Teresa's Writing Journey

A Satyr for Midwinter--new from Phaze!

2011-07-11T21:29:00.000-04:00

I know I said this blog was retired but when I have exciting news to share, I'll post it here as well as at www.teresanoelleroberts.com. I definitely have exciting news today. And please swing over to www.teresanoelleroberts.com for a contest!

A Satyr for Midwinter, Seasons of Sorania Cycle Book 4, is now live and available in all e-book formats at Phaze, specifically at http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=A+Satyr+For+Midwinter/exact_match=exact.

It has the prettiest cover of all this week's new releases (I think, at least) and one of my favorites to date. And while it has many snowy scenes to cool you down, it also has hot bits to make a summer night even more sultry.

Like this one, for example:

Inflamed.

His lips were so heated, so glorious, they set her nipple on fire and with it her soul.

His tongue danced across her nipple, creating sensations that surpassed anything she’d experienced before--and while Laeca hadn’t had as much opportunity to play around as a woman with fewer obligations might, she’d had her small share of lovely evenings with pleasant, attentive men.

Pleasure and desire filled her.

Yet she was empty. Close to fulfillment for the first time in far too long, Laeca felt her loneliness more acutely than she’d let herself on the nights she lay in her bed too tired even to touchh herself and overhearing the distant sighs and moans of lovemaking from another part of the villa or from the courtyard outside her window. She was used to being alone, used to holding herself apart, but now she felt the weight of her separateness more than ever.

Seconds later, she felt that weight crumble from her shoulders from the determined assault of Kallios’ hands and tongue, from the beauty of his male body, too thin yet sculpted, from the way his cock twitched and strained under her wet sex.

Her hips swayed over him, stroking her sex against his huge, hard cock. She moved unconsciously at first but as arousal blossomed, filling her body with liquid fire, she set up a rhythm that matched that of his clever tongue and the pounding of her heart. Her legs straddled his goatlike ones. The texture of the fur, the reminder that beautiful as he was, he was different, not human, should have alarmed her. Instead, it aroused her more.

As a child, she’d been more comfortable with the satyr children than with other humans, enjoying their simple pleasures and connection to the land more than she ever liked boys’ complicated games with balls and sticks and rules or girls’ games of playing house or dressing up and pretending to be a rich lady from Poldar. That quirk must have endured, because Kallios felt right under her hands as she explored his broad chest, stroked his furred, muscular thighs, enjoyed the size and power of his cock rubbing against her most sensitive areas. He was massive, thick, but silken there as he was coarse elsewhere. For all his size she knew he’d fill her perfectly.

As she explored his body, he explored hers. He licked and nipped, not just at her breasts but anywhere he could reach. One callused hand slid down her belly, caressing its muscles and her sharply defined hipbones as another man explore luscious curves. Though his tongue was well occupied, he let out a sighing, happy breath as if he found her leanness pleasing.

Kallios raised his mouth from her nipple, leaving it cold and bereft, though so sensitive the cool air made her shiver with delight. “I’m not a human, Laeca. I’m a satyr. We worship the moon as well as the sun, you know.”

It almost made sense.

Seven hells, it did make sense, and it answered questions she didn’t know she had, allayed fears she hadn’t admitted.

Moving House

2011-05-31T22:02:00.000-04:00

I'm moving.
But only on the Internet.
The Cat-Herder and I will be staying put in our cozy Massachusetts home. This blog, however, is wending its way to www.teresanoelleroberts.com. I may occasionally post here, but they will be duplicates of what I've posted on the new site.

As a Website, it's still rough, definitely a work in progress. But like a new home that still needs to lose the 80s wallpaper and get a landscaping upgrade and a new stove, it's my work in progress, dammit, and I'm proud of it!

An off-topic plea for help

2011-05-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

Regular readers might remember me mentioning my friend Randy here on several occasions. He's a blind mountain climber and martial artist, an all around inspirational guy--and I believe I've offered him up for other folks to use as a hero, since I know the "real" Randy too well to do do so. Well, Randy is a board member at New Hampshire Association for the Blind. Every year, in June, NHAB has a walkathon to support its program, and for the last few years, I've walked with Randy's team, raising my pittance for programs that aid visually impaired New Hampshire residents.

Anyway, it's that time of year again. If you're in a position to support a good cause, I urge you to go to my donation page and make a contribution. Doesn't have to be a big one. Every little bit helps support a great cause.

Since this is a blog about romance and erotica writing, I'll throw in the romantic bit of the NHAB story. Several years back I dragged my friend Tracy along for the walk and she met Randy. I can't call it love at first sight (and not just because I can imagine the bad jokes Randy would make about my using that cliched expression about him!), but it was certainly intrigued at first acquaintance, and it grew from there. She is now Mrs. Randy . I was in their wedding last year. Randy's guide dog had a tux of his own for the occasion.

quick update

2011-05-18T20:42:00.002-04:00

Fun review of Carnal Machines here. The blogger really liked my story, "Human Powered."

Meanwhile, I'm dealing with changing ISPs and email addresses. If I'd stored my emails on the old ISP's server, the new ISP could have forwarded a message to all my contacts, letting them know the new address. But I prefer to keep my information on my own computer, and thus I'm alerting everyone myself. This is a pest. However, I'm still reluctant to store my address book online. It seems too hackable that way. I actually trust my own security more. This may be ridiculous, but I have control over it. Yes, I"m a control freak.

2011-05-11T07:55:00.000-04:00

I'm in Washington DC this week, enjoying a history- and food-geek vacation with the Cat-Herder and friends. When I have time and technical capabilities (translate as "I forgot the cable for my camera and this laptop doesn't have a card reader") I'll post pictures of Thomas Jefferson's "writing machine," JQ Adams' chess set, and other fun things. The writing machine is quite steampunk, only it's real.

I just received edits for A Satyr for Midwinter, which makes the fact vacation must someday end a bit less onerous. I love this book and am very excited to know it will be out soon. It concludes the Seasons of Sorania Cycle, and features a sexy, tragic satyr,a practical, tough heroine who, in a land touched by magic, is much better at dealing with the mundane, and a ghost who manages to get quite lively with both hero and heroine.

But I didn't interrupt my vacation to post about me. I have updates on the Carnal Machines blog tour.

1) Poe Von Page, the author of "Mutiny on the Danika Blue" is joining the tour, posting on May 14. Here's her blog address: http://poevonpage.blogspot.com/.

2) The amazing Lisabet Sarai is doing a contest tomorrow, May 12, on her blog and giving away a copy of Carnal Machines. She is clearly a more generous soul than I am, because I don't want to give up either of my author copies. This is partly because I haven't been able to pry one copy out of the Cat-Herder's hands yet. Anyway, Lisabet's blog addy is: http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com. You know you want to join the contest!

Steampun, sustainability, and sex: the Carnal Machines Blog Tour

2011-05-02T22:33:00.001-04:00

For me, one of the delights of the steampunk genre is the richness of the real Victorian era as source material. Not only can a writer draw upon the period’s inventive spirit, elegant fashions, and delightful tension between public restraint and a seething underground lustiness, the contradictions of the Victorian age offer all sorts of thematic possibilities. Never before or since has the notion of the middle-class woman as the pure, protected, and rather helpless “angel of the house” been so strong and yet the organized women’s movement began in the 19th century. In the 21st century, we’re a long way from that imaginary angel of the house, and yet in some ways we’re still revisiting Victorian arguments about gender roles, sexuality, and how sexuality, intellect and power converge. A steampunk story, Victorian in spirit but not in detail, offers tremendous scope for examining sexuality politics—and in the case of an erotic steampunk story, examining sexuality itself.
Often in steampunk stories, the Victorian fascination with invention and progress is depicted as all about the shiny gadgets and the gee-whiz factor, like Jules Verne on steroids. But the 19th-century ingenuity that gave birth to cars, sewing machines, typewriters and electric lights (and building on Victorian discoveries, to manned space flight, iPhones, and coffee machines that can brew you a fix in under a minute) was a double-edged sword. All that “progress” made lives easier and probably saved countless lives—but it also led to our current polluted, oil-dependent world that might have to relearn pre-Industrial Revolution technology to survive.
Even before the historical Victorian era, a few clever people worried about the destructive effects of the great god Progress—think William Blake’s “dark Satanic mills” spewing filthy coal smoke and destroying the ancient social fabric of the English countryside. Some people, at least, were aware that the increased comfort and convenience of their lives might have a long-term price, but it must have been hard to look past the wonders of buying a ready-made dress or having gaslight.
My story “Human-Powered” combines three of my personal fascinations--women’s changing roles in the Victorian age,sustainable technology, and of course juicy sex. Claire, my clever and determined engineer heroine has developed what she hopes will be a clean and virtually limitless source of energy—but it’s a rather dirty clean source of energy, one she can’t discuss at the women’s college where she teaches. Women, even women engineers, are supposed to be innocent and above feeling desire, after all. The only person she can trust to help her work out the bugs in her sexual-frustration fueled generator and go public with the invention is her late husband’s attractive research partner. And once they get together, the real challenge will be staying frustrated enough to test the device.
Here’s a teasing taste: “Your letter asking for my help said only that the device uses the energy of the human body to power itself. You said you would be more specific when we met and I verified that it should work as you theorized. Not only will it, but if it proves suitable for mass production, it could bring electricity to the most isolated homestead. But does it gather all the energy we generate in a day, or something more specific? Do you envision it sitting in a workshop, or in the kitchen as a housewife does her chores? Maybe a schoolyard? Children at play are certainly energetic.”
Now came the part she’d most dreaded when envisioning this meeting. On one hand, her plan would use a form of energy that was wasted otherwise—and one in unlimited supply. On the other hand, the particulars were delicate, especially to discuss with such an attractive man.
Claire schooled herself not to blush. “It gathers the yearnings of the unmarried and the unhappily married and converts all that heat into useful form while—in theory, once I get it working properly—easing a lonely person’s restlessness.”
If only she could get it to work for her. Her empty widow’s bed was driving her mad with loneliness, but most men didn’t wish a tinkering, teaching wife and she lacked both time and patience for the niceties of courtship. “To sell it, we’d have to refer to something vague like ‘electrical impulses inherent to the adult human body’, so as not to cause scandal.”
Doctor Lowell stood and leaned across his great oak desk, an aggressive move that brought him closer than propriety allowed.
Or than Claire’s own sense of propriety could combat. He loomed close enough that his aftershave filled her nostrils, layered over a scent that could only be the muskiness of an aroused man—not the same as her late husband’s, but close enough to make her heart pound against her corset boning and awaken neglected, intimate parts of her body. She ached, yearning for touch, for kisses, for caresses. For, to be frank, a man in her arms, a man’s prick inside her.
She forced the thoughts away. It was impossible for her, as for so many in this world of rigid rules, to enjoy such pleasures anymore. But that was the value of her invention. If Doctor Lowell would help her construct it, there would be no shortage of fuel for it, and people’s longings could light their lamps instead of giving them the vapors or prompting them to do things they’d regret later.
Such as kissing Doctor Lowell, which seemed like a far better idea than Claire knew it was.
Pity the “arcane engineering” in my story wouldn’t actually work. My hippie heart would rejoice to think of all that pollution-free power. And generating it would be so much more fun than anything that works in the real world!

The whole blog tour...

May 1 D. L. King http://dlkingerotica.blogspot.com

May 2 Teresa Noelle Roberts http://teresanoelleroberts.blogspot.com

May 3 Kathleen Bradean http:/kathleenbradean.blogspot.com

May 4 Jay Lawrence http://jaylawrenceerotica.blogspot.com

May 5 Kannan Feng http://kannanfeng.wordpress.com

May 6 Essemoh Teepee http://www.smotp.com/html/blog.html

May 7 Elizabeth Schechter http://easchechter.wordpress.com/blog

May 8 Delilah Devlin http://delilahdevlin.com/blog

May 10 Renee Michaels (need the address!)

May 11 Elias St. James (my blog) http://dlkingerotica.blogspot.com

May 12 Lisabet Sarai http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com

May 13 Janine Ashbless http://janineashbless.blogspot.com

Two down, one to go

2011-04-19T20:48:00.000-04:00

kinetic, tendril, bliss, embolden, blossom

In the kinetic light of early morning
The garden dances. Each dew-startled leaf,
Each blossom of the cosmos planted
To attract bees to the pumpkins shimmies
On a barely perceptible breeze.
I wander my personal Eden, drunk
On growth and rampant beauty, blessed and smeared
With the sharp-scented green gold
Of tomato pollen, a tendril
Of romano bean vine tangled
In my uncombed hair, nibbling
An infant zucchini for breakfast. Then I spy
The season’s first ripe tomato. Emboldened
By the lonely hour and the lush beauty
Of my garden, I do a mad Snoopy dance
Between tomatoes and peppers.

The first poem I wrote today is more a reminder of a poem I want to write, at this point, so I won't post it yet. But I'm counting it toward the challenge.

Poems published and a giveaway

2011-04-18T21:12:00.000-04:00

For the first time in far too long, poems of mine are appearing somewhere other than my own blog. I've been published in the inaugural issue of The Crone's Gazette, a digital magazine that incorporates poetry and glorious photos into its overall focus on homesteading, gardening and "the simple life."

To celebrate, I'm giving away a year's subscription to Crone's Gazette, courtesy of editor Kathie Lapcevic (of Two Frog Home fame. If you're not reading her blog, you should be.) That's four issues of practical advice, yummy recipes, pretty pictures, poems and more. Comment here to win!

I'm a bit behind in my Poem a Day challenge--only got in one poem while at Mom's--but I still have 16 more poems than I started out the month with and that makes me happy. I aim to catch up by month's end, even if it takes a marathon of mad poetry. What a lovely thought.

The wild poeming continues

2011-04-15T08:15:00.000-04:00

I've managed to write, but I literally haven't had time to post the results. I've been writing at odd minutes, scribbling into notebooks or, once, on an envelope.

And in all this busyness, I completely forgot--speaking of no time to post--to mention I'd done a guest post on Sacchi Green's blog. Check it out!

This weekend I'm running off to my mom's and will likely be without Internet access for several days. When I get back, I'll post book covers and juicy excerpts for several new anthologies I'm in, talk about poetry versus prose, and ramble about the new Website I'm struggling to create. (The design's easy. Dealing with the providers is killing me.) Have fun, kids, keep reading and writing, and don't break the Internet while I'm gone.

