Hi from Cie & Cathy

Good Morning!

Okay, I’ve figured out what happened that I couldn’t blog. We need to add me on individually. Right now, Cathy’s on and I’m not. That’s it. So it’s fixable. But in the meantime, I’m just sending her the blog and asking her to post it for me. I refuse, REFUSE I SAY, to be locked out for another week, pressing my nose against the glass looking wistfully in like a kid at a candy store. (Yes, it was a run-on sentence. But I liked the image. What can I say? I’m a writer.)

ANYWAY, I’m working on the finale of the Thrall trilogy. One day it goes great. The next it sucks. I HATE that. But there you go. It’s part of the process. Another big part of the process that most readers aren’t aware of is RESEARCH.

"But wait! You write paranormal. Can’t you just make it all up?"

Yes. . . and no.

It has to make SENSE. AND you have to base it in enough reality that the reader is comfortable with it and "buys" into the story. You don’t want to have something so out-there that the story gets lost just trying to figure out the situation. I mean, we love complicated books. But it’s the characters and the plot that are supposed to be complicated. The world they move in is supposed to be rich, detailed and interesting, but it is NOT supposed to overpower the story.

AND THEN there’s the stuff that’s real-life based.

An example. Since I’m working on Touch of Darkness (the Thrall Book 3/Kate Reilly story), we’ll use one from there.

SITUATION:
Our heroine finds herself in a jam. She kills a vampire. It’s a messy, bloody, kill and the police and ambulance folks have been called in.

Now, if there’s a body on the ground, and you’re covered in blood. The police are going to want to question you. They just are. NOT having that happen isn’t realistic. SO you then get into the whole can of worms of "What is correct police procedure" which means RESEARCH. So you do your research and you get her interviewed and all the other happy crap. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: prosecution. Now, you want to be realistic BUT you don’t want the whole story to grind to a halt while the wheels of justice grind realistically slowly. (It can take years, folks, YEARS. My heroine doesn’t have that kind of time.) SO I come up with a solution, and I check with my sources. Is this legal? Is this possible? Do I have the procedure for doing it right?

Yes, and no.

It is at least marginally possible in Colorado. But it is completely and totally NOT the procedure in Texas. (I had the heroine visiting.)

SO, I EITHER get to change the procedure to match the location OR I have my heroine haul her ass back to Colorado. Either way, re-writing is necessary. The research has affected the way the plot moves. BUT it will be a better book because of it. The people who read the book aren’t going to be going "Wait a minute. That’s not right." or simply throw the book across the room in frustration because of a major screw up.

****

And that’s not the end of it. If you have a character driving back from visiting their family in Utah you need to find out things like: (1) What highways they’d take? (2) How many miles is it? (3) How long would it take? (4) Any incidental construction? (5) What is the terrain they would see? (6) About how many times would they have to stop for gas, to eat. It goes on and on.

Now you may not end up USING all of this. But you need to know. Because it’s going to affect how the characters interact and what they are capable of. I mean, if Ronny has just come off of driving 20 hours straight he’s going to be exhausted (but buzzing from caffeine probably), irritable, red-eyed and in need of a shower. He’s not going to be patient and fresh as a daisy when he interacts with people. If you have him be, the readers won’t buy it.

RULE OF THUMB

Never EVER (ever, ever, ever, ever) underestimate your readers. And don’t cheat them. They deserve the extra hours it takes to get it right.

(PS--Cathy here. Can't think of anything else to add, so I'll just say--"Yeah, what she said! LOL!)

More soon!

Cie & Cathy

Contest, eHarmony and...Stuff

I couldn't think of a compelling title for this post so I just called it exactly what it is...stuff.

First, I don't usually do promo on a blog unless I have a release that day or something, but I do want to tell you about a contest coming up:

I have NINE authors - yes, I said NINE - who are donating books to my August contest. Details will be in my July newsletter (which I have to write this weekend! Aacckk!). The contest is to celebrate my two August releases for Ellora's Cave and Samhain Publsihing.

Anyway, on to life - You might not ever believe this, but I gave the eHarmony personality profile thing a try. They NAILED my personality spot on! I couldn't believe how accurate they were. Now, I'm a person who's taken the Myers/Briggs personality profile test in several different ways and it always comes out the same, so I'm more than aware of the type of personality I have. So for them to nail it like they did after just a few minutes on the computer was amazing.

Then came the next part - the rejection. I couldn't believe it! They gave me this schpiel (don't know if I spelled that right) about how people with personalities like mine make up only 20% of the population. It almost sounded like I was just "too special" for them to work on my behalf. So after reading the "We're so sorry, but we can't help you" notice, I cracked up! I mean cracked the hell up like I was on drugs or something. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long while. Why? Because they were basically telling me that I'm just too even handed, too unselfish, and too supportive to match with anyone in their database.

I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much! ROFL!!

