EARL OF DARKNESS Winner!

We have a winner for Alix Rickloff's EARL OF DARKNESS guest blog. A free copy goes to:

Danielle Gorman!

Contact Carrie to provide your mailing address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought! Congratulations!

Guest Author: Alix Rickloff

This week on Unusual Historicals, we're welcoming Pocket author Alix Rickloff as she celebrates the release of her latest historical romance, EARL OF DARKNESS, set in 1815 Ireland. Not only is the Irish setting unusual, but this romance integrates paranormal elements. Here's the blurb:

Born a lady, but reduced to surviving in the slums of Dublin, Catriona O'Connell has been hired to steal a mysterious book from Aidan Douglas, Earl of Kilronan. But Cat is secretly Other, an age-old mixture of Fey and human--something Aidan recognizes immediately when he surprises the lovely young burglar in his library, about to steal a magical diary.

From the moment Aidan sees her, Cat's spirited beauty enchants him, but her uncanny abilities are what he truly needs, for Cat can understand the mystical language in the diary he inherited from his murdered father. So Aidan makes an offer: translate the book or be thrown in prison as a thief. And as Cat slowly deciphers each page, she and Aidan are drawn together by passion...and into the violence of the Other world that is the Kilronan legacy. Can they defeat those who seek the book, or are their lives in even greater danger than their hearts?

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Top Pick! "...a tangled tale of good and evil, magic and mystery, passion and desire --one that won't be easily forgotten." ~ RT Book Reviews

Top Pick! "This book is magic personified." ~ Janalee, Night Owl Reviews

"A sexy and intense tale packed with dark passions and even darker magic." ~ USA Today Bestselling Author Caridad Pineiro

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The unusual aspect of your historical is obvious. What made you decide to blend paranormal into a regency?

I've been an avid reader of historical romance since high school, but my second literary love has always been fantasy. The more high adventure swashbuckling, the better. In 2007, I finaled in the Golden Heart with a manuscript that contained an element of the paranormal. This decided me once and for all to try my hand at blending the two genres. Thus my fabulous alternate universe of magic-wielding men and women who live within the elegance of Regency Society was born.

Tell us a little about the world you've created in EARL OF DARKNESS?

The Other are a race of men and women who bear the blood of the Fey. This magical inheritance can manifest itself in something as subtle as the gardener with the amazing green thumb to the sorcerer who wields great power. But in a superstitious time where magic is seen as evil, the Other must hide what they are. It's into this dangerous world the Earl of Darkness opens as the remnants of a shadowy group of Other unite in one last bid to turn back the clock to the Lost Days and regain their supremacy.

Do you find it more difficult to research the fantasy elements of your story or the historical details?

The historical details, definitely! Readers of historicals know their stuff and they're not afraid to let you know if you get it wrong. I try very hard to research the period I'm writing about. I have a library full of books on the Regency era as well as a fabulous group of scholars and writers of the time period who are there when I need that niggling fact I just can't lay my fingers on.

The fantasy in my stories is my own invention, and while I may call on Celtic elements as a premise, I feel free to branch out everywhere and anywhere my imagination takes me. The trick there is to be consistent. As I continue to write stories set in the universe, I have to be careful I don't make a mistake with my own invention. I've begun a notebook that I reference as I write which has been really helpful.

What's next for you?

LORD OF SHADOWS, the second book in the series, is due to be released in July, with the final book whose title is TBA set for a January 2012 publication. At this point, I'm also hard at work on my next project which will introduce a whole new facet to my paranormal-regency world.

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Readers, other than her website, you can visit Alix at her blog, on her Facebook author page, and as part of the collaborative network for Pocket authors and fans, Pocket After Dark.

If you'd like to be entered to win a copy of the delicious EARL OF DARKNESS, leave a comment or question for Alix. Maybe: Does the idea of Celtic-inspired paranormal elements appeal to you? How about this exciting Irish setting? I'll draw a winner at random next Sunday. Void where prohibited. Best of luck!

Excerpt Thursday: Alix Rickloff

This week on Excerpt Thursday, we're welcoming Pocket author Alix Rickloff as she celebrates the release of her latest historical romance, EARL OF DARKNESS, set in 1815 Ireland. Not only is the Irish setting unusual, but this romance integrates paranormal elements. Join us Sunday when Alix will be here to answer questions and give away a signed copy. Here's the blurb:

Born a lady, but reduced to surviving in the slums of Dublin, Catriona O'Connell has been hired to steal a mysterious book from Aidan Douglas, Earl of Kilronan. But Cat is secretly Other, an age-old mixture of Fey and human--something Aidan recognizes immediately when he surprises the lovely young burglar in his library, about to steal a magical diary.

From the moment Aidan sees her, Cat's spirited beauty enchants him, but her uncanny abilities are what he truly needs, for Cat can understand the mystical language in the diary he inherited from his murdered father. So Aidan makes an offer: translate the book or be thrown in prison as a thief. And as Cat slowly deciphers each page, she and Aidan are drawn together by passion...and into the violence of the Other world that is the Kilronan legacy. Can they defeat those who seek the book, or are their lives in even greater danger than their hearts?

***

Cat O'Connell's intelligent gaze fell everywhere at once as she stepped lightly across the floor. Took in the blank walls where selected artwork had been sold off. The mantel cleared of its most expensive items, the spaces where prized family pieces once stood. The rest of Kilronan House was much the same. A sad witness to all that had been lost.

Aidan motioned to a chair near the fire. "Have a seat, Miss O'Connell."

"Cat works well enough."

She was right. It did. She walked with a feline, sinuous grace only intensified by those damn trousers. He shook his head. Thank the gods women wore gowns. Men would be reduced to blabbering idiots if they spent every day subjected to the spectacle of women's legs. The male species wasn't up to that kind of continuous temptation.

First thing on his to-do list. Something to cover those long legs and that sweet, round ass. A solution? Doubtful. She'd need a damn sack to completely disguise that lissome allure. But it would definitely help. "Who are you, Miss O'Connell? And what were you doing in my library?"

Uncertainty flickered over her face before hardening to stubborn resolve. And from the porcelain elegance emerged the steely features of the thief who'd broken into his home and fought like a tigress. Two sides of a very interesting coin.

"It's not Miss O'Connell. Not anymore. It's Cat now. And I'm whatever I have to be to survive."

"No angry father beating the streets looking for you? No brother with a blunderbuss and priest in tow?"

Her lips compressed until white lines bit into the hollows of her cheeks. "No one."

"Fair enough." He shrugged, reluctantly letting his curiosity go. A burglar who spoke and carried herself like a queen tantalized with possibilities, but he'd reached his quota of mysteries already.

"As for your library," she continued, "I was stealing." She crossed her arms. "Now are you going to send for the Watch or not?"

He bit back the retort on the tip of his tongue. Settled for, "Not."

The answers he sought were in the diary. They had to be. Why else would it have been hidden away and not with Father's other personal papers? And not just hidden away but warded and written in a language every scholar he'd contacted had labeled gibberish? The diary contained the keys to finally understanding the truth about his father's death. Perhaps even clues to his brother's disappearance.

And he sat across from the only person he'd found who could decipher it. Newgate would wait. Cat belonged to him now.