Sometimes prompts take me in strange directions

2011-04-11T21:14:00.001-04:00

No Secrets

I don’t have secrets from my husband.
That’s my biggest secret, the one
That surprises people, especially the ones who fancy
They have a certain type
Of bad girl pegged. All the facets I hide
From the world at large, he helps me polish.
The weakness for Scotch
And butch women and arrogant men?
He buys the Scotch. He encourages
The dates. In a back room hazed with blue smoke,
There’s a version of me wearing glossy red lipstick
And very little else, blowing the patrons.
He knows about her. He knows about the one
Who rides off on a Harley, some little tramp in torn jeans
Riding bitch on the back,
The one who mates with dolphins,
The one who tore up the psych referral.
He even knows about the side of me who likes
To wear pearls and an apron, to out-Cleever June
And be his perfect housewife, the one whose biggest secret
Is that she’s not as wild
As she might like you to believe.

I told you I'd do a real poem today

2011-04-10T20:59:00.003-04:00

Surrender

With you as my strong tower, my walls
Of stone to keep out the world, I feel safe
To be smaller, softer. But even stone
Can grow weary, and we have both
Let ourselves forget that I am not small by nature.
Rest in me. I am not a castle, defensive
Against all comers. I am strong
Like the sheltering depths of the ocean,
The warm, dark earth that nurtures seedlings,
A quiet forest where all the animals
Keep their fierce distance. I am wilderness,
Strange but open hearted. If in me
You can find freedom or quiet,
A place to turn stone back to flesh,
Then lay claim to my wild heart
And make my wilderness your garden.

2011-04-10T12:18:00.000-04:00

Not doing so well on the poetry challenge. I missed Friday altogether (opted against the drunken rant, a poetic form I largely abandoned after college but the only one that was going to happen by the time I actually had a few minutes on Friday) and yesterday's was a sort-of haiku I won't post anywhere until/unless I can make it a properly allusive haiku and not a short, silly poemlet in a 5-7-5 syllabic pattern.

Today I'll do better!

Day 7--a twisted fairy tale

2011-04-07T20:27:00.001-04:00

Written on the petals

There’s a vortex in the center
Of a wild iris, a secret place
That draws you in if you study it long enough.
It leads to a place of faerie. Not the tiny pixies
Of Victorian art, but winged warriors
Clad majestically in white and gold and purple.
They are flowers with swords,
Deadly butterflies, winged desire partaking
Of the best and fiercest of what the human world
Dubs male and female. I am writing this
On the petals of an iris. I cannot resist
That orris-scented, bright-petaled world much longer.
Perhaps I will come back some distant season
When the iris bloom again and the gate reopens.

Today's effort

2011-04-06T21:11:00.001-04:00

In case you're wondering, the Poet Herself doesn't surf. But she'd like to learn--not for suicidal reasons.

Surfer

I wrap myself in the gorgeous terror of knowing
These silk-seeming waves can crush bones.
I ride the waves, but it’s not like riding a horse.
Even a wild horse can be broken,
But waves will only break me as they break,
Unless I give myself over to them, acknowledge
They have all the power. The surfer has only balance,
And I could lose that at any second and plunge head over destiny.

That’s why I do this. Otherwise I could stay on the beach
Like those girls in full make-up and dry bikinis
And never even get my hair mussed up.
But it’s the possibility of danger I crave,
The fact that as I ride the curl of a wave
I might be riding my own doom.
When I saw those videos of the tsunami devouring
Japanese villages and farmland, I was half-envious, half-wishing
I could have been there to be annihilated
By water reclaiming the land
It never wanted to let go in the first place.

Not without Poetry Challenge, day 5

2011-04-05T20:26:00.000-04:00

Today's offering, based on a prompt at Not Without Poetry.

True Urgency of a Healthy Breakfast

Sleep unmakes us. In the night we drift
Into the surreal, take the shape of dreams.When the clarion
Of the alarm jars us back, we remain
Half-formed, blurry, with mismatched eyes
Cat whiskers, or ears elven-pointy.
It’s not simply sleepiness that makes
Our early-morning faces alien in the mirror.
We come back different, molded by dream
Into something unrecognizable. The ritual
Of coffee or tea helps, but it’s the act
Of eating that grounds us, makes us fully human.
Somewhere in the middle of the oatmeal,
Or halfway through the egg-yellowed wheat toast,
We become solid again, not faerie-fancies of the night.

And that, my friends is why breakfast
Is the most important meal of the day.

Today is actually a two-poem day--hurray!--but the other one seems to want more form than it has now, so it may not be posted for a while.

Not without Poetry Challenge, day 4

2011-04-04T21:22:00.001-04:00

In this gray in-between season,
This drawn-out limbo between winter and spring,
All the world blends to mud, bark and rain.
Bu, one suburban yard, fronting a house so neutral
It could be carved from the beige and taupe weather,
Blazes its difference, makes drivers swerve,
Blinded by a sudden ecstasy of color.
Corner to color, it explodes with lavender and yellow crocuses.

Not without Poetry Challenge

2011-04-03T20:33:00.002-04:00

April is National Poetry Month. In honor of that, I'm participating in a poem a day challenge for the month. My first effort is too raw and private to share yet (let's put this way--it's an elegy for an old friend) and the second is just silly, but I rather like today's:

Consider the octopus, with its clever tentacles, huge eyes,
Brain more powerful than something
Without a spine ought to possess.
They can solve mazes, hide in clouds
Of their own generation rather than fight.
But that doesn’t mean they’re helpless.
If a diver peers too rudely, for instance,
Into an octopus’s well-decorated lair,
He might lose his mask to a creature
As inquisitive and rude as he is. If he’s unlucky,
The diver might lose his mouthpiece and drown.

At aquariums, predators and prey live segregated,
Safe in their sanitary, individual worlds—except for octopuses.
When I worked at the one in Boston, I learned
Things we kept from visitors. Our octopus had figured out
How to escape its tank, behind the scenes.
It had perhaps thirty seconds to crawl
To a neighboring tank, pry it open, and devour
Some unsuspecting creature, then back again. The aquarists rigged
Up ever more elaborate baffles, but in the end,
It took a weight too heavy for the octopus to budge
Holding down the top of the tank. Unfortunately,
It was also too heavy for some of the aquarists.

Knowing that octopus exist
Boost my faith in the divine Trickster.

5-Star Review--and I Can't Access It!

2011-03-23T20:11:00.006-04:00

The Romance Reviews (TRR) gave Threshing the Grain a 5-star review--and I can't get the Website to open on any computer in this house!

Here's a lovely snippet, though:

"Teresa Noelle Roberts has built a complex and intriguing world in her
fantasy that is imbued with magic rooted in sex..."Threshing the Grain"
is a dark fantasy with passionate eroticism...I am certain Ms. Roberts
is developing a series with "Threshing the Grain" and I highly
recommend this story to readers who enjoy stories where the heroine
loves to be spanked. You will not be disappointed."

Read more here (if you can!)

Buy the book here.

Could someone who knows me in RL copy the review and send it to me, she asks pathetically?

What the hell?

2011-03-23T20:09:00.001-04:00

OK, this is distressing. I know I've posted here since January--sporadically, I'm sure, but I've done it--and those posts seem to be gone.

This is not a dead blog. This is a screwed-up blog!

Link Love

2011-01-31T20:00:00.004-05:00

No, that's not the title of an erotic romance about either golfers or folks who are just a bit too fond of chainmail(though around here, you're forgiven for thinking either.) It's a round-up of some fun stuff from around the Web. I'm a bit weary tonight, so instead of blathering on about something or another, I thought I'd share some bits of goodness I've found elsewhere. Surprisingly enough, you can click on most of these links at the office and not risk appalling/offending/arousing your co-workers. It's not all about the sex here. Just usually.

It's Only a Choice...to be creative or not to be. This blog is put together by my very creative friend Kathie, who also writes the cozy and thought-provoking simple living blog, Two Frog Home.

And because I find other people's creative processes fascinating, an interview with the above-mentioned Kathie.

Important safety tips for the published (or soon to be published, or hoping to be published) writer.

Book trailer for Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex. (OK, this one is decidedly NSW). I'm in the book, but not in the trailer, except as a quick mention of the title, "Laughter in Hades."

And because every writer (heck, every working person) needs tasty recipes that all but cook themselves, a sample from a very handy Website.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, more promo

2011-01-27T17:50:00.003-05:00

But it beats bitching about the snow, doesn't it? I could go on and on about snow, except I have reason to be grateful for snow today. Thanks to snow, I was already working from home when the migraine started and thus was able to take the Good Drugs [tm] before my head entirely burst into flame. Though I suppose I'd be warm with my head on fire.

Anyway, on to the actual point of this post...and there is one, underneath all the migraine-med-induced rambling....

Sacchi Green has posted about her new anthology, Lesbian Cops, which...surprise surprise...has one of my stories in it. Check out the post and you can learn about all the hot stories, not just mine.

I think the cover is quite striking--arresting, even, if you'll excuse the horrid pun. However, I'm sad to report that none of Himself's co-workers look like that (or present the equivalent male level of modelesque hotness).

2011-01-19T22:37:00.003-05:00

I wrote tonight.
That, I know, should scarcely merit a post. After all, I'm a writer.
I'm a writer who works outside the home a minimum of 9 hours a day, usually more, plus close to two hours of car commuting on a good day--and both yesterday and today were not good days in the wonderful world of navigating the highways of Massachusetts. Yesterday we had snow that turned to freezing rain and was a terrible mess. Today...the roads were dry in the morning and merely wet tonight, but things were still slow.
Days when I leave the house before 7 AM and get home at 7 PM make me inclined to have a Scotch and curl up with a good book. I even have a good book awaiting a few hours to read it (Side Jobs, a collection of Jim Butcher shorts in the Harry Dresden universe).
But I wrote instead. Not a lot, and more roughly than on a better day. But I wrote. I also paid bills and did some promo, but what matters most to my heart is I wrote.
And that makes all the difference in the world.
Time to tip over now.

(PS: There were no actual fireworks tonight--I took that picture at the Jaffrey Fireworks Festival last summer--but it expresses how gleeful I feel to finally write again._

And the winner is...

2011-01-18T20:20:00.003-05:00

Nytshade13!

Congratulations, winner! I've sent you an email with the e-book attached.

Thanks to everyone who played.

"Fools' names as well as faces...

2011-01-10T20:22:00.003-05:00

oft are seen in public places."

That's a quote from my grandmother's grandfather, who was a fairly noted architect in his era, but so modest his family cemetery plot didn't have any grave markers on it, let alone the ostentatious ones beloved by middle-class Victorians--just a small tag, "Keely," on the fence that marked off the area.

I suspect he wouldn't approve of the way I toot my own horn in public constantly. As a Victorian Catholic gentleman, he would certainly not approve of the erotic books I'm promoting.

But I digress. I'm here to toot my own horn again quickly and say that Threshing the Grain is live. Actually on sale. A real, genuine book.

And I am very excited indeed, and more than a little nervous. It's an act of faith to write a book and perhaps an even greater one to send it forth into the world, to be read or ignored by the masses. Good luck, little book. May you make many friends--and may some of them not be afraid to share your name and face/cover in public places.

Contest! Win a copy of Threshing the Grain

2011-01-09T10:39:00.004-05:00

It's that time again! Comment before January 15 for a chance to win a copy of Threshing the Grain: Seasons of Sorania Cycle 3, which releases tomorrow from Phaze. (Edited because the book's now officially released into the wild!)

Dark fantasy romance with satyrs (the mysterious, sexy kind), demons (the scary, ugly kind), brave humans fighting against dangerous magic, and kinky sex (all the hot kinds). What's not to like?

New Book!

2011-01-06T20:18:00.003-05:00

I have a new book on the way. On January 10, Threshing the Grain releases from Phaze. Threshing the Grain is the third in the Seasons of Sorania Cycle from Phaze, fantasy romances rich in magic and kinky sex. This one features both a demon and satyrs!

Watch this space, because I'll do a giveaway as soon as I have copies!

Blurb:

Service. Honor. Sacrifice. Being a Soranian Lord or Lady means putting the needs of the land and its inhabitants before your own and performing the magic necessary to ensure good harvests and good health. Adimir, son of the Lord and Lady of Thelana, was raised to serve his estate and people and his physician-wife Miryea supports him—especially in the parts involving sex-magic and spanking.

But when portents suggest Adimir must give his life to destroy a demon, Miryea fights back with powers of her own, powers she’s still learning to use. An ancient, wise satyr from the hills of Thelana holds the secret to defeating the demon, but it’s trapped in his memory by magic. To release it, Miryea needs to take a leap of faith into the satyr’s arms and work sex magic and healing magic in ways she never knew she could.

She finds her answer, but it demands yet another shocking price. Can submissive Miryea find the courage to hurt and humble the man she loves in order to save him and the people of Thelana?

Excerpt:

[Miryea's] first vision--and so far their only shared vision--had followed the ritual spanking on the spring equinox.

“Should I…” he asked, and in answer, she shifted so she presented her ass to him.

“Make it hard,” she begged, although she didn’t know if that was the gods offering inspiration or her own instinct wanting the sharp, physical pain to offset the pain in her soul.

And he complied.

He used more force than he usually would, and the first few blows simply hurt. Tears filled her eyes and she bit into the bedclothes to keep from crying out in a way that would panic the servants.

She would endure. She owed it to Adimir.

More than endure, she would enjoy. She must enjoy, because she’d gain no visions if she felt no bliss.

As he continued, the throbbing pain began to transmute to reluctant pleasure, but her mind was distracted and her body wasn’t cooperating and the tears still threatened to come. She bit her lip to keep them back, although she felt like she was cutting off her desire as well.

Pleasure was there, just out of reach, but fear and despair blocked her. She squirmed, struggled, trying to get away from the pain--and, paradoxically, from the ecstasy that threatened to follow it, because what kind of woman would have orgasms when her husband’s life was in jeopardy?

“Let me try something,” Adimir took up her abandoned sash. “Put your hands behind your back,” he said, in a way that brooked no argument, a way that, despite everything, went straight to her clit.

