Michele: Greetings, Halloween Bash, Ramsey’s Reviews, and readers of passion and fright!
I love Halloween, Samhain to me, and it’s always the funnest time of the year. I love costumes, keep a couple dozen on hand, in case I might need to go shopping as a Jedi, check the mailbox as a dark fairy. You never know when these needs come up. There just aren’t enough costumed events for me.

Tell us your latest news. Do you have any current projects you’re working on?
Michele:  I’m thrilled my newest release, the sizzling, gritty, high-action Paranormal/Sci-Fi Romantic Adventure, Gangbusters, is coming out this November. Angels, demons, lasers, secret technology, demonic possession, microchips, fist fights, teleportation, unholy resurrection, forbidden passion, assassination, doomed missions, daredevil antics, a battle for love against a Hell-spawned horde. The usual. :-)

When and why did you begin writing?
Michele:  In 1990, I’d met a gorgeous mohawked punk rocker named Torch with big blue eyes and more earrings in his ears than I had. He was a wildly creative being of light with a smile like the Devil’s own. He taught me how to be creative. I penned a story of a hero just like Torch in Luminous Nights. Helping someone learn they are creative is one of the greatest gifts a person can bestow upon another, and I was very lucky Torch came into my life and gave me that. He’s still one of my best friends.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
Michele:  If I’m writing a Sci-Fi Romance, I start with a science that intrigues me. I speculate the people who will work with it, then it’s on. I’m MIA for a few months writing the story.

What do you think makes a good horror story?
Michele:  Suspense. Surprise. A good dose of revulsion, but not too much. Dark characters that insidiously crawl into and nest in my mind.

What is your favorite scary movie, book, or theme?
Michele:  I LOVE to be scared! I have favorite themes. I lovelovelove the monsters, but real-life scares get me better. Serial killers, UFOs, and government super-weapons. Apocalyptic views of the future. I love to write them, too. The fear of possible horrors sends lightning through me! Any story with those scenarios make me peek out the drapes to the sky, consider how much the government is watching me, plan for a zombie apocalypse. :-) Those thoughts are so fun and challenging.
Have you given thought to what you’d do in the event of a zombie apocalypse? Maybe you should. The Center for Disease Control thought of it. While you’re planning your survival during a zombie apocalypse, plan for a natural disaster: http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

Favorite monster movie: Alien vs.. Predator. It’s overgross for my taste, so I cover my eyes at those moments.  I love the Predator technology. AvP is a very good and suspenseful story, contains mythology, and a butt-kicking female protagonist. I am compelled to love it.
What makes you interested in the genre you write?
Michele:  A love of science, technology, adventure, and twisty surprises. An affection for hot chemistry between lovers. A worship of the alpha-male.

When you were a child, what creature or story scared you the most? And did it propel your creative muse to write about it later?
Michele:  I’d been twelve years old and alone in my home when I saw the Scars of Dracula. Scared the pants off me. Too old to believe in vamps, I was so nervous, and I walked to my mother’s job just so I wouldn’t have to be alone. I loved vampires before that, but that movie scarred me for life, and gave me a curiosity/love for horror. As much as I love them, I haven’t written a vampire story. But I probably will. It’s just too irresistible. I love monsters.

Where do you as an author draw the line on gory description and/or erotic content?
Michele:  I like straddling fences. I write Mainstream Romance that snuggles up to the erotic. I almost always write about crime, so my stories end up being a bit violent and peppered with nasty talk from criminals. I try to ratchet down the gore, figuring if the reader wanted gore, they’d read Clive Barker. I’m not a big fan of gore, so it’s not my focus, but my stories do have foul language, blood, bodies, fist fights, gun battles, and horrible deaths. Not for the faint-hearted. I know I’ve given my publisher a headache considering the warnings my book might require because my stories might straddle a couple of those fences in a way that it becomes an opinion if it’s too gory/sexy/violent to earn some kind of warning. Interestingly, my readers have told me my stories were not too gory/sexy/violent.  I’ve walked away with only adult language warnings. Woo-hoo! I want to haunt the gray area, ride that fence.

