• RLF Gems

    Top Bloggers June 2015 @MaeClair1 @AnnetteMardis #RLFblog

    RLF Chatter Award 
    Last month, Romance Lives Forever had 29 posts in a 30 day month.
    Each month, the RLF Gems post ranks in the top ten, but is not counted, in order
    to focus on guests.
    The Top Blogger for June was Mae Claire. She wins a month of
    free cover advertising on the blog. Our Top Blogger of the Year is publisher Liquid
    Silver Books, which won a year of free advertising.

    About Mae Clair

    Top Five Bloggers for the Month

    (judged by page views). Congratulations to each one!
    1. Mae Clair
    2. Annette Mardis
    3. Sabrina York
    4. Stacy McKitrick
    5. Brita Addams
    Honorable mention: Adele Downs, NJ Walters

    New Award – Top Chatter

    Because the person who gets the most comments in a month is not always the
    person who gets the most page views per month, I instituted the Top Chatter Award.
    This is the award for the person who receives the most comments. It goes to the
    top three people in that category. To win, a guest must have five or more comments
    (not counting the guest author’s).
    1. Mae Clair
    2. Donna Cummings
    3. Annette Mardis
    RLF Gem Award 
    Romance Lives Forever features authors and new books. It has
    a blogger’s FAQ page with a downloadable guide and six optional interviews. Readers
    can follow via Google+, Networked Blogs, Linky Followers, email, an RSS feed, and
    there’s a blog button readers and authors can grab. Authors can share previous books.
    The blog uses author or publisher names as tags on posts, and author Twitter handles
    in the titles. The site is broadcast over Triberr with a potential reach of over
    1.2M readers via its Twitter-linked network. Twitter mentions are also gathered
    in several Paper.li ezines, giving the author additional opportunities for promotion.
    The Romance Lives
    Forever Paper.li ezine
    features only guest authors, and the day’s guest is on
    its front page every day.
    New for 2015
    Each post will be featured on the Romance Lives Forever Pinterest
    board within a few days after it goes live. https://www.pinterest.com/kayelleallen/romance-lives-forever-rlfblog/

    Share your book cover on Romance Lives Forever

    Limited spots to share book covers are available. Cost is $3
    per month, with discounts for covers posted for one quarter and up to one year.
    Covers can be changed monthly.

    RLFblog Admin – Nicole Morgan

    Author Nicole Morgan assists me with scheduling for Romance Lives
    Forever. She is the blog admin. Look for emails from her. Nicole and I want to ensure
    everyone who requests a spot on the blog gets a personal response. Please use this
    email if you have questions or need help: rlfblog-owner@yahoogroups.com We
    both receive email sent here. You don’t have to join a group or do anything special.
    This group simply provides a joint email for us and streamlines things for you.
    The email address is included in all downloadable interviews on the FAQ page.

    Sign Up for a Future Post

    Guest calendar http://bit.ly/rlf_dates
    My thanks to all who took part this month. You made Romance Lives
    Forever a great place to discover new books and authors.
    Other participants this month in alphabetical order by first
    name are:

    Anneka Ever, Arika Stone, Belinda Williams, Collette Cameron, Diana Cosby, Diane Saxon, DP Denman, EmKay Connor, Heather
    Boyd, Jami Gray, Jane Leopold Quinn, Kristina Knight, Lauren Linwood, Lisa Marie
    Rice, Marcia James, Nicole Morgan, Tess
    Delacour
  • Suspense

    Myth and Magic a new #mystery by @maeclair1 #RLFblog

    This quick interview includes info about the author, and
    introduces the story.

    About the Author

    Mae Clair opened a Pandora’s Box of
    characters when she was a child and never looked back.  Her father, an artist
    who tinkered with writing, encouraged her to create make-believe worlds by
    spinning tales of far-off places on summer nights beneath the stars.
    Mae loves creating character-driven
    fiction in settings that vary from contemporary to mythical. Wherever her pen
    takes her, she flavors her stories with mystery and romance. Married to her
    high school sweetheart, she lives in Pennsylvania and is passionate about
    cryptozoology, old photographs, a good Maine lobster tail and cats.

