Shira Anthony's Blog - Posts Tagged "series"

July has been a great month in so many ways! It started out with my submitting the third Blue Notes Series book to Dreamspinner Press and wonderful critical reviews of my latest DSP release, The Trust, which I co-authored with my old friend Venona Keyes. Jessewave called The Trust "science fiction at its best!" Not to mention the wonderful vacation with my husband of 20 years in the Caribbean where we both got open water certification in scuba diving.

Last week, I had the pleasure of spending time writing with my good friend and fellow DSP author, E.M. Lynley. We're working on an exciting joint project. Our week together ended with two new contracts from Dreamspinner - one for each of us! Oh, and yummy ginger martinis E.m. invented.

This week started with me receiving the final artwork for the cover of my upcoming release, The Melody Thief, the second in the Blue Notes series. Release date for Thief is August 24th, so check my website, http://www.shiraanthony.com, in the upcoming weeks for excerpts and contests.

Of course, I'm still working on several other projects, including the planned fourth book in the Blue Notes series, Prelude. It's always good to be busy, but it's great to sit back and just smile when the hard work pays off! -Shira

I have a weird brain. A music brain. The kind of brain that has me calling my husband by my son's name, but which remembers just about every word of every song I've ever heard. Including operas in Italian. Yep. I gave up singing more than a decade ago, but I bet I could still sing "Tosca" from memory. I guess it's no surprise then, that although I've given up singing, I can never give up music. It's in my DNA, or at least, it's imprinted on my aging brain cells! And here's the ultimate in weird: no matter what I hear, whether I know the music or I hear it in a commercial or just in passing on someone else's radio, that's the piece of music I will hear over and over again in my brain until I hear something else. No joke. Makes me nuts! Okay, so maybe I was there already....

My Blue Notes Series books are about music and musicians, so it probably would also not surprise you to hear that I do have "soundtracks" for each novel. Usually multiple classical music pieces and some jazz or rock, depending on my mood or the mood of the part of the story I'm writing at the time. The Melody Thief is no exception. My "theme" for The Melody Thief is the first movement of the Dvorak cello concerto. Yo-Yo Ma for this one - love that man! It's angsty, sexy and beautiful all rolled up into one amazing piece of music.

So what went through my brain yesterday, while I was at my real-life job, trying a child neglect case in front of a judge? Not the questions I was going to ask my witnesses, not the "theme" of my case. Nope. The Dvorak. I heard it when I was cross-examining witnesses, when I was making an impassioned closing statement to the judge, when I drove back home after the trial. No joke! It's almost as if there's another "track" in my mind that processes all the other stuff and the music just runs in a constant feedback loop. And it keeps going until I hear something else, or until I sing something else to myself (a very helpful approach when it's Justin Bieber singing "Baby, Baby" over and over again courtesy of my daughter!).

Okay. Confessional over. So when you're reading The Melody Thief as I hope you will, maybe for at least a few minutes while you're reading you'll hear some of the music that haunts me through my characters.

You can win a copy of The Melody Thief! Just comment on my blog until midnight, 8/23/12 to enter to win an ebook copy (format of your choice) of the book, which will be released on 8/24. You can also enter on Goodreads to win a signed, paperback copy. More contests next week to celebrate Thief's release.

 

 

The giveaway for the ebook copy of The Melody Thief , the second novel in the Blue Notes Series, ends tonight at midnight. All you need to do to enter is comment on my blog (www.shiraanthony.com). The book will be released on Friday, August 24th and I'll be having a release day party here on my blog. I'll be giving away an ebook copy of the original Blue Notes Series novel, Blue Notes, and a Melody Thief t-shirt with that gorgeous Catt Ford cover you see at the left (love that grin!).

The Melody Thief focuses on the importance of family and commitments, and what it means to be loved and to love someone in return. Cary Redding, a renowned classical cellist, is the melody thief—a man whose painful childhood has left him with nothing but his music. He lives his life without letting himself feel and dulls his pain with anonymous sex and alcohol.

Cary doesn’t mean to fall in love. He doesn’t want to. But when lawyer Antonio Bianchi saves Cary from muggers on a deserted Milan street, Cary finds himself falling hard. Then there’s a “little” complication— Antonio has a five year old son. Cary isn’t ready for a relationship, and he sure as hell isn’t ready for an instant family. But sometimes what you think you aren’t ready for is just what you need. I hope you’ll enjoy Cary’s journey of the heart as he learns to love and let himself be loved.