TJ
..• ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.•´ .•´¨¨))
((¸¸.•´ ..•´ http://www.tjmichaels.com/ -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.•´* http://www.dynamicthree.com/
CARINIAN'S SEEKER, V.C.O.E. Book 1, Available at Amazon.com * Barnes & Noble
SERATI'S FLAME, V.C.O.E. Book 2, August 2007
EGYPTIAN VOYAGE, A Torrid Tarot Novel, August 2007
FERAL FASCINATION Anthology, In Print Summer 2007
POUNCE ~ PRYDE ~ JAGUAR'S ~ GIFT WRAP, All available at Ellora's Cave

Distractions & Interruptions

Hello everyone!

It's the last Wednesday of the month, and I've got a doctor's appointment today. First, I need to get my daughter to school. Then I need to catch the train, walk to the hospital, wait, see the doctor, walk back to the station, catch the train, and walk home. By the time all of that is done, it'll probably be close to 1pm. My daughter gets out of school at 3:25pm. So I guess today's pretty much a bust as far as getting any writing done.

Though I do intend to take my trusty notebook with me, I still won't be as productive as if I was at home with my laptop. :/

Personally, I think I come across more interruptions than anything else. I have to admit that I'm pretty focused when I set a deadline for myself. Even if it's self-imposed, I always strive to get it done on time. Like at the moment, my self-imposed deadline is to get a bunch of novellas revised and subbed by the end of June. Okay, the end of June is only a few days away, so I'm not sure if I'll make the deadline for all of them, but I sure got heaps out of the way already.

The only real distraction I have during the day is the internet. I usually fix that problem by using my laptop to write, which has no internet access. But the computer that does have access is only a few steps away from the couch, so it's still very tempting. Now that there are so many things I need to do online, it's even more of a distraction than it was before. Still, I usually manage to keep it under control by assigning several times during the day just for online stuff.

I find that I need to write, or do something writing related, every single day or I get a bit crabby. Usually on weekends I don't do much because it's my time with the hubby and daughter... but I still manage to squeeze in some thoughts, or notes. ;)

So, do you get a lot of distractions when you're supposed to be writing? Or are you mostly like me, and get interruptions instead? Sometimes, life just likes to get in the way...



Yolanda
http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/

Man Love

If you read erotic romance, you must have noticed the latest trend. Books involving male/male sexual interaction, written for women, by women.

I've read plenty of discussions on the topic and still I have no explanation for why it's such a huge draw, outside of the fact that women just seem to love reading about two powerful men having sex. It's not gay fiction. It doesn't (generally) delve into a character's emotional issues with his homosexuality. More often, it skims across the surface, sticking with the physical sensations, erotic experience. And a key difference, of course is the presence of a heroine, who interacts sexually with the men.

I have several erotic works that incoporate male/female/male (as well as male/male/female--to me, the order is significant) sexual interaction, including my entire Carpe Nocturne series (which concludes with this Friday's release, If Looks Could Kill), Burning Hunger, the second book in the Twilight's Possession series, Carnal Hunger (which hasn't released yet), Wild Nights, and my current wip, Double Take.

Ironically, before I began writing my first book with male/male sex, I discussed this trend with customers at the indy bookstore I work at. Ninety percent of them said they do not like male/male sex in their erotic romance books. The other ten percent are not bothered by it, although they said they don't intentionally seek out books with it.

And yet, when you pose a question to online readers--say, in a chat--you get a very different response. They are very pro-m/m, enthusiastically rattling off their fave books/authors of the subgenre.

Does that mean it's mainly an ebook/internet trend? Not necessarily. I don't have access to sales figures, but I do follow Amazon rankings. And it does seem that Amazon sales are stronger for books containing m/m sex scenes.

So I'd love to hear, do you read or write m/m/f or m/f/m? Do you read or write gay fiction? Or do you become uncomfortable when reading m/m sex scenes? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Let's talk about man love.

Tawny
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
www.tawnytaylor.com

Is this the first time you've been here?

Have you ever had a dream you couldn't quite understand? Maybe in a language you didn't speak? Or in a land you've never been to? I come from a family of dreamers. My mom always stressed to me how important dreams are and as I grew up one of my most family parts of sleeping was dreaming.

I always remember my dreams. The ones I remember in most detail are what I call my flashes. Glimpes I get of what I believe may be my past lives, my other lives. One I I'll never forget is of a young girl, in a castle in Scotland. I remember walking up a curving flight of stairs to the tower, the fear making made my gut clench because I knew what waited at the top of that tower.

I've never been to Scotland. I've never been in a castle (lol besides the one at Disneyland and that one hardly counts) so how do explain away the dream? Because the girl was me and I was the girl. I felt her emotions, lived her life and felt the same bone chilling fear because I knew what we had done and I knew there were consequences to pay for that action.

