Shira Anthony's Blog - Posts Tagged "aria"

Hard to believe it's December already. Seems like I was just flying out to New Mexico for GayRomLit 2012 and it was mid-October. A few days until Chanukah and a few weeks until Christmas, and we've got 60 degree weather in North Carolina. I'm liking it! Honestly, it's part of why my husband and I left the North and settled in the South. That, and the beautiful coast and mountains at either end of the North Carolina.

So with December here, the upcoming release of Aria (Blue Notes #3) is just around the corner (3 weeks from today exactly)! As a matter of fact, I shipped off the galley proof to Dreamspinner Press yesterday. To celebrate, I've got three contests going (a new one starting today!).

Contest #1: Comment on my blog (you can comment on my GR blog, too) to be entered to win a Blue Notes Series t-shirt of your choice (Blue Notes, The Melody Thief, or Aria). I just got the Aria t-shirts in the mail last week and they are gorgeous! Contest ends midnight on the first night of Chanukah, 12/8/12. And yes, unfortunately, since I've been bombarded by spam, you will have to register on WordPress to comment now. After I got over 500 spam messages in 6 hours, I decided I needed to block the computer spammers. But it's easy to register and you'll be set to comment on any WordPress blog.

Contest #2: Enter on Goodreads to win an autographed paperback copy of Aria. You must register to enter, but I highly recommend this wonderful social networking website for writers and readers. Goodreads has some wonderful romance groups, including the kick-ass MM Romance Group that just featured The Melody Thief as one of the November 2012 Books of the Month.

BRAND NEW CONTEST #3: Aiden Lind, the opera singer in Aria travels all over the world to perform. Comment below and tell me where you'd most like to travel if money wasn't an object, and you'll be entered to win your choice of Blue Notes or The Melody Thief in ebook format. Contest ends at midnight on 12/15/12.

Interested in reading an excerpt from Aria? Click here and scroll down to the "excerpt" tab. You can also read excerpts from Blue Notes and The Melody Thief by clicking on the links. Aria is available on Dreamspinner Press for preorder now. Oh, and The Melody Thief is on sale until 12/8/12 to celebrate the honorable mention "One Perfect Score" it received in the 2012 Rainbow Awards!

So be sure to check out all the goodies and get your name in for the contests. I'll be sharing some never before seen excerpts from Aria in the weeks leading up to release date. In the meantime, good luck and enjoy your December! -Shira

So, opera. Yeah. For those of you who might not be familiar with it, it can be pretty intimidating. I say that because that was me when I started college: totally intimidated. Worse, I was totally uninterested. I knew nothing about opera except that it was usually sung in foreign languages. Sure, I’d played classical violin for 15 years or so, but I’d never really listened to opera. Never been interested in listening, either. So at age 19, I listened to my first opera recording after someone suggested I had the kind of voice needed to sing opera. It was a recording of Bizet’s “Carmen,” a super-sexy opera about a woman who works in a cigarette factory in Spain and seduces a naïve young military man.

That’s when I figured out that operas, for the most part, were really like the soap operas that were named after them. They’re over the top romances and dramas, many with not so happy endings, with larger than life characters. Go see an opera today, and you’ll likely either hear it in English or you’ll have supertitles or even subtitles in the back of the seat in front of you. Opera singers more than not look the parts now. The “it’s not over until the fat lady sings” is pretty much dead.

Don’t believe me? Check out this short and sexy clip from Bizet’s “The Pearlfishers” (which, btw, Aiden sings in “Aria” ). True opera bromance: That would be Aiden on the right (the baritone). Yummy! No fat opera singers in sight, and oh, those abs! What are they singing about? You'll laugh. Classic opera angst. Both men love the same woman. They start off by singing about her, then swear to each other than she won't come between their friendship. Right. Then the tenor gets together with the woman (so much for swearing eternal brotherhood), and the baritone (Aiden) must step in to save both the tenor and soprano's lives. The baritone dies in the effort, but he does save them. My thoughts: they should have just dumped the chick and had their own HEA. But hey, I write gay romance, so that's the way my brain works.

Want to hear what I sounded like when I was singing? Here’s a clip of me singing "Tosca", in case you're interested. You can purchase a copy of Aria and the other books in the Blue Notes Series books at Dreamspinner Press.

Ten days and counting until the release of Prelude! A few days ago, my good friend Thea Nishimori commented on my David Somers blog post and asked me to set out the chronological order of the Blue Notes Series books. While I have to admit timelines are not my forte (just ask my Prelude co-author, Venona, to tell you how many times we revised the timeline in that book!), I thought it'd be a good challenge.

For those of you who have read the series, this may help to put together the puzzle pieces. For those of you new to the series, this may be another way for you to decide which series novel to begin with. And it's also a great way for me to introduce my current WIP, Encore, which will be book five in the series.

So, here's the list in chronological order. Remember, each book is meant to be read as a standalone and in any order. These are NOT sequels, although secondary characters often show up as main characters in later books:

1) Encore - This is the story of Alex Bishop's teacher, Roger Nelson, and David Somers's mentor and former music director of the Chicago Symphony, John Fuchs. The story, the oldest in the series, begins in the early 1970s and spans 40+ years.

2) Prelude - Alex Bishop and David Somers's story (Alex and David appear in all of the Blue Notes books, including Encore). Keep your eyes out for a scene toward the beginning of the book where you will meet Roger and John from Encore. That same scene appears in Encore, but from a completely different perspective (and with a twist that got me all verklempt!).

3) Blue Notes - Jules Bardon and Jason Greene's story. We learn in Blue Notes that Jason was roommates with David Somers at the University of Michigan.

4) Aria - Aiden Lind and Sam Ryan's story. Cellist Cary Redding from The Melody Thief makes an appearance in this one as Aiden's best friend.

5) The Melody Thief - Cary Redding and Antonio Bianchi's story. There's a scene in Thief with Cary and Aiden where Cary teases Aiden for being too happy with Sam. There's also a mention that David Somers tried to fix Cary and Aiden up at one point, but that the two men became best friends instead.

What's next for the series? I'm arguing with my muse. I have several stories started, including a story featuring Jules Bardon's little brother, Guy, and a story featuring Cameron, the cheating ex-boyfriend from Aria. I've also got a chamber music group (trio or quartet) in the still-in-my-imagination stage.

Do you have a particular character from the series you'd like me to write about? Or do you have a particular instrument you'd like to see featured in a Blue Notes Series story? I'm definitely open to suggestions! Leave me a comment or shoot me an email at shiraanthony@hotmail.com and my muse and I will duke it out. -Shira

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You can find all of the Blue Notes Series books at Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, AllRomanceEbooks, and other outlets.

Prelude is now available for pre-order from Dreamspinner Press! Release day is Monday, May 6th.

Want to read an excerpt from one or all of the books? Click on the "My Books" link and then on the "More" tab. Then just scroll down to the "Excerpt" tab. You'll also find the playlists for the Blue Notes books there!