I’ll be offering my Slippery Art of Book Reviewing Workshop at Lowcountry Romances Writers from February 6 to 24. The deadline to register is February 2nd. The price: $16.00.
For details, please visit: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#FEB
This will be a group workshop. If you’re interested in an individual workshop, please visit my workshop page for details.
Happy New Year!
Enter the Boost Your Buzz $1,000 HOLIDAY Giveaway! One lucky person is going to win $1000 USD paid via Paypal!
Gain entries in this giveaway by joining my mailing list and following me on Facebook and Twitter. You can be entered on Social Media Junkie & Simply Stacie (you only have to enter on one of the sites as the forms will be the same on each)
The giveaway starts December 1st 12 am EST and will run until December 15th 11:59 pm EST and is open worldwide.
$1,000 CASH prize will be delivered via Paypal after the winner has confirmed. The winner has 48 hours to confirm their winning notification. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours of receipt of the winning email a new winner will them be drawn and so on and so forth.
Boost Your Buzz $1,000 HOLIDAY Giveaway can be entered on Social Media Junkie & Simply Stacie (you only have to enter on one of the sites as the forms will be the same on each).
Dear Readers,
I’d like to announce the release of my paranormal suspense novel, EMBRACED BY THE SHADOWS, now available on Kindle for $2.99.
Here’s a blurb:
In a bazaar in Istanbul one evening, ten-year-old Alana Piovanetti sees a man standing in the shadows. He smiles, and over time she convinces herself that it was just her imagination that placed sharp fangs amongst those flashing teeth.
Twelve years later, Alana is surprised when she is chosen to manage a new restaurant opening in her home city of San Juan. She has neither training nor experience to justify her success. But La Cueva del Vampiro has the kind of ambience she adores, for Alana has always had a penchant for horror and the dark side of life. Yet she is also plagued with dreams of dark sensuality, dreams that take on shattering reality when she meets the stunningly handsome, charismatic Sadash.
For Sadash is the man she saw in the shadows so many years before…and Sadash isn’t human….
You may read the prologue and first chapter here: http://twilighttimesbooks.com/EmbracedbyShadows_ch1.html
The link to Kindle is:
The story features a Latina protagonist and a Turkish vampire. I hope you’ll give it a try!
To celebrate the release of my novel, I’m giving away two of my other books for free. This offer will run until Halloween night only. Of course, I hope you’ll consider supporting my work by purchasing a copy of Embraced by the Shadows, but if for whatever reason you decide not to, the two free ebooks are still yours to download. This is my Halloween gift to you! 
The FREE ebooks I’m giving away are: Dark Lullaby and Cat Cellar and Other Stories and they’re available in various formats on Smashwords:
Dark Lullaby https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94529
The Cat Cellar and Other Stories https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95031
Enjoy! Happy reading and happy Halloween!
I want to thank all the wonderful bloggers who will be hosting me on their blogs and/or reviewing my novel this October. THANK YOU!
Here’s my blog tour schedule, put together by my fabulous publicist, Donna McDine:
10/10 – Anna’s Book Blog - http://annavivian.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-blog-with-mayra-calvani-offer-of.html – Guest post.
10/14 – Books, Products and More! - http://booktoursandmore.blogspot.com - Spotlight.
10/13 – Readinista – www.readinista.com – Interview.
10/17 – The Kindle Fever - www.thekindlefever.blogspot.com – Guest post.
10/20 – Colette, Buckeye Girl Reads - www.lovesromances.blogspot.com – Guest post.
10/21 – Vamp Chix - www.vampchix.blogspot.com – Guest post and giveaway.
10/24 – Book Lovers Inc - www.bookloversinc.com – Guest post.
10/25 – Vamp Chix Read Books - www.vampchixreadbooks.blogspot.com - Excerpt and giveaway.
10/26 – A Book Lover’s Dream - www.abooklovesdream.com – Guest post.
10/28 – Itzel Library - www.the-itzel-library.blogspot.com - Interview.
