Summer Solstice: Event, Book, Did you know...? Brenda Sparks @Brenda_Sparks #MFRWauthor #Romance #SummerSolstice

13 Interesting Facts about the Summer Solstice by Brenda Sparks

1.         The term "solstice" is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). The term Solstice was chosen because the sun's position in the sky at noon does not appear to change much during the solstice.
2.         During the solstice, the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer.
3.         The summer solstice is the longest day of the year.
4.         The sun is the highest in the sky on the summer solstice.
5.         The summer solstice is also called “midsummer”.
6.         The summer solstice is not exclusive to Earth. In fact, every planet in our solar system has a summer solstice.
7.         Stonehenge in England is thought to have been built to celebrate the summer solstice. In fact, each summer a celebration is still held in the ancient structure.
8.         According to pagan folklore, evil spirits appeared on the summer solstice. Ancient people would wear protective garlands of herbs and flowers to ward them off. One of the most powerful of these plants was called “chase devil,” and today we call it St. John’s Wort.
9.         In northern Iceland, there is a cliff overlooking the sea where you can sit and watch the sun not set. The sun goes down just to the horizon, brushes the water, then starts to rise back up.
10.       In Alaska, they celebrate the summer solstice with a midnight baseball game. The game starts at 10:30 p.m. and continues into the next morning.
11.       If you are in the Tropic of Cancer during the solstice, you’ll notice that you can’t see any shadows at noon. That’s because at that precise time the sun is directly overhead at a 90-degree angle to the Earth.
12.       The summer solstice stresses out rats and other nocturnal creatures. Just as some humans get sad or anxious during winter due to there being less daylight, some rats experience the same thing during the summer solstice. The longer days can produce stress in the nocturnal animals.
13.       On the summer solstice, St. Petersburg experiences almost 19 hours of daylight, and Russians make the most of it by having a White Nights festival. Ballet and opera events take place outdoors because the light never completely fades to full darkness.

Under a Blood Moon by Brenda Sparks from Summer Solstice

Fill yourself with the heat of summer with these paranormal and fantasy reads.
From shifters to goddesses, vampires to aliens, there's something for everyone within these pages. Look no further for sizzling romances and thrilling adventures that are bound to leave you desperate for a cool down.

Genre Paranormal Romance
Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R
Tall, strong, and powerful, Caden is the last werewolf on earth most people would ask for a favor. As the leader of his pack, it is his job to keep the pack members safe—and Caden takes his job very seriously. But when a ballsy stranger shows up on his doorstep begging for help, he cannot turn her away. Unfortunately, helping her means blurring the lines of pack law and with the Blood Moon setting everyone on edge, pack rule is precarious enough.
Once a member of a formidable pack, Kate now finds herself an outsider. When her brother is imprisoned by his Alpha for helping her, it’s up to Kate to come to his rescue. Alone and lost, it seems Kate’s stars have aligned when she stumbles upon Caden—until he refuses to help. With her brother’s life in escalating peril and her faith in Caden shattered, Caden will have to risk everything while facing the most intense fight of his life…the battle for Kate’s heart.
Under a Blood Moon is part of a collection of short romance stories in Summer Solstice: A Limited Edition Collection of Fantasy and Paranormal Romances.

Where to buy Under a Blood Moon

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Solstice-Collection-Paranormal-Romances-ebook/dp/B07PXBW3JY/
Barnes and Noble  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1130534155
iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/summer-solstice/id1451906944?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Kobo  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/summer-solstice-11

Brenda Sparks Social Media

Brenda Sparks has always loved all things spooky and enjoys incorporating paranormal elements in her writing. She refuses to allow pesky human constraints to get in the way of telling the story. Luckily the only thing limiting her stories is her imagination. Her characters are strong, courageous, and she adores spending time with them in their imaginary world.
Her idea of a perfect day is one spent in front of a computer with a hot cup of coffee, her fingers flying over the keys to send her characters off on their latest adventure.
Website http://brenda-sparks.com/index.html
Blog http://brenda-sparks.com/blog.html
Twitter https://twitter.com/brenda_sparks
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/forBrendaSparks/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/brendasparks/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4416074.Brenda_Sparks
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Brenda-Sparks/e/B00B7AJBBQ
Newsletter http://brenda-sparks.com/welcome-readers.html

Peer-mentoring for authors: Marketing for Romance Writers #MFRWauthor #Authors @MFRW_ORG

What is MFRW?

