I have been MIA, I know

And I’m not promising I’ll be more active, but the least I can do is pop in with an update!

Last month (maybe November?) I announced that I’ve contracted an audiobook version of MATING CALL. I’ve since signed contracts for DRAGON DANCE and DRAGON BOUND to be produced in audiobook. All three titles will release subsequently in 2010, beginning (tentatively) in March.

In addition to audiobook releases of the Dragon Queen trilogy through AudioLark, Freya’s Bower will be repackaging all three books together as one title, which will be available for download or in print! I spent all of December gnashing my teeth over new cover decisions and I finally have a cover to share. I’m very exicted to hold this book in my hands because MATING CALL was my first e-book and it marked a new beginning for my involvement in writing and publishing.

Beyond the Dragon Queen news, I’ve also contracted a short story with Ellora’s Cave titled INTERLUDE IN PEARL, which should be available soon as I’ve just returned edits. INTERLUDE is…well, an interlude. In Pearl, Colorado, the setting for ALL THE TREES IN PEARL and ALL THE WOMEN IN PEARL (and the coming-eventually ALL THE SECRETS IN PEARL, which is James Carver’s story). INTERLUDE references Ethan, Margaret, Collette and John, but it’s really all about the Twin Mountains Ranch foreman Mickey–and what happens when he reaches his limit in the face of all that hanky-panky going on with the Carver siblings and their loves.

And! (What, you thought that was all?) Coming sometime in 2010 to Liquid Silver Books will be the first story in contemporary series “Year of the Soulmate”, which I dub as hot love story meets Sex in the City. I might be a little full of myself with that distinction but whatever.  I give myself permission! The first story, formerly known as “the snuggle party story” and going forward known as CHARLOTTE’S YOUNGER MAN, will be available later this year. Subsequent stories will feature Charlotte’s friends Linda, Jeannie and Jo, who you’ll meet in CHARLOTTE’S YOUNGER MAN.

Finally, you might have noticed UNWRAPPING AMY is difficult to come by now. The ROSE OF ANY COLOUR: MALEDOM anthology is out of “print,” but I have plans to make it available once more as a novella all by itself. I’ll keep you updated on its availability.

And I promise to work on a new episode for GMS: MERCY this month. I’m personally dying to read about the sizzling tension between Neve and Xu after their last explosive encounter.

But for now: back to the current WIP, a dark, dramatic futuristic about a necromancer and the woman he has to kill.

Flash! Blog Tour

Hello and welcome to my (bare, silky) leg of the Liquid Silver Books SEx blog Sunday Flash blog tour! We’ve been blizzardy and cold in my part of the country, snowed in and sipping too many holiday beverages, so it’s only natural my Flash for this tour will be holiday-themed. I hope you enjoy this peek at “Christmas at the Manporium” (in-progress, co-written by myself and Elise Logan).

If you’ve arrived at my blog independently, head back to the LSB SEx blog for the beginning of the tour (installment #1 of “Christmas at the Manporium” is posted in comments!) Don’t forget to visit the next flasher on the tour, Juniper Bell - and be sure to read comments wherever you go so you don’t miss any flashy fiction.

And everyone else on tour:

Roscoe James
Juniper Bell
Jeanne Barrack
Dee Carney
Vivian Arend
PG Forte
Jolie Cain
Christa Paige
Alanna Coca

Have a great, safe, entertaining Sunday – see you in comments on the tour.

Excerpt Monday December

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You=2 0don’t have to be published to participate–just an writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site! or click on the banner above.

FROM EMILY:

I recently realized our new release, HEARTS AFIRE: DECEMBER, only has an excerpt from Ella Drake’s story. Since you can only read the first chapter of “Firestorm on E’Terra” at the Liquid Silver Books web site, I thought I’d share the first chapter of “This Fire” here during Excerpt Monday December. Enjoy!

Eden Thomas had never given much thought to romantic relationships – until Seth Ripley. But Eden has secrets she won’t tell, and soon Seth’s demands for the truth push Eden into a corner – betray her best friend or watch Seth walk away.

“This Fire”

CHAPTER ONE

Eden checked the clock on her dresser again, sliding the dress over her head and smoothing it into place. She attacked her hair with a dryer and a round brush until the blonde length shone around her face.