She complied, and shuddered as he wrapped the embroidered red silk around her wrists, binding them together. She could still move, could still squirm away almost as easily as before, but safe in the silken bonds, she lost her will to do so. The simple binding made her his prisoner, removed her choice--

Let her open herself.

Off balance now, unable to hold herself up, she had no choice but to press herself forward, face among the bed-linens, ass in the air.

“Lovely,” he said, and sounded like he meant it.

A few more thwacks and she filled her mouth with wool and linen, trying not to weep, trying not to cry out from the tangled pain and pleasure and love and fear. Adimir pressed his free hand on the back of her neck, and the gentleness and strength behind that touch, the love and the authority, let her break down. Tears flowed as if she’d been holding them back for months rather than days. And as she cried, he stopped spanking her, cupped between her legs. His fingers found her clit, worked their magic as they always did.

It shouldn’t have been enough--enough to give her pleasure, certainly, but not enough to send her into the spirit world. But this time as the world started to shatter into bright shards of ecstasy, Miryea remembered something of her lessons in magic and sent a little of herself between those shards deliberately, for the first time ever.

The room blurred and spun. She closed her eyes and saw the harvest moon and the stars heavy above Thermanae, and felt a cool breeze scented with wild thyme and goat dung and smoke from an olive-wood fire, although it was still warm and humid in Arlind.

And when she opened them again, the harvest moon hung huge and red in the star-studded night sky, staining the harsh beauty of the hills not with blood, but wine. Never mind the full moon was still over a fortnight away, past the time of the Harvest Festival this year, and the hills of Thermanae were a day’s ride, and she was in the satrap’s palace in Arlind with her shutters closed and her face pressed into her bed-linens.

The Sexy Spelling Song

2010-12-20T19:50:00.002-05:00

This song is for everybody who's ever gotten a love letter and wanted to take a red pencil to it.

If I ever post a link that's entirely safe for work, I'll tell you. Otherwise, assume some naughtiness.

2010-12-20T19:36:00.003-05:00

The amazing author, editor and sex expert (isn't that a wonderful job title?) Violet Blue has released her 2010 list of "Top Sex Books for Gifting, Reading and Coveting" and great googly mooglies, I'm in two of them. (Violet Blue's site is delightful, but not even a little safe for work, unless you're self-employed.)

Best Bondage Erotica 2011 contains a reprint of one of my current favorite works, "Do You See What I Feel?" (It also contains the lovely "How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back" by Dayle writing as Andrea Dale.) Passion boasts "Getting It Right," which is a very romantic tale about very kinky sex--and communication.

Passion is already available as a Kindle edition if you want to hide naughty stories and a very sexy cover from children, parents, bosses or others who don't need to see your taste in reading material. I expect BBE '11 will follow suit shortly.

Amazing review of Restraint

2010-12-16T17:51:00.004-05:00

The reason this review is amazing is that the reviewer doesn't actually enjoy reading about the fairly extreme kinks I write about in Restraint--and yet ended up being impressed with the book.

Sexy steampunk

2010-12-01T19:43:00.002-05:00

Corsets and gadgetry are sexy! We all know that.

So I'm proud to announce I'm the lead story in the forthcoming anthology Carnal Machines. It's not out until May 1, but Amazon will send a gift card if you buy it for a sexy steampunk fan on your holiday list.

Here's the TOC. A bit of an unusual anthology in that I know less than half the people in it, but that's nice to see.

Human Powered by Teresa Noelle Roberts (hey, that's me!)

The Servant Question by Janine Ashbless

Slight of Hand by Renee Michaels

Mutiny on the Danika Blue by Poe Von Page

Deviant Devices by Kannan Feng

The Perfect Girl by Jay Lawrence

Dr. Mullaley's Cure by Delilah Devlin

Her Own Devices by Lisabet Sarai

Lair of the Red Countess by Kathleen Bradean

Infernal Machine by Elias A. St. James

Doctor Watson Makes a House Call by Essemoh Teepee

The Treatment by D. L. King

Lucifer Einstein and the Curious Case of the Carnal Contraption by Tracey Shellito

The Succubus by Elizabeth Schechter

Someday soon I'll do a non-promo post. Honestly.

A tease from "Getting It Right"

2010-11-10T19:52:00.004-05:00

Editor extraordinaire (and birthday girl) Rachel Kramer Bussel was featured on the Smutketeers blog today talking about Passion: Erotic Romance for Women. She and my Smutketeer buddy Eden Bradley shared an excerpt from my contribution to the book, "Getting It Right". Go check it out, but be warned: it's kinky*!

Comment and say what brings out your passionate side, be it something as innocent as cupcakes or something a bit racier, and you might win the book.

*Is "kinky" a warning or a recommendation? Around here it's both...

Signing papers and making changes

2010-11-04T15:56:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I signed a contract with Phaze for A Satyr for Midwinter. Gods and grid willing, it should be coming to your favorite e-book retailer sometime early next year, date TBD. I don't even have a firm pub date for Threshing the Grain yet, though, so "sometime early next year" will do for now.

Soon we'll be signing refinance paperwork, which will make the Cat-Herder and I very happy inasmuch as we'll have considerably lower mortgage payments.

And today I signed the offer letter for a new job--my first full-time job, other than writing, in more than five years. I've been working part-time, sometimes very part-time, for all those years, and this will be a huge change, affecting my writing and our home life in ways I'm trying not panic about.

The truth is, costs are rising faster than my husband's salary and my book sales can accomodate. This is a change we need to make. I'm fortunate that I found a job that sounds genuinely fun by my geeky standards. (It involves research!) And hey, it'll be good to go to work in something other than pajamas.

I'll have to be a lot stricter with myself about keeping to a writing schedule. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Especially during my unemployment, the amount of time I had became as much an obstacle as it was a gift. Far too easy to think "I'll work later" and then get distracted.

Wish me luck!

Happy November 1!

2010-11-01T10:01:00.002-04:00

I hope everyone had a fine Hallowe'en, full of fun, candy and costumes (and for those follow a pagan path, spiritual insight). For the first time in many years, we attended a party, a fairly small gathering of good friends at which we wore costumes (I was a cat), ate exceptional food and played "spooky" games such as Zombies and Give Me the Brains (zombies working in fast food, with one brain to share among the crew. Sounds an awful lot like some of my former jobs!)

For me, as a Celtic path pagan, today is the first full day of the new year. (I celebrate the standard New Year too, because it's fun.) I have a feeling this year will be...interesting but I'm going to leave it at that for now.

Today, for many of my friends, marks a beginning of a more secular kind. Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a challenge to produce a new 50K manuscript in a month. I'm not doing it this year because I have several projects to finish and need to direct my energy toward those. Plus, there's job-hunting. But new projects are always shinier than ones I've been struggling with, and the companionship in misery is always good.

Repeat after me: NOT THIS YEAR, TERESA! I will write like a good little writer--but I will not NaNo.

Trailer: Passion: Erotic Romance for Women

2010-10-30T17:48:00.000-04:00

One of the anthologies I've recently appeared in is Passion: Erotic Romance for Women. My contribution is "Getting It Right," a story that uses some very, very kinky sex (don't say you weren't warned) to show a loving couple's trust, communication, and ability to work through past mistakes and grow together. And did I mention the kinky sex?

The editor, Rachel Kramer Bussel, did a delightfully suggestive book trailer (linked below). There's no actual nudity, but people in various states of undress and naughty talk, so it's not exactly safe for work. (If you've never seen a picture of her, Rachel is seriously adorable--and so young!)

random nature notes out my window

2010-10-29T08:21:00.001-04:00

Some small bird--I think it's a nuthatch, but I'm not the best at avian identification--is flitting around my office window. It has a tasty seed in its sturdy little beak and should be content, but it seems to think there's something in or around the window frame that it really wants.

It's off again, but the little guy added a lively touch to my morning.

On another note, the three big oak trees in my back yard are an extraordinary shade of orange.

Speaking of good news...

2010-10-25T16:14:00.007-04:00

I just got word I'm in Rachel Kramer Bussel's Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex with a remarkably cheerful story about laughter and kinky sex.

And check out the cover. Is is not adorable with the cat wandering through the sexy scene? Looks like the kind of thing that could happen around here, except you'd never catch me in those heels and my cats are much fatter than the "cover model".

I'm back...

2010-10-25T15:45:00.005-04:00

and I can't say "better than ever," but I can certainly say "better than I was."

Hello, my name is Teresa Noelle Roberts and I suffer from occasional bouts of depression. And this summer and fall, even though many good things have been happening (book releases! short story publications! good friends getting married with me as matron of honor or, as we preferred to call it, Awesome Head Female! great vacation to Williamsburg, VA! highly successful garden! ongoing super-happy marriage and amazing friends!), I've been in a fairly bad place. I've been able to do what I had to do, but after that, my will and energy failed and I let a lot of projects slide, including this blog and my personal LiveJournal.

The good news is I'm coming out of the depression. The vacation helped, just a little time away from job-hunting (a task that these days is enough to send even Pollyanna into a funk, let alone someone who's prone to the blues) with good friends and focused on fun and geeking about food and history and often food history. I'll tell more vacation tales later, maybe with pictures.

Oddly, I think another thing that helped was the death of our beloved elder-kitty Measanan. It was terrible to lose him, but he was ancient by cat standards and obviously starting to fail. He wasn't in pain, but all summer, he's been at the point of being old and frail that if he didn't stir when I walked into the room, I'd run over to check that he was breathing. While his affectionate, purring black presence is much missed in the home office, I think waiting for the inevitable was more of a weight than I realized until the inevitable arrived and I could cry and let him go.

What does this all have to do with writing? Why am I sharing my struggles with depression on this blog? Partly it explains my absence. But there's more to my reasoning than just that. I'm not huge on revealing a lot about my personal life, at least the less than fun and positive bits, here. But I think this is important.

When I was a pre-published writer, I was sure that all my troubles, or at least my tendency toward these nasty slumps into darkness and inertia, would be solved upon publication. As it turns out, that's about as accurate as a single person thinking all problems will be solved by meeting the right partner. In case any pre-published writers (or single people, for that matter) who read this blog are subconsciously harboring that delusion, I'm here to say it's not true.

It's great to be published. It's a source of joy to me. I look at my bookcase full of print books and my files of e-books and I grin, even if I'm having a crummy day. Not to mention that it legitimizes spending time making up crazy stories. I'm going to make up the crazy stories one way or another, but getting paid for it is even more fun and keeps my mother from worrying she's raised a delusional slacker.

But I'm still occasionally depressed.

I adore my husband. Meeting him was the best thing that ever happened to me and I don't care how corny that sounds. We've been together for seventeen years and while I can't say it's always perfect, there hasn't been a day in those seventeen years when I haven't thanked whatever powers helped us find each other. We're stronger as a unit than we are separately. And that's not even getting into the parts of the relationship that inspires me to write naughty, sexy romances.

But I'm still occasionally depressed.

I have the best friends a woman could want, great cats, a comfortable home, a career I love. I also have something subtly odd in my brain chemistry that makes me have periods when, despite all the good in my life, I can see only the darker parts, the worrisome parts, the fears that, during these periods, grow all out of proportion. I've mentioned it to my mother before and she says "it's called being Irish," which may have some truth to it, or at least a narrative slant I prefer to defining it as a recurring sickness.

But whatever you call it, I've back from that unpleasant mental place now and I plan to be here more often, sharing good news.

Guest Post: Favorite Kick-Ass Heroines

2010-09-15T08:30:00.002-04:00

Today I welcome Fiona Jayde,a fellow Samhain author. Her motto is "Action Adventure Romance"--you can already see why I like her! Without further ado, here's Fiona to talk about kick-ass heroines and why she loves them.

With my upcoming release Night Haven featuring a kickass heroine, I thought it would be fun to list some of my favorite kickass heroines: :-)

1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer – I rewatch Buffy every year. (Those of you who know me probably aren’t surprised) I love everything about Buffy – she fights and embraces her destiny, she is as strong as she is vulnerable, she can kick major ass and yet fall head first in love like the rest of us.
2. Faith The Vampire Slayer – unlike Buffy, Faith seeks redemption.In her past, she used her gifts to hurt people, and now she is paying the price. There’s always something vulnerable about Faith –hidden deep under the tough girl clothes and f – u attitude.
3. Lt. Kara Thrace AKA Starbuck from the re-imagined BattleStar Galactica: a kickass pilot, a smart mouth, a headstrong stubborn willful arrogant woman who is told she is the harbinger of death and is terrified that she just might fulfill that prophecy.
4. Sarah Pezzini from Witchblade (The TV show): I can’t say I ever read the comic version, but I loved Yancy Bulter in this role. A tough NY cop who relies on tangible facts to do the job, Sarah must learn to trust and control the Witchblade before the Witchblade can control her. We never know if the Witchblade is a gift or a curse, but I loved trying to figure it out during the run of the series.
5. Eve Dallas from J.D. Robb’s In Death series. I adore Eve – she is tough on the outside and trying really hard to hide her inner softie. My favorite In Death book is the second in the series (Glory In Death) where Eve has to admit her feelings for Roarke – and the struggle of accepting her own emotions is incredibly moving.
6. Lt. B’Elanna Torrez from Star Trek Voyager. Half Klingon and half human, B’Elanna always struggles between the dualities of her nature. I’m always fascinated by characters who in conflict with their own nature – and B’Elanna is the epitome of this struggle.
7. Max from Dark Angel, played by Jessica Alba. Here’s a heroine who was literally created to kick ass and look good doing it. I loved Max’s determination to discover her past, her abilities and her humanity while using her skills to help people.

To The Readers – who are some of your favorite kickass heroines and why?

About Fiona:

Fiona Jayde is a space pilot, a ninth degree black belt in three styles of martial arts, a computer hacker, a mountain climber, a jazz singer, a weight lifter, a superspy with a talent for languages, and an evil genius.
All in her own head.

In life, she is an author of kickass, action packed, steamy romances, possesses a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do and blue belt in Aikido, a web developer, scared to death of heights, loves jazz piano, can bench-press about 20 pounds — with effort, was taught English by Nora Roberts and Growing Pains, and when not plotting murder and mayhem enjoys steamy romance novels, sexy spy thrillers, murky mysteries and movies where things frequently blow up.

