Random Thoughts from Ann Jacobs

2008-10-11T15:56:00.003-04:00

The life of an author, or anybody who depends on having a computer stay alive, or at least give warning when it's about to implode: do not, ever, walk away from yours without backing up whatever you've been doing on it. And never forget just because the machine seems to be in great shape!

Blue, my cat, has taken up guarding my machine now that I have it back, or rather now that I have a new one and several thousand dollars less in the bank. He probably has more sense than I did when I forgot one of my own unbreakable rules and forgot to back up my works in progress for a disastrous period of three weeks. :(

Two works in progress, one almost finished, the other about half completed. Poof. Gone one hot night in late August when Tampa Electric had an inexplicable power surge and outage while we slept. Next morning, the computer was making funny noises, intermittent beeping. As I shut it down, I heard sizzling noises. FRIED. I took a deep breath, hauled the machine to my guru...and prayed.

'Twas all to no avail. The machine was gone. Wires melted into motherboard. Fans melted and seized up. Worst of all, the slave hard drive where I kept my finished books along with works in progress, was destroyed beyond recovery although the gurus tried very hard to get even bits and pieces of it back. The good thing: I had an 80 gig external drive to which I was supposed to back up all this data weekly (the chore I'd forgotten to do for two disastrous weeks. The bad thing: I hadn't been switching off to my laptop for a while and hence had not copied the works in progress over there, and I'd also neglected to put the WIPs onto a flash drive I often use to load onto the laptop.

My bad! I can blame the electric company for frying the computer, but I can only blame myself for the month of computer hell I've gone through. I'd have written this warning sooner, but I've been doing a 24/7 marathon,(or almost) rewriting the lost manuscript that was due in to my editor first. The second one, I start reclaiming on Monday. At least I have the old book on which it's to be very loosely based.

Don't ever, ever get yourself into such a position! BACK UP. Re-back up. Do it every day, even if it begins to seem like wasted effort. Computer hell is as hot and unpleasant as any form of torture the real devil might come up with down in his fiery pits!

2008-04-29T13:14:00.004-04:00

ROMANTIC TIMES CONVENTION REVISITEDIt was five days’ worth of fun, meeting new friends and getting reacquainted with ones I’d met at earlier conventions. Not to mention getting to know EC's cover model entrant for Mr. Romance, John Fish. and to see the great costumes (Tawny Taylor shown, right, in her outfit for the Faery Ball).

Sure, there were some possibly newsworthy happenings…the kinds of things that always draw the attention of vultures of the tabloid press and their readers alike. If you’re interested, you can learn all the details, fully embellished, at various online blogs. Let’s address some of those juicy bits and move on to the many good things that went on last week.

Yes, a cover model and an unidentified woman apparently did a little impromptu dance after the official program at the EC Fantasy Party that offended some attendees. Yes, there were reports of some groping going on, both by cover models from different publishers and by a few women who wanted to get a little too close to the hot young men. And yes, one of the Mr. Romance contestants went off the deep end and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital on Saturday night. (He was not an EC model, by the way.)

These were isolated happenings. For the most part, the convention was a great celebration of the romance genre where the RT staff and publishers created venues where readers, booksellers and authors could get together and celebrate a mutual love for the genre in its many forms. I enjoyed every minute of networking, sharing news and just plain schmoozing with old friends and new acquaintances.

On Wednesday, I joined 70-some-odd Ellora’s Cave authors in stuffing goodie bags for the EC Fantasy Party. Then, off to dress for the newest RT event, the ebook expo, where I gave away chances on a Sony E-reader to every buyer of one or more of the books in my Heart of the West series. It didn’t hurt, having the gorgeous cover flats EC had made to promote each of its authors’ ebooks being featured at the expo, especially when those covers featured the hot faces and bodies of the EC Cavemen on scene! I consider myself lucky to have had not one but two covers (one ebook, one print one) featuring John Fish.

Then there was the party. Each EC author was recognized with his/her own star on the Walk of Fame. The Cavemen escorted us onstage, so we could show off gowns in the tradition of the Golden Years of Hollywood. While we sipped mimosas and snacked on fruit dipped in a chocolate fountain, we were treated to a skit set to “I’m Proud to Be an American” that recognized the heroism of the men and women of the military during the years following 9/11/2001. Dancing followed, to the lively music provided by a DJ.

Mixers, workshops and panel discussions consumed most of Thursday and Friday during the day, with a break for the RT Reviewers’ Choice awards luncheon. No, I didn’t get one, but hopefully next year…

Thursday night was the Faery Ball, this year with an undersea theme. First prize for costume went to Kevin Beard of the RT staff. He dressed as King Neptune. EC’s own Tawny Taylor got second place for her gorgeous outfit that had the look of rippling waters, tied with another attendee whose outfit was unique (but whose name I don’t know). I didn’t enter—just put on a beach-y layered skirt and a top intended to look like seaweed. I’m not big on talent as a seamstress, needless to say!

Friday morning was the EC breakfast, where all of us authors were presented with our stars from the Wednesday night party…and attaches with all the pockets we could possibly ever need. Hearing about EC’s plans for the future and meeting management face to face was one event I always look forward to, and this breakfast was no exception!

Heather Graham and Helen Rosburg put on the Monster Mash on Friday night. We enjoyed a steak dinner before being treated to an elaborate skit featuring members of Heather and Helen’s families. Dancing followed…and so did a visit to the hotel bar.

Saturday was the print booksigning taking up all morning and part of the afternoon. I sold out of d’Argent Honor: Full Circle, thanks to John being there to autograph copies of it (he’s on the cover). Later, the Mr. Romance competition was the highlight of the day. John won readers’ choice and contestants’ choice awards. John’s number one as far as I’m concerned—I like my cover models big and rugged, and John’s all that and more. He’s a real gentleman, and his smile would melt an icy heart!

Sunday, things wound up. Samhain hosted a party, and there were activities surrounding "Psychic Sunday", but I didn’t attend because I was anxious not to miss my flight home. By the time I got back to Tampa I was wiped out—hence the four-day delay in writing this report! See you next year in Orlando… I wouldn’t miss it for anything!

2007-09-12T12:47:00.000-04:00

First of all, congratulations to my good friend and critique partner, Joey W. Hill, on her release today of ROUGH CANVAS from Ellora's Cave. Don't miss it--it's as riveting and emotionally charged as all of Joey's books.

Now to begin the Countdown...

It's only one week until my Heart of the West series debuts at Ellora's Cave with ROPED, a story of domination and submission--but also of healing and finding a lifetime of love. To the third person to post a comment here, a choice of any of my e-books!

I haven't been able to do much of anything, including promotion, since I had a little episode of slipping on a wet bathroom floor while at RWA National back in July, so I thought I'd try to catch up by doing a contest every day until release day. Watch my website, myspace pages, and yahoogroups for more chances to win!

By the way, you won't want to miss my Heart of the West myspace page and video, created by SpaceFairy. It's at http://myspace.com/annjacobs_hotw. Please stop by and be my friend!

2007-06-15T18:58:00.000-04:00

When is it meaningful news...
...and when is it hurtful gossip or worse?

Everybody's blogging these days, especially readers, authors, and reviewers of ebooks. I guess it's normal--the internet's a friendly place where we all often feel we're "talking" to our best friends, our next door neighbors. Hey, I'm blogging now, LOL.

My point? Lately it seems there's been a lot of dishing dirt that might not be so hurtful if whispered over one's back fence to a neighbor whose circle of acquaintances doesn't begin to approach the numbers of our "community" on the 'net. Frankly, it makes me sick!

