Guest: Elizabeth Amber and The Lords of Satyr, and Giveaway

Good Morning Everyone!

Today is a very special day in my blogger life. The very sweet Elizabeth Amber has done me the great honor of being my very first guest author. Please help me give her a very warm welcome!

Elizabeth Amber's Nicholas was the very first book classified as erotic romance that I ever read. Elizabeth not only opened the door for me to the this genre but she kicked the darn thing down. There is no closing it now!

Elizabeth is responsible for the sexy historical paranormal romance series, The Lords of Satyr. This series is about half-human, half-satyr brothers who go in search of endangered half-faerie brides. The four titles in order are Nicholas, Raine, Lyon, Dominic , and Dane will be out in 2010. (click on the titles to read an excerpt)

Nicholas* Raine* Lyon* Dominic

In the heart of Tuscany's centuries-old wine country,
the satyr lords protect ancient secrets

Nicholas The Lords of Satyr by Elizabeth Amber bookpeek
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids....

Romantic Times said this of Nicholas: “The leading man is the sexiest one this reader has seen in a long time!” Nicholas has won, placed, or finaled in 9 RWA regional awards, including the National Readers Choice Award. Lyon and Raine are both currently finalists for numerous RWA regional awards, including the 2009 Booksellers Best award and Passionate Ink’s Passionate Plume. All the satyr novels have received numerous five-star reviews, and are in multiple printings.

Dominic (released March 2009) Blurb:
They are S atyrs, men endowed with legendary carnal knowledge who demand total and complete control with their sexual prowess...

A Night Of Bliss

Emma anxiously awaits her husband's return home to Tuscany on Calling night. She hopes that the night-long copulation will draw them closer together for she questions whether they truly love one another. But when Carlo arrives, injured in battle and unable to perform, she learns she must mate instead with Dominic, a lusty, royal Satyr. It is a night of hedonistic passion that leaves her wanting much, much more...

A Moment Of Rapture

Like other Satyr lords, Vincent is driven to mate from dusk to dawn every Calling night. But as a bachelor, Vincent must conjure a female from the mist who will satisfy his sexual needs. While his brothers summon a different partner with each full moon, Vincent calls upon the same one time after time. He wants her to experience the same erotic pleasure he feels and one night she does the magic is real...

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Elizabeth has so generously agreed to answer some of my questions today!

Heather: Welcome, Elizabeth. Let’s get started with my first question: Why do you write alpha males?

Elizabeth Amber: Hi Heather. Thanks so much for having me! In answer to your question…

An editor once asked me, “What kind of man do most romance readers want?” My reply was, “an alpha male.” She countered with, “Women want a man who’ll commit.” I replied, “How about an alpha male who’ll commit?” She laughed, but I definitely meant it. That’s my idea of the perfect romance novel hero.

The satyr brothers are physically strong and dominating, but disguise this beneath civilized veneers that allow them to move in the highest social circles of 1800s Italy. They have enormous appetites for pleasures of the flesh, which are unleashed in a sacred gathering place ringed with statues of Bacchus, nymphs, dryads, and fauns. Yet each satyr lord is searching for the one woman meant for him.

Heather: I recently read that you are an Art Historian who specializes in Greco-Roman artifacts. Did this have any influence on The Lords of Satyr series? How much?

Elizabeth Amber: Yes, that’s what gave me the kernel of the idea for the series. According to Roman myth, satyrs are the male followers of the wine god, Bacchus. (Dionysus in Greek myth.) They were portrayed on ancient objects used in the consumption or storage of wine, such as amphorae and urns.

Because they are unapologetic in their relish of any number of sexual acts, they’re often depicted in pursuit of nymphs or maenads, and are usually shown in a blatantly aroused state. Who better to showcase as the hero of an erotic romance?

I updated this mythology to create The Lords of Satyr. This is a family of half-satyr half-human men who own an ancestral Italian vineyard, where they guard ancient secrets. A deathbed decree sends them on a quest for endangered brides in Rome, Paris, and Venice.

There was actually a blight that nearly destroyed all of Europe’s grapevines and the entire wine industry in the 1800s. That comes into play because this threat has will have dire repercussions for the satyr brothers and their families.

