Crazy Excited for Comicpalooza

Eeeeeep! I'm attending Comicpalooza or, ahem, The Texas International Comic Con this weekend.

I love cons, from the dressing up to the super-specialized panels and workshops (the courtship rituals of space aliens, anyone?), the cult films and filk music. However, attending as an author instead of a rabid fan...is a totally new level of awesome! Eeeeep!

So if you are in the Houston area, come say hi! You'll find me in the Artists Alley, as well on these two panels:

Unexpected Heroes and Heroines    Friday    4:00 PM    4:55 PM

Today's heroes and heroines never looked so bad—or good.  Stop by to find out what makes bad so damned good! These writers know all about it and share how today's characters are changing and what is driving the change. 3^rd Floor Panel Room 6

Diversity in Comics    Saturday    8:00 PM    8:55 PM 

Thom Zahler, RJ Woods, Mina Khan, Bruce Small, Kevin Travers, Lane Montoya       

Workshop Room 2 (Medium)

Of Hearts and Heartbreakers

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and any where you go you're like to be confronted by hearts. Big, red hearts painted on restaurant windows, fat and shiny heart balloons at the doctor's office, sweet heart-shaped treats at the grocery store. Yes, hearts, hearts everywhere! Not surprisingly then, I jumped on Carrie's Heartbreaker Blog Hop (check out out the lovely hearts & the hunky abs...resistance was futile!)

And the topic: Heartbreakers. Oh my. To me, heartbreakers are the ultimate bad boys. They could be wearing leather jackets or Armani suits or cowboy hats, doesn't really matter. All of them exude wicked sexiness, Alpha-hole confidence, love-em and leave-em attitude. But what makes them hard to resist, to me and only in romance novels, is that they are redeemable. A hero like that falls hard when he falls...and suddenly you see this big, bad guy going through heartbreak...because any heroine worth her heroine-ness is going to make him earn her love. Love that!

So, of course, the hero of my first published story The Djinn's Dilemma, is a heartbreaker. He is also a djinn(genie) and human hybrid assassin who lives in the shadows. 

Trouble starts when he meets his latest target, Sarah, a Texan journalist. He's enjoyed plenty of djinn females and human women, but none of them affect him like Sarah because...well, you'll just have to read for yourself. (Insert evil author cackle here).

For my second story, A Tale of Two Djinns, I turned the tables. The heroine, Maya, is the heartbreaker. She tells the hero: "I'm not really interested in getting to know you, just your body." 

All she wants is some no-strings-attached fun sex. Instead, their one-night stand leads to assassins, abduction and amore.

So, what are your thoughts on heartbreakers? Do you prefer the hero or the heroine as the heartbreaker? In the spirit of Valentine's, I'm giving away a SIGNED copy of A Tale of Two Djinns, a Romeo and Juliet story with genies, feminists, kickass action and sexy adult fun! 

And there are THREE blog hop grand prizes:

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

All you have to do is LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!!!! The hop ends Feb. 11, so hurry up & comment!

For other participating blogs, check out this website: 

http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/

I'm also giving away a copy of Rumi the Book of Love, poems of ecstasy and longing. Isn't a book of poems the perfect Valentine's gift? Check out my 'Tis the Season for Love post to enter the giveaway.

Author CJ Lyons Is Inspired By Everyday Heroes

New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons has lived the life of a pediatric ER doctor and creates many of the medical worlds of her thrillers with authenticity and heart.

CJ has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday). I learned the importance of character-driven stories and how to take my writing to the next level thanks to her.

Back in early 2010 I was an unpublished author and thinking of giving up my dream. CJ's Master Class was the last hurrah...and then she shared her experience, encouragement and craft. Without her, I would never have written THE DJINN'S DILEMMA and been published. She helped me believe in myself again amd reclaim my dream. So, without further ado, let me present my personal writing hero CJ :) 

What inspires my writing?

When I was a kid, it was my own need to learn how to become a hero, someone strong enough to change the world for the better.

After my pediatric internship when one of my fellow interns was brutally murdered, writing became my way to understand my grief and control the chaos around me. That's when I wrote my first thriller, BORROWED TIME, and I dedicated it to Jeff's memory.

(FACE TO FACE, her most recent release, came out Nov. 7!)

Much of my fiction since then has been inspired by my patients and their families. Ordinary people facing tragedy with courage and grace, proving that heroes are indeed born everyday.

I still search for order in the chaos--after practicing pediatric emergency medicine and pediatrics for seventeen years, that will never change. But now, after having sold hundreds of thousands of books and receiving fan letters from all over the world, I have another inspiration: my readers.

Discovering that I had the power to connect with people I'd never met, to inspire as well as entertain--that felt almost as good as saving lives in the ER! 

I treasure each fan letter as much as the very first one.  There have been people facing the pain of chronic illnesses who have been able to make it through the night because of my books.  Fellow medical personnel, EMS, firefighters, and police officers have written, thanking me for the way I "tell it like it really is."  And readers who simply needed an escape from their lives have found refuge in my words.

Honestly, no matter how much money or which bestseller lists I hit, I can't imagine any feeling as wonderful as the feeling I get when I hear from readers who have fallen in love with my books.  It's an adrenalin rush that fuels my writing and inspires me everyday!

***

Woot! Thanks CJ for visiting with us and reminding us courage, love, and heroic acts are a part of everyday life. We just have to be aware of the world around us to find inspiration. Do you have an everyday hero? How has this person touched your life?


If you want to know more about CJ or her Thrillers with Heart check out her website. FACE TO FACE is the third book in her gripping Hart & Drake Series. The first book, NERVES OF STEEL, is on sale right now for 99 cents. Go check her books out!