Want to read an excerpt? Click here and scroll down to click on the "excerpt" tab. Want to win a paperback copy of The Melody Thief? You also have until midnight tonight to win a paperback copy of the novel at Goodreads.com. Good luck! -Shira

Congratulations Alex! You're the winner of an ebook copy of "The Melody Thief." I'll be contacting you by email.

Release day for "The Melody Thief" is tomorrow, August 24th! It's also the first day of the Rainbow Book Reviews Blog Hop. To celebrate release day and the hop, I'll be running several contests here on my blog. Prizes include a Blue Notes Series t-shirt (you can choose from the original Blue Notes or The Melody Thief covers - click on the link to see them both) and an ebook copy of the original Blue Notes book (your choice of formats).

Come help me celebrate and check out all the wonderful blogs participating in the hop. There are prizes galore on the main hop site and on individual blogs. -Shira

Happy weekend and welcome to the Rainbow Reviews Blog Hop! Oh, and welcome to release day (Friday 8/24) for my latest gay romance, “The Melody Thief!” Yep, two-for-one day, and definitely time to celebrate! As part of the hop (and release day), I’ll be giving away one eBook copy of “Blue Notes,” the original Blue Notes Series book from Dreamspinner Press (your choice of formats) and a Blue Notes Series t-shirt (your choice of covers). To enter, just leave a comment with your email address on my blog. And be sure to check out all the other wonderful blogs and giveaways (click on the hop logo above)!

“The Melody Thief”

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Blue Notes Series, each book is a standalone novel that takes place in the same classical music universe. What does a “classical music” universe look like? It’s a place where performers share connections and friendships through their music. Characters include performers, entertainment lawyers, agents, and the people they know and love. Stories are often set in places where performers congregate—large cities like Paris, New York, Milan, and Chicago feature prominently in the series.

The original book in the series, “Blue Notes,” features a jazz violinist and a former musician turned lawyer, and is set in Paris. This new installment, “The Melody Thief,” features a classical cellist with an international career and an entertainment lawyer, and is set in Milan.

“The Melody Thief” is the story of cellist Cary Redding, a former child prodigy and a budding superstar on the classical music scene. Cary’s career is skyrocketing, but his personal life is a disaster. He’s addicted to anonymous sex and flirts with alcohol addiction. Everything comes crashing down around Cary when he’s mugged on a deserted Milan street while coming home from a gay bar. Things look grim until he’s rescued by Antonio Bianchi, an Italian lawyer (for those of you who have read “Blue Notes,” you’ll recognize Antonio as Rosalie’s lawyer).

Cary doesn’t want a relationship, although he’d be happy to end up in bed with Antonio. Things get complicated because Cary lies about who he is and pretends to be an out of work composer. The last thing Cary expects is to fall for Antonio. There’s also another complication: Antonio has a five year old son, Massimo. But when Antonio adds a little romance to Cary’s life, Cary falls hard. Now if he could only come clean about who and what he is.

To read an excerpt from “The Melody Thief,” click on the link and scroll down to the “Excerpt” tab.

Now, on to the theme of the Rainbow Review Blog Hop:

“What does writing GLBTQ literature mean to me?”

In some ways, writing gay romance isn’t all that different than writing anything else: it’s an act of self-expression, something my creative brain urges me to do. Ironic then, isn’t it, that a straight woman could learn far more about herself writing gay relationships than she ever learned from writing heterosexual ones.

I grew up in the 70s. My mother was a professional musician, my dad a college professor. Open-minded, politically active parents with openly gay friends. I never even thought twice about homosexuality as being “wrong.” It just was. The majority of men who inhabited my career universe, opera, were gay. Plenty of the women too. My best friend is a gay man—one of the best men I know. Kind, strong, intelligent, funny. In grad school, we used to say (with some seriousness) that if I wasn’t married by age 35, we’d get married and have a family together.

So what did I read at night when I was a college student? Harlequin romances. And boy, oh boy, did I long for more!

