Thursday, May 7, 2009

Guest Author Erin O'Riordan Is With Us Today


Please welcome erotica and romance author Erin O'Riordan to Fang-tastic Books today.
She's chatting about her new book, Beltane, and about a few of her short stories as well as offering a signed paperback copy of Beltane as a giveaway.


Thanks for joining us Erin !


Hello everyone.


I'll start off by telling you a little bit about Beltane.


Pagan priestess Allie is marrying the man of her dreams, Paul Phillip. A buttoned-down lawyer, he may not be "exciting," but he makes Allie feel like a princess. Allie's twin sister, free-spirited witch Zen, takes a chance on Allie and Paul Phillip's wedding caterer, Chris. Chris is more the hit 'em and quit 'em type, though. When Zen meets hip businessman Orlando, she thinks she's found what her sister has with Paul Phillip. Which sister will end up with her true love?

Beltane is an erotic, explicitly sexy romance, available as an e-book from Eternal Press, on Fictionwise, and at All Romance E-Books, and in paperback on Amazon.com.


This excerpt has Zen meeting Orlando for the 2nd time:

Zen went up front. She was surprised to see the same man who’d been at the bar in O’Connor’s the night before. This time, instead of a blue suit, he wore a gray pin-striped button-down with the sleeves rolled up, and gray pants. He wore another pair of Gucci shoes that matched just as perfectly. He smiled as he examined a row of herbs: anise seed for love potions, to stir up lust; mistletoe, hung above door and windows to banish nightmares; yarrow to increase one’s psychic abilities, hawthorn for protection from evil spirits, and bloodroot for love potions. It seemed to Zen that he was even sadder tonight than he’d been the night before.

"Welcome to Light and Shadow," Zen said. "May I help you?"

He nodded slightly, not looking up from the potions. "The cocktail waitress at the bar up the street said you’re a witch."

"That’s me," Zen said. She noticed, for the first time, the cross that he wore around his neck. That wasn’t so unusual. Half of her customers were very religious. "I should warn you that my powers are very limited. So if there’s anyone whom you wish to turn into a toad, I can’t help you."

He laughed. "But you tell fortunes, don’t you?"

"Yeah, that I can do," she said. "I can’t tell you exactly where you’ve been, or where you’re going, but I can give you a general idea of how things are, and how they should be."

He thought about this for a moment. "That’s good," he said. "How much?"

"Forty," she said. This was twice what she usually charged, but he looked like he could afford it. He took out his billfold and handed her a fifty.

She went to the cash register to get him his change, but he said, "Keep it."

"Thank you."

"So, where do we do this thing?" he said, adding, "I assume you’re just going to read my palm or something. I hope this won’t involve chicken blood or anything unpleasant like that."

"Through the golden door," she said, pointing. "And the chicken blood service is forty dollars extra."

As Zen and her customer entered, Gillian picked up the last of the tarot cards from the floor and stood. "Hi," she said. "I’m Gillian, the assistant witch. Do you need any help, Zen?"

"No," Zen said, "unless you feel like running to the coffee shop for a couple of lattes."

"Bring me one, too," the customer said. He handed her a ten-dollar bill. "Please."

Gillian nodded. "What do you like? Caf or decaf? Sugar or artificial sweetener?"

He laughed. "I’ll make it easy on you," he said. "I’ll have whatever you ladies are having."

"You got it." Gillian went outside, the door’s chimes jingling behind her.

"Zen?" the customer said, turning from Gillian’s departing form back to Zen. "That’s a really unusual name."

"It’s short for Zenobia," she said. "Mom read it in a Hawthorne novel or something. Please, sit down. And you are?"

"Orlando Parisi," he said.

"Could you be any more Italian?" she joked, taking the seat across from him.

"Actually, yes," he said. "I’m only half Italian. Dad was from Milan; Mom’s from Slovenia. I was born in Slovenia—well, Yugoslavia, technically. Why am I telling you all of this?"


In addition to Beltane, I’ve also written erotic fiction for Hustler Fantasies and Playgirl. My fiction has been featured in e-zines including Clean Sheets, Oysters and Chocolate, Lucrezia Magazine, For The Girls, The Erotic Woman, and Tassels and Tales. I’m especially proud of "Spicy, Earthy, Sweet," the story I wrote for Ravenous Romance. If you’ll pardon the pun, it puts the "nookie" in "Hanookkah." (I’m bad with puns; too much Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a child.)

I’m also quite proud of my werewolves-and-vampire menage story, "Oliver’s Famous Clam Chowder," which appears in the Torquere Press anthology Love Bites. It’s my second werewolf story. My first was the girl-pirates-and-werewolves tale "Fall of the Estrela," published at Midnight Times.

You can read more of the adventures of Erin O’Riordan at my Pagan Spirits blog, http://www.erinoriordan.blogspot.com/.

One lucky reader who leaves a comment here AND signs up to follow the Pagan Spirits blog will win a signed paperback copy of Beltane!

32 comments:

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

Erin -
I am dying to read your book!!! It looks so good! I love reading your blogs and things over on Gather too. Thank you for the chance to win this contest for a copy of your book - regardless of whether I win or not I am still excited to read it!!! I hope you make the best seller list!!
Good luck to you -
Kimber L.

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

I also signed up to follow the Pagan Spirits blog and contest or not I am glad you drew my attention to it and the fangtastic books page too. Thank you!!
Kimber L.

Erin O'Riordan said...

Kimber, I'm so glad you discovered this blog. Personally, I can't seem to get enough paranormal romance. Even with all the writing I do, I'm still an insatiable reader.