Could you share some of your blurbs or exerts with us?
Michele: Here’s a scary scene from my Paranormal/Sci-Fi Romantic Adventure, Vigilant:“Did you execute my men, Marshal?” the demon Morosi asked the seething cop he held caged for the revenge show playing out before his eyes.
Yadira shivered in her shackles, chilled for the horror Morosi would put her through. She stayed quiet, afraid the only sounds she could utter were cries of fright.
“Your men had attempted suicide by coming to take me,” Weber deadpanned from behind bars, his vision focused on her lying chained to the bed. “One’s still alive, but he wants to die. I don’t think he’ll return to your employment.”
“I’ll have him killed before his trial.”
“That would save Alliance citizens a fistful of money.”
The I-Marshal began to slam his big combat boot into the cage lock she’d failed to pick.
Slam!
She desperately prayed Weber could weaken the bars.
“If you think I’m going to let this go your way”—slam!—“you’re wrong.”
“You’ll grow old, Dokiel, kicking those bars. It’s a bomb-worthy metal.”
Rising horns blended into Morosi’s black hair, creeping her out  His black eyes rimmed in red cruised her body with clear intention to anger the I-Marshal’s more base instincts. “Does it sicken you, son of fire, to witness me ruin her? You won’t want her after this.”
Slam!
Yadira fisted the small spike in her hand to conceal it, dreading the size of her only weapon. She didn’t know that Morosi possessed a heart to stab or even if he were alive in any way that made him killable by a mere mortal. Would Morosi find the spike in her possession and beat her bloody for it? It would no doubt be foreplay for the monster.
Slam!
“I’m going to destroy you, Morosi.”
 “People in Hell want ice-water, Marshal.”
Slam!
Pleased with the cage’s strength, the demon grabbed Yadira’s ankle and yanked her harshly to stretch her body the length of the bed. She fought, but his grip cut the blood flow to her foot. He cuffed that ankle in leg chains to the bed footboard. She shuddered again, and worked to be brave and think clearly. Or fake it.
“More likely, I’ll teleport off this planet in an eye-blink while you stand trapped in a cage, watching her bleed, listening to her weep. Her buyer will collect her afterward. Another thing you can’t prevent.”
Slam!
“Returning to the abyss you came from, you ghoulish fucker?” Weber taunted him.
Laughing, Morosi grabbed her other ankle, and her most vigorous fight was fruitless. He chained her other leg to the footboard.
“There’s no place like home. As you ignorant mortals are fond of saying.”
Yadira’s hands were cuffed together on one side of the headboard, and the demon would have to unlock her right hand to reposition it for his ultimate act of revenge.
Slam!
“I’ll hunt you down, Morosi, and drain your demon body of your corrupt blood. I’ll see your carcass go up in the blue flames you deserve.”
Slam!
“But the two of you will have this memory forever. She’s never going to recover.”
Her limbs secured, Morosi straddled her hips in morbid domination, despite her awkward position. His rough hands stripped the remnants of her blouse from her body, leaving her bra and topazes to cover her. His awful eyes drilled into the sky-blue jewels Weber had given her, as though the demon needed to concentrate to rid her body of them. Morosi hadn’t complained of  pain when Weber had busted him in the mouth or had burned a beam through his head, but the monster feared a gift of love around her neck. He’d ordered his men to remove the jewels in an attempt to avoid them.
“I’m going to uncuff your hand, and you’ll remove the jewels,” the demon gunman hissed above her.
Slam!
“Take them off yourself!” Yadira screamed at him. “If you aren’t powerless in the face of goodness!”
Bare-handed, the demon snatched the topaz necklace from her neck, scattering the jewels in all directions. She heard the sizzle of his flesh, and he howled aloud, gritted his teeth to bear the pain. His blood-red lips curled up to reveal sprouting fangs. Her mind warped in consideration of all the horrible things he could do to her.
Slam!
Crazed Morosi shook his horned head and seemed to grow bigger. Tendrils of smoke rose from his nostrils. His fangs flashed, white and sharp. His black vision roved over her, and his mood changed to a sick glee.
“Yadira, you’re the most marvelous piece of art I’d like to crush. The helplessness, the fright in your eyes makes them sparkle. The paleness terror gives your flesh is delicious. You’re so weak, you’re beautiful. Your buyer should want to see it often.”
 “I’m not weak!”
Slam!
“I can see what the I-Marshal took, and that was supposed to be mine. I’ll wipe away the triumph for him while he watches. Considering all the revenge you represent, I’ll make this last a very long time. What do you say, son of fire, to watching the repercussions of stealing Yadira’s innocence from its rightful owner? It was something I’d murdered for.”
Slam! Weber’s only answer was another slam of his combat boot into the cage lock.
Having her chained and pinned beneath him, the man transforming into a beast removed his stiffly pressed shirt, revealing carvings on his lithe and darkening body growing bulkier in his slow shift. Steel-girded muscle expanding told her she’d not escape the demon.
Slam!
Yadira repulsed at the thought of this damned creature violating her so hideously. She began to weep, hoping to convince her captor she’d given up on a rescue, that his infliction of fear worked, and she no longer had fight in her. She surrendered. Weeping was easy.
Morosi delighted in her loss of hope.
Slam!
“I’m going to destroy you, Morosi,” the I-Marshal promised the demon again, his concentration focused on breaking the cage lock.
“You’ll want to, especially after this.”
Yadira tried not to shudder, but the fear controlled her. He had her stripped down to her bra and panties, and those barriers wouldn’t last long.
The demon’s lascivious inspection stopped at her bare thighs. He growled, “I see your handprints burned into her, Weber. I don’t care that you’ve marked her for your possession.”
Weber’s handprints seared into her thighs? She’d fantasized his touch had melded into her flesh. It was the vision he’d given her and a wish she’d made in the shower with his scorching, pleasuring hands stroking her thighs, water droplets sizzling away.
Slam!
“I care, Morosi, that you’re violating my property. You’ll meet holy fire for touching her.”
When the filthy demon uncuffed her hand concealing the spike to recuff it across the headboard and maximize his access, his grip was overconfident. She yanked her hand from his grasp and stabbed at the throb in her tormentor’s neck.
***
Check out my Web site for more.
Where can your fans go to find more information about you and your books?
Michele:  Visit me at http://www.ILoveShapeShifters.com/ for steamy, peril-packed excerpts, 5-star reviews, and suspenseful book trailers. Angels and demons and lasers. Oh my...

