Guest Blog and Giveaway with Brita Addams

For those who don't know me, I'm Brita Addams and I write historical erotic romance.
I always enjoy a bit of "insider info" when it comes to books – you know, what inspired the writing, the cover, the characters. With that in mind, I thought I'd share a bit of background on my historical vampire novel, Love Immortal.

I am relatively new to the vampire admiration society. My first real indoctrination came with the television show, "Moonlight," on CBS from September, 2007 to May, 2008. Mick St. John, played by Alex O'Loughlan (not Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O).

Mick made vampires palatable for me, as he fought crime and yearned for human, Beth. The series was a fan fave, but not so much with CBS and it ended after one season, but my need for vamps was not satisfied. Twilight came along, and though the sparkling issue struck me strange, I love the stories. Vampire Diaries fill the need as we watch the backlist through Netflix. Right now, I'm finishing up the last season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," courtesy of Netflix as well.
A close family member loves vamps as well, and he encouraged me to write "Love Immortal." One of the heroes is named for my loved one, something that pleased him tremendously. He even gave me the name for the series, Mysterious Moonlight.

Laurent Kinsdale is a 200 year old vampire, suffering from the tragic loss of his human lover, Alistair. Though Alistair begged to be turned, Laurent's impulsive turning of a former love, Graham, caused Laurent to refuse Alistair's request. Graham wreaked havoc for many years, his vengenence aimed at hurting Laurent. Sebastian FitzHugh is a young man who catches the fancy of Laurent. The two men share an instant attraction.

There's much that happens between them, fodder for future adventures. I love these two guys. Of all the characters I've written, they spoke to me the loudest. Laurent is broken, my favorite kind of hero. The ghosts from his past haunt both men and change their paths. Sebastian is enigmatic and just what Laurent needs in his life. I see great things for them in future books.
Laurent's vampirism is secondary to the main story, though it is certainly the catalyst for the story. I wanted to concentrate on the relationship element and how the vampirism played into that.

A word about the cover, which is very special to me. The wonderful cover artist for Silver Publishing, Reese Dante, asked me if I'd like a Jimmy Thomas cover. The answer was the obvious, "Well, who wouldn't?"

After searching for photos on his website, I, admittedly picky, didn't find the absolutely perfect shot. I talked to Reese, who talked to Jimmy, who in turn looked through images he hadn't yet put on his site. Voila, he selected the perfect shot, in the perfect clothes and with a bit of PhotoShop magic, the Love Immortal cover was born. Jimmy has also said it's one of his favorite covers, which makes me feel pretty good. It appears in the first slot on the back of his 2010 calendar.

As we all know, covers are important to any book. My book, Splendid Captivity, has a Jimmy cover, with what he dubbed the "Brita Bondage Shot." Reese asked him to do some bondage images during a shoot, as my book is historical and the only shots he had available were with nice, shiny handcuffs. He came through with the perfect cover shot and even withheld that particular image from his website until after my book was released. Great guy!

I hope you enjoy Love Immortal and I invite you to check out my backlist at www.britaaddams.com. My books are available at Noble Romance Publishing (www.nobleromance.com) and Silver Publishing (www.silverpublishing.com) as well as all the usual secondary place, Amazon, All Romance E-Books, etc.

I love visitors, so please stop by my website/blog. I also like to hear from readers. Please, drop me a note at britaaddams@yahoo.com or "friend" me on Facebook and Twitter.

I'm giving away an e-copy of Love Immortal to one commenter and will send signed bookmarks to anyone interested.

Thank you, Roxanne for having me. What a great blog you have.

Luv,
Brita