Tour: The Summoner's Tale by Victoria Danann (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Please give a warm welcome to the wonderful author, Victoria Danann!

Victoria, based on your bio, I'm thinking you must be insanely busy. A post on how you find time to write amid all of the other things you are involved in would probably be enlightening!

This is the number one question I field not just as an author, but socially and professionally. My schedule sounds crazy even to me. For those who haven't seen the bio, here are some of the high points.

I own 7th House Publishing. Although I'm no longer personally involved in the day to day operations, there are decisions that must be made almost daily. I author and illustrate Seasons of the Witch planners, now in its fourteenth year. I manage Houston's top party band and, although I'm not currently playing, I dedicate some time to keeping up my musical skills: keyboards, guitar, and vocal. I play bridge six to ten times a month because it keeps me sharp. and I write fiction. Oh, wait, I may have forgotten to mention a husband, family and German Shepherd, but they are definitely part of my day.


A few days ago a bass player I know called to ask if I wanted to be the utility player in a Classic Rock band. Of course my first reaction was, "YES!!" Then I remembered that clones are just a wish and not a reality.

So, how do I do it? Surprisingly, the thing that takes the most time is not even on that list. That would be the marketing of my paranormal romances. Since I'm an Indie (sort of), I'm responsible for getting the word out about Black Swan. This interview is part of that. 

I wear all the marketing department hats including the one that says "graphics". I do the covers, the ads, the book trailers and the SWAG myself. I design and maintain the website, the blog, and participate in the Goodreads fan group. I recently took on an author's assistant whom I share with a couple of others and that helps enormously, but it doesn't turn twenty-four hours into forty-eight.

My day starts sometime between 2:30am and 6:00 depending on how much is on my mind. I answer emails, post on Facebook, log and analyze my book sales, update the website and blog and take care of any other marketing-type chores such as renewing ads or commenting on reviews. I take the dog for a walk/jog in the woods, take a shower, and have breakfast. Back at the computer, I take care of 7th House business and band business before lunch. (It helps that I work from home.)

On days when I'm in: after lunch I beat down the other fires that have cropped up through the morning and continue to deal with issues from the various enterprises through the day. On days when I have errands, appointments, or play bridge: after lunch I may be away for three or four hours then I come right back to it. When there is time left between that and starting dinner at six, I write. 

The only thing different about Saturday and Sunday is that I add musical instruments into the mix plus one social event and one date with spouse.

This is the way things go during my "outline" process. But once my extended outline is complete and ready to start writing in earnest, I start to feel driven and need to take big chunks of time to just write. I don't take personal time even at night. My husband gets dinner. I eat with him and then come back to it. That stage of my writing usually takes three weeks to a month. 

Once the manuscript gets turned over to my editor, add a flurry of daily emails to my schedule: This sentence seems clumsy. Are you sure you want to say ____ that way? 
That's the story of how it all gets done. 

Now, about A Summoner's Tale... If you haven't read Books One and Two, I hope you will do so before you read Book Three. Black Swan is a serial saga meaning that each book is actually a chapter installment in an ongoing story. This particular installment involved characters that were introduced in the first book. 

If you read by Kindle, you will find A Summoner's Tale available at Amazon after release. If you another e-reader, you can still get the book in the form of an anthology that will be available in electronic format everywhere. The Order of the Black Swan Collected Tales, Books 1-3. $6.99 for all 330,000 words. This is a dream come true for me because readers will experience the first three books as conceived as one story.

Coming Valentines' Day 2013
The Summoner's Tale
Victoria Danann
The Order of the Black Swan Book Three
ISBN: 978-1-933320-67-0 E-Book
ISBN: 978-1-933320-80-9 Paperback

A secret society, a witch, a psychic, vampires, modern day knights, heroes, elves, fae, assassins from another dimension, and fairytales come together where emotions intersect. Two souls, joined by a mystical bond, separated by distance, must simultaneously struggle through pain and darkness in an ultimate confrontation with character and an ultimate struggle for life proving that true love waits patiently through lifetimes and finds courage to survive. Even in the strangest places. Even when you're least expecting it. Even when you're far, far from home.