Is there anything else additional you would like to share with your readers?
Michele:  Look out for Gangbusters, coming November! Investigate I-Marshal Stories. Where do the mortals fit in the war between the angels and demons? Who can save them? The sons of the Fallen, sons of fire, of course. Read more: http://www.MicheleHart.com/b28-book.htm
Explore angels, demons, and lasers...oh, my. http://www.MicheleHart.com/series-i-marshals.htm

Thanks so much, readers, Ramsey’s Reviews, and the Halloween Bash for spending a few minutes with me.

Have an exciting day,
Michele Hart
Paranormal/Sci-Fi Romance Author
~ Walk Another World ~
GANGBUSTERS - Coming Nov '11 - Hide From the Demon Horde.

Want to get scared this Halloween?
    Follow the shadow, risk, and mystery.
    How about a sssexy and dangerous shape-shifter escaped from a prison-planet for your summer affair? Can I interest you in a brawler with a badge who can read your thoughts? Are you ready for a risky mind-control adventure battling the CIA? Feel like fighting the Mob today? Do you desire to be frightened by demons, rescued by angels? Would you like to be trapped on a space station with your high-school crush? A gangland hit man named Heretic awaits you…
    Discover passion, dare, and adventure under all-new moons and stars.
    Investigate Michele Hart. http://www.ILoveShapeShifters.com/

Thank you, Michele, for taking the time to show us your vibrant and talented writing. I look forward to hearing more about your upcoming releases.

Got a flavor for scary?
Beware avenging angels.
***
Cop or convict?
How many faces can one man own?

