Book Name: Dissonance

Author Name: Shira Anthony

Author Bio: In her last incarnation, Shira was a professional opera singer, performing roles in such operas as “Tosca,” “i Pagliacci,” and “La Traviata,” among others. She’s given up TV for evenings spent with her laptop, and she never goes anywhere without a pile of unread M/M romance on her Kindle.

Shira is married with two children and two insane dogs, and when she’s not writing she is usually in a courtroom trying to make the world safer for children. When she’s not working, she can be found aboard a 36’ catamaran at the Carolina coast with her favorite sexy captain at the wheel.

Author Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shira.anthony

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4641776.Shira_Anthony

Twitter: @WriterShira

Website: http://www.shiraanthony.com

E-mail: shiraanthony@hotmail.com

Cover Artist: Catt Ford

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Buy Links:

Dreamspinner Press E-book

Dreamspinner Press Paperback

Amazon

ARe

Blurb:

British lord Cameron Sherrington has hit rock bottom. The love of his life, opera sensation Aiden Lind, is marrying another man, and Cam knows it’s his own fault for pushing Aiden away. Then someone tries to set him up and take away his family business. Facing arrest by US authorities on charges of money laundering and with no money to return to London, Cam decides to run. But with no money and no place to stay, it’s not exactly the Hollywood thriller he’d imagined.

When Cam hears Galen Rusk play in a lonely subway station, he’s intrigued. But his assumptions about Galen are all wrong, and their unusual relationship isn’t exactly what Cam bargained for. Add to that the nightmares that dog him nightly, and Cam’s world is shaken to its core. Cam figures he had it coming to him, that it’s all penance due on a life lived without honesty. He just never figured he might not be able to survive it.

Note: Blue Notes Series novels are standalone stories, and can be read in any order.

Thanks for hosting me today on the Dissonance Blog Tour! I asked what you all might like me to talk about, and boy did I get a tough one: “How does author Shira Anthony compare to the person Shira Anthony?” The short answer? Author Shira is a lot more outgoing than the Person Shira. Which I suppose is perfect, given my past life as a professional opera singer. Let me explain….

I grew up in a family of musicians (with the exception of my dad, who’s tone deaf!). My mother’s a harpsichordist, my sister was a professional cellist, and I played violin until I discovered in college that I had a lot more fun singing. And honestly, I was a lot better at singing than I ever was playing the fiddle.

In spite of the fact that I was performing from a pretty young age (and I did perform in musicals and operettas before I decided to become a professional singer), I was always an introvert. Geeky, sci fi introvert, before they invented the word “otaku.” I lived to watch Star Trek and read sci fi fantasy books. I found Harlequin romances when I was in high school, and although I wasn’t wild about the totally dull happily-ever-afters (face it, when I was in high school, every one of the heroines in those books got married and “settled down”), I got my romance fix that way. Until I discovered Marion Zimmer Bradley’s romantic fantasy series, Darkover, which featured the first gay male love relationship I’d ever read. Yep. I totally loved to live in my fantasies.

When I finally figured out I was damn good at singing opera, I was already in college. Even if you’ve never seen an opera you’d know what they’re about, because opera was the musical theatre of classical music. Before Spamalot, before The Sound of Music, before any of the musicals you’ve heard or seen, there was opera. The only real difference other than the style of the music is that most operas were written in the language of their composer – Italian, French, German. Some of the stories are ridiculous, but some are really beautiful. Same with musicals.

So how does Shira fit into all of this? As a singer, I had to get out of that geeky shell and step into another person’s character. It wasn’t just the makeup, costume, and wig either. Opera is acting, the same way an actor performs in a play. Singers become something larger than life when they’re on the stage. It’s easier with the dress up stuff, because it isn’t little you up there, it’s BIG you, singing your heart out in front of 2,000 people (no mics anywhere!).

Shira the author is the same. She’s me, but on stage. Person Shira is a little shy, and she’s pretty chill.  Author Shira wears the costume and the author hat the way Opera Singer Shira wore it and she’ll talk to you and you won’t even know she’s pretty damn shy. At home, Person Shira would be in sweats or jeans, hair in a ponytail, glued to her computer screen, writing.

So if you see me in a funky outfit at a con, wearing heels way too tall for humans to walk in, that’s Author Shira. She’s still pretty much the same person underneath, though.

Oh, and by the way? Interested in hearing Opera Shira sing? You can hear me singing an excerpt from Tosca in a live performance by clicking here. And if you’re coming to GRL this year in Chicago, you’ll get to hear her perform live! Regular Shira’s a little nervous about that.

Cam climbed the stairs of the Spring Street station. The wind had picked up, causing one of his curls to tumble onto his forehead.

He sighed as he pushed the hair from his eyes and cursed his mother for her genes.

They were too much alike, and not just in appearance. They were both wanderers.

Always seeking excitement. Prone to infidelity.

But whereas she seemed to revel in her freedom, he’d always sought partners.

Not that he’d had any success in keeping them.

 Tour Dates: 8/8 – 9/5

Tour Stops:

8/8 – Prism Book Alliance

8/11 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

8/12 – Smoocher’s Voice

8/13 – Fallen Angel Reviews

8/14 – The Hat Party

8/15 – Amanda C. Stone

8/18 – Tara Lain

8/19 – The Novel Approach

8/20 – LeAnn’s Book Reviews

8/21 – Kimber Vale

8/22 – Full Moon Dreaming

8/25 – Love Bytes

8/26 – Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves

8/27 – Hearts on Fire

8/28 – Wicked Wolves and Dreaming Dragons

8/29 – Velvet Panic

9/1 – Decadent Delights

9/2 – Rainbow Gold Reviews

9/3 – My Fiction Nook

9/4 – Emotion in Motion

9/5 – MM Good Book Reviews, Book Suburbia

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