Coleen Kwan

Today I’m participating in the Three Wishes Blog Blitz, hosted by author Juliet Madison! From 2nd to 6th September you’ll have the chance to win some awesome prizes at all the blogs participating in the blitz, including mine. All you have to do is follow my instructions below for winning the prize I have on offer, and then you can click over to Juliet’s blog to enter her prize draw, and see the list of all other blogs taking part and enter their giveaways as well. How cool is that? Why is it called the Three Wishes Blog Blitz? Juliet’s new  romantic comedy release, I Dream of Johnny, is about three wishes, a high-tech genie in a lamp, and one very unfortunate typo that proves magic isn’t all it cracked up to be…

I’m writing this post in my kitchen. As I look around me at the wonky door that won’t close properly, the cobwebs in the ceiling corners, and the packet of Tim Tams on the kitchen counter, I can think of lots of things to wish for. I wish I had one of those gorgeous French Provencale kitchens with limed wood cabinets and copper pots and herb gardens. I wish I was a more diligent housekeeper, or, better yet, I could afford to hire a housekeeper. I wish I could resist those Tim Tams and have less pimples and more muscle tone. There, that’s three wishes already, and I haven’t even scratched the surface.

But if those three wishes were magically fulfilled, I can guarantee that I’d instantly think of three more. It’s the human condition to never be satisfied. And so, rather than waste three wishes on myself, I would rather use them on others. Not on family or friends or world leaders, but rather on the fictional characters that are created out of thin air and exist only in our imaginations but become real to so many readers and viewers. Which fictional characters would I chose and what would I wish for them?

• The Great Gatsby. Stay in the Midwest, Jay Gatsby, and marry a nice girl.
• Game of Thrones. More nous for Eddard Stark! He might have kept his head, then.
• Batman. I wish they’d stop making Batman movies. Let the Caped Crusader remain in print.

So if you had three wishes, what would you wish for?

Now for my giveaway! I’m giving away one digital copy of my new release, DARKE LONDON, which comes out 10 September. This giveaway is international. To go into the draw please leave a comment on this blog post about what you’d wish for either for yourself or a fictional character. Entries close on Friday 6 September.



DARKE LONDON is my new historical romance with supernatural and steampunk elements.

The only way to save her life is to resurrect the dead…

Julian Darke was only a newborn when he was abandoned on the doorstep of a gentleman doctor. Though raised with love, he is driven to discover his true origins.

Convinced Sir Thaddeus Ormond knows something, Julian shadows him one night—and is shocked to see a young woman thrown from Ormond’s carriage and accosted by a thug. Julian manages to save her life, but not her face and hands from horrific injuries.

Nellie Barchester doesn’t recognize the scarred, disfigured stranger in the mirror. Though the gifted doctor and engineer has done his best to repair the damage, scars ravage her body, and chill her soul with the realization that her own husband may have plotted her death.

Julian’s tenderness is a balm to her soul, and Nellie is drawn to the edge of passion by a man not repelled by her deformities. But as their pursuit of the truth draws them into London’s underbelly, they cross the path of a ruthless enemy who will stop at nothing to fulfill his schemes.

Warning: Can a brilliant but troubled doctor find happiness with a woman scarred both inside and out? A hint of the supernatural plus a night of passion spice up this Uncanny Chronicle.


Once you’ve entered my giveaway, visit Juliet’s blog and enter her giveaway too, and visit any or all of the other participating blogs to enter more prize draws. You could potentially win a whole heap of prizes! Good luck! Visit the official Blog Blitz post here

DARKE LONDON, my new historical/supernatural romance comes out next month! Picture Victorian London with its fogs and mists, its cast of shady characters, its broody, restless atmosphere. Throw in a young doctor searching for the truth about his birth and a young woman brutally assaulted who must learn to trust and love again. Add a dash of the supernatural and a vicious villain, and you have book one of Uncanny Chronicles.

I'm finding it a bit difficult to describe my new book. It's not a straight historical, but it's not a full-on paranormal either. It's a little bit in between with a touch of steampunk to boot.

Here is the wonderfully broody cover:

And here's the blurb:

The only way to save her life is to resurrect the dead…

Julian Darke was only a newborn when he was abandoned on the doorstep of a gentleman doctor. Though raised with love, he is driven to discover his true origins.