In the past month I've seen posts dissing a new author for a house I'm privileged to write for, which provoked a "conversation" that disintegrated into a full-scale diatribe by a few posters against the unfortunate author, her editor, other editors and authors, and the publisher itself. Today I saw posts responding to an interview on another blog, personal attacks against one of the most successful and well known authors/epublishers around. Another blog recently posted a letter that cast not only another epublisher but its chief editor in a bad light, seemingly for no reason other than to cast doubt on the viability of this publisher.

Normally I don't even read the "gossip" blogs. I've got writing to do as well as a life to live. I can't help wondering if many if not most of these posts were motivated by jealousy, greed or just plain malice...and whether the people behind them would be so eager to malign if they had to identify themselves by real names, not made-up monikers.

No, I'm not about to name names or point you to the blogs in question. I'm also not likely to do more than shake my head with disgust and consider the likely sources. I don't get off crowing over people's misfortunes, and I don't make judgments. I don't think a lot of folks who do.

2007-05-17T09:49:00.000-04:00

Like many cats, this book's working on nine lives!

Funny. It will be ten years in another month since HAUNTED got its first life as HEAVENLY BLISS, released by Berkley as part of its Haunting Hearts romance imprint. The story, about a contemporary woman bent on escaping bad memories, has her buying a derelict haunted house in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina...and finding lust and love with the great-great grandson of the house's resident ghosts. It got a second life when Five Star bought it for a hardcover library edition that came out in 2001.

You see, the ghosts were trapped, and to free themselves and get to Heaven they have to see one of their descendants fall in love and marry, to wipe the curse off their own illicit relationship. This situation makes for a lot of angst...and lots of sexual tension and action that lends itself to turning a hot romance into one that's sweat-inducing erotic...

Which brings me to the rewrite... No longer part of a writing partnership but in control of this sizzling novel, I dug in and rewrote it, adding scenes Berkley would never have allowed back in 1997. Ellora's Cave bought it and brought it out in 2003 with the almost extinct Sara Jarrod pseudonym.

Now they've re-released HAUNTED under my erotic romance name, Ann Jacobs. I'm hoping readers who've missed it in the past will find it now and dig into Jill and Kyle's story. You'll root for the lovers and their century-old ghost matchmakers, and tingle with them as the instant lust grows and turns to love.

2007-01-28T22:02:00.000-05:00

Hi, again...

Here's my professionally done trailer (just below this post)--I think Julie did a great job! I'll be ordering some more from her--the whole process fascinates me--it's almost like making big, flashy rolling banner gifs, which I used to play with back when I first started playing with my web site (before I hired a web designer to clean up the site and make it look professional, LOL).

Yes, I should be writing, and I will be as of tomorrow morning, between taking kids to doctors and dentists--seems they're all falling apart at the same time--nothing serious, just time-consuming. I'll be taking along my new laptop and trying to be at least a little bit productive while I'm away from home!

Who-all's doing RT this year? I'm looking forward to seeing old friends again and meeting a lot of new ones!

2007-01-28T21:56:00.000-05:00

2006-09-24T20:11:00.000-04:00

Taking a breather...

The picture's of me at Borders Express in Elyria, Ohio, while I was up there last month to sign books and meet my editor from Down Under. Seems I've been in Ohio and Michigan a lot this year, and I'm going back again Oct. 28 to Melissa's wonderful store, Paperbacks & Things in Westland, Michigan.

Meanwhile, I plug along, writing and dealing with family, not always in that order! Today has been a down-day, doing not much of anything but puttering around the house, playing with the kid and the cat...and trying to figure out myspace graphics. Gave up on that after a few minutes, after reinforcing my belief that technology was invented to make me feel incredibly stupid! One of my sons says he'll pretty up my page this week...he's good at that sort of thing, and at web design as well.

I'm working on d'Argent Honor 3: Eternal Surrender, hoping Sam Quill's a strong enough Dom to master his vampire lover...and that he won't be too angry when he wakens after saving her from a would-be vampire killer...only to find he's now a fledgling vampire, too. How will he cope, being consort to a vampire queen? And how will Alina reconcile her duty to lead her clan with her need to be Sam's loving, obedient slave?

If any of you have any ideas about how you'd like for these dilemmas to resolve, feel free to let me know. Years ago I was part of a group where we'd meet and "bounce" ideas off each other. Those sessions were invaluable--I wish we still had time to do them, but success and family obligations have intervened with all of us, so I have to work out questions on my own...unless somebody comes up with help!

2006-08-17T10:15:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, Camille...

Your loving readers and fellow authors have so far amassed all but the last $1,500 or so we need to purchase the $5,495 machine that will let you keep on breathing--something that's very important to us, and I'm sure to you as well!

To all my friends:

savethequietkitty.com is going great guns, but the fund can use everybody's help. Every $5 or $10 donation adds up and brings us closer to the goal of purchasing this Inogen oxygen generating machine that can mean the difference for Camille Anthony between life and death. Let's get busy and help her so she can keep bringing us all more of her wonderful stories...and the smiles and friendship that mean more than words can say!

I'm going over to savethequietkitty.com now and putting in the few dollars I might otherwise be spending this weekend while I'm in Akron for two EC booksignings on trinkets for my kids that would only clutter their rooms and make more work for me, LOL. My college boy, Jerald, has also asked me to hold back a few bucks from his allowance and use it to feed the "kitty"-- he met Camille and her teeenage twins in Baltimore last year, and it really got to him to find out she is so ill.

Hey, have I talked you into giving yet? I hope so, because I don't know of any worthier cause!

Thanks in advance, and drop over again for an update on how www.savethequietkitty.com is progressing toward its goal of getting Camille Anthony the life-giving equipment and supplies she needs!

2006-08-03T12:49:00.000-04:00

Help the Quiet Kitty…

I’ve heard it over the years, but this particular situation has brought the issue home for me. Authors, unless they’re covered by spouses or through SDJs (stupid day jobs), generally have little or no health insurance. Why? Because most authors, unless they’re Dan Brown or Nora Roberts types, don’t make enough money to pay astronomical premiums for individual policies—and none of the writer groups I belong to (Authors Guild, RWA, and NINC) has been able to get or keep group insurance policies even WITH astronomical premiums.

The reason for this is that most authors who need health insurance fall into a pool of undesirable insureds: middle-aged, female, with greater than average medical problems. Therefore, companies drop the groups like hot potatoes whenever the contracts come up for renewal, everywhere except in one or two states whose laws make it difficult or impossible to cancel group health policies.

Come on. Imagine a single mom, two teenage kids, who has suddenly become disabled. It’s taken her six months to get approved for social security disability, which in her state makes her total earnings about $100 per month too high for her to qualify for SSI benefits or Medicaid. Medicare doesn’t kick in until two years after she’s been on social security. But she has to have expensive treatment, on an ongoing basis, or she DIES. One piece of durable medical equipment she must have costs $5,500, although we’ve been able to locate one supplier who will give her a substantial discount.

This author is being inundated with bills and hounded by collection agencies, but still she can greet you with a smile, offer wisecracks when others might be dissolving into depression or hysteria or both. She still cares enough to offer her time and skill to help other authors. Most important, this amazing woman has stories in her head that she wants and needs to write.
I want to help her cope, make it possible for her to function without the daily intrusion of collectors, the constant worry that the treatments that keep her going will be terminated once those bills get too high. And I want you to help, as little or as much as you can afford. Visit http://www.savethequietkitty.com/ for more information, and to learn how to contribute via Paypal or your personal check.

2006-07-17T14:41:00.000-04:00

REBIRTH OF A STORY...

I was just thinking, as I sent edits back on this upcoming book, about how many times I've gone back to visit Dani and Brand since they came into my mind back ...oh God, it's been fifteen years since I blindly created a hunky football hero/southern aristocrat and made him fall in love with the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Since the situation I envisioned reminded me of a catchy '60s song, I decided to call the story "Rag Doll".

