Saturday, August 25, 2007

From Cynthia Eden: Let's Get Psychic!

Hi, everyone! And a very BIG thank you to Jacquelyn for inviting me to guest blog today. Wow, I am such a Jacquelyn Frank fan girl—I love those sexy Nightwalkers!

At this point, I realize that I should introduce myself (and by that, I mean saying more than just that I’m Jacquelyn’s fan!). I’m Cynthia Eden. I write paranormal suspense and erotic romance. When I started writing, I began my career with ImaJinn Books and Red Sage Publishing. I’ve recently gotten new contracts with Avon Red and Kensington Brava.

The novel that I’d like to talk about today is my upcoming Kensington Brava release (okay, by upcoming, I mean 05/08!). Here’s a little blurb about my paranormal suspense, HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT:

Emily Drake is a psychologist with a very special talent—thanks to her empathic power, she can touch the thoughts and emotions of her patients. And Emily’s patients, well, they aren’t exactly typical either; they’re Other—vampires, demons, all of the creatures that humans fear in the darkness of the night.

When one of the Other starts killing humans, Emily is pulled into the investigation. Colin Gyth, the lead detective on the case, doesn’t trust her, and, since Emily senses he’s a shifter, a being born with the ability to transform into an animal, the feeling is pretty mutual. Never trust anything born with two faces ... that was Emily’s motto. However, she and Colin are forced to put aside their misgivings and work together once Emily officially joins the investigation as a profiler.

While Emily and Colin search to unmask the killer, an unexpected passion grows between them. Burned in the past by those he’d trusted, Colin had never thought he’d let a woman get to close to him again, especially a woman with a dangerous power like Emily’s. Yet he finds that he can’t resist her. There’s something about the reserved Doctor Drake that calls to him, and the beast within the man recognizes his mate. But when the killer sets his sights on Emily, Colin will have to risk his life in order to protect the woman he craves more than anything else, and Emily will have to use her gift to look into the very heart of evil in order to defeat the monster hiding in the shadows.

* * *

Jacquelyn gave me a quote for this story—a quote that absolutely made my day, “A cross between CSI and Medium, only hotter and with a hero that truly has bite!”

Oh, yeah, I love that quote. First of all, I’m a huge fan of The Medium—no matter how many times NBC changes the line-up, I manage to find Mrs. Dubois and tune in for my psychic fix.

I always been intrigued by the idea of psychic powers. Always wondered what it would be like to have the ability to predict the future or to read the minds of others. When I was a kid, my mom gave me this game called “Psi-Kick”—it was supposed to encourage the development of psychic powers. It came with dowsing rods, ESP cards, dice, and a few other bits and pieces that time has made me forget. I do, however, remember playing with that game for hours. And you know what? Sadly, I do not think that my psychic powers improved AT ALL.

So, since I don’t have any powers, I decided to create a heroine who did have those powers. Emily Drake is strong, smart, and a dang fine psychic. She’s got phenomenal empathic powers, but, as fate would have it, those powers only work with the Other. So, she makes that unusual talent work for her—and she opens a practice just for paranormals.

And, as fate would have it (okay, as I planned it), Emily falls for one of the Other at the really, really wrong time.

Here’s an (unedited!) excerpt from HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT:


“How much do you know?”

Emily swallowed, tried to figure out just how much she should reveal.

His hold tightened around her.

He was the one sitting down, the one forced to look up at her, but Emily had the feeling she was the one in the vulnerable position. “I-I know you aren’t human.” Her voice came out softer, huskier than she’d intended.

She hoped Colin would leave it at that. Hoped he wouldn’t probe any deeper.

“Ah, baby, I already knew that.”

She tried to tug her hand free, but his grip was unbreakable.

“You’re the Monster Doctor, the one all the local ghouls go to see.” A faint trace of amusement underscored his words. But his eyes were watchful, intense, showing no echo of humor.

Her jaw clenched. “Let go of my hand.”

He smiled at her, and his fingers fell away from her wrist.

Emily immediately sprang across the room, putting several feet between them. Nice, protective space. “Look, if you aren’t here to discuss the case, then I want you to leave.” She turned her back on him, heading toward the front door.


“How do you do it?”

His words stopped her.

“How do you tell who is human and who isn’t?”

She heard the soft rustle of the sofa cushions as he rose.

“That’s a pretty interesting talent you’ve got there. And I’m just dying to know exactly how you do it.”

Emily cast a longing glance toward the front door. “I’m afraid you’re just going to have to live with your curiosity, Detective.” Because she sure as hell wasn’t going to reveal her innermost secrets to a stranger. Yep, letting the guy inside had been a definite mistake.

“Hmmm.” His breath blew against the nape of her neck. Emily jumped, startled to find him so close to her. The guy hadn’t made a sound when he’d crossed the room.

“I’d like to see your hair down,” he muttered, and his fingers brushed against the bun she’d yet to unwind.

She jerked away from him. “And I’d like to see you leave. Guess which one of us is about to get her wish?”

His hard lips curved into a smile, a smile with a hint of real warmth. “Tough lady, aren’t you?”

She’d had to be.

His smile slowly faded. “But trust me, I’m a hell of a lot tougher than you could ever dream of being.” And in a flash, he had her penned against the wall. His strong, hard body pressed against her, his muscular thighs pushed between hers, shoving up her skirt, and his right hand locked around her wrists as he forced them against the wall over her head.

Her breath left her body in a startled gasp.

“Now let’s try this again,” he growled. “Just how much do you know about me?”

* * *

Well, I’ll just tell you…my heroine knows every secret my hero has. Every single one.

It’s good to be psychic. Here’s a pic of the cover for HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT. The tag line and quote info still have to be inserted, but I think you can get the general idea.


And now, TIME FOR A CONTEST! Leave me a comment below, telling me what psychic power you’d like to have and why—and I’ll select a winner at random. The winner will receive a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate. I’ll post the winner’s name in the comments section on August 28th (that way, folks will have a little extra time to get comments in place). Good luck!

Thanks for the fine hospitality, Jacquelyn!

Best wishes,

Cynthia Eden
www.cynthiaeden.com
"New Year's Bites" in A RED HOT NEW YEAR--12/07, Avon Red
HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT--05/08, Kensington Brava
Believe in monsters. They believe in you.

25 comments:

Unknown said...

The abilit to move things with my mind or pyschic visions. Hotter After Midnight sounds great!

Christine said...

Hi Cynthia!
I love the premise to Hotter After Midnight, the cover is beautiful, and the excerpt is truly awesome! I can't wait to read it! :)

I don't think I'd like to read minds or predict the future. Too much responsibility and you know you'd know stuff you don't really want to know. Exception being tomorrow's winning lottery numbers, of course.

I want what Samantha Stevens has... you know from the TV show Bewitched? A twitch of my nose and my housework would be done! Oh yeah... I'd be happy with that. Does that count as a psychic power?

Stephanie*magic* said...

Hi Cynthia! I absolutely love your book The Vampire's Kiss.So good!After Midnight sounds fantastic!!!!.The cover is gorgeous!
Hmmm,so many abilities to choose from.
I'd like to have telepathy and precognition.
I would love to be able to help police officers or anyone find there their loved ones or help solve a crime.What a wonderful feeling that would be.
Thanks for stopping by!Take care.

Cherie J said...

Hotter After Midnight sounds awesome! The psychic power I would like to have is telepathy. I would love to use it to help others.

Suzette said...

First off, Hotter After Midnight sounds awesome and I think I will have to read this.

Pyschic power I would like to have, hmmmm, I think the ability to know if someone is lying or telling the truth.

Cynthia Eden said...

Thanks for the comments! And I am so glad that you all like the sound of HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT!

Amy--ah, Amy, you've just picked my favorite power!

Christine, I love Samantha Stevens--still watch those old reruns whenever I can find them. :-)

Stephanie--thanks so much for your kind words about The Vampire's Kiss--that story was my first published work and it holds a very special place in my heart.

Hi, Cherie! Oh, yeah, telepathy would be great!

Suzette, well, I'm writing about a character in my current WIP who has the lovely ability to be able to tell truth from lies. And, yep, that's another handy talent I wish that I had!

Thanks again for the great comments!

Christine said...

Great. Now don't I look like an a$$ !??! (rhetorical question there...) You lovely ladies are saving the world with your psychic abilities.... and I'm wasting mine on a clean house! Well... maybe my place could be the headquarters?

Pamk said...

omg I can't wait a new book from Cynthia Eden. And it's novel length right whoohoo even better. I've loved all of your books i've read and I think i've read all of them lol. I would love to be telekintic. I believe that is the ability to move things with my mind. You could save poeple and clean house with that. But most probably I'd pin my 17 yr old son to the wall this his mouth shut. Man I hope I wasn't that mouthy as a teenager.

