My Christmas Anthology!

What about this cover, guys? This is the Christmas Anthology I'm participating in, releasing this November! You can read the small blurb on my Books page. I really love it!

WHATA BAND!

Am I the only one (besdides my daughter!) who loves these guys? They are so cool! And adorable! I had to do a look-up to see if they were in fact a true band and that I'd just missed 'em. Nope! They are actors--and the lead is Canadian/Frenchman (and cutie!) Eric Violette. He has a (sexy!) French accent, so his lyrics are dubbed over for an American version, but he is in fact a singer/actor/guitar player. Not so sure about the other guys but I LOVE their commercials/songs! My favorites are the Seafood Restaurant/Pirate and the Renaissance Faire. LOL! Gosh, no matter what we're doing in the house (almost!) we hear that crazy thing and stop to run and listen/sing along! You can (if you're obsessive like me!) go to this website, listen/watch the commercials and sing along with the lyrics! Love that Eric!!! http://www.freecreditreportband.com/

TESTING!

Okay guys--I think I'm having problems with my blog, so if you could take sec and just post--anything--even if it's just HI! I'd appreciate it! If you can't post, then please send me an email at hauntedromances@yahoo.com !

THANKS!

TRAVIS FIMMEL!

Travis Fimmel looks rather young here, (I'm not robbing the cradle TOO much--he was born in '79!) but I absolutely ADORE him in A&E's The Beast (along with kick-butt Patrick Swayze!)!! My LORDY, that Travis is cute! His character, Ellis Dove, is a deep-undercover cop, and he has that Billy-Bad-Butt attitude, like no one intimidates him, and nothing scares him. Like there's nothing he cannot do. Yet he also has a soft side--he is really protective of Patrick's character and looks up to him.

LOVE THAT! :)

I've not been able to find much on Travis--including pics from The Beast. Hopefully, soon! He also played in a WB series, TARZAN--something else I can't find much on, other than YouTube. I think the production was stopped on that one, but if I can get ahold of what bit of the series was aired, I'll buy it! He's a fantastic actor who hides his sexy Australian accent pretty good. :) (that always fascinates me--the hiding of one's true accent!)

If you haven't watched an episode of The Beast, give it a go! It is PHENOMENAL! :)

Heroines and Cool Careers!

As you can see, I'm not very good at alligning my pictures! Sorry!

Heroines are a fun, challenging entity for me. I don't like them too "In Your Face", I certainly don't like them wimpy, but best of all, I love them to have a cool and unique career. They have to have the just-right balance of sweetness vs. aggressiveness--not an easy balance!

I'm sort of dragging up the back of the line here by JUST NOW jumping on the CSI bandwagon. Oh my GOSH! I LOVE LOVE LOVE CSI! Miami is my favorite. My daughter and I will watch episode after episode! (ahem, when I'm not writing!) Calleigh (the top picture) is one of my favorites on CSI: Miami. She's cool, knows her stuff, and yet has that great sweet/I-can-kick-your-butt type attitude. LOVE CALLEIGH!

One of the fun things about writing is this: ALL the cool careers that I'm too old to pursue? I can now simply live vicariously through my heroines! FUN! Take for instance, Rachel Weisz (pictured in white shirt and with BRENDAN FRASER!). WOW. Not only is she a cool archaeologist (AFTER she was a Librarian, of course!) and gets to smooch her super-cool and sexy archaeologist (AFTER he was a treasure hunter!) guy, Rick O'Connell (sigh, Brendan!), but she is again, that perfect mixture of sweet/kindhearted vs. "don't make me come in there!" I love her character as Evie. One of my favorites!

But there's also the very cool career as a demon hunter, as Rachel showed us in Constantine (pic in white shirt). LOVED her in that movie (as well as Keanu!).

I've had one of my heroines be a mystery novelist( Amelia from Highland Knight- (see pic of Kim Lenox! Ain't she gorgeous?!!!), a forensic archaeologist (Andi from Spirited Away), a geneologist (that was Ellie, and for the most part her career didn't surface during the book), a professional ghost-ouster (Allie in MacGowan's Ghost), and lastly Emma (from Thirteen Chances) who is a wedding photographer. Lots of neat careers! And these are just to name a few.

You may be wondering about the super-hip and adorable violinist (last pic). I stumbled across Emilie Autumn while researching another heroine (I'm keeping that one a secret for now!). She is a PHENOMENAL violinist who mixes the classicals with modern-day rock. It is AWESOME! And her music is totally an inspiration for a character I'm working on...

What sort of heroine do you like to read? Are there certain careers that really pull you into a story? Let's hear some of them!

Better yet...what do you want to be when you grow up? :)

WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!!

Hey Everyone! Here finally are the winners of my Blog Valentine's Day Contest and my Big Valentine's Day contest!

For the Blog: ABBERS! Congratulations! You've won a signed copy of MacGowan's Ghost and another of my releases, your choice! Or if you've already read MacGowan's Ghost, but prefer 2 of my others, just let me know! Send me your preferences, name and mailing address to: hauntedromances@yahoo.com CONGRATS!

And for my Big Valentine's Day Contest! The winner is...Emmy Maguire! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You've won my big V-Day contest! Send me your mailing address to: hauntedromances@yahoo.com . Humongous congrats!

Now don't ya'll forget--I still have my February Contest running for MacGowan's Ghost's release. If you haven't entered, go to my Contest page, follow the directions, and ENTER! :) I'll be running this contest through the end of the month! The winner will be listed on this blog, as well as my Contest Page.

