Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

What The Forsaken Talisman Characters Say

It’s always exciting to have a book coming out, whether in ebook or paperback. That moment of seeing or holding the final product, knowing other people are going to read the story you put your heart and soul into, is amazing, enervating, blissful even.

Then Lisa and I (I being Jen—Lisa and I are best friends and writing partners who write together as Ashleigh Raine) started thinking about the characters. How do they feel about their story? So rather than tell you why we think you should buy Forsaken Talisman (although we hope you will) we’re going to let the characters sum up their feelings on what happened in the book. Forsaken Talisman is first and foremost a love story between Dusty and Skylar, but in Talisman Bay, each book brings new challenges and desires for all the characters.

So without further ado, here are the men and women of our Talisman Bay series, to tease you with hints of what happens to them in Forsaken Talisman in their own words.

Retrospection and Reminiscing

Lisa: It’s that time of year again…to look back at the year, make an assessment of the highs, the lows and decide how to move forward into the future.

I do that every year for better or worse. However, this year, I don’t need to look back because I’m still feeling the sting of all the lows without enough highs to balance them out!

So rather than end this year on a grumpy note, I’m gonna go way back to when the decade was young. On this very day, December 30, in 2000, I met my soulmate.

Online.

RIP: Mourning the Deaths of Fictional Characters

Jen: The first time I remember suffering over a fictional loss was when I was a teenager and went to see the movie Ghost. At the end of that movie when Patrick Swayze says “Ditto” and goes into the light, I sobbed so loud that other people in the theater actually laughed at me {ask Lisa about it, she was with me at the time. (Lisa: Yes, I was there…and laughing at her, too!)} Perhaps it was the teenage hormones at work, or maybe I like to suffer, but I went and saw that movie several more times in the theater—and cried every time. Recently, I caught the ending on cable…and balled all over again.

Why is tragedy and death of beloved characters in popular fiction so prevalent? Is it the shock value? Is it to showcase how life is precious? As a writer, I get why death is necessary. It creates great emotional angst, it allows us to explore the darker side of life. It can create great conflict. But still, from the other side of the table, why do we, as readers and viewers, keep coming back to shows—or rewatch movies and reread books—that rip our hearts out time and time again?

A Big Handful of Hollywood

Jen: Lisa often works as a background actor on movies and TV shows, and I’m used to getting phone calls from her letting me know she’s not going to be available because she’s going to be playing a recovering nymphomaniac (in the movie Domino), a dead nun (in the TV show Angel), a hooker (in half a dozen different shows—does that mean she’s easily typecast? *snicker*).

Often Lisa will call me with just a title of a movie, and I’ll go into research mode and see what I can find out about it on the net. All for research purposes of course. We wouldn’t want Lisa to head blind onto a movie set and act like a dork in front of our favorite hottie flavor actor of the month (and yes she’s done that, but so have I, because yes, we’re just that not cool.)

About a year ago, Lisa called me to tell me she was working on another movie, but this time as a specialty costumer. Lisa’s a kick-ass designer—she made outfits she wore to several award shows including the Grammys, the SAG Awards, and several others. This time she wasn’t designing, but she was getting to work with leather, creating belts and straps for a costume.

Forsaken Talisman by Ashleigh Raine...Hooray!!!

Yes, it’s true. The redone, spit shined, hot, happy and yummy Forsaken Talisman was released last Friday. Hooray! I’m even celebrating with a hot cup of tea as I write this. (Good golly, it’s tasty, too!)

Here’s the blurb: (I’ve got more to say after it!)

Is she a victim of a madman’s agenda, or a willing player in his demonic games?

*Book two in the Talisman Bay series.

Kidnapped and mind-wiped by the Shadow Walkers’ greatest nemesis, Skylar has no memories of her own, except for her name. All she knows is what memories she does possess belong to someone else—as does her face—and that she can’t trust anyone, including herself.

Shadow Walker Dusty Clements goes against direct orders to rescue Skylar and take her into hiding. It’s the only way to get to the truth, and keep her out of the hands of an enemy who could use her to wipe out the entire organization. The last complication Dusty needs is to fall for her.

As Dusty and Skylar work to uncover the secrets of her past, they discover a mystery more than twenty years in the making, and a love they can’t deny.

