First submission for ages

Lately I've been spending more time on longer works so I haven't had as many short stories to submit. This morning, though, I finally finished Feathered Friend, the story about a shape-shifting pigeon that I've been struggling with for the last few weeks. I've had my eye on bundling it up with The Lizard King, another story that's based on an obscure European fairy tale, and sending them both off to Freya's Bower for one of their Bites, but I wasn't certain I could hit the right word count. But the two together came in at a few words shy of 7,500 which is absolutely perfect, so after a quick read-through, edit and re-format, I duly sent them off. Now I sit here and chew my fingernails to the elbows in the hope that they'll like 'em. LOL

Exciting!

I'm jumping up and down because I've had the cover art through for 'Roses in December' and the pace is hotting up ready for release next month. The cover is really pretty and sums up the storyline extremely well - but I'm going to make everyone wait another week or two before I share it. :P

Free short story - one weekend only!

If anyone is going to Con-txt this coming weekend, you'll be able to get your grubby paws on a copy of my short story 'Just Reward' on the Erotic Romance Writers' Forum free sampler CD. The CD also contains novellas and stories by other members of the ERWF - including Kay Derwydd, Emily Veinglory, Dusk Peterson, Ally Blue, James Buchanan and L E Bryce - and will be available completely FREE from the ERWF table.

'Just Rewards' was originally published in Velvet Mafia and tells the rather dark, gritty tale of a Chief Constable hoist by his own petard.

The first ten lucky visitors to the ERWF table will also be able to pick up signed copies of the cover art for 'Elfmeet', also free.

Hope you enjoy!

Lots of new books

There's a sudden rush of new releases for summer. Here's the details of the latest one, from Jourdan Lane. :)



Soul Mates: Bound by Blood by Jourdan Lane

From the Torquere Press Website:

Houston nightclub Rave is famous for nearly-naked male dancers and beautiful bartenders, like Peter, a young man with a strict rule about one-night stands. He breaks that rule for Lucien, the owner of The Den, a rival gay nightclub where there are no boundaries, no taboos. Anything goes at The Den, including vampires.

When Peter finds out about Lucien's vampire nature, he figures he should have stuck to his rule, because Lucien pulls him into a dark world of vampires, werewolves and feuding in-laws. No one approves of the human vampire match, and Peter and Lucien have to struggle to stay together. Can they beat the forces that will try to tear them apart forever?

Find out today!

New release from Kay Derwydd

Binding the Wolf by Kay Derwydd

Unleashed I

Zach is quite content in his life with his lover Nate. Despite the rigors of being a chef, he knows he can come home to relative peace. But one day, his blessed peace is interrupted when finds a box and a note from Nate. Can Zach accept Nate for what he is, even if it means the end of life as he knows it?

Unleashed II

Nate is hiding a secret from his lover. When things turn rough and the beast inside almost breaks through, Nate's only choice is to leave. He throws everything on the hope that Zach will still love him. Can he convince Zach to be the master he so desperately needs?

Rating: Sizzling

Book Length: Bites

Price: $2.00

Buy your copy HERE!

Press release from K M Frontain

A new PR from ERWF member K M Frontain. :)

Just released: The Redemption of Tehlm Sevet: Volume Two , the eleventh book in The Soulstone Chronicles.

Get the ashes. Get the soulstone. Raise the Shadow Master. It sounds simple enough. However, life is never simple for the beloved teacher of the Ulmeniran gryphon royalty. If Herfod can manage to recover from his near destruction at the hands of a too affectionate infant angel, he'll need to dodge the attention of Ugoth's gryphon forefather, survive a visit from Sticks' sire, appease both Ugoth’s and Jenna’s growing jealousy, and withstand the pressure of the Turamen brotherhood to take up his religious calling again, this despite that he's now married. If he can manage all that, then he'll get that soulstone at last, and provide for the resurrection a container of ashes of questionable origin.

Never let it be said that trouble only comes to Herfod. He’ll foment his own the moment nobody’s watching, and pay back, with an avalanche of disasters, every annoyance perpetrated on him.

Buy it now. This novel is available both in ebook or paperback format.

Selling myself

Well, not quite literally. :D

I never ever thought I would be saying this, but following a suggestion from one of my readers, I've set up a Yahoo group to announce new releases, forthcoming books, contests and all that sort of thing. I find this ever so slightly amazing because I never thought I'd be successful enough to have my own mailing list. Also, being your typical reserved Brit *grin*, I still find promoting myself and my books quite hard work and would much rather dig a large hole in the sand and hide in it, than push lots of promotional messages down everyone's throats.LOL But she was absolutely right - not everyone has the time or the inclination to go checking my website every five minutes and this way they get the important nuggets of information delivered right to the doorstep.

Just in case anyone's interested in joining up, the new group is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Glass_Illusions/ . It's an updates-only list, rather than chat, so nobody need be shy about joining or feel that it takes up too much of their time. Hope to see some or all of you there!

Snail's gallop

That's the speed of current progress on 'Feathered Friend', what with the hot weather and wanting to spend time in the garden, and too much cricket to watch on tv. :) But like British Rail I am getting there, if slowly, and the combined total of the two stories is now over the lower of the two targets on word count. Wheee!

The sex scene is still proving elusive but I quite often find that I get more inspiration for those once I've finished the story and am more familiar with the characters. Trying to write pure smut about characters I haven't yet built up a 'relationship' with is something I find particularly difficult. Mostly I suspect because I haven't had a chance to work out how they would likely react, but also because it's harder to care about complete strangers. In a funny sort of way. ;)

Anyhoo, here's a brief paragraph from the angsty part of the story to whet your appetites.

"Charlie sank to the floor, clutching the feather in one tightly-clenched hand, and rested his forehead on his knees. It wasn't fair. All he'd wanted was to keep the man he loved, but now he'd f*cked that up. Avery was bound to feel bitter over the way he'd been kept here against his will; now he'd escaped he wasn't likely to come back. "It's just not fair," Charlie mumbled to himself, but even as he said the words he knew they weren't true. What he'd done to Avery wasn't fair, and now he'd got his just reward. Slowly he clambered to his feet, brushed a tear from his cheek, and took the feather over to his grandmother's carved box. He piled all his treasures back inside, and laid the feather on the very top, and gently closed the lid."

New acceptance

I've had some great news this morning as Torquere Press have accepted a collection of three short stories for a new Taste Test. The stories, 'Bloodsucker', 'Reflections in a Dark Pool', and 'Wild Thyme Bitter Honey', are all mild horror and have a common theme of water - forest pools in the first two, and the sea in the third.

The book is due out in August - I'll post further details when I have them. :)

Contest closed

Wow, that was FAST!! I'd no sooner finished posting promo notices about the contest than I started to get the emails rolling in with the replies. :)

Congratulations to Jenny who emailed me the correct answers at twice the speed of light *grins* and is now the proud owner of a copy of 'One Degree'.

I'll be running another contest soon, when my novel 'Roses in December' hits the airwaves, so watch this space!

freebie!

Want to win yourself a free e-book? Then why not try taking part in my brand new new contest.

Three into one really does go: three answers = one degree. Simply answer three easy-peasy questions about my book 'One Degree of Separation' (no purchase necessary - all the answers can be found somewhere on my website) and the first person to email me with the correct answers will receive a pdf file of the book, completely free!

Here are the questions:
1. Which story features a gothic-loving policeman?
2. What colour was the gypsy's neckerchief in Raggle Taggle Gypsy?
3. Which shrub did Ken and Patrick have sex underneath in Maximum Provocation?

Email the answers to me here for your chance to win the book - and the very best of luck!