Stephanie Cage - Writer

Halloween is a great excuse to dig out Nightmare Before Christmas and all my favourite spooky stories, so my contribution to the Halloween blog hop is, in no particular order, my seven favourite magical books (or series - a sneaky way of not quite having to narrow down to seven books) of all time. How many have you read? Follow the hop for more fun, great books, and awesome prizes.  And make sure to read to the end for a chance to win a sneak preview of a magical collection, as well as a hop-wide prize draw for $50 or $100 in Amazon gift cards.   Tamora Pierce: Alanna (Song of the Lioness series) Along with 'Little Women', this is one of my most read books ever.  The story of a girl in a magical land which, sadly, reflects our own in having certain expectations of how boys and girls will behave.  Alanna doesn't want to be a lady and learn to dress prettily and walk nicely.  She wants to fight the bad guys, and both she and her twin Thom are gi...

For the launch of Modern Magic, my fellow Crimson Romance authors and I are trying something new to us: a Thunderclap campaign .  I've supported a few of these recently, including a very successful one for Jane Holland's fantastic thriller, Girl Number One . (You can read about her Thunderclap campaign on her blog here ). All it means is you agree to allow the app to post a one-off message on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram on a specified date about the book, and as the campaign only runs if at least 100 people support it, the internet becomes a 'perfect storm' of book news for a few minutes - hence the term 'Thunderclap'.  Although the initial posts only last for a few minutes, it can have a lasting effect on how many people are aware of the book. Our Thunderclap for Modern Magic is here and we would love you to click through and support it! If you want to know more about how you could use Thunderclap to promote your book or cause, their FAQs are here ....

Just a quick update to let you know that both the sports anthology Perfect Game and our lovely fairytale collection, Modern Magic, are now up for preorder on Amazon Kindle. Perfect Game on Amazon.com   Perfect Game on Amazon.co.uk (Perfect Game contains my ballroom dancing romance, 'Perfect Partners', which you may already have read, plus five other spicy sports romances) Modern Magic on Amazon.com Modern Magic on Amazon.co.uk (Modern Magic contains my brand new twist on the Goldilocks story, plus three other fun twists on traditional tales from fellow Crimson Romance authors)

I'm so excited that Crimson Romance, who published my first full-length novel (Perfect Partners) have picked my contemporary fairy-tale retelling, Music to Her Ears, as one of their 'quartet of fractured fairy tales'.  The anthology is due to be released a month from today (on November 9th). It's a privilege to be featured alongside three very talented authors and it was enormous fun working out what a certain fairy story would look like if it took place in the present day with three human brothers in place of the bears.  I love the cheeky fairy-tale cover.  What do you think?   Blurb: What if Cinderella ditched the prince's ball and sent her fairy godmother to find love in her place? Suppose a streetwise hero hired to steal an all-powerful Genie (stuck in a flash drive rather than a brass lamp) for a tech company ended up running for his life with the CEO's gorgeous, intelligent daughter? Or what if the bed that a certain golden-tressed ...

Wow!   Tell  (Book 3 in The Heckmasters series) by Alison Merritt has a stunning cover and an exciting premise.  Read on below to find out more... but be warned... the book is not out until March 2016.  Still, you can always add it to your Goodreads shelf so you don't forget, and in the meantime, check out books 1 and 2 in the series (all links below). Half demon, all male...one woman strong enough to love him. Knowing the day will come when his demon blood will overcome his humanity, Tell Heckmaster has been searching for a miracle. Something, anything, to counteract the spell. So far, he's come up empty. Just as the town of Berner has finally found peace, Tell's worst fears manifest. Strange, new powers are tearing at his finely honed control. Putting everyone-including the pretty seamstress he's kept at arm's length-in terrible danger. Sylvie Duke has everything she needs. Everything except Tell, who doesn't seem to own a lick of ...

If I'd had to place bets on the likelihood of anything I ever wrote appearing in a book on sports, I'd have placed it up there with the likelihood of me landing on the moon.  I don't do sports.  My husband is mad about football and tennis, but my involvement is generally limited to sitting in the same room as the football on TV, with headphones in, reading or writing. However, despite the total lack of hand-eye coordination which prevents me from getting involved in ball or racquet sports, I do love to ice-skate, swim and dance.  And it's that last interest which led to my inclusion in Crimson Romance's forthcoming sports anthology: 'Perfect Game'.   I don't do competitive ball games, but I do love competitive dance - I danced for my university teams while studying for my BA and Masters, and although I no longer compete, I still love to dance whenever the opportunity arises.  Some years ago, fuelled by my obsession with 'Strictly Come Dancing...

Under a Blood Moon by Rachel Graves My rating: 4 of 5 stars 'Under a Blood Moon' is a highly entertaining debut novel which blends dark elements with a light chick-litty feel in a similar way to Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books. I love stories which explore how supernatural elements would fit into the structures of our everyday world, and the heroine Mallory's role within the Baton Rouge Supernatural Investigations Department puts this book squarely into that category. With the book coming from The Wild Rose Press, I was expecting more of a romance, but as it turns out, Mallory's relationship with Jakob, a six hundred year old vampire, provides plenty of heat without detracting from the pace of the detective story, and her friendships with others from the supernatural community are much-needed light relief from the dark events which follow from the initial zombie attack. When supernatural powers are thrown into the mix, human politics and interperso...