That dream wasn't the only one I had like that. My most personal story every written, the one that took the longest to write, the one that stripped me bare and allowed me to hide nothing is Make Me Remember. I started this book about 10 years ago. And it started with a dream. A dreamt of a girl running from danger and falling into the lap of the most dangerous man she'd ever meet. He wasnt a danger to her physically but emotionally and mentally because he was the other half of her soul and she wasn't ready to face everything she needed to face for them to be together.

I know, I know. It sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo and superstitious nonsense. But...what if isn't? What does it hurt to believe in things that aren't considered normal? So tell me, do you believe?

Hired Hands Released!

URL
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/hiredhands.htm

Tessa Marks is a married woman. A married woman who has sinned by sleeping with the man she’s hired on to help her around her farm. Henry’s never home and when he is, he’s cruel to her. Mister Ashton is just what she needs to feel like a woman again.

Will Ashton has killed man. Not just any man. The husband of a blind woman that Will Ashton has now fallen in love with. How can he tell her about his horrible deed without losing her heart forever?

Excerpt:

An hour later, she finished hanging the clothes over the line and realized she hadn’t heard Will begin hammering again. She tilted her head. She heard no movement atop the house. Maybe he’d gone into the barn. She counted her steps across the grass to the barn entrance.

“Mister Ashton?” No answer. She stepped into the barn and called out again. A low growl vibrated from one of the stalls, and her blood chilled. Desperately, she wished she’d brought the rifle. It growled again, then again in a steady rhythm.

Her heart thumped as she moved across the barn and retrieved the pitchfork. But then she stopped. Though she moved away, the animal continued to growl. And she noticed a soft sigh following the sound. Tessa suddenly laughed as she realized it was Will Ashton, snoring.

Quietly, she walked back toward the sound and opened the stable door. His breath was heavy between his snores. Satisfied and certain it was not some wild animal that had wandered into the barn, she started to turn, and then stopped. He was asleep. And naked. In her barn.

Should she?

Turning toward him again, she leaned the pitchfork against the wall of the stall and then knelt. When she reached out, her hand touched warm skin. She spread her fingers out, listening to his breathing to make certain she hadn’t stirred him. A few sweeps of her hand, and she realized she was touching his stomach. She marvelled at the muscle beneath the skin and the hair that swirled lightly beneath her fingers. Gently, she dragged her fingertips up and found thicker hair spreading across a wide, deep chest.

He groaned lowly but didn’t wake, reaching out to snake an arm around her waist and pull her forward against his side. His snores continued.

Tessa’s heart pounded. In his sleep, he’d pulled her to him, and now her body was pressed completely against his. She reached up to touch his face and then gasped when her fingers touched the smooth skin of his jaw. He’d shaved his beard. Had he done that for her? she wondered as her fingers slid over his cheek to his lips.

Don’t you dare, Tessa scolded herself for even thinking she might kiss him. But he would never know, so she leaned forward and dropped her lips to his. Soft, firm, defined and to her surprise, they parted beneath hers. She slid her tongue along his bottom lip, tasting him tentatively. Gently, she allowed her fingers to move back down his stomach until they touched the thick hair that surrounded his cock. Should she?

She didn’t need to move her hand lower, for the head of his cock suddenly jerked against her hand, awakened by her soft touch. Her fingers trembled as they slipped over the smooth skin and down the long, thick shaft. He was bigger than Henry, she thought as her body flared to life with heat, breasts aching to be touched. She forced her hand to release him and pulled her lips from his.

“Henry Marks was a fool.”

His voice caused her to cry out. Her hand clasped over her mouth, and she sat there, frozen. She hadn’t realized he was no longer asleep. So caught up with the feel of his lips and body, she hadn’t noticed he was no longer snoring. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment.

“Oh, Mister Ashton!” She tried to rise, but his hand tightened around her, keeping her where she was. “I’m so ashamed! Why did you let me think you were asleep?”

“Come here, woman.” He rolled to his side, pressing against her hip. His hand covered her breast as he leaned over her. A moment later his lips covered hers, forced them apart so he could kiss her deeply.

End of excerpt.

Availale now at Cobblestone Press

Damn, I'm Tired...

Hey ya'll,

I'm a bit late with my post. I just flew into town and dragged my tired butt home from the airport a couple of hours ago - travelin' for work. The trip was pretty good - I had to go to a customer site and teach 'em how to use the software they just bought from the folks who own my day job.

But you know, I'm such a home body, I stayed at the Hyatt and still found something to make me wanna go home. There's no bed like my bed (sigh....ahhhh!) There's no food like my daughter's cookin (though it was bit on the dry side today). There's no lawn like the one my son mows so nicely.

If it's not on a vacation with my family, damn it, I just don't wanna go! When did that happen? I used to like traveling. I used to enjoy room service and having them run up and deliver stuff. Yep, even this most recent stay was pleasant, but I think I'm just flat out spoiled...by my kids!

