Thanks to my dear critique partner Mona for posting the news of my American Title win. I've been travelling and sleeping the last few days!

Pittsburgh was my first Romantic Times Convention but it won't be the last. I took my daughter with me and we had so much fun. The themed parties were a laugh. What great costumes some of the people had. Even I managed to don some wings for the Under the Sea Fairy Ball. The RT staff were wonderful--what a feat of organisation--they all work so hard. The Dorchester people were all so friendly and helpful. I'm looking forward to working with them.

And WOW!! Don't you just love the book cover Dorchester have done for The Magic Knot and they produced it so fast as well.

Here are my daughter and I with the new Mr. Romance 2008 Chris Winters.

I was also lucky enough to meet Kathryn Falk the power behind Romantic Times and one of the strongest supporters of the Romance genre over the past twenty-five years. Here I am with my book poster after the American Title announcement, with Kathryn Falk and Chris Keesler from Dorchester.

Thanks to the wonderful Erin Galloway and Diane Stacy from Dorchester, I was lucky enough to have some excerpts of the first two chapters from The Magic Knot and some pics of the cover to sign at the huge book signing event on Saturday. I sat with Jenny Gardiner who won American Title III last year with her book Sleeping With Ward Cleaver. Here we are with Luke, one of the Mr. Romance contestents.

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for The Magic Knot during the five rounds of the American Title contest and made this possible.

Do you believe in fate?

I've always thought things work out as they should. If something I want doesn't happen, it's probably because something better is waiting round the corner.

My patience has been tested over the last few years with my writing when despite numerous contest wins, the editor and agent interest in my winning stories didn't translate into offers. Paranormal romance is a difficult market to break into so I've been told numerous times.

Then last June, friends persuaded me to enter The Magic Knot in the American Title contest. To be honest, I thought Dorchester would probably send me a polite note telling me I wasn't eligible as I didn't live in America. (After all, the contest is called American Title.) But well done to Dorchester for their international spirit; they accepted my entry and not only that, liked it enough to choose the story as one of the ten finalists that moved on to the voting rounds.

I was over the moon to be chosen as a finalist by the Dorchester editors and have excerpts of my story published in Romantic Times. I expected to make it through the first couple of rounds, three if I were lucky. Romantic Times magazine isn't sold in the UK, so I doubted I'd make it much further. I underestimated the wonderful support of my friends (thank you fellow fuzzies!), family and obviously a good sized group of Romantic Times readers. Much to my amazement, The Magic Knot has made it all the way through to the final round--the final two. Now I have the fun of attending the Romantic Times convention in Pittsburgh in a few weeks time to find out if I've won the American Title contest and a publishing contract with Dorchester.

To put icing on the cake, last week I heard that The Magic Knot is also a finalist in Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart® contest. I'll also be able to attend the RWA® conference in San Francisco and attend the awards ceremony as a finalist. My patience is paying off. Fate is smiling on me and it looks as though 2008 is going to be my year.

I've always thought 2 and 8 are lucky numbers for me!

So if life seems hard work and it feels like you're taking two steps forward and one step back, hang on in there. Better things could be right around the corner.

When I return from Pittsburgh on April 22nd I'll be sure to post my news on American Title here. So keep an eye open!

I'm delighted to announce my story THE MAGIC KNOT has reached the fifth and final round of the American Title contest.

Please check out the final two entries and vote at:

www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle3.php

I'd love your vote!

Many thanks for the support of all the wonderful people who have voted for me to get me into the final round.

I'm delighted to announce my Paranormal Romance THE MAGIC KNOT has reached the fourth round of the American Title contest. There are now only four people left in contention. I would love your vote to give me a place in the final two. Please check out the Romantic Times website to see the four passages of dialogue in this round and vote.

As a taster of THE MAGIC KNOT, this is the first page.

Chapter One

Roughly translated, the slogan on Niall O’Connor’s family crest read: “We need all the help the gods can give us.”

Not that he wanted help from anyone, gods or otherwise. He’d learned early on to look out for himself. Unfortunately, every now and then he had no choice.

