Today’s Featured Author-Rowena Cherry
September 29, 2008 by Melissa
Rowena Cherry
Rowena Cherry has quickly made a name for herself over the years with her trademark hot futuristics. But is so very different from the world she grew up in.
Born in England, she was a chess champion and was schooled at Cambridge. Rowena taught in some of the most exclusive schools in England before meeting her husband. After some time in Germany, they settled in the US. Her first book, Forced Mate, blew away the critics and the rest they say, is history.
Please join me in welcoming her to the blog. I will post some excerpt from her new release, Knight’s Fork, and there is a PRIZE of course! Comment on the blog and get your name in the hat. There will be two more posts, so be sure to post on all three posts about Rowena and your name can go in the hat three times for a $25 Gift Certificate from Ebookisle!
Comments
40 Responses to “Today’s Featured Author-Rowena Cherry”
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Hi Rowena:
This is actually a pretty neat idea for a book and I’d love to know how it came to be. The excerpt is quite interesting and I’d love to know more.
Hi, Rowena!! How fun to see you here! Going to go read the excerpts!
Hi Rowena, always have fun touring your website and reading the excerpts for this series.
Hi Rowena,
I really enjoy visiting your website. I’m also beginning to like these blog tours - I’m finding such interesting places on the web!
I’m off to read the excerpts!
this one seems really good and i love your work so glad to see some new stuff
Hello, Ro, Tina, Fedora, Cathy, Cheryl,
Thank you all for commenting. I appreciate your support. This is quite a hectic day for me, as I am blogging in three if not four places at once.
Here, of course
http://lyndakscott.blogspot.com/2008/09/star-crossed-romance-guest-rowena.html
http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=1277#comment-2755
There are either Godiva chocolates or ebookisle.net book tokens being sponsored by me on each site, so, my friends, you might as well treble your chances of winning something.
My newsletter came out today. More news of contests, prizes, chances to win $50 in books and more.
Knight’s Fork is probably being put out on supermarket shelves tonight. I’d really appreciate it if you’d pick up a copy if you see one, open a page and laugh (in a good way) before putting it back down.
When Insufficient Mating Material came out, a male acquaintance from the Dorchester loops went into a bookstore and pretended that reading an excerpt from that book made his trousers not fit anymore. I’m not sure how much that helped sales, but it certainly was funny!
Knight’s Fork was awarded a pnr reviewers top pick award for September. I heard about that this weekend.
OK… now to answer your comments
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Ro, thank you for asking!
I’ve written three books and one short in the series which is officially called “the god-Princes of Tigron” –a reference to the gods from outer space premise– but which is unofficially dubbed “the Mating Books” because three of the titles have the chess term “Mate” or “Mating” in them.
This (Knight’s Fork) is the last of the set.
Each story is supposed to be self contained, each has a different hero and heroine, and a satisfying (IMHO) happy ending.
However, one over-arching theme is that once the hero of Forced Mate has his heroine and discovers the joys of monogamous mating, he is over-eager to fix up his sisters and politically neuter his enemies by saddling them with “liability wives”.
Therefore, it’s best to read the books in sequence (1. Forced Mate, 2. Mating Net. 3. Insufficient Mating Material. 4. Knight’s Fork). However, Mating Net is only 58 pages long, and only costs $2.50, so could be a really good way to find out if the way I write is appealing.
The only problem is that Mating Net is a bit spicier than the paperbacks, and the hunk whom everyone assumes is the villain is the one to marry and impregnate the heroine.
Oh, and Mating Net isn’t as funny.
‘Rhett is the hero of Knight’s Fork. His first appearance was in Forced Mate. (Forced Mate is a chess title for a race between the two Kings to make a pawn his Queen). It was written as a spoof, and I took every traditional cliched situation in an abduction/obligatory-travel Historical Romance and made the hero an all-powerful, alpha-male alien, a god-Prince with a nasty reputation.
In Forced Mate, ‘Rhett is a Knight on a mission to discredit and perhaps assassinate a tyrant. He’s also a statesman… so no one trusts him. He’s always looking out for everyone else’s welfare, for instance by trying to stop one of his brothers from having extremely unwise sex. His interference does not please his brothers.
So, his big brother thumps him. As a result, he’s arrested, imprisoned and threatened with torture and death.