Back then I was chasing rainbows, certain all I had to do to gain fame and fortune as a romance author was dream up a hero and a heroine, load them up with hopes and dreams and a good dose of reasonably credible conflict, and write their story without making the sorts of mistakes that used to make my college composition instructor bleed red ink all over the pages. A completely unexpected finalist ranking in the 1991 Moonlight and Magnolias contest for unpublished writers fueled my belief that, hell, writing romance was a piece of cake.

I could have saved myself a lot of headaches if someone had been kind enough back then to let me know pro athletes were near the top of no-no occupatiions for heroes. It would also have been helpful if someone had pointed out that being able to churn out "A" term papers didn't mean I had a clue about the how to write commercial fiction. It took me a while, but I finally figured after half a dozen rejections and as many revisions that RAG DOLL had a place only in a corner of my heart. I set it aside, going on to write and sell three steamy contemporary stories with ghosts to Berkley...and the sizzling novella, "The Barbarian," that sold to Red Sage for SECRETS 3 and started me on the road to writing erotic romances as Ann Jacobs.

But RAG DOLL refused to die. In 1998 I dusted it off and sent it to my then-agent, Natasha Kern, who answered a call for completed manuscripts by published authors and sold it to Kensington for its new Zebra Bouquet line. I gulped when she called to tell me, horrified because I thought of the goofs I'd made before learning basic things like point of view and so on--writing skills I'd learned by trial and error, and from some incredibly generous authors who shared their knowledge at conferences and online workshops.

But RAG DOLL had finally sold, and it was revision time once more. In three weeks, I tore the story apart and reassembled it, fixing the most glaring mistakes and tailoring it to fit the tight word count requirement of the Bouquet imprint. Thus was born ENDURING LOVE, a title no one particularly liked but which probably beat the whimsical "Rag Doll" that nineties readers weren't likely to connect to the lyrics of that old, obscure song.From the cover it looked like a sweet, family story...when in actuality the heat Dani and Brand generated scorched the pages of the book and shocked more than one reviewer with its wide-open bedroom doors and the lovers' overwhelming sexuality.

Fast-forward eight years... I'm now exclusively Ann Jacobs, working on my fortieth erotic romance or thereabouts. ENDURING LOVE had sold fairly well, but the Bouquet imprint was long gone. I asked for and received the rights back on it and a second Bouquet book, COMING HOME. With a good bit of hesitation, because although ENDURING LOVE was hot it didn't put out the steam heat Ann Jacobs had become known for, I sent it to SueEllen Gower, my editor at Ellora's Cave.

As it happened, we were working at the time on preliminary edits for WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME, my second BDSM contemporary suspense book featuring pro football player heroes. SueEllen saw a possibility that intrigued me: bringing Brand into WRONG PLACE then tying his story back into WRONG PLACE and TIP OF THE ICEBERG while doing a complete rewrite of ENDURING LOVE--and making Brand and Dani frankly dominant and submissive in the process.

It was deja vu. Once again I sat at the computer with the book that had marked my first attempt at writing romance, the two EC stories open in other windows. Brand came back into my head as if I'd never really let him go as I brought him into Wrong Place as a major secondary character--in a menage a trois. It amazed me that while I'd originally written Brand and Dani's story as a conventional vanilla story about a secret-baby-with-a-twist, they were naturals for BDSM. He was a born Alpha male, and his profession and his backstory made him a natural Dom. Dani, on the other hand, had been shaped into a cautious, conservative woman--a woman who could let herself go and find the ultimate joy in sex only when she relinquished control, let Brand force her to let go her inhibitions.

Hey wait. I've got to leave some surprises for readers about the evolution of a beginner's effort at writing a love story...to a NY-published category romance...to OUT OF BOUNDS, a layered tale of erotic romance that brings out Brand and Dani's hopes and fears and hopefully will sweep readers up in all the emotions that drive them.

Tonight I'm feeling, after more than fifteen years, that I've finally brought these lovers full circle. Maybe they've matured as characters at the same time I've been growing as an author. You know, I can't help thinking maybe someday I'll bring them back...but that's for another project, another time.

Later... WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME? is coming out this week, and I'd better spend some time promoting it!

2006-07-07T19:29:00.000-04:00

WRONG PLACE has a release date: 7/19/06

Following my rant on covers, I've gotten a lot of new ones--some replacement covers for older ones of my books. If rolling gifs work, you'll be seeing a selection of recently done covers by Syneca...

If not, then you'll just have to drop by my website to see this gorgeous artwork, and to take a chance on winning autographed copies of BLACK GOLD: SANDSTORMS by doing the scavenger hunt described on the Newsletter page and emailing the answers to me by July 15. The hunt is to celebrate the releases of FOREVER ENSLAVED: BRANDED as a single-title ebook at Changeling Press on July 14, and WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME? at Ellora's Cave on July 19.

2006-06-20T23:10:00.000-04:00

MUCH ADO ABOUT COVER ART?

There's been a lot of talk lately on another blog about the quality, or lack thereof, of cover art for e-books. Here are four of mine, two Ellora's Cave and two Changeling Press covers. The one on the right, I just received today, a new Ellora's Cave cover for one of my older books. I think it's downright beautiful. Syneca's the artist--I've never seen one of her covers I didn't like. (She also did the very attractive one on the left, for my next EC book that I finally turned in to my editor last week.)

The Luna Ten and Obsidion covers at Changeling are Scott Carpenter creations. Scott's immensely talented, too (he did all the graphics for my website). All Wrapped Up, which I consider one of the best entirely software-generated covers I've ever seen, was created by Changeling art director Bryan Keller. Angela Knight created the gorgeous hunk on the cover of O Positive at Changeling.

Of the thirty-some-odd books I've had published electronically, I can honestly say I've been pleased with ninety percent of the original covers created for them. The artists have worked hard to depict their visions of the books as I've described them, and I don't think an author dares to ask for more! It stings when someone disses e-covers, whether they come from my publishers or not.

Yes, photo adaptations make for the most realistic looking covers. I prefer them myself, for that reason. But... I don't write heroes who're pink or possessed with wings or other oddities of appearance. Even my vampires look pretty much like human beings, and my futuristics have characters who're displaced Earthlings. My point, you ask? Well, an awful lot of ebooks feature winged creatures, mermaids and mermen, gargoyles and the like. It's damn difficult to catch such creatures and photograph them, much less find stock photos of them. Hence, the necessity of using software-generated cover art for a large segment of the ebooks being released.

That said, I can imagine plenty of readers buying books because of the cover, but I doubt there are too many who'd fail to buy a book by an author they love, just because they aren't impressed with the artwork. I salute the artists who've labored to make the covers of my books the best marketing tools they can be... Thanks, Syn...Scott...Bryan...Angela, and artists past and present, whether or not they've created covers for books of mine!

Later...

Oh, by the way, if anybody's having difficulty getting a Borders store to order Changeling print books, a reader pointed out that they can go to bordersstores.com and place their own order, to be picked up from their local Borders store.

2006-05-22T22:24:00.000-04:00

FRIDAY WAS THE FAERY BALL...

and here I am, with it (almost) all hanging out!

Thursday was the Changeling author lunch, and some of the authors are pictured top left. In front: Angela Knight and Changeling owner Margaret Riley. Behind them: Kate Douglas, Morgan Hawke, Dakota Cassidy, editor Sheri Fogarty, me, and Kira Stone. Next you see Tawny Taylor (my roommate) and JC Wilder at the bar after the Faery Ball.