A noise from the first floor registered over the roar of the blow dryer. She clicked it off. “Ry? Is that you?”

A deep, masculine chuckle reached her from the stairs. “Expecting someone else?”

“Of course not. I was just checking.” She eyed herself critically in the mirror as he walked in, stunning in his classic tuxedo. While he was practically the poster boy for his profession, Eden felt a bit like a diplomatic hostess in her navy floor-length gown. The gown was a fluid, shimmering material that skimmed her figure closely without clinging. The neckline was a draped sweetheart shape with tiny, wide-set spaghetti straps, and the back was no more than a drape of fabric that left her bare to the base of her spine. The entire effect was enticing, hinting at what lay beneath without revealing too much.

Lipstick. She snagged a little-used tube of crimson and glossed it over her lips. She bared her teeth to check for smudges as her best friend Ryan Edwards, tall, blond and gorgeous, sat on the edge of the mission-style bed.

“Michael is getting pressure to run for District Attorney,” he said.

Eden slowly re-capped her lipstick and made a sympathetic noise. “What does Michael want?”

Continue reading Excerpt Monday December…

Thursday Thirteen This Fire edition

Thirteen Sentences from “This Fire,” available now at Liquid Silver Books:

Clutching the sheet of paper with its boldly scrawled number, she picked up the phone. She concentrated on taking slow, even breaths. He probably wasn’t home. Firefighters’ schedules were worse than ER doctors. He was probably either on duty or asleep and wouldn’t answer the phone. It rang twice.

“Yeah?” His voice was gritty, dark, and a bit hoarse.

She had woken him. She bit her lip, undecided on whether to speak. She closed her eyes, and a picture of him, sleepy and rumpled, sprawled across the bed to grab the phone popped into her head. The image did alarming things to her pulse. “Seth.”

Mating Call Audio DEMO Available

Click the pretty picture for a brief reading of Mating Call, coming March 2010 to AudioLark

Mating Call coming to AudioLark in 2010

I’ve had a bit of a busy couple of weeks on the business side of things. My paranormal romance trilogy Dragon Queen is at the center of all the fuss. In early spring 2010, look for MATING CALL to appear in audio format available at AudioLark – I hope to have more related news soon to share about DRAGON DANCE and DRAGON BOUND.

Mating Call Audiobook coming in 2010 to AudioLark

I’ve had a bit of a busy couple of weeks on the business side of things. My paranormal romance trilogy Dragon Queen is at the center of all the fuss. In early spring 2010, look for MATING CALL to appear in audio format available at AudioLark – I hope to have more related news soon to share about DRAGON DANCE and DRAGON BOUND.

Currently, a small segment of MATING CALL is being recorded for demo purposes. As soon as it’s available, I’ll link here as a sneak preview.

I’m excited about the audio book prospects. I admit I jumped initially because the idea of someone reading my books to me just sounded neat, but after speaking with a few other people I realized the further-reaching benefits. Inexpensive audio books (priced from $4.99-$12.99 through AudioLark) will make the audio format more accessible to readers and listeners who aren’t on a hardback-book budget (which is the price range of at least 20 romance and paranormal/urban fantasy audio books I scoped on iTunes yesterday).

Additionally, going into audio format will enable visually impaired readers to access my work (thank you Nonny Morgan for the perspective). When I think of audiobooks, I think of something to do while taking a long road trip or going to the gym. I don’t think of the format as one of my only options for enjoying fiction. I won’t say that I’m feeling like a hero or something silly, but I will say I’m pleased at this chance to meet the listening readership.

For authors, AudioLark is open to submissions and specializes in romance fiction of varying heat levels.

Sunday Flash Fiction at SEx

I’m blogging today at the Liquid Silver Books blog about holiday decorations. The SEx blog features flash fiction Sundays, just a little exercise to get the imagination going. Stop by and cook up a teensy 50-100 (or less!) vignette to join the fun.

I’ve you’ve begun your holiday decorating, this is a great way to work out the frustration inevitably incurred by directing someone else where to drape the lights and hang the bulbs!

Thursday Thirteen Thanksgiving Edition

In no particular order, I’m thankful for…

1) Employment.

