It’s common  knowledge that animals use pheromones to mark their territory and to lay down a scent for potential mating. The first pheromone was identified in 1959 in silk moths. Others have been identified since then, but not a one for humans. So, when you see an ad for fragrances containing pheromones that will make you irresistible, resist the urge to buy because the perfume won’t work. If so, it would be categorized as a ‘release’ pheromone.

“Release pheromones trigger a sexual response (such as wooing a mate), while so-called primer pheromones cause physiological changes.” Studies have shown that some compound in secretions from a woman’s armpit in close contact with other women can cause menstrual cycles to sync. It’s pretty common for room-mates in a dorm to get their periods simultaneously. Another example would be an infant recognizing it’s lactating mother.

So, as yet, scientists can’t test the effects of releaser pheromones on humans because we simply don’t have them. And, we don’t need them. For humans, the important things in selecting a mate are visual and social signals.

Reference:

http://www.livescience.com/3233-sexual-pheromones-myth-reality.html

HOWEVER, if you live in Abyss, the undersea city of 2155 in Linda LaRoque’s book Born in Ice, pheromones have been identified and are used for a process of selective mating. Due to their closed environment, the process prevents competition for mates and the problems that would arise with dating rituals. In Abyss, children are observed to see who they most enjoy being with. When they enter puberty, they  are evaluated again to see who they show a sexual preference for. Pheromones are collected from them, duplicated and enhanced and the two routinely receive booster shots to keep them in love for a lifetime. Couples marry at a young age, there is no divorce and life is calm and problem free.

Excerpt of Born in Ice:

He steepled his fingers and stared at her. “Zana, it was our hope you’d find one of the men you’ve met attractive so we could see that your mating agreement took place. We’re very fond of you and want to see you settled and happy.”

“But why? I have no desire to get married. At least not right now.” “My dear, I’m afraid that’s not an option in Abyss.”

An odd sensation of distrust crawled up her spine. “Why not? I can get a job and support myself.”

“Of course you can,” said Helen, “but that’s just not the way it’s done here. The only singles we have are widows and widowers and they remarry as soon as a mate can be found.”

“You’ve been here five months now, Zana,” said Jonas. “For two of those, you’ve been out in our society here under the sea.”

She nodded.

“Have you seen any fighting among the teenagers when they go out, heard any arguments between men over women, or visa versa?”

As a matter of fact, she hadn’t. She’d seen teens in a group but they appeared to be in pairs. Nothing like the unattached groups she’d gone out with before the temperature dropped to dangerous levels in Newfoundland. Actually, the married couples she’d seen together appeared too mushy gushy for her tastes. “No.”

Jonas beamed. “That’s because we have a controlled society. There is no dating. That ritual, which many times causes dissension among adolescents and adults alike, is not allowed here. Everyone is happily mated at an early age. Young children are watched to see which individual of the opposite sex they tend to favor, and then pheromones are used in adolescence to ensure their joint attraction. At different stages of their lives, the hormones are increased to trigger sexual desire and fidelity.”

Zana could only gape at them in incredulity. What they suggested went against all of her values. It sounded like something an author would make up when writing a science fiction novel.

“I know you find this shocking, but in the enclosed confines of a society such as ours, it is necessary. Surely you can see that.”

Maybe she could understand their thinking but she couldn’t condone it. Surely there was a better way. She shook her head. Drugging people went against her ethics.

Jonas cleared his throat. “The men you’ve met are all interested inyou. Their wives are dead and we need you to make a choice soon before problems arise among them. They’ve been without a sexual partner for some time.”

She couldn’t believe her ears. Standing, she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t take part in this ritual. I’m not in the least attracted to any of those men and have no intention of being hyped up on drugs to get that way.”
Doctor Bartholomew frowned. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, Zana. We cannot allow you to live here in Abyss as a single.”

Born in Ice is available in both paper at Ebook at Champagne Books, Amazon and B&N.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment to be entered in our monthly $25 gift card.
Linda

The Fun in Being Eclectic by Terry Spear

As I began to write my stories, I heard—you HAVE to brand yourself, write in one area, develop a following, be like McDonalds with the Golden Arches, Pizza Hut with the red roof, or well, a genre that readers will see and say—oh, I know an author that writes that, and to stick to it.

But I love to write about a variety of different kinds of worlds from contemporary romantic suspense to fantasy, to urban fantasy romance to contemporary romance to historical romance to time travel romance to…even true stories.

I love to diversify, because I’m an eclectic reader. I read everything.