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

Me too - I absolutely love paranormal romances!!! I read every genre though. Which ones (besides yours) are your faves?

Erin O'Riordan said...

Great question! I absolutely adore Kate Douglas's Wolf Tales series, the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (I'm reading *Dead to Worse* right now), and J. R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. (Zsadist is, by far, my favorite Brother.) Tabitha Shay on Eternal Press has a great series about witches, and I also like Emma Holly. Oh, and I just read a wonderful anthology of paranormal three-way romances from Torquere Press, called *Other Magical Creatures.* One of the authors was Dianne Fox, who was in the *Love Bites* anthology with me.

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

I love the Charlaine Harris (Have you read her Harper Connelly series? It is pretty good too)and the JR Ward but will have to check out the others!

Lately I have really enjoyed Julie Kenner's Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series, Stephanie Rowe's Guardian of the Goblet of Eternal Youth Series and the Sazi series by Clamp and Adams among many others!

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

Your book falls right into the genre I love and devour! LOL I am truly excited to read it.

Dana Fredsti said...

Erin, I love the name of your story, Oliver's Famous Clam Chowder and am dying to find out what the name has to do with vampires and werewolves!

Erin O'Riordan said...

Thanks,Dana. *Love Bites* is a really interesting anthology, and I feel lucky that "Oliver's Famous Clam Chowder" made it in there. Later in the month, when I've finished editing the follow-up to *Beltane*, I'll be editing a follow-up long short story/short novella about what happened to Oliver (the vampire) and Natalie and Matthew (the werewolves) after the end of "Clam Chowder."

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

I look forward to reading ALL you have written that I can get my hands on!! Best of luck to you Erin!

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

I have to ask - who is your favorite character that you have written? What makes that one your favorite?

Erin O'Riordan said...

Thank you, Kimber. It's hard to choose a favorite character, but I am especially fond of my pirate, Rachel Templin. I've written two stories about her now: "Fall of the Estrela" and "Wicked Pirate Raven." She's an imaginary ancestor of mine; Templin was the last name of my grandmother's grandmother. (I'm Irish and Jewish.)

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

That is great - I will have to read what you have written about her! Thanks for answering my question.

sundcarrie said...

Sounds like loads of fun! I am in and I am now a follower of the Pagan Spirits blog.

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

I loved reading the excerpt from BELTANE. The characters have such great chemistry. GREAT JOB on the dialogue too. Was it fun to write?

Erin O'Riordan said...

*Beltane* was lots of fun to write. Just now I was reading about love potions for a scene in the sequel. So many interesting subjects come up in the Pagan Spirits series.

Leigh M. Lane said...

Great excerpt, Erin! I look forward to reading more of your work!

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

I love researching things and learning about them. Are you pagan or is everything pure research? Do you know people who are? Are your character's "loosely" based on anyone you actually know?

Just curious - you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I have friends that are pagan, christian, jewish, indian shaman, buddhist, scientologist, a pagan high priestess, a christian minister and so on and WE ALL HANG OUT TOGETHER WITHOUT FIGHTING! I truly enjoy learning about religions and common themes between all of them. It is very interesting to me.

It is a cool experience to be around such a diverse group of people.

Erin O'Riordan said...

I'm open-minded. I feel comfortable praying in my neighborhood Episcopal Church,the reform Jewish temple one town over, the Unitarian church, and in the forest. I celebrate the solstices. And I love Shiva!

I do know people who are Pagans, but the characters in *Beltane* aren't specifically based on any of them.

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

That is cool - thank you for answering my questions Erin. I appreciate it. I am naturally inquisitive!!! I also am comfortable in pretty much any setting and very open minded. I have really enjoyed chatting with you on your blog. I love reading your stuff in Gather too - you are a very interesting person and I can't wait to read your book and your stories you have written. I wish you great success!!!

Kimber Leszczuk. said...

In my opinion open minded = intelligent!! LOL - See you on Gather - I have to lock up my office so I can go home to my family! It was really nice hearing from you about your characters and stories! Thank you for doing this and allowing your fans to get to know you better.

Anonymous said...

Your book does look better and better every time I read more about it! I am signing up for your blog. To be honest, I thought I already had.

Tit Elingtin said...

Wow! What a great turn out today.

She said...

Beltane sounds really good. I'll have to check it out. I love trying new authors and books. It is so fun!

Becky said...

Hi Erin, Belane sounds like a good book. You are a new author to me and I am looking forward to reading your stories.

Erin O'Riordan said...

Thank you starmac, She and Becky. It's good to hear from new readers!

HockeyVampiress said...

would love to win a new book|!!!
signing up for the blog!!!

Erin O'Riordan said...

Thank you all for joining me today, and thank you, Roxanne, for hosting me.

Caffey said...

Hi Erin! So great to meet you!! BELTANE sounds so much a sizzling one I'd love to read. I do love the name Zen. I don't think I ever read that name used. Neat. Neat on your vamps and weres too! Lots to look forward to of yours. Definitely will check out your blog too! Do you have a newsletter so I'd know when you have new releases too? Thanks again.
tbranxiety @ yahoo . com

Erin O'Riordan said...

Caffey, thanks for stopping by. I don't have a newsletter (though that is a very good idea!), but you CAN find me on Twitter and Facebook if you want to know what I'm up to. Go to my home page, www.aeess.com,and you'll find links to my Facebook and Twitter pages.

Carlene said...

I would love to be entered in your drawing. I am a follower of yours and now a follower of Pagan Spirit.
Thanks
Carlene

Roxanne Rhoads said...

Kimber L you are the winner please email me ar eroticroxanne at yahoo dot com so you can get your book from Erin.

 
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