She can be contacted by emailing her at fiona [at] fionajayde [dot][com]

A different kind of guest post

2010-09-11T21:35:00.000-04:00

If you've been paying attention, you've noticed I've been guest blogging all over the place.

Today I did another one, hosted by the lovely, talented and terrifyingly prolific Delilah Devlin. Only today's is a bit different. It has a link to my latest book, sure but I'm talking about Flags on the 48, a hikers' commemoration of 9/11/01, and a bit about 2020 Vision Quest, an inspiring non-profit founded by a friend, and a bit about changing the story you've been handed to something better.

Check it out.

Randy Pierce: Blind to Failure Video

2010-09-07T09:23:00.000-04:00

Nothing to do with writing this time, although a number of books, from adventure to romance* to nonfiction** could be spun off from this story.

Randy Pierce: Blind to Failure Video

One of my real-life heroes, caught on film.

* Position of real-life heroine has been filled but that doesn't mean you writers of contemporaries can't invent your own story. It might be almost as good as the real one.

** I suspect he'll take care of that one himself. Yeah, he writes too.

Much Ado about Earl

2010-09-04T09:27:00.000-04:00

We did not get a hurricane yesterday or even a proper tropical storm in this part of Massachusetts. Even the Cape and Islands, which had been bracing for trouble, got brushed rather than hit full on and, judging from the pictures I've seen, it turned into a party atmosphere. As people realized they were getting wild surf and rain, but not the fierce storm they'd feared, they headed out to the beaches.

I think it's windier here today than it got last night, and by windy I mean normal late summer/early fall occasional gusts.

But I can't deny that the passage of a hurricane, even well off the coast and much diminished in strength, affects me in a curious way. I was antsy, unable to focus on anything except reading, keyed up, ready to jump out of my skin. If Himself had been home, I'm sure I could have found an outlet for the restlessness :-) or we might have ended up joining the slightly mad people watching the surf. As it was, I picked up books and put them down, started projects and couldn't finish them, felt exhausted but couldn't contemplate sleep, read great chunks of a book review blog without absorbing much of anything or remembering to write down the titles of books that sounded interesting. When I finally went to bed, I tossed and turned restlessly, even though I'd finally headed upstairs around 1. Eventually, though, surrounded by cats, I passed out.

And woke up full of energy to bright, clear weather.

Any interesting Earl stories where you were? Not too interesting, I hope!

Guest blogging

2010-08-31T10:19:00.002-04:00

I'm guest-blogging today at Nine Naughty Novelists.

Stop by, read about why I love roguish, verbally adept heroes, and comment for a chance to win a copy of Foxes' Den, whose heroes are classic examples of the type. But what would you expect from a fox dual and a witch?

Catching up

2010-08-31T10:12:00.003-04:00

My goodness, where have I been the past two weeks? Finishing up the draft of what used to be The Longest Night but is now A Satyr for Midwinter, because too many people commented the former sounded like it might involve zombies, not romance and hot sex with a supernatural being. Enjoying the most amazing fireworks display I've ever seen, except for all the previous years' Jaffrey Fireworks Festivals, with a group of good friends. (Seriously, if you love fireworks and are anywhere near New Hampshire, mark the 2011 date on your calendar now and make plans to be there. Looking for a day job. Doing a few vacationy type things, like going to the beach.

And buying a new car (2010 Hyundai Accent, if you're curious)--my first brand-new car ever! The lousy economy has one good facet; the salesman was willing to make a major deal to get the thing off his lot, since the 2011s are already the "current year." It sounds like a crazy thing to do when I'm out of work, but our old vehicle was on its last legs and we were already planning to bite the bullet and buy a new-to-us car. The deal was such it actually made sense to buy brand-new than to go over all creation looking for the right used car and paying a much higher rate for financing.

Today, though, I'm back to the enjoyable grind of writing and promo. Watch this space in a few minutes for more on the promo side of things.

Guest blogging

2010-08-11T08:50:00.002-04:00

I'm guest blogging for the lovely Leah Braemel today about my favorite productive time waster. Admit to yours in a comment and you could win a copy of either Lions' Pride or Foxes' Den.
http://leahbraemel.blogspot.com/2010/08/guest-blogger-teresa-noelle-roberts.html?zx=1b6179216475c3a7

Check it out! (And many thanks to Leah for hosting.)

The foxes are here!

2010-08-03T12:31:00.003-04:00

Foxes' Den is live at Samhain!

Remember: e-books are instant gratification. You can hit the order button now and spend your lunch hour with an incredibly hot, smart Donovan witch, his foxy fox husband, and a kitsune in the kind of trouble only sex-magic can cure.

You know you want to!

Foxes' Den Excerpt...

2010-08-02T15:28:00.003-04:00

Foxes' Den releases tomorrow! Here's a taste.

The being who currently called herself Akane Moritomo froze.

The hair on the back of her neck prickled, not entirely unpleasantly.

Someone recognized her for what she was. The curse had left her with that pathetically small power, to know such things.

No one had recognized her in decades. Even trapped in this form, she’d occasionally be spotted in Japan. But never in America.

This time, she had been.

Cautiously, pretending she was retying her boot, she scanned the people around her, looking for someone who was not the ordinary human he or she appeared to be.

The Agency?

Her heart raced, though once she would have scoffed at mortals trying to capture her. If the Agency discovered she was a non-human Different passing for human, even though she’d taken care to do no harm in this form, she might be deported back to Japan. The shame of that would be unendurable. The confinement beforehand would be worse.

She’d die inside. But trapped in human form, she couldn’t even will her own fading as a kitsune should when her heart was broken.

Something caught the sharper senses that still simmered below the dull human form. Someone in the outdoor café was not what they appeared. Might be Agency. Might be a potential ally. In either case, it was worth checking out. These days she might not be able to perceive more than, say, a half-trained mortal witch, but any information was better than operating blind.

It wasn’t the dreadlocked student bent over her books or the old couple sharing a piece of cake. She turned her attention to the two young men holding hands at a table off to the side.

For a second, she studied them with her merely human senses, appreciating the view. One was tall and elegantly lean and so blue-eyed she could make it out from across the street, his dark hair worn long and loose, waving past his shoulders in a sweep most women would envy. The other was shorter and solidly built, broad shouldered, with a collar-length, red ponytail and a warm smile. Not for her, not from the way they seemed to shut out the street and its noise to be together in their own world. She knew better now. But their sheer beauty made her shiver.

Beauty didn’t prove a thing. Masao and Hiro had been beautiful too, and look where that had gotten her.

She turned her other senses, hampered though they were, on the handsome couple.

Maybe it was a good thing they didn’t work as well as they ought to. After so long in the human world, using human senses, she had to blink, protecting her eyes against the blinding glare of power from the dark-haired one. It poured off him in streams of healing white, herbalist green, psychic blue and the vivid crimson of sex magic.

Nothing dark, though. No demon taint or hint of blood magic on that one. Just strong, well-trained, positive power. The few times she’d met a witch in America, their magic was weak, wild, disordered, or tainted with impure practices. She’d known there were powerful witch families in America, but, as in Japan, they kept to themselves and came forward only when they felt there was need.

Had her need for release finally called out to one of them?

His power certainly called to her. He might have the knowledge to free her after two hundred years of suffering. It was unlikely—after all, the conditions of her curse were stringent and specific—but if anyone would know how to get around them, it would be a strong, well-trained witch with powerful red magic.

And if he didn’t have a clue? At this point in her unwanted mortal life, Akane would take what fun she could get, and chatting with a handsome man would brighten her day.

Even if he was holding hands with another handsome man, which meant he was off-limits.

She crossed the street without looking, shrugging off the squeal of brakes and the “Hey, watch it!” from a bike messenger who barely missed her.

It was only when she got closer that she sensed what his partner was.

Fox.

Not like her. He had the sweet, hot, alluring smell of mortality on him as much as any human, and besides, there were no males of her kind. A dual-natured one, with a fox who walked inside his human appearance, waiting to come out to play.

Until you lie with a male of your kind, Hiro had said when he’d cursed her. There were no male kitsune. But perhaps coupled with the other’s powerful magics, the fox dual would do.

Akane knew the Japanese forms for petitioning a powerful wielder of magic, an elegant, subtle dance like much in Japanese culture both human and Different. This young country, though, favored directness.

All her instincts told her to bow, but she’d been in America long enough to know better. Instead, she walked over to the handsome witch. Making herself look at him instead of the equally attractive fox, she said, “Please. I need your help.”

It was the fox who answered, though, with a winning smile and a hint of the southeastern states in his accent. “We thought you’d never ask, darlin’. Paul and I have been looking for you for weeks now. He dreamed of you for a few months before that, but it took a while to narrow down where you might be. And I don’t know about you, Ms. Foxy Lady, but I am past ready to get out of this city.” He twitched, a twitch she recognized all too well. The fur beneath his human appearance wanted out, and his fox-nature was restless among tall buildings and concrete.

“I’m Paul Donovan,” the dark-haired one said simply. “I’m a witch and a true-dreamer. I’ve been dreaming of you since sometime after Midsummer.” When she’d moved to the area, led by her own dreams of release. “And you are a kitsune who has a serious problem that can be solved only by sex magic. From the look of your aura, I’d say it’s a sorcerous curse.”

“I’m trapped in human form. Have been for two hundred years.” She realized her voice was barely audible. After all this time, the curse was still a cause for shame. She’d brought it on herself, after all. But she’d learned her lesson. “Please. I need my own body back. I’ve almost lost hope.”

Paul smiled reassuringly. It lit up his blue eyes like sun on the ocean. “Sex magic is a Donovan specialty, as is healing—and removing a curse that’s tormented you for so long is definitely healing. I’d like to take you home with us and see what we can do to get you back to your proper form.”

She nodded, stunned by how much he already knew and even more so by his confidence. He must have been sure she was the right woman, because the things he was saying would get a man into all kinds of trouble if she hadn’t truly been a kitsune who needed witchy help.

He reached out, took her hand. His grip was strong, although his hands were smooth, belonging to a man who used his brains more often than his brawn.

Inari protect her, he was a beautiful man.

He ran his fingers lightly over her palm, and raw red magic coursed through the mere touch. Akane clenched a little. She didn’t dare look, but she was sure her erect nipples must be clearly visible under the ugly shirt.

While her blood was still racing, he slipped his hand away and moved it under the table. She suspected it was on his lover’s thigh. Still, it would seem Paul was not unattracted.

Even a gloriously handsome sex-witch couldn’t put that much sensuality into a minor caress if there wasn’t some real interest.

The redhead chuckled and held out his hand in turn.

When she took it, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, an old-fashioned, gentlemanly gesture—or it would have been if he hadn’t held her gaze so intimately as he did it. “Delighted to meet you,” he said, the honey in his voice laced with smoke and bourbon. “I’m Taggart Ross-Donovan, the witch’s chauffeur, muscle, designated rogue, and husband.” He looked up and down her body in a most appreciative way, as if he saw through the ugly clothes to the body underneath—and perhaps through that body to her real one.

“Akane.” No need to bother with the last name. They’d know it was assumed, that she had come into existence centuries before the custom of surnames had. “And you’re a fox.”

I've been interviewed

2010-08-02T14:51:00.001-04:00

Today, I'm being interviewed at Debra Parmley's blog, Make-Believe Mondays.

Which is insanely timely because Foxes' Den comes out tomorrow!

Congratulatins, Kari

2010-07-11T11:20:00.002-04:00

The winner of my Lions' Pride contest--randomly chosen by Random by rolling a D20--is Kari Thomas. Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone for all the wacky shifter suggestions. My Muse has them all under consideration, although she's telling something like a squirrel or a lemur would have to be a sidekick. (Nothing wrong with that. Heroes and heroines need buddies and think what a lemur's tiny opposable thumbs and disarming cuteness could do in the cause of righteousness.) Bird of prey, sea critter and mongoose are the top choices, or maybe a hyena who wants to "go straight", but we'll see what my Muse decides to do with all of them. I have to say I love the whale idea, but for the insanely cool great whales, the logistics don't work.

It's a contest!

2010-07-07T08:46:00.003-04:00

Just comment here by July 11 (because I'll have time to deal with it by then) and you could win a print copy of Lions' Pride.

In the comment, mention what your favorite unusual animal you'd like to see as a shifter hero/heroine. Who knows? You may also win a dedication in a future Duals and Donovans book for inspiring my aardvark dual hero. (OK, not an aardvark, though he might make a rockin' best buddy, kind of round and slow-moving and not too bright, but able to be a comical speed bump who helps foil the bad guys by tripping them up.)

completely unrelated to writing

2010-07-06T22:00:00.003-04:00

But these shoes are made of awesome.

I could write a story around them. And perhaps I will.

It's entirely possible that some Donovan lad needs to meet a magical cat-girl.

It's print release date for Lions' Pride!

2010-07-06T08:46:00.000-04:00

My lions are officially on the prowl today. Those of you who preordered from Amazon may have yours already. But by today, they may be roaming the aisles of a bookstore near you, just waiting for you to pick them up and take them home.

Okay, I'd love to run into Rafe and Jude, or Elissa for that matter, looking to be picked up in my local bookstore, but it's already way too hot without thinking about exotic, well-built men and sexy, magical redheads. Wait a minute--it's never too hot to think about that sort of thing! Get a cool drink and join me in happy thoughts...

But we'll never get to work at this rate, will we? So what I meant to say is check the romance section of your favorite bookstore, or go to your favorite online retailer.

Or buy it directly! I love people who buy from My Bookstore and More, because I get more royalties. Which means I can buy other people's books.

http://samhainpublishing.com/print/lions-pride-print

Have you hugged a print book today?

2010-07-05T13:26:00.004-04:00

I write ebooks. I read ebooks. I love ebooks. Ebooks are eco-friendly in some aspects, though the devices you read them on aren't. Ebooks are great if you're on the go, or if you're visually impaired.

But I'm a sucker for print. Call me old-fashioned, but print, to me, has many wonderful aspects.

A print book can go anywhere with you, without the need to buy some pricey bit of electronic gadgetry to make it possible. Kindles and other readers sound like great toys, but I'm a bit of a Luddite and more than a bit cheap, so I'm still reading ebooks on my computer. Nice big screen, and my desk chair is one of the most comfortable seats in the house, but it's hard to read a few pages during my lunch break or while I'm waiting for the dentist.