    An assassin wearing a holographic mask and a prison tattoo boards Rachel’s freighter during a prison riot, intent on collecting gadgets capable of changing a man’s identity from the black-market gang who'd stolen them. Rachel’s never sure of Jack's identity nor his goal, but he claims to be an Alliance I-Marshal. Cop or convict? The clues never stop contradicting. She's horrified to find the bright holographic mask conceals the gruesome face of a monster. And the badge doesn’t slow him from murdering people right before her eyes.
    When Rachel learns Jack will trade innocent lives for the digital miracles, she determines to make the mercenary grow a heart.  How could a stone-cold killer kiss her so hotly? How could she kiss such a dangerous deceiver?
    Jack has done years in prison to learn who’d stolen the remaining Gemini ticks, 3-D magic. Nothing will keep him from gaining extreme technology capable of unleashing galaxy-wide chaos. Forget feelings for Rachel. She can’t stop him from killing everyone involved.
***
a 2011 Golden Quill Contest finalist!
Read passion-filled excerpts and a tense first chapter,
explore 5-star reviews, watch a book trailer:
http://www.michelehart.com/b15-book.htm
***
 
One surviving hijacker is charged with the murders of a hundred citizens.
One cop sees her innocence.

    Alliance I-Marshal Weber hauls Yadira to her home planet and infiltrates the human-trafficking ring controlling her. But he finds himself unbearably attracted to his witness. A gift for detecting deception reveals she’s the next victim of a criminal industry.
    Descending into shadowy worlds of slavery, Yadira endures a dark angel stalking her dreams and watches the quiet I-Marshal become dangerous in her defense. Everything about him moves her…except the memory of seeing him execute the most important man in her life. Shouldn’t she take vengeance? Delusions of a heavenly guardian affect her mind.
    Slavers and demons plan to snatch her from Weber’s custody while he is uncovering connections, and Weber won’t hesitate to execute the guilty surrounding Yadira. Who but a son of fire can save her from fiends harboring hardcore fantasies of harming her?
***
Discover hot, peril-packed excerpts, a perilous first chapter,
check out the 5-star reviews, watch a mysterious book trailer:
http://www.michelehart.com/b27-book.htm
***What would any man do, holding the secrets to mind control
while the woman he wants resists his charms?

    Jon Paige discovers his employer is developing illicit mind-control techniques. He quickly learns how to hijack the system and breaks down his beautiful assistant’s persistent walls. Will Holly forgive him for sneaking into her mind, if she ever learns of it?
    Holly Maddox is determined not to dip her pen in the company ink, a policy that’s served her well…until Jon comes along. He steals her mind when he’s in the room, weakens her fortitude with every flash of his flirty eyes and secretive smile. How will she keep herself from falling in love with her boss when he melts her impulse control?
    When Jon and Holly decide to sabotage the brain-washing experiments, they learn they’re up against a greater power than they’d bargained for. Doing the right thing risks lives. Will the truth of their beginnings wreck their sizzling affair?
***
Explore cool excerpts, find fabulous reviews, watch a suspenseful book trailer:
http://www.michelehart.com/b26-book.htm

Run from the monsters.

Read and live an adventure.
Have an exciting upcoming weekend,

Tell us your latest news. Do you have any current projects you're working on? 
When and Why did you begin writing?
I started writing in high school because I wanted to see fantasy/paranormal romances with a black heroine. Not only that, I wanted said black heroine to be in an interracial relationship. Since I couldn't find any at the time, I decided to write my own. I started writing to get published in college.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
My ideas for my books come out of thin air. A sound or the way someone says a word will trigger an idea that evolves into a story. There's no rhyme or reason for it. I simply write it all down as it comes to me.

What do you think makes a good horror story?
I'm all about the psychological. Something has to screw with me mentally to get me scared. Slasher, blood-and-guts horror usually makes me laugh. Because of that, I'm more prone to watching Asian horror than American horror. American horror goes for gross out and jump moments. Asian horror is about mind games. There are no set rules. A person can die from simply looking at the window of a house, and the main character won't always make it to the end.

What is your favorite scary movie or book?
My favorite scary book is Phantoms by Dean Koontz. That had me turning on the light to sleep at night. I plan to read it again just for the thrill of it. The movie adaptation was very underwhelming and not nearly as creepy as the book. My favorite scary movie... I'm not sure. There are several horror movies I like to watch, but not because they scare me. I need the laugh.

Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors, too. I began reading his books when I was in high school, and actually had a very good collection of almost everyone of his books. What makes you interested in the genre you write?
I love created worlds and civilizations and then tossing my characters (usually the heroine) into that world and making her deal. Fish out of water stories is what I do best. That probably stems from me growing up as a military brat. I moved around a lot, so I know how it feels to be tossed into a new town, a new school, and having to adapt or be left out.

When you were a child, what creature or story scared you the most? And did it propel your creative muse to write about it later?
The creature that scared me the most was a toss up between Freddy Kruger and the red-eyed gnome from Cat's Eye. Nowadays Freddy makes me laugh. But that red eyed gnome still haunts me a little. I plan to dabble in horror romance in the near future. When I do, I hope to capture that childhood terror on the page for my readers to enjoy.

Oh, and when you do, please let me know, I shared that same nightmare of the creepy little gnome sucking the life out of me, when I was a child. Cat's Eye was one of the best short stories of Stephen King, along with The Mist. (IMO) Do you remember ever coming up with anything so wild that you scared yourself, leaving you to wonder where that came  from?
I did not. However, I had a nightmare that scared me silly just a few months ago. When I finally got myself to wake up (just before the monster was about to grab me), I sat in bed breathing hard and tense for a few minutes before I scrambled for my computer so I could write it all down. Wes Craven is on to something when he writes down his nightmares.

Where do you as an author draw the line on gory description and/or erotic content?
I describe enough to get a feel of the situation and the scene. I'm not trying to gross anyone out or give anyone an anatomy lesson.

Could you share some of your blurbs or excerpts with us?

CAVEAT EMPTOR SERIES

-- CE1: Charmed Lover --
Ryver is one of the many humans who owns a vampire. She purchased Theron for home security. When the magic charms keeping the vampires docile and subservient suddenly start failing, Theron goes from protector to threat. A nationwide, mandatory recall of all vampires is in effect. Ryver is ready to comply, but a night of passion spent in Theron's arms changes her mind.

It's only a matter of time before someone figures out Ryver and Theron's secret. With the threat of mages bearing down on them, Ryver has to decide if she's willing to give up her lover -- or her freedom.

Read Chp1 - http://dreneebagbypresentsfirstchapters.blogspot.com/2011/04/charmed-lover-by-zenobia-renquist.html

-- CE2: Trapped Lover --
Ryver knows she can never go home again. That's fine by her, since she's with Theron, the vampire she loves. Now living in vampire territory, she's learning more about Theron, and not all of it is good. The more she sees, the more she's convinced that the man she fell in love with, the man who can make her body sing with a single touch, might not be the man she thought he was.

Read Chp1 - http://dreneebagbypresentsfirstchapters.blogspot.com/2011/06/trapped-lover-by-zenobia-renquist.html




-- CE3: Provoked Lover --
After an attack leaves Theron's allies scattered, Sicily finds herself in the care of Lamon, a vampire who looks like he would rather kill her than protect her.

The unlikely pair must become very close -- sexual energy is necessary to disrupt the spell the mages are using to track Sicily.

Emotions become confused as their bodies entwine. Sicily finds herself falling for a man she can't have... or can she?

Read Chp1 - http://dreneebagbypresentsfirstchapters.blogspot.com/2011/07/provoked-lover-by-zenobia-renquist.html


-- CE4: Anguished Lover --
Sicily has volunteered to put herself on the front lines in the vampires' fight against the mages. Lamon has no choice but to go with her to keep her safe. When the worst happens, Sicily has to find out just what she's willing to sacrifice to save the lives of her lover and her friends.

Read Chp1 - Coming to http://dreneebagbypresentsfirstchapters.blogspot.com/ on 12September 2011


Is there anything else additional you would like to share with your readers?
I'm an avid anime fan and my storytelling style is similar. Even when something seems out of place or inconsequential, pay attention because it might become important later. It's a wild ride. All I ask when reading my books is that you Leave Your Reality Behind.