Hey, now that I think about it, there's a bit of that woven into my book, Gift Wrap Optional (Ellora's Cave). Now, if I could just find (or be found by) a guy on the cover of that damned book. Whew baby!

TJ
www.tjmichaels.com
www.dynamicthree.com
www.nightwhispersauthors.com

Reviews, Ratings & Comments

Good morning everyone! Well, it's morning here in Sydney, but I imagine it's probably late afternoon in the US. :)

Okay, the winner of my eBook FAITHLESS - which has been getting some fab reviews - is Kim. Congrats Kim, please send me an email to yolanda@yolandasfetsos.com, with your preferred format, and I'll email it to you ASAP.

It was funny that Tawny mentioned Mrs. Giggles yesterday (very cool post, BTW) because I'm going to chat about something that's relatively new in my writing life: reviews.

I remember the days when I used to read other writer's blogs and they'd chat about Googling themselves. It wasn't until I had my first eBook published in January this year, that I started doing the same. I try not to do it too often, maybe a few times a week. But it never seizes to amaze me when I find a new review up. I get nervous and excited, try to keep my mind focused as I'm reading it for the first time...

So far I've been very lucky, everything I've had reviewed has gotten great responses. Though I get nervous every single time I find a new one, I still love to read reviews about my stories. I really want to hear what the reviewer liked, or didn't like. Positive, negative or in between, I like to know how/if I managed to affect the reader.

I used to be very protective about my writing in the early days. Hardly let anyone read a sentence of what I wrote when I was in my teens. Well, except for all that angsty poetry I liked writing back then. When I met my hubby, all that changed. He wanted to know what I wrote and once he started, it gave me the confidence to start submitting to places. Back then I aimed my short stories at webzines, but it was a great start. The more I submitted, the more I wanted to share my tales with readers.

Something peculiar happened to me this week. I'd been trying to drum up the courage to submit one of my eBooks for review to Mrs. Giggles, but didn't know which one to send. So when Ericka told me that Mrs. Giggles had actually reviewed one of my Cobblestone Press releases, I was scared and excited at the same time. In the end, she gave me a rating of 79, which I reckon is pretty good. I'm happy with what she had to say too - the good and not-so good. At the end of the day, what I love to find out is what works and doesn't work for the reader. And that's exactly what she did!

If you want to check it out, it's right here.

I enjoy reading reviews about my stories because it reminds me that they're finally out there for others to read. The one thing that I would love to get more of is actual reader comments.

So, which part of a review do you usually dwell on? If you're a writer, does the rating or the comment mean more to you? As a reader, would the rating or the comment affect whether you'd buy the book or not?



Yolanda
http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/

TMI?

Lately, blogland has become a place for smear campaigns and dirty laundry. Not only are books ripped apart (ala Mrs. Giggles), but now bloggers are going after publishers and authors. Company information is shared. Untruths are spouted as gospel. Political leanings are aired (and hotly debated). Sensitive personal information is disbursed in the most disrespectful manner.

It’s all so ugly.

And yet, the minute someone posts a hot topic--like Jaid Black’s marriage to a prisoner--hits soar to the stratosphere. Commenters say over and over it’s TMI, they don’t want to know someone has a drug habit or is married to a man in prison, and yet they come back to read more. Blogs have become the romance reader’s gossip mags (National Enquirer). This week, romance’s Britney/Lindsay/Paris is Jaid Black.

Next week...who knows?

Ironically, being trashed has its benefits. Sales are generated from these horrific displays. This puts authors in a strange and uncomfortable position. Much like the love-hate relationship between stars and paparazzi in the world of Hollyweird, authors are finding themselves in a love-hate relationship with snark blogs.

So, I ask, do you read snark blogs? And if you do, what do you feel about what you’re seeing? If you don’t like it, are you willing to speak with your mouse? The bottom line is a blog is only as good as its traffic.

Tawny

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tawny’s Erotic Romance
Sydney’s Sassy, Sexy Romance
www.erotic-romance.net

Character Interview: Mona Lisa (The lost interview)

The winner of the copy of my Seducing St. Nic is Antonia Pearce! Woot! Congrats Antonia! If you could email me you email addy via my contact page I'll send the book right out to you!

Now on to some good stuff! I had the honor of interviewing Queen Mona Lisa. She dished about her new territory, Sunny and the oh so deliscious Halcyon!


To buy Mona Lisa's story:
Click here for Amazon
Click here for Barnes and Noble
Click here for Booksamillion
To read an excerpt of Mona Lisa's story: Click Here



EP: Welcome Mona Lisa. Let me just say what a pleasure it is to have you here at Divas. Please, tell us a little about your story?

ML: Hmmm, well...what to tell. There was Before Gryphon, and then After Gryphon. "Before," I was surrounded by a sea of humans on the lonely island of Manhattan. I'd always been different, my heartbeat more sluggish than others. But my strength, my speed, my vision...faster, stronger and sharper. Especially so after I hit puberty. And pain, suffering, darkness...well, they drew me. Called to me. Choose for me my profession-- nursing.