10/30 – Read All Over - www.read-all-over.net – Guest post, excerpt and giveaway.
Hi all,
The new revised edition of my paranormal suspense novel, Embraced by the Shadows, will be coming out in a few days in both print and Kindle. In fact, I just heard from my publisher, Lida Quillen at Twilight Times Books, that the novel is already available on the Nook for just $2.99!
I’m quite excited (especially because I love the new cover). To celebrate its release, I’ll be on tour from October 10-30 with guest posts, interviews, excerpts and free giveaways! I also have a HUGE surprise gift for all my readers… but I won’t announce it until Monday, so please bear with me.
I’m happy to announce that my nonfiction book on reviewing has been nominated for a Global Ebook Award. Yeepie!!!
Read about the book on Amazon!
A feverish mix of disturbed characters in another time and space, truly facetious entertainment from Calvani.
In steamy San Juan, Puerto Rico, these and other crazed, eccentric characters swirl together in an intriguing, warped, darkly humorous world where not even cats are safe from chemically induced madness.
Sunstruck was of interest to me in part because the author Calvani lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico and this is where Sunstruck comes to life. Having been born in Puerto Rico myself I found it fascinating to run into an author from the island. I found Sunstruck to be quite funny and throughout the book I caught myself laughing many times. The crazy characters and atmosphere of Old San Juan create a perfect narrative for this mix of madness. Daniella the main character seems like a regular college student until you step into her life and meet her psychotic friends. For a little while you feel Daniella’s mother, a widow is the only sane one, until you find out what her true interests are. While her best and only friend fills her ear with her amor for a priest, Daniella feels there are more important things to think about. Like Zorro the psycho going around leaving his mark on the rear ends of woman. Sunstruck is like a nutty Whodunit with a little twist. Who really is in the Zorro costume? With all the crazy characters I caught myself pointing fingers again and again. A great read that will make you forget where you are, while you giggle yourself to complete oblivion from all the silliness.
It’s always so thrilling to read a review by somebody who TOTALLY got my book…
Here’s the latest review of my satire novel, Sunstruck. I’ll have a smile on my face the rest of the week.
*****
You can buy the book on Amazon HERE, in print or on the Kindle.
Link to the original review:
http://imlivingthethriftylife.blogspot.com/2011/03/product-review-sunstruck-by-mayra.html
Title: Sunstruck
Author’s Name: Mayra Calvani
Genre: satire
Formats: Paperback and Ebook (Kindle, Nook and many others)
Get it on Nook!
Get it on Kindle!
Synopsis:
Meet… Daniella, a naive and deeply sensitive architecture student who feels surrounded by creatures from the Mesozoic Era. Zorro, a deranged criminal running rampant on the streets, terrorizing women who wear miniskirts. Tony, Daniella’s boyfriend, smug and selfish and demonically handsome, who seems oblivious to everything about him except his own obsession with fame and LSD. Ismael, Daniella’s ex-husband, as cruel and innocent as a child, an art critic whose fantasies of revenge will force him to do something that will shock the entire island. Irene Carlier, Ismael’s new wife, better known as Lady Dracula, a ghastly woman who collects torture devices and whose penthouse apartment hides an utterly dreadful secret. In steamy San Juan, Puerto Rico, these and other crazed, eccentric characters swirl together in an intriguing, warped, darkly humorous world where not even cats are safe from chemically induced madness.
More about the book: http://sunstruckthenovel.blogspot.com
I’m happy to announce that this year’s issue of Voice in the Dark ezine is officially out. I co-edit the ezine with mystery author Anne K. Edwards and this is the first time Voice has its own URL after 3 years of being sent by email to subscribers.
I hope you’ll enjoy the issue!
http://voice-in-the-dark.com/
I’m so excited!
My paranormal novel, Embraced by the Shadows, which will be released in print next year, has a brand new cover. I simply love it! Thanks to artist/illustrator Ardy Scott for doing such a fabulous job!
