Guest Author: Catherine Spangler

I'm super pleased to bring you a guest blog with Catherine Spangler! She's a total sweetheart and uber talented besides and is guaranteed to keep you all entertained as I recover from this dumb cold. Welcome, Catherine!!!

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Howdy from Texas!

Hello everyone! Catherine Spangler here. Thank you, Lucy, for inviting me to be a guest on your blog. Hey gang, isn't Lucy awesome? She's one of the nicest people I know, and her books are hot! Love those sexy alpha heroes. We adore you, Lucy.

Now down to business. Lucy suggested I talk about my writing and my books. I didn't want to sound full of myself or bore y'all, but then I started thinking, I can talk books and never get tired of it. I love books. I love reading and I love writing them, and I love talking about them with other readers. So I'm guessing y'all are the same way, and your eyes won't glaze over when I discuss my new paranormal series ::g::.

The first book of the Sentinel Series, Touched by Darkness, will be out in January. The book has a *awesome* cover, with ultra-hottie Nathan Kamp. If you look closely (no, ladies, a little higher), you can see he's wearing a pendant, which all Sentinels wear. I had a goldsmith design it, and it's pink quartz crystal, hand wire-wrapped in sterling silver. I'm giving away a pendant this month and next month, so visit my website to enter at http://www.catherinespangler.com/.

This series features Sentinels, who are in human bodies but have superhuman powers. They psychically track specific evil beings, and a small handful of normal humans, conductors, have the ability to enhance their tracking abilities. Matched Sentinels and conductors are always opposite sex, and the conduction process raises some serious sexual energies. The sparks fly! I love alpha heroes, and the hero of Touched by Darkness, Damien Morgan, is no exception. He's tall, dark, and dangerous - and not completely human. Not to worry - Kara, the heroine, has been to hell and back and gives him a run fro the money.

Book two, Touched by Fire, will be out in October 2007. I hope you'll check out the series. There are excerpts and reviews on my webpage, and of course, the contest for the gorgeous pendant.

Discussion question (I think it's mandatory - LOL): What are some of your favorite book series?

I'll start it off: Besides Lucy's Mercenaries trilogy, I like J.D. Robb (Roark is yummy), J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum), and Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse) - and that's just to name a few. Okay, your turn. Tell us what series you like. We'll draw a name from the responses and the winner will receive her (or his) choice of one of my books and some chocolate (to enhance the reading experience )

Happy Holidays! ~ Catherine

You need to visit this blog...

This week. Okay, you all know how much I love, love, love Romance by the Blog with Michele Buonfoglio? Well, this week she is hosting a series of discussions on the concept of erotica versus erotic romance. The first guest speaker is none other than my editor Kate Duffy, an extraordinarily talented woman with a gift for long term vision. The week promises to be absolutely fantastic and if I wasn't fighting this nasty, horrible cold virus on top of getting my computer back up to par, well I'd be there with lots of chatting. Not saying even that will keep me completely away. So, go, go, GO to Romance by the Blog and talk about a subject dear to many of our hearts, yeah?

And on other stuff...

You know, I've decided I'm glad I got sick at the same time as my computer crash. Just one bout of downtime instead of two. That's a blessing, isn't it? And I'm in total awe of the computer guru at CWB. Not only did he save 99.9% of all my data, but he reinstalled my email with all its subfolders. It took some time to get everything running again and I've still got a couple of programs to load onto my new PC (decided to upgrade if I was going to have to reload it all anyway, yeah?), but I'm so relieved! I may have trouble staying awake and um breathing at the moment and my temperature is a bit spikey, but I'm still in bliss. My new computer is so pretty! LOL

And another neat bit of news? Pregnancy of Passion is on the Borders Group National Bestseller's List for the THIRD week. Yahoo!!! And speaking of December books, want to read another really nifty advanced review of "Come Moonrise" in Unleashed? Click here.

Discussion question: Okay, yes, it's going to smack of self-interest, but what can I say? You all are smart cookies. No doubt you've got the goods on the best remedies? But what is your favorite way to treat a cold? Or what do you like to do to make being sick not such a drag?

Computer Crash

Just wanted to let you know that a sector on my computer hard-drive has corrupted. Wouldn't you know, it's the one with my system registry? I can use my recovery CD ROM only if I'm willing to wipe the harddrive. I'm *so* not!

You see...I lost my back up memory stick and just bought a new one, but had not yet backed up my files. Not that I've found a practical way to back up email, I *do* try to back everything else up. Praise God (seriously) ... I sent my editor all the pages I had edited on my WIP just hourse before the crash. What a blessing, let me tell you!

Anyway, am taking it to the "computer doctor" today in hopes of saving as much of the data as I can.

I'll try to keep you updated on progress. My biggest concern? The many emails I had in my in-box when the computer crashed. If you have written me and have not gotten an answer, please re-send. I'm checking email on the server for now.

Hugs,
Lucy