I always knew I was different, but not how different until a beautiful wounded man wanders into my ER late one cool evening. He looked like an angel spilt from the sky...not a sweet cherub, he, but a darker, more knowing being, tumbled...no, kicked out from paradise. Hair dark, skin alabaster white, eyes blue like a dark summer sky, lips red, full, tempting, and sensual. He drew me like none other. My body wanted him, and my heart desired him, too.

Gryphon. My first love. My arbiter into my real life as a Monere--children of the moon. Supernatural creatures that had fled their dying planet, the moon, over four million years ago. I was a Monere...well, three-quarters of me; the last quarter was human....and I was a Queen. The first, ever, Mixed Blood Queen.

EP: Can you tell us a little about Sunny?

ML: Well, Sunny's alot easier. She's pretty much like me, actually, stumbling around life not knowing who she really was. A dutiful daughter to her Chinese immigrant parents, she graduated from Vassar College and became a family practice physician. Her life, up till then, had been on the straight and narrow academic one. Then her husband, Da Chen. a Columbia law-trained investment banker, decided he wanted to be a writer. And Sunny, crazy enough, encouraged him. Weekends and nights were devoted to editing his writing, stories about his childhood, growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Four years later, it finally sold. "Colors of the Mountain" went on to become a NYT bestseller.

Inspired, Sunny tried writing about her own childhood. Alas, the writers' group she read her nascent pages to ripped her writing apart...unnecessarily harsh, looking back. A case of good intent causing bad results. It shut down all attempts at writing for the next seven years.

Failed at writing, Sunny became a full-time mom and devoted herself to developing her family's talent. Thankfully, her children had some talent to develop. Dancing, acting, singing, tumbling classes followed. Ballet recitals. Tap, jazz, tumbling, hip-hop recitals. Roles in community theater plays. Beauty contests...Oh my, I'm tired, myself, just listing it all. Then, finally, an agent and manager, and small appearances as extras on Sesame Street, Saturday Night Live, Jodi Foster's new movie, The Brave One, and a Fuji commercial. All were happy, including Sunny, who believed that her talent was in nurturing other people's talent... Until that fateful day when her young son, then age six, was listing everyone's talent, and Mommy's was: "She drives real well." He meant her chauffeuring them to and from their classes, auditions, and jobs.

A child shall lead you...or give you a swift kick in the pants, in this case. A light bulb goes off in Sunny's head. And she realizes that her children would not respect her unless she developed her own talent. A real wake-up call that got her ass in gear once more to try writing. Thankfully, she'd learned some things since the last attempt. One, that there was no one "right way" to tell a story. Just look at movies; you have some lousy ones and some brilliant, magical ones, and all in-between. The most important thing was just to tell it. Write it, finish it, and then do your darnedest to get it published and into the public's hands.

The other thing she fortunately knew by then was how to tell a story, courtesy of Robert McGee's "The Art of the Story," a 3-day screenwriting seminar, which taught her to really nail down her characters in personality, traits, physical appearance, and then box them tight into situations and let them wriggle creatively out of them. Then go from turning point to turning point (or episode to episode), until you reach the end of the book. Okay, it was a little more complicated than that...it was three long days, after all, but that's the essence, the most important things she learned. She came out of that course saying "Oh, so that's how you write a story." Not that hard or mystical. And, as for creativity, which Sunny thought she lacked...well, that came naturally after she nailed down her characters and knew them, and their world, well.

Two and a half months later, she had a book. This book: Mona Lisa Awakening. Several months after that, she sold her first novella to Kensington, and suddenly found herself not just a romance author, but an erotic romance author. Not what she intended when she first picked up that pen, but when she hit the love scenes...well, the words, the emotions, the action just kept flowing...and flowing...and flowing. She's blushing as she's writing this down, but it just kept coming.

So even though this book is about my awakening, it's a little about Sunny's as well.

EP: How did you keep her on track while she was telling your story?

ML: Well, thankfully, Sunny's not too difficult to handle. Mostly it's a matter of just getting a good night's sleep...she likes to sleep in late. Then writing when she's fresh, from around 10am to 2pm. Of course, 2 o'clock is sometimes when my story is just starting to get underway. I hate it when she leaves me hanging...or even worse...one of my beautiful men hanging until the next day. But she needs to go do what her kids said she does best...chauffeuring. Driving her darling brats to their varied lessons.

EP: Do you have any information about Sunny she would rather you not tell us?

ML: Hah! Do I! Sunny is an ugly duckling that is finally, albeit slowly, turning into a swan. Maybe not to gracefully, but a long way better than the chubby, nerdy, shy kid she used to be. Contacts instead of glasses. And a reason to dress up, finally. She didn't spend much money buying clothes for herself before she became an author. Now, well, she's making up for a long drought.