My first published romance was a het one. Spunky heroine with big boobs falls head over heels for another slave on the pirate ship where she’s held captive. Loved the hero. Hated the heroine. She was just so... wimpy. So not me. I’m a product of the women’s liberation movement—my parents told me I could do anything I wanted to do. I sang opera, went to law school in my 30s, and started writing professionally in my 40s.

My “a-ha” moment? My epiphany? When a friend asked me to co-author a love story about two men. My first thought: why not? My second: will I enjoy this? I couldn’t answer the first question (I figured that was a good sign). Still, I was pretty sure the answer to the second question would be “probably not.” Oh, how I was wrong!

I have a hard time explaining why I find gay romances so downright hot. Someone asked me if it’s because I can imagine “converting” the men to heterosexuality. Definitely not. And I don’t want to just substitute a different set of “junk” and create a main character who’s really a woman beneath it all (well not unless I end up writing a transgender story at some point!). But that got me thinking. I love men. Always have. I love their bodies, I love that they can be strong, self-assured and nobody faults them for it. There are so many shades of men, each with unique strengths, flaws, and weaknesses.

Which just leads me to the next reason I love writing gay romance: I want people to know how I feel about homosexuality. I want them to know I celebrate it. I want to write my best friend his own happy ending because, dammit, he deserves one like I got with my husband. And yes, there are times when I preach a little. And because I try to write about real relationships, I don’t skip condom use (or lack thereof). I’m not afraid to write explicit sex scenes because, let’s face it, real men have sex. And it’s not the glossed-over sex I read in those Harlequins years ago (if they even had sex); it’s sex as in a real physical relationship between human beings.

In the end, though, writing gay romance isn’t all that different from writing romance. My stories are about human failings, human strengths, and human emotions. The appeal of a well-written romance is that it can reach out and touch a reader’s heart, maybe even help the reader to learn something about him/herself, just as gay romance has touched my own heart and helped me to understand more about myself. -Shira

 

 

My guest today is Dreamspinner Press author Tali Spencer. Tali's book, Sorcerer's Knot , was just released by Dreamspinner Press. It's also queued up on my Kindle (can't wait!). So when I invited Tali and she suggested she blog about tentacle monsters, I said, "Bring it on!" Nothing like sexy men and tentacles. I loved this amazing book! For my review, click here. And, that cover! Nothing like an Anne Cain cover to make me drool.

Welcome, Tali, and congratulations on the new release! -Shira

****************

Thanks to Shira for having me stop by to talk about my new release, Sorcerer’s Knot. If you turn a sickly shade of green at the thought of rugged cliffs and crashing waves, this might not be the book for you. But if you enjoy magic and wizards and windswept islands, you just might love Sorcerer’s Knot.

You should know going in, though, that the story has a tentacle monster. The publisher didn’t put one on the cover, because the cover wasn’t big enough.

And why does it have a tentacle monster, you might ask? Well, here are the ten top reasons for a writer to put a tentacle monster in their book.

10. Your book will stand out in a crowd. How many books feature vampires? Werewolves? Firefighters? How about tentacle monsters? I rest my case.

9. Tentacle sex.

8. Readers won’t have to worry about a threesome or possible cheating, or whether the relationship happens too quickly. Almost no one expects the usual rules of courtship to apply to a tentacle monster.

7. Negative publicity. It’s better than none.

6. Some readers will try to understand the motives of the tentacle monster and make apologies for it. This is always fun.

5. Describing a tentacle monster is challenging and requires cracking out the old thesaurus so you can dredge up words like membranous, pustule, carapace, squamous, tenebrous, prehensile, and proboscidian. Using such words to describe most villains would be outrageous, but is expected when the villain has tentacles.

4. There’s no question that your protagonist is in trouble when he’s dangling by his ankle in front of a tentacle monster.

3. Great conversation starter for social occasions: “Meet my wife. She writes books about tentacle monsters,” starts a conversation every time.

2. Did I mention tentacle sex?

1. It’s a tentacle monster!

All kidding aside, though…

Sorcerer’s Knot is a dark book, with a gritty love story and grittier plot. It takes place in a world where primal forces still rule and magic can be stolen. The hero may not be who he at first seems. And there’s real danger in unburying secrets.