So here he was—cap in hand metaphorically speaking—on his way to ask for a favor from druid, Tristan Jago. Which unfortunately entailed getting past Tristan’s sidekick, a vampiric nightstalker with attitude problems called Nightshade.

Niall rode his motorcycle up the narrow drive to Tristan’s rambling granite manor house, stopped on the circle of gravel outside the front door, and cut the engine.

Trevelion Manor sat alone on top of the rocky Cornish cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. In the distance, purple storm clouds billowed across gunmetal-gray sea. A portent of trouble if ever he’d seen one. It looked like the gods definitely weren’t smiling on him today.

As he kicked down his bike stand, the front door opened. Nightshade stepped out of the shadowy interior, folded his arms over his glistening oiled pecs, and spread his wings to block entry. Quashing a sigh, Niall pulled off his helmet and rested it on the bike’s seat.

Niall flexed his hands to check the position of the two crystal knives strapped to his wrists. If he could avoid fighting Nightshade, he would. Not that he thought he’d lose. Quite the contrary, he was sure he’d win. But he’d fought enough hand-to-hand to last a lifetime. Now peace and quiet was all he desired.

“It’s a pleasure to see you, Irish!” Nightshade hooked his thumbs in the loops of his jeans and grinned, his teeth white against ebony skin. “I’ve a hankering for a taste of Tuatha Dé Danaan with a seasoning of leprechaun.”

Find out more about Helen Scott Taylor!

I'm delighted to announce my story The Magic Knot has reached the third round of the American Title contest. If you would like to know more about my story please visit my website: http://www.helenscotttaylor.com/

To see the six entrants competing in the third round of the American Title contest for best story summary please go to:

http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle3.php

If you like my entry I'd love your vote!

Today is the final day of voting in the first round of Romantic Times and Dorchester Publishing's American Title Contest.

Here is a short excerpt from my story The Magic Knot, one of the ten finalists. If you like the excerpt, I'd love your vote!

Chapter One

Roughly translated, the slogan on Niall O’Connor’s family crest read: ‘We need all the help the gods can give us.’ As usual, he expected the gods would decide he could cope on his own.

He cut his motorcycle engine, then stared at the sky behind the druid’s rambling granite manor house that perched on the Cornish cliffs. The setting sun cast a fiery line along the horizon between the sky and steely Atlantic Ocean. Stacks of clouds rolled and billowed, bruised purple by the brewing storm.

The air elementals were disturbed. Niall gave a wry smile. Just for a change he could expect trouble.

While he removed his helmet, Trevelion Manor’s front door creaked open.

Tall and dark as a twilight shadow, Nightshade, the vampiric fairy that worked for the druid, emerged and spread his wings to block the doorway. The fading light gleamed off the soft sheen of oil varnishing his sculpted chest muscles. He hooked his thumbs in the loops of his jeans and grinned. “Hello, Irish. Wish I could say it’s a pleasure to see you.”

Clenching his fists as he walked, Niall felt the reassuring pressure of the crystal blades strapped to his wrists. Nightshade was usually all talk, but lately there had been a hint of desperation in the nightstalker’s eyes.

Niall halted a few feet from the door and patted the pocket of his leather flight jacket containing the check. “I’m after talking business with Tristan. You going to let me in?”

The vampiric fairy curled his top lip revealing needle sharp fangs, then leaned closer, his black hair slithering across Niall’s arm. “You smell good, Irish. I’ve a hankering for Tuatha Dé Danaan with a seasoning of leprechaun.”

To vote, please go to:
http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle.php

For more information on my writing please visit:

http://www.helenscotttaylor.com/

My paranormal romance The Magic Knot is one of the ten stories chosen by the editors of Dorchester Publishing to be in the final of the fourth American Title contest.

Book Blurb

When Rose discovers she is the Cornish fairy queen and her father is a dark druid who has imprisoned her people in portraits, the race is on to discover the fairy lore needed to release her people before her father destroys them forever.

