Today I am so pleased to welcome Heidi Cullinan to the blog today. Heidi is here as part of the Riptide 4th Anniversary celebration and is sharing a playlist from her book, Dirty Laundry. Heidi has also brought along a great celebration wide giveaway! Please join me in giving her a big welcome!
Thank you for joining Riptide on our 4th Anniversary blog tour! We are excited to bring you new guest posts from our authors and a behind the scenes insights from Riptide. The full tour schedule can be found at http://riptidepublishing.com/events/tours/riptides-4th-anniversary-celebration. Don’t miss the limited time discounts and Free Books for a Year giveaway at the end of this post!
Please welcome Heidi Cullinan to the tour.
Dirty Laundry Playlist
Soundtracks are always a big part of my story process, and that was true for both Tucker Springs books, though especially for Dirty Laundry. You can find the playlist for Dirty Laundry on Spotify.
The biggest influence on that playlist was the Scissor Sisters, particularly the song “Somewhere.” I listened to that one on repeat more than any other song. I’m not sure where the retro feel came from, though it seemed to have stemmed from the Goldfrapp Alive album, which I think was new-ish at the time. Between that album and Scissor Sisters’ Magic Hour, we sort of fell into an older feel. Annie and Ace of Base and a smattering of Kate Bush helped round out the retro. Florence + the Machine added an edge, while Britney Spears added a splash. Further color came from the band Hurts, who at the time was brand-new. The Scottish band Texas felt like a finishing touch, bleeding all the disparate edges together.
I always feel like there’s a heavy thread beneath every soundtrack, and for this one it seemed to be the tension between being eager to get out there and live but also feeling trapped and unable to move. That was obvious with Adam, but Denver was there more than he wanted anyone to notice. The two of them found a way to bridge that space in private, and eventually they helped each other fully into the light. While I wrote the story, this soundtrack helped me move them within those spaces and eventually fully into the light, together.
If you want to check out my other soundtracks, you can follow me on my Spotify profile.
Anniversary Sale
The Tucker Springs series is being sold in a special discounted bundle by Riptide this week only. Check out the sale on this series and other bundles at http://www.riptidepublishing.com/anniversary-sale
Blurb
About the Tucker Springs Series
Welcome to Tucker Springs, population 75,000 + you! This collaborative story world is brought to you by three award-winning LGBTQ authors: Heidi Cullinan, Marie Sexton, and L.A. Witt.
The fictional town of Tucker Springs is located on the western slope of Colorado, in between Grand Junction and Silverton. One of the themes of Tucker Springs is that what you see is not what you get. Take, for example, the “springs.” Although many neighboring towns have actual hot springs, the spring here is more of a bubbling mud puddle. Locals like to trick newbies by sending them in search of it.
The Tucker Springs stories are a series of loosely-connected, standalone novels. Most of them take place in the Light District, a.k.a. Hacktown, a district known for its theaters, galleries, intimate nightspots, and music.
Bio
Heidi Cullinan has always enjoyed a good love story, provided it has a happy ending. Proud to be from the first Midwestern state with full marriage equality, Heidi is a vocal advocate for LGBT rights. She writes positive-outcome romances for LGBT characters struggling against insurmountable odds because she believes there’s no such thing as too much happy ever after. When Heidi isn’t writing, she enjoys cooking, reading, playing with her cats, and watching television with her family.
Connect with Heidi:
- Website: heidicullinan.com
- Twitter: @heidicullinan
- Facebook: facebook.com/heidicullinan
- Goodreads: goodreads.com/Heidi_Cullinan
Giveaway
To celebrate our anniversary, Riptide Publishing is giving away free books for a year! Your first comment at each blog stop on the Anniversary Tour will count as an entry and give you a chance to win this great prize. Giveaway ends at midnight, October 31, 2015, and is not restricted to US entries.
- By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
- By entering you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions set out by Rafflecopter for entries.
- Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
- Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
- By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
- Void where prohibited by law.
You three are definitely some of my favorite authors & this series is on my TBR, I just have to figure out when to start them! Thanks for feeding my addiction!
I love Heidi’s Spotify playlists! And Dirty Laundry is one of my favorite Tucker Springs books. Congrats on the anniversary! Here’s to many more.