EP: Do you have a favorite author? (Beside Sunny.)

ML: I love authors who write emotionally, with great heart, and hot. Like Lisa Kleypas, Lori Foster, Linda Howard, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Suzanne Brockmann. It doesn't always have to be sensual, but rich in emotion, rich in love, yes, like fantasy writers Lois McMaster Bujold, Anne Bishop, and early Anne McCaffrey.

EP: You're twenty-one, newly crowned and have a territory of your own. What's next for you? How about Halcyon? Does he ever get to tell his story?

ML: Ah, my new territory. Used to belong to Mona Louisa, a nasty Queen who tried to get rid of me. Turned me over to some outlaw rogues who were not too nice to their women. As punishment, she lost her territory, a prime one in Louisiana, and I got it. Too bad so sad. And good riddance, although, of course, bad things never stay far from me...and Mona Louisa is bad. Very bad. In my eyes, at least. What others considered bad, like Halcyon, my demon prince, who saved me, said he loved me...I didn't see him as bad. Bad for me, yes. But bad in essence, in nature, no. He was lonely and alone among the Moneres as I had been among the humans. And his loneliness called to me. Had I not had my beautiful Gryphon, my strong devoted Amber...had I met Halcyon first...I might have loved him. Returned his love. But I didn't meet him first, and Gryphon...Gryphon is intensely jealous of the demon prince. He is not one of us. And being with him does not strengthen but endangers you are Gryphon's words. Perhaps, then, it is good that we leave High Court and the tempting demon prince behind.

EP: Does he ever find true love?

ML: I asked Halcyon to find another to love, because his attraction for me was hard wear and tear on my body--brought me to the attention of other demons who like to snatch me and use me as bait to draw out the demon prince. But he is unable to do so. Perhaps it is both of our faults, for I am as drawn to him as he is to me. You have so much love within you, he says. Can you not spare a little for me? I don't know. I don't know if it would be better to leave him alone and lonely, to sever the branch completely in the hope that one day new life...new love...might spring forth. Or to love him, as he asks me to...and to risk losing Gryphon and Amber.

EP: If you could meet a "character" from any book by any author, who would it be?

ML: Child of the moon that I am, darkness draws me. No surprise, then, that I like guys not too nice. Bad boys who have suffered, like Lisa Kleypas' Derek Craven in Dreaming of You, a notorious gambling house owner who grew up in the slums of London, rising from a poverty that has left him hardened, tough, not kind. Until love touches him.

EP: Do you have any characteristics that you share with your “creator”?

ML: We both dare dream. Dare reach for our dream, although it took Sunny years...decades...before doing so. We both follow our heart.

EP: You're a pretty fierce chick. Is there any creature that goes bump in the night that scares you?

ML: Fierce? Not how I really think of myself, although a part of me is that. A fighter, yes. Willing to fight for others, always...when I might not fight for myself. And I'm not really brave, as I am, determined. To do right, as I see it. To protect those under my care. Lots of things scare me. Love has come so new to me...is so precious. So what scares me most is anything that threatens those I love.

EP: Before you go, do you and/or your "creator" have a website or blog you'd like to share with our readers?

ML: Ah, how kind of you to ask. For more of me and my beautiful men, please drop in Sunny's website at www.sunnyauthor.com Stay safe, stay well. Until we meet again...Mona Lisa.

Sable Grey in The House!

My First Divas of the Dark post!

I’m Sable Grey, one of the divas here, a cover artist, a publisher, and an author of erotic romance. I have one paranormal romance currently available at Cobblestone Press called Salacity http://www.salacitybooks.com and a time travel with paranormal elements currently available at Loose Id called Christy’s Ghost.

My upcoming werewolf paranormal will be released in October at Cobblestone Press. It’s called Something Wild, set during the Jack the Ripper murders, and is part of the In The Rune Series. I’m really excited about this release and hope that readers enjoy the story.

Aside from my own paranormal titles, the company I am part owner of, Cobblestone Press, releases spectacular paranormal romances and I will be keeping everyone updated on those titles.

Now, I don’t just write paranormal romance. I also write historical, contemporary, and science fiction and am published at some really great publishers. The Pirate’s Jewel (pirate historical), The Nothing But Trouble Bride (western historical), and Embracing the Sun (contemporary suspense) are all published at Liquid Silver Books.

Coming this month, Hired Hands, a historical western romance, will be released at Cobblestone Press. I’m really excited about this because it was published before at Venus Press but has been re-edited and I really love this story and am glad to have a home for it again.

My science fiction title, Latharian Review, is currently available at Ellora’s Cave written under the pen name Amon Bieste. It’s a little naughtier than my regular style, thus the different pen name – no big secret, just to let my reader’s know that it’s different than my Sable Grey titles. Latharian Review blurb:

BLURB:

Admiral Corral Melhen is caught between a rock and a hard place…well, three hard places. She is sent aboard the spaceship Ecker3 to review the three Latharian males returning from a mission to Earth. Her boss, Counselor Aves, means to have her trained by these sensual aliens to be his slave. Aves doesn't count on her falling for Captain Ihjon Sleece and his two crewmen nor does Aves realize that she enjoys the training she undergoes for the several days she is aboard their small spacecraft.

