heady praise

Jan

2022

New Things!

It’s been a WEEK, y’all. Three new things to discuss today, and only one of them is on the usual radar.

New Words!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

81461 / 150000 (54.31%)

Of course there are new words. I’ve been working away at Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. If you follow me on Facebook, you may have caught a glimpse of some of those new words — there was one phrase in particular that struck me as amusing enough to share:

“You might as well spit on a fish for all the good it will do.”

Patreon readers haven’t yet met the character who says this, so that’s all you’re going to get.

There’s also been some more planning on Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand. I will hopefully get to that book late this year, but there are some other things that have to come first. Like finishing the revisions and re-release on the Rebel Mage books, for example. And prepping for the next thing on my list….

New Audiobooks!

Friday evening, I got the approval from ACX to start accepting auditions for the Hidden Things audiobook. I immediately sent the audition page to a narrator whom I’d picked out months ago… AND HE SAID YES!!! So Hidden Things will be narrated by Mark Oosterveen. I’ve already told him I’m interested in having him read all four books.

Putting together an audiobook is not cheap, even under royalty share. So I’m starting a Kickstarter to fund all four books. The Kickstarter will go LIVE on Wednesday, and we’ll have 60 days to raise $5000. You can click the link to follow on Kickstarter, which will notify you when the page goes live for bids.

New Awards!

I got an email out of the blue last week telling me that Hidden Things has been nominated for the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewers Choice Award for Best of 2021 (I’m not sure what category), and that Swords of Charlemagne has been nominated for Best Series. I have no other information on that but OMG!!! More to come when I know more.

New Shop!

Conventions are starting to say, “Um…. maybe meeting in person isn’t a good idea” again. So, because I probably won’t have that many opportunities to get out and meet people and sell signed books this year, I’ve gone ahead and made a virtual dealer’s table! You can buy print books and I’ll ship them directly to you, personalized however you like. You can also buy the limited edition Swords of Charlemagne thumbdrive, which is a 2GB thumbdrive that contains all four books in mobi, epub and pdf formats.

And that is, I think, everything that happened this past week.

Wow!

Apr

2021

What a Week!!!!

Last week was… wow. Just… whiplash week!

It started Tuesday, when my computer crashed because of an Microsoft update that didn’t go as planned. Yes, that happens. I know. When I finally got the computer straightened out and go everything back up, part of chapter 17 and all of chapter 18 of Heir to the Firstborn were missing.

That’s when I learned that something else wasn’t going as planned.

My automatic saves to Dropbox weren’t saving. And hadn’t been, for about a week.

Now, my editing files are in Google Docs, so I had all of chapter 17, and could replace those missing words into the Scrivener file. But chapter 18 was irrevocable gone, so I started Wednesday planning to get to work on recreating those words.

Yeah… there were no words written on Wednesday, because this happened.

I posted my “where were you when you found out you had finaled?” story on social media (Answer? The shower!) And I’m still just over the moon about this, especially since Written in Water is the book that I pulled out of the 2020 RITA contest in protest. So having it final in the 2021 Vivian contest is just that much sweeter.

(And yes, I’m still giggling when a certain husband of mine comes up and sings “Finalist!”)

And on Thursday, I recreated all the words.

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

64313 / 150000

So, last week was a pretty wild ride! And I don’t usually like roller coasters!

Feb

2021

My, How Time Flies.

February 1st today. Time flies when you’re… well, are we having fun yet?

Time does fly when you’re busy. Last week was the book launch for Hidden Things. For the moment, it is only available on Kindle. It will, however, go wide on April 27 — that means that it will be available at all ebook sellers on that date. So if you’re Apple only, the book will be available on that date. There will be no preorder for through those other venues.

Things are looking good for the release of Wings of Air (Heir to the Firstborn 4) and The Lady and The Sword (Swords of Charlemagne, 2). The preorder for Wings of Air is up on Amazon, Eden Books, Smashwords, and everywhere else. The preorder for The Lady and the Sword will be going up later this week, with a cover reveal in the February newsletter, coming out this Friday. (Not subscribed to the newsletter? You can fix that!)

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Work on Heir to the Firstborn is going well, if slowly. This is definitely looking like an end of the year release — this one will probably be the November release, with Table of Stone (Swords of Charlemagne 4) in September. But I may be wrong — depends on how long Heir runs, and how long it takes to edit.

Heir to the Firstborn

(Heir to the Firstborn, Book 5)

16878 / 150000 (11.25%)

And that super Spiffy project I’ve been working on? It’s still super spiffy, and I still can’t tell you what it is. Marketing was supposed to start today, but we want to deliver the best, the most spiffy project ever in the history of spiffy projects, so the launch date has been pushed back. You’ll have to live in antici…. pation, at least for a little while longer.