That’s a great list! I’ve been checking it, it’s brought back some memories! Thank you for sharing it! 😉
I’d love to be included…I love Heidi and the Tucker Springs series.
I really liked the Tucker Springs series.
I should re-read this series. I really enjoyed it!
Congratulations on four years of great publishing.
I loved the Tucker Springs novels. Just wish there were more to read.
I have and have read the Tucker Springs books – and enjoyed the website too! – will there be any more?
I find author playlists interesting, I prefer to work in silence.
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Thanks for sharing your playlist!
Dirty Laundry is an all time favorite! Now I have music for a re-read. 🙂
I haven’t heard of this series yet. I’ll have to check it out!
Wow! What a prize!
I haven’t read this series yet, but I love Heidi!
It sounds like a great series. I would love to read it
I love the Tucker Springs series and loved Dirty Laundry when it first appeared as a free short read, so was even more happier when it was rewritten as a longer story and included favourite characters from the other Tucker Springs books. I have enjoyed listening to the music and songs that inspired this book.
“Tucker Springs” is one of my favourite series I’ve read them so many times.
I enjoyed Dirty Laundry, Second Hand, and more recently Love Lessons and Fever Pitch. I look forward to reading more!
Love Tucker Springs
Thank yopu for the playlist. I love listening to new music and it’s even more fun to relate it to the story.
Happy 4th Anniversary, Riptide! Thanks for all the great books in the past years.
And, thanks to Heidi Cullinan for the playlist post and also for writing so many books that I have loved.
I always love how music can influence writing. On more than one occassion I’ve come across songs that totally define my characters at certian parts of the story…and somehow that feel seems to transfer over to the actual writing. Plus, whenever I come across that song later, it always makes me want to go back to those characters.
I loved the tucker spring series and Dirty laundry was the first book I read in the series.
Wow! I’ve heard of Britney Spears and Ace of Base but I’m lost when it comes to the rest of them. Every time I read a playlist for a book I like I have to go to YouTube and find the songs. That’ll be my project for this weekend. 🙂
DIRTY LAUNDRY is a great one, and I can never resist a book playlist!
What an awesome giveaway!! Thanks for the chance to win!!
Thank You! For Riptide and Tucker Springs
Great giveaway & love Heidi!
A great series by great authors.. What more could we want
I do love the Tucker Springs series ????
I just bought this series, I can’t wait to read it!
Love Heidi cullinan’s writing, haven’t read a bad book by her yet.
What a giveaway!! I have read the first four books in this series!
I’m enjoying following this blog, so many great books. Happy Anniversary, Riptide. What an amazing giveaway. Thanks for a chance of hitting the book lottery. 🙂
Soundtrack posts are always a lot of fun. I love music, even though I’m not as driven by it as some people are. I can spend days not listening to any, whereas others are musically powered. I love that authors are inspired by what they’re listening, too, though. I once read of an author who wasn’t, and it shocked me because it seems so prevalent. I’ve always wanted to go back and reread a story with the soundtrack playing, but I haven’t yet. Maybe with Dirty Laundry I will!
I really enjoyed this series!
Second Hand is one of my favourite books and I love the whole Tucker Springs collection.
I love Dirty Laundry. It is the novel that put Heidi on my autobuy list! The playlists and music in the stories add a great dimension to the character interaction.
I have always enjoyed seeing what authors listen to while they write various stories.
I absolutely love these a authors and the Tucker Springs series.
Tucker Springs was one of my favorite anthology series.
Playlists can add so much to a story! I love finding out what inspirations an author draws from.
Your playlist sounds very interesting. I’ll check it out.
Thank you for sharing the playlist! It’s always interesting to know what inspired the author when writing. 🙂
I love Spotify and I like the idea of creating a soundtrack to your narrative. Very clever.
I love the Tucker Springs Series.
These are books about people that seem real and authentic. Also the writting of the authors is great.
A playlist for a book? Definitely have to check it out?
some of my favorite things… love this series!
Love Heidi’s books and very much enjoyed Tucker Springs (Dirty Laundry is a favorite). Great deal for anyone who doesn’t have them, yet!
Been wanting to check out the Tucker Springs series for awhile now.
I haven’t started the Tucker Springs series yet, but am planning to. Thanks for sharing the playlist!