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Saturday, August 20, 2011

SULTRY SUMMER NIGHTS: IGNITE YOUR PASSIONS BLOG HOP (AUGUST 22-29)

That's fireflies in the jar in the photo above. And right now in my
neck of the woods--central Alabama--fireflies are a nightly sight! 


TOUR RULES to get out of the way before we have some fun:

1) Invite all of your friends and spread the word!  Extra entries will be given to those who spread the word and leave verifiable links below in the comment section or via email to where they shared the blog hop.

2) This tour starts on Monday, August 22, at Midnight (Arizona Time)
This tour ends on Monday, August 29, at Midnight (Arizona Time)
Winners will be drawn and posted August 30th! ♥♥

3) Meet and mingle with all of the authors. Experience a new hunt at every stop. Participate in every blog contest and be entered for chances to win multiple prizes. Every blog visited is another opportunity to win!!

4)  You MUST be 18 years of age or older to enter MY contest, but not all of the contests on this tour. If you’re under 18, leave now, as the content on this blog is adult oriented!

5) By entering this contest, you agree to the rules and are stating that you agree to abide by all the terms and conditions.

6) Have fun and good luck!!


♥♥♥Authors have full discretion to choose an alternate winner in the event any winner fails to claim their prize(s) within 72 hours of their name being posted or after notification of win, whichever comes first. Anyone who participates in this blog hop tour is subject to these rules


SULTRY SUMMER NIGHTS
~
Rated PG
~
When we first started brainstorming for this hop and sultry summer nights was thrown out as a possible theme, all I could think of was the Grease song, Summer Nights. Just in case you don’t remember the tune, here’s the Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpJUrt0O7uY

And then I got to thinking, WHY did the blog hop have to be about steamy nights of love? There are things people are passionate about that can turn an evening into sultry summer nights without lust being involved. In my recently released Decadent Publishing e-book, Pandora’s Box, book one in the Road to Hell series, my heroine, Madison, is passionate about defeating a King of Hell. In order to help their cause, she and her six year old son descend into the Cave of Crystal Giants in the Naica region near Chihuahua, Mexico to bust a good immortal creature from one of the crystal beams. If you’ve never heard of Cave of Crystal Giants, it is a very real place! The Discovery channel ran a special on it. The locals refer to it as the Highway to Hell because of the oppressive heat, temperatures in excess of one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and humidity at one-hundred percent. I'd call that sultry nights, how about you?  No one can withstand the environment of the cave without special equipment (sometimes I feel that way about our dog-days of summer in Alabama too lol), and even then only for very short periods of time. But the scenery is beautiful!


Amazing isn't it!


The crystals are made of gypsum selenite.


Some beams are larger than a football field!! Can you believe that?


Just look at the size of the beams compared to the people!


Superman’s Fortress of Solitude hideout doesn’t compare to this natural wonder! At least not in my opinion. Madison and her son suffer through the crystal jungle’s sultry heat in order to help their advantage against the enemy. After looking at those photos, can’t you visualize an immortal creature suspended in one of those monstrous manmade joists? I can!

Here’s part of the scene from Pandora's Box…

After nearly two hours of hiking through the “Crystal Jungle,” Amos came to a halt, staring at the biggest selenite they’d seen thus far. Easily six feet wide and a football field in length, this particular gypsum beam didn’t protrude at the odd angles of all the others. Positioned in a perfect, vertical line, it spiked and disappeared into both the ceiling and floor of the cave. No telling what its true dimensions were.
The sight of a man frozen inside the perpendicular beam staggered Madison. No mortal being could survive like that. She knew he lived, because his frantic eyes, apparently the only parts of him not in stasis, followed their movement.
 What creature generated enough strength to trap him inside? Had he been placed there because he posed a danger to humanity? Or maybe he threatened the supernatural community? 
Instinct propelled her backward, away from the male and his intense stare. Nothing about him seemed imposing. Hands curled into fists at his sides, as if frozen just before he executed a release of the power he channeled. Short for a man, no taller than five-nine, a half inch shorter than her maybe. A lithe, runnerlike frame without an impressive muscular build. 
No, nothing physically imposing about him caused her to backpedal. Rather, the taste of harsh metals hitting her tongue, suggestive of magnificent, uncontrollable power.