In Insufficient Mating Material, he’s thrown into the role of uneasy co-conspirator with the exceedingly dangerous Tarrant-Arragon after Tarrant-Arragon has forcibly marooned Djetth (the wild brother) on a tropical island with the slightly overweight and bitchy Princess Martia-Djulia who can’t or remove her own wet ballgown to save her life.
Tarrant-Arragon had his reasons for shooting down the unhappy couple. Martia-Djulia balked at the altar of her shotgun Royal wedding (to Djetth), but she needs a husband before she creates a bigger scandal as a result of a really bad choice of bed partner for a defiant one-night stand.
A Knight’s fork–the chess position–is about tough choices in an impossible situation where you can only save one of two (or more) threatened pieces.
Knight’s Fork is a quest story, inspired by the Greek myth of Perseus (and the Gorgon) and also the story of Helen of Troy. In this case, the “Helen” doesn’t intend to run away with the “Paris” character, all she wants is his sperm, preferably frozen.
What she doesn’t reckon on is that there might be the alien equivalent of paparazzi staking out the hero’s bedroom.
My cover reminds some people of the myth of Tantalus, the hero who was doomed to be half submerged–up to his neck–in water that he could never drink.
I hope I’ve answered your question, Ro.
Fedora,
It’s lovely to see you here, too. Do let me know what you think of the excerpts!
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
“Never sleep with a lady only once, especially in the case of an older lady”
Rhett, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cherry
Cathy,
Thank you. Have you seen my latest newsletter? It went up today.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
“If you’ve made up your mind to impale someone, do it with conviction.”
~ Rhett, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cherry
Cheryl,
I hope you enjoyed the excerpts. Let me know what you think!
Best wishes
Rowena Cherry
“If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.”
~ Thor-quentin, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cherry
Tina,
I’m thrilled to hear that you love my work. Thank you for saying so.
best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
Nice legs. Shame about the…morals.
~’Rhett about Electra, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cherry
Welcome Rowena,
Congrats on your latest release.
Cyclops8!!!
How lovely to find you here (as well as on the Raven site). Thank you for your comment.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
“Having sex multiple times on the first sleepover does not count as more than one “date.”
~’Rhett, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cher
Rowena,
Thanks for letting us know about the other sites as well.
*^_^*
I checked out your newsletter today! I always enjoy interviews with cover models and it was cool to see one from Canada.
Hello, Rowena,
I left a couple of questions on your interview at Bitten by Books.
I would like to know also, if you have a set time you write? Do you seclude yourself to write?
Thank you,
Sue
Hi, Rowena,
Do you have a specific time and place you write? Where do you draw your inspiration and characters?
Thank you,
Sue
Sue, Thank you. I’m in Detroit, so Canada is just a bridge or a tunnel away. With my British roots, I feel a strong affinity for Canada..and of course Survivorman Les Stroud who helped me with Insufficient Mating Material research is Canadian. I’m on the Chapters.Indigo.ca.
Are you?
Rowena Cherry
Hi Rowena, thank you for the email invite
Congratulations on your newest release YaY! Knight’s Fork sounds like a fabulous read. I look forward to reading this one.
I have a question I would love to ask you Rowena
Most people only dream of becoming a successful writer. Now that you
have accomplished that goal is there anything else you dream of doing?
Hugssss
LindaH
Just wanted to say I enjoy your work, you are very talented…thanks for answering my questions on the other site.
Hi rowena, glad to see u here. hot cover
Congratulations on your latest release!
Sue “Sunshine”…
Specific time? I spend all day writing! If something is urgent, I will get up at three in the morning and hope for three to four straight hours of peace and quiet. After that, it’s family breakfast, making packed lunches, the school run. Around nine-thirty, I’m back at my desk, unless it’s the first Tuesday of the month, in which case, I’m getting ready for my radio show (Crazy Tuesday on http://www.internetvoicesradio.com )
Generally, I don’t get much creative writing done after 3pm. But that doesn’t mean I’m not working.
I can’t seclude myself. I’m a mom. LOL.
Hope I answered everything. Thank you for asking.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
“Wouldn’t you rather play chess, Ma’am?….It’s less destructive of clothes.”
~’Rhett, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cherry
kh,
Thank you for the compliment on the cover. I’m glad you like it. What makes it hot in your eyes?
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
“Here’s the problem. I am not the sexual equivalent of an espresso machine…..”
~’Rhett to Electra, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cherry
Linda,
Yay!!! Welcome to my blog tour. Thank you for stopping by.
