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 […]
Cover Reveal for Shifter’s Storm (Ice Age Shifters Book 5) At last I can present the cover reveal for Shifter’s Storm (Ice Age Shifters Book 5). The fabulously spiffy cover for this and the rest the series are all designed by the very talented Amanda Kelsey of Razzle Dazzle Design. Shifter’s Storm starts a new […]