Anya Bast

Here’s the cover for The Chosen Sin. Pretty, no? The Chosen Sin will be out in October, 2008, and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Either that or he finds it sedating. 😉

This is Manny. He lives in Australia. See Manny sleep. This is Witch Fire. See Witch Fire near Manny.

You can see other books with Manny here on her blog. My cats, (all eight of them), approve. Three purrs up for Manny the sleeping, book-reading cat.

By random drawing, the winner of her choice of free book for the contest posted on February 27th is Janet H! Congrats, Janet!!! Drop me an email via the contact form on this site with your choice and your snail mail!

Well, officially, anyway. I’ve had reports of people finding in bookstores over the last week. But today you should be guaranteed to find it on your local bookstore shelves. To answer a question I’ve been fielding often recently — YES, Witch Blood is a stand alone title. You’d probably get more out of it having read Witch Fire first, but it’s really not necessary. I’m writing all the books in this series to stand alone. 🙂

A water witch, Isabelle Novak has always led a chaotic, nomadic existence. But her life spins out of control when her sister—her only friend and emotional anchor—is killed by a demon. Driven by grief and a desire for revenge, she turns her back on the Coven and the rede they hold sacred: Harm thee none…

When Isabelle first encounters Thomas Monahan, she’s running on pure rage and sorrow, channeling her pain into power—and trying to freeze the life out of a warlock she holds responsible for her sister’s death. Together, they form an uneasy alliance to hunt and destroy a demon of tremendous power. As head of the Coven, earth witch Thomas must thwart Isabelle’s dark impulses, but his very presence stirs deeper desires she never knew she had…

The first chapter, book trailer, and online buy links can be found on my web site here.

“Any paranormal fan will be guaranteed a Top Pick read. Anya has provided it all in this hot new paranormal series. You get great suspense, vivid characters and a world that just pops off the pages. This book is not too be missed.” — Night Owl Romance Reviews

“Lovers of magic and paranormal romances will doubtless find themselves enraptured by the gripping plot and intense sensuality of Witch Blood. Be prepared to read it straight through, because you will not be putting this book down once you begin reading it!” — ck2skwipsandkritiques — Five Clovers

Contest!

Go read the first chapter of Witch Blood and send the answers to the following three questions to anyabast(at)yahoo.com. Don’t post the answers here please! Put WITCH BLOOD CONTEST in the subject line so your entry doesn’t get lost. One winner will be selected and notified on March 12th.

1.) What two things has Stefan done to keep the public from getting too close to him?

2.) What has been Isabelle planning for months?

3.) What two foreign languages does Isabelle speak fluently?

Don’t forget — I’ll be chatting about Witch Blood on Wednesday at 9 pm ET in the Writerspace Readers Chat Room.

I forgot to post this!

I’ll be chatting about Witch Blood on Wednesday at 9 pm ET in the Writerspace Readers Chat Room.

The lovely Lauren Dane has a book releasing tomorrow from Samhain! Standoff is next in her Cascadia Wolves series and a book (like all her books) you don’t want to miss.

Cade Warden has put his Pack first for most of his life and now Warren Pellini and his thugs threaten everything he holds dear. Into that life of intense focus and increasing loneliness walks the woman he’s been waiting for.

Against the backdrop of their increasing passion and deepening bond, they race against time to find a key to stop Pellini’s biological weapon. And then the stakes rise again when Pellini calls an ancient Challenge. It’s up to Grace to stand by and let her mate risk everything for his people. And his life is in her hands.

You can read an excerpt at her web site!

Dear reader —

When I’m writing a series like the Elemental Witches, I don’t always know which secondary characters might intrigue me enough to get their own story. But as soon as Thomas Monahan appeared on the page while I was writing the first book in this series, Witch Fire, I knew I wanted to get to know him better. In fact, I was so intrigued by his character that I knew almost immediately the next book in the series would be his.

Thomas was so buttoned up, so uptight, such a workaholic. Like the element he commands, he’s very stable and steady–good qualities, though Thomas takes them to an extreme. In Witch Fire, his character was in dire need of a night absolute reckless abandon, something to get him to loosen his tie a little. What he really needed was a woman who wasn’t afraid of him, someone to ruffle his hair and turn his world on end. In Witch Blood, I needed the right heroine to make that happen.

