Make the Leap from Paranormal to Science Fiction Romance I love science fiction and fantasy, and I love romances. I especially love it when the two genres blend to bring me the best of both worlds. (Probably why I write them, eh?) If you’re a paranormal romance fan, I’d like to invite you to make […]
Revisiting World Domination: Revised Plans for 2020 This time of year, I usually look back at the grand plan I create in January and make minor adjustments. Funnily enough, while my World Domination Plan hoped no calamities would arise, it didn’t even contemplate the possibility of a global pandemic. How terribly unimaginative of me. So […]
Spotlight on IN GRAVES BELOW Today, I’m shining a spotlight on In Graves Below, the first standalone paranormal romance I ever wrote. May 3 is the book’s publication anniversary. The story came about because Amazon invited S.E. Smith (Susan) to participate in the Kindle Worlds program. Authors opened a story universe to other authors, and […]
Ghosts in the Books The other day, my cat saw a ghost in my bookcase. At least I assume that was the cause of the suddenly fluffy tail and startled look before he bolted. Just because I’m a skeptic and can’t see ghosts in the books doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Cats have far better […]
Character Naming Secrets A reader recently asked if I have any character naming secrets, and where I came up with the name of Mairwen Morganthur, the heroine of Overload Flux. I’ll tell you the same thing I told him, but first I must dispel the notion that there any secrets to naming characters. Just as […]
The Age of Megafauna The concept for my Ice Age Shifters® paranormal romance series arose from my hobby of reading science articles. “What if,” I said to my muse, “some shifters were born as throwbacks to the earlier, larger versions of species?” My muse liked the idea, and the series was born. And lucky me, […]
Shifter Romance Brings Legends and Myths to Life I believe humans are the storytelling animal. Important information is easier to remember if it has a story behind it, because stories give it context, emotion, and meaning. Of course, just like my dearly departed grandmother, we also have a tendency to rarely let the truth get […]
Flamingos Are Delightful I love animals, which is why I write shifter paranormal romances (PNRs) and animals appear in half of my space opera series. It’s the fault of my cats, of course. 😸 When writing Shifter’s Storm, I needed the heroine, Chantal Hammond, to be in Florida so it would be easier for her […]
Hurricane Recovery for Puerto Rico and Its Islands My latest paranormal romance, Shifter’s Storm (Ice Age Shifters Book 5), takes place on the island of Vieques, part of Puerto Rico. I took my inspiration from the news reports about the tremendous damage done by 2017’s Hurricane Maria. Hurricane recovery for Puerto Rico has been abominably […]
Shifter’s Storm Excerpt Chantal Hammond is the heroine of Shifter’s Storm, the latest book in the Ice Age Shifters paranormal romance series. She’s a modern and independent-minded leopard shifter. She’s also a sheriff’s deputy on loan to another jurisdiction. Cougar shifters run the tiny Barron County, Florida sheriff’s department, but they haven’t been very welcoming. […]
Plans for 2020 🎉 First, happy new year, and may the coming year be your best year yet. I’m making plans for 2020 and sharing some of them with you. Because our planet doesn’t have a perfect orbit, we get an extra day this year to mess up our automated calendars. Some of you may […]
About Prehistoric Aquatic Sloths (Thalossocnus) The hero of Shifter’s Storm (Ice Age Shifters Book 5) is Dauro de Mar, a shifter trapped in a fairy fantasyland. His animal side is an extinct aquatic sloth (Thalassocnus) from the Ice Age. As you might imagine, this quite surprised his elephant-seal shifter parents. When the story opens, he’s […]
Shifter’s Storm – New Release Hi — author Carol Van Natta here. I’m pleased to announce the release of Shifter’s Storm, the fifth book in my Ice Age Shifters® paranormal romance series. This book starts a new mini-story arc, so you can enjoy it without having read the previous four books. However, if you have […]
Excerpt from Shifter’s Storm The hero of my latest paranormal romance, Shifter’s Storm (Ice Age Shifters Book 5), is Dauro de Mar. He and his fellow captives were bought by a greedy fairy who collected exotic aquatic shifters. Dauro has been there the longest, and was the first acquisition. Where is “there,” you ask? A […]
Three Go-To Recipes for Gatherings I’m a very lucky author. When I’m working on a book deadline (which is pretty much any day ending in ‘Y’), the resident mad scientist does most of the cooking in our secret lair… er, house. However, I occasionally borrow his laboratory… er, kitchen for special occasions such as potlucks […]