Countdown continues!!

3 days!! Woohoo!!

OK, the news is flowing in fast and furious:

1. I'm at Running with Quills this weekend, talking about why Sundays are hard. Please stop by!

2. Doug Knipe, aka SciFiGuy, emailed me to say that Unleashed is different from any paranormal romance he has read in the past and guys will love it, too!! His review is HERE - and I especially LOVED this part:

what I discovered was an action romance that very much reminded me of Golden Age pulp fiction, bigger than life, full of alpha heroes and smart heroines, Gods and Goddesses, mystery, magic, and exotic locations. Think Saturday afternoon matinee Tarzan adventures or Doc Savage tempered with intelligent modern female protagonists.

3. Borders reports in that I'll be prominently displayed up front in the stores! LOVE Borders!!

4. The rest of the world discovers what WE already knew - reading romance is GOOD for you!!!

5. I'm the featured author at wonderful Australian bookstore EVER AFTER!!!

6. Dear friends Toni McGee Causey and Yasmine Galenorn have books out Tuesday, too!! I had the privilege of reading CHARMED AND DANGEROUS by Toni and Yasmine's DEMON MISTRESS in ARC format and they're both FABULOUS!!! June 2nd is super book shopping day!!!

7. Once I get Brennan and Tiernan out of trouble for the day in ATLANTIS REDEEMED, I'm off to take the kids to see UP!

Happy weekend, everyone!! I'll be posting more news Saturday and Sunday, so stay tuned!

hugs,
Alyssa

Countdown is on!!!!!

According to the countdown clock, at the moment I'm writing this it's only:
4 days
or 107 hours
or 6475 minutes till ATLANTIS UNLEASHED is released!!!!

I've got exciting things happening every day so I'll be sure to post updates here!! For now, here's a sneak peek to a TV segment that will be appearing all over the country starting today! You can see it at BetterTV.com (click on Military Wife) or go direct to the clip on YouTube HERE.

In the meantime, the great reviews are pouring in!! I'm so thrilled and grateful that my readers were patient enough to wait for Justice's book. I love you all!!
hugs,
Alyssa

Yippee!! I'm a Top Pick - again!

Night Owl Romance this time!! Reviewer Heather posted this rocking review - 5 out of 5 stars:

Alyssa Day’s much anticipated release; Atlantis Unleashed is a creative and deeply fascinating and a great continuation of her series. I have been waiting, and not patiently, and I wasn’t disappointed either.
* * *

Ms. Day’s world building is a beautifully crafted and the characters she has woven into it are edgy and believable. The scorching passion and spicy sexual tension add great complex weaves to an already smoking hot series. I am really looking forward to the surprises she has in store in the next books. I enthusiastically recommend this book as well as this series.

Great Reads Thursday

I have what my friends down here in the South call a "gracious plenty" of great reads to talk about in my first GRT! And many of them are friends, which makes it even more fun.

First off, the lovely and talented Jennifer St. Giles has two new releases for your reading pleasure: KISS OF DARKNESS and BRIDE OF THE WOLF. Her Shadowmen series is growing deeper and richer with every book.

And speaking of lovely and talented, my friend S.J. Day has begun a back to back release schedule of kick-ass urban fantasy!! I was lucky enough to read EVE OF DARKNESS in ARC format and loved it - now I'm holding my breath for book 2 (also on June 2nd, yet another release buddy). If you like urban fantasy, you should give the Eve series a try.

For tried and true, two of my favorite urban fantasy series had new releases lately - Charlaine Harris's DEAD AND GONE and Jim Butcher's TURN COAT. Both are long-running series, and it was interesting to me that both books gave their respective protagonists a kind of new beginning by culling some of the long-running characters and forcing Sookie and Harry to stand alone. Some interesting parallels there and both are great examples of how to keep a series fresh and exciting. Charlaine took Sookie to a very dark place and to a realization of just how very alone she is, even though she stands at an intersection of so many supernatural races. Fascinating stuff.

In the Dresden Files book, Harry has to stand for an implacable enemy, both for personal reasons and also just because, under his unique code of honor, it's the right thing to do. Personal relationships are destroyed for him, too, and lives are ended.

It's something I have to say when responding to reader mail, sometimes. If the stakes are high enough, sometimes characters will die. It's unreasonable to expect that only the bad guys will ever die in a battle to save the world. If every "good" character had a "get out of harm free" card, then there would be no real danger or suspense. The story has to control where the characters go, and sometimes, no matter how much I may love them, bad things happen to them.

But I always ALWAYS promise a happy ending for my heroes and heroines. After the torture I put them through, I think they deserve it, don't you?
hugs,
Alyssa

Writing Wednesdays

So another week seems to have gotten away from me. This time the culprits are obvious: deep in rewrites for Atlantis Redeemed, planning the release stuff for Atlantis Unleashed (only 2 weeks and 6 days, woohoo!!) and my darling Princess has strep throat. Yes, we're on baby Motrin and the dreaded pink stuff (Amoxycillin, for those of you without kids). But she's happily ensconced with her juice in front of some cartoons, fever down for now, so I can get in a good hour of writing.

I missed Movie Monday again and OMG all I can say is STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK!!!!



