Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Giveaway and Guest Post with Tracey Cooper-Posey and her book Kiss Across Chains

"Why the Fifth Century?"

Why would anyone write a book set in the fifth century?  It looks like an arbitrary date – there’s no huge battles, changes of thrones or global evolutions that make the century significant.  On paper, it looks like it’s a boring time in world history – especially as there are so few records that captured events from that time.
But what we do know about the fifth century is intriguing.
It’s an in-between period.  Rome, which had invaded and promptly civilized the majority of the western world and held sway for four centuries, had recalled its troops and civic leaders back to Rome, leaving the provinces to fend for themselves.  
The Richest City in the World
Rome was so blighted that the capital of the Empire was moved to “New Rome” by the then-emperor Constantine (who was British, as it happened).  Constantine took up his seat in the city of New Rome, which sat on the strategic meeting point of Europe and Asia, with double rampart walls surrounding it that withstood siege and battle for centuries…until gunpowder was invented, in the fourteenth century. 
The citizens of New Rome called the city after its founding leader: Constantinople.  It was a name that stayed in place until the early twentieth century.
Constantinople, over the next few centuries, would become the biggest city in the known world.  It was so large in size and in population, that the next five biggest cities combined still did not match it.
Constantinople also controlled more than 25 percent of the world’s wealth.  A river of gold bezants, goods and trade passed through the city every year, making it the wealthiest city in the world.
King Arthur
While Constantinople was thriving, another series of events were (or were not) happening in the far flung distant edge of the civilized world:  Rome had abandoned Britain, and there was no official leadership.  The Celtic and British tribes were fighting amongst themselves, while Anglo Saxon warriors and bands eyed the fertile island and eventually invaded Britain in continuous waves.
Historians have swung the full length of the pendulum, more than once, over the question of King Arthur.  Currently, the consensus of opinion among historians and other experts is that Arthur was unlikely to have really existed.  But the facts that have come down to us from the post-Roman British era are tantalizing and highly suggestive that someone was holding the war-mongering Celts together long enough to fight off the Saxons and win a lengthy (some say twenty years) period of peace, before the Saxons invaded in overwhelming numbers and named Britain their own England.
These two things alone make the fifth century one of the more intriguing eras in which to set a book.  But there is a clincher that made setting Kiss Across Chains in fifth century Constantinople a must…
The Nika Riots
One of the more interesting facts of the era is the popularity of chariot racing.  Chariot racing was a brutal, bloody sport that created fanatical followers who would stop at nothing to ensure their favorite team (blues, greens, whites or reds) won the races.  
In fifth and sixth century Constantinople, the chariot races held such power over the city and its citizens it influenced the military, politics and religion. The Emperor himself was drawn into the eternal question of whether the Greens (Prásinoi) or Blues (Vénetoi) would win.
Chariot races became the source of cheating, bribes, curses, mechanical tampering, gang warfare, street violence and murder until they finally culminated in 532 AD in five days of riots and burning, known as the Nika riots, when the Blues and the Greens worked together in a failed attempt to usurp the emperor himself.
Chariot racing fell into decline after the riots, never again to achieve the huge popularity and influence it had held for the centuries since Greece and Rome had pushed it to the fore.  That made it imperative that I set Kiss Across Chains before the Nika Riots, in order to have Brody return to the city where he was a slave and chariot driver.  I set the book forty-three years before the riots:  489 A.D., when Brody was still human and still a slave in Constantinople.
KISS ACROSS TIME
Kiss Across Time, Book 1 
Genre:  Time travel, MMF ménage romance, contemporary and historical settings
Format:  eBook and print
Short novel length
Available at Amazon:  Amazon Kindle | Amazon Print
*KISS ACROSS TIME will be FREE from July 24 - 28 for Kindle*
A single kiss can change more than one life…or two.
Taylor Yates is fired for insisting the Fifth Century Arthurian poet, Inigo Domhnall, existed. When she hears Domhnall’s lyrics in a death metal song, she engineers a meeting with lead singer, Brody Gallagher. An unintended kiss sends them spinning back to the poet’s time, when Saxons were pillaging King Arthur’s Britain.
Brody’s all for kissing her again.  More, he wants her to kiss his friend and lover, Veris, to see what will happen.  When Veris’ kiss sends them back to the time of the Vikings neither man is willing to let Taylor simply walk out of their lives.
But Brody and Veris are more than lovers and sexual playmates, as Taylor learns when they investigate the kisses that send them across time.  The secrets they share have the power to completely alter her life.
KISS ACROSS SWORDS
Kiss Across Time, Book 2
 Genre:  Time travel, MMF ménage romance, contemporary and historical settings
Format:  eBook and print
Short novel length
Available at:
Amazon US | Amazon US Print | Amazon UK | Amazon UK Print | Smashwords | Kobo | All Romance eBooks | B&N Print 
Taylor Yates never dreamed growing up she would end up happily living with two drop-dead sexy vampires and time-hopping through their thousand years of personal history. Her life is complete…or is it?
When she finds herself at the seige of Jerusalem during the first crusade, Veris doesn’t know her at all and doesn’t want to.  Worst of all, he and Brody are total strangers, and Taylor drives a wedge in deep between them by trying to seduce Veris at their first meeting—not something a lady of the day does if she wants to keep her head.