Blurb: In a world where pleasure unlocks even the best-guarded magic, Cian has a long list of magical talents—and an even longer list of sorcerers he slept with to acquire them. He even seduced a dragon. There’s just one arcane power left for him to master: command over the sea. Now Cian has learned where to find Muir the Scarred, the only man known to have mastered that power—and he is determined to wrest it from him by whatever means necessary.

But completing the task isn’t so easy. First, Cian’s boat is wrecked on the shores of Muir’s desolate island. Then he learns an enchantment will keep him there forever. And when he tries to seduce Muir, he finds himself being seduced by the mysterious sorcerer instead. But the source of the power Cian seeks is also trapped on the island, and it will stop at nothing to break free, even if that means forcing pleasure—and magic—from Cian's unwilling body.

Excerpt:

The sea cradled the moon and shattered against a silvered coastline. Froth churned on rocks that gnashed at the water like teeth. Barely seen on the horizon, a single island, shaped like a horn, lifted above the ink-black surface. Cian saw no way to the beach but to climb down the bluff on which he stood.

There was no way to the island at all.

Sea magic, the most elusive of the seven arcana by which a man might order the elements, was tightly guarded. Fresh water belonged to the sky or the earth, and could be ordered by those who knew their words of power, but the ocean was its own domain, answerable to its own gods. Only one man had ever mastered its secret language.

Many great mages had tried to find the sea’s master and failed, but Cian hadn’t let that stop him. At the age of six, he had confounded his village’s elders by transmuting iron into gold, a talent that, a few years later, had attracted the attention of an avaricious monk. Sequestered in a mountain monastery, he had toiled in captivity, making gold until he was seized by an even more avaricious king, whose sorcerers had refined his gifts. Under their tutelage, he had learned the keys of magic.

At sixteen he became restless and, sensing that his usefulness was limiting what others allowed him to know, began delving into arts his masters would not teach. With single-minded dedication, he had burned his hours until he had learned the language of dragons, necromancy’s black secrets—and of the sea’s one master.

He had escaped every one of his keepers, and now he was in the full prime of his adulthood. His skills were such that he could draw knowledge through the thick skulls of kings and mages, adding to his trove of lore, but no matter to what land he traveled or what power he touched, the man he sought was never to be found except in the form of a rumor, a myth. At last, from the mind of a sea creature dragged from the ocean’s depths, he learned a name.

Muir the Scarred.

That was the man Cian sought. A man who commanded the oceans, their currents and creatures, whose fell whispers gave birth to whirlpools, storms, and tides. A man who, decades before Cian had been born, had destroyed a great civilization in an hour, sending it to the bottom of the Twice-Gated Sea.

I have found you, old man, Cian exulted as he climbed down to the beach. The sea creature had told him to seek Muir on an island at the edge of creation, the place where the sea had first given birth to land. This was that place. But once on the beach, he stood confounded. A wide channel separated this tongue of primordial headland from the island. Even if he could swim strongly enough to break across swift, dangerous currents and whorls, the water here was too cold for him to survive long.

Muir guarded his island well.

Cian looked around. He might command rock to fill in the channel, but the sea here was deep, the natives said, and it might take the whole headland to do it. Even for him such an endeavor would take many weeks, and such activity would surely attract Muir’s notice. However, the beach was not entirely barren; the tides had left behind drifts of battered wood, planks and masts from ships that had foundered on the rocks.

Form of a boat, he spoke the language of the earth, material of a sail. Wood and seaweed, errant roots and living creatures buried in the sand, released their previous natures and reformed as stout timber, canvas, and rope. The boat was large enough for sea duty and small enough for one man to command. Cian pushed it out past the breakers and hauled his soaked body aboard. Taking the helm and manning the lines, he turned her out to sea.

 

The sea struck before he could reach the island. The water turned furious, hurling black waves at the small boat, spilling over its sides with claws of white spume that threatened to drag it under. Soon the violence would break the masts and weaken the hull. Muir had warded his hiding place against vessels. Cian cursed, though he had predicted the precaution. No matter. The boat had done what he needed: brought him close enough to the island he could now commit his body to the task of reaching its shore. He pulled off his boots and jacket.

As he dove into the water, seeking to distance himself from his sinking boat, he heard the mast snap. There would be more peril, but he did not turn to look. Muir would not content himself with waves; there would be vortices, also. The cold water filled his clothing and threatened to cramp his limbs, but he stroked toward the island that reared before him now like a great black stair. He was a strong swimmer. And he’d learned all there was to know about Muir.