It was FABULOUS!!! Saw it Friday and saw it again on IMAX Sunday (Mother's Day gift, yay me!). LOVED it!! I'm a confirmed Trekkie, so it was such a treat for me - all the callbacks to the original show were fun and the casting was brilliant. I'd been concerned about Urban as Bones - didn't seem like a fit - but he was absolutely terrific in the role. I hope he gets a bigger part in the future movies! How about you? Did you see it? Thoughts? Oh, and Spock and [SPOILER]??? ZOWIE!!!!

TV Tuesday continues the season finales and reminds me how much I hate the way network TV does season finales. Cliffhanger, cliffhanger, cliffhanger. Yawn. Do they realize that by the time the show comes back, we won't care? I'd like to have some of this stuff actually WRAPPED UP for a sense of closure. Don't give me spoilers about Fringe, though - it's safely on Tivo and I can't watch till little ones are in bed for the night. Too scary! Am thrilled about Leonard Nimoy casting there and that it has been renewed for next year.

OK, a little good news, I'm starting a Great Read Thursday on the blog - will talk about books I've read that I enjoyed (and why) and I hope you'll do the same in comments so we can intro each other to new authors.

But for now, the story is calling me, so here for WW is a snippet that nobody has seen yet for Atlantis Unleashed (out in less than three weeks!! You can preorder now!! ) - a secret sneak peek just for you!! They've made it to the jungle . . .

Excerpt from Atlantis Unleashed, copyright Alesia Holliday, writing as Alyssa Day

Keely pushed her hair away from her face and tried to breathe, but the heat and dehydration, probably combined with the events of the past few days, had taken their toll. Justice released the energy sphere, lifted her into his arms and moved them both out of the chamber and back to the mouth of the cave, where the outside air was much fresher.

She leaned over, pulling in slow, steady breaths, until the dizziness and hyperventilation passed. “I’m fine,” she said finally. “Just really could use some water.”

Unexpectedly, he smiled. “Although the Nereid still hides from me, or is recovering from the use of so much power, I find that my Atlantean gifts are returning. If water is what you want, my Keely, then water you shall have.”

He strode outside to stand, legs braced apart and arms held up in the air. The sunlight shone down on him as if he were some primitive god, himself, returned to his people and ready to accept their worshipful homage. He was beautiful and stern and primal, and something deep inside her stirred, shaken and moved by the sight of him. Her breasts tingled and her nipples hardened, craving his touch, and her thighs tightened as liquid heat pooled in her center, readying her for him like some ancient virgin to be sacrificed to a lusty god.

Her face flamed at the thought and she tried to remind herself of the biological imperative that caused women to be attracted to powerful men in dangerous situations. She was a scientist. She of all women couldn’t fall prey to something so primal.

Even as she tried to resist the siren call of his intense sexuality, he lowered his gaze from the sky and stared straight into her eyes. His own had darkened to black with blue-green flames dancing in the exact centers of his pupils. “Poseidon, hear me,” he called out in a voice filled with tempest-tossed waves and gale-force winds, never taking his gaze from her. “Bring water to me that it may give life and health to my woman.”

“I’m not your woman,” she whispered, but this time even she didn’t believe it. At that moment, with winds circling Justice like a typhoon, whipping through the clearing to center on him, energy crackling around him like miniature lightning bolts in shades of silver, blue and green, she could deny him nothing.

“For Poseidon,” he roared, throwing back his head. Somehow his braid had loosened, and long strands of hair whipped around his face and shoulders; blues all the spectrum of possibility caught in the strands of his hair flew in the wind as it danced to his call.

She looked up, following his gaze, unable to doubt him for even an instant. He had called for water, so it would come. She knew it, and when the swirling, twirling coils of crystal clear water tumbled through the air toward him, she laughed with delighted joy.

“Come to me, Keely,” he said, and the heat in his eyes seared through her until she wanted to tear off her clothes and throw herself on the ground in front of him; a pagan offering to be taken right there in the downpour that he had created. But instead she stumbled forward, hands clenched at her sides, until she stood a mere breath away from him.

He laughed down at her and shouted out another word, a beautiful word, a word she did not know. The water turned into a spring shower, falling onto them and into their open mouths and down their necks and soaking into their filthy clothes.

From Atlantis Unleashed, in stores June 2nd!

Writing Wednesday

Oh, wow, the week has been getting away from me! Much kidlet stuff this week. I helped Princess's class work on their writing skills for the state test FCAT writes, and they all passed with flying colors! Much joy and I baked cupcakes to take into class today.

Also, Science Boy turns 12 Saturday (how did THAT happen???) He was JUST BORN! GAK! So there has been much secret and not-so-secret shopping as the new Nintendo DSi he's desperate for has made its way to my house. Just need to wrap it and hide it till Saturday . . .

So, in brief: Movie Monday - who saw Wolverine?? Thoughts? Love Hugh, love Gambit, a little disappointed. Not what I expected, no humor, too grim. Can't wait for Star Trek this weekend!

TV Tuesday, I admit to watching Biggest Loser and I cried when they finished that marathon. How affirming!! Anybody else a fan? Or did you catch American Idol? How was it?

Writing Wednesday: Have you checked out the excerpt for Atlantis Unleashed yet?? And I know, I need to put the back cover copy on the site. Doing that as soon as I finish my chapter of Redeemed today. have a great Wednesday!!
hugs,
Alyssa