Welcome Guest Author Isabel Roman

In thinking what I wanted to write about this blog, I went through several aspects of the paranormal world. There was a time I loved vampires, couldn’t get enough of them and read every book I could get my hands on. Then I started reading way too many that sounded exactly the same (and Nora Roberts came out with one telling me the niche was over). But hey, if you have a vampire book out there that’s different, I’m all for it!

When I started to plot out my first book, I debated what to do and where to set it. I wanted to write an historical and I wanted it to be paranormal. But the question was…what? (And where and when.)

The where was England, the when was 1882. But the what. I could have had vampires, just take what I would have done with them today and made them historical, but no, I wanted something different. Magickers. Based on the old Druids legends, I decided to mix it all up with a Spanish Inquisition-like fanaticism, lots of sex, and a bit of mystique.

Let’s face it, we all would love to do magick—real I can make things levitate, hide myself in shadows, control the wind, water, and land magick. Think of the fun! And trust me, it was great fun. I love the verse, the characters, the couples, even the bad guy. He had such an annoying way of speaking, emphasizing random words that made no sense. If you’d like a free Choose Your Own Adventure story set in my Druid-verse, check out my site: http://isabelroman.com/choose-your-own-adventure/druids

Does this mean I would never write a vampire book? Well, no. I would. But I bet you my Christmas presents it’ll be an historical! Okay, let’s think about it…historical vampires. Historical vampires where? England? Canada? Russia during the revolution? Ooh, royal vampires! Victorian? Victorian vampires?

What’s different enough? Or is it not the setting but the story itself? What would constitute a truly unique vampire story? Something to ponder, contemplate, think about during the holiday season. Certainly not plot. Nope, no time for that. But I’d love to hear what you’d like to see in a vampire story!











Isabel Roman is addicted to chocolate, historicals, NCIS, and happy endings. Not in that order, though if you happen to have any chocolate around, and would like to keep it for future enjoyment, you’d best hide it. Just in case, since she does have a nose for chocolate like polar bears have a nose for blood. But less gory.

Two of her Druids books are now out in bookstores, Dark Desires of the Druids: Sex & Subterfuge and Dark Desires of the Druids: Desert & Destiny







And if you happen to like zombies (The AMC series Walking Dead was pretty cool) Hungry for Your Love: A Zombie Romance Anthology is also out in bookstores. It’s probably the only zombie romance anthology you’ll ever find.

Sex & Subterfuge and Desert & Destiny available in print Summer 2010!

Isabel Roman

Visit her Blog!

BlogMania is Here! Enter the Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Box of Books Giveaway

Blogmania is now closed.

Extra entries are being tallied and I will be choosing a winner sometime today and sending a notification email to the winner.

The winning announcment will go up tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks to all who entered.

Blogmania is here!

In this box of goodies I have a Fang-tastic Books Mousepad, a lot of author swag which includes postcards, bookmarks, stickers, magnets, pins, and more.

I also have a gorgeous beaded handbag by author Isabel Roman.

There's a Blood Ties season 2 DVD set and a paperback copy of Blood Price by Tanya Huff courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment.

And of course there's more books- a copy of Her Vampire Husband by Michele Hauf, Sherlock Holmes Seance for a Vampire by Fred Saberhagen, Forbidden by Christina Phillips, and Vampireology from Candlewick Press.

Ready to enter the giveaway?

Then fill out this form.

The only requirement for entry is filling out your name and email address on the form, everything else is optional.

You will receive bonus entries for being a blog, facebook, and/or twitter follower and for linking to this contest.

You can also receive an extra entry by commenting on this post.

Please leave any tweets, links, or blog posts about this contest in the comments section.

Thanks and Good Luck

Open to US Shipping Only Please

Paranormal World Building with Isabel Roman and a Temptations and Treachery Giveaway

Paranormal world building—for a writer it can be extremely exciting or unfathomably daunting. The possibilities are truly endless. Everything from an alternate history World War II to a completely new planet inhabited by six foot fairies is possible. When I approach the creating of a new verse, I go in a sound proof room and scream a primal scream of the truly deranged. Then I sit back at my computer and wonder what I want to happen.

What kind of story do I want to tell? What kind of verse do I need for it? Does it have any specific needs? And then I pace. No, I don’t record my rantings, but I really should. I’d have less hair pulling incidents if I did.