Heather: I read somewhere that some authors start their book simply with the hero or heroine. They allow the H/H to lead them in the right direction. Was this the case for you, or did the ideas come before the H/H?

Elizabeth Amber: I think the very first scene I thought of was the erotic one in chapter 22 of Nicholas, the first book. So right away I had the scene and the characters of Nicholas and Jane. I’m not sure if I thought of this first or thought of the whole satyr/vineyard idea that I described above. I think they sort of happened together.

Heather: Which Lord is your favorite? What about the wives, which heroine captured your heart?

Elizabeth Amber: Of course, I love them all. Each satyr lord harbors some sort of wound from the past. Raine was rejected by a human family and later by a human wife, but he’s determined to do the right thing. Lyon has a sense of humor and is beloved by the ladies. Dominic is the hero of his people, yet they fear and scorn him.

But I’d choose Nicholas from the first book as my favorite because he’s the eldest brother and has a strong sense of family duty. His goals are to sire an heir, safeguard ancient family secrets, and watch over his brothers. He’s charismatic and is a very creative lover. All the satyrs are inventive when it comes to lovemaking, but the sex scenes evolve organically from their characters and the plots.

My heroines are all strong, some more than others. Jordan, the heroine in Raine has garnered the most attention. She’s a hermaphrodite, who is living a lie. I didn’t write her to shock anyone. I wrote her because I had come across some information about the plight of hermaphrodites in the 1800s. I empathized with them and was driven to write an unapologetic hermaphrodite heroine. I love the fact that Raine’s love for her is truly complete and unconditional.

Heather: Did you model any of the heroes/heroines after anyone close to you?

Elizabeth Amber: No, I think all the characters I write are some sort of amalgam of character traits we all come across throughout our lives.

Heather: Nicholas and Lyon have both won in the Houston RWA’s Judge A Book By Its Cover contest and Raine finaled. The covers for this series are to die for. I did notice a slight change though. With Nicholas, Raine, and Lyon the face of the model is mostly hidden. Dominic, on the other hand, the entire face is visible. I know authors have very little say in the cover art, but do you know why they changed it?

Elizabeth Amber: I’m one of those authors who don’t see the covers until they’re printed and I’ve never discussed them in-depth with my editor. I’ve heard from many readers asking who the cover models are and jokingly pleading for them to “drop their drapes.” :o) I remember how thrilled I was when I saw the first one--the Nicholas cover. It’s gorgeous, sexy, and classy, and gave the series a boost right off the bat. Kensington made sure it got seen in bookstores and things took off well from there for the series. I have loved each cover, but I admit I prefer covers where the face isn’t seen. I like to imagine it.

Heather: Elizabeth, if you like, please tell us about your contest, which runs through December 2009.

Elizabeth: I haven't included a dedication in any of the satyr novels so far, but I'd like to dedicate DANE #5 to readers. So, I'll be giving away one dedication and a satyr novel--choose from Nicholas, Raine, Dominic. I'm out of Lyons. The monthly winners through December will be included as a group in the front matter of DANE, as in something like this:

This book is dedicated to my readers --

Heather Brewer, Mippy Carlson, Your Name Here . . .

~ Elizabeth Amber

To enter, join my enewsletter group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ElizabethAmber and email me at elizabethamber1@aol.com with Dane Contest in the subject line.

Thanks again for inviting me, Heather!
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Elizabeth thank you so much for stopping by and sharing so much with us! I have really enjoyed having you here.

If you would like to read more about the books in the Lord of Satyr series please take a stroll over to Elizabeth's website.

Thanks to Ms. Amber's generosity I have a copy of Dominic to give away to one lucky winner! And to celebrate my first ever guest blog, I am throwing in a $20 gift certificate to either Barnes and Noble or Amazon (winners choice)! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here about this post. If you would like an extra entry into the contest spread the word through your blog, Myspace, or Facebook; come back here and post the link where you have shared the news. The giveaway will be open until July 15. The winner will be posted that afternoon!
Open to U.S and Canada only.


Contest Closed!!