Monday, March 31, 2014

Wednesday is My Birthday, But You Can Get Presents, Too!


This Wednesday is my birthday, but I'm the one giving out the presents!

Just email me, or respond to this blog, or post a comment below this photo on my Facebook, and you'll be entered. I'm going to choose FIVE winners and announce them on Wednesday. Those winners will get to pick between any one of my ebooks (including my soon-to-be-released Zonaton), or an Amazon gift card!

International readers welcome!


Saturday, March 29, 2014

Re-Released! RUNNER'S MOON: SIMOLIF, a Sensuous Erotic Sci-Fi Romance Novel, Book 3 of the Runner's Moon Series



Re-released!

RUNNER'S MOON: SIMOLIF
Book 3 
Sensuous Erotic Sci-Fi  Romance
ISBN 978-1-941321-05-8
Word Count:  71.8K
3.99



Almost seven years ago they landed on Earth -- thirty-one aliens, fugitives from a lifetime of slavery and cruelty. Now they were dispersed among the populace, unidentifiable because of their shape-shifting abilities.

Simolif knew when his brother Jebaral found his life's mate. The blood lines in his arm had increased by one. And the sight of it had thrilled him like nothing else could... unless he, too, could find someone who could accept him for what he was, and who would not scream in fright to see his true self.

He never expected to find Professor Sarah Drumman. As an astronomer, she suspected there were creatures from another galaxy now walking the Earth. More than anything, she wanted to prove her theory to the world.

Their meeting would forever change their lives. Too bad hers meant nothing to the creatures who had landed on Earth looking for their missing cargo.

Warning! Contains camouflage swimwear, spaghetti squash, a shiny black hog, photographic proof, illegal ammunition, and a naked mission of mercy in the middle of the night, with no hope of success.


(Runner-Up Best Selling Title of the Year, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid Publishing, 2008)

Monday, March 24, 2014

Jenna McCormick is my Guest Author Tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio

Tonight, on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio, we have cyborgs in a wonderfully sensuous sci-fi romance novel, BORG, by Jenna McCormick. Come listen as she reads an excerpt from her newest release, which is book 3 of her best-selling B Cubed series!

Show time is 11 pm et/ 10 pm ct
Don't miss it!
* * *
Born: Natural born humans are precious few and dwell in darkness.

Bred: Genetically engineered slaves who are the protectors of the Born.

Borg: The cybernetically enhanced enclave that split from the Born humans.


B Cubed: These three factions are all that remains of the human race after the world stopped turning. Scavenging in the darkness for what little is left, the war between them rages on though few know why. It begins with a child's prophesy and can only end when they unite.


Or die.

B Cubed Book 3 Borg: The Earth is dying. Only one man has the ability to save it but Dayen can barely function. Saddled from birth with a crippling form of telepathy, he is unable to give or receive touch. So what will he do with the Born woman destined to be his mate? A woman who has more reasons than most to fear the touch he longs to give her and her alone?

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Tag! I'm It!


MJ Compton has tagged me as part of a blog tag, where writers share a bit about their writing process and their books. It also involves answering four basic questions.

1. What am I working on?

At the moment, that's a bit up in the air. I recently got 20 of my books back from their publishers, having met their contractual obligation, and 10 I hope to get back in June. So I'm working to re-edit them, including giving them new ISBN numbers and covers, and re-releasing them on a currently one-per-week schedule.

In the meantime, I've finished my stand-alone sci-fi romance, Zonaton, and am editing it as well, before sending it off to the editor for a final polish. Look for its release in April.

I've also started three more books, each one part of a series. I hope to have Runner's Moon: Yarrolam, The Gifting, and HeartStorm finished this year. As well as AEquana's Quest, Breacher #3, and Ghost of the Swamp (Subwoofers #2, Pud's story.) Once I retire in June after 35 years of teaching, I can work finally as a full-time author. Yay!

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

That's hard to pinpoint. I guess I could say my heroes are flawed, and definitely not Alphas. I also take chances on putting non-human characters together with human ones, to make loving couples (and praying I don't squick out people in the process).

I also have flawed and sometimes physically-challenged heroes and heroines. I try to make each book a bit different than what people expect, and include a surprising twist.


3. Why do I write what I do?

Because I love the fantastical. The avant guarde. The mystical, mythical, and mysterious. I want to explore the unknown. And if I can't, let me make it up. Let me create whole worlds and situations and people. Don't tell me people "can't do this and that", or go "here or there". Don't tell me such and such doesn't exist, because I'll make it exist! I'll go there, and I'll have my characters do it, and experience it, or battle with it. And the love they discover in the meantime will be rich and genuine and forever.