Sometimes I make a master list of what I want; sometimes I just pick random things that catch my fancy. One of the most important things in creating a paranormal verse, aside from making sure your reader understands that verse without tedious backstory, is to pick something where your readers can suspend disbelief. If you can write about six-foot fairies, do so with conviction.

A complicated paranormal verse might require a prologue, but I’m not a big fan of that. However, most times, it’s fun for the reader to discover the subtle differences in your verse as opposed to reality. Or history for that matter.

For instance, in my Druids series, my verse is Victorian England. But that verse has very specific differences from t he actual historical happenings of 1882-83 England. I don’t set anything up in a prologue, I want my reader to keep up with this new world. Want them to discover what the differences and similarities are for themselves.

Murder and Magick begins with a Witch Hunter spewing hatred. But of course, Witch Hunters weren’t common in 1882 England. Or any time in English history for that matter, not in the Hunter sense.

In Temptations and Treachery, the fourth of the series, my magickers use artifacts or items which can help them expand their powers. To them, his is the equivalent of a watch or cell phone to us: it’s just something that’s there. Course, to them, magickal artifacts are very dangerous and they’re trying to round them up so they don’t fall into the wrong hands.

It’s all about what you want to work. Even more so, it’s all about how you present it. If you make it a part of your world, present it as such from the onset, it is and readers will accept that. If you hem and haw, adding things in when you need a plot device or to make something more convenient for your characters, no one’s going to believe it.

Excerpt: Dark Desires of the Druids: Temptations and Treachery-

“Is there a way to control it?” he asked.

“Yes, you can control the depth of the shadows, but you’ll never get it as dark as,” she shrugged, “as well, a master.”

“I’ve seen Morgana use something similar, but she doesn’t need a spell. It’s somehow,” he shook his head, “a part of her. She always just knew how to do it.”

He broke the connection, and she allowed the candles to lighten the room again. She still wanted him, surprised at how much she did.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Energized,” he laughed. His eyes darkened, changed. Isadore didn’t think he meant from the spell. Her heart raced, and it was suddenly difficult to breathe.

She wanted to kiss him, but his words, his apology, echoed in her mind. Instead she said, “Good. I’ll teach you more later.”

He leaned down, eyes dark from magick and more. It was a bare brush the kiss, his lips moving over hers. Soft, probing, nothing more. Isadore opened her mouth just slightly, just enough. Leaned into him. Wanted more.

Deepening the kiss, Isadore pressed her body to his, felt his heat even through their layers. Wanted to strip him and taste every inch of him, feel his mouth and hands on her. Winding her hands around his neck, through his hair, she took. Devoured even as she felt devoured. Couldn’t get enough of him.

Abruptly, he broke the kiss. Gasping for breath, she looked up at him and tried to think. Embarrassed, his words again echoing through her, she stepped back. James grabbed her close, crushing her lips to hers. Dispelling her doubts with his own fierce need.

“Oh,” she breathed when he let her go again.

“I must go,” he said, and left her in the basement, need coiling through her.

Leave a comment or ask a question today and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a free PDF of Temptations and Treachery.

Thanks for having me today! I always enjoy my time here at Fang-tastic. ~Isabel

Welcome Guest Author Isabel Roman

I confess, I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Anne Rice when she still wrote vampires, and (I can admit it) The Lost Boys. I was mystified by Dark Shadows but then when my mom watched it, I was young; when the SciFi channel came around and reran it, I couldn’t get into it. My mom and aunts don’t understand my mystification given what I write, but there you have it.

To steer away from the vampire thing so I’d be differed from the mold, I created my Druids series. It’s a funny thing how I started with my Druids: I created a master list of everything I could possibly think of that was paranormal. I love the paranormal and unexplainable and all the little twists you can throw in when you have this type of story.

I had a great time thinking up the list, everything from werewolves and vampires, to gods and goddesses, Viking spirits, you get the point. And I did write a vampire story; it just so happens to be in a Christmas anthology: Merry Sexmas. I know, I know Christmas and vampires? But this seems to work for me. Rather, the story worked well with Christmas: memory loss, past loves, and yes, vampires. I’d like to write a longer sequel to it…someday.