The waves got the best of him. No mere man could overcome the sea, and Cian, in the sea, commanded no magic that could help him. He managed to mouth a spell that created a shell of air in which he might breathe, and it held for a minute, then a wave bigger than all the others pushed him under with such force his bubble struck bottom. The bubble cushioned the impact so his body was spared, but the cold dark currents of the sea ripped it free. Tumbled by currents, Cian flailed desperately in search of the surface until at length his strength gave out and his lungs opened, inhaling water.

This, he thought, was death.

Battered against the sea floor, his body exploded with pain as he tumbled over smooth, eroded rocks and tangled in weeds, rolled over time and again until he lay sprawled in water and opened his eyes to see a man in a billowing black robe, hooded and terrible, striding toward him along a path above which the sea towered on either side, churning white froth. Cian watched black boots treading seaweed and sand underfoot, coming closer and closer; then a giant hand reached for him, and he sank into merciful blackness.

 

Cian awoke from nightmares of drowning to the sweetness of air on his lips and cheek. A welcome warmth and the smell of burning wood let him know he had a fire to thank. He began to whisper the air to moisture on his parched lips when he remembered he should be dead, and his eyes flew open.

He was under a roof, within stone walls. A brazier sat nearby. The man seated beside his bed and illuminated by those coals had black hair and the remote face of a king such as Cian had served and fled. He might even have been handsome once. Now, however, the most striking thing about his appearance was a pattern of ridged, circular scars upon his forehead and left cheek, continuing in a puckered line to his neck. A beard somewhat concealed those on his jaw. The scars, while startling, had been with him long enough to have paled. One scar over the left eye had healed badly and sealed the lid partly closed, but the orb within, as black and penetrating as its twin, peered at him alertly.

“There you are,” the man said. “Well worth the effort.” He had a rough voice, perhaps from disuse.

“Where am I?” Cian prompted. Simple questions were the best to start.

Well-shaped lips pulled tight. “You’re on my island; you’re in my house, in fact. The real question is, who are you? No one comes to this island unsummoned, because no one not of this island knows it exists or has the skill to find out that it exists. Yet here you are.”

“My name is Cian. My boat was swept into these waters.”

“The winds and currents usually carry boats away.”

To that Cian said nothing. From what he knew of the island, it was true. He had commanded a change in the wind to get here.

His host turned to a table and lifted a bowl, stirring its contents with a bone spoon. “Soup? I eat plainly, but will share what I have for a day or two.”

Though his body hurt all over, the rich aroma wafting toward him persuaded him to sit. “Many thanks,” he said, accepting the bowl. He had been stripped of his garments—no surprise there, as they’d been soaked and ruined—but had been given a blanket. It slid to his hips and he noticed that the scarred man perused his torso for a long moment before looking back to his face. “I don’t suppose you get many guests.”

“No, not many at all. I prefer people stay away.”

“Why? Aren’t you lonely?”

“Often. I address that on occasion. You ask a lot of questions.”

He had one more. “I told you my name. Will you tell me yours?”

“Muir.” The sorcerer rose and walked away, tall and straight, his long robe displaying a stride that was limber, almost youthful. Cian knew him to be fifty years old at least and had expected a more decrepit man.

He finished his soup and the sorcerer took away the bowl, then left him alone while his battered body pulled him back toward sleep. He dreamed of the cold deep, of sinking ships and beaked, ravenous things that moved through the water on boneless limbs.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading and having a little fun with tentacle monsters!

Interested in finding the book? Here are some buy links:

Dreamspinner: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3183

AllRomance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-sorcerer039sknot-918294-140.html

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sorcerers-Knot-ebook/dp/B009138YDW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1346083175&sr=1-1&keywords=tali+spencer

Interested in finding me? I’ve made it easy.

Email: tali.spencer1@gmail.com

My blog: http://talismania-brilliantdisguise.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @tali_spencer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tali.spencer

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's a short work week for a lot of us, but somehow those always feel longer to me. I thought I'd mix things up by posting midweek and sharing a bit about the Blue Notes Series in general, then end with an excerpt from book #3 in the series, "Aria," due out in December from Dreamspinner Press. And it's a NSFW excerpt for 18+. My favorite kind! You can find the excerpt here (scroll down to "excerpt" and click on the + sign).

