Good morning! I am Gemma K. Murray and I reside in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan. I write urban fantasy/paranormal romance.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself:

I was born and raised in lower Michigan to a family of dairy farmers. So, you can see where my love of animals comes from.

I met my husband when I started kindergarten and felt a connection even then. It took us several more years to fall in love, but we’ve spent the last 20 years of our lives together. In fact, we celebrated our 19th anniversary this year. We have 5 canine kids who we adore and spoil rotten as often as we can.

My books come from dreams I have. I dream the same dream every night until I begin writing the story. That’s when the characters begin to talk to me. They tell the story. I simply write it down.

Here’s a little bit about my Cedar River series:

Yes, Cedar River is an actual city in Michigan’s U.P. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that when I began writing the series. I had never been to the U.P., but my character, Bowie, told me where to set it. Lucky for me, there is a thing called creative license.J That allowed me to move the city to Lake Superior instead of keeping it on Lake Michigan.

Anyway, Cedar River is an entire community of shifters. From the dragons to the puma and wolves all way through to otters, a fischer, owls, lynxes, and few surprises, all shifters are welcome in Cedar River. There is safety to be found here.

Keeper of the Golden Dragon’s Heart was supposed to be a one-time thing. Well, the characters had other ideas. Natural Born Enemies is the second book in the series (Fall 2012) and I’m working on the third book along with a spin-off series. I can’t tell you how many will be in the series since the number changes weekly. I’ll just say, I hope it continues for a very long time!

Blurb- The Upper Peninsula of Michigan seems like it is another country. The rawness and beauty of the land draws people from every walk of life. What most people don't realize is there is a little town nestled on the banks of Lake Superior that an entire group of supernatural beings call home. Shifters of every shape and size live there. They raise their families there. Tourists come from near and far to visit the quaint town of Cedar River, Michigan. The tourists never realize they are walking among some of the most unusual beings on earth. 

Bowie Golden is a dragon shifter who is in charge of Cedar River's safety. Until now, the biggest threat to anyone's safety was Anastasia Plum, a witch/puma-shifter. She has been the town hellraiser since she was a teenager. Now someone has discovered the secret the residents of Cedar River keep for one another. These radicals are determined to eradicate the entire town. It's up to Bowie to keep them all safe.

Ana has always idolized Bowie. She may have stirred up trouble from time to time, but Bowie or one of his brothers would always get her out of the trouble she was in. One day, it happened. The unthinkable, the unimaginable occurred. Anastasia Plum fell for the "golden" boy. What an unlikely duo- the sheriff and the hellraiser!

Just as these two discover their passion for one another, a group of people is determined to keep them apart. It's up to Ana to prove that she is the only Keeper of the Golden Dragon's Heart.

You can view the video trailer here.

Available at:
Amazon
Leap of Faith Publishing
Barnes and Noble
Coffee Time Romance’s e-bookstore

Where you can “stalk” Gemma:
Website
Pinterest
Goodreads
Facebook
Cedar River’s FB page
Google+

Thank you, Toni, for allowing me to spend the day with your readers! I appreciate this opportunity.

Guest author Sapphire Phelan writes the perfect reads for your Halloween pleasure, erotic urban fantasies about dark heroes and heroines with bite...sink your teeth into a romance by Sapphire Phelan today. 

  Welcome, Sapphire.  


There’s something about hot, humid Southern heat and romance. Maybe it’s the essence of Tennessee Williams, with his themes of repression and yet, sexual desire, like in A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Southern belles as they fan themselves, the beading of sweat—especially on a man’s hard, naked body, and the heat intensifying the passion. Maybe it’s a need to relieve the heat in the lovers more than anything else. A fleshy form of thunder and lightening.

 

More than anything, a romance author who lives in the South, can finds inspiration writing passionate love stories, whether summer, or winter, even in fall and spring, especially when the humidity lingers in the air. Though said author admits to writing it indoors, in cool air conditioning or during winter, with the dry heat keeping her toasty warm. But with hot humidity sometimes going up to 100 degree weather lately and when storms rush in, hitting the area with violence and passion, an author can see how this would work with passions erupting between lovers in a romance.

Sapphire

 
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Blurb:

Mortal woman Tina discovers she is part of a prophesy that says she and Charun, her demon Familiar, must make love so she can become the witch she is fated to be. If she doesn't do it and stop the demon army bringing Armageddon to the Mortal Realm on Halloween, she won't stand a chance in Hell.