A print book is sensory. It has a shape, a texture, a scent. There's a new-book smell, and there are a million variants of used-book smells. Some, granted, are more pleasant than others--I just read a library book that had been living with a smoker and I found my nose and eyes itching. But twenty years after her death, my grandmother's books still hold a faint aura of peppermint and lavender. You don't get that with ebooks.

A print book can be shared legally. As a writer, I love it when people buy my books. But I'm also a reader. I know the best way to fall in love with a new author is to have a friend hand you a book and say, "Read this! It's great." Sure, people do this with ebooks, but it's against the law--and totally defeats the author's hope that, when your friend tries to take back her book, one of you will end up having to buy another copy.

You can read print books faster, so you can get through your TBR pile faster. According to one article I stumbled across recently, it's slower to read on a Kindle or iPad than to read print. You have to wait for the next page to display, you see, and sometimes that just takes too long, if the page break falls in the middle of a sex scene or a big battle or something else where you just can't bear to wait.

It's easier to skip ahead to the ending in a print book. Which, according to my husband, is a bad thing, but sometimes I can't stand the suspense and have to see that both hero and heroine will survive to the end. (I read a lot of urban fantasy. Survival of the love interest, at least in a non-zombified form, is not always obvious.)

My mom will read print books. Which, given what I write, isn't necessarily a good thing, but I like to know she can read my books if she chooses to. And your mom and everyone else's mom will read print books. So your mom can buy my books and my mom can read buy books and each can pretend her darling daughter isn't writing sexy paranormals.

Most of all, print books are comfortable and comforting. There are pictures of me as a tiny child hugging my books the way another kid might hug a stuffed animal. (What can I say? I come from a long line of geeky academic types.) Many years later, I still regard my print books like teddy bears or security blankets.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying "Lions' Pride releases in print tomorrow and I'm so excited I'm ready to dance around like an idiot."

Where do you fall on the print versus ebook scale? Or do you care about format as long as you can read it?

Win a Sony eReader and join the celebration of Lions' Pride

2010-06-26T07:28:00.003-04:00

Lions' Pride releases in print on July 6. (I bet you're sick of hearing that by now.) To celebrate, I'm joining in Tilly Greene's amazing Huge Reader Contest. This month, all month long, she's been telling readers to comment on her blog for a chance to win a Sony eReader (pink--sorry, guys but I bet I know someone who can make you a nice black leather case for it) or bunches of swag.

And today it's my turn to do a guest post featuring Lions' Pride. Go forth and comment. Comment on some of the older posts too. I'd love to see one of my readers win, since I'm not eligible.

2010-06-19T12:10:00.003-04:00

Foxes' Den is on the Samhain coming soon page.

And isn't the cover GORGEOUS?

If I'm a legend, how come I have to go to work today?

2010-06-18T08:47:00.003-04:00

This just in (via my amazing coauthor Dayle, whose Google alerts must work better than mine).

Editor, sexuality educator/activist and all around phenomenal woman Violet Blue was talking on her blog about her new, Independent Book Publishers Award winning anthology Sweet Love: Erotic Fantasies for Couples and said this:

"The book includes legendary erotica heavy-hitters such as... Andrea Dayle [that's Dayle] ... Teresa Noelle Roberts...and many more."

We're legendary erotica heavy-hitters? Who, me? I haven't hit anyone since one drunken night in college when Gregg's ex-boyfriend got too obnoxious. (The folks I used to fence with can verify I can't even hit bring myself anyone with a pointy object if they're in proper protective gear!)

The book includes such real erotica legends as Thomas Roche, Alison Tyler (both of whom have edited me in the past) and a slew of others. I'm honored even to be there, let alone compared to such greats.

Later I'll have more exciting news, but my time here is done. Boy howdy is it!

CAVEAT: Violet Blue's site isn't even remotely safe for work. It's tasteful and fun and not likely to offend most of my regular readers, but it's not for the office.

Squee! Books! I have books!

2010-06-16T08:18:00.004-04:00

Please note the actual, 3-D books!, with spines and shiny paper covers. They're real! They really exist! They're available for pre-order on Amazon.com and, I'm sure, other online bookstores as well. And they're coming soon to a bookstore near you, though in smaller or more conservative communities, you may need them special-ordered. So special order them--annoy the stuffy!

And check back soon. I'm going to be giving away one of those pretty shiny books right here!

In other exciting news, I'm blogging today at Dawn's Reading Nook, aka Loves Books and More. Drop in!

And Foxes' Den is on the Samhain "Coming Soon" page. Alas, my cover isn't ready, but I've seen an early version and it's gonna be gorgeous!

Enough bragging for now. Must get to work.

We interrupt this internet

2010-06-01T21:53:00.002-04:00

to tell you Foxes' Den has a new and improved release date of August 3, 2010.

The sooner the better, I say!

And to celebrate, here's an excerpt:

The being who currently called herself Akane Moritomo froze.

The hair on the back of her neck prickled, not entirely unpleasantly.

Someone recognized her for what she was. The curse had left her with that pathetically small power, to know such things.

No one had recognized her in decades. Even trapped in this form, she’d occasionally be spotted in Japan. But never in America.

This time, she had been.

Cautiously, pretending she was retying her boot, she scanned the people around her, looking for someone who was not the ordinary human he or she appeared to be.

The Agency?

Her heart raced, though once she would have scoffed at mortals trying to capture her. If the Agency discovered she was a non-human Different passing for human, even though she’d taken care to do no harm in this form, she might be deported back to Japan. The shame of that would be unendurable. The confinement beforehand would be worse.

She’d die inside. But trapped in human form, she couldn’t even will her own fading as a kitsune should when her heart was broken.

Something caught the sharper senses that still simmered below the dull human form. Someone in the outdoor café was not what they appeared. Might be Agency. Might be a potential ally. In either case, it was worth checking out. These days she might not be able to perceive more than, say, a half-trained mortal witch, but any information was better than operating blind.

It wasn’t the dreadlocked student bent over her books or the old couple sharing a piece of cake. She turned her attention to the two young men holding hands at a table off to the side.

For a second, she studied them with her merely human senses, appreciating the view. One was tall and elegantly lean and so blue-eyed she could make it out from across the street, his dark hair worn long and loose, waving past his shoulders in a sweep most women would envy. The other was shorter and solidly built, broad shouldered, with a collar-length, red ponytail and a warm smile. Not for her, not from the way they seemed to shut out the street and its noise to be together in their own world. She knew better now. But their sheer beauty made her shiver.

Beauty didn’t prove a thing. Masao and Hiro had been beautiful too, and look where that had gotten her.

She turned her other senses, hampered though they were, on the handsome couple.

Maybe it was a good thing they didn’t work as well as they ought to. After so long in the human world, using human senses, she had to blink, protecting her eyes against the blinding glare of power from the dark-haired one. It poured off him in streams of healing white, herbalist green, psychic blue and the vivid crimson of sex magic.

Nothing dark, though. No demon taint or hint of blood magic on that one. Just strong, well-trained, positive power. The few times she’d met a witch in America, their magic was weak, wild, disordered, or tainted with impure practices. She’d known there were powerful witch families in America, but, as in Japan, they kept to themselves and came forward only when they felt there was need.

Had her need for release finally called out to one of them?

His power certainly called to her. He might have the knowledge to free her after two hundred years of suffering. It was unlikely—after all, the conditions of her curse were stringent and specific—but if anyone would know how to get around them, it would be a strong, well-trained witch with powerful red magic.

And if he didn’t have a clue? At this point in her unwanted mortal life, Akane would take what fun she could get, and chatting with a handsome man would brighten her day.

Even if he was holding hands with another handsome man, which meant he was off-limits.

She crossed the street without looking, shrugging off the squeal of brakes and the “Hey, watch it!” from a bike messenger who barely missed her.

It was only when she got closer that she sensed what his partner was.

Fox.

Not like her. He had the sweet, hot, alluring smell of mortality on him as much as any human, and besides, there were no males of her kind. A dual-natured one, with a fox who walked inside his human appearance, waiting to come out to play.

2010-05-23T09:29:00.002-04:00

In other news, I've been writing away and attempting to get my vegetable garden in.

"Vegetable garden?", you say. "How hard can that be?", you say. (I'm postulating an imagined you who doesn't do a lot of gardening.)

It probably wouldn't be nearly so much work if I wasn't trying to grow a substantial percentage of our food. The other day, I put in 40 tomato plants, all with individual cardboard "Elizabethan collars" to prevent cutworm damage. (Planting the tomatoes wasn't so bad, but fiddling with the bits of toilet paper roll was a pest.) Yesterday I did the same with peppers--a blessedly fewer number--and basil and parsley. Today I need to rake and till the remaining two beds and put in four different kinds of squash and four different kinds of beans.

And hill up the potatoes.

And weed.

The Cat-Herder helps. I imagine he'll do the raking and tilling and put in the poles for the pole beans--one variety requires 8-foot poles and short as I am, it's much easier to let the big guy handle that.

But I do most it myself, and I couldn't be happier.

At this time of spring, the garden can seem overwhelming, but I wouldn't give it up. I love the results and for the most part I love the work. OK, weeding not so, but I love playing with plants, having my hands in the dirt, watching things grow. I love feeling that we have a bit of independence from the system of large-scale agriculture dependent on dangerous chemicals and illegal immigrants working for next to nothing. I love being able to stroll out at dinner time and pick part of dinner. I love getting up before the day job and wandering out in my bathrobe to water the container plants and pick a salad--it grounds me and gives me perspective on a day spent, out of necessity, doing rather boring tasks that make a lot of money for someone else and far less for me when I'd rather be home writing or playing in said garden.

My life is full of meaning.

I create stories. I create food.

Two of humanity's basic needs and, from the sweat of my brow and the sweat of my brain, I can produce them. How cool is that!

More shameless self-promotion

2010-05-23T09:28:00.000-04:00

Hey, if I don't do it, who will?

Another Lions' Pride excerpt is up at Coffee Time Romance. Go, read, comment, and possibly win a book. Then click up the thread and find many other excerpts from fun books by my fellow Samhain authors.

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/board/showthread.php?p=119795#post119795

Oh my goodness--we are winners!

2010-05-15T09:34:00.006-04:00

In my flurry of busy-ness, I'd neglected to post that two anthologies that contain my stories were finalists for IPPYs (or is that IPPIES?), the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Today I just learned, courtesy of the much more on top of things Dayle A. Dermatis (my amazing co-author when we write as Sophie Mouette), that these anthologies tied for first place in the erotica category.

The winners are:
Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Cleis Press) and Sweet Love: Erotic Fantasies for Couples, edited by Violet Blue (Cleis Press).

Congratulations to everyone in the anthologies and especially to the wonderful, hard-working editors, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Violet Blue.

Promo and hot excerpt alert

2010-05-10T21:02:00.001-04:00

First off, I'm embarrassed I've neglected this blog for so long. The good news is that I've been writing and living instead of blogging. The bad news is you've probably forgotten all about me by now.

But here's something that might remind you who I am. Remember me talking about the second Duals and Donovans book, Foxes' Den?

It's coming out in August, but you can read a sexy excerpt now and have a chance to win it as soon as I get my own copies! Check out the Spring Showers promo at Coffee Time Romance. (You have to register, but all you need is an email and username.) While you're there, track up the thread and see all the other hot, hot, hot excerpts from my fellow Samhain authors.

And you could win fabulous prizes from me or any of the many authors involved. Who knows, you might find a new favorite, though I might cry if it's not me!

Keep checking back at Coffee Time. New excerpts will go up all month long.

And maybe I'll manage to get a few posts up here this month too.

2010-03-15T10:58:00.002-04:00

Passed on by my very dear friend Random--an oldie but a goodie.

Mind you, I have nothing against hot men doing housework. It delights me that the Cat-Herder bakes bread and that the aforementioned Random folds laundry more tidily than I do. But it's not porn. It's just part of life.

And if the people who compiled that Porn for Women, which is a real book, think men doing housework is fantasy, they need to upgrade the men in their lives.

Just saying.

Squees all around

2010-03-08T12:05:00.002-05:00

Coming Together: Against the Odds won the 2010 Eppie for Best Erotica/Erotic Romance Anthology.

Both Dayle and I are in it, along with other great authors. (Dayle's writing under her Andrea Dale pseudonym.)

And it's a charity anthology, supporting autism research.

And it's hot.

You want to buy it. You know you do.

And in completely unrelated news, my friend's baby, affectionately dubbed the Littlest Ochodan or Mr. Baby (as of Saturday the parents were still pondering names) is on his way.

Multi-squee! Awards! Babies! And it's gorgeous today! Not that I've left the house yet. In fact I'm still in my bathrobe because every time I mean to go get dressed, something else happens. But hey, that's life some days.

The Love Story Formula

2010-03-04T08:00:00.001-05:00

A guest post by Erin Nicholas

“And here’s the she’s-so-sad-because-she-loves-him-but-she-screwed-up-and-now-they’re-going-to-break- up music”.

I turn to my thirteen-year-old daughter. “What do you mean?”

She rolls her eyes. “This is the part of the movie where we’re supposed to think they’re breaking up but they’ll end up back together.”

No, this isn’t a movie she’s seen before. But obviously she’s figured out the formula. She can pick out the hero within a couple of minutes of seeing him on screen, knows to expect a dark moment, and knows that it in no way means that they won’t end up together.

I’m trying to make her into a romantic. A challenge as she got a healthy dose of cynicism and sarcasm from her dad. (I love the man, I really do. But he is extremely hard to impress. Incidentally, I’ve always taken that as a compliment! He’s hung out with me for almost 20 years now all together so I tell myself I’ve impressed him, at least in some ways!:-))

So, does knowing the formula make it less entertaining getting from point A to point Z?

I personally don’t think so. Then again, I may not be the best judge. I write romance novels. :-)

But, as I’ve tried to explain to my husband, what I like about romances (books and movies) is exactly what makes him roll his eyes: the formula. The predictability. The guarantee.

For me, the only thing that has to be a for sure is that point Z includes a happily ever after. The fun is seeing what happens between say A and M, or M and P. Okay, so they end up together, but there are so many things that can happen in between. That’s the part I love as a reader. And a writer. How is this love story different from any other? Because they all are. Even in the real world, right?