First off, let me share a secret: the Blue Notes Series is a bit of a personal fantasy of mine. A classical music universe (a bit of jazz and rock, too), beautiful men, romance, and happily-ever-afters. Then again, I grew up with lots of romantic fantasies. No surprise, then, that when I finally decided to try writing a novel, it was a romance.

I grew up with music. My mother, sister and I all had careers as professional musicians. I started out as a violinist and, in college, discovered opera. I sang opera professionally for more than ten years. So when I was trying to figure out what to write about for my second MM novel, I thought about what I knew and what I loved. From there, it was an easy decision.

Writing the books, however, was more of a challenge, because each of them deals with issues I myself have had some experience with as a musician: stage fright, long-distance relationships, and letting go so that you can allow your musical soul to shine through, among other things. Difficult issues for me to face, even more difficult to write about. And while I’m not a gay man, most of the men I met while I was singing were gay men. Wonderful men, some of whom I still count as my closest friends.

Each Blue Notes Series novel is a freestanding story and the books can be read in any order, although the main characters in one book may appear as secondary characters in another. The first book in the series, “Blue Notes,” is the story of former pianist Jason Greene, who escapes the pain of a failed relationship by running to Paris. There, he meets a jazz violinist, Jules Bardon, and learns about himself: what makes him happy and how to let go of the pain he’s been harboring for decades.

The second Blue Notes novel, “The Melody Thief,” is the story of cellist Cary Redding, a former child prodigy, sought after by conductors the world over. Underneath the veneer of success, however, Cary hides a world of pain. He escapes his past by drinking too much and seeking out anonymous sexual encounters in seedy bars. But Cary’s dual life comes crashing down around him when he’s rescued by lawyer Antonio Bianchi on a deserted Milan street. With Antonio’s help, Cary is able to overcome his past and become the man he wants to be.

The third novel in the series, “Aria,” to be published in December of 2012, is the story of Sam Ryan, a lawyer, and opera singer Aiden Lind. Sam and Aiden are instantly attracted to each other when they first meet in New York City. But Sam is still grieving the sudden death of his partner of seven years, and Aiden gets an offer to sing in Europe. They go their separate ways, only to meet again, five years later. But managing a relationship in the face of a career where you are nearly always on the road is a challenge for both men. And Sam hasn’t quite gotten over the pain of his loss, either. Together, they must find a way to work with Aiden’s jet-setting lifestyle and for Sam to move on from his grief.

There are at least five more novels planned in the series, including "Prelude" (my current WIP set for tentative publication in April, 2013), which tells the story of conductor David Somers (who appears in every Blue Notes Series book so far) and crossover violinist Alex Bishop. Also planned is "Dissonance," the story of Guy Bardon (brother of Jules Bardon from "Blue Notes") and drummer Henri Duhamel (drummer in Jules Bardon's jazz trio).

The one recurring theme of the Blue Notes Series novels, other than music, is the importance of relationships to character growth. Although there certainly are more fanciful plot twists in the novels, at their heart, they are stories of real human relationships and feelings. Real men. Real relationships. Real emotions. Many of the books are traditional romances, with a happily ever after (HEA) at the end. Others, however, have the HEA earlier on, and focus on the growth of love and overcoming obstacles to love after the HEA.

Each story in the series celebrates romance and love between men, and each story embraces the creative spirit in all of us. To read an excerpt from the next Blue Notes novel, "Aria," click here, then scroll down to "excerpt" and click on the + sign.

"The Melody Thief" (Blue Notes #2) just received its first editorial review from Melanie Marshall of Joyfully Jay and Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words. It's a lovely review and it always makes me feel so good when a reviewer gets the point of a book. More than just "gets it," really. "Gets" a part of me.

Melanie writes, "[Shira Anthony's] experience gives such depth to the musicians here and the life they must lead in order to rise to the top of the field that our understanding of the discipline it takes becomes much clearer. It is not enough to be gifted, one must also be driven as well. To have the music be an all encompassing part of your life has a price, and Anthony brings this theme throughout her series, as all the characters must look at their lives, past, present and future and balance it out with their obsessive need to play and be heard."