A year later, just when Tina and Charun thought it was all over and that their life would be normal—another prophesy pops up. If Lucifer snatches Tina and mates with her before the last chime before midnight of the new year and gets her pregnant with his son, that the real Armageddon would begin, spelling the end of life as they knew it. This time they get help from an archangel, Jacokb, but with demons, Lucifer, and a cute demon bunny with fangs out of a Monty Python nightmare, out to stop them and Heaven not lending a hand, will Tina this time lose the battle and become the mother of the Antichrist and the start of a new Hell on Earth?

The Witch and the Familiar  is adult in nature as is the book, so only 18 and older can read.

Excerpt from The Witch and the Familiar, an erotic urban fantasy for readers 18 and above.

Nasty wraiths that haunted Tartarus stalked them. Not near enough to feel their rancid breath on the backs of their necks, but every time Tina glanced back over her shoulder, she caught sight of several shadows remerging with the darkness.

“Keep walking, keep walking. It doesn’t do to let the monsters know you know they’re there,” Fluffy told her.

She couldn’t understand why she listened to the cute little bastard. No doubt he was leading her around in circles and playing with her. She wouldn’t be surprised if they landed back at Lucifer’s place, where the depraved creature would hand her over to the Devil, being in paw and cloven hoof with the Master of Hell.

It almost made her want to kick him in his perky little tail.

Sure, and with no powers, the rascally demon rabbit would skewer her with his. What’s up, Doc? She bet Bugs Bunny was based on a demon like Fluffy.

She halted when she almost ran into the phantoms of a skinny little man being pursued by a big-boned woman brandishing a kitchen knife. The woman was screaming at him, but no words came out of her mouth. They swished off the path and back into the darkened fields of Tartarus.

Now why had she halted? They were spirits and nothing more. She could have passed right through their ectoplasmic bodies.

Tina snatched Fluffy off the ground and walked faster. “Come on, my longer legs will make better time.”

“You can trust me.”

Tina stopped. “What?”

“I know what you’re thinking.”

She lifted Fluffy up by his long floppy ears to stare into his eyes. “You sneaky little monster. Get out of my head.”

“I did not read your thoughts,” retorted Fluffy, twitching his nose. “I have powers, but that does not include being able to hear what you are thinking. Besides, what self respecting demon wants to know what a human thinks, even if the human is an immortal Witch? Give me a break.”

She put him back in her arms and started walking again. “Then how did you know?”

“A smart person would be suspicious of any demon willing to help them. I mean, look at our track records. We lie, cheat, steal, murder, commit lustful acts, and most of the time try to get humans to do all that for us. And for what—the small promise of a human soul?” He shook his head. “Human souls are like pennies to the bigger treasure. Witches’ and Angels’ are worth gold if one of us can get them to fall for our honeyed lies and be led astray. I meant it, Witch. I want out of this cesspool and I am tired of doing the Devil’s bidding.”

He sounded sincere. Tina decided to take the chance that he meant it, though like she had any other option otherwise.

She almost ran into another lost soul that floated onto the lit path. It glared at her and she kicked a large stone by accident. It skittered off into the murkiness off path, its sound loud like a warning that some fool that did not belong there walked through Tartarus.

A bellow filled the air and she came face-to-face with some terrifying demon armed with a sword. Fluffy screeched and leaped from her arms.

Cowardly demon, she thought.

Frightened and powerless, she positioned herself with her arms up like a karate expert. She didn’t have one chance at survival, but she’d be damned she wouldn’t go without a fight.

“Charun, wait!” yelled a familiar sounding voice. “That’s Tina!”

The demon froze. She dropped her arms and stared up into its face.

Was that truly…”Charun?” Yes, it was!

The sword vanished in a poof of smoke. Then Charun took her by her shoulders and lifted her up to stare at her closer. She kissed him. The look of confusion in his eyes changed to a growing gleam of joy.

“Tina? Tina!”

She found herself enveloped in the demon’s arms and kissed deeply. She returned the kiss back just as fully.

Only Charun kissed like that. Like hot chocolate and whipped cream, with a touch of wicked whiskey.

  
About Sapphire Phelan:

Sapphire Phelan has published erotic and sweet paranormal/fantasy/science fiction romance along with a couple of erotic horror stories. Her erotic urban fantasy, Being Familiar With a Witch is a Prism 2010 Awards winner and a Epic Awards 2010 finalist. The sequel to it is A Familiar Tangle With Hell, released June 2011 from Phaze Books, Both eBooks were combined into one print book, The Witch and the Familiar, released April 24, 2012.

She admits she can always be found at her desk and on her computer, writing. And yes, the house, husband, and even the cats sometimes suffer for it!

Find out more about Sapphire Phelan at http://www.SapphirePhelan.com.

Buy The Witch & The Familiar at Phaze Books , BarnesandNoble.com and at Amazon . For those in Uk, it’s available at  AmazonUK .

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