LK Below talks about favorite characters

24 Days until the release of This Blackened Night, The Order: Book 3!

Every author has a set of characters more dear to their hearts than any others. In most cases, this stems from these characters being among the first ever created. I won't claim Lori and Terrence were my very first, but they did come close. Their first book, Stalking Shade, which released in 2011, was originally written in 2007. And rewritten. And rewritten.

And now it feels like a dear friend is moving away. With the release of This Blackened Night on September 24th, 2012, the trilogy will come to an end. Lori might be a prickly character, not easy for anyone but Terrence to love, but I had a lot of fun with her. When I wrote this third book late last year, I dragged my feet to see it finished for the same reason. I didn't want to let the pair of them go. A not-so-secret part of me is hoping for an overwhelming response from readers asking me to continue so I have an excuse to revisit my favorite characters.

For now, I'm counting down the days until the third book releases. Maybe you'll fall in love with Lori and Terrence every bit as fiercely as I have. Lori might be stubborn in pushing people away, but Terrence is the most persistent character I've ever written. Good thing, too.

Join me in celebrating the release of the third book a bit early with this short, sweet teaser excerpt:

This Blackened Night by L.K. Below

With murders cropping up all around, who should she trust?

After months of searching, Lori finally scrounges up a clue as to the whereabouts of the missing leader of her secret organization. But her vision isn't encouraging--it points to her vampire companion Terrence as the culprit.

Terrence is adamant that he isn't at fault. Even though she knows she might be walking into a trap, she follows his lead to a shabby island port. When her informants start turning up dead with puncture wounds in their necks, Lori wonders just how well she knows Terrence. And why does he act different during the search than in their hotel room?

Lori doesn't know who to trust anymore. She only hopes that she won't be the next victim.

Six Sweet Sentences from the book:

“Are you planning on standing here all night?”

Terrence’s voice, but it held none of his usual warmth. Lori jumped. She turned, her fingers itching for the stake in her boot. Did he suspect she’d followed him? From his tone of voice, she thought so.

Learn more about the series as a whole on the Lyrical Press, Inc. website: http://bit.ly/TheOrderSeries.

Read a longer excerpt from This Blackened Night at http://bit.ly/ThisBlackenedNight.

Bio: If L.K. Below gets far too attached to her characters, well, that's because they're interesting people. Read two of her favorites in her urban fantasy series, The Order. Join her online at www.lbelow.net to learn more. Want to keep up to date with her tour stops? Follow her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/LBelowtheauthor) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/LK-BelowLindsay-Below/355586159614)

A bachelorette interview

What if the bachelorette could choose 2 guys? These and many other sordid thoughts go through my head sometimes...or else how could I write erotic romance, right? 

Super awesome author LK Below had the great idea of doing a Bachelorette-style interview with my main characters from Victoria's Secret Wish.

And I have to admit, I felt extremely... daunted when I first looked at the questions. But I got myself back inside the characters' heads--eventually--and here's how it turned out. Fun!

Piper Denna

Romance is sexy!

Guest author, LK Below

Today I welcome a guest, LK Below. Her newest release, Beauty in His Bed is set in New Orleans, and includes an awesome tarot scene. So she's talking a little about tarot cards:

Ten Fun Facts About Tarot Readings

1. Tarot originated as early as 1540. A book entitled The Oracles of Francesco Marcolino da Forli from that time period shows a rudimentary form of divination, though the cards held little meaning. By 1735-1750, the cards had developed means based on the symbolism of the drawings.

2. The most common deck is the Rider-Waite deck, designed by Pamela Coleman Smith based on instructions from occultist Arthur Edward Waite and originally published by the Rider Company in 1910.

3. Before tarot developed, the cards were called trifoni cards and used as playing cards for games like trumps.

4. There are 78 cards in a deck: 22 in the Major Arcana, and 56 in the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana consists of four suits, most commonly shown as: wands/staffs, swords, cups, and pentacles/coins. The cards in the Minor Arcana number from Aces to Ten and include Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings.

5. There are over fifty commonly used tarot layouts, and more being created all the time.

6. The oldest surviving tarot cards are from fifteen fragmented dekcs painted in the mid 1400s. They belonged to the Visconti-Sforza family, who were at the time the rulers of Milan.

7. Giacomo Casanova had a Russian mistress who read tarot cards.

8. The Bioardo Tarrochi poem, written between 1461 and 1494, describes the symbolism of the tarot (tarrochi) cards at that time.

9. Guido Gillabel has a museum called Tarot Haven, which contains over one thousand different decks.

10. It's featured briefly in my newest release, Beauty in His Bed!

Here's an excerpt:

After a minute, she looked up. “Has something turbulent happened to you recently?”

Flabbergasted, Amy felt her mouth drop open. She craned her neck to peer at the cards. Did they show that Tim had broken up with her? All she saw was a bunch of swords and staffs. What did that mean?

Danielle continued, “I only ask because of these cards.” She pointed at the first two. “This one, representing the past, is the two of swords. You see how the figure is blindfolded? That could indicate that you were once blinded to something or someone. Even so, based on the figure’s position, you also felt defensive. Maybe you’ve felt that way for a long time.” She moved on to the second card. “But here in the spot representing the present, you have the six of swords. It shows that you’re running away from something. See the choppy water on this side of the boat? You’re sailing from something bad into calmer waters. That could be the reason you’re here in New Orleans.”

Amy didn’t look at Monique. But she didn’t have to. Danielle was completely right--she was running from something. Her breakup.

When she didn’t say anything, Danielle pointed to the third and last card. This one was brighter than the others, with a yellow background and garland twining around four staffs. “This is your future, the four of wands. It indicates a celebration to come. Normally, this card means there will be a wedding in the future, but it could be any kind of party. A baby shower, a housewarming party, or even the celebration of an accomplishment.”