4. How does my writing process work?

Miraculously. Seriously, it's a miracle my ideas become cohesive at all. Sometimes I'll come up with a title or an idea, but no clue as to what to do with them. Other times, I'll see a picture, photo, or piece of art, and decide I want to write a story about it. Or I may finish one book, then realize I haven't finished telling that story. And at other times, it's all because someone said, "When are you going to write another story about XYZ?" When any of those happen, I just sit back and give myself time, letting the ideas whirl around in my head and gather more ideas and details like iron particles to a magnet. More often than not, by the time I start to put the book into words, the large majority of the story has already been written in my head.

I keep notes in a journal to help me keep on track with names and dates, and details. I try to get in a minimum of 500 words written a day, but there are times after a stressful day teaching I may not get anything written, and evenings or weekends where I may pump out a whole chapter.

Do I get writer's block? Actually, it's more exhaustion block than anything. But once the love of the characters and their stories start to permeate my dreams, I won't let go until I have it all written down.

Well, that's it. Thanks again to MJ for tagging me!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Re-Released! RUNNER'S MOON: TIRON, a Sensuous Sci-Fi Romance Novel


Re-Released!
RUNNER'S MOON: TIRON
Book 2
Sensuous Erotic Sci-Fi  Romance
ISBN 978-0-9914081-9-1
Word Count:  59.3K
3.99

Nearly six years ago they landed on Earth--thirty-one aliens, fugitives from a lifetime of slavery and cruelty. Now they were dispersed among the populace, unidentifiable because of their shape-shifting abilities.

Tiron had found sanctuary in Crescent City as “Roni.” But her own self-hatred, beaten into her at the hands of the Arra, had her earning her living as a common street prostitute.

Lieutenant Thom DeGrassi worked vice for the police department. He had busted prostitutes in the past, but nothing had prepared him for what he felt when he met Roni.

Worse, there was some sicko out there getting his jollies cutting up hookers. Now DeGrassi was faced with two impossible situations—keeping Roni off the streets while he sorted out his feelings for her, and trying to find the man responsible for the deaths of four other women.

Warning! Contains too much short and not enough sweet, night court, flowered quilts, tight black pleather, the scent of baby powder, a job interview from hell, and a middle-of-the-night risk that would begin with gunshots and end in a blood-splattered grove.

Click here for more information, including buy links.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The Origami Elephant


Origami Artist Creates Life-Sized Elephant From One Piece of Paper

Professional origami artist Sipho Mabona has created a huge, life-sized elephant with just one sheet of paper. His most ambitious work to date, the elephant took Mabona and a team of over a dozen people four weeks to complete. Standing just over 3 meters high (or 10 feet tall), the work is now on display in the museum KKLB in Beromünster, Switzerland.

Monday, March 17, 2014

New Release Giveaway! HIS BY RIGHT, a Sensuously Erotic Sci-Fi Romance, Tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio

It's a new release giveaway, tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio. Listen tonight as I read an excerpt from my latest release, HIS BY RIGHT, a sensuously erotic sci-fi romance. And one lucky listener will win a copy!

Show time is 11 pm et/10 pm ct
Don't miss it!
* * *
HIS BY RIGHT
A Sensuous Erotic Sci-Fi Romance
Music And Press
ISBN 978-1-941321-00-3
2.99

She thought they were saving her life. She was wrong. Instead, Meredith Powell was kidnapped, taken aboard an alien spacecraft, and forced to prostitute herself to paying humanoid customers. But she had hope. She would only have to serve for two years, and then she would be returned to Earth.

It was a life she had to learn and adjust to, until one paying customer took a special interest in her. A customer who had other plans for her, and none of them involved returning her to her home planet.



Warning! Contains drippy lights, padded tables, a jeweled waistlet, pink cuffs, and a lover with an incredible ability.

Click here for excerpt and buy links.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Guy Veryzer and I Were Interviewed on Insight Radio


Check out this segment of INSIGHT RADIO with Patrick McCarty. He interviews me and Guy Veryzer, narrator of my soon-to-be-released audio book The Gifted!
(Click on the MP3 format to listen.)

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Re-Released! RUNNER'S MOON: JEBARAL, a Sensuously Erotic Sci-Fi Romance Novel



Re-released!

RUNNER'S MOON: JEBARAL
Book 1
Sensuous Erotic Sci-Fi  Romance
ISBN 978-0-9914081-8-4
Word Count:  61.8K
3.99

He was one of thirty-one aliens who had landed on this remote world and dispersed among the populace, unidentifiable because of their shape-shifting abilities.