And that’s what I write. Love stories with happily ever afters… and lots of curves and bumps and detours along the way! (Can’t make it easy on them right?)

Because of my love or romance, I’ve always been fascinated with asking people how they met their spouse. What is their story? I’m also interested in how different stories end. Were they together for 60 years and one of them passed away? Were they together for 6 years and they grew apart? Did they have a dark moment but then came back together for their happily ever after?

My husband and I met when we were counselors at a summer camp. We were friends for six years. He was my go-to guy. The guy-friend who would put on a tie and be my date if I didn’t have one. The guy who interpreted what other guys were saying or doing for me. Okay, the guy who would buy me and my friends beer for our weekend college parties before we were old enough. I was the girl who would go to dinner with his parents when they came to town for the weekend. The girl who would make cookies and lasagna for him and his buddies. The girl who was friends with one of his girlfriends and helped him through their break-up.

Then suddenly one night he was dropping me off at my house and I said, “Have you ever thought about us being more than friends?”

He had.

We were engaged seven months later and have been married for almost 15 years.

How about you? What’s your story?

Anybody who tells their story, or a favorite true love story (maybe parents or grandparents? Best friend?) will get a sneak peek of chapter one of my March 30th release Just Right! Be sure to include your e-mail address in your answer!!

And here’s the blurb and an excerpt from Just Right! Check the whole thing out March 30th from Samhain Publishing!

Blurb:
ER nurse Jessica Bradford is a good girl. Okay, more like a reformed bad girl, determined to be the woman her late father wanted her to be. And she’s sworn off bad boys. Definitely. Instead she wants someone like Dr. Ben Torres: responsible, dedicated, selfless. The tall, dark and handsome part is just a bonus.

What a difference twenty-four hours can make. Yesterday Ben was incredibly handsome, too sexy for words and definitely one of the good guys. Now he’s just incredibly handsome and too sexy for Jessica’s own good. Yet she still wants him like ice cream wants hot fudge.

Ben’s done being everybody’s hero. What’s being a trauma surgeon ever gotten him but late hours, patients who don’t remember his name and a whole lot of frustration? He can’t even seduce Jessica, and her bright red thong, because of work rules. So he quits. Or to be more exact, gets suspended.

Jessica can’t believe Ben is acting more like a kid in a candy store than a man who’s about to throw his career away. When she’s manipulated into babysitting him, she does her best to keep him out of trouble—except trouble is all Ben’s interested in. And suddenly Jessica’s having trouble remembering why that’s a bad thing…

Excerpt:

“I’m in.”
Ben turned to see Jessica standing next to Hank, shoes off, holding a pool cue.
“Do you know how?” Ben asked, smiling at the picture she presented. This wasn’t the type of place he’d ever pictured her in, but she seemed to be adjusting…almost getting comfortable. Interesting. Very interesting.
“As bad as you suck, I’m not sure it matters if I know how,” she said. “But yeah, I’ve played.”
“By all means,” Ben said, gesturing at the table. “Show me what you’ve got.”
“I think we need to establish what the stakes are.” Jessica rubbed the little blue square of chalk over the end of her stick as she watched him.
He shrugged. “I’ve only got about fifty bucks left.”
Jessica moved into position to break. She leaned over the end of the table, her skirt riding up on the backs of her thighs, positioned the cue between her first two right-handed fingers and lined up her shot.
And he might let her win if it kept her standing like that.
“If I win, you let me take you home, finally.” She looked at him over her shoulder and smiled knowingly when she caught him studying her posterior assets.
“Okay.” This pool game suddenly seemed like the best idea he’d had in a long time.
Jessica looked smug as she turned back to line up her shot again.
“Don’t you want to know what I want if I win?” Ben asked, blatantly taking in the view.
“Sure. What do you want?”
“The next forty-eight hours with you.”
She stared at him over her shoulder, then straightened and faced him. “What?”
“If I win, you spend the next forty-eight hours with me.”
“Just like that?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. You drive me home and then you stay.”
“I’ve, um. I’ve got…stuff to do.”
“Call in sick.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’m not sick.”
Ben shook his head. “And you won’t lie about something like that, right? It would be irresponsible.”
Jessica raised her eyebrows. “Of course it would be.”
Ben sighed. It was typical that the first woman he wanted to sleep with in far too long to remember was a good girl.
Ben rested a hip against the pool table and regarded Jessica. “What happens when you want to spend the whole day in bed?”

That annoying little flippy-thing happened in Jessica’s stomach again. It had been a long time since she’d wanted to stay in bed for the reasons Ben was implying. But, yeah, he had a point. If that happened, what would she do?
She cleared her throat. “I could put the stuff off until later, I guess.”
“I want you to spend the whole day with me,” Ben said seriously. “Two days, actually. Forty-eight hours.” Then he shrugged. “I can probably find someone else that would be
interested though. Since you’re too busy.”
Jessica frowned. Come to think of it, she did feel ill when she thought of Ben with any other woman.
“Fine. My stuff can wait.”
Ben straightened and looked at her for a moment before he asked, “But you won’t lie about being sick, right?”
“I’m not sick,” she repeated. “But I’ll take care of it.”
“I’m sure you will,” he said, almost to himself. But before she could ask him what he meant he said, “So, it’s an enthusiastic yes?”
“It’s a reluctant fine.”
He grinned. “Good enough.”
Jessica broke the triangle of balls apart with a resounding clack…and went on to sink five of her seven balls before even pausing to survey the table.
Ben was staring at the pocket into which yet another striped ball had fallen when she turned to smile at him smugly. It was worth all the irritation to see that look on his face.
She walked around the edge of the table to position her next shot. As she pulled her cue back she was confident that she would only need one more shot after this. But as she started her forward motion, Ben leaned over.
“Look at this picture,” he said softly. “A long stick, hard balls, you bent over the table…”
She missed.
Jessica stared at the ball that had bounced off the edge of the table and rolled back toward her. Damn. That should have been an easy shot.
Ben laughed and came around the corner of the table. He nudged her aside with his hip against hers.
“Okay, big shot. Let’s see if you can win without me letting you.” She slid over only enough to let him line up his shot and crossed her arms.
Ben lined up the shot and Jessica watched and heard the balls smack together, then the dull thud of them falling into the pockets: two balls in the same shot, in the two corner pockets on the opposite end of the table. It was a brilliant shot. The shot of someone who had played a lot. Not the shot of someone who had been losing money at the game. Not the shot of someone who had been drinking heavily.
He continued shooting until no solid balls were left on the green surface.
“Game over,” Ben announced as the eight ball was still rolling down the shoot. He tossed his pool cue onto the table and lifted the beer mug, finishing off the last half.
She was still staring at the table.
“Let’s go.” Ben took her hand and started toward the door without a word to any of the people he’d spent the better part of his night, and wallet, on.
“You could have done that all along, couldn’t you?” she asked, grabbing her purse off the sticky tabletop as they passed and then tripping along behind him.
He glanced back at the table. “Yeah, probably.”
“Why didn’t you? With those guys? Why drop all that money?” she asked as he pulled her out the door and into the parking lot.
He shrugged. “No motivation to win.”
Jessica suddenly realized that she might have her hands full with Ben. Still stunned over how he’d finished the pool game just as she’d been completely convinced he could barely walk a straight line, Jessica stopped at her car door and inserted the key to unlock it. She might have her hands too full with him she amended. And not in a good way.

2010-03-03T08:44:00.000-05:00

I'm guest blogging today at Whipped Cream Reviews about why I find it easier to write believably about vampires and were-critters than to make the big, messy real world into something coherent.

I'm pretty proud of myself, because almost unintentionall, I managed to work in a plug for a friend's new non-profit at the same time. That guy should end up in someone's novel as a hero, honestly, but I know him too well to "make him a character."

Tomorrow I'll have a special guest here. Check out the fabulous Erin Nicholas!

First ever guest blogger

2010-02-28T16:09:00.000-05:00

Hey kids, we have a treat in store for later this week: the first ever guest blogger I've had at Teresa's Writing Journey. Stop in on March 4 to meet fellow Samhain author Erin Nicholas. She has a book coming out on March 30, Just Right, a sexy contemporary that should offer a fun contrast with my crazy paranormal adventures. Hey, wildly sexy stories about people you might actually meet!

And she'll have a contest...You like contests, don't you? I know I do, so stop back, tell your friends, and let's make Erin feel very welcome!

Here's a little tease:

ER nurse Jessica Bradford is a good girl. Okay, more like a reformed bad
girl, determined to be the woman her late father wanted her to be. And
she's sworn off bad boys. Definitely. Instead she wants someone like Dr.
Ben Torres: responsible, dedicated, selfless. The tall, dark and
handsome part is just a bonus.

What a difference twenty-four hours can make. Yesterday Ben was incredibly
handsome, too sexy for words and definitely one of the good guys. Now
he's just incredibly handsome and too sexy for Jessica's own good. Yet she
still wants him like ice cream wants hot fudge.

Ben's done being everybody's hero. What's being a trauma surgeon ever
gotten him but late hours, patients who don't remember his name and a
whole lot of frustration? He can't even seduce Jessica, and her bright red
thong, because of work rules. So he quits. Or to be more exact, gets
suspended.

Jessica can't believe Ben is acting more like a kid in a candy store than
a man who's about to throw his career away. When she's manipulated into
babysitting him, she does her best to keep him out of trouble-except
"trouble" is all Ben's interested in. And suddenly Jessica's having
trouble remembering why that's a bad thing.

Get a Taste of Me

2010-02-28T13:10:00.000-05:00

Get your tongues back in your heads, you pervs, and hie yourselves over to The Samhellion, where you can download a free short story, "Happy Valentine's Ghost," set in the Lions' Pride universe. If you've read the book, it's another taste of Maggie the snarky ghost, who learns that death doesn't mean you've missed out on love.

While you're there, check out some of the other great authors who've offered February freebies. You might find new favorites.

* * *

In other news, I'm sick again. Or still. Or something. I swear I haven't been quite right since H1N1 and I had our fling this fall. This time it's a cough that won't die, but won't mutate into bronchitis either. It's not that I want bronchitis. It's that in theory if I had bronchitis, I could get antibiotics that might knock it out of my system; since it's viral, I'm stuck with treating the symptoms.

The good news is I'm catching up on my reading a bit and making progress on the baby blanket for my friend A's baby. The latter is a good thing, since Mr. Baby may arrive, oh, any time now. Writing on codeine is...interesting. The current WIP is weird enough that, at least in draft, it's almost working. I'm pretty sure what I wrote yesterday is missing a few key elements, such as conjunctions and linearity, but we can add the conjunctions in draft 2 and since I'm dealing with trickster magic, the lack of linearity might be a feature. Or not. I'll worry about that in about another 15,000 words.

* * *
In cheerier mundane news, Himself has a functional computer again and the seeds I planted the other day are sprouting. Yay beginning of gardening.

2010-02-04T18:30:00.000-05:00

Did I tell you I'm in Best of Best Women's Erotica 2? Well, I am, and it's now out, and I'm flying high! The story in this volume is "The Voice of an Angel," which originally appeared in BWE 2007 and combines Baroque music and eroticism in...odd ways. Oh, and my thing about costuming.

My mother, before I was born, did makeup for the Binghamton (NY) Opera, where my father sang baritone. I never knew my father. (my parents were divorced when I was an infant, messily enough that my grandmother refused to allow unsupervised visits with me and would sit glaring at him until he finally decided the pleasures of seeing a pre-verbal baby weren't worth putting up with that level of hostility.) But I grew up hearing opera around the house and hearing Mom's tales of life with a small opera company. She has a particular weakness for Baroque opera, particularly counter-tenors (maybe it's a reaction to my dad?), so I blame her or thank her for this story.

I don't think she'd much care for the story. She might like it if someone else wrote it. Mom's fairly liberal and has no objection to a good sexy story. I think the problem would be that I wrote it, and even though I'm 45, I'm still her little girl.

On the other hand, she'll be thrilled I'm in a Best of the Best collection.

Goal progress!

2010-02-03T22:30:00.000-05:00

Threshing the Grain is off to Phaze, only a few days late.

And my back is feeling much better, so I guess that's progress on another goal.

We won't ask about crafting or weight loss or such, shall we?

Vote for me in the Sammies

2010-02-01T19:38:00.001-05:00

Sorry to flood you with still more promo-type stuff, but Samhain Publishing is doing its annual reader poll right now. Please, if you've read Lions' Pride and liked it, throw me a vote or two!

Here are the details:

http://www.samhainpublishing.com/ Then click on the "Click here

> to vote..."

Please vote for your favorites--including, I hope, me!

Big E-Book sale!

2010-01-30T23:00:00.000-05:00

This just in! All Romance E-Books is having a sale this weekend. A super-secret, not so secret 50% off sale. Order all the books you want--including my Samhain and Phaze titles, I hope--and use the code SBTBARe1 at checkout.

The best news? It doesn't affect authors' royalties, so you can get yourself a great deal and your favorite authors still get paid.

This means I urge you to use the discount to pick up some of the fabulous "Coming Together" charity titles, such as Coming Together: Al Fresco, an anthology of outdoor sex stories with proceeds going to rainforest protection, or Coming Together: Against the Odds, sexy mysteries supporting autism research, or Coming Together: For the Cure, or any of a number of great titles. You save money and the charities still get all their usual funds. (I happen to have stories in Al Fresco and Against the Odds, but I receive nothing except a good feeling from the sales.)

Why is ARe doing this? Well, Amazon and mega-publisher MacMillan got into a snit about e-book pricing and Amazon booked Macmillan's e-titles. This seemed like a good opportunity for the smaller (and more author-friendly) store to get its name out there. Read more about the price wars here and some engaging commentary (the source of this discount code), at a great blog with a tongue-in-cheek title, Smart Women, Trashy Books.

Go forth and shop!

I have a dream...

2010-01-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

That some year I'll spend January not sick as a dog. I had high hopes that by not going to any New Year's Eve parties, I'd avoid whatever horrid bug was making the rounds these days.

No such luck.

