Welcome to the Vampire vs. Werewolf Hop where participating authors and bloggers will be discussing those sexy creatures of the night and giving away prizes. You can find a complete list of participating authors here.
As someone who enjoys a good paranormal romance, I readily admit a fondness for both night prowlers. Do I have a preference? Hmm …there are plenty of sensual, smoldering vamps out there but, if I had to choose, I’m definitely partial to the guys with a lunar attachment.
It started many decades ago with my older sisters watching a show called Dark Shadows. I was the annoying grade school kid but, even at six, was enraptured. Sure, the star of the show was vampire Barnabas Collins, but I was infatuated with Quentin Collins, tortured smoldering werewolf. A connection was born.
Today, many stories favor shifters and wolf packs which I do enjoy. But, to me, there is nothing more tragically romantic than the original werewolf legend in which lycanthropy was a curse. I love the idea of a single individual struggling against the power of something he or she can’t control. That was the concept I used when writing WEATHERING ROCK, my time travel/paranormal romance about a Civil War colonel transported to modern times.
Let me share the blurb:
Drawn together across centuries, will their love be strong enough to defeat an ancient curse?
Colonel Caleb DeCardian was fighting America’s Civil War on the side of the Union when a freak shower of ball lightning transported him to the present, along with rival and former friend, Seth Reilly. Adapting to the 21st century is hard enough for the colonel, but he also has to find Seth, who cursed him to life as a werewolf. The last thing on Caleb’s mind is romance. Then fetching Arianna Hart nearly runs him down with her car. He can’t deny his attraction to the outspoken schoolteacher, but knows he should forget her.
Arianna finds Caleb bewildering, yet intriguing: courtly manners, smoldering sensuality and eyes that glow silver at night? When she sees Civil War photographs featuring a Union officer who looks exactly like Caleb, she begins to understand the man she is falling in love with harbors multiple secrets–some of which threaten the possibility of their happiness.
Finding a decent guy who’ll commit is hard enough. How can she expect Caleb to forsake his own century to be with her?
Intrigued? I hope so! 😀 I fell in love with Caleb while writing this story and would love to share his tale with you.
Finally, in closing, I hope you enjoy these snippets of folklore related to werewolves:
Most people know that being bitten by a werewolf will transform you into one at the rise of the first full moon. It’s also common legend that someone can willingly become a werewolf through the use of sorcery or by making a pact with the devil. But here are a few less commonly known ways of getting your (were)wolf on:
Being the seventh son of a seventh son Through cannibalism (can I get an ewwww on that one, please?) If you’re Catholic, failing to go to confession for a 10-year period By drinking from the track or footprint of another werewolf By drinking water haunted by the dead By eating a wolf’s brain (second ewwww!)
Now for my giveawawy: Comment below WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, and tell me what most attracts you to werewolves. I’ll select a winner through random.org at the end of the hop and award an ebook copy of WEATHERING ROCK, Kindle or Nook (winner’s choice). I also invite you to like my Facebook Author Page and/or follow my blog by email by using the subscription option in the top right corner of the side bar. Either ‘twould make me wolfishly happy! 🙂
Don’t panic if your comment doesn’t appear immediately. Moderation is on, but I promise your remarks won’t be lost and will materialize as soon as I check in. 🙂
Happy hopping! 🙂
Buy WEATHERING ROCK at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
Lyrical Press
iBooks
And, if you’re a vampire girl, my friend and fellow author, Deborah Palumbo just contacted me. She was too late to participate in the hop, but she would like to offer a free Kindle copy of her book, THE UNDEPARTED. If you’ve already commented, on a previous post I did during the Vampires vs. Werewolves blog hop, you’re included for Deborah’s giveaway. She’ll contact her winner directly at the end of the hop. Check out this wonderful cover and blurb for THE UNDEPARTED, book 1 of THE UNDEPARTED SERIES!
Blurb:
Cassandra is trying to figure out if she was actually bitten by a vampire and whisked away to his castle or if it was a very vivid dream, one which has left her to contemplate her own sanity.
Unknowingly, she is the only mortal to resist the vampire’s bite and capture the heart of the most powerful vampire that ever existed; the one who began the entire race of the undead, Quentin Castle.