On the bottom are pictures of the Faery Court and of me in my "Sultan's Faery" costume. Wow, that was terrifying, stepping out of my room with my bare belly hangin' out for all to see. After the initial horror wore off, though, the event was fun, with the court twirling around a maypole held by a hot cover model before being escorted to our individual tables by other buff guys. I was so excited I could barely eat dinner--not even the gorgeous chocolate cake. EC's own Tawny Taylor and Stephanie "Flash" Burke took half of the costume contest prizes, Tawny with a saloon girl outfit and Flash in white face and all black costume--holding a wicked looking sword. Somehow I didn't get a decent photo of Flash in her costume--but I'm sure somebody did.

More tomorrow! The booksigning was a resounding success that deserves its very own page!

2006-05-22T06:51:00.000-04:00

RT's over for another year... what will you remember?

The Ellora's Cave Fantasy Party kicked off the festivities with a bang as we authors came on the scene in dress-up finery in black or red (or fanciful costumes) escorted by EC's buff cover hunks.

Chocolate flowed, literally, from fountains. Card decks featuring EC authors' covers were the hits of the party...and the convention itself as readers fought to get as cards signed by authors so they might win a gift certificate to be used at the booksigning on Saturday.

Wednesday brought workshops, strolls down promo lane to Club RT to look at all the gorgeous gift baskets from authors and publishers...and shopping. I swear, every costume was more gorgeous than the last one! That's Eve Vaughn with the whip and partners in passion Sahara Kelly and S. L. Carpenter, a few of many making merry at the Vampire Ball Wednesday night. Stephanie "Flash" Burke looked stunning every night--and even in the daytime Thursday before the Changeling author luncheon when I caught her wearing a lovely Japanese kimono.

This was only the beginning of a spectacular week of meeting new friends and renewing old acquaintances! I'll be posting more each day this week...

2006-05-09T07:24:00.000-04:00

RT Panicville... the convention starts next week!

You have no idea the effort it takes to get into convention/party mode--at least for this aging participant who's been luxuriating for months with the idea that for once she won't be having to ship promo goodies via Fedex, enriching them while impoverishing herself...and stuffing six days' worth of clothes and costumes into two huge suitcases to haul through faraway airports.

So have I been able to kick back, relax, and keep up with writing during the hectic weeks BEFORE the fun begins? No. Instead, I've been thumbing through websites, figuratively speaking, trying to persuade myself I shouldn't go hog-wild just because I'm driving a car--not a delivery van or a truck mind you--to Daytona Beach, and that the promo items that now are littering my office are sufficient to get my name out before the eager readers and booksellers at the convention.

Bookmarks, excerpt booklets, brochures...postcards... When one has so many books to promote, the list of goodies tends to grow to massive proportions! That doesn't count the giveaway baskets...or the bigger non-paper giveaway items I've gathered.

There's still that growing panic that I've forgotten something vital...or worse, that I'll forget something vital when I finally get around to packing. If past experience is an indicator, I *will* leave something important back home--and I so don't relish a three hour drive through Orlando's weekday traffic to go retrieve it!

Then there's the worry nagging in the back of my head that the Sultan's Fairy will garner laughs instead of oohs and ahs when I step out in my gorgeous Connie Perry costume at the Faery Ball. And that I'll trip over my feet while one of EC's hunky cover models escorts me into the Ellora's Cave Fantasy Party. Oh, yeah, I also picture myself screwing up royally in front of a room full of booksellers when I present a workshop on tax deductions...all by myself since I couldn't entice a pal into sharing the spotlight. You'd think this was going to be my first RT when I've actually been at the last three--but this will be the first time I've intentionally made myself quite so *visible* as I'll be at this one. My usual thing is to mingle quietly, keep my goodies stocked on promo lane, show up when I'm signed up...and otherwise keep pretty much anonymous, which no author should do. I'm petrified!

RT's an event unto itself, something no avid romance reader, bookseller or author should fail to experience. Still, it's scary for an author who's basically happiest in front of her computer or interacting with people in small groups to get into party mode and look forward to mingling with more than a thousand people at the annual party of the year!

I'll have fun--I always do once I'm there. It's just the anticipation that has me kvetching and losing sleep the week ahead of the convention. If you're there, come up and say hello, so I won't be lonesome. I'll be the one huddling in the bar with a diet coke, the one with the look that resembles that of a deer caught in the headlights of your car.

2006-04-10T20:44:00.000-04:00

SANDSTORMS IS OUT IN PRINT...

& A Rant About Pet Peeves and Names

First of all, Sandstorms has arrived in the Ellora's Cave warehouse and should very soon be available at EC's EBay store, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and so on. It's my featured release for next month's RT convention... and Syneca's gorgeous cover's featured in a full-page color ad in the June issue of Romantic Times.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Enough shameless self-promotion, because I've got something else to whine about... and that something is NAMES.

Every character has to have one, and I’ve nothing against them. Most of the time. When they’re used so often they whack me over the head while I’m reading an otherwise dynamite story is when I want to remind the author there are such little words as personal pronouns. And words of address other than people’s given names.

Whoever heard real conversations like this one?

“Mark, I’m gonna kill you.”
“Oh yeah? Go ahead and try, Sal.”

More likely it would sound more like this:

“Motherfucker, I’m gonna kill you,” Sal said.
“Oh yeah, asshole? Go ahead and try.”

Or this, as a hot sex scene’s coming to a close?

“Oh, Susie, I’m gonna come.”
“Daviddddddd. Don’t stop!”

Try, “Oh, baby, I’m gonna come.”
“Yessss. Don’t stop!”

My point? People don’t usually address each other by name. In fight scenes, they’re more likely to toss in the occasional epithet, and in sex scenes they’ll use pet names or endearments—or nothing at all.

Now I’m not totally prejudiced against using names—occasionally in one-on-one scenes, to remind the reader what the character’s names are. It’s necessary to use them more often in scenes where there are more than two characters, or where the two characters are of the same sex. Often, when the character’s voice is strong enough, it isn’t necessary to identify him or her by name more than once or twice during a two-person scene.

Overusing character names when they aren’t necessary for identification purposes sounds unnatural in dialogue and reeks of “telling” rather than “showing” in narrative. It pulls me straight out of stories I’d otherwise be devouring and makes me want to toss the books they’re in—into the nearest wall or at the author, if only he or she were handy.

He, she, him, her, his, hers… Short, sweet stand-ins for names! Authors should use these personal pronouns often, whenever there’s not the least doubt as to who the POV character’s thinking about. That’s pretty darn often in scenes where the hero and heroine are alone together. I recently read a sex scene—an otherwise very steamy, yummy sex scene—where my guess is that the two participants said or thought each other’s names at least several hundred times. Those names got me where I was ready to screeeeeeeeeeeam before the scene was done.

End of rant... What jumps off the page and knocks you out of a scene when you're reading?

2006-03-11T21:49:00.000-05:00

Perfect?

There's no such thing... I'm certainly not, and neither is my DH of over half my life, who's clowning with the kids in the picture he'd kill me if he knew I was posting. We met my first year in college, got married, and have now spent over thirty years raising a family and coping with the strain of caring for sick, elderly parents and trying to guide seven kids through the joys and tragedies of growing up. Come to think of it, we're still plugging away at seeing our younger kids morph into productive adulthood!

What first attracted me to him was his dark, rugged good looks--and his reputation of being a hot stud on campus. What kept me from walking out when things got tough was his sense of humor...his strong work ethic that has kept him going despite health problems that would have laid many men low...and the fact he has no problem letting me know I'm pretty much the center of his universe while giving me the bit of gentle control I need.

There's a little bit of him in every one of my tall, dark, to-die-for heroes...not only the twinkling dark eyes and commanding presence but also the deep-down goodness that makes heroines fall in love and in lust--the way I fell with him.