Erotic quotient: Some steamy scenes. No menage. No BDSM.
READING THE SERIES IN ORDER HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.


The Witch’s Dream 
By Victoria Danann
The Order of the Black Swan Book Two
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Paranormal Adult Fantasy / Urban Fantasy
Publisher: 7th House
ISBN: 978-1-933320-56-4 E-Book
ISBN: 978-1-933320-63-2 paperback    
ASIN: B009LXOKQW
Pages: 300 -5×7 book
Word Count: 100,000
Amazon  Smashwords
BOOK TRAILER 
Amazon BEST SELLER Fantasy Romance. 

SMART.  SEXY.  MAGICAL.
From New York to Ireland to Edinburgh to Siena to the Texas Hill Country to Napa Valley, a secret society, a witch, a demon, a psychic, a berserker, an ex-vampire, modern day knights, heroes, werewolves, elves and fae come together where emotions intersect. The story maps a trail from rages to hunts to epiphanies, but, in the end, proves that true love can find you in the strangest places, when you're least expecting it, even when you're far, far from home.
He was left behind when Elora Laiken made her choice. Now he’s had it with love, but a transplanted witch who happens to be the world’s best tracker hopes she can change his mind.The Witch’s Dream begins with B Team on temporary assignment to Black Swan headquarters in Edinburgh where they are supposed to fill in for stretched-thin resources and assist with a werewolf issue. They’ve been given permission to stop in Ireland for a few days and help celebrate a handfasting at the palace in Derry.
When they reach Edinburgh, the afterglow of an elftale wedding quickly turns all business. A missing person report turns into a demon abduction. A simple werewolf sanction becomes a diplomatic issue requiring the one thing Elora is no longer willing to give - finesse.

Erotic quotient: A few steamy scenes. No menage. No BDSM.

My Familiar Stranger
By Victoria Danann
The Order of the Black Swan Book One
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: 7th House
ISBN: 978-1-933320-49-6 E-Book
ISBN: 978-1-933320-77-9 paperback
ASIN: B007V8RAKW
Number of pages: 360
Word Count: 111,268
Thirteen times on Amazon Best Seller List in Fantasy Romance. 
Purchase Links: Amazon  Smashwords Barnes&Noble iTunes
BOOK TRAILER 

A secret society, modern day knights, and vampires come together for a once in a lifetime adventure and a once in a lifetime opportunity proving that true love can find you in the strangest places, even far, far from home.
Minutes ahead of inevitable assassination, Elora Laiken is forcibly transported to an alternate dimension similar, but not identical, to her own.
Of course a girl could suffer worse problems than having gorgeous suitors. Perhaps more importantly, in the midst of an epidemic of vampire related abductions, can she stay alive long enough to choose between an honor debt, true love, or the breathlessness of single-minded passion?
My Familiar Stranger is a full length, stand alone, Paranormal Romance novel that also sets up the foundation for the Black Swan series. It is loved by fans of paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and urban fantasy. 

Erotic quotient: A few steamy scenes. No menage. No BDSM.  


About the Author :  

For the past fourteen years, Victoria has illustrated and authored Seasons of the Witch calendars and planners for 7th-House.com.
Though works of fiction are a departure for me, I have had this series simmering on the back burner of her mind for years. In addition to authoring and illustrating Seasons of the Witch, I play rock music and manage one of Houston's premier R&B/Variety/Pop bands. This series will include some of my actual experience in the paranormal with fictionalized anecdotes from my journals during the years when I was a practicing "metaphysician", but most of the material is fantasy.

web - blog - facebook - goodreads

GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment for a chance to win one e-copy of The Order of the Black Swan, Books 1-3 to be given away at each blog stop on the tour!