For ions Quentin has felt nothing but the lust for blood. But Cassandra has awakened something in him that he had forsaken a millennium ago; he is determined to win this beautiful woman by mortal means rather than by the vampire’s bite. But will he be able to suppress his natural instinct? Will he be able to prove to the skeptical Cassandra that he is a vampire and not an imposter, a wannabe? What hideous thing will he do to prove that he is a vampire, prove that he isn’t using some kind of parlor trick, some Houdini magic, and that he is the real thing?
As evidence mounts on Quentin’s behalf and she can no longer deny her encounter was real and not a dream, will Cassandra be able to resist his evil charm and convince her boyfriend, police officer Mike Lapp and best friend Lucy that vampires really do exist and she’s being stalked by one?
To expedite their liaison, Quentin devises a scheme to blackmail Cassandra by setting up her boyfriend for a murder he didn’t commit. Cassandra must surrender herself to Quentin for her boyfriend’s sake and wait for Mike to scale the walls of the vampire’s castle and rescue her. But when her boyfriend arrives, she’s in for the shock of her life. People are not always what they seem to be.
I have to say that the werewolf rules the roost with me, too. The vampire is certainly a compelling character, but the sheer power and savagery of the wolf draws me. He’s an untamed beast, linked to the pull of the moon, and with that, he shares a commonality with all of us. Just – the rest of us typically don’t have to shave our palms the night of the full moon 🙂
Thomas Rydder
http://thomasrydder.wordpress.com/
steelerfutball57@yahoo.com
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Great take on the werewolf, Thomas! I love the connection to the full moon and how it enforces uncontrolled change. Vampires definitely have their perks, compelling as you said, but werewolves rock the house, LOL! Thanks for stopping by. Great to see you here!
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Pingback: My pal Mae Clair asks – which is it: Vampires or Werewolves? « Thomas Rydder
The cover is wonderfully eerie.
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She has three out, Emma. All with very moody and atmospheric covers!
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i love the whole claiming there mate part that’s so sexy
kaholgate at ymail dot com
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And what soulmate could resist? 😀 Thanks for dropping by!
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I love a sexy possessive growly alpha wolf!! Sigh! And the whole mating for life thing ain’t half bad either!
grapeapril75(AT)gmail.com
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I love that bonded for life thing too, April. It really appeals to the romantic in me 🙂 Great answer!
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I like werewolves because they’re alpha.
bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
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They are most definitely that!
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I love how protective and alpha werewolves are. I think it’s hot how they know their mate and then claim them.
sstrode at scrtc dot com
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I’m awfully partial to werewolves too 😉
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WEATHERING ROCK sounds interesting. I don’t think that I have read a book with a Civil War hero, let alone a werewolf one. 🙂
I love werewolves because they are loyal, protective and have that animalistic sensuality to them.
Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
trb0917 at gmail.com
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Hi, Tina. I love werewolves too. And I love history. I knew it wouldn’t be easy combining my love a both in a novel, but I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. Caleb is all those things you mention about a werewolf. I have to agree with you 100% on what makes them so alluring. Thanks for visiting and participaing in the hop!
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I do love a good Vampire book. But I most the time will read the Werewolf/Shifter books first. I love how Animal Instincts and Behavior play out in the individual. And the interaction with everyone around them. fascinating! Werewolves for the Win.
Judy Peterson
strawberryrose@earthlink.net
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I’m with you, Judy. I enjoy a great vampire book, but I’m all about the werewolves first. 🙂 Thanks for sharing and dropping by my blog!
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Do you know Dark Shadows has been resurrected on cable tv? Yup. Each day Barnabas, Quentin and the whole cast are back in full glory black and white television!
As for me, I love those two dueling creatures of the night, have even started stories of both, but like you, I would swoon over a wolf any day.
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How cool that Dark Shadows is back! I remember trying to watch it years ago and couldn’t recapture the magic of the black and white episodes (probably because Quentin wasn’t in it then), but I still love that music and the shots of Collinswood, LOL.
I can’t wait to see what you end up doing with the stories you’ve started. I like them both too, but the wolves get my top vote ! 🙂
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