Enter Isabelle Novak. Emotional, chaotic, impulsive and unpredictable, Isabelle is ruled by her heart rather than her head. And like the element she commands, she is changeable, flowing and, if you’re not careful, can slip right through your fingers. She is everything that Thomas is not and everything he needs–even if he doesn’t know it. On the other hand, Thomas provides a stability that Isabelle can benefit from. Her life has had little constancy and she’s suffered for it.

On the surface, Thomas and Isabelle seem like the worst possible match, yet they fill up each other’s empty places and they are explosive together. From the first time they meet there is a chemistry between them they can’t deny. They both know they’re taking huge risks by falling in love and both of them, Isabelle especially, fight it. But the attraction they share and the qualities they possess–qualities the other needs–keep drawing them together.

And a demon keeps drawing them apart.

In Witch Blood, Thomas, Isabelle and the Coven will face a threat even more dire than the Duskoff warlocks, a threat that wants to ensure that Thomas and Isabelle never get that happily-ever-after they’re working toward (despite themselves).

Both Thomas and Isabelle will have to reach way down deep inside themselves for strength not only of the physical, but of the emotional, to meet the violent challenge that a loose demon on Earth offers…and to save themselves.

I hope you enjoy discovering Isabelle and Thomas as much I did while I was writing them. Stop by my web site and drop me a note anytime to let me know how you liked Witch Blood. www.anyabastauthor.com

Come along with Thomas and Isabelle and delve further into the world of the elemental witches. I dare you to go head to head with an Atrika demon.

~ Anya Bast

I’m peeking my head up from Deadline Hell to talk a little bit about some recent books I’ve had in my TBR pile. I feel like I’ve been talking about Witch Blood non-stop. Oy. It’s time to talk about other people’s books for a change.

Meet Sirantha Jax, a woman with the rare ability to “jump” ships through Grimspace. Unfortunately this little skill just might get her killed. This is a gritty story, laced with action, adventure and a little bit of romance. It’s one of those books that make you stay up waaaaaay too late so you can finish it. Jax is complicated and layered, emotional and snarky as all hell.

I loved this book and Jax too!

Isn’t that a fantastic cover? Christine Clavel is just an astounding cover artist. *sigh*

Okay, now for something completely different. This is A Spell for Susannah, a fantasy romance from Samhain Publishing. I pronounce it SOW-WAYNE, how do you pronounce it? Now, make no mistake, the author is a friend of mine. In fact, I critiqued this book a long time ago when it had a different title. I also love this author’s writing regardless of our friendship. Jody Wallace is a skilled, polished and very talented writer.

Meet Susannah in this twist on the tale of the twelve dancing princesses. She’s discovered a secret castle filled to the brim with dancing princes. In a kingdom where the nobles have been cursed to only bear female children, this is quite a surprise. She and her sisters enjoy this delicious secret to the fullest up until Susannah’s parents hire Jon Tom, a detective, to unravel Susannah’s wily ways and discover what their offspring have been up to.

I’m liking this new Nocture line. One of the books I’ve picked up is Scions Resurrection, by Patrice Michelle. I know Patrice’s books from Ellora’s Cave. They’re hot and have a lot of heart. They’re action-packed and written in a way that allows you to clearly see the plot unfold in your mind’s eye–kind of like a movie in your head. Scions Resurrection is no exception.

Ariel, the heroine, is an author of vampire fiction. Too bad vampires are real and it’s caused their eye to be drawn to her…. I found this to be a wonderful and engaging book that let me slip into its world for a time.

And another about face. This one’s horroresque. I’ve been a fan of Adrienne Jones for a while. The Hoax was awesome. Gyspies is irreverent and humorous, the story of Joe, an aging punk rocker, who has a time demon living in a calendar on his wall. The demon is pressing him to honor a suicide pact he made with his former bandmates. They’re all supposed to kill themselves on their fortieth birthday. In order to save his life, Joe is going to have to face something even more horrifying than the demon in the calendar…himself.