Thursday 13 #32!

With it being women's history month and Zandia coming out in paperback I have women on my mind. Here are 13 that I think about in no particular order.

1. Athena. Zeus had a headache and took an ax to it to relieve the pain and out came his daughter [Metis - knowledge or wisdom - was her mother]. She's the Goddess of Warfare and Wisdom [amongst other things] and I think the mixture is intriguing.

2. Mae West. She was sassy and smart, sexy and sweet, strong and successful.

3. Amelia Earhart. She showed there was nothing wrong with being adventurous.

4. Judy Blume. She is an author who ignores the nay-sayers and writes what kids want and need to read.

5. Audrey Hepburn. She is a person who suffered much through life and yet thought how she could use her success to help others.

6. Edith Head. She inspired me to be a designer and while I didn't go on with this she still is in my mind showing me new ways to push boundaries.

7. Helen Keller. She excelled despite it all.

8. Laura Ingalls Wilder. She wrote a series of books that I loved and took away from it that everything was possible.

9. Rosa Parks. She showed such incredible strength in the face of adversity and kept her dignity in a world of hatred.

10. My Grammy. She was a writer and painter who taught me to never stop learning. I loved that she was started doing aquatic aerobics in her late eighties.

11. My Mom. She installed in us confidence in being ourselves and reaching out for our dreams.

12. My sister. She's a mother of four and each one of her kids, 3 girls and 1 boy, and they are all incredible, can't wait to see what happens for them.

13. Sui Erom from Zandia. When faced with a future that didn't suit her, she left but eventually returns to help makes changes for all women.

What woman influenced you or you think about that gives you a good vibe?

Zandia by Tilly Greene [paperback release]

With trepidation, Sui Erom left Zandia for Earth in search of better choices. One day Xer Rieh and the speedball team come to town, reminding her what she’s missing from home. Will love prevail, or will Sui settle for warm memories?

Only Sui can decide.

“Zandia is a superb story that explores the complex emotions between Sui and Xer. Once I started Zandia I became so engrossed in the story, I could not put it down. Bravo Ms. Greene. I can’t recommend this book enough. Zandia is the perfect blend of story, red hot sex, and sci-fi elements.” Reviewed by Claudia, 5 stars/O heat, Just Erotic Romance Reviews

Zandia is released today in paperback! You can pick up your copy at Samhain, Amazon or your local bookstore.

Today is the start of my week at...

the Samhain Spring Showers party on the Coffee Time Romance Board!

Head over and check out all the various bits of wonderfulness! There's some fabulous prizes on the table as well. All good fun.

The Bunny is here!

Phaze has let the Bunny out of the basket early! There's a sale to chomp on throughout the bookshop by using BUNNY08 now through Monday for 20% off. Woohoo, happy spring reading.

Love is in the Air!

East Coast Authors Stella Price, Cat Johnson, Allie Boniface, CH Admirand and Tilly Greene are kicking off their Spring book tour at Borders [100 Viewmont Mall, Scranton, PA]. And, drumroll please, I'm bringing advanced copies of "Zandia"! You read that right, the book isn't actually released until March 25th so this is your chance to not only get your copy early but have it signed as well :-).

Looking forward to seeing you there!

What a hoot!

The cutie wasn't feeling well on Friday so we went to the video rental shop, picked a handful each and then let the other pick one they wanted to watch. Yeah, our taste in flicks can vary that much.

Anyway, last night we watched mine: Death at a Funeral. What a hoot! There's a great twists in this one and some good laughs as well. Even the opening credits were fun. Perfect :-)

A bit of random ridiculousness...

All is going well this month of pure writing and a booksigning [on the 21st] but there's been one hiccup - September. Why? Simple really, there's too much I want to do and they are all at roughly the same time!

