No Safewords

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air.

 

Echoes of Light

 

 
15170 / 50000 (30.34%)

 

***
Wings of Air
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 4

 

 
5067 / 95000 (5.33%)

 



Now that I’ve fixed the issues with Echoes of Light, I find myself wanting to play with it more than Wings of Air. Which… nope. Can’t do that. Need to work on them both. So what I think I’m going to have to do is work on Wings of Air early, and save Echoes of Light as a reward.

It doesn’t help that Echoes of Light is being fun right now. John and Ethriel are just so damned cute together!

He heard movement, and turned back, seeing Ethriel trying to get out from under the blanket. “No,” he said. “You stay in bed.” He held his hand up, palm out, and Ethriel flinched. John immediately dropped his hands. “No,” he said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to hit you.” He stepped closer, and pulled the blanket back up. Then he rested his hand on Ethriel’s chest and gently pushed him down. “Stay here.”

Ethriel frowned. “Stay… here,” he repeated. He pointed at the bed.

“Bed,” John supplied the word.

“Stay… bed?” Ethriel asked. Then he smiled. “Stay bed.” He laced his fingers together and rested them on his chest.

“Yes,” John said with a laugh. “You stay in bed.”

Ethriel nodded. “Stay bed,” he repeated. Then he looked thoughtful. “John… stay bed?” He smiled, his brows raised in a hopeful expression, and John was suddenly sure in his bones that there was more to that smile than just being friendly. That he’d known exactly what he’d meant when he’d tried to invite John to the bed the night before.

John felt warm. His throat felt tight. So did his trousers. It was tempting. So tempting. But Ethriel wasn’t hale. And John might not be understanding him properly. This could end badly.

But it was still tempting.


And in other news? I’m still screaming. There is still no resolution for Forged in Fire. And, because of the way they’ve locked down the book in KDP, I can’t get at any of the data to see if there is a major error that needs to be fixed. I don’t know if a reader reported the book, or if it’s a glitch (I’m suspecting glitch, to be honest.) There’s been no communication from KDP Quality Control. I’m in limbo, and I don’t like it. It’s costing me money.

So… since Amazon isn’t letting me make money, Forged in Fire is now ON SALE on Smashwords — use the code TN86U for 20% off  — good for the rest of the week!

Meanwhile, Bones of Earth is ready to drop on May 26th. I really hope Forged in Fire is back online on Amazon when that happens.

Over the weekend, I found out that No Safewords II won the Bronze in the IPPY awards. If you remember, I have two stories in that anthology. Blood, Lust was where I first introduced my BDSM vampire Itami Hiro and his beloved Daniel (or at least, their Marketplace alternate universe selves).  And there’s Domestic Tranquility, a second Thomas and Eugenia story (the first being Oh, Promise Me! from No Safewords 1).

Not much else is going on here. It’s pretty much just exercise in the morning (Zombies, Run! three days a week, yoga and/or something else twice — you can follow me on Instagram for workout updates, if you’re interested), followed by writing and random stuff around the house. I’m not going out if I can help it — so I leave the neighborhood maybe once a week. Things are opening up around us — restaurants and hair salons and the like, but I’m not willing to be a test subject in how long before the second wave? Especially since the second wave is likely to be worse than the first — we’ve all seen the 1918 Flu graph, right?

If you can, stay in. Stay safe.

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, award-winning, Bones of Earth, Echoes of Light, Elemental Project, Forged in Fire, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, No Safewords, progress, promotions, Release date, run-writer-run!, Updatey things, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Just a little distracted

This past weekend was the Central Florida Highland Games. Which means that I haven’t so much as looked at my laptop since Thursday. However, a good time was had by all, WAY too much coquito poundcake was eaten, and I was told I looked like a Renaissance Jedi.

True to costumer form, I finished that coat Friday night to wear Saturday morning.

(And yes, that is a photo of the elusive Schechter-spouse)

This week will now be catch-up.

Table of Stone
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 4

Forged in Fire
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 2

In other news, I am confirmed as a guest at Oasis 30, to be held May 31st to June 2nd at the Sheraton Orlando North in Maitland, Florida. The GOH is Adam-Troy Castro.

And in other OTHER news, this past week I found out that No Safewords 2 was out. I have two stories in this anthology, including the vampire story that inspired Layover.

To conclude, instead of an excerpt, I’m sharing a recipe today. My husband accused me of attempting to seduce strange men with this cake. It’s a very sexy cake.

Coquito Poundcake
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) Kerrygold unsalted Irish butter, melted
  • 4 large eggs
  • 4 tsps gluten free vanilla
  • 3 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour (the blue package)
  • 2 tsps gluten free baking powder
  • 1 cup coquito (recipe to follow)
 
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bundt pan and LIBERALLY coat with cinnamon sugar
  2. Combine flour and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.
  3. Combine sugar and melted butter in mixer. Beat a medium speed until creamy, scraping bowl often. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, beat until well combined.
  4. Gradually add flour to butter mixture, alternating with coquito. Beat until well mixed.
  5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan.
Coquito:
Ingredients:
  • ½ cup water
  • 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 1/2 cups Bacardi rum
  • 27 oz Coconut milk (2 13.5 oz cans)
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
 
  1. Put water, sweetened condensed milk, rum and vanilla into a blender. Add coconut milk to the 6 cup mark. (You’ll have coconut milk left.)
  2. Blend. Chill for up to six hours. Blend again before serving (or using in cake).
Posted by EASchechter in 2019 plans, Adavar, appearances, baking, Elemental Project, Forged in Fire, forthcoming works, Gluten-free, Heir to the Firstborn, kvelling, No Safewords, Swords of Charlemagne, Table of Stone, why-the-writing-is-slow, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

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:

FB_IMG_1418600670474

Almond Cranberry biscotti.

FB_IMG_1418588405616

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

FB_IMG_1418507944691

Italian three color cookies before assembly

FB_IMG_1418583365272

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

FB_IMG_1418501566494

Flourless peanut butter and jelly cookies

FB_IMG_1418501505941

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.

Posted by EASchechter in award-winning, baking, edits, forthcoming works, heady praise, Marketplace, No Safewords, Sable Locks, The School, the-end-is-near, upcoming books, upcoming work, 0 comments

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!!!!

Posted by EASchechter in Good news, happy-happy- joy- joy, heady praise, KermitArms, No Safewords, Sable Locks, SQUEEE, Tales from the Arena, wow, yippee, 1 comment

I… umm… wait, they mean ME???

No Safewords released today as an ebook.

I saw the cover copy for the first time about ten minutes ago. And I’m looking for someone to poke me and wake me up…

“Ten stories of BDSM, submission, and service set in the secret world of Laura Antoniou’s Marketplace. The Marketplace has fans all over the world, and Antoniou invited them to come play in her fictional sandbox/dungeon. Numbered among those fans happen to be some of the top erotica and alternative sexuality writers in the world, including D.L. King, Sassafras Lowrey, and Elizabeth Schechter.”

One of the top erotic writers in the world? ME????

On second thought, DON’T WAKE ME UP!!!!

Posted by EASchechter in heady praise, Marketplace, No Safewords, Release date, wow, 0 comments