Wow. I read this and I thought,"Yep. That's me. The person with a gift for singing that just wasn't able to make it the all encompassing part of my life that my characters have."

I sang professionally for about 14 years. For those of you who know a bit about the performing arts, you'll understand how difficult a career it is. I had my second child when I was 33. Until then, I'd been flying up to New York City for voice lessons every other week or so and working as an administrative assistant at a law firm. I'd sing two or three "gigs" a year, but I was spending the majority of my time working at a job I didn't enjoy and traveling far from my family. Nobody forced me to quit. My husband was incredibly supportive of my singing. He was as excited as I was when the San Franscisco Examiner wrote of a performance of "Pagliacci," "Remember the name. Gruber is a discovery!" It was a high point for me. A vindication, of sorts. The universe telling me I was good enough to make a career of singing.

But at some point, adults have to make difficult choices. I saw singers a few years ahead of me career-wise, saw their floundering marriages, and sensed their pain at having to leave their families behind when they traveled. And for opera, at least, travel was an integral part of the career. There are few, if any opera companies left in the world in the 21st Century who have year-round contract singers. Add to those considerations my own growing fear of performing well in audition situations (for me, the actual performance was never really an issue, it was the "proving myself" part of the equation that left me shaking in my boots), and I decided it was time to let go and move on. Hardest decision I've ever made, and one that still haunts me.

For those of you who have read "Blue Notes" and who know my story, you'll realize there's a great deal of Shira in Jason Greene, the former pianist, now attorney. The pain of giving up a career in music in that story is my own. The same is true for the upcoming third installment of the series, "Aria." Much of that book draws on my own life experiences when I was living with and later married to my wonderful (and patient!) husband. Opera singer Aiden Lind's nomadic life was mine for a short time, although I never reached the heights of my career that Aiden does in the novel. But the pain and challenges of a long-distance relationship? Been there, done that.

I say all this because it really does mean a great deal to me when a reader or a reviewer connects with the story and understands the intention behind it. In retrospect, I feel lucky to have had the experiences I've had, even the painful ones. It means even more to me to be able to share them with others and help them to understand. -Shira

PS: Want to hear what I sounded like in my 20s? Click here. That's me, recorded live singing the title role in "Tosca."

Welcome to day two of the Howloween Blog Hop! Be sure to check out all the other wonderful blogs taking part in the hop by clicking on the graphic or the link above. Each blogger is offering wonderful prizes, so be sure to check them all out!

My prize? An ebook copy of your choice of my Dreamspinner Press releases. You can check them all out here or by clicking on the "My Books" link to the left of this post. Enter by commenting on this post, and don't forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win! I'll be drawing a winner on October 30th.

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For day two of the hop, and in honor of Halloween, one of my favorite holidays, I thought I'd share my own personal horror story from my real life opera career. I've already told you that in my various roles I've been stabbed to death, jumped to my death, and died of consumption (at least twice). I also got to stab a villain to death in "Tosca," which was a lot of fun. (I know, I'm a little twisted!) And, by the way, one of my boys in "Aria" (Blue Notes #3), plays the part of the villain I got to stab.

[caption id="attachment_1172" align="alignright" width="277"] Me on stage at the famous La Scala Opera. Okay. Not me. In my dreams![/caption]

Part of any opera singer's training involves stage combat. At one point, I actually knew how to use a sword (not very well, but I did know how to use one). I knew how to pull a punch, slap someone across the face, pull someone by their hair, and, most importantly, how to stab someone. I also knew how to get stabbed. Or maybe I should say I knew how to avoid getting stabbed for real with a knife.

Yes. Most operatic "stabbings" are done with REAL knives. Which, believe it or not, is usually the safest type of knife to use. I say "usually," because in my personal experience, there was one production that left me wondering.

[caption id="attachment_1174" align="alignleft" width="240"] Luciano Pavarotti in "I Pagliacci"[/caption]

One of the first roles I ever performed was Nedda in "I Pagliacci." If you've seen a crying clown singing opera in a commercial, that's "Pagliacci." Nedda is the wife of the crying clown and one of the members of the troupe of performers who travel from town to town, entertaining the local folks. She was rescued from the streets when she was very young and, well, she's not so happily married to the ageing head of the troupe. She's getting a little something on the side from a very handsome young baritone. She also is fighting off another troupe member who insists on trying to rape her.

