Special Erin Kellison Post!--Plus a GIVEAWAY!

Hey all! Sorry for the lateness of this post, Erin got a little busy, but the post is here! And she has graciously offered up a signed copy of Fire Kissed! And she says the contest is INTERNATIONAL!!

Behind the action scene: Fire Kissed 

First of all, a huge thank you to Jessica for having me here at a GREAT read. This is a great blog, and I am delighted to visit. I’m talking action scenes today, and I’m giving away a copy of my latest release, Fire Kissed (Shadow Kissed series, book four). All you have to do to enter is tell me a favorite action scene, be it movie, TV, or book. 

I like action scenes. They are fun to write, not only because there’s a lot of high-stakes excitement going on, but also because they strip characters bare. A coward won’t be able to hide behind big talk. A seemingly selfish character might sacrifice their own safety for another’s. Action scenes let the reader have a glimpse of what a character is really made of. You can imagine how important they are to a story. 

Action scenes work that way for authors, too. For example, when I write, I usually think I know exactly what a character is going to do or what the tone of the scene will be because, well, I’m the boss. But it’s during the action scenes in particular that I figure out my characters, that I understand how they approach a fight. 

Take the scene below. Jack Bastian, my hero, has been a soldier for over a thousand years (he’s an angel). The actual fight that’s about to ensue doesn’t bother him as much as the fact that he’s put someone in danger. This was pretty straight-forward for me. A long-time soldier would be a-okay. But Kaye Brand, my heroine, isn’t used to big fights. She’s been in a few scuffles, but nothing like what’s about to happen. She’s not the type to back down, but she’s not going to skip merrily into the fray either. I didn’t know really how she would feel until I was writing, and then suddenly I had it. Epiphany. And I had my firstborn to thank for it. 

The last thing Kaye wants to do is fight, but she doesn’t really have a choice. Her situation reminded me of when I was nine months pregnant with my first child. It occurred to me in that month that I would actually have to deliver the baby. The movies I’d seen about childbirth had somehow failed to communicate that I would have to participate in the activity. There was no way to back out. No way to say, thank you, but I’ll just keep her inside. I had one awful moment where I realized that there was no way out but through. 

And that’s exactly how Kaye plays it. 

The setup: Kaye is a firemage, which means she has a magical ability that takes the form of fire. The bad guy has sent wraiths (aka monsters) to attack her so that she may prove that her ability is worthy of his notice. Jack is an angel pretending to be a mortal body guard. He can’t reveal what he is and so has to fight like any normal man would. And here we go…. 

# 

Kaye braced as Bastian flung open the door. She watched as he shifted his weight to the side and kicked the wraith ascending the front steps. He’d have to work on the human thing; that kind of force took something more. The creature fell backward, Bastian’s foot gripped at its chest. They hit the brick steps together with a dull whump. 

On instinct, Kaye leaped on the sprawling limbs to free Bastian. 

He hollered at her touch. Fire. She’d apologize later. 

The wraith shrieked, its dagger teeth bared, but it was pinned just long enough for Kaye to lay her hands on its yellow skin and make the monster—a woman, by the looks of it—burn. The sound in the creature’s throat went wraith falsetto as the flames caught. But it was the stench of the decay that made Kaye lose her fire. 

The wraith burned before her, its silhouette a human engulfed in Shadow flame. 

“You should run,” Bastian was saying. 

“You didn’t sign up for this.” 

Kaye laughed out loud. Run. Now he told her. 

She watched two more wraiths glide down the street toward the town house. Sirens wailed a block over. 

Help coming, as if they could do anything. As if law enforcement wouldn’t shoot the woman wielding fire too. 

“There’s nowhere to run,” Kaye said, recovering her equilibrium. She should know; she was the expert. “There’s no way out of this… but through. And I really need to be through with it.” 

“The host can be here in five minutes.” 

“And then Grey would know I was lying.” Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted another wraith spider-walking down the side of the building. “And he’d have to come after me.” 

“Then we’re going to fight?” His gaze flicked around the scene. 

Kaye snorted yes. 

“Don’t try to protect me this time,” Bastian said. 

“Don’t worry.” 

# 

I have to smile every time I read, “There’s no way out of this… but through. And I really need to be through with it.” That is me, aching all over, with swollen feet and a flattened bladder, yet still terrified to go into labor. 

Cover blurb: 

Fae Fire 

It is Kaye Brand's power to wield. But outcast from her kind, she's been selling herself to the highest bidder - money for her survival in exchange for a magic glimpse into the flames of the future. 

Angel Ice 

One of the angelic Order, Jack Bastian has no use for a female like Kaye, as provocative and unexpected as her blazing beauty. Yet he has no choice but to hire her to uncover the secrets of his sworn enemy and her former fiance, Ferrol Grey. 

Magekind 

War is inevitable between the defenders of the Order and the mage Houses who threaten to engulf the world in Shadow. For Jack, mage-born Kaye is off limits, no matter how hot the impossible attraction between them. But in the coming darkness, beset by danger and desire, everything is about to change... 

For excerpts and more information, please come find me at: 

Erin’s website: www.ErinKellison.com 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ErinKellisonAuthor 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/EKellison

And remember, answer Erin's question in the comments and you will be entered for a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Fire Kissed! Contest will run from now to midnight July 25, 2012, so basically the beginning of that day.

It's international now, so have at it!