    Interview with Mae Clair

    Why did you write
    this book?
    I love mysteries and “what ifs.” When
    I was a kid, there was a house in our neighborhood that everyone said was
    haunted. There were always whispers of strange things going on there, and we
    (the kids) invented stories to feed those rumors. With Myth and Magic I wanted to capture the same feeling I had as a kid
    when I wondered if there really were ghosts in the house.
    I also wanted to write a book that
    included a lavish Halloween party. J
    Even though the novel is releasing
    now, during the summer, the story is set in the month of October and features a
    strong Halloween theme. I always wanted to write a tale centered on that
    holiday and spin a romantic tale from it.
    What is your favorite
    genre to read?
    I love thrillers that employ mystery and suspense. I also
    enjoy gothic romances with mystery. Usually any type of mystery will suck me
    into the story, and if the book happens to include a dashing or enigmatic hero,
    so much the better! J
    Who is your favorite
    character from fiction (not including your own)?
    That’s a toss-up between Aloysius Pendergast, a highly
    enigmatic Special Agent with the FBI who appears in a series of novels created
    by the author team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and Gerald Tarrant, a
    courtly yet lethal undead sorcerer from the Coldfire Trilogy by C. S. Friedman.
    I love both characters so much I’ve read different books from each series
    multiple times.
    What are you working
    on at the moment, and will see from you in coming months?
    My
    next release, FOOD FOR POE, should be out this November. It’s a Christmas
    novella/paranormal romance.
    After
    that I’ll be releasing A THOUSAND YESTERYEARS, book 1 in a three book series
    with a light romantic plot in each. The novels are set in 1982 and reference
    events involving UFOs, Men-in-Black and a creature called the Mothman. Each
    book has a standalone plot, the first book being a murder mystery. 
    Please tell us about
    your latest book.
    AS CHILDREN THEY PLAYED GAMES OF MYTH AND MAGIC…
    Veronica Kent fell in love with Caith Breckwood when they were children. As a teenager, she was certain he was the man she was destined to marry. But a traumatic event from Caith’s past led him to fear a future together. He left Veronica, hoping to save her from a terrible fate. Twelve years later, Caith, now a P.I., is hired to investigate bizarre incidents at the secluded retreat Veronica manages. Returning to his hometown, Caith is forced to face his nightmares—and his feelings for the woman he’s always loved.
    THEN ONE DAY THE MONSTERS BECAME REAL.
    After the callous way Caith broke her heart, Veronica isn’t thrilled to see him again. But strange occurrences have taken a dangerous toll on business at Stone Willow Lodge. Forced to work together, Veronica discovers it isn’t ghostly apparitions that frighten her, but her passion for a man she has never forgotten. Or forgiven. Can two people with a tarnished past unearth a magical future?

    About the Book

    Title: MYTH AND MAGIC
    Genre:  Romantic
    Suspense/Mystery
    Author:  Mae Clair
    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG13

    Buy This Book

    Barnes and Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/myth-and-magic-mae-clair/1120611664?ean=9781616507213
     
    Are:  https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-mythandmagic-1777751-237.html
     