So here I am, maybe 25, singing in California with a tenor who was well past his prime (but perfect for the role). And he's a little iffy, in many ways. And I'm being shoved around by a very nice baritone (the one who tries to rape my character) who gets a bit carried away with the emotion of the scene. Hence the finger-sized bruises on my upper arms. I can handle that. Bruises fade, and he really didn't mean to grip my quite so hard.

The tenor, on the other hand, is a problem. The last scene in the opera, he's found out I've been cheating on him, and that I plan to run away with the handsome baritone. He's not very happy about that (understatement of the century). At the end of the scene, where we are both in clown makeup and supposedly putting on our play for the audience, the tenor is supposed to grab a knife off the table and stab both me and the cutie pie I'm trying to run off with. I'm cool with that. What I'm not so cool with is that in rehearsals, we didn't yet have the knife, so the tenor was using a spoon on us. And really JABBING us in the gut with it. Ouch!

[caption id="attachment_1171" align="alignleft" width="264"] Interior of the La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy[/caption]

At this point, the baritone says, "Time out!" Mind you, he and I were both thinking, "If this guy's going to use a real knife on us, we're going to get hurt." Yes, they dull the knives, but a butter knife can still end up in your belly. Not a good thing. Enter the propmistress. She's the person who provides us with the knives.

We discuss a collapsible knife. You've seen these, I'm guessing. Hard plastic, and when you press the blade against something, it slips inside the handle of the knife. But they tend to jam. Baritone and I are thinking, "That would hurt like hell." Not an option.

[caption id="attachment_1173" align="alignright" width="240"] Rubber Knife[/caption]

We discuss a rubber knife. Wobbles like a rubber chicken. Totally unconvincing. Not an option.

Back to the real knife.

And so it went for days. Seriously! And over that time, the tenor got more and more iffy. He's still not getting his musical cues, he is missing entrances all over the place, and still stabbing us with the spoons. The baritone and I put our collective feet down. Finally, the tenor has a hissy fit in front of the entire cast and quits. Just like that.

Did I mention that "I Pagliacci" is usually performed with another short opera, "Cavalleria Rusticana?" Thank God for that! Turns out the tenor singing in THAT cast knows the role in "I Pagliacci." He is totally professional and steps into the role with only a week of rehearsals. So in the end, we got stabbed with a real knife. I ended up with a bunch of bruises and a rave review in the San Francisco Examiner. No puncture wounds, though!

By the way, in case you're interested in how you "stab" someone with a real knife and make it look real? The person doing the stabbing has their back to the audience and holds the knife where everyone can see. They make a pretty obvious stabbing movement toward the belly of the person being stabbed and, as they come in to do the stabbing, they flatten the knife and literally lay it across the other person's gut. Believe me, it looks pretty damn convincing. The person getting stabbed grabs their abdomen and falls to his/her knees, writhing in pain, then becomes still. Or maybe sings an aria and then dies (this IS opera, after all!).

Hope you enjoyed my little story. Entirely true, all of it. Ah, the glamorous life of an opera singer. -Shira

PS: Did I mention there was an earthquake during rehearsals and that this was performed in Oakland, CA, about a year after the big quake that brought down part of the Bay Bridge?

Release day has come and gone, and I'm busy bouncing around on my Aria Blog Tour. Today, I'm over at Love Romances and More chatting with Dawn and running a contest for a free ebook of the winner's choice of my Dreamspinner back catalog. Stop by and comment to be entered. Dawn will draw a name for a winner tomorrow, 12/28.

I have a few winners to announce from the prerelease contests I ran here. Agnes is the winner of the Blue Notes paperback. Andrea M won the t-shirt. Urbanista won the mug with the Melody Thief cover, and Marie won a copy of one of the first two Blue Notes Series books. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone for commenting!

Stay tuned for more Blue Notes Series goodies and giveaways during the blog tour. And if you haven't already, check out Aria on Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, AllRomanceEbooks, and Barnes & Noble. It's available in all ebook formats and in paperback (I just got my author copies, and boy is it a pretty cover!). And for a limited time, Aria and the rest of the Blue Notes Series are on sale at Dreamspinner (all series are on sale!). -Shira