I’m going to leave you with this, the first review of Hidden Things, courtesy of the Paranormal Romance Guild.

Hidden Things begins during the time of Charlemagne in his early years as Charles, King of the Franks, and follows events in the life of Turpin, the main character. The story has some very interesting paranormal twists to events that occur during Charlemagne’s reign. Like so many other wonderful fantasy novels, a sword is a key element to the story, but this time the reader gets to follow the path of more than one sword in more than one timeline. One aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the manner in which the author incorporated two distinct timelines without creating any confusion or giving the reader a chance to get bored with one of the timelines.

This book has the elements of an epic fantasy tale full of adventure and romance. A few underlying lessons can also be found hidden in the pages. The variety of the characters and the settings offer interesting perspectives on subjects such as culture, religion, gender roles, sexuality, family, and history.

The setting for this story was elegantly crafted. I had just enough details about the culture and time period to paint a clear picture, but not so much that I was overwhelmed by details. The settings are compelling enough to inspire an interest in the recorded history of Charlemagne. Did he have an archbishop named Turpin traveling with his army? The characters and their relationships with one another are equally compelling. I really want to get to know Roland and Turpin better, and Margret’s strength is a pleasant surprise.

This book had so many of the elements I find in my favorite books, engaging characters , fantastic settings, a fascinating plot, and an end that leaves the reader hoping for more… soon… like tomorrow…

Feb

2019

Works in Progress: Table of Stone and Forged in Fire

Table of Stone
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 4

Forged in Fire
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 2

I realized yesterday (I think) that I never updated the blog last week. I’m going to have to start doing it some other day than Sunday. Sunday is family day, and I don’t always get onto the computer.

Words proceed apace on both Table of Stone and Forged in Fire. Table of Stone got a slow start, mostly because I was busy with everything to do with getting Written in Water ready for publication, and the Highland Games, and the OCLS Writers conference that I attended last week. (Which was amazing, and if you’re in the Orlando area next January, I highly recommend it.) Once things calmed down, the words started flowing again.

Speaking of Written in Water, the first review on an ARC hit Goodreads this afternoon. I’m very pleased — first reviews are always nerve-wracking! We’re now just over two weeks from publication, and I just hit the approve button on the paperback proofs. So yes, there will be dead tree versions of the book! Once the sales links are up for those, I’ll post them.

Now, an excerpt from Forged in Fire. Writing this made me giggle, so I’m figuring it’s a good thing.

***

“He’ll be starving when he wakes up,” she added. “I’m not sure what we left for him will be enough.”

“It’ll have to be,” Owyn answered. “We won’t have anything else until we get to that village. Unless we hunt…” he frowned. “Or fish. You lived on the canoe with him. Do you know how to fish?”

“Not the way they do it,” Aria answered. “They used nets and spears underwater. I’m not sure about how to do it from land. I know how to open oysters. But I don’t know how to tell where to find them.”

Owyn nodded slowly. Then he perked up. “How about crabs? Aven said there were crabs in… in where we found that poor bastard. You can eat crabs, can’t you?”

“Me?” Aria asked. “Or us?”

“Us.” Owyn moved Trinket to his shirt pocket. Then he got to his feet and brushed the sand off his trousers. “I’m pretty sure we can eat them. Come on. Let’s go see if we can find some.”

Aria got up and followed him down the beach and around the rocks. It seemed like a good idea. She just hoped that Memfis knew what to do to prepare crabs — it didn’t seem fair to make Aven prepare his own meal, even if he didn’t have to catch it. By the time she caught up with Owyn, they were around the rocks and into the sheltered cavern where Owyn and Aven had found the body. Owyn was standing near the edge of the pool of water, frowning.

“Now what?” he asked as she came closer.

“It was your idea,” she pointed out. “Do you not know how to do it?”

Owyn grimaced. “I was kinda hoping you did. You hunt. Aven hunts. I’ve never hunted before, and where I’m from, catching crabs has a whole ‘nother meaning.”

Aria blinked. “What does it mean?”

He blinked. “You don’t know? Right.. well, it’s not a good thing. That’s all I’m going to say. So what do we do?”

Dec

2015

Missed yesterday, glad to not miss today!

Oops. There was no update last night. However, nothing happened yesterday. There was no baking, and there was no writing. There was, however, a small get together where we ate rather a lot of the cookies that I’d already baked.

All in all, a fun day.

And today, I woke up to the email that told me that Counsel of the Wicked has been named one of the Best of 2015 by Erotica for the Big Brain.