Leave me a comment for a chance to win….

First place winner - Their choice of TWO of my e-books or some swag! =D

Second place winner – Their choice between ONE of my e-books, Fairy Casanova  or Elfin Blood, or some swag.

Third place winner – various swag.


I’d love for you to join my Road to Hell series fan page on Facebook, but it’s not a requirement to enter this contest: Click HERE to join. 

I can be found at these places and I’m always eager to meet new people (click the title to be taken there):

Facebook (I spend too much time there) 
Twitter (I’m there occasionally)
Goodreads (Fan 
or friend me) 

~~~ 

Good luck to everyone and I hope you’re having fun blog hopping!


CLICK --> HERE <-- TO GET BACK TO THE BLOG HOPPER LIST!

43 comments:

Morgan Kearns said...

Love it! I learned something new :)

Anonymous said...

beautiful~
i agree the south, needs specialize equipemnt to survive the summers.

and i love swaggggggg. im always missing the swag contest, though :(

Dawn Cripps said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dawn Cripps said...

I would to win some swag :)
dawnhagan18@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

i would love 2 win a swag.

Anonymous said...

i would love 2 win a swag.
kyshakennedy@yahoo.com

jowanna said...

Thanks. I appreciate the giveaway and will spread the word. I love Blog Hops!

jacque said...

what a sight! thx for the chance.
twinmomx5@gmail.com

Loves All Things Books said...

Love the pictures! And I totally agree, its hot in the south. I think the hottest day we had in Ok was 117 with a heat index of 120.

Kandlekraze@yahoo.com

Dominique Eastwick said...

Just Stopping by to support my fellow bloggers :)

Happy Touring.

Alison said...

Thanks for the chance to win :)

alison.fees@gmail.com

katsrus said...

I liked your Road To Hell FB page. And new follower on GFC. This is so much fun.
Sue B
katsrus@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Love the snippet from your work. Very intriguing! Thanks for the fun blog hop :)

DhesiX said...

Oh my...
That cave is super cool!!
I want to go there!!
Bahahaha loved your Superman sentence!! This scene is really cool!
Hopefully I can get PB soon

*Hugs*
rea0903@gmail.com

Brandy B aka Brandlwyne said...

Hi, awesome contest. I mentioned this on Book Contest- Win Free Books http://www.facebook.com/groups/116958684997453/?id=272275026132484&notif_t=group_activity#!/groups/116958684997453/

~Brandy
brandyzbooks(at)yahoo(dot)com

Brandy B aka Brandlwyne said...

PS I also follow on GFC, Network Blogs, FB, FB Road to Hell and twitter

~Brandy

hotcha12 said...

count me in Morgan!

Shadow said...

Wonderful post! Those crystals are HUGE! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway! Im a fan on fb (road to hell series)- shadow kohler. Friend on fb- shadow kohler, Fan and fan on goodreads- shadow kohler, joined your goodreads group. Thanks!
shadowluvs2read(at)aol(dot)com

Amanda said...

Thanks for the giveaway!
Old follower on facebook and goodreads
Amanda Romano
amelno(at)gmail(dot)com

hotcha12 said...

WOW! I'M IN AWE AT THE SIZE! WISH I COULD SEE THE UP CLOSE!

I FOLLOW, ON GOODREADS, TWEET, AND FB

Anne R said...

Thanks for the giveaway, I am having fun discovering new authors and books to read.

areeths AT new DOT rr DOT com

Robin said...

Great post! I'm already a fan on facebook!

Robin D
robindpdx (at) yahoo (dot) com

casper131979 said...

Love your post. already a fan on facebook.


my email is:
casper131979@hotmail.com

tammy ramey said...

the book sounds wonderful and i love the cover. i can't wait to read it.

trvlagnt1t@yahoo.com

Ella said...

Hi Mama Hellhound! Love the pics, amazing! Thank you for the giveaway! (:

vampyreprincess109(at)gmail(dot)com

sheri said...

Great pics! Love it!


hop shared via FB
http://www.facebook.com/#!/sheri.callander

trippin.on.xtazee@gmail.com

Unknown said...

would love to win and am enjoying blog hopping

jenny

madsheepno1@yahoo.co.uk

BellaColella said...

