March 2024

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Sunday, March 24, 2024

WeWriWa: Sink Your Teeth into Midnight Redeemer on SALE- $0.99!

March 24, 2024


I’m doing double duty over this holiday-filled (and a full moon!!) end of the month by posting on both my Weekend Writing Warriors and Paranormal Romantics blogs with the same Woo Hoo for Woo Woo post for my vampire romance MIDNIGHT REDEEMER, now on SALE for only $0.99 (!) through the end of the month.

I love smart men and women playing dangerous cat and mouse games. But which one is playing which role in this sixth book of my Touched of Midnight series? Scientist Stacy Kimball is looking for a cure for the blood disease that will eventually kill her, as it did her mother. Mysterious philanthropist Louis Redman could provide her funding . . . and the answer to immortality. All she needs is a sample of his rare blood type. What Stacy doesn’t know is they share the same driving interest. He wants her blood, too. Here’s a peek at MIDNIGHT REDEEMER.

Midnight Redeemer (Touched by Midnight Series - Book 6)

Published: May 3, 2011
Length: 196 Pages

Hunt or be hunted . . . A centuries-old obsession stalks a noble family fighting to hide their dark secret from an ever-changing world. Sink your teeth into Nancy Gideon's Touched by Midnight series.

Will his dream . . .
Centuries-old vampire Louis Redman is desperate to believe an inquisitive researcher's claim that she's close to finding a cure for his age-old curse. Determined to become human again, he must trust the lovely geneticist who has pushed her way into his guarded life . . . and heart . . . not to betray him to the government agency that wants to uncover his secrets for their own purposes.

. . . be the death of her?
Scientist Stacy Kimball discovers potential fame and the answer to immortality in a murder victim's blood sample. But as she gets closer to the truth, danger stalks her from the shadows. Who wants to silence her from making the breakthrough of a lifetime? Is it the agency that funds her work? The killer who's terrorizing Seattle's night scene?

Or the mysterious Louis Redman, whose kisses seduce her beyond caring . . . ?

"A rare treat . . . this exciting thriller will keep you up all night as Ms. Gideon weaves her spell." — Romantic Times

"Nancy Gideon is one of the best supernatural writers on the market today!" — Midwest Book Review/BookWire

 The Excerpt 

Almost six centuries . . . 

The life of Florentine noble, Luigio Rodmini—a life that instead of ending after an expected number of years, continued with new names in new cities. In the early 1800’s he surfaced in London, wedding Arabella Howland, the daughter of an acclaimed physician. He was then Louis Radman. As his surname changed to Radouix and his residence to France, Arabella bore him a daughter, Nicole. As Louis Radcliffe, he appeared in New York near the Turn-of-the-Century, living with his grandmother, Bella, who was his most likely wheelchair-bound and aged wife. After her death, he married Cassandra Alexander, heiress to a newspaper empire. They disappeared in Europe, their businesses handled by proxy. His daughter, Nicole wed a French expatriate and lived with their daughter, Fredrica, on the island of Martinique. Then, more silence as the family seemed to vanish, from print, at least, until wealthy eccentric, Louis Redman set himself up in Seattle.

How could Rodmini and Redman be one in the same?

How could they not be given all the evidence before her?

How, indeed?

I loved writing this book because it’s got a bit of everything I like to read: A paranormal love story, a Who-Done-It mystery with Frankenscience ethics, sneaky government ops, and a return of characters and complications I adored from previous books (You don’t have to have read them to appreciate them here) along with an unexpected extra – a new hero by the name of Frank Cobb. I couldn’t wait to give him his own story. And then there’s that almost otherworldly nighttime world in a setting that’s almost another character—Seattle—the dreamy site of my first romance writers’ conference waaaay way back. All this for only $0.99 through the end of the month!

After this fantastic sale, I’m back to updating (not rewriting!) the books in my By Moonlight series that I’ve gotten the rights back to. Talk about walking in two very different worlds. Vampires or Shapeshifters – which is your favorite?

I plan to spend the rest of this quixotic sunny-to-cold-to-who-knows-what of an early spring weekend visiting your excerpts before the cats start yowling for their second trip into the great outdoors (need a few more degrees and a little less snow, but try telling them that!).

I’m skipping next weekend’s WeWriWa to celebrate the holiday since many of you may be traveling. Sooooo, Happy Easter and Early Spring! And . . . Write On, fellow Warriors!!


Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

Nancy on the Web



Sunday, March 17, 2024

WeWriWa: Heaven and Hell – TEXAS DESTINY

March 17, 2024


Curling up in my pjs under the covers in the middle of the day with a cat or two and a book takes some of the misery out of being down with a spring cold. Such has been my week. Dragging around the house, toting a box of tissues, unable to look beyond the next minute without feeling impossibly exhausted, living off diet 7-Up and the relief of escape in my Bass Texas series. Okay, it hasn’t been ALL bad.

I’m on book two of the series – TEXAS DESTINY, which features Jack Bass, Harmon’s nephew, as hero and all-around good guy who is followed by a legacy of secrets no one is willing to share. He’s a true Western hero, a Texas Ranger, a good friend to all until he rescues his idolized captain’s wife who was captured by the Apaches years ago and thought to be dead. . . and uncovers the secret she must leave behind if she’s to return to the man she married but never loved. Love was something Emily Marcus discovered in the gentle care of Jack Bass as he returns her to the life . . . and man she fears. Here’s a sneak peek . . .


Wounded and left for dead after an Apache attack, Texas Ranger Jack Bass is rescued by Emily Marcus, the beautiful wife of his commander, who had long ago been abducted and forced to live among the Apache.

 The Excerpt 

It was Heaven and Hell.

The woman in his arms was everything Jack desired. She was strong, brave, sweet spirited, and beautiful. Her touch made everything inside him all hot and fluid, like the spring waters at Boquillas. She was the kind of woman a man looked for all his life, and if he was lucky enough to find her, he was smart enough to never let her go. 

Most of his fellow rangers were happy with the solitary life. They were content to roll themselves in a blanket under the stars eat their meals out of a tin and wash when they started scaring game away. They had no dreams beyond the moment, and most didn’t care if the future lasted fifty years or fifty minutes. But Jack wasn’t like them. He’d come from a solid family background. He’d seen the love between his mother and Will, between his uncle and Amanda. He’d held his baby brothers and sister in his arms and had known right then that he wanted children of his own. He wanted the vision Harmon had given him years ago—looking out over land of his own, a wife and kids beside him, a table to sit at and the satisfaction of belonging. Heaven was finding the woman to make that dream come true.

Hell was having her belong to someone else.

I’ll admit, this wasn’t my usual romance. In TEXAS DESTINY I had a younger hero and a married heroine with a past, so I had to tread carefully by making them as honorable as possible . . . and therein lies the tension and the eventual SIGH of a well-deserved happily ever after.

Hopefully, I’ll be getting this series out in a new package later this year, so you can fall in love again, or, if you haven’t read them, fall in love like it was the first time.

Happy Reading!!!


Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

Nancy on the Web



Sunday, March 10, 2024

WeWriWa: A Family of Legends, beginning with TEMPTATION’S TRAIL

March 10, 2024


I’ve been down for the past few days with one of those annoying almost spring colds. Not wanting to share with the family, I’ve been self-isolating, reading through the stack of my Bass family Texas historical series (I know – what a chore!) before getting them back out in print . . . and loving every page! Even though I wrote Book 1, TEMPTATION’S TRAIL, in the early early 1990s (before some of you were even alive!), it’s as fresh and exciting now as it was when I was writing it by hand in a well-used notebook that would soon include four more volumes. As soon as the pages are scanned for reediting (This series was submitted pre-computer!) I’ll be getting ready to self-publish them at last! For now, here’s a tease from Book 1, TEMPTATION’S TRAIL…

 The Excerpt 

“When you come back through again, I want to leave with you.”

Harmon hooked his thumb beneath the boy’s chin to angle it up. “You want to spell that out a little plainer?”

Jack looked him straight on, his features determined as he claimed, “I don’t want to be a rancher. I don’t belong here. You’re my family, Uncle Harm . . . I want to be like you.”

Harmon drew a breath, then he laughed softly, making Jack stiffen, afraid his ambitions weren’t being taken seriously by this man he idolized.

“Son,” Harm corrected quietly, “you don’t want to be like me. You got everything here a man could want: Family, belonging, ties to the soul and the land. You can’t just tear up those roots and blow off on a wind.”

“But Uncle Harm—”

“Listen! I know you look around and see nothing but hard work and long hours, and you feel like a dog staked out on a short rope just wanting to break loose and run free . . . but once you start running, son, you got no place to go.

. . . and a bit more . . .

“I’d give anything to have what you have—a future so clean and bright it’s like tomorrow’s sunrise, with a chance to grow to be a man like Will, a good man. Don’t you ever sell that off cheap or I won’t even want to know you.”