Honestly, there aren’t many ways to end out a year that are better than that!

Now, I have a mug of tea, a couple of cookies, and I’m not moving from this spot until Burden of Truth is done! (Well, okay. I might move. I have to make dinner. But draft today, darn it!)

Mar

2015

Wow.

One of these days, someone is going to pinch me, and I’m going to wake up. Because I simply cannot believe that I get to live this life. I mean, I must have been extra special good the last time around or something to deserve this! First, we have House of Sable Locks being named a modern erotic classic. And now, this just happened:

This may very well be my first ever top 20 anything, and it’s for The Rape of Persephone.

Here’s the list in picture form:

Wow. I am…

Wow.

Thank you.

Mar

2015

You mean me???

Today was the third grade field trip. 120 8-and-9-year-old kids went to Legoland, and I had charge of two eight-year-old boys all day (one mine, one borrowed). Really, we had a BLAST. The Legend of Chima ride involves waterguns, and many truth in advertising warnings that you WILL get soaked. The Dragon roller coaster wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be — roller coasters and I don’t get along, but this one was actually fun. Lots of rides, lots of walking, lots and LOTS of Legos, 120 very tired kids on the buses home. So, given this, I had very little online time until we were on the bus to come home. Looking at my email, I found that I’d been tagged on Facebook by Cecilia Tan: Hey, have you seen this?

This, for anyone who doesn’t want to click through, is Cliterati’s list of 100 Modern Erotic Classics that You’ve Never Heard of, a list curated by Rebecca Black in honor of the first ever Erotic World Book Day (March 5th).

House of Sable Locks is on that list.

I appear to have written a modern erotic classic. That’s pretty mind-blowing, especially since Sable Locks is only my second novel! And that list also includes the two people on whom I fondly blame all of my writing — Laura Antoniou and Jacqueline Carey. If I wasn’t completely wiped out, I’d be squeeing all over the place.

It’s also a little terrifying. Because now I have to do it again.

You know what? Given a choice between jubilation and terror, I’ll go for the jubilation. I’d much rather squee!

Jan

2015

Award season again!

And again, I’ve been nominated for a Bisexual Book Award!

This time, it’s not just me, but the entire talented list of authors that make up the anthology Bi-Magic, from Forbidden Fiction! Kudos to all of us!!!

Dec

2014

Hey, where have you been?

Yeah, it’s been almost a month. I know. Bad writer.

It’s been busy. The line edits on The School have gone off to editorial at Forbidden Fiction. We’ve been talking about changing the title there, but nothing has gelled yet. I have a couple that I like, but we have to nail it down. That will come soon, I think.

There have been a couple of story sales in the past month. One I can’t say because there hasn’t been a contract signed yet, but the other two… well, I’m proud of those, and very excited. I will have TWO stories appearing in the upcoming Marketplace anthology No Safewords 2! One of them revisits Thomas and Eugenia from O, Promise Me!, my story in the first No Safewords anthology. The other story… well, I’ll leave you on tenterhooks for now.

In other news, I found out today that House of Sable Locks has made Erotica for the Big Brain’s Best of 2014 list. I’m very excited about that!

Now, being as it’s been a busy year, and a stressful couple of months, I decided that once the line edits were in, I was going to take the rest of the year off. Reset my brain, read for pleasure, not do anything except for edits.

So… what does an erotica writer do when she’s resetting her brain?

Bake, mostly. LOTS of gluten free cookies:

Almond Cranberry biscotti.

Carob oatmeal lace cookies. Carob because both males in my house are allergic to chocolate.

Italian three color cookies before assembly

And after, covered with white chocolate. I forgot to take a picture after I cut them.

Flourless peanut butter and jelly cookies

And coconut macaroons.

Tomorrow, I’ll be making my mother’s recipe for jelly cakes (which probably have a proper name, but she never called them anything but jelly cakes), and on Tuesday, I’ll be making cookies for the teachers at my son’s school.

Why yes, this is how I relax.

Apr

2014

Oh…. my…. Shoggoth…

I just got the email. I finaled for the National Leather Association Pauline Reage Novel award.

Twice.

House of Sable Locks AND Tales from the Arena: Playing for Keeps both finaled!!!!!

And I have a story in an anthology that is up for the Samois Anthology Award.

Cue the Kermit Arms!!!!

heady praise

New Things!

What a Week!!!!

My, How Time Flies.

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Works in Progress: Table of Stone and Forged in Fire

Missed yesterday, glad to not miss today!

Wow.

You mean me???

Award season again!

Hey, where have you been?

Oh…. my…. Shoggoth…

Works in Progress

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