CONGRATS AGAIN TO THE WINNERS! And thank ALL of you for playing along! I love hearing your favorite movies/quotes/scenes!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! And a Contest!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

A reader recently wrote to me to say Brendan Fraser (up) was one of her favorite actors, and another wrote to me and asked what/who gave me inspiration for my hero (Christian of Arrick-by-the-Sea) in Thirteen Chances.

Well...Christian sort of took on a look all his own, but THIS particular picture (of Brendan and Alicia lip-locked) is what inspired me throughout the writing of Thirteen Chances. I enlarged it and had it centered on my story board, which sat right in front of me while I wrote. I don't know...I think it is just the sweetest, sexiest kiss picture! Sigh! I love Brendan Fraser! :)

In my second novel, Into Thin Air, I had a small internal scene with the heroine, Ellie, who was recalling the Best Kiss Ever in the History of Kisses. It was recently pointed out to me that I left one very important kiss out: the kiss between Wesley and Buttercup! Doh! How could I? I just recently watched The Princess Bride and man--I love that movie! :)

So even though I have a Valentine's Day contest running from my contest page, I'll run another small one right now: Post a comment to this blog and let us know your favorite couple or kiss scene! I'll run this contest through Sunday, and Sunday evening I'll post the winner. I'll offer a signed copy of MacGowan's Ghost and any of my other novels. Woohoo!

Okay, and for those of you who have entered: My February Contest will run through the end of February, and my Valentine's Day contest will run until midnight TONIGHT. Sunday morning I'll announce the winner here, and it will also appear on my Contest Page. :)

Good Luck! And Happy V-Day!!!!

Busy, Fun, and General Stuff!

Hey guys! Just checking in with a few things here: My fabulous editor has just finished the edits on Thirteen Chances (due to release in September). Hooray! They're to be finished and turned in by Feb. 23rd, so over the next week or so I'll be working on that, and I can't wait! I really had a lot of fun with this book. I won't give anything away right now, but here's just a tidbit: you'll get to revisit all of my previous heroes/heroines! I'll have more on that when it gets closer to release, and I'll soon be posting an excerpt on my website. Busy busy busy!

Also, MacGowan's Ghost has had great reviews so far! Double hooray! It is such an enormous sense of satisfaction when I know someone thoroughly enjoyed my story. Thanks to all of you!!!! Such great reader fans!

Here's some fun news: Me and my daughter are headed to....SCOTLAND in April!!! Whoop Whoop! She's never been before and is super excited (she's 15!). So we'll be digging around old castle ruins, abbeys, and stomping about in our Wellies while taking loads of pictures (and doing double-loads of research for future books!). I thought it'd be fun to have a neat contest, too, where the winner will win a Scottish Souvenir Basket! I'll get more details on that as the trip grows closer (April 9-16), and I'll post it on my website, so be on the look-out! This contest may involve a bit more than entering your name--but I promise, it'll be FUN!!!! :) *note castle on Thirteen Chances cover art is Dunnottar Castle--one of my most favorite! I hope to make it back to that one!*

Stuff: I'm dying to see TAKEN (thanks to my best Californy pal, Rita-Marie's recommendation!). And that Leonardo DiCaprio one, too. I can't recall the name of that one. But man, it looks good! I love his movies!!!!

We watched Ghost Hunters International tonight, which, to be honest, I prefer the original hunters Grant and Jay and the crew. But they weren't on tonight. :) So we went to see some spooky places in the Phillipines, as well as Slovenia. They visited Cachtise Castle, and if you've ever heard of Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess, this was one creepy place! She supposedly tortured/murdered 600 + girls to bathe in their blood with the belief that it kept her young-looking. EEEK! Here's a pic of Lizzy, and here's a piece of her story from Wikpedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory Bluululululul! CREEE-PEEE!!!! :)

More stuff: Have you ever tried those flat breads? After work this morning (still nursing!!!) I went grocery shopping and found them in lite Italian flavor, came home and made the BEST wraps with turkey, shredded lettuce, shredded cheeze, tomatoes, onions (pee-u!) sliced avacodoes, mushrooms (by now it's hard to even take a bite it's so big!) and topped with ceasar dressing. Yummy!

Okay! I'll shut down for now. I'll see ya'll later in the week, and I hope everyone's doing well!!!! And oooh, boy! Tomorrow is CSI night! :)

LATER!!!!

MacGowan's Ghost Book Trailer!

Hey guys! Check this out! It's short and sweet, but COOL!!!

MACGOWAN'S GHOST RELEASE DAY!!!!

Hey Everyone! MacGowan's Ghost officially releases TODAY! :)

Those of you who have decided to add it to your TBR pile: don't forget to keep in mind that GERARD BUTLER was my inspiration for the hero, Gabe MacGowan. Woohooo!

If you haven't checked out the CONTEST on my website, run on over and add your name in! http://www.cindy-miles.com/contest.html A winner will be chosen at the end of February!

And, I'm continuing my blog contests as well. Add your favorite quote/character for a chance to win a signed copy of MacGowan's Ghost!

To celebrate the release, my crazy bunch of pals and I are headed to Molly MacPhearson's in Savannah: http://www.macphersonspub.com/

We thought a Scottish Pub would be perfect since the story takes place at Odin's Thumb Pub and Inn! :)

I'm also guest blogging today at You Gotta Read, so stop by and say hello! http://yougottareadguest.blogspot.com/

Ya'll have a great day!!!