“But you said I did good, that I could ride with you anytime. Didn’t you mean that?”

Harm cupped the somber face with his palm. “Oh, yeah, I meant it. But you’re not mine to take. This is where you belong. If you want to look up to someone, don’t look to me. I’m nothing. You look to Will, and you’ll learn everything there is to know about being a man. And someday when you’re looking out over your own place, and you got your own house full of a wife and kids, I’ll come by now and again to sit at your table, and you’ll look at me and then at them and you’ll thank God you decided to stay put.”

Now THAT’s a hero! And my favorite of all of them. I had to write four more books just so Harm Bass could weave in and out of them.

How about you? Any old favorites you need to get back into reader hands?


Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

Nancy on the Web



Wednesday, March 06, 2024

IWSG: Let’s NOT Play that Game, Dave!

March 06, 2024


What in the word “artificial” suggests “creative?” Creative writing, to me, is the last bastion hold-out against the soulless advance of AI. I guess that says everything about my feelings on this month’s subject . . .

March 6th question: Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?

Okay, I’ll admit AI is a handy tool to do drudge work – kind of like the egg sorter in the hen house. But that doesn’t mean I want to invite it into the kitchen to make my omelets and souffles! In my opinion we have too many artificial things encroaching upon us already. Yes, I’ve used editing tools to go over my manuscripts – but only on a basic level for spelling – not for any higher context. When I’ve used AI programs to go over my manuscripts, yes, they caught errors buuuuut they also flagged all the textures in my writing that make it unique to my voice. AI can do surface editing, but it can’t effectively handle the emotional nuances that make our project uniquely ours. It can’t pick out the important aspects that distinguish our “voice.” You might argue that it can be “trained” to find those discerning bits of individuality buuuuut that means you’d have to spend as much time “training” the program as doing the work yourself.

“Creative” implies original, unique to the creator. AI, being soulless, at least in our current universe, doesn’t have that ability of discernment. Sure, you can feed it all the facts it needs to do that synopsis but in that same time allotment, you can apply your own “voice” to making those cut and dry facts uniquely yours. Spell check, yes. Original work, heck no! Check out my October 4, 2023 IWSG post on the subject.

I want to be known as the writer-creator-imaginer of my work, not as a data programmer who fed information into a soulless machine. (My apologies to HAL in Arthur C. Clarke’s universe! But . . . remember how that worked out for them! Shall we play a game? Not with my fiction!)

Fiction is based upon the author’s voice, not the technical aspects of grammar and sentence structure. That applies to synopses, too, with our unique ability to insert the qualities that make our work stand out as opposed to blending in. Take THAT, AI!

And for those lovers of “original” work, MIDNIGHT REDEEMER, part of my “Touch of Midnight” vampire romance series, explores immortality and the answer to an age-old curse for only $0.99 from 03-16 to 03-31-24! Sink your teeth in and enjoy!

Click to Preview Book
Published: May 3, 2011
Length: 196 Pages

Hunt or be hunted . . . A centuries-old obsession stalks a noble family fighting to hide their dark secret from an ever-changing world. Sink your teeth into Nancy Gideon's Touched by Midnight series.

Will his dream . . .
Centuries-old vampire Louis Redman is desperate to believe an inquisitive researcher's claim that she's close to finding a cure for his age-old curse. Determined to become human again, he must trust the lovely geneticist who has pushed her way into his guarded life . . . and heart . . . not to betray him to the government agency that wants to uncover his secrets for their own purposes.

. . . be the death of her?
Scientist Stacy Kimball discovers potential fame and the answer to immortality in a murder victim's blood sample. But as she gets closer to the truth, danger stalks her from the shadows. Who wants to silence her from making the breakthrough of a lifetime? Is it the agency that funds her work? The killer who's terrorizing Seattle's night scene?

Or the mysterious Louis Redman, whose kisses seduce her beyond caring . . . ?

"A rare treat . . . this exciting thriller will keep you up all night as Ms. Gideon weaves her spell." — Romantic Times

"Nancy Gideon is one of the best supernatural writers on the market today!" — Midwest Book Review/BookWire

Happy Writing!!!


Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time. The awesome co-hosts for the March 6th posting of the IWSG will be are Kristina Kelly, Miffie Seideman, Jean Davis, and Liza @ Middle Passages!

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

  

To join the IWSG Blog Hop and view the List of Hop Participants!


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