It's my birthday, and I'm giving away a gift!

I have a pretty big wrist and it fits me.

 Ok, so you have to turn your head sideways to see it, but this is a fabulous bracelet made of a classic skulls and flames motif.

I'll pick a random commenter here at my blog!

Detail of those bad-ass skulls.

Dracula's Secret, Book One of the Blood Wings series can be bought here.

Dracula's Desires, Book Two of the Blood Wings series can be bought here.

The Saga of the Backyard.

The Charming Man and I never spent much time in our backyard, even though we had an enormous deck and a plethora of shady trees. It was always full of unpleasant insects and lacked any privacy.

This summer, we decided to renovate the back yard as a memorial to my beloved Grandmother. On the hottest day of August, some of the Charming Man's co-workers were kind enough to come help rip up part of the deck. Now the rest of it is gone and we are beginning on the journey to construction.

Here are pictures of what our back yard looks like now- your basic mud pit, but full of promise.

Soon it will be a Middle Eastern style retreat.

Overheard in the Charming-Mercury household:

Me to The Charming Man: "I know you are a keyboard slut. And I'm ok with it."

The Ultimate Muse

Happy Birthday, Bram Stoker!

Thank you for a wonderful book that has inspired so many. My passionate Valerie would not exist without you.

Dracula's Secret available here

Dracula's Desires available here

And the winner is....

Many thanks go to Beth Gordon of Oregon, a super-fantastic person who shared the news of my latest blog giveaway!

Beth receives this wonderful dragon necklace for spreading the word. :)

Countdown to Halloween: First Awesome Giveaway!

EDIT: My friends have wisely pointed out that my ego is getting in the way of the fun! Instead of demanding that you prove you read my book, I will randomly give away the necklace to someone who Tweets or shares on Facebook about this giveaway. Yay!

For the next week, I am going to randomly give away marvelous jewelry that my characters,  John Jante, Valerie Tate, and Lance Soliel, think are funny and marvelous.

Don't you want him?

In honor of the most famous Halloween spook of all, Vlad Dracula, I am giving away this dark and dangerous dragon necklace.

Why a dragon?

Because Dracul means Dragon.

Because my heroine, Valerie Tate, wears a coat embroidered with a dragon.

All you have to do is share the news about this contest!

Dracula's Secret for sale here.
Dracula's Desires for sale here.