2006-03-01T09:22:00.000-05:00

Whatever happened to Wrong Place, Wrong Time?

Darlene and Vlad took a long siesta about halfway through their story, while I went vampire hunting. A contracted story for Changeling crept up on me and had to be written in time for a Feb. 23 release, and Ellora's Cave decided it wanted rewrites of the first two urban fantasies I'd sold to them--for release in February and March respectively.

Now I'm back on track to wind up Wrong Place, Wrong Time? hopefully within the next couple of weeks. Then, it's off with it to Joey W. Hill, my incredibly talented critique partner...and my good friend Stephanie Burke, who's promised to whack me over the head if I've screwed up Darlene's character too badly! After they've done their thing, and I've fixed up messes they've pointed out, it will go to my EC editor... and hopefully the book will be released before too very long. Not in March, and probably not in April, either-- think May or June if I'm lucky and EC has a slot for it somewhere around that time.

Back to work! Blogging could definitely become a habit that would eat into my writing time! Happy reading, writing, or whatever it is you're doing today!

2006-02-19T06:51:00.000-05:00

I'm on a vampire roll!

I just realized this... four books in a row, all dealing with fanged heroes-to-die-for! First there was "Bound by Blood," the Changeling Hot Flash based on a short story I wrote a couple of years ago but steamed up in a mega-way as a centuries-old vampire finds the reincarnation of his first love in the person of a modern police lieutenant.

Next comes the first of my urban fantasy series, d'Argent Honor, from Ellora's Cave. Claude d'Argent, the baby of his venerable clan, finds a soulmate with a stripper with a serious problem--a problem Claude will have little trouble alleviating for her once he's made her one of his own! Number two in this series, Eternally His, has been scheduled for release March 29, which will bring the d'Argents to Chicago where a serial killer vamp is stalking the woman Stefan would like to make his own.

Tucked in between, coming out this week, is my humorous take on vampires and BDSM... a bit of a change of pace since I don't write light all that often. Don't miss this short, hot read that's part of Changeling's continuity series, paranormalmatessociety.com. Speaking of PMS, click on the series name or the icon at the top of the blog, and go scavenger hunting! We have two nice gift certificates to award to winners...

2006-01-26T21:38:00.000-05:00

Is she a hooker...or his soulmate?

The d’Argent vampire clan is chasing the Fox, a vampire serial killer whose madness threatens the existence of all their kind… Around the world, in cities and in the country, the search will go on until they destroy their immortal enemy.

Claude d’Argent is on the hunt, on sultry Miami Beach. Instead of the Fox, he encounters a mortal creature of the night…a sexy lady who offers him a night of unsurpassed passion—for a price.

Stripper Marisa Delgado has only one option if she’s to get enough money, fast enough to save her younger brother from the local drug lord—a temporary foray into the world’s oldest profession.

Her act of desperation may have brought them together, but as the night passes and the soft light of morning approaches, Claude discovers the submissive of his dreams; Marissa, the Master of her soul.

The choice is Claude’s--convert the dusky beauty and risk losing her forever, or walk away and spend an eternity without his soulmate by his side.

Note: d’Argent Honor 1: Vampire Justice is based on a previously published short story—Dance of Darkness. It has been completely rewritten and expanded to three times its original length for this edition.

(I couldn't resist showing you all this gorgeous cover by Syneca... This sizzling novella is tentatively scheduled for release by Ellora's Cave on February 15.)

2006-01-15T13:33:00.000-05:00

The latest in the kitty saga: Meet Blue Boy!

He joined our family yesterday. Two years old--almost (his birthday's in March). Russian Blue, and the sweetest, purring ball of soft smoky gray fur you ever saw!

This one's ours--we bought him from a breeder. He's already neutered, a well-mannered boy who likes to look up at us with his beautiful lime-green eyes and find the softest spots to relax and chill out. He's sharing space for a week or so with our daughter's two calicos while she moves from her apartment--doesn't seem to care for them much, but then that's not a whole lot different from the attitude my DH has toward them.

Blue has only been home for a day, and already he's established himself as king of the castle--the calico girls don't come near him, even though he's made no effort to stake out his turf with any more than a semi-polite growl. Fingers are crossed that he'll stay inside--so far he's made no effort to go further than the patio door, where he looks out at the birds and licks his chops. We hope it stays that way, and that he stays out of harm's way.

2006-01-13T17:33:00.000-05:00

This is Anthony Wilder. Vampire...Dom...and looking for an O POSITIVE mate...

Enter the Paranormal Mates Society.com, online matchmaker for hot lonely hearts around the world.

Here's a bit of unedited excerpt to whet your appetite... an intro to Tony's heroine. Tony invades your imagination February 21, 2006!

It sucked, literally.

Erica Stone rubbed at the bruise she’d gotten on her ass not from the flogging she’d wanted the masked Master to give her, but from having been booted out of yet another Atlanta dungeon.

All because she’d fucking scared another big, strong Master with her fangs.

Pretty soon she’d be reduced to self-flagellation whenever she wanted satisfaction. Unless she could remember to keep her lips sealed, and that was mighty hard to do and still perform the cocksucking every Dom she’d ever run into seemed to want as proof of her submissiveness.

She looked in the mirror, grimaced. There was no hiding the long, pointed incisors she’d grown overnight six months ago after dying at the bottom of a north Georgia ravine. At the time she’d been grateful to the good Samaritan who’d brought her around. After all, what twenty-something woman in her right mind wanted to be dead?

She hadn’t even minded much when she learned she’d traded maybe fifty-sixty years of mortal living for more or less eternal life as a vampire like her savior. $Admit it, Erica girl. You sort of liked the idea of drinking blood instead of chowing down on chocolates. Good for keeping the hips under control.
Being a vamp wouldn’t have been tough to take, at all, if only it weren’t for the $fangs. How was she to survive if she couldn’t find a Dom who was man enough to master a sub with fangs?

Erica sat in front of the computer where she wrote her bestselling erotic romances and stared at a blank screen, but words wouldn’t come. How the fuck was she to write about sex when she hadn’t had any for more than six months now? Disgusted, she clicked on Internet Explorer and started to surf. Had to find inspiration somehow. Some way. Inspiration or a mate willing to take on a novice vampire with strong submissive tendencies.

Google. Couldn’t hurt to try. Running her tongue over a fang—it felt strange but vaguely erotic to stroke the hollow tip—Erica gave a few minutes’ thought to the search. Vampire lonely hearts club. That had to be it. Wanted Single White Vampire.

Nothing. Nothing but a sidebar on the last search she tried. It linked to a site called paranormalmatessociety.com. Might as well give that a try. Vamps definitely fit the description of paranormal—though not as much so as some of the site’s former clients who beamed from the site’s home page with their testimonials of having found love eternal through the Society’s computer matching.

Her vampire heart beating less slowly than usual, Erica got out her credit card and started to fill in the registration form for the Heavenly Plan. In less than fifteen minutes the Society had taken her money for a three-month subscription, massaged the information she’d entered, and come up with the ad it assured her would attract just the sort of mate she wanted:

SWF vamp seeks SM, vampires only need apply.

Five feet six, well-nourished blonde with blue eyes and vamp-pale complexion seeks another of her kind for long-term relationship, possibly marriage and family.

The right guy must prefer taking his nourishment from cups, not throats, and he'll prefer high-rises in big American cities to dreary castles in Transylvania. Oh, yes, he'll also choose a bed for sleeping--and other things--not a musty old coffin.

Interested? E-Mail lonelyheartvamp@paranormalmatessociety.com

Satisfied with the ad, Erica clicked “OK”, signed off the site, and sat back, hopeful that soon she’d find a Master who wasn’t intimidated by the fangs.