Honestly, I’d like to be *more* successful. I’d like to see my books translated into Japanese. Judging by the toys my husband has brought home from Japan after his business trips, I’m confident that there would be a market for my sort of humor.
Likewise, I think my books would do extremely well in Germany.
Hollywood? Yes. I’ve dreamed occasionally of having my stories made into a Lifetime movie, or something for the WE channel. Of course, I’ve also had the occasional nightmare about what the movie would be like if Jim Carrey or Steve Martin got the lead… actually, I think that Steve Martin, if he played it straight, would be a fabulous Saurian Dragon.
Thanks for a great question.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
“Of all the Djinn groins … in all the towns … in all the Communicating Worlds…she throws herself onto ’Rhett’s.”
~about Electra and Rhett, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cherry
I’m going to sign up for your newsletter, but inquiring minds want to know how in the world you held up and maintained your sanity while handling 4 blogs at once! (lol) I can barely keep up with one - so kudos to you!
Hi, Ro,
Well, the blogs weren’t all *that* busy, and I have been at it full time (apart from writing another blog for my publisher). I tell you, a writerspace chat or a day on The Haunt is much more hectic.
Thank you for the kudos and for signing up for my newsletter. I just put one out, so there won’t be another for a while.
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
“Here’s the problem. I am not the sexual equivalent of an espresso machine…..”
~’Rhett to Electra, Knight’s Fork by Rowena Cherry
Thank you for answering my questions, Rowena. I am having difficulty with the interruptions. My husband thinks he should come first. Imagine! *grin* So I am trying to find a time and place that suits us both. I don’t think I am going to find it until I just “do”. He will just have to get over it. *grin*
Thank you again!
Sue
Sue,
Thank *you*.
Now, I’m going to see if I can see my book in any bookstores. I guess I’d better look smart.
Anon,
Rowena Cherry
Well, I am back. There were three copies in my local Barnes and Noble (on Telegraph and Maple in Bloomfield Hills) and I autographed them.
They were face-out when I went in, and I am thrilled for that. If anyone else has any sightings, I’d be thrilled to hear about it.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
First of all, thanks for contributing a $50 ebookisle.com book voucher to my Pet Pictures contest. (To enter: http://www.jacquierogers.com and click on Contest.)
So when is Thor-quentin getting his story? He has all kinds of possibilities.
I’m thoroughly enjoying Knight’s Fork. You hit pay dirt again!!!
Jacquie
I love Knight’s Fork: Here’s my review!
Rowena Cherry has delivered yet another wonderful story. Her prose is delicious, giving you a visual of every scene just as though you were there. With all senses engaged, the reader finds he or she cannot stop turning pages.
Electra-Djerroldina is delectable, but she’s married. Will Djarrhett, the Saurian Knight and presumed heir to the Dragon’s throne, realize he loves her in time to save them both from the mechanisms of his father and his cousin, Tarrant-Arragon?
I have thoroughly enjoyed this series so far, and hope Ms. Cherry has more books planned for it. In the tradition of Forced Mate and Insufficient Mating Material, Knight’s Fork has the flavor and essence of well-turned phraseology, intriguing plot and vibrant characters. I consider this a must read!
Diane Davis White
Author, Moon of the Falling Leaves
Hey, everyone,
Thanks very much for visiting and chatting with me. This was great fun.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
http://www.rowenacherry.com
Chess-inspired (”mating”) titles. Gods from outer space. Sexy SFR.
Poking fun, (pun intended).
The pacing is great in a Cherry book, the guys are great looking and you know you will not be disappointed in the story.
The pacing is great in a Cherry book, the guys are awesome and you know you will not be disappointed saving the world.
The pacing is awesome, the guys are magnificent and you’ll love saving the world.
This comment place keeps rejecting my comments. but I love your books, the guys, and saving the world.
I’ve tried 5 times to leave a comment. Best, Constance
no luck
Dear Constance,
I hope you come back to read this. I really appreciate your kind remarks and your persistence. This blog was on moderation (for me, too) which is why your comments did not show up immediately. I appreciate them all, because you made five times the effort!
The only consolation is that the Blog was for the 29th, so you were two days too late to qualify for the prize on this blog.
However, I am blogging today and tomorrow on http://novelthoughts.wordpress.com
(The prize is a book token)
Tomorrow, I am also blogging at http://www.simplyromancereviews.com
Thank you again for your support!
Rowena Cherry