2) My husband, even though it irritates the hell out of me when he looks over at what I’m typing.

3) Elise, who is wonderful, a friend I’m glad I found.

4) The editors who’ve believed in my work and given me an opportunity to share it.

5) My mother’s health, which has improved rather than declined over the past year.

6) Victoria Dahl, for Molly and Lori (and Ben and Quinn).

7) Carolyn Jewel, for Xia and Alexandrine.

Yes, I do consider wonderful books something to be thankful for and not to be taken for granted.

8 ) Romance Divas, a community of good people.

9) My family, by blood and by marriage.

10) The opportunity I had this past summer to attend RWA’s National Convention.

11) My house.

12) My health, which is pretty darn good.

13) My continued interest in writing.

And a bonus: I’m very thankful to have thirteen people, places and things to list.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Excerpt Monday November – Thumbelina!

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You=2 0don’t have to be published to participate–just an writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site! or click on the banner above.

The voice called Frog said, “Take that end and we’ll get it on wheels. Mike, we’ll need a ramp to get it up the stairs.”

Shit! It wasn’t time for moving! They only moved me for recitals, and recitals didn’t happen in summer!

Frog and another man lifted the piano and the keys trembled. A steel string came close to dividing me in half. I dodged and grabbed hold of a tuning pin as the old Steinway tilted and trembled. The wheeled board groaned beneath the piano’s weight, and the wheels themselves squeaked as the men rolled my house out into the hall.

Men! They always screw up my life! I was perfectly happy—thrilled!—with my walnut shell before the toad’s meddling mother tossed me onto a lily pad, and I would’ve found my own way in the grass if that milky-eyed mole hadn’t dragged me down into the rodent tunnels. And if it hadn’t been for the swallow and his blasted flowers, I never would have run into the vain prince who decided to give me wings, and the witch never would’ve been jealous enough to lock me up in a Steinway of all things. I didn’t even rank a baby grand.

Men.

I clung to the tuning pin and fumed as the latest batch of jerks pushed me down to the fire stairs. What pissed me off the most was I couldn’t even do so much as bite one of them due to the curse. Futile fury is the worst, and I stewed in it while the piano movers jostled and banged me up the stairs.

”Hold the ramp—”

“God damn it!”

One second, the Mike voice was grunting and muttering curses. The next—the next, I was sliding out of control. My shoulders gave out and I lost my grip on the tuning pin that decorated a jagged stake.

I expected to hit the floor hard, but I tumbled into a soft pocket lined with lint. The piano mover’s heart trotted recklessly, tearing off toward its finish line. His blood blossomed near my aching shoulder.

The church bell’s flinch rang in my ears long after the snap and crunch of splintering wood, the thunk and twang of snapping wires stopped echoing in the stairwell.

One of the men muttered, “We are so fucked.”

Another—Mike—said, “You’re bleeding, man.”

I held my breath and tried to make myself invisible as my pocket crinkled and gaped away from the warm, solid chest wearing it.

“Fucking piano stabbed me.”

Frog. His shirt sagged back to his chest. Beneath my left foot, his nipple hardened.

“You’re bleeding all over the damn place.”

“I’ll live.”

“You’ll get stitches. Get out of here.”

The men argued over the necessity of treatment while I tried to climb up Frog’s pec. I had to get out of his pocket before he left the church. I didn’t know how to live outside the musty basement.

“Whatever. You do the paperwork. I’m going home.”

Dizzy with panic, I scrambled for the opening of the pocket. I’d almost gained the top hem when a huge hand swatted across my cover, stunning me and knocking me back to the bottom.

Trapped—but free. Frog had exited the church. Over the warm, spicy scent of his body, I detected the crisp freshness of open, under-a-big-sky air. I knew it wasn’t spring for the world, but it was for me and I suddenly, inexplicably, craved a man.

A thousand fantasies overcame me, all featuring the man whose heart beat beneath my cheek. I spread my fingers against his chest to test the firmness of his muscle. He must have felt my groping because he nearly squashed me a second time. I learned my lesson and held still for what seemed like forever even though I desperately wanted an orgasm. Maybe if I was very careful…

“Links to other Excerpt Monday writers
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