I'm basically OK, but yesterday the residual congestion got into my sinuses--and the Cat-Herder's too--and the entire day was wasted in an effort to shake that nasty, headachy, dizzy feeling. Much better today, actually writing, but the Cat-Herder's still down with it. We may end up missing the Robert Burns Night party tomorrow. Sigh. Such a fine, literary excuse to drink too much Scotch on a week night.

Whine over. Back to work now, for a little while at least. At least I figured out why my scene felt so wrong. Now I "just" need to fix it!

Writing and other goals 2010

2010-01-06T18:22:00.000-05:00

I said I'd do it! Here they are:

Goals and Big Projects 2010

Writing
Finish Cougar’s Collective-noun by March; polish and submit by April.
Start the next Duals and Donovans.
Get Threshing the Grain to my Phaze editor by late Jan. (It’s finished but needs revision.)
Write The Longest Night (last Seasons of Sorania novella, m/m or mmf) on time to get it in as a Yule story.
Finish Sophie Mouette projects (not putting a date on these since that involves Dayle’s schedule)
Ease back into writing poetry.

Garden and food preservation
Add new raised beds (w/Himself).
Build cold frame and/or hoop house/poly tunnel (w/Himself).
Can more tomatoes and make more salsa.
Can peaches.
Research fruit trees—peaches? Apples?
Add table grapes to yard.
Track garden yields, but be willing to stop if it makes me crazy.

Personal
Get back to 135 or whatever it takes to feel less soft and squishy in the wrong places.
Improve condition of my back.
Knit socks.
Do holiday gift knitting throughout the year so it’s actually done by Yule.
Conquer my fear of pie crust.
Add more local/organic food to our diet without breaking the budget.
Use time more efficiently (more doing, less blog-surfing).
Read more books (and fewer random blogs).

And most of all—HAVE FUN!

Guest blogging!

2010-01-06T08:22:00.000-05:00

Today I'm over at my publisher's blog, the Samhellion (isn't that a grand name?), babbling about getting back to normal after the holidays. (Post wasn't up yet the last time I checked, but it's early yet.)

Edit: I don't what happened here, but apparently someone or something glitched. I'll let you know when the post's actually available.

And I'm the featured author all week long over at Whipped Cream Reviews. I was sure I posted that on Monday, but it didn't take. Regardless, it's not too late to wander over and enter to win books. We like free books!

I'm pondering writing and life goals for this year, and while I have a few in mind, I've yet to put them into a coherent list. Watch this space for more details.

New publication for the new year

2010-01-03T13:43:00.000-05:00

Like vampires? Like lesbian vampires?

Check out the new Torquere anthology, Vamps: A Lesbian Anthology with Teeth. It includes stories by several fabulous writers--and me. My own contribution. "Wherein Elen Encounters the Ladies," features Regency lesbian vampires in Wales.

Someone had to do it, anjavascript:void(0)d it gave me an opportunity to get my geek on in several ways--and use some of the research I'd done for my m/m Regency vampire story in Boys of the Bite. Not that I think there were a surfeit of vampires in the Regency, but the employer/servant relationship offers a lot of fine fodder for erotica!

A taste, safe for work if no one's looking too closely.

Soon, Elen was more naked than she’d been under anyone else’s gaze since she was a babe. You simply didn’t strip bare in front of other people, even a mother or sisters; you replaced one garment with another as quickly as possible, for warmth and modesty. In this lovely room with a fire blazing in the fireplace, the warmth wasn’t a problem, but the modesty…she simply didn’t have enough hands to cover everything that needed covering.

Cecilia laughed fondly. “Relax, child. One woman’s very like another.”

“Although it’s been years since we were as young and slender as you.”

Elen looked into Annie’s keen blue eyes and was startled by what she saw. Annie looked at her almost as intently as Mr. Watkins had, but where that look in Mr. Watkins’ piggy eyes was threatening, the way Annie studied her seemed more kindly.

Just as fascinated, though.

Just as lustful.

She must be imagining it, reading something nasty into what was probably born of thwarted motherly instincts or simple curiosity.

But something clenched inside her. She should be repulsed by what she fancied she saw in Annie’s eyes, but she wasn’t.

Not at all.

Her racing heart and the warmth flooding her belly sounded like what other girls hinted at when they talked about their sweethearts or husbands. Her nipples ached and she was sure they were swelling, although luckily she had them covered by her arm.

And between her legs, she was feeling dangerous, tempting, wonderful sensations that she certainly hadn’t when Ianto Williams kissed her.

Elen shuddered.

“Oh look, she’s shivering. Get into bed this instant, and we’ll join you shortly.”

Cecilia’s tone brooked no disagreement.

Once hidden under thick layers of coverlets in a comfortable bed, Elen felt more secure, more certain that she’d imagined what she’d seen in Annie’s eyes.

At least until her hostesses started undressing each other.

Goals? I had goals in 2009?

2010-01-01T21:08:00.000-05:00

I'm still thinking about goals for the new year, but just for giggles, let's see how I did on last year's lofty goals:

Goals for 2009

Writing and Creativity

· Write something every day. Even if it’s only 250 words. Not even close. I wrote a lot, but in spurts.

· Get better about promo, but remember it’s not writing. I did indeed get more organized about promo. It's still a challenge for me, but I'm doing it. Which reminds me I have to look up the link for the website where I'm a featured author this coming week.

· Seriously investigate the cost of getting a Web site and take necessary steps to get one started. I’m way past due. It's started, but stalled because both the web guru and I got way too busy. Must get back to this.

· Find a way to have adventures and learn new things regularly. Not so much with the adventures, but I've learned to knit, learned a lot about gardening, and a lot about life, my work habits, and how to write.

· Take more pictures. I did--and I ended the year with a new camera. This year I learn to remember to do something with the pictures...

Daily Life

· Practice healthy habits, including yoga at least twice a week, regular walks, vitamins, lots of veggies and fruit.HA! I did eat lots of fruits and veggies, though, thanks to the garden.

· Meditate. Once in a while this happened.

· Plan menus, with an eye toward creativity, frugality, healthy tastiness, and less waste. This happened not as often as it should have. Overall we do pretty well with the stated goals, but the actual menu planning? Not so much.

· Expand vegetable garden. Done and to be continued!

· Preserve more seasonal foods. We have so many yummy green bean to enjoy, and even some tomatoes left. So I guess I did OK here. Not like my friend Kathie at Two Frog Home, but pretty well for a noob.

Business Practices

· *In 2009, record expenses and file things as they come in, not when you get around to it. Let's just be honest here. This did not happen.

All in all, I did better than I thought I had. Not so good with the writing consistency, but I was fairly productive nonetheless, even with working more hours and doing the garden. And thanks to Nano, I've been reminded I can be incredibly productive when I put my mind to it. (I wrote a 3000 word story and subbed it today.)

Tomorrow--new goals!

First Lions' Pride Review

2009-12-21T22:06:00.000-05:00

And it's (thank the gods) good!

Read the whole thing here at Dark Diva Reviews.

It doesn't consistently gush, which to me makes it seem like a more valid review. But how could I not get all happy about a review that ends: Lion’s Pride is only book one in the Duals and Donovans: The Different series and I, for one, cannot wait to see what book two holds.

Lion's Pride is a wonderful read! It's going to be interesting to see were Ms. Roberts takes this series. Teresa Noelle Robertsis a delight to discover for this reviewer and I will certainly follow this series after reading Lion’s Pride.

Go me!

I see I've been a bad blogger

2009-12-21T21:56:00.001-05:00

I've been a bad writer overall since the mad Nanowrimo rush. I tend toward binge writing, which, I suppose, is better than no writing (or, for that matter, binge drinking, a terrible habit I outgrew several decades ago), so while I'm productive in the long run, I can sometimes go a good while without writing and lose the rhythm of a piece.

I finally finished the long-neglected draft of Threshing the Grain, which needs revision ASAP. At roughly the same time, I must get back to two very different projects, the revision of OOTFP and completing Cougar's (collective noun), which may be renamed Shaman's Something or another or Puma's Passion, lest people think it's an older woman/younger man story. No, that would be Foxes' Den, since the heroine is over 1000...

But I digress. What have I been doing this month? Touching on facets of my life that were neglected in November. Holiday baking. Cooking. Crafting (did you know I love to knit?) Seeing my friends. Doing that all important "research" with my sweeties. :-) Even getting the house clean; I can't say I missed the cleaning, but I missed the cleanliness, and while the Cat-Herder is a great cook and keeps up with the basics while I'm up to my eyebrows in a book, certain areas get neglected.

These are all truly important things. So is writing.

Someday I'll figure out the perfect balance. Maybe in this lifetime, even!

I have successfully Nano'ed.

2009-11-29T23:02:00.000-05:00

Almost 52K when I finished my scene and called it officially a Nanowrimo.

It's still not a novel draft.It's the sequel to Lions' Pride, which is pretty long, and it seems it's going to follow in Lions' Pride's footsteps and end up around 90K. And boy is it ever sloppy, which is only to be expected. But I wrote more in a month than I have in ages--and I didn't drive myself to drink (except in pleasurable ways) doing it. The house got a bit dirty, but I even got that largely under control (OK, with a lot of help from Himself) today.

Tomorrow I may post about Thanksgiving and foodie finds, just as a change of post from all writing, all the time. (I have a fabulous family, and I love to eat. Part of what makes a writer human, you know.) But tonight, it's chocolate and Scotch time.

I've earned it!

Still above goal

2009-11-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

31,069 and counting...

I've figured out a terrible, terrible, rotten, awful thing to do to my heroine.

I'm excited. Aren't we authors sadistic? *chuckles evilly*

And I wrote a short story--well, pulled it together from a false start of a novel--in the morning.

And did a reading in the afternoon.

Not bad, considering yesterday was a write-off in terms of writing. We spent an absolutely great day at our friends Randy and Tracy's house, helping another set of friends put on a day of games, good food and good company for Randy after losing a bet to him. (It kind of escalated and what started out as a simple plan became delightfully complex and a lot of fun.) We ate. We laughed. Everyone but me drank--I, alas, was still on antibiotics.

And there were shirtless men boffer knife-fighting in the rain. It doesn't get much better, really.

Come here me read!

2009-11-14T09:01:00.000-05:00

More Triple Threat--Triple Heat: Lesbian Erotica Readings. This time in Boston. Well, Brookline, actually. Good Vibrations 308-A Harvard Street Brookline, MA, 02446 (617) 264-4400 Come hear Maggie Cee, Cecilia Tan, Sacchi Green, DL King, Ana Watson and me, reading as half of that fabulous two-headed, four-breasted legend of erotia, Sophie Mouette, read from the big three: Where the Girls Are, Girl Crazy and Lesbian Cowboys! This Sunday, November 15th at 3:00. Be there or be square!

25K and counting, baby

2009-11-10T23:41:00.000-05:00

As if to make up for last night, I smoked tonight...broke 25K and I think I've finally figured out my hero and heroine, who were just stick figures being moved around for a lot of this process.

Tomorrow I will be sorry, because I think I burned every brain cell I have. But tonight...well, I'd drink some champagne or whisky, but I'm on antibiotics that would make such ill-advised. Just have to save that up for when I finish, I guess!

I broke NaNoWriMo

2009-11-09T21:28:00.001-05:00

I just went to report today's pathetic word count--I'm at 21,881, which is more than respectable, but the amount that's today's work is sad indeed, for I was distractability lass. Got a lot of other things done, but not much writing.

The NaNoWriMo site crashed.

I broke NaNoWriMo with my sad failed efforts at writing tonight!

Attention, bargain hunters!

2009-11-09T19:23:00.001-05:00

This month, you can get Lions' Pride--and any other Samhain title, but I do hope you pick up Lions' Pride!--at All Romance Ebooks or Omni Lit and get credit toward a future purchase. Whoo-hoo!

25% Rebate at All Romance and OmniLit on All Samhain Publishing, Ltd. Titles!

This Thanksgiving Season we're giving something to you.
From November 10-November 24 readers will be receiving a 25% eBook Bucks rebate on all Samhain titles.
What are you waiting for? Hop on over to AllRomance.com or OmniLit.com and receive bucks back today...on us!

NaNo Update

2009-11-03T22:51:00.000-05:00

2935 words tonight, bringing me to 11,199.

And my hero finally deigned to make an appearance. Although I think Mr. Wrong may in fact be Hero #2. He just doesn't know he's a hero yet. He thinks he's just this guy. Hero #1 knows he's a hero, but big cats are like that.

I have had chocolate. Now I must give a massage and sleep.

Nanowrimo, day 2

2009-11-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

Up to 8568 words, though I should round it down to 8560 to account for chapter headers.

It's already taking unexpected turns. And I haven't introduced the hero yet, which I really should remedy. I expect a good chunk of the first chapters will end up dispersed throughout the book, since some of it was me figuring out who the heck the heroine, the not-the-hero and the Mysterious Other Presence are and what their deals are.

So far, I'm pleased. Wish me luck.

Nanowrimo day 1

2009-11-01T17:17:00.000-05:00

4,423 words on the new project, and not one bit of that is a sex scene, I'll have you know!

Not bad considering I'm still half sick and took migraine meds around 3. I can't guarantee how coherent the last 1000 words are, but that's what revisions and rewrites are for.

And there may be more to come. This one has me by the throat.

I've gone and done it

2009-10-29T17:50:00.000-04:00

I've signed up for NaNoWriMo, to jump start the next Duals and Donovans book, the direct sequel for Lions' Pride. (Foxes' Den is a Duals and Donovans book, but is only slightly related to Lions' Pride. One of the heroes is Elissa's cousin.)

I'm not going to sweat if I don't make my 50K. I have other things that need to happen in November, including continuing the revisions for Out of the Frying Pan. But I know myself and if I don't give myself a reason to start the next book, I'll get lost in research and procrastination instead of doing it.

at least it's not the flu...

2009-10-29T12:46:00.000-04:00

and thank goodness for that, but some nasty virus got its metaphorical claws in me and I've spent the past few days largely asleep. Feeling better today, but still stayed home from work and slept until 11:30. I've been so sore it feels like the mattress tries to beat me up at night and we have a temperpedic mattress, nice supportive foam!

Oh well. So it goes. With luck, today I'll feel well enough to work a little on Foxes' Den. It's so close to being ready to go to my editor...