Convinced Sir Thaddeus Ormond knows something, Julian shadows him one night—and is shocked to see a young woman thrown from Ormond’s carriage and accosted by a thug. Julian manages to save her life, but not her face and hands from horrific injuries.

Nellie Barchester doesn’t recognize the scarred, disfigured stranger in the mirror. Though the gifted doctor and engineer has done his best to repair the damage, scars ravage her body, and chill her soul with the realization that her own husband may have plotted her death.

Julian’s tenderness is a balm to her soul, and Nellie is drawn to the edge of passion by a man not repelled by her deformities. But as their pursuit of the truth draws them into London’s underbelly, they cross the path of a ruthless enemy who will stop at nothing to fulfill his schemes.

Warning: Can a brilliant but troubled doctor find happiness with a woman scarred both inside and out? A hint of the supernatural plus a night of passion spice up this Uncanny Chronicle.


If you'd like to pre-order a copy, you can do so at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, iTunes, or Amazon UK.

I have a Real Men Christmas novella coming out in, well, December, obviously! This will be part of an Entangled Bliss anthology. It's a lot of fun writing about Christmas Down Under but also weird because Christmas feels so far away.

In other writing news, I've just about finished edits on my first romance for Entangled Indulgence which is due out in October. Can't wait to see my cover!

I also have my first book with Samhain Publishing coming out next month, so I'm biting my fingernails and hoping reviewers will pick it up. More news about that later this month.

I did a little happy dance when I spotted this lovely review of REAL MEN DON'T BREAK HEARTS on Goodreads:

"I really enjoyed this book--it's a great summer read. Coleen Kwan is an excellent writer...I have the second book, Real Men Don't Quit (Real Men #2) by the author on my Kindle waiting to be read next, and I will definitely put her on my list of authors to keep an eye out for."

So this Teaser Tuesday has to come from Real Men Don't Break Hearts!

In this scene Nate has gone to a bar after a nasty incident. There, he spots Ally, and suddenly everything he always thought about her is turned on its head.

ivanpw

I recently read an article about social media and how it's a waste of time and money for some enterprises. I would assume it's true for some authors too. In my case, I'm still ambivalent. Social media is not a natural fit for me. I think it's because I'm not a chatterbox. I'm more inclined to listen to conversation than to dominate it. So when it comes to Facebook and Twitter I feel as though I'm at a loud party and I'm listening in while everyone else is madly chatting away. I find myself 'lurking' rather than barging into people's conversations. Yet I keep plugging (sporadically) at FB and Twitter, and I do sometimes find it useful for communicating directly with someone. But I doubt very much I've sold any books because of my FB or Twitter presence.

I look on with some bemusement at the proliferation of other social media like Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, etc. My head spins at the thought of maintaining a profile on all of them. About a year ago I was convinced to get on the Triberr bandwagon. Triberr was a sure-fire way to increase traffic to your blog, I was told. So I signed up, joined a tribe, and dutifully sent out tweets for my tribe. My blog traffic DID go up, but I felt very uncomfortable sending out so many 'spammy' tweets. I didn't have the time to personally read all the blog entries of my tribe members, yet I was obliged to tweet about them. In the end, I took a break from Triberr, and although my blog traffic dropped, I felt a lot more comfortable. But there's always the fear that I might miss out on the next big thing. Recently, in a fit of enthusiasm, I signed up for Tumblr, but quite quickly realised I was out of my depth and backed out.

I've been debating the merits of keeping up this blog. Blogging used to be all the rage, and every writer had to have a blog and update it at least three times a week. But now there's an oversupply of blogs. Many authors are cutting back on their blogging schedules, or dropping their blogs altogether. I think blogging suits me more than Facebook or Twitter. It doesn't require witty repartee or popularity, and a good post can continue to draw readers to my blog months or years after it was written, thanks to SEO. So for now I'll keep to blogging (with side forays into FB and Twitter).

Since SHORT SOUP recently won the Swirl Award, I thought I'd post an excerpt from this novella for my Teaser Tuesday.

In this scene, Toni and Dion have just met for the first time in five years. So much has changed - they've changed - and things are a little awkward between them.