I also wrote a werewolf story, which will be out in October in The Wild Rose Press’ Got Wolf? Anthology. World War II, German wehrewölfes, and eugenics. It was a contest, the only requirement being werewolves. I placed first! I was so excited; I probably looked more than a little silly jumping up and down in front of my computer. Luckily, no one but the monitor saw me.

As for my Druids, I’ll share some of my process. The first was what hasn’t been done? Or not done a lot at least.

I picked Druids out of my list and thought: Should I go back in time to ancient Gaul or Rome? Medieval Ireland? Or maybe a modern take on it? Wicca’s and such? Or hmm, maybe switch it up a little, change things around. In the end, I decided to set it in the Victorian Era. I know, you’re probably thinking, huh? But I love that era! Aside from it being very lengthily in time 1837-1901, and things changing as they do with over 50 years in fashion, politics, beliefs, etc. but the Victorian Era also offered a unique dichotomy in culture.

Most people think Victorians are prim, proper, laced up cameo wearing individuals. But what people also don’t know is that there’s a seedy underbelly to Victorian society. Much of what’s considered Goth today came from the Victorian Era. Steampunk? Originated back then.

Perfect! I thought. That’ll work for me!

Then I had to figure out how to incorporate the paranormal and work it into the Victorian world. So I chose to make it a slightly alternate history. What do I mean by slightly? Everything that happened in history up to 1882 when the series begins, happens. Except I added a new element where society knew of their past with Witch Hunters and Magickers. My world started earlier: The Spanish Inquisition is now The Purification of witches. In 1666, during an outbreak of the black plague and the Great London Fire, there was Purification where my Magickers went into permanent hiding.

I then used that as the history for my universe and went from there as to how it affected my characters in their present day. The Witch Hunters resurgence happened and I ran with it. It’s wonderful how creating your own history allows for conflict with your characters. Ordinary and not so ordinary conflicts can be mixed together into my universe.

Excerpt from Dark Desire of the Druids I: Murder and Magick:
He felt her the moment she entered the room.

Ignoring the view from his windows, Mac watched her reflection as she slowly approached him. Her hair was still disheveled, now hanging loose about her shoulders and back. The
dressing gown she wore was summer-light and pale in the mirrored gas light.

“You’re always at the window,” she said in a low voice. “What do you look at?”

“The world,” he said, turning.

Cocking an eyebrow at his no doubt less-than-satisfactory answer, she closed the distance between them. Her hips swayed under the fabric, and his fingers itched to feel her. When she touched him, her hands were warm on his bare chest, her hair soft as it glided against his skin.

Pressing her head against him, she wrapped her arms around him to stroke his back. Her fingers traced the exact patterns the whip made. He didn’t know how she remembered such an intricate design, but she touched them every chance she had. The pads of her fingers smoothed over the silver welts of old scars.

“It’s raining,” she whispered, pulling back to look at him.

Mac nodded. The rain was only a faint sound behind him. Parting the fine silk of her dressing gown, he exposed creamy shoulders to his hungry gaze.

Restraint proved nonexistent around Raven. Exercising whatever control he retained, Mac cupped her face to kiss her. Her soft lips opened under his, and her nails scraped down the length of his scarred back.

“Malcolm,” she breathed, and broke the kiss.

A streak of lightning illuminated the room, highlighting the paleness of her skin, the richness of her hair. Swallowing, he shook his head, tried to clear it, but it was no use.

Growling, Mac lifted her against him. Felt her legs wrap around his waist, arms wind around his neck. Her mouth on his, as hungry for him as he was for her.

“What have you done to me?” he demanded, his mouth crushing hers.

I can’t tell you how wonderful a time I had writing this series!
I hope you’ll check it out.

I’ll be giving away one PDF download of the first book, Dark Desire of the Druids I: Murder and Magick to a randomly drawn commenter.

Thank you, and if you have any further comments, questions, whatever, please feel free to email me: isabel@isabelroman.com

Dark Desire of the Druids: The Tryst
Dark Desire of the Druids I: Murder and Magick
Dark Desire of the Druids II: Sex and Subterfuge
Dark Desire of the Druids III: Desert and Destiny
Coming end of June 2009 Dark Desire of the Druids IV: Temptations and Treachery

Isabel Roman
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