True, I’ve branded myself with paranormal romance, specifically werewolf romance. I have 15 contracted wolf books, nine out, four more either written, turned in, still being edited, or being written. With having so many wolf books out in the same series, I finally made USA TODAY bestseller with A SEAL in Wolf’s Clothing. I truly believe it had some to do with branding. Not quitting at writing three or four wolf stories, but writing several with more to come so that if readers like your world, you develop a following. I’ve had fans who say that they see a picture of a wolf, read about a wolf, they think of me. Fans send me pictures of wolves and articles about them. One sent a picture of her family dressed as Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, which I featured on my blog. That’s branding.

So yes, it’s important.

But I love to write about a variety of different kinds of worlds. It helps me to keep my longer series works fresh. I’ve just started a jaguar series with Sourcebooks also. I’m working on book two with book one, Savage Hunger, coming out in October. It’s new, the jaguars much different than wolves in personality, yet they are shifters like wolves and I’ve begun to make connections between the two worlds for fun. I hadn’t ever intended that, but…that’s the way I write. I don’t plot out whole worlds and a whole series, or…even a whole book at once.

The characters create the story.

That’s some of why I create different worlds. I get an idea, and take off running. When I wrote The Dark Fae, all I thought of was I wanted to write about a world where the fae coexist with us and where they are the reason for some of our missteps in life. The series took off. I had never planned to write more than one book. I did it for fun. But I had so much success with it, I wrote three more in the series with another one on the way. So some of the reason for writing eclectic is that I can enjoy writing something different, and find that readers love the new world, too. Or some that wouldn’t touch one kind of book that I write, might like something else I write. Others read everything I write, so for me it’s a win-win situation.

I also write a Highland historical series. I have two out with readers clamoring for more, but haven’t had time to write them. I am in the process, and have three books started. Winning the Highlander’s Heart began the series. I love to read historical romance and I love to write about Medieval times. I have a lot of Scottish roots, so write mostly about Highlanders, but I’ve written others also.

I also have a YA vampire series and adult vampire books, with another couple partially written that when I have time, I’ll finish up.

I’m just editing a book written some years ago—a third marriage comedy kind of book. It’s a contemporary, Marriage under Duress, in the line of Marriage, Las Vegas Style, and Exchanging Grooms. I wrote them for Flipside, but my stories have humor and a serious side to them so they didn’t work for the line. Again, they were a fun diversion from other works I was writing.

For me diversifying is the key to keeping my writing fresh. Branding is great, but for some of us, we need to try something different to keep the creative juices flowing.

The voice is what makes the work ours. With mine, I have mystery, adventure, romance, and humor. It can be set in the 12^th Century Highlands, or in contemporary world America. It can be our world with a paranormal twist with vampires or werewolves or jaguar shifters living among us. It can be pure fantastical worlds or futuristic even. Or we can drop everything and travel to the past like in A Ghost of a Chance at Love, a time travel western ghostly romance.

That’s because I’m an eclectic reader and love to read everything!

What about you? Do you tend to read in one special genre exclusively? Or do you like to read for variety? And if you write, which is it for you?

Thanks so much for having me here today!

Terry Spear

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

USA Today bestselling author, Terry Spear has written over three dozen paranormal romance novels and two medieval Highland historical romances. An award-winning author, Terry’s Heart of the Wolf was named a Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year in 2008. A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry Spear works in a library by day and spends every spare moment writing paranormal romance as well as historical and true life stories for both teen and adult audiences. Spear lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on three wolf books, another jaguar book, and has a variety of other eclectic works in progress! For more information, please visit http://www.terryspear.com/.

www.facebook.com/terry.spear

www.terryspear.com

www.myspace.com/terryspear

http://terry-spear.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/TerrySpear

Forgive my lateness posting today…we have a couple of major home improvement projects we’re getting ready for and I got distracted. But I have the winner of ABM’s Paranormal Basket: Congratulations, Shadow!!

Only a couple more weeks before we send out ALL the prizes, but in the meantime, we have two more baskets of books and fun items to give away.

The next prize up is our Vintage Basket, featuring books and goodies to remind you of the days of Bogie, Elvis and Mad Men! Check out the doll elegantly dressed by our own Fleeta Cunningham. (Fleeta is one of the authors represented in the Vintage Basket as well — cool!)

Leave comments to enter — up to three per person per post will be eligible. A lot of you are getting extra chances to win by liking our Facebook page and/or following Authors by Moonlight on Twitter. We’re so glad to see you there!

Check out our Contest page for complete rules, and keep leaving those comments. We’re always glad to hear from you.

Cheers!

Ann

Loretta Wheeler wins our Historical Romance Basket! We’ll mail out her books and goodies at months end, along with the other baskets, but it’s worth the wait. Congratulations, Loretta!

