introduced to both the fantasy and romance genres at the same time by some friends. I think at that point, the die was cast. My fate was sealed. I needed the fantastic, the drama and action, with a nice splash of romance to make all the struggle and pain worthwhile.

So, to Cleary, White, Blume, McKinley, Godwin, and so many authors over the years that have helped to mold (and warp) me, I say thank you. Thank you for feeding my addiction to writing. Thank you for filling my imagination for countless hours at a time. Thank you for my addiction to the written word. Thank you for characters that have made me laugh and cry. Thank you for years of fun.

And now my question of you, what books filled your childhood? Are there any books that you would love to pass down to your kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews?

Origins of an Urban Panther

The dear Karina Cooper was recollecting books that she remembered from childhood on Twitter. I remembered how liberating it felt to start picking out my own books. I have always been drawn the to the weird and strange and the not quite normal. Three stood out for me and explain VOLUMES of why I am so very strange and probably write in the genre that I write.

The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende. According to my mother, I read the book before I saw the movie because it was one of her favorites as well. We have this original edition in red and green that is fully illustrated, which is why I picked it up in the first place. With its fantastical elements and evil emissaries of the Nothing, you’d think that would be all the explanation that I need to explain why I write about big evil black monsters with green eyes.

Coincidence?

Gmork from The Never-Ending Story

Violet from Diaries of an Urban Panther

I think not.

But I think what influenced me more is that it is so very meta. It’s about you reading a book about a kid reading a book about another kid whose having an adventure. Hello Inception. That’s probably the reason why my main character is a horror writer and understands that she is will survive this by using her horror movie skills.

The next series that probably explains a lot is the Blossom Culp series by Richard Peck. I only remember three, but I devoured the books about the girl who could see ghosts and would switch bodies with them. I read them over and over and over. God, I wanted to be a telepath after that. I remember trying to enhance my psychic abilities and I’m pretty sure I checked out a book from the library called You are Psychic just to see if I could be Blossom Culp. It didn’t work but it opened up a section of the library that would be very influential in all the other research I’d need to do about werewolves and fairies later on.

My personal favorite and one that I still buy every kid that I know of even now: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. I LOVED these, mostly because they scared the bejebus out of my little brother as I would read them to him late at night.

What? Mom told me to spend time with my little brother and I did. The short scary stories are nothing spine tingling now, but definitely got me on the path to being a story teller and were a gateway book to Dean Koontz and Bentley Little later on.

After thinking about this, I can understand why I write in this particular genre: my brain seems hardwired for it. These are the stories that I went for instead of the Babysitter's Club.

What did you read as a little kid? Are there suspicious trends that you can see?