Shari C said...

Hotter After Midnight sounds terrific and the cover is HOT!!!!

Loved The Vampire's Kiss...great read.

For a psychic power I would like to be able to picture a place in my mind and 'blink' myself there. I could save a fortune on traveling by car or plane or whatever form of transportation plus the time I would not waste in getting where I wish to be, especially for vacations when your time is limited as it is or if you were running late to an appointment or a 'hot' date.

Cynthia Eden said...

Trust me, Christine, I could use the clean house power, too!

Hi, PamK! I'm so glad you enjoyed my stories--and I sure hope you like my upcoming tales, too!

And, Shari--great power! Wow--since I'm one of those people who is quite terrified of flying--that talent of yours would come in handy. (And thanks for the compliment on my Vamp's Kiss tale!)

Again, thanks for all of these great comments!

Jeanette J said...

I would like to control the weather..then I could make it rain enough for the farmers, keep it warm enough for outdoor activities, make it snow just enough to enjoy winter activities with the temperature cold enough to keep the snow and ice from melting.

Anna said...

Hi Cynthia... I loved The Vampire's Kiss. I'm looking forward to Hotter Than Midnight. I think it would be nifty to read minds. Especially using it on men, to understand them better. But that could be scary too. LOL!

Pam P said...

Hi Cynthia, I loved Vampire's Kiss, also, and Hotter than Midnight is definitely a book for me. Hot cover!

I think I'd like to be a human lie detector, too. Much better than going on intuition and could save one lots of grief and headaches, lol.

Lil said...

Definitely would love to be telekinetic.

Susan said...

Cynthia,

Thanks for blogging here today. You upcoming book is right up my alley and I look forward to reading it.

Now what psychic power do I want..hmmm. I'd first thought telekenesis, but that would make my butt even bigger if I had things come to me. Astral projection would be cool. That would help with having to be in two different places a one time. Mind control would have to be my pick. Not to abuse that power of course, but it would be nice to tell my children to clean their room and they do it with no fuss..:)

Sue A. said...

Cynthia thank you for telling us about your book HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT!

In the past I might have said the super power I'd want was telepathy or precognition, but I'm not sure I would be up to the responsibility and pressures of such powers. So my new answer would be the super powers that give me superhuman strength and speed. I would like to experience what elite athletes must feel to be in a body that is at it's peak form.

Jacquelyn Frank said...

Hey, I better get a signed copy of this sucker, Ms. Grateful. :P

Here's the deal. I want to read people's mind. Not that I care what they are thinking so much...but because I have this horrible knack already for anticipating the thoughts, feelings and opinions of others...EXCEPT I can never prove it and I always go against my instincts and prefer to give people who don;t deserve it the benefit of the doubt right up until I get burned or someone I care about does. This works individually and selfishly it seems, but it works on a grander scale too. Imagine if I worked for the TSA. Poor Bobby wouldn't have a chance sneaking that pot over the Mexican border. And I think about what it could have prevented on 9/11.

Thanks for guest blogging for me Cynthia!

Meljprincess said...

Hi Cynthia,
I have ESP. I'm psychic and "sensitive". I've visited people's home to help them with "visitors", held seances, and often have premontions that come true. This is a topic that interests me greatly.
"Hotter After Midnight" appeals to me immensely!

Unknown said...

I would love the ability to cure all health aliments. I have seen so many people die from health related issues like my grandma, grand-father, a friend from college, etc. If I could cure those that are sick and give them the ability to die from natural causes that would be great.

Anonymous said...

I think I would like to be able to determine what happened in the past - like the psychic detectives - to be able to find people and help solve crimes. I love those type shows.

I love the story idea. I can't wait to read it. :D

Jackie (Literary Escapism) said...

Can I have two powers? I want telekinesis and telepathy. I have a 6 month old son and I would love to be able to figure out what he wants and it would give me the extra arms I so desperately need. :)

CrystalGB said...

I would love to have telepathy.

Cynthia Eden said...

Hi, everyone! Just checking in to announce that the winner of the Amazon.com gift certificate is...Suzette! Congratulations, Suzette! Please contact me at cynthia@cynthiaeden.com.

I had a great time reading all of the comments--thank you all!

Rebecca B. said...

Hi Cynthia! I enjoyed reading your book Hotter after Midnight! It was great! Just out of curiosity.. who is that guy on the cover of the book? :)

Ashley

SaVy16 said...
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