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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Guest Blog & Contest with Alexandria Infante!

While I may not have time to read all the books I am offered by new authors I do, when possible, invite them onto the blog to give them a chance to introduce themselves and show off their loot ;)

This week I am happy to have author Alexandria Infante as my guest. She contacted me about her book, Teaching Between Midnight and Dawn, and the series it belongs to. I hope you enjoy her guest blog and will enter the contest to win a copy of her debut book.

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Alexandria Infante on:

What inspired me to write Teaching Between Midnight and Dawn, and the Teaching Between Midnight and Dawn Series;

I love the Paranormal, but I didn’t see myself reflected in the works that I read; and if I did it was a side character, a supporting character, or a villain; so I thought I’d write my own. Being multiracial (Puerto Rican, Cuban, Native American, Irish and African-American) I wanted to see a character like me, and the fact that this is rare spurred me on. Authors like me tend to get pigeon holed into one specific genre like Minority literature, Latina, African-American, or Ethnic, who hardly ever move out of that; and I think that this is completely unfair. I hoped by writing what I believe the genre should encompass, people would see the book for the story and negate the race of the character; that being, anyone could place themselves in the shoes of the character, not just someone of a minority background.

I'm sure I'm prejudiced by plenty of things when writing my style of the paranormal, so I often use that to my advantage lol. I discover brainwaves in songs, movies, the world at large, or just simple phrases sometimes. I love to write at Starbucks, because the bustling people always inspire me. The nasty woman impatiently yelling at the Starbucks` employee, because she gave her a mocha coffee instead of a mocha latté becomes a villain, the Hugh Jackman look alike becomes the next wolf, the sexy emo guy ordering the Eggnog latte` becomes the next Master of the city for my vamps, or the hot blonde ordering the Tazo berry tea becomes the next warlock; and the tiny brunette might actually become the next main female character. I love to write at night, especially since I write paranormal. Rainy nights are good for scenes of action, but full moon nights always seem to give me the most creativity. People in general instigate me to create something new. I base both my Paranormal and Fae series on mythology, so I am constantly inspired by a new myth, new legends, or new facts about lost artifacts, church scandals, or just random things in the news; and I incorporate them into my books.

I Student Teach and Tutor, and to toot my own horn am very well read; so I already knew many of the myths concerning both Egyptian and Roman mythology. How the book came about, actually I was sitting in the library one day waiting for a student, and reading a book on Egyptian Mythology. I knew very well of Ast`, who is the duality of the Roman Goddess Isis; but faintly about the Roman connection between Aset, Ast` and Isis. The more that I read, the more I liked. I suddenly got an image of a young woman in an ancient Egyptian throne room; and the story just spun out from that. My love for mythology took over, and the story morphed into what it is now. As for my characters, I absolutely adore Auron and Arieanna; and Sephoroth is just insane. I love Arieanna most of the characters so far, and through the series you get to see how she morphs into the woman that she’ll eventually become. I totally think that women of today can relate to her, because she doesn’t need the “Man” to protect her, but is still feminine enough to allow him to do it out of love; not because of collective roles. Not to mention, it’s a fresh take on a classic genre.

I’ve written 11 in this series so far (ten not published yet lol) but I decided to push back book 11 Hidden Shadows, and make it 12; and came up with a new concept for book 11 Carousels, because I was inspired by the Titans lol. The books get darker and more sensual (erotic) with each new book in the series, and I am currently working on book 12. I've incorporated the myths of The Hindu concept of Tantric, The legend of the Japanese Sun Goddess, secrete Church Councils like the Avantes, Flaminie, and the Brotherhood. The Goddess Sehkmet, Maeve; a massive rave turned erotic Wolf Dance and Blood Lust three day worship, the Eye of Horus, Gargoyles, Merlin, The Titans, Blackfoot Shaman, Ancient Keltic Gods, and the progenitors of the supernatural races. So this should make for some fun reading for my readers Lol.

Teaching Between Midnight and Dawn Book Blurb;

Being adopted at an early age Arieanna appreciates the value of family, even if she has no clue what her birth family is really like. Jenny and Harold are the only parents that she knows; and she’s just fine with that. Arie’s life right now seemed nearly complete. Her career was soaring, she had a family who adored her, and her 7th grade History students loved her. Life was simple and uncomplicated.

That is until she met him.

Unknown to Arieanna is the fact that Auron has been sent by a secret priesthood of St. Cisadore, and is actually there to protect her, the descendant of Ast’ at all cost. Arieanna has no clue that a legend was foretold of a young woman being able to wield and use Ast`s infamous book of magick, and she certainly had no inkling that it would be her.

Auron’s number one objective is to keep that book from entering the hands of the wrong people, in spite of the fact that it might cause his own death. Auron knows that if that book gets to Jimmy Mann all hell will break lose. Centuries of war will then spill onto a human battle ground, and the Council will do whatever it takes to keep that from happening. The Council has a job to do and they don’t care about casualties, even if it means wiping out every last one of them; the Descendant, Lycans, Warlocks, Witches, Shape-shifters and Vampires alike!

The legend says that Arieanna alone holds the key to the location of Ast’s infamous book of magick; the only problem is, is that she doesn’t know it yet! This is to her disadvantage, because those who do know will kill her if they have to, to get their hands on the book and the power that Arieanna holds dormant. Yet, Arieanna is sidetracked, because she meets the love of her life in Auron a 475 year old werewolf who was banished from his Företag nearly 200 years earlier. Arieanna will invoke great power and only Auron can help her control it, in order to keep her from wiping out both paranormal, and humans alike. Chalk full of Scottish Lycans, British Vampires, Welsh Warlocks, American Witches, and the legends of Ast’, Sekhmet, Mulkie, and Ast’s/Isis` supposed book of magick; Arie and Auron will find a love that will be tested by not just the supernatural, but the regular everyday relationship hang-ups!

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Contest Time


I have an e-book copy of Teaching Between Midnight and Dawn to send to one lucky person!


How To Enter


New, not well known and self published authors...recommend some!


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 Sunday 19th of February 2012 4pm CET 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.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stephenie Meyers, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Ted Dekker, Lori Pescatore. Tore923@aol.com

Aurian said...

Thank you for the interview, it was interesting. And I agree, "minorities" as main characters in books are rare.

I would like to recommend Sierra Dean, although I am not sure she is self published. The books are out as ebooks though, and will be in paper in a few months. Very good.

auriansbooks at gmail dot com