While the counselor schemes to force her to submit to his unwanted sexual advances, Corral has a plan of her own — one that will either remove the counselor from position to rule over her or that may backfire and leave her at his sinister mercy. Her only hope of success is the three that dominate her aboard the Ecker3. She must decide if she wishes to free herself from Aves and in doing so, bind herself to three others.

Themes: Menage a trois or More / Light Bondage / voyeurism/futuristic
And it’s VERY hot.

Written from the Latharian captain’s point of view, the style is much darker and edgier than what I usually write. That said, I AM working on a second Latharian book. If I don’t finish it soon, I think Emma might start to beat my head in.

When I’m not writing, working at Cobblestone Press, or doing cover art, I enjoy researching history and genealogy, watching movies, and spending time with my supportive husband, three cats, and my very spoiled dog, Marshall Dillion.

That’s me in a nutshell. I look forward to sharing more here at Divas of the Dark!

Whaddup!

Hello everyone *tj waving frantically*


It's good to see all of you. As many of you know, I'm a total promo ho' - every chance I can, I want to try to get my books out there for folks to enjoy. But this is something a bit different for me - boys and girls, THIS is play time!


So, first a little about me - for those who aren't familiar with my books, I currently write paranormal super hot fiction for Ellora's Cave and Samhain Publishing. In a couple of months, I'll have eight books out (all since last June, can you believe it?!) and two in print. I'm in a couple of awesome author groups - this one, a group called The Dynamic Trio with Lauren Dane and Shelley Munro, and the Night Whispers Authors with Kate Hill, Titania Ladley, Mary Winter, Ashlyn Chase and others.


Okay, enough of the writer stuff. Let's have fun!

I'm Thursday Thirteening over at my other blog at www.dynamicthree.com. So come link up after we've talked about hunks here. Hunks. Sigh. My favorite subject!

I visited Lacey Alexander's website the other day and do you know the woman has a frickin Guy Gallery? Oh my god! I'd intended to just swing by and say what's up to my girl, Lacey, and got stuck! Then I started looking for great site with pictures of older hotties, like Pierce Brosnan, or Johnny Depp and Sean Connery. And uh, got stuck again...'cause I couldn't find one!

Please, oh please, share your more mature, totally awesome, way hot guys with me. I just turned 39 last month and feel like a total letcher gawking at twenty-somethings. So help a sistah out! Share the love!

TJ
..• ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.•´ .•´¨¨))
((¸¸.•´ ..•´ www.tjmichaels.com -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.•´* www.dynamicthree.com
CARINIAN'S SEEKER, V.C.O.E. Book 1, Available at Amazon.com * Barnes & Noble
SERATI'S FLAME, V.C.O.E. Book 2, Samhain Publishing, August 2007
EGYPTIAN VOYAGE, A Torrid Tarot Novel, Ellora’s Cave ~ August 2007
FERAL FASCINATION Anthology, Ellora’s Cave ~ Coming Summer 2007
POUNCE ~ PRYDE ~ JAGUAR'S ~ GIFT WRAP, All available at Ellora's Cave

Hi & Welcome!

*waving from downunder*

This is Yolanda Sfetsos, and I live in Sydney, Australia. :D It's so cold this morning. I wish it was summer again. I'm not a fan of cold weather, never have been and probably never will! I just don't like winter.

Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself today. I'm so excited to be here, alongside such great talent!

I'm published with Cobblestone Press, Aphrodite's Apples and Silk's Vault Publishing. This Friday, my seventh eBook will be released by Cobblestone Press. I'm so excited! I get excited with every new book that comes out. I just love being able to share my stories with others, it's what I've always wanted to do.

I've been writing since my teens. My school was a few suburbs away, so that meant that my friends weren't nearby at all. I spent a lot of time by myself. I'd stay in my bedroom and just daydream away, until eventually those daydreams became story ideas and I started writing them down. Before long, I was typing them. And then one day I discovered a little movie called The Lost Boys, and a writer called Clive Barker... after being introduced to these, I started my walk down the paranormal path.

My first real story was about a vampire, and I loved writing it! After that, everything I wrote had a darker edge to it. Actually, that's one thing that hasn't changed. Everything I write has some sort of paranormal thing going on, and plenty of dark. I've also been known to write straight out horror. ;)

I've tried to write stories without an otherworldly spin, but I can't! It might start out quite normal, but something paranormal always weaves itself into the storyline. So, I've embraced the darkness and just go with the flow. Nowadays, I love that my muse can draw out a paranormal element out of almost anything!