At least in my semi-delirious state, I think I came up with some plot elements for Lions' Pride 2 (which is NOT going to be its title).

home again, home again

2009-10-25T20:49:00.000-04:00

Just back from a wonderful conference, Authors After Dark. It's the conference's first year, so it was relatively small, but it was a great group of people. This was my first "fan" conference. Unlike the RWA conferences I attend, which are strictly industry, this one was designed to bring authors and readers together.

And wow, it was fun! Totally different energy, much more like a science-fiction convention than a professional conference. The other authors and I were definitely working--signing books, chatting with fans, talking up our work--but it was more relaxed, less fraught atmosphere and there was a definite party element, including a massive costume party with dancing.

I got to meet my wonderful Samhain editor at last, and see Kat from Phaze again. Got to meet other terrific writers who love the dark side of romance as much as I do. I even got a cheer when I introduced myself at a panel--an avid reader who'd bought Lions' Pride and loved it. Not bad for a relatively new name! And these felt like my people. It wasn't just that they were fellow writers and readers. They were writers and readers with Goth streaks, readers and writers who larped or did SCA or science fiction fandom as well, writers and readers who were outside the mainstream in a number of comfortable ways. I even discovered that someone I was chatting with at dinner was a friend of a friend, quite outside the writing community.

And to top it all off, we raised $1500 for a local animal shelter raffling off gift baskets!

Entirely not on the subject of writing...help my sweetie help his critter charges

2009-10-18T20:17:00.000-04:00

It only takes a click or two.
Visit http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?
Vote for the Mansfield Animal Shelter, and help win my husband (aka Jeff, aka the Cat-Herder, aka the local human officer) money to help build a shiny new shelter that is already in progress.
http://www.mansfieldshelter.org/New_shelter.htm It'll give him a lot more room to take in the many critters who find themselves homeless in these troubled economic times.
(You can click daily between now and Dec 20th, but every single click helps!)
While you are there, you can click to donate food to animal shelters through Petfinder.com.
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3
Spread the word!

Chatting at Coffee Time Romance

2009-10-10T09:22:00.000-04:00

I'll be chatting today at the Coffee Time Romances erotic romance group--noon to 4 EST. Drop in and you might win fabulous prizes. In any case, it'll make me feel loved.

First you'll have to join the group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karendevinkaren/. You can always drop out later if it's not to your taste. But do stop by.

Award? Well, it could happen

2009-10-03T14:37:00.001-04:00

Restraint is on the nominee list for an award at http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/805833.html

Go over and vote for me if you've read the book. Heck, do it even if you haven't. :-)

FYI, the book's part of a series that all had the same cover. It's actually male-male. *shrug*

Thanks.

2009-10-03T10:35:00.000-04:00

A quiet but productive weekend of writing and cooking planned. The cooking's already underway. Applesauce and apple butter are burbling in the background, making the house smell like autumn. A perfect thing for a wet, cool early October day.

I've spent some time catching up on blogs and drinking coffee. Now on to getting ready to can said apple products and then write on Foxes' Den.

I need music, though. I'm alone this weekend, which is good for Getting Stuff Done, but the house is much too quiet and the cats...the cats are all sacked out, as cats on rainy days are wont to be, and are no company at all.

*goes to put music in the stereo*

Squee...no, make that ROAR!

2009-09-25T08:34:00.000-04:00

I've made the best-seller list at one big online bookstore. OK, it's not the NY Times, but it's damn exciting since I'm a new-to-Samhain author with a new release.

And speaking of sales, I believe today's the last day to buy Lions' Pride at a special sale price. We all like sale prices. Go buy it now!.

The Lions are Live! Take them home today!

2009-09-22T08:45:00.000-04:00

Look! Look! Lions'Pride is now up and available for ordering as an e-book. (The print book should come out next year, but it depends to some extent on ebook sales, so if you're not an ebook fan and want to read it, tell your friends to order the ebook!)

It's on the splash page here and my own personal page, complete with a link to an excerpt and the all-important buy link, is here.

I could just burst with excitement and pride! *squeals so loudly her friends in the UK can hear her*

Note: In case you're new to my blog and have missed the memo, this book contains car chases, magical battles, snarky ghosts, hot shapeshifters and witches and lots and lots of explicit sex, some threeway or gay. Depending on your taste, this is either a warning or a recommendation.

Here's another little taste...not necessarily the thing to read at the office! A little sex magic to start your day off right!

He slid a hand down to stroke Rafe’s cock. Like touching himself and yet not. He was acutely aware of the similarities and differences between their bodies. Acutely aware of Rafe’s weight and thickness. A slightly shorter cock than his, but thicker, cut as his was not so it felt pleasantly alien. It was swollen and proud and a deep purple at the crown.

With his other hand, he reached, found his wife, who’d shrugged off her robe so she, too, was naked. He slipped his fingers between her legs, parted her drenched curls to caress her hard little clit.

Rafe’s hand closed around him. Surer than Jude’s touch on the other man’s cock, Rafe stroked and caressed. The perfect pressure, the way he’d touch himself—harder than Elissa normally would unless he urged her to be rough. It felt as though Rafe were drawing liquid silk over him, but that was his own fluids, pre-come leaking in his eagerness.

Pressure built inside him, and not just in his dick.

The air smelled different, not only of sex, but of flowers, and when he forced himself to look he saw the world around them was in springlike bloom. The tree had transformed into an enormous lilac, filling the air with its heady fragrance.

Quickly, he raised his hand to his mouth, licked it to moisten it, tasting Rafe as he did, then went back to stroking that delicious length.

Dancing on the fingers of his other hand, Elissa mewled. Her juices drenched him, flowing down his hand, flowing to the dry earth, he swore, and making it blossoming.

“Fuck me,” she breathed, and both men turned to her.

She shook her head, beckoned to Jude.

Jude lay on his back with Elissa straddling him, her slick, tight folds engulfing his aching cock.

Rafe hung back, his eyes sad, his erection blazing.

This was a dream. You could do what you wanted in dreams—and Jude knew what he wanted. “Let me suck you,” he said. “I’ve never…but I know what I like.”

Rafe’s grin would have been reward enough, especially when paired with Elissa contracting around him like a silk vise.

Rafe kneeled beside Jude’s head. He clasped his hand around the base of Rafe’s cock, took a deep breath, ran his tongue over the slick, swollen head.

Not bad.

Damn good, in fact.

He wanted more.

Elissa moved over him, riding his cock for all she was worth, the liquid sounds of his penis moving inside her an added stimulus.

Another man’s cock filled his mouth for the first time ever.

He’d never known he’d wanted this until he met Rafe—had figured it wasn’t his thing.

But it was. Oh, it was. He simply hadn’t had the right offer before.

Slick with his saliva, his hand stroked more easily now, moving up and down the shaft. He bobbed his head to take in more of Rafe, and he was sweet and salty and rich like one of those soft French cheeses Elissa loved. He suddenly understood she liked them because they tasted like a man’s sex when he was ready to explode in her mouth.

He’d probably appreciate it more the next time she bought some, he thought, and chuckled. The chuckling must have done something good, because Rafe made a strangled but happy noise that went straight to his own dick, made his hips buck, pushed him deeper into his beautiful wife.

The air smelled like rain and forest, like spring, like sex. He opened his eyes to see Rafe almost too close, a copper and red blur. Elissa moved gracefully yet wildly, her breasts bobbing, her hips rolling, a green and silver nimbus around her pale body. His own skin glowed gold.

He closed his eyes and saw the colored auras weaving together.

Elissa cried out, clamped around him, her body bucking.

He drove the nails of his free hand into his palm to distract himself, to hold off at this amazing plateau a few minutes longer.

“I’m gonna…” Rafe groaned, trying to pull away.

“No, you don’t,” Jude said around the other man’s cock. “Want to taste you.” The words should have been unrecognizable—he could barely understand them and he knew what he’d tried to say—but Rafe got it.

Remembering something Elissa had done for him, he reached around, cupped Rafe’s tight balls, ran his fingernails over the spot where balls and anus blurred together.

Rafe exploded.

It almost choked him, and the salty, musky flavor would take some getting used to, but Jude didn’t care. That surge of the other man’s pleasure carried him away.

The fire started somewhere around his heart, where the cord that bound him to Elissa started. It ran through his belly, burning with sweet intensity, shot through his groin and into his cock and out again, a fountain of red-hot pleasure.

He saw the universe open. Saw the regal, remote figures of the Lady and the Lord and the fractured, androgynous, species-blurred face of the Trickster with its lopsided grin and its tears. Felt Trickster’s tears as rain began to fall.

Heard Elissa’s voice, as if at a great distance, saying, “We did it. Rafe, we did it! His aura’s almost right again!”

Lions' Pride is coming September 22

2009-09-20T14:13:00.000-04:00

Lions' Pride is going live on September 22 and I'm so excited I could burst to think my witches and shifters are about to go public. Here's a taste...more to come tomorrow and check back on Tuesday for a giveaway! To save the one they love, they’re going in with spells blazing…

Duals and Donovan: The Different, Book 1

Elissa Donovan is a real green witch—when she and her lion-shapeshifter husband have sex, the blazing heat is recycled to warm their house. Now her beloved Jude has been kidnapped by a shadowy government agency, and the last place she can turn for help is her high-powered family, who considers her magic mediocre.

When Rafe Benedict gets Elissa’s call for muscle to back up her magic, he risks his law enforcement career to answer. He’s spent a lifetime hiding his Dual ability, but something about Elissa and Jude’s magic awakens the cougar within him.

Tempting, bronzed Rafe is the perfect fuse for Elissa’s sex-fueled magic. Danger lies in breaking her vows; joining with anyone other than her true mate could not only send her marriage up in flames, it could burn out her powers in a last, all-or-nothing explosion. But Jude is worth the risk. And for Rafe, potential heartbreak is nothing next to the chance to help the two people he’s coming to love.

First, though, Rafe needs a crash course in Cougar…

Warning: This title contains evil fae, guys with guns, shadowy government conspiracies, a snarky ghost, and smoking-hot, three-way sex.

EXCERPT:

(For a little setting, Jude has been captured by the bad guys and shot up with a dangerous experimental drug that's affecting the bond between his human and lion sides. Elissa's managed to pull them all into the spirit world so she can heal his damaged spirit--via sex magic.)

Elissa's lips tasted of green and cinnamon, of life itself burgeoning, and his cock swelled in response. But there was an undertaste, one hauntingly familiar but not right.

Pine and forest smells, like the air around them, amber and male feline musk. For all it didn’t belong around his woman, let alone on his woman’s lips, it went straight to his cock and balls, adding to his desire. He ached sweetly for things he hadn’t known, had barely dared to imagine.

A hand gripped his shoulder, large and heated and firm. Not a threat, but a gift, he sensed. The scent of sage, already on the wind, already on Elissa, grew stronger.

Reluctantly, he turned from Elissa.

Into Rafe’s waiting arms.

Rafe stood, fully human, naked as Jude himself. He was shorter than Jude, but strong, muscled. Perfect copper abs tapered to narrow hips and a cock Jude felt hard against him, but didn’t dare to look at.

Instead, he met the other man’s eyes and saw the cougar, tawny and alert and curious, in the same spot where the human-seeming Rafe stood. The lion responded as he would to a beautiful lioness, or to the lioness the lion perceived Elissa to be despite her human body.

All kinds of questions rambled through his head, too many to ask.

“We’ve found you,” Elissa said. She pressed against him, her arms around his waist, her breasts soft against his back. “We’re going to get you out, my heart. No matter what.”

“Elissa…” He tried to turn, to look into her eyes, to tell her not to risk herself. That he’d be fine—even though he had no idea how he would be, poisoned and imprisoned and in the kind of pain that would eventually break his mind.

Rafe had left his hand resting on Jude’s shoulder as if it was the most natural thing on earth. He placed the other over Elissa’s on Jude’s hip, so his fingertips brushed Jude’s skin, the sensitive low belly, perilously near Jude’s swollen dick.

His cock felt huge, treelike. On fire with need. Wrong, yet so right. Elissa’s cunt was its natural home, but he felt an equal pull toward Rafe’s lush mouth and firm, elegant ass.

The air throbbed with the smell of herbs and pears and pine and fur, of male and female musk. Jude closed his eyes, trying to shut out some of the stimuli, but this was a dream and the sight of Rafe, of Elissa, of the two of them touching him and each other, burned through his eyelids.

“Rafe, what are you doing in my dream?” Jude finally stammered. He’d meant it to sound accusing, but it came out plaintive and eager, as if he’d been yearning for Rafe to be there for so long he’d given up hope.

“This,” Rafe said, and reached up to kiss him.

Labor Day sale at Phaze

2009-09-05T16:05:00.000-04:00

The good folks at Phaze are having a Labor Day sale. Go pay a visit to www.phaze.com on Sunday or Monday, place your order and use the code HARDLABOR to get 20% off all e-books and print books, including my Phaze novellas, Lady Sun Has Risen, Pirate's Booty, Restraint and Rain at Midsummer. Also included in the sale are the various great Coming Together anthologies, which let you enjoy some fab erotica and support a worthy cause at the same time because all proceeds go to charity. My wonderful co-author Dayle and I are in several of them, as individuals and as Sophie Mouette. Check it out! (Because yes, I have a new book coming out soon but I still want to sell the old ones.)

An interesting review of "Restraint"

2009-08-29T12:16:00.000-04:00

I say interesting in that the author makes no bones that she's kind of squicked by the extreme BDSM play I'm writing about in "Restraint" (knife-play and blood fetishes aren't everyone's thing, I know)--but it's still a good, positive review. (By the way, I too am confused by the cover. It's part of a series and they all have the same cover. It's a lovely image, but since my story's male/male, the hot bound chick on the cover is a bit deceptive.)

Thank you, Elisa Rolle!

Find the review here.

Buy "Restraint" here (or at your favorite e-book emporium, but if you get it through Phaze, I get more royalties.)

The Lions are Coming (quite a lot, actually)

2009-08-07T08:17:00.000-04:00

Lions' Pride is now up on the Coming Soon page at Samhain, so I can show off my cover. Ain't it purty, and didn't they do a great job of finding hunks for my heroes?

Check it out. Read an excerpt, even. You know you want to. You can't order it yet, but tease yourself a little.

And check back here often, for there will be Fabulous Prizes [tm] to come. Not sure when or what, but there will be.