Taylor and Brody must woo Veris using the customs of medieval England, win his heart and his full commitment before Jerusalem falls in four days time—or when they return to their own time, their lives as they know them will be gone…
KISS ACROSS CHAINS
Kiss Across Time, Book 3
 Genre:  Time travel, MMF ménage romance, contemporary and historical settings
Format:  eBook and print
Short novel length
Available July 1, 2013:
Amazon US | Amazon UK | All Romance eBooks | Kobo | Smashwords
It is four years since Taylor and Brody almost lost Veris during the First Crusade. Now they know how to control time jumps, they have settled into a very nearly perfect, nearly human life, raising their daughter Marit.
When Brody defies Queen Tira to protect Marit, the three of them jump back three days in time to collect evidence the queen set up Brody for a drug bust in retribution.  The jump sends them back to Brody’s personal nightmare:  Fifth century Constantinople.
While Brody survives as a flogged slave, Taylor masquerades as the wife of an aristocrat and searches for Brody to release him.  They must wait for Veris to find them before jumping home and Taylor watches each brutal chariot race, wondering if this will be Brody’s last.  Brody once died in the Hippodrome and he is human this time, too….
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tracy Cooper-Posey is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author.  She writes erotic vampire romances, hot romantic suspense, paranormal and urban fantasy romances.  She has published over 50 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.  
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year and Byzantine Heartbreak was a 2012 winner.  She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.  
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together.  In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line. 
Catch up with Tracy at her:
 website | Amazon | All Romance eBooks |  Smashwords | Kobo | Facebook | Twitter.
Tracy Cooper-Posey's KISS ACROSS CHAINS Tour Schedule
July 1 - July 31
7/01- Book Monster Reviews (Guest Post)
http://www.bookmonsterreviews.com/
7/02- Close Encounters with the Night Kind (Guest Post)
http://closeencounterswiththenightkind.blogspot.com/
 7/03 - Romance Junkies (interview)
http://www.romancejunkies.com/rjblog/
7/04 - Toot's Book Reviews (series spotlight)
http://tootsbookreviews.blogspot.com/
7/05- You Gotta Read Reviews (interview)
http://yougottaread.com/
7/06- Riverina Romantics ( guest post) 
http://riverinaromantics.blogspot.com/
7/08- Book Lovin' Mamas (guest post & series spotlight)
http://booklovinmamas.blogspot.com/
7/09- Brynna Curry's In Shadows Blog (series spotlight)
http://brynnacurryguests.blogspot.com/
7/10- Night Owl Reviews (series spotlight & giveaway)
7/10 - Book Pages & Dripping Ink (series spotlight)
http://bookpagesanddrippingink.blogspot.com/
7/11- I Smell Sheep (guest post) 
http://www.ismellsheep.com/
7/12-  Curse of the Bibliophile (interview)
http://curseofthebibliophile.blogspot.com/
7/14- Literal Hotties Naughty Book Reviews (series spotlight + reviews) 
http://literalhottiesnaughtybookreviews.blogspot.com/
7/15- The Next Chapter (interview and series spotlight) + reviews
http://www.costhenextchapter.blogspot.com/
7/16- United by Books (series spotlight)
http://unitedbybooks.blogspot.com/
7/17- Romancing the Book (series spotlight + reviews)
http://romancing-the-book.com/
7/19- Celestial Reviews (series spotlight) + reviews
http://cecesreviews.blogspot.com/
7/20- The Reading Café (series spotlight + reviews)
http://thereadingcafe.com/
7/21-Offbeat Vagabond (guest post) review later
http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/
7/22- Literal Addiction (guest post + series spotlight)
http://www.literaladdiction.com/
7/22 - Page Flipperz (series spotlight)
http://pageflipperz.blogspot.com/
7/23- Vampires, Werewolves &Fairies Oh My! (Guest post) reviews
http://vampireswerewolvesfairiesohmy.blogspot.com/
7/24- Cocktails & Books (series spotlight)
http://www.cocktailsandbooks.com/
7/25- Wicked Readings by Tawania (series spotlight & reviews)
http://www.wickedreadingsbytawania.blogspot.com/
7/26- Mad Hatter Reads (interview)
http://madhatterreads.blogspot.com/
7/26 - Coffee & Characters (series spotlight)
http://daniellecromero.blogspot.com/
7/27- Smoldering Heat (guest post)
http://smolderingheat.wordpress.com/
7/27 - Tiffy-Fit's Reading Corner (series spotlight + reviews)
http://tiffyfit.blogspot.com/
7/28- Mimmi's Musings (series spotlight)
http://mimmismusings.blogspot.com/
7/29-GraveTells (guest post)
http://gravetells.com/
7/30- Salacious Reads (series spotlight)
http://www.salaciousreads.com/
7/30 - My Secret Romance (series spotlight + reviews)
http://www.mysecretromancebookreviews.com/
7/31- Fandom Fanatic (series spotlight) and reviews
http://fandomfanatic.blogspot.com/
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Tracy is giving away the following prized when the tour ends:
Grand Prize:  $30 Amazon GC
2nd Prize:  $15 Amazon GC
3rd Prize:  a signed paper set of Kiss Across Time (North America) or an eBook set if international winner.
Runners-up:  6 runners up will receive eBook sets of Kiss Across Time.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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