Jebaral had hoped for a life. A chance to be free after escaping years of slavery and cruelty. But when he met Hannah Pitt, there was no way he could turn away from her or from the feelings she evoked in him. But neither could he accept her offer of a future filled with laughter and promise. After all, she was human; he was nothing remotely human.

Worse, the Arra were out looking for their lost cargo and they wouldn't stop until every body was accounted for. 

Could he risk loving this woman? Would she even accept him for what he truly was?

Little did he realize that all his choices would soon be taken away.

Warning! Contains emotions that smell, remote locations, meatless dishes, owl lying, years of running and hiding, and harrowing revenge in a brown pickup truck.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Benediction

 
A monk prays for an elderly man who had died suddenly while waiting for a train in Shanxi Taiyuan, China. One of my favorite pictures in the world.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The Midnight Planetarium Watch


The Midnight Planétarium watch was a collaboration between Van Cleef & Arpels and Christiaan van der Klaauw. The watch is made of 396 separate parts and features the six closest planets orbiting the sun in real time (Uranus and Neptune were left out because you probably won’t live long enough to see either one complete a full orbit).

Monday, March 10, 2014

Barbara Longley is my Guest Author Tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio

If you like time travel romances and Scottish highlanders, you won't want to miss this show! Barbara Longley is my Guest Author tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio. She'll be reading an excerpt from her paranormal romance, True to the Highlander, from Montlake.

Show time is 11 pm et/ 10 pm ct
* * *
Treachery rules the Highlands of 1423. With their king captured by the English, Scottish nobles plot to ransom James behind the back of the brutal regent holding their land in his iron grip. But not every clan wishes to see King James back on his throne…

Sitting atop this powder keg of bloodthirsty rivalries, Malcolm of clan MacKintosh takes the mysterious, lone maiden he finds along his road as a bad omen…though an undeniably beautiful one. When he attempts to save her from a rogue within his own garrison, she deftly brings Malcolm to his knees. Who is this willful lass who has so quickly laid siege to his heart?

Alethia Goodsky has met all kinds working at the New York Renaissance Festival, but no one like the fortune-teller who tasks her with a cryptic life-saving mission and flings her into the fifteenth century. Now Alethia must rely on her wits to unravel the mystery in this violent land. Malcolm has sworn to protect her, but her gifts may soon make her his protector. With enemies closing in, Alethia must choose between finding a way home…and remaining true to her Highlander.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Re-released! A DIFFERENT YESTERDAY, a Sensuously Erotic Apocalyptic, Futuristic, Sci-Fi Romance Novel


Re-released!

A DIFFERENT YESTERDAY
Sensuously Erotic Sci-Fi/Apocalyptic/Futuristic Romance Novel
Music And Press
ISBN 978-1-941321-04-1
Word Count:  67.3K
3.99


The Apocalypse.

It didn't come because of man's inhumanity to man. It didn't come from bombs, or plague, or even from aliens descending from outer space. In fact, no one knows what triggered it. And even if they did, there was no way to turn back time.

Only one thing was certain. One evening the sun had grown unexpectedly bigger and hotter, and heat and radiation unlike anything ever experienced washed over the Earth, bathing it in searing rays that devoured over three-quarters of the world's population.

Now the sun is smaller, and it doesn't radiate as much heat as it used to. The world is colder. Food is scarce, and people are fighting to stay alive.

Andrew Michael Tollson, aka "The Silent Wraith", was a man who roamed from settlement to outpost to city, offering his protection from scavengers and renegades. Years ago, right before the sun had exploded, when he had been a boy growing up in a small Texas town, he had felt his first crush for the little tomboy he knew as Jo. Now, as a grown man, he has finally made his way back to his boyhood home to see if Jo is still alive, or if she has been a victim of the Apocalypse. He has to know if the dreams and memories he has harbored were mere fantasies, or if the infatuation he'd felt then has grown into something else, something stronger and more tangible.

JoBeth Wythe was a member of The Triad, three leaders who protected their little settlement, and tried to recall the carefree days before the Apocalypse. All they wanted was the chance at a decent life, with enough food, some shared warmth, and a little hope for the future. She had never forgotten the pudgy little kid who had followed her around when she was growing up, the little boy she called Mikey. Every time she thought of him, it only brought back pain and a wistfulness for a past that no longer existed.

For Drew and Jo, it was only a matter of time before they would be reunited to fight together. To survive together. And to discover that the innocent kisses they had shared as children had grown into a love that would overwhelm them with desire.

Warning!  Contains permanent extreme cold, love everlasting, survivalists, separation, a legend in the making, a brutal mass murder, childhood friends to lovers, and the end of the world as we know it.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Art as Live Performance


I don't know who this is, where it was taken, but I think it's incredible how this woman creates such stunning art using wide, sweeping motions of her body.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Re-released! HEARTCRYSTAL, a Sensuous Erotic Sci-Fi Romance Novel, Sequel to HEARTFAST

Re-released!