    Author Social Media

    Website:  http://maeclair.net/  
  • Mystery

    Nautical Superstitions: Twelfth Sun @MaeClair1 #RLFblog #mystery

    Welcome to Romance Lives Forever, Mae Clair. Let’s talk about your book, Twelfth Sun. Tell us about the superstitions on which you based the concept of the story.
    Whether it’s ghost ships, sea lore, or whispered tales of phantom winds and water sprites, I’ve always been
    intrigued by the murky depths of the sea. From ancient times to present, the underwater
    world has harbored creatures serene and foul.
    But what of the brave men and women who attempt to tame the sea or exist within its dominion? Even today,
    sailors are a superstitious lot, many of their beliefs retained from an earlier
    age when water haunts and sea serpents were commonly recognized and feared.
    While writing Twelfth Sun, a novel which centers around the treasure hunt for a maritime artifact, I had
    the occasion to sort through a host of nautical superstitions. I reference a few in the book, but much of the research I did was strictly for fun.
    Here are some of my favorites:
    1. 1. Untying knots in a rope brings favorable winds.
      2. Knitting hair into the toe of a sailor’s sock will bring him back to you.
      3. If a sailor dreams of a horse, it is an omen of high seas.
      4. Disaster will follow if you step onboard a vessel with your left foot first.
      5. A ship’s bell will always ring when it is wrecked.
      6. If St. Elmo’s Fire appears around a sailor’s head, he will die within a day.
      7. Never rename a ship, for it is bad luck.
      8. A ship’s name ending in “a” is unlucky.
      9. The feather of a wren will protect a sailor from death by shipwreck.
      10. Death comes with an ebb tide and birth with a rising tide.
      11. Gulls harbor the souls of sailors lost at sea.
      12. Nail a shark’s tail to the bow of a ship and it will ward off other sharks.
      13. Black traveling bags are bad luck for a seaman.
      14. A silver coin placed under the masthead ensures a successful voyage. Pouring wine on the deck also brings good luck.

    If you enjoyed these, I invite you to read my romantic mystery, Twelfth Sun, involving an older woman and younger man caught up in a scavenger hunt staged by a reclusive billionaire at a lavish seaside mansion:

    Reagan Cassidy is settled in her life. She has a thriving interior design firm, an upscale condo, two cats, and a goldfish. As a favor to her uncle, she agrees to team up with his marine archeologist friend to validate and retrieve a nineteenth-century journal, reputedly that of a passenger aboard the doomed schooner Twelfth Sun. Finding a hunky twenty-five-year-old coming out of the shower in her hotel room wasn’t part of the deal, but it’s hard to complain…

    Dr. Elijah Cross is cocky and he knows it. He enjoys trading barbs with the lovely Reagan. Barbs, and some innuendo. He can tell she’d rather get back home to her business than stick around for the extended treasure hunt they’ve been talked into, but he’s fine with the situation. At least, until the “clues” start getting personal.

    Reagan finds Dr. Gorgeous is as skilled in matters of the heart as he is behind the lectern. Throw in a series of clues which mean more to Elijah than he’ll explain, several odd-ball competitors out to win the journal, a saboteur, and a lavish seaside mansion, and Reagan has enough trouble keeping her head straight, let alone her heart.

    WARNING: Younger man, older woman, nautical riddles and romance.

     

    Buy links:

    Amazon http://amzn.com/B00E5DNH9O
    Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/twelfth-sun-mae-clair/1116214641?ean=2940148784593
    Kobo http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/Books/twelfth-sun
    iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/twelfth-sun/id642809087?mt=11

    Author Bio

    Mae Clair opened a Pandora’s Box of characters when she was a
    child and never looked back. Her father, an artist
    who tinkered with writing, encouraged her to create make-believe worlds by spinning
    tales of far-off places on summer nights beneath the stars. She snagged the tail
    of a comet, hitched a ride, and discovered her writer’s Muse on the journey.Mae loves creating character-driven fiction in settings that
    vary from contemporary to mythical. Wherever her pen takes her, she flavors her
    stories with conflict, romance and elements of mystery. Married to her high school
    sweetheart, she lives in Pennsylvania and is passionate
    about writing, old photographs, a good Maine
    lobster tail and cats.Mae is also the author of the time travel / paranormal novel,
    Weathering Rock.

    Find Me Here

    Website http://MaeClair.com
    Twitter https://twitter.com/MaeClair1
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mae-Clair/219356774828949?ref=hl
    Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6468716.Mae_Clair