The enemy has one more trick up his sleeve though—a magical kiss capable of probing the deepest secrets of the mind. All he needs to bring the Shadow Walkers down is to get his lips on Skylar one more time…

*This book was previously published but has been completely revised, rewritten, re-edited, with an addition of more than 20,000 words.

**Warning, this title contains the following: Sex in an interdimensional cave. Hot men ripping demons apart bare-handed. Liberal use of the f-word as verb, adjective, threat and sexual promise. Oh, and wet and soapy sex in the shower followed by warm bodies sliding between cool sheets—yes, sex in a bed. It’s almost normal!

You might remember this book from awhile back… Yeah, it has the same title, same world, same characters, however, we added a little bit of an old friend from Lover’s Talisman (can’t tell ya who, you’re just gonna hafta read it!), a little bit more of Jake, Marlin and Ryan and a whole lot more of the yummy goodness that is Talisman Bay.

To read excerpts, go to AshleighRaine.com.

To buy the ebook, go to Samhain Publishing. (Well, you’re kinda already there, but there’s a page just for the book and that’s where you need to be in order to buy it.)

In fact, I’m gonna go read and reminisce and get all hot and bothered and have my heart broken and mended and…and…and…generally be very happy that Forsaken Talisman is finally out for ya’ll to enjoy for real! WooHoo!

Ashleigh Raine is giving stuff away!

Who doesn’t like to win free stuff?

Okay, that was a rhetorical question. So let me follow it up by saying that we’re giving something away in this blog post, but you’ll need to read to the bottom of the post to see what we’re giving away and how to enter. We’re sneaky that way.

Spend some time hopping around the internet and you’ll find thousands upon thousands of contests going on at anytime. Even if you only look for contests given by authors you’re likely to find hundreds of them. Of course it makes sense. Offering a contest or other free things gets people to your website, and the hope that is, once there, readers will be interested enough to stick around for awhile, and maybe, hopefully, if they like what they see, they’ll buy your books.

Christmas Memories

The stockings are empty. Beneath the Christmas tree is a stray ribbon the cats have picked as their Christmas present, and a few torn pieces of gift wrap that didn’t make it into the trashcan. The trashcans are bulging, as are the bellies of everyone in the household. Another Christmas is winding down, another year is almost over.

10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy Lover’s Talisman by Ashleigh Raine

So many authors, so many books, so many choices. We, Lisa and Jen, who write together as Ashleigh Raine, want to help our readers out. So rather than tell you why you absolutely, no doubt about it, should buy Lover’s Talisman (coming out Tuesday, November 25 in paperback and available for instant gratification right this very minute in digital), we’re going to make your life so much easier by giving you 10 reasons why you shouldn’t buy yourself a copy.

This time of year always gets us talking...

LISA half of Ashleigh Raine: I am a paranormal investigator. Gosh, that’s just so weird for me to say like that. I’d always fancied that I simply liked to explore my surroundings whenever I heard a strange sound, watched a rocking chair move on its own or felt someone approach while I was alone at home. This kind of stuff has happened around me since I was a kid. I had no idea it was prepping me for what was to come this year.

2008 is the year that I became a TAPS Member.

Y’know, like Jason and Grant…from Sci-Fi channel’s Ghost Hunters. Yes, I’m an investigator for The Atlantic Paranormal Society, West Coast Home Team.

Castles and History and Research

Seven years ago, when my husband asked me where I’d ever dreamt of going, but never thought I’d actually go there, my answer was easy, “England, so I can see some real castles.” I didn’t realize he had been about to buy airline tickets for our honeymoon. Since then, we’ve been back four times and have visited at least eighty-two castles throughout England, Scotland and Wales. We’ve also explored cathedrals, abbeys, stone circles and mansions. The country is just so rich with history, it’s hard not to stop in every little town along the way from place to place, too.

It has also been unintentional research. I mean, here in the States, especially Southern California, buildings just aren’t that old. When we hear a building was erected in 1904, it’s a cause for awe and amazement. Across the pond, I’ve visited numerous sites that were erected thousands of years earlier. Sure the States have a little bit left of the early colonization, but they just don’t have the remains of tiltyards or dungeons where kings were locked up to be murdered or even crenellated wall walks with views for miles and miles.