Maybe now she could get in the mood to get some writing done. If she didn’t, she’d soon be drinking her blood from living mortal victims instead of buying her supply from the local blood bank.

2006-01-05T08:32:00.000-05:00

What's in an opening line?

Some are just ho-hum. Others tickle a reader's imagination. There are some, though, that have drawn me in so fast, so completely, that nothing can make me put down the book until I've found out what's going on.

Take Dakota Cassidy's latest Wolf Mates, Moonlight over Manhasset, just out from Changeling Press. Here's the opening three sentences--three paragraphs, really, but they're short: "Okay, so she had a tail./ Big, damn deal./ Well, it became a big deal if it scared off your potential one time boinks -- especially when the moon was full."

Don't know about you, but this tells me the story's going to be funny, and that part of the fun's going to be that the heroine's a werewolf. It reflects Dakota's inimitable voice and lets me know I want to *read* this just as quick as I can.

Other openings predict a story that's has something serious, maybe dangerous, about to happen. I like the way Cheyenne McCray opened Forbidden Magic, her USA Today bestseller from St. Martin. "Silver Ashcroft slipped through night and shadows, heart pounding and rage simmering." Chey's opening with action, but the sort of action that makes the reader's heart beat faster, anticipating...

Some authors enjoy starting books off with dialogue--I've done this myself, such as in BLACK GOLD: FOREVER ENSLAVED, recently released by Ellora's Cave. “You may leave me, my darling, but you will always be mine. My slave, forever enslaved by the love we share.” My intent here was to spotlight Bear, his torn emotions, his dominant nature and his determination to get back his wife who has just left him. Did it work?

I'm interested in knowing what openings you remember--because they're the ones that are really one-sentence/paragraph hooks. Let's talk about them...

2006-01-01T11:07:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! May 2006 bring you everything you ever dreamed of, see every one of your hopes fulfilled.

2005-12-30T17:03:00.000-05:00

RELEASED TODAY! CONTEST COMING!

One of Changeling Press's sizzling Hot Flashes, perfect for a short read by a roaring fire on New Year's Eve!

Click on the cover art to get your copy! Buy it, read it, and post your answers to these questions as comments:

1) Whose murder is Aggie, newly promoted to lieutenant in the Sarasota homicide squad, investigating?

2) Why is she seeking the advice of ancient vampire Aleric Dunric?

3) What makes you think these two have met before in other lives?

The readers who've posted the best answers (in my opinion--hey, I wrote the story, so I should be a pretty good judge) by midnight January 15, 2006 will win a download--their respective choices of my available electronic books.

2005-12-28T20:32:00.000-05:00

Bye-bye, Zippy…

After a week and a half of learning to love us, and a day at the vet’s getting shots and neutering, Zippy is no longer ours. No, he didn't die; he came through the surgery like a champ, and was curled up on his favorite chair recuperating when the troublemaking kid who’d left him with her parents—the owners of the dogs who killed Happy—showed up at our door, swearing Zippy belonged to her and that she’d left him in her mother’s care while celebrating the holidays with her live-in boyfriend and their two children. (This is a girl who's caused us nothing but headaches for years--she was into stealing as a teenager to support her drug habit, along with trying to corrupt our own wild-child who did well enough on her own and didn't need help-- I guess the trouble never ends, no matter how old your kids and their acquaintances become!)

So…we’re now catless again, missing our new friend and hoping his real owner will take care of him. We must assume he *is* hers, since she reimbursed us the cost of his veterinary care when we made that a condition of returning him to her. I only hope she has the mental moxie NOT to leave him again where he’ll be forced to escape in order to avoid the cat-killing dogs her parents keep in their yard.

So goes 2005, out in a flurry of feline activity, some tragic, some just plain annoying, yet worth it for having known and loved our Happy…and Zippy, too, if only for a few short days. Maybe 2006 will be better all around. I certainly hope so.

Don't miss out on the fun of scavenger hunts, running for FORBIDDEN FANTASIES (see link below) beginning January 1... and for the FAERY SEARCH, explained below, where you'll be looking for the lavender faery on the websites of members of the FAERY COURT at RT in Daytona Beach next May!

Happy New Year, happy reading...and happy writing to all my fellow authors!

2005-12-27T13:20:00.000-05:00

Don't miss a chance at winning one of two fabulous baskets of books and other goodies, from the ten bestselling authors who will be part of FORBIDDEN FANTASIES, Ellora's Cave's very first hardcover print-only anthology due out October 2006! The scavenger hunt starts January 1 and runs through February 14, 2006.

2005-12-27T07:47:00.000-05:00

It was almost as if Happy sent him to us…

One afternoon last week this kitten appeared at our back door, meowing and looking ever so hopeful that we’d take him in. Who could resist? He’s a playful teenager, glossy and furry and eager to take his place with “his” humans.

We named him Jake the Zipper, and call him Zippy because he is—Jake will become his name when he takes on the dignity of adult cathood. Today Zippy goes for shots…next week he gets neutered, which we hope won’t make him too angry with us. (We hope it will make him not so anxious to explore outdoors where experience tells us a kitty faces all sorts of life-threatening hazards.)

We still miss Happy—he was a special cat who has a special place in our hearts. Zippy has helped us smile again, though. With him has come a very merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah and, we’re certain, a Happy New Year at our house!

2005-12-15T17:53:00.000-05:00

Goodbye, old friend...

He was just a plain old stray cat who came up in our yard about three years ago. Now he’s dead, victim of his own predeliction for roaming the great outdoors. His name was Happy…and that he was.

It wasn’t that we didn’t invite him inside, because we did. We even bought him one of those clean-itself litter boxes, complete with a tent so he’d have privacy. He tried—he really did—to be satisfied perching on a window and looking out at chirping birds and neighbors’ cats as they invaded “his” territory. But he couldn’t suppress the soul of a wanderer, and eventually he began to dart out at every opportunity. Happy was an outdoor-indoor cat, and he wasn’t satisfied to spend his days in luxurious but boring comfort when there were things to see, a vast domain to explore…unwary birds to chase away and bugs to eradicate when they ventured in his path.

Today he met his fate at the hands of one of our neighbor’s three large, vicious dogs who mauled him, left him broken and in shock yet still able to raise his head and say “Meow” when I called his name and told him a tearful goodbye before the vet gave him that final shot to relieve the awful pain. We could have waited, made certain his wounds wouldn’t heal with days or weeks of intensive care—and we’d have done it but for the certainty that if he recovered he would be neurologically impaired at best, paralyzed at worst. We couldn’t bear the thought of Happy hurting so, and no longer being able to do the things he loved best—and so we gave our permission for him to leave us.

Today our home is not so happy…but through the tears and sadness we’ll always remember the joy one small black cat brought to us for a while. Yes, Happy was just a plain old stray cat, but he had a human mom and dad, two brothers, and a sister who loved him, miss him, and will keep the memories he left us in our hearts forever. Maybe someday I'll be able to bring him back as a character in one of my books--but not now. It hurts too damn much to realize he's gone.

2005-12-14T13:47:00.000-05:00

Hmmm. I know May's a long way off, but I can't help getting excited about the Romantic Times convention in Daytona Beach--and being part of the court for the Faery Ball. Good things seem to be happening for lots of us in the court--Cheyenne McCray's become an instant USA TODAY bestseller with her paranormal erotic romance, FORBIDDEN MAGIC. Chey, Sahara Kelly, Jaci Burton and I are all taking part in Ellora's Cave's first hardcover anthology, FORBIDDEN FANTASIES. If I'm not mistaken, there are several court members' names on the EPPIES finalist lists--I know Jaci's a finalist, for one.