She seeks help from the sinfully sexy Irish fairy twins, the O’Connor brothers. Niall’s faint air of menace flutters dark thrills of anticipation through her, but does he want to kiss her or kill her when she accidentally touches his Magic Knot and forges a mystical lovers’ bond with him?

With the survival of the Cornish fairies in her hands, Rose must escape from a vampiric, winged fairy, outwit The Queen of Nightmares and surrender her mind, body and spirit to Niall to release her hidden inner fairy. The Tarot cards warn he will stab her in the back, but when she’s in his arms, the last thing on her mind is death.

If you like the sound of my story I would love your vote in the contest. The first round runs from October 15th to 28th at http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle.php

For more information about me and my writing visit http://www.helenscotttaylor.com/

Here is another excerpt from my American Title finalist story The Magic Knot.

After setting the computer in Niall’s room to standby, Rose tucked the notebook beneath her arm, then picked up his small wooden box to return it to the windowsill. Tingles ran across her skin from the box. She blinked, trying to clear her mind as drowsiness tugged down her eyelids. A dreamy sensation fluttered through her mind, whispering of secrets and dark delights.

She must put the box down. And she would in a minute, when she could summon the strength to place it back on… A wave of heat shimmered up through her body. Oh, God. She dropped back onto the seat. What on earth did Niall keep in the box? With trembling fingers, she eased up the lid.

Rose’s breath caught. Three small linked circles of pale stone nestled in black velvet. The strange jewelry was similar to the piece her mother gave her when she was a child. She touched her chest and felt the earthy brown stones she always wore underneath her blouse. Her mother told her never to take the stone pendent off. Obviously, nobody gave Niall the same advice.

“Niall.” Her voice quivered on his name. The urge to touch his stones filled her with sharp, achy longing. “Get a grip, woman.” Rose tried to drag her gaze away.

She blinked and shook her head. How long had she been in the room?

All she had to do was close the lid and place the box back on the windowsill. Her fingertip slipped into the box, grazed across the top stone. Everything smoothed out inside her, worries drifted away. Between her breasts, the stone pendent she’d worn against her heart all her life resonated with the elemental beat of the stones beneath her fingers. Her eyelids lowered, and she toppled down, down into a place of dark, hazy pleasure.

For more information on my paranormal stories visit http://www.helenscotttaylor.com/

I’m delighted to announce my paranormal romance THE MAGIC KNOT is a finalist in the Romantic Times Book Review Magazine’s forth American Title contest. (For any of you not familiar with the contest, it’s like American Idol, only for books!)

The first round of voting starts on October 15th and closes on October 28th. Voting takes place on the Romantic Times website at www.romantictimes.com. There are ten finalists, and first round voting is for the best first sentence. Please take a look when the time comes, and if you like my first line, I’d love your vote.
As today’s blog is supposed to be about history, I thought you’d be interested to hear a little about the place that inspired my vision of the Irish fairy queen’s mansion that features in The Magic Knot.

The beautiful Palladian mansion Powerscourt (pictured above) is found within the Wicklow Mountains near Enniskerry, a few miles from Dublin. When you stand on the elevated terrace behind the building, forty-seven acres of lush gardens roll out before you. The jewel-bright colors of beautifully manicured flowerbeds are set against the backdrop of waves of multicolored shrubs and acres of mixed woodland. The gardens surrounding the mansion, contrast with the stark beauty of the mountains in the distance.

A castle has stood on the site since 1300. The current structure was refurbished in 1974 in preparation for opening to the public. Tragically, on completion of the work, the house was gutted by fire before it could open. The owners didn’t have the heart to start again, and the structure now houses a mixture of quality boutiques and shops for tourists. There is a display documenting the refurbishment and fire. Luckily, some of the original internal building survived, and is open to be viewed.

If you would like more information on my story The Magic Knot, please visit my website at http://www.helenscotttaylor.com/

An except of The Magic Knot is posted on this blog here: http://pinkfuzzyslipperwriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/magic-knot.html