HI my love as always I LOVE your blog and all the work u have done!!;)))) xxxxxx

Bella;))

coastiecolellas@hotmail.com

ArtemisG said...

I’ve never heard of Cave of Crystal Giants before. The photos are great! I love the part of the scene from Pandora's Box.
Thanks for the giveaway!

artgiote at gmail dot com

Andrea said...

I loved those pictures. I learned something new.

lillieblue613(at)gmail(dot)com

Anonymous said...

Wow! Learned something new! Now I totally have to check this out.

Hopping along now....

iarvd@yahoo.com

tamara said...

this book sounds interesting! always looking for new authors, friended on FB, goodreads.
Sugerlady@aol.com

Traci said...

I saw this on the Discovery Channel! I love that the crystals are in the book.

redhedgal5@aol.com

Nathiel said...

Awsome giveaway ;) I've been following you on twitter and facebook (both pages) for some time as Melissa Sanchez Dempsey
And I'm new on goodreads as NathielGold.
Thanks
nathielgold@gmail.com
Nathiel/The wolfs library

Unknown said...

my post disappeared! I know that i posted on this! My daughter is fascinated by these *cries* it was a good post too!!

Gracen Miller said...

Thank you all of you for coming out for this tour. Just a few more days to go before I draw winners.

I love the Cave of Crystal Giants. If I remember correctly, the discovery channel said it would take millions of years for crystals like this to grow. They did a test and I think the crystals only grew like 1/4 of an inch a year. Something really slow, so to see giant crystals like this is just amazing to me. Mind-boggling too! I'm glad everyone enjoyed my geekiness. lol

Good luck to all of you!

Huggles,
Gracen

Gracen Miller said...

Shalisha Cooper is unable to post a comment, so she sent me her comment through FB and I'm posting it for her.

"Wow those pictures are cool I don't think I could stand the heat lol that was q good piece of ur book can't wait to read it. I would also like to have a crystal from that cave"

Good luck to everyone!

Huggles,
Gracen

Unknown said...

Hi Gracen,

Fun to see those photos. Fun Fact: bonking around in those caves is called "spelunking" which is just the most fabulous word. I told my daughter the word and she is now using it to describe everything. Five year olds. *Sigh* I have brought this on myself.

Sherry Gloag said...

Until you mentioned selenite I couldn't unserstand why the cave would be so hot. I work with selenite creating handcrafted gifts and sometimes the heat coming from the selenite is awesome and thats with -comparibly- miniscule pieces of selenite!
Very enjoyable blog.
Best wishes with your book.

Gracen Miller said...

Samantha, isn't "spelunking" an awesome word? It sounds so fun! =D LOL @ your daughter! How awesome and smart she is!

Sherry, I didn't know selenite was hot, so I've learned something now! In my research, it said that the Cave of Crystal Giants is sitting above an active volcano and I assumed that's why it was hot. Nice to find out that's might be only part of the reason why!

Huggles,
Gracen

Wolf_girl said...

I remembered!! woot! lol I remember watching a special about these crystals on Nat Geo channel. It's a cool place.

*leans in and whispers* You're from AZ too?

Gracen Miller said...

Wasn't that special super cool! Nope, I'm in Alabama, but the coordinator of the blog hop is in Arizona.

Glad you remembered!

Huggles,
Gracen

Gracen Miller said...

Thanks to EVERYONE for participating in the blog hop! I plugged everyone's name into random.org and these are the WINNER's it chose...


First place Winner (receives 2 of my ebooks OR swag, their choice): SHADOW_KOHLER @ shadowluvs2read(at)aol(dot)com

Second place Winner (receives their choice of ONE of my e-books, picking between Fairy Casanova or Elfin Blood OR swag, their choice):
TAMARA @ Sugerlady@aol.com

Third place Winner (receives swag): Anonymous @ kyshakennedy@yahoo.com

Congrats to the winners! I will contact each of you by email!

Huggles,
Gracen