I'm thinking about the costume Connie Perry's designing for me... shopping for silk flowers to decorate the tables... fantasizing about Faeryland and getting to see old friends and make new ones at all the fun events that make up an RT convention! If you're going to be there, let me know, and we'll make plans to meet!

2005-12-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had a Hot Flash? Well, if you haven't, you need to try one of the sizzling shorts from Changeling! My editor just bought one of mine, an expanded and modified version of a freebie I did for the ellorascave group several years ago. It's "Bound by Blood," my very first effort at a vampire story, or rather urban fantasy since it's got a police lieutenant trying to solve a murder the coroner tells her was committed by a vamp.

Here's the blurb, courtesy of Margaret Riley. If you've listened to me whine over the years, you'll realize writing blurbs and ad copy isn't my forte! I'm told "Bound by Blood" will be released within a week or so--will let you know when it comes out!

Stone Cold killer…

Bodies are turning up on the beach. Bodies with no blood. But the coroners report doesn’t make sense… murder -- by Vampire?

Aggie's a homicide detective. She deals in facts. Facts like dead bodies… not vampires. She doesn’t have time for a personal life -- she can’t take the time to mourn a lost love.

The Ancient Vampire Aleric Dunric sees in Aggie the reincarnation of his own lost love, Grace. He uses his powers of persuasion -- and his resemblance to her lost lover -- to lure Aggie into his bed. But is she the lover he lost -- or his next victim?

Sound interesting? I'd post an excerpt but Margaret's still doing final edits! So...I guess I'll be having a December release after all!

2005-12-02T19:47:00.000-05:00

Guess what? I'm not having a December release this year--nothing finished in time, thanks to a wicked little elf family (mine!) that got in the way of my writing schedule! Now I'm looking for some sizzling, steamy erotic romances to get my adrenaline flowing, and I need some help! Are there any authors out there who can give me some news about their books that are coming out between now and New Years' Eve... preferably ones that aren't specifically holiday quickies?? I'll be eternally grateful to find a few hot distractions!

2005-12-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

Well... December 1 is upon us. Holidays and family and shop-til-you-drop. Here's my present for you all...a completely unedited sneak peek at my novella "No Bounds" that's going into the very first all-original PRINT anthology from Changeling Press. ALL WRAPPED UP features all-brand-new stories from USA TODAY bestseller Angela Knight, queen of erotic humor Dakota Cassidy, creator of vampires to die for Kate Hill, and me. Feast your eyes on a mock-up of the gorgeous front cover art by Brian Keller...

No release date yet, but ALL WRAPPED UP should be out early in 2006. Meanwhile check out some of Changeling's finest authors in print, in A CHANGELING FOR ALL SEASONS, available now through Amazon.com and on order from your favorite bookstores!

Now, here's the beginning of "No Bounds," presented with greedy anticipation that you'll want to find out what awaits Cade, and whether or not the sweetly subservient Amber ends up with him...or his reckless sister Ciel.

The year 2150, Federation of Earth

The nervous looking sub met him at the side door of the underground club and practically jerked him inside. “I’m sorry, Master Cade, but when I saw Mistress Ciel had come here with Amber, and I knew Master Dax was already here, I figured there was going to be trouble.”

“No problem, Ellen.” Cade Callender had known the club submissive a long time, had enjoyed her in casual scenes at more upscale clubs during the days before BDSM had been driven underground into seedy locations like this, places too dangerous for any woman to be, let alone his misguided sister. And Amber.

It made his gut tighten, thinking about Amber being in a place like this. Ciel, what are you thinking? He and his sister shared the undeniable drive for sexual Dominance with their respective partners, but since he’d left his wild teenage years behind, he’d learned to be more circumspect. He hadn’t seen he had a choice, considering his father’s position as a governing minister and the growing pressure on him by a strengthening faction of fanatics to outlaw many forms of sexual expression, including BDSM. As a result, Cade had learned to keep his own activities carefully contained, at private parties, where he knew all the players. Since the legislature had outlawed any form of BDSM practices two years ago, he’d become even more circumspect.

Unfortunately Ciel knew no such control, and Amber wasn’t the sort of friend --or submissive --who knew how to say “no”.

Amber. Ciel’s friend since she’d moved in with elderly relatives after her parents had died. Cade’s age, Amber had let the older, more sophisticated Ciel take her under her wing. Many a time Cade had lusted after Amber, but he’d never acted on his feelings because of his sister’s obvious claim. Truth was, as his attraction toward Amber had grown, he’d distanced himself more from Ciel’s social pursuits. Probably a lousy decision, considering the position they all were in right now.

He turned to Ellen. “How long have they been here?”

“About two hours.” Ellen sounded apologetic as she hurried them down the stairs to the underground levels. “I only found out about an hour ago. That was when I called you. They were already in a chamber.”

Oh, shit. Cade remembered this was an abandoned mine, with three tiers below ground and only two exits. One to watch for cops, and the other to use for escape if needed. That is, unless the cops didn’t discover both exits and capture them all like rats in a trap. The place reminded Cade of a dungeon, but not the kind he preferred, set up for the type of pleasure a certain amount of pain might bring out of submissives. This dungeon was more like those used centuries ago, during the Inquisition, where pain was all about pain. Fear. Sweat and blood.

He quickened his pace as the sounds of flogging, the cries of submissives grew ever louder. “How much farther?”

“All the way down, Master.” Ellen started taking steps two at the time, as though the noises were getting to her, too.

Would they make it to Amber and Ciel in time? Cade wanted to strangle his crazy sister, who had gotten it into her head she could top Master Dax. Idiot! The vicious Dom was a known psychopath, a fine example of the type of BDSM practitioners that had gotten the lifestyle outlawed. Stupid! The laws now allowed Doms like Dax free rein, since dungeons were all illegal, and thus unregulated.

A high-pitched scream pierced the fetid air of the stairway. Cade charged toward the sound. An image of Amber’s sweet face, her large eyes and soft pink lips, flashed in his mind. Nausea rose in him. Anxiety. More for Amber than for Ciel, who’d brought this on herself. If she had a death wish, that was one thing. But Amber would go down with her because that was what a good submissive would do.

No way would he let Dax harm her, as long as he drew breath.

“That room, Master Cade.” As soon as Ellen pointed out the chamber door, Cade kicked the door in and dragged Master Dax back from the St. Andrew’s cross where he had Amber confined and was administering a brutal caning.

Amber blinked through her tears. He’d come. She could hardly believe it. For the past year Cade had apparently wanted little to do with them. Before, he’d always smiled at her when they crossed paths. He’d even taken time to do a little casual flirting when he ran into her and Ciel.
What would he do if he knew how many times she’d replayed those moments in her mind, pretending she’d read more than casual affection for his sister’s friend in his smiling eyes? How she’d hoped he’d invite her and Ciel to one of his parties? In the old days, when his preferred club had been open, she’d often watched him, wished she’d been the sub he had on her knees, lovingly servicing his cock.

The two men crashed into the wall, sending equipment clattering to the floor. Cade seized a flogger, caught the cane Dax swung at his face. If she could get free, she could help him. She could....

Another crash, and the room filled with uniformed men, shouting. Oh, no! A raid...and there was Cade, standing with the flogger raised, his foot planted on Dax’s chest while Ciel pounded at Cade with her fists. Amber strained against her bonds, wanting to cover her nakedness, but the straps held firm. As if having the cops catch them weren’t bad enough, here came a troop of reporters, recording the whole scene for posterity.

Oh, Cade. She met his anguished, furious gaze before he whipped around, trying to block her with his body so the cameras couldn’t get her...

Cade did his best to hide Amber’s naked, cane-striped body, and Dax and Ciel both wore concealing masks. His own face, however, would be out there on the six o’clock news for everyone to see. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! Cade could hear his father now.