HEARTCRYSTAL 
(Sequel to HeartFast)
Sensuously Erotic Sci-Fi Romance
Word Count:  98.6K
3.99

They were the Guardians.  Sixteen special men and women with incredible powers, who had sworn their lives to the protection of their galaxy, while upholding the laws of their world.

For Master Hunter and StarLight, it seems the worst is over.  With StarLight still recovering from her near-death experience with the Ombitra, they are ready to resume their lives as the first-ever married Guardian couple in history.  Ready for a new life filled with love and extraordinary passion.

But there are unknown perils when working in outer space.  There are dangers beyond description--unforeseeable events and catastrophes that can bring nightmares to any sane person.

They had sworn they would share a lifetime together.

The universe had other plans.

Click here for buy links and excerpt.

Monday, March 3, 2014

JJ "James" DiBenedetto is my Guest Author Tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio

What would you do if you could see other people's dreams? JJ "James" DiBenedetto answers that question when he joins me tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio to read from his paranormal romance, Dream Student, ​Book 1 of the Dream series.

Show time is 11 pm et/ 10 pm ct
Don't miss it!
* * *
What would you do if you could see other people’s dreams?  If you could watch their hidden fantasies and uncover their deepest, darkest secrets…without them ever knowing?
Sara Barnes is about to find out.  She thought that all she had to worry about was final exams, Christmas shopping and deciding whether she likes the cute freshman in the next dorm who’s got a crush on her.
But when she starts seeing dreams that aren’t hers, she learns more than she ever wanted to know about her friends, her classmates…and a strange, terrifying man whose dreams could get Sara killed.

“Dream Student” is the thrilling first installment of the Dreams series.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Six on Sunday - HIS BY RIGHT

Six paragraphs from my best-selling, sensuously erotic sci-fi romance.

1.  Pausing, she wiped her brow with her shirtsleeve, when a movement outside her cell made her look up. A small shriek jumped from her throat, and without realizing it, Meredith scuttled backwards until she reached the far wall. From there, she nearly hyperventilated in fear as the creature with red eyes and a mouth filled with enormous teeth hovered over her cell.

2.  It was either a shift or a short toga. It was also so transparent, she might as well not be wearing anything. Briefly, Meredith wondered would happen if she refused, then thought better of it. If she continued to butt heads with the thing, it could possibly decide Meredith wasn't worth the effort and kill her. At least, in her opinion, it would be an easier option to jettison her out into space, rather than turn around and take her back to Earth. No. It's better I play along for now. Sooner or later it might slip up, and I'll find a way to get out of here. If I get a reputation for being docile, it may not be watching me as closely than if I've been branded a trouble maker.

3.  The wall at her feet moved aside, taking her slowly into the adjacent room that was no bigger than the one she'd been in. As she reached the wall, a panel lowered to below her armpits where it flowed downward and solidified around her upper body, leaving her breasts on the other side. Flashes of a magic trick where a magician sawed a woman in half went through her mind. At the same time, she realized she'd never seen or met any of the other kidnapped victims. All she had was Gleeth's word for it. What if she was really meant to be food for these creatures? What if all of this was a ruse, and she was being decked out to be their next banquet? She fought the image as the table halted and the panel stopped just above the pallet.

4.  "We had heard about the pleasuring ship in the past, but we never came across it until we were in this quadrant of the galaxy. Neeveer thought it would be interesting to check it out. See if all we had heard about it was true. He took one of the small survey shuttles, and when he came back..." Bajud took a deep breath, then gestured toward her waistlet. "He has had that in his possession for years. He bought it from one of the greatest jewelry makers on Venilios Six. It cost him...a lot. When he showed it to me, I asked him what it was for. It is not something an Alcatian master would wear. He said it gave him comfort. He said it represented the one thing in his life he had yet to find, but he did not tell me what that was. I never thought I would see him part with it."

5.  "Love is an Earth word, Merry. There may be no equivalent in Neeveer's language. But isn't everything he did for you, weren't his actions enough to prove to you how he felt about you? Remember what Bajud told you? I am a shock to them. I am something that Neeveer had to have, regardless of the consequences. He went against orders to obtain me. He spent an incredible amount, trying to negotiate for me. And in the end, he did what he felt was right for me. He brought me home."

6.  Huge sobs shook her body, but her eyes never left the sky. She knew he couldn't hear her, but how could she let him know she was here? She had come back because she'd discovered life really meant very little to her without someone to share it with. Without someone who cared about her, and wanted to share it with her.

            Without Neeveer.