Thank you to everyone else who commented, liked us and/or  followed us so far this month. You are still eligible for the Paranormal, Vintage and Western Baskets. A week from today we’re announcing winners of our Paranormal Basket, featuring books by ABM’s own Linda LaRoque, Beth Caudil, Francesca Hawley and Lindsay Below, along with several other writers in the paranormal/fantasy genre!  Other goodies come with each basket, including dolls in original outfits by Fleeta Cunningham.

Leave comments to enter — up to three per person per post will be eligible — and get some extra chances to win by liking our Facebook page and/or following Authors by Moonlight on Twitter.

Check out our Contest page for complete rules, and visit us often! We’re always glad to see you.

Happy commenting!

Ann

Here at ABM we’re kicking off our Romantic Treats Blog Blitz a day early. We were just so excited we couldn’t wait any longer! Our thanks to Delilah Devlin for providing us with our first taste of goodies for October!

I have to confess to a fondness for warriors. Something about the big lugs does it for me. Brawn over brain, or at least I thought that was what I preferred before I began writing my current series The New Icelandic Chronicles. As often happens to a writer, the muse led me along a path that found me describing fearsome Viking warriors who might be technologically challenged when fighting a war in space, but who adapted to their new challenge and triumphed.

When I began envisioning these men and the adventure they’d face, I let my imagination run free. Nothing could come easy to my Vikings. They live on an Icebound planet with a frozen ocean infested with sea dragons. They live under a harsh embargo which denies them the technology and comforts their hard-earned wealth deserves.

Still, they needed another challenge. One more immediate. What beside the precious ore the Vikings mined could entice a advanced culture to steal away those brawny men? Once I knew that answer, I knew what Eirik would face when he reached the warm planet of Helios. Add a touch of Roman spectacle, genetic engineering and heroine just as stubborn and prideful as Prince Eirik, and I think you’ll find a tale worthy of those adventurous men who conquered Northern Europe, sailed to the Americas and inspired terror wherever they went.

Enslaved by a Viking releases October 4^th. I can’t wait to hear what you think. Be sure to visit my blog at DelilahDevlin.com. I’ll be giving away weekly prizes during the month of October to celebrate the release.

Blurb:

His suffering….

Though proud and strong, Eirik, heir to the Ulfhednars kingdom, found himself seduced and taken from his home world by a bounty-hunting vixen, who sold him into slavery. Purchased by a wealthy, Consortium-backed brothel, he is kept at a heavily guarded and secure breeding facility, where he is forced to feed the lustful whims of Helios’s elite at night. He bides his time, waiting for a chance to escape and get his revenge on the woman who betrayed him…

Her satisfaction….

Once a sex thrall, Fatin earned her freedom through service. Now, as a bounty hunter, she is determined to earn enough to buy her sister’s papers from the same brothel she escaped. For this, she abducts a brutishly handsome, breed-worthy specimen from the Viking planet and delivers him to auction. But her desire for justice and his desire for freedom may consume both of them in a passion neither wanted—or can resist.

Intrigued? Read an Excerpt

Gotta have Enslaved by the Viking? Buy here!

I’m thrilled with this beautiful cover for my upcoming futuristic romantic suspense, Born in ice, to be released in December by Champagne Books.

Blurb:

Pulled from an icy grave…into a world of doubt and danger.

Frozen in ice for seventy-five years, Zana Forrester suffers the agony of rebirth to learn her son is dead, and her daughter’s whereabouts is unknown. The year is 2155. A man’s soothing voice and gray eyes haunt her drug induced dreams. When she recovers, she meets their owner and finds her heart in danger. But, a relationship isn’t a consideration; she must find her daughter.

Brock Callahan is drawn to the beautiful woman taken aboard his salvage ship. He’s determined she’ll be his wife and a mother to his young daughter, but he vows not to love her. All the women he’s loved died. While Zana searches for her daughter, Brock must protect Zana from the evil that threatens.

Excerpt:

Brock opened the door. A blast of cold air whooshed out. The faint smell of death washed over him filling him with dread. He staggered back for a moment. His gaze landed on the child’s seat in the back. Empty. He drew near again and noticed the driver’s seat was reclined. A body lay curled on its side holding a bundle close.

His voice gruff, he called, “Bring us a light. Luke, open the doors on the other side.”

Digger held the light as Brock leaned in to look at the bowed figure on the seat. From the person’s figure and profile, he couldn’t deny the delicate features beneath the mask belonged to a woman. She was dressed from head to toe in a silvery grey snowsuit with fur-trimmed matching boots. Fur as soft and as gray as a dove’s wing edged her parka making her appear ethereal. Dark lashes brushed her face covering, similar to a ski mask, made with cut-outs for her eyes, nose, and mouth.

He carefully pulled the blanket away from the bundle and groaned at the mummified features of what had once been a child. Oh, God, no. Not a baby.

Thanks for Reading!

Linda