1. the Moveable Book Society's conference is going to be held in Washington D.C. and will be full of unexpected treasures - since I missed both San Diego and Chicago, I promised myself I'd go to this one but something else came along that was both pleasure and work,

2. the West Hollywood Book Fair - I even said yes I'd go until I remembered,

3. a friend's wedding in Cork, Ireland.

Yup, going to the latter and it's on my birthday as well.

Thursday 13 #31!

On Tuesday's Book Talk! I mentioned being knee deep in my Russian books for the 'Come' series. Because I'm still there and might be for longer than I thought, here's 13 bits and pieces about the series.

1. 'Come' is an erotic romance shape-shifter trilogy about the three Ivanovich brothers.

2. They were all born in Russia and left after Gorbachev took office.

3. There are rumors flying around their homeland about them that they will never confirm or deny.

4. They moved to New York City and have an estate in the Adirondaks that's like one of the old camps with a house for each man.

5. They brought their tradtions with them including one that belongs only to their family.

6. The eldest son is Mikhail and his story is first - "Come, Now".

7. He's a well-respected businessman who runs Ivanovich Holdings.

8. He falls for Cassie, a nurse, who may be be small but she definitely keeps this big strong man on his toes.

9. A very small peek at one of my favorite interactions between Mikhail and Cassie in "Come, Now" is:

“Back hurts from the tree.”
“Sorry.”
She was stunned he didn’t jump up and at least look at it. She stared down at him waiting for him to apologize or something. When not another word was said gave him a poke in the side.
“What?!?”
“Hello, wounded here big guy.”
“It’s the cost.”
“Cost? What cost?”
“Stripping in the woods.”

10. The middle son is Aleksandr and his story is second - "Come to Me".

11. He's a security consultant for the government on various high-profile events.

12. He falls for Alison, a paper engineer.

13. The youngest son is Stefan and his story will be last - "Come and Stay".

I'm heading back in to "Come to Me" to make some extensive changes before moving on to write the final book. The Ivanovich men are definitely inspiring me to delve ever deeper into their stories who knows what will happen along the way to their happy ever after.

Book Talk!

This month I'm knee deep in my 'Come' series and that means Russia! Where I'm double checking some of my information for the opening prologue [hmmm] just so happens to be from one of my text books and this led me to a Book Talk! on my Russian book shelves.

A History of Russia by Nicholas V. Riasanovsky is just one of the many books I kept from my time in the classroom that I enjoy rereading. Russia's history is anything but simple and boring. Through the rule of individual princes to the Tsar's and on to today where they have a prime minister/president system, there is much intrigue and behind the scene happenings that just might help you understand where this country is coming from.

One of the first books I ever read about this country and its history was Peter the Great by Robert Massie. A one of a kind man who had a vision for Russia and did it, without a care for the detractors around him and there were many. Nicholas and Alexandra also by Massie is another book that brings a great deal of insight into the man on the throne and in this case his wife who was strong enough to have some influence.

Because my studies stopped abruptly with the end of the Romanov reign I have only a dozen or so books beyond it but I did like Khrushchev by Roy A. Medvedev & Zhores A. Medvedev. He's a fascinating man in the Soviet period. Stalin is a man I'd make the time to read more about. I know he was Georgian and cruel, but really that's about it and I should know more because he was able to control this nation with an iron fist that is most likely still felt by some of the people today. One of these days I'll get to Stalin by Edvard Radzinsky which is sitting on my to be read stack.

If you're not a fan of non-fiction then I'd highly recommend these three books to give you a good taste of Russia through various stages. Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin , this is a tale before politics takes over all aspects of life. Petersburg by Andrei Biely, a story that takes place on the cusp of change. Finally, my favorite and the one that led me into the classroom for more, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - short and packs a serious punch. There's many more fictional books on my shelves that I'd recommend and think I'll have to do another Book Talk! about them in specific.

As this is Women's History Month there's one more very interesting read is the Five Sisters by Barbara Engel. At a time when many people thought women were only for the home, here is the story of five women who took part in trying to overthrow a Tsar.