So tell me... have you been touched by the paranormal too? Do you like to read about paranormal stuff? Leave a comment, and I'll pick one random person to win a copy of my darker-edged eBook FAITHLESS. I'll announce the winner next Wednesday, when I post next.

It's great to be here!


Yolanda
http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/

Helloooooo! Tawny's Call Story

Whew! Sorry for the late post. It seems my spam filter ate my invite to this blog, and I couldn't post until late this afternoon. My apologies!

Anyway, my name is Tawny Taylor, and for those who don't know, I'm published by a few epublishers (Ellora's Cave, Cerridwen, Changeling Press, Samhain and Echelon Press) as well as Pocket and Kensington.

I thought I'd tell me "Call" story today, since so few people have read it. I don't remember having done an interview about my first sale, at least not a recent one, so hopefully this will be fresh reading for some of you.

First, why I started writing.
Before I had baby number three, I had been working as an outside sales rep/applications engineer for a fastener manufacturer. I liked my job, but it wasn't a practical career for a mother of a newborn infant. A major part of my job was traveling--often with little or no advance notice. My husband worked full time. We had other children as well. There was no way I could expect to continue working in that job. And yet, we needed the income.

Bottom line: I needed to find something I could do out of the house. Ideally something that didn't involve sitting on the phone for hours (a baby crying in the background was hardly professional). There were plenty of scam opportunities for working outside of the house, but very few real ones.

Then I heard about this thing called epublishing. Books being sold on the internet. Books like the ones I enjoyed reading.

I was intrigued.

I stumbled upon Warner Books' now defunct iPublish site, where wannabe authors could submit chapters for consideration. The posted excerpts would be simultaneously read and rated by visitors and read by editors. I posted my first chapter of my first (paranormal) book, crossed my fingers that everyone who read it would give it a perfect score, the editor would snap it up and publish it, and I'd be on my way to a new and profitable career in ebooks.

My first chapter was ripped apart. The editor completely ignored it. For good reason. It sucked.

I continued trying. I continued learning. And I continued posting. I also tried writing other genres, searching for my voice. Contemporary. Historical. My scores slowly improved. My writing slowly improved. And then Warner decided to shut down iPublish. They decided epublishing simply wasn't lucrative enough (at least that's my spin on their reasoning) to be worth the money spent.

Fast forward a few months. I'd joined a critique group with a handful of people I'd met on iPublish, and one of them mentioned a couple of epublishers: Echelon Press and Ellora's Cave. I submitted a contemporary romance to Echelon on Easter. And received an immediate response, that same day. With an offer. I'd sold my first book! My "call" was an email, but it was still one of the most thrilling moments of my life. I sold my second, Tempting Fate, to Ellora's Cave a few months later. And received my first New York "call" about two years after that.

I was one of the lucky ones. I sold my first book in less than ten years. But that doesn't mean I've cruised down the fast track to bestseller-dom. I still consider myself something of a newbie, particularly in the world of NY publishing. I've learned a lot, however, and hope that I can contribute some meaningful, helpful posts to this blog over the next several months, years, however long we keep it up and going.

Well, that's it for me this week. I welcome you to post questions, comments, suggestions for future posts, and/or your own "Call" story in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Tawny
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
www.tawnytaylor.com

Welcome to Divas of the Dark

Welcome to Divas of the Dark one and all. Come on in and sit a spell. And don't worry we don't bite. LOL! Okay, now that I've gotten all of the usual horror/paranormal cliches out of the way, let's get down to business.

I am Emma Petersen, just one of the writers here at Divas of the Dark. I am extremely pleased and honored to be among this fantastic group of authors. And I myself am looking forward to thier posts because I know I can learn a lot from them.

I have quite a few things planned on my day to post. Which is Monday. *grin* Interviews with characters, authors, artists and so much more.

Since today is my very first post I'm going to be giving away a copy of my book, Seducing St. Nic. Yes, I know it's a Christmas story. And I know it's June but it's one of my favorite vampire books I've written and I love sharing it with people. So at the end of the day I'll choose a winner from all the comments.

Blurb:

Barbara Jean Ruiz’s life has never been what anyone would call glamorous. She lives in an okay apartment, in an okay neighborhood. Has an okay job with less than okay wages.

Her life is…okay.

That is, until her luck starts to change. She wins a gorgeous cashmere and fox fur coat. She gets promoted after the executive she works for dies and her new boss is none other than the super sexy St. Nic.

Cypriano San Nicolo is everything a woman could want in a man. He’s tall, dark, handsome, rich, successful...

And oh yeah, the evil undead. After nearly a century of self imposed sleep he rises to find this new world with all of its technology baffling but not as much as his irreverent, wise cracking assistant.

It’s Christmas. A time to deck the halls, be merry and celebrate with loved ones…

And for Barbara Jean, it just might be a time to seduce St. Nic.

Can these two very different beings find peace, joy and maybe even love this holiday season?