Secrets of My Favorite Genre and Hero Writing by Sandy Lender – Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

I’ve learned not to pause when people ask what genre I write in. Although I have over 20 titles out there in a few genres, the main one is fantasy. Epic, to be exact.

I love reading and writing big, sweeping stories of good versus evil with a complex dragon who could switch sides if you don’t treat him (or her) right. Readers who know me know I write strong female characters but a secret to keeping this genre exciting for myself is in the dragons and the heroes. I’m a sucker for a hero who, like the dragon, could switch sides if you betray him. Or if you harm his dragon companion.

Another secret to my genre fiction is the type of hero I write. Considering I’m talking this week about my latest release, “100 Things Duran Duran Fans Should Know & Do During This Life,” it’s probably time to come clean and admit most of my heroes bear a striking resemblance to DD’s bass guitarist. There’s a reason for that.

John Taylor is hot like the rising sun. He has aged like a fine wine you want to sip while listening to all the slow, moody-and-grey Duran Duran songs through high-quality headphones.

Why wouldn’t I model the look of the hero you’re supposed to fall for after my lifelong crush? Now, don’t let this fool you into thinking my heroes are “based on” Mr. John Taylor. That would be creepy. (And probably worthy of a cease-and-desist.)

While John Taylor definitely inspires the heroes in the CHOICES series, the DRAGONS IN SPACE series, the FAERIE HOLIDAYS series, and a few other stories I’ve penned, these heroes are their own fabulous hotties with their own back stories and blends of mannerisms and traits from interesting people I’ve met or observed over my lifetime. It takes more than a handsome face to create a hero, no matter what genre you’re working in.

For me, it’s fun to write in the fantasy genre. It’s fun to bring a gorgeous hero onto the page to assist the strong young women I’m writing about. And to add in some epic dragons.

Best-selling, award-winning author and life-long Duranie, Sandy Lender, offers a delightful guidebook to the fun and sometimes wacky events that bring a fandom together. 100 THINGS DURAN DURAN FANS SHOULD KNOW & DO DURING THIS LIFE is a unique, positive, optimistic, totally new take on exploring nostalgia alongside your BFFs with the supergroup that continues to provide the dance track for so many people’s lives.

This non-fiction foray into Duran Duran history is unlike any biography you’ve read before. Instead of dry stats and facts, it’s a reminder of the joy and positivity that comes from obsessing over a shared musical interest. Herein you’ll find a series of random acts “to do” and trivia you might have forgotten to celebrate. To-do: Dive in and celebrate again!

Enjoy an Excerpt

Introduction

Let me admit, up front, you’re about to read a frivolous romp through a Duranie’s brain. We’re about to dance together down Memory Lane, inspired by a Star Wars book title I saw about four months ago. To prevent myself from stealing the author’s intellectual property, I didn’t open the unauthorized 100 Things Star Wars Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.

Instead, I’ve put together a Duran-o-rama of my own making. It’s arranged exactly as the title suggests: first an item of what a Duran Duran fan should know, followed by an item a fan can do. This order proceeds from one to one hundred in a conversational tone.

The prompts of nostalgia might be numbered, but they’re not in chronological order. Most of the to-do items are geared toward sharing your insanity with others.

Basically, you’re holding amusing reminders of carefree times when a ticket to a concert cost all of eighteen dollars, when you listened to the local radio station at midnight because they were playing the entire new DD release, or when you could grab a crew of giggling girls to plop down on the couch with a six-pack of Pepsi—because that’s what John preferred over the sponsor of the Arena tour—to watch and sing along to Arena: An Absurd Notion, complete with parental advisory.

Now, let me lift the needle off the record for a second.

About the Author Sandy Lender is an international best-selling poet and award-winning author of fantasy, literary fiction, poetry, and short story work. She’s a construction magazine editor by day and author of #GirlPower fantasy novels by night, living in Florida to help with sea turtle conservation and parrot rescue. You can follow her author page on Amazon, check her website at SandyLenderInk.com, or subscribe to her newsletter at https://bit.ly/SSReNews.

With a four-year degree in English and thirty-year career in publishing, Sandy’s successes include traditionally and self-published novels, hundreds of magazine articles, multiple short stories in competitive anthologies, a handful of technical writing awards, a handful of creative writing awards, and the 2023 Michael Knost Wings award. Sandy’s been writing stories since she was knee-high to a grasshopper when her great-grandmother shared her odd little tales of squeaky ghost-spiders around an apartment complex in Southern Illinois. The stories have developed to include strong young ladies working with dragons to save worlds from terrible fates, but those pesky spiders still show up from time to time.

There’s always something brewing at Sandy Lender Ink headquarters where some days, you just want the dragon to win.

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