Happy Reading!

A bit of random ridiculousness...

No one will be surprised that the tears flowed freely watching Brett Farve announce his retirement...his class will be missed.

On a lighter note, I saw Vantage Point last weekend and it was good, very interesting way of looking at a single event. Love it when movies step out of the traditional box.

Speaking of, hope you have a chance to head over and listen to my interview from Thursday on Books Beyond Boundaries with Stella Price. Seriously, it was a BLAST!

Have a spectacular weekend everyone!

Thursday 13 - #30!

Since it's Read an eBook Week I think I'll give you all 13 things in this business that keep me excited about being a part of it and hopefully encourage others to buy their first or next ebook.

1. With an ebook To Be Read [tbr] pile there's no guilt in not making progress, there's no dusting and there's no need to either buy my shelves to hold them all or donate them to keep your house free of toppling piles.

2. I'm never without copious amounts of reading material on a trip because I can carry thousands of ebooks on a little card. [In fact, I was getting my car inspected the other day and pulled out my pocket pc and started reading - 25 minutes spent exactly how I wanted.]

3. Just about every day of the week there's new ebooks being released at an epublishing house somewhere on the net. I don't have to worry about driving there and the store not having them on the shelves or waiting for the UPS man to arrive with a delivery from Amazon.

4. I've discovered some new authors that I look forward to their next ebook.

5. I've discovered some new genres that I never would have delved into before.

6. I've discovered I'm a bit of a techno junkie and now ask if I can read an ebook on a gadget before I go beyond the looks stage.

7. I like the price! They can be offered anywhere from free to $24.95 [the high price would be from traditional publishers who haven't figured out that there's no printing or storage costs involved with an ebook! [In my eyes they shame the market with this but it's early days for them coming into the emarket.]

8. My favorite epublishers are of Ellora's Cave, loveyoudivine, Phaze, Samhain Publishing and Whiskey Creek Press Torrid because I've chosen to write for them, but I also shop at Loose Id and Changeling Press.

9. My favorite ebookstores are All Romance eBooks and Fictionwise. The latter has been around for ages but if I'm buying romance, which is the bulk of my ebooks, I head over to the former. I don't have a Kindle but since Amazon is such a large eretailer, this reading device is definitely one to check out - along with the WhisperNet that allows a person to purchase an ebook and start reading it within a matter of minutes - NICE!

Here are a few authors and their series that I found not through any recommendations or word of mouth but I bought them because I was intrigued by the first ebook in the series being offered.

10. Jet Mykles's Dark Elves series at Loose Id.

11. Ruth D. Kerce's Undercover series at Changeling Press

12. Morgan Hawke Interstellar Service & Discipline series at Loose Id.

Who is on my 'To Be Bought' [tbb] list for my next trip that I've never read before?

13. Red Garnier at Ellora's Cave.

I'm off to get ready for an interview over on Books Beyond Boundaries in a couple of hours - come over if you get a chance. I'll be talking ebooks, travel, booksignings and more :-)

eBook Talk!

Since this is Read an eBook Week I might as well delve in to my ebook library.

That's right, I have an extensive one of those as well as a traditional set of shelves in just about every room. Admittedly the ebook shelves grows in leaps and bounds while the other stays pretty much the same. Like I recently told Nicholas of A Gentleman's Domain - a traditional book is only bought if I have a place for it on my existing shelves or something has to go. It's brutal but I've been in the shameful abundance spot already and don't want to go back.

Last Tuesday I talked about the last ebook I bought, Emma Keatley's A Lover’s Cocktail, so this week I thought I'd tell you how I found my way to ebooks and how they've expanded my reading choices by telling you about the first one, actually three ebooks, I bought. They are all still available, with new covers for some and all three are also available in paperback. They are Saurellian Federation - Price of Pleasure by Joanna Wylde, Oath of Seduