Poppy Mercury - Berpisah

Good morning every one! Today's guest is one I'm sure you'll all enjoy. Terry Spear is is rapidly becoming an auto-buy for many of us with her exciting and engaging werewolf tales. This newest one is sure to whet your appetite for more -- be sure to check out my review of To Tempt The Wolf.

Sourcebooks is giving copies of To Tempt The Wolf to two lucky readers. Read all the way to the Lynda Again section to find out how you could win.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is Urban Fantasy?
By Terry Spear

When I first started writing fantastical realms, I believed two kinds existed: fantasy—where fantastical creatures lived in an old-world, rather than contemporary-world; and paranormal which described the paranormal, psychics, ghosts, angels and such.

But the term urban fantasy kept popping up in describing demon, gargoyle, vampire, werewolves, and other fantasy creatures in a contemporary setting, not old-world, and something other than strictly paranormal. I began seeing definitions of urban fantasy—has to be set in a city, no sex, doesn’t have a romance, doesn’t have happily ever after, dark, has to be first person point of view, etc, etc, etc.

Here’s how I like to think of it: Urban fantasy is a contemporary world where fantastical creatures/characters live. It’s a world where they can own homes, go to dance clubs, use cell phones, and have websites. It’s a place where everything is just like what we consider normal in our everyday lives, except fantastical creatures live in them. They can exist in secrecy, or openly become part of the community. Urban fantasies can be hot and sexy, or sweet, or have no romance at all. They can be dark or light or a something in between. The fantastical characters can live in cities or in the country. The stories can be written in first person or third person point of view.

What makes them urban fantasy? The fantastical element, whatever it is, existing in our real world today.

But then again, why does it even matter what we call our fiction? By tagging it with terms like paranormal romance, or urban fantasy romance, it helps us to get the word out to readers who love the kind of stories we create. Tags help drive search engines.

Just think if I only called my werewolf romance, romantic suspense, and the first time a reader read where the hero shapeshifted into a wolf, what would the reader think of that, if he or she only liked romantic suspense?

This actually happened to a NY Times Best Selling author. The romantic suspense was a paranormal complete with vampires, but it wasn’t marketed as such. In this author’s case, some of her romantic suspense readers were appalled. And vampire readers wouldn’t have known to read her series, thinking it was just strictly romantic suspense. So tags are important for us as writers to target the right audience.

We can further “show” what our stories are about so that readers can find the kind of stories they love to read with extra tags like: dark urban fantasy, light urban fantasy, and urban fantasy romance.

So what are my werewolf tales? Urban fantasy romances on the suspense side with a twist of humor. No, not twisted humor. =) In the series, werewolves do not exist, unless you are one of them, of course.

In To Tempt the Wolf, the heroine finds the hero naked on an Oregon beach…what is the poor woman to do, but take the injured man into her home before the full force of a winter storm hits? Only he quickly takes charge when he learns SHE is in real danger and that’s when the REAL trouble begins.



Thanks so much for Star-Crossed Romance having me today, and I hope readers will friend me and check out my books!

www.terryspear.com
http://twitter.com/TerrySpear
http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear
http://www.myspace.com/terryspear
http://www.terry-spear.blogspot.com
http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com
http://www.wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com
http://shapeshifterromance.wordpress.com

Terry Spear
“Giving new meaning to the term ‘alpha male’.”



About the Author
A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, award-winning author Terry Spear has an MBA from Monmouth College. An eclectic writer, she dabbles in the paranormal as well as writing historical and true life stories for both teen and adult audiences. Spear lives in Crawford, Texas. Her 2008 Sourcebooks Casablanca release, Heart of the Wolf was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. Destiny of the Wolf and To Tempt the Wolf are in stores now, and more are on the way: The Legend of the White Wolf (February 2010) and Seduction of the Wolf (August 2010).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Lynda Again.

To enter the drawing for To Tempt The Wolf, please leave a comment AND send me an email with To Tempt The Wolf in the Subject line and your address in the body of the email. That's it :-) Good luck to you!

Technorati Tags:
Terry Spear, Lynda K. Scott, To Tempt The Wolf, paranormal romance
Flickr Tags:
Terry Spear, Lynda K. Scott, To Tempt The Wolf, paranormal romance
Del.icio.us Tags:
Terry Spear, Lynda K. Scott, To Tempt The Wolf, paranormal romance
Furl Tags:
Terry Spear, Lynda K. Scott, To Tempt The Wolf, paranormal romance