MFRW is Marketing for Romance Writers, a peer-oriented mentoring group open to the entire literary community. Ask marketing-related questions, request help, advice, and opinions. You can ask for opportunities to join other authors in promotional efforts. You can learn the business aspects of writing. What's it cost? Nada, zip, zilch, zero -- just come join up and share.
Marketing for Romance Writers promotes for its members on most social media. Get your book cover pinned on one of the MFRW Pinterest boards, and share your tweets on MFRW's monthly Retweet Day. The hashtags #MFRWorg #MFRWauthor and #MFRWhooks help you promote. If you have questions about marketing your books, join us.
The MFRW motto is "seek, teach, share, learn, succeed." MFRW was founded in 2006 by Kayelle Allen, who heads the group to this day, guiding its direction and overseeing the numerous volunteer staff members that help it run. The group began with a dozen friends, and today boasts over 2400 members, and over 7000 members make up our Facebook group. We have a multiple award-winning magazine. We have over 400 followers on Goodreads and feature our members books there in the MFRW Book Place group. On Pinterest, we are followed by over 1500 people, have 55 genre related boards, and almost 1000 pins. Want your book cover pinned on our site? Even if you don't have a Pinterest account, you can take advantage of our presence there. Join our Yahoo group today and you'll get information. Services and membership are free.

MFRW Volunteer Staff

Alice Orr, Barbara Donlon Bradley, Carmen Stefanescu, Emerald, Jessica Cale, Kayelle Allen, Libby McKinmer, Lisa Lowe, Lyncee Shillard, Michelle Davis, Mona Karel, Nicole Morgan, Paloma Beck, Reet Singh, Rochelle Weber, Tina Gayle

MFRW Online

Yahoo group (where you can get help) https://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarketingForRomanceWriters/
Twitter https://twitter.com/MFRW_ORG
Kayelle Allen on Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
 Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/mfrwauthors/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/161092-the-mfrw-book-place
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/mfrworg/

On #Thursday13 we meet Dracula's Prodigy and her sponsor

#MFRWauthor Carmen Stefanescu resides in Romania, the native country of the infamous vampire  Count Dracula  where, for about 50 years of communist dictatorship, just speaking about God, faith, reincarnation or paranormal phenomena could have led someone to great trouble - the psychiatric hospital if not to prison.

High-school teacher of English and German in her native country, Carmen  survived the grim years of oppression  by escaping in a parallel world, that of the books. Reading was, is and will always be her greatest hobby.

 The fall of the Ceausescu’s regime in 1989, and the opening of the country to the world meant a new beginning for her. She started publishing. Poems first, and then prose. Both in English.

She likes to blend genres and thus she writes paranormal stories with a smidgen of mystery, history and romance. The reader will find suspense, dark themes, adventure, danger as well as sweet revenge. She calls her stories  “gothic” romance. Her writing focuses on rebirth, past life regression, karmic retribution.

                Dracula's Prodigy

Genre: paranormal romance/light horror/light historical

Publisher: City Lights Press

Blurb

Six hundred years later after the events in Wallachia the action moves to North Carolina, Transylvania county.

Running from the hands of an abusing husband, on the verge of committing suicide, a series of strange events/apparitions make Linda reassess her life. She embarks on a thorough research regarding her unusual ancestor- Vlad, the Impaler, aka Dracula.

Can Linda discover the truth regarding Vlad among the countless malicious stories, exaggerated legends and whispered slander dating back to 15^th century? Is he a hero, a brave protector of his hard tried people and country? Or a cruel monster feeding on the blood of those impaled at his order?

And is good-looking Jody really helping Linda regain her trust in men and love, or is he another evil envoy of a past that haunts her and threatens her life?

Dracula’s Prodigy is the sequel to Dracula’s Mistress, and will awe legions of fans of Gothic literature, paranormal and historical fiction. 

 

Buy link: Amazon

Video teaser: 

 

Thirteen things vampires are known for

1. suck the blood of their victims 
2. detest garlic and holy water
3. are immortals
4. are harmed by the sunlight
5. highly intelligent and strong willed 
6. have strong narcissistic tendencies
7. can’t see their reflection in a mirror
8. mostly solitary
9. the transformation enhances their beauty

10. their canine teeth lengthen, and are known as fangs

11. can be annihilated by pushing a stake in their hearts

12. are sly and dangerous

13. sleep in a coffin

Meet Carmen here:

 Blog 

 Pinterest

Goodreads

Twitter