Author Guest Blog & Contest with Diane Barr

My author guest this week is Diane Barr!

Her debut release 'Out of the Shade' sounds really good but looks even better! The model on the front made me take notice and I asked Diane to come on the blog and tell us all a little bit about the book.

I hope you enjoy the guest post and will check out Diane's Book! Also make sure you enter the contest to win a copy of 'Out of the Shade'

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Hi! I’m Diane Barr and I’m the Urban Fantasy author of Out of the Shade:

It took me almost three years to write Out of the Shade because I had two jobs and a barrage of health concerns but during that time I was lucky to find my critique partner and she taught me (and continues to) teach me about the fundamentals of writing, calms me when I’m going through a nervous streak and gives me the pep talks I need too. She particularly helped me while I queried all the print publishers. After about 4 months with no responses or a pile of polite turn downs I then investigated the popularity of e-books and began to query the E-book publishers. Lea Schizas, publisher for MuseItUp Publishing contacted me a month after I sent out the e-queries. Her excitement for Out of the Shade plus her willingness and patience to explain the contracts and everything an author should do for promotion has made me so glad that MuseItUp is my second family!

The reason I became a writer is because I want to do to readers what my favorite authors do to me – transport me to a different place and time. I love books that I can’t put down and make me want to escape and be in these new worlds that I am reading about. I would love to be able to have that type of impact on my readers. Inspire them to read - to imagine – to dream and also show them how exciting it can be to say “What if” and to look forward to and anticipate what is going to happen next in my books.

Out of the Shade Blurb:

Faeries that carry katanas and guns instead of sprinkling magic dust and granting wishes. Dragons that reanimate the dead. Drug-crazed goblins terrorizing neighborhoods. Illegal demons attempting to conjure the alter ego of an Egyptian goddess.

Sounds like something out of a nightmare, right? Wrong. It’s my everyday life.
Welcome to the Shade, where all the creatures of myth hang out and where I, Detective Gabrielle Tate of the Supernatural Task Force, police them. My partner is AWOL and my sexy dragon boss is leaving nothing to chance as we deal with goblins high on Escape and a serial killer—or worse, a nest of rogue vampires—leaving the drained corpses of faeries and cops all over town.

And then there’s the psychotic demons trying to conjure the goddess Hathor’s alter ego, Sekhmet, to destroy humanity. As a faery and direct descendent of Hathor, I’m eager to manifest her power and use it to combat evil. At the same time, I need to learn how to control the accompanying bloodlust. How? By taking lessons from the charismatic leader of the local vampire clan, of course.

If you thought the mean streets of Detroit were tough, you’ve never seen the Shade.
I chose to write about fairies and dragons because they have always fascinated me. I wanted to create a world where I could include all types of paranormal creatures and cool otherworldly talents. I also twisted in a mystery and Egyptology; which I find incredibly intriguing. The plot lines and development of each specific being is virtually endless and this is pretty cool because it helps as I create and write each book in the series. Of course, I gave them some human mannerisms; they cuss, have a sense of humor, can be clumsy, can get PMS and also have the ups and downs of relationships.

Diane Barr online :

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

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Contest Details!


Diane is giving away an e-book version (either pdf or Kindle) of 'Out of the Shade' to one lucky commenter


How To Enter


The model on the cover of 'Out of the Shade' looks cool! What other books have cool looking models on the front?


No Answer = No Entry


'Please enter me' posts will NOT be counted as an entry

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The contest will stay open until 4pm on Sunday 8th July (Central European Time) and the winner will be picked by a randomizer. Entrants should check back to see if they have won. I do not hunt down winners and will pick new winners for any prizes not claimed within 7 days.