Unfortunately, Amy knew which one the card indicated. There would be a wedding in the future--it just wouldn’t be hers.

Beauty in His Bed is now available from Lyrical Press, Inc. Read more or buy it at http://bit.ly/BeautyInHisBed. Visit L.K. Below online at www.lbelow.net.

Guest author LK Below

I'm guest blogging with author Stephanie Beck today, and also...


Have a fabulous guest blogger myself. LK Below is author of Stalking Shade, and urban fantasy with a touch of romance, which is one of 15 books on sale for 30% off during the Lyrical Press Christmas Bash, now through Christmas day.




Here's my interview with LK:




1.)    What is your all-time best Christmas memory?

LK: My best Christmas memories from years past will always be making Christmas cookies with Mom. I live provinces away now, and I miss that.

2.)    As an adult, what is your favorite part of December?

LK: Can I say making Christmas cookies again? LOL. I love to bake. When I get my hands on a new holiday recipe, I just have to try it out. What can I say?

3.)    Favorite Christmas movie, and why?

LK: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (the original cartoon version) will always be a classic to me. I remember watching it more than once with my sister. Our other favorite was Frosty the Snowman.

4.)    Why did you choose this book for the holiday bash?

LK: When the call for the holiday bash was announced, participating authors were asked to choose a holiday-themed song to represent their book. I wasn’t entirely sure if I could find one to match any of my published novels, but I decided to try. Then, lo and behold, I stumbled across Do You Hear What I Hear? Since in Stalking Shade, Lori is clairvoyant, I thought it witty and appropriate. I do love to be witty, when I can manage. *grins*

Thanks, LK! You are definitely witty, and I love that original Grinchypoo, too. (between you and I, it's probably the rhymes. I'm a sucker.)

Piper Denna

Romance is sexy!

Another project releases--Stalking Shade

Another of the books I edited--this one my first foray into urban fantasy and vampires, oh my!--releases today from Lyrical Press. LK Below is a very diverse author--from fairy tales to urban fantasy to romance (and a little bird told me she also writes YA), she can do it all, and well.


Stalking Shade, by LK Below

When the leader of Lori's secret organization goes missing, her life starts to fall apart.

Lori is a member of the Order, a secret organization with an invincible leader, or so she believes--until he disappears. Their mission is all about protecting him, the Spenta Michos, and the Order degenerates into chaos once he's gone.

Lori is determined to find him, with or without the support of the other members. But a madman shadows her every move, and she can barely keep herself out of the growing pile of victims. To make matters worse, she has to deal with a persistent faux-vampire who seems to think she's meant for him. 

How can she save the leader of her religion when she can barely protect herself?

Piper Denna

Romance is sexy!

A is for Apple, B is for Body paint

To celebrate release of her new book, today's blog is a guest post by LK Below.

Ten things I bet you didn’t know about body paint:

1) Mehndi or “henna tattoos” are a form of body paint. Through the application of the design on a body, they look almost like ink tattoos but slowly wear off after a week or two.

2) Some young Nuba (African) men celebrate their youth and vigor by painting their bodies.

3) Recent archeological research indicates that body paint may have been used as far back in the past as by Neanderthals.

4) In 1933 at the World Fair in Chicago, Max Factor (founder of Max Factor & Company cosmetics) was arrested for bringing a model dressed only in the specialized body paint he was developing for Hollywood.

5) In the 1950s and 1960s, there was an alternative art movement which involved painting a nude model and having that model then roll on a canvas to distribute it.

6) The World Body Painting Festival in Seeboden in Austria is the largest in the world, boasting thousands of visitors.

7) There are art galleries to display such body art. Craig Tracy is a famous artist who has opened one such gallery in New Orleans, called Painted Alive.

8) In 2009, Air New Zealand, a national airline, recorded a television commercial and safety video wearing painted-on uniforms as a part of their “Nothing to Hide” campaign. CEO Rob Fyde also took part in this activity.

9) Perhaps the most famous instance of the use of body paint is worn by model Rebecca Romijn as Mystique in the X-Men movies.

10) The heroine, Colleen, from my newest novella Never a Princess, Always a Frog wears nothing but green body paint to a saucy Halloween party, and it leads to a wild escapade that might just last longer than one night…

Here's the blurb for Never a Princess, Always a Frog:

Has this frog finally found her prince?

From the moment Colleen confesses her deepest desire--to experience the same passion she’s read about in books--she is swept away on the most daring escapade she’s ever experienced. Dressed in nothing but green paint, she attends a Halloween party searching for the man of her dreams. She finds him, but then fears she won’t be able to give him up.

Since the death of his wife five years ago, Dan’s life has been on auto-pilot. But from the moment he meets Colleen, he starts to feel alive again. And he knows he can’t let this would-be princess stride out of his life…

Buy the book or learn more at http://bit.ly/NeverAPrincess.

Want to win this book? Be sure to visit L.K. Below's blog for her Week-After-Release Party on Monday, July 11th 2011. One lucky commenter will win this book! Visit http://lbelow.blogspot.com and leave a comment on her party post on Monday to enter.

L.K. Below writes romance and speculative fiction. Under her full name, Lindsay Below, she pens young adult novels. Visit her online at www.lbelow.net.

Never a Princess?

It's release day for another of the books I edited--Never a Princess, Always a Frog, by LK Below.

This is a fun, short novella about a woman who dares to do something terrifyingly, outrageously, sexy (with a helping nudge from a friend)... with wonderful results.

It's on sale all this week for 30% off, which makes it just $1.75

Piper Denna

Romance is sexy!