2005-11-26T18:51:00.000-05:00

Isn't she beautiful? The multi-talented Sahara Kelly of the Faery Court created her to be our logo, and to lead the way to treasure at the sites of all the members of the Faery Court...to be presented at the Faery Ball hosted by Cheyenne McCray and Eden Robins at Romantic Times' convention in Daytona Beach next May!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that none of you have feet as sore as mine from the Black Friday shopping spree I went on yesterday with my daughter...and what seemed like a zillion other people at a designer discount outlet in Orlando, Florida, not too far from Disney World. Oh, well, our feet would have hurt just as much if we'd done the Mouse Park instead of shopping until we dropped!

Happy Holidays, everybody! Take care, and remember, books make wonderful presents for your friends and relatives (although Great Aunt Emma might not appreciate one of my E-rated contemporary romantica collections... and Cousin Joe would probably rather have James Patterson's latest thriller).

2005-11-22T07:50:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you're an American, you're doubtless getting ready for a day of celebration and Thanksgiving, a table loaded down with turkey and all the trimmings, and a frenzy of shopping afterward for those special holiday gifts. Maybe, with those holidays coming up fast--Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, the Winter Solstice, or whatever gives you reason to celebrate this time of year, it's time to think about the things you have to be thankful for this year.

For me, I'm thankful for my family...and the way some of my kids have shown new maturity, gotten down to the business of discovering what it is they want from life. And, of course, I'm grateful for the success I've had this year with my writing.

I'll be participating in FORBIDDEN FANTASIES, Ellora's Cave's first-ever HARDCOVER print anthology, with nine other great authors. Visit the Forbidden Fantasies blog and read all about the plans for this dynamite project that's due to release with great fanfare late next October. In addition, I have several other projects contracted at Ellora's Cave--hot, emotional stories I hope you'll all enjoy. The first of these, WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME, should come out in very early 2006. BLACK GOLD: ANOTHER LOVE, pictured above, will be available in print next month.

Changeling's first-ever print-only anthology will feature novellas by USA TODAY bestseller Angela Knight, Dakota Cassidy, Kate Hill and me. It's tentatively scheduled for release next spring. O POSITIVE, a vampire lonely-hearts spoof, will be part of Changeling's 2006 Valentine's Day celebration.

Yes, I have a great deal to be thankful for...family, friends, readers, even the fact that a cold front has passed through sunny Florida leaving it crisp and cool enough to begin getting into the holiday spirit! May you and your family have the best holiday season ever!

2005-11-16T07:48:00.000-05:00

Good morning! I think it's time for a new subject... and here are two of them.

First, I want to tell you all about the Faery Ball coming up at the RT convention next May. Look for the gorgeous faery created by Faery Court member Sahara Kelly on my new website as soon as it's up, and at websites of the other members of the Faery Court, for a scavenger hunt to be announced real soon.

Now, for the seven new headshots of me... tell me which one you think is best (or least objectionable, depending on your perspective). Actually, I think the incredibly talented Tara Kearney (www.tarakearney.com) did miracles, coming up with this many pictures I don't mind people seeing. My last photo shoot (the one with the red outfit that's at my site now was the ONLY one of a large selection of pro shots that I'd use for anything except to keep mice out of my closets!) was a lot less successful. One of these new photos will be going into the upcoming FORBIDDEN FANTASIES hardcover anthology I'm thrilled to be included in with nine other top-selling authors at Ellora's Cave. Another will be on my new website (bio page only--I'm not up for using my image in my website headers, LOL).

More later! I'm off to finish writing a sex scene--always fun, especially the first one between new lovers, which always tells me a lot about the lovers--what they like and how they think when they're getting intimate for the first time!

2005-11-14T04:55:00.000-05:00

I was just thinking--something that happens when I can't sleep at night, LOL.

While I've never written an interracial story with a black heroine and white hero before, I have done an interracial book, OBSIDION: PEARL OF PASSION, in which the hero's Oriental and the heroine white. Of course... it is a futuristic, and the conflict in the story has little if anything to do with cultural differences. I've also written a whole contemporary series (BLACK GOLD) where two of the heroes and one of the heroines are Middle Eastern and their mates are caucasian (some gentile, some Jewish).

When you come down to it, all erotic romances are fantasies about a man (or men) and woman falling in lust, in love, and committing to each other for all time. The racial differences are THERE, but they don't constitute anything more than a descriptive tag and maybe an opportunity for some conflict based on WHO the characters are inside, which of course has been shaped by their upbringing.

I'm not black, Oriental, or Middle Eastern, but I believe I can create believable characters who are, from having observed people of all races and many cultures, in all sorts of situations over more years than I care to think about. I'd shy away from writing any character from the "hood," white, black or any other color, because I'm fortunate not to have experienced the conditions that shape people who've lived under disadvantaged urban conditions. It's one thing to have researched a lifestyle, another to try to put yourself into the head of someone whose take on various things you've never observed up close and personal.

I'm sure Darlene's parents would have been more aghast at her choice of a pro football player from the 'hood than they were with Travis (her late husband), who came from a wholesome rural, but poor and undereducated environment. I didn't make him an urban dude, though, because I had more knowledge (secondhand, admittedly) about the lifestyle of rural blacks in the South. They are upset when they meet Vlad, who's well-educated and well-spoken, only because he is NOT black. (Think the reverse of "Who's Coming To Dinner".)

Here's a question for you: Why is it that many people believe white authors can't write from the perspective of a black heroine, assuming that heroine's not too far afield from the author's own background, when no one seems to question that a black author can write from the head of a white hero?

2005-11-13T18:43:00.000-05:00

Well, today's been busy, resizing cover art and figuring out how I want my new website to look! Since I've got so many books out, my home on the web has become a little awkward to navigate, so I'm trying to get it streamlined some so readers can easily find whatever it is they're looking for.

The biggest problem is to figure how to show print books that are combinations of two or more e-books, which also need to be shown. We've decided to use a drop-down menu--stole the idea from Jaci Burton's site (Thanks, Jaci!), and list the books in several different ways: print, e-book, by genre, by series, etc. Hopefully my talented webmistress will be able to figure out just how this is going to work!

In case anybody's wanting to capture my writing tips, you'll need to do it before the new site goes "live". Something had to go because we were running out of bandwidth, so I decided I could put occasional tips here at the blog instead of keeping them in their own little spot.

More later!

2005-11-09T06:14:00.000-05:00

This is my new website header, just finished yesterday by the incredibly talented Scott Carpenter! Expect a brand-new look, and hopefully easier navigation around my site once Diana, my webmistress, does her magic. I'm working today on WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME?, a loosely connected sequel to TIP OF THE ICEBERG. The two books will be paired in print as BOUND BY LOVE, scheduled for release next year. The gorgeous cover by Syneca is giving me inspiration to hurry and finish the book!

I'm worried about getting this sizzling BDSM suspense story right--it's my first attempt at writing interracial erotic romance between a black woman and white man. Darlene Jackson's a supermodel from an upper middle class family in Atlanta, estranged wife to the first Ranger player to die along with his groupie lover. Vlad Ivanov's an undercover FBI agent from rural Pennsylvania who came from Estonia as a young teenager, planted with the Rangers as a placekicker in order to solve the serial murders of young groupie women that take place only after Rangers away games. Think irresistible attraction, steamy sex, falling in love, almost losing each other as the killer nearly catches them...and a conflict to their happily ever after with the light but realistic reverse of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" when she introduces him to her doctor father and concert pianist mom.

Help, please. Tell me, does this sound like it will work? I need reassurance!

2005-11-08T11:37:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my brand-new blog! Come back every now and then to hear my thoughts on various topics, such as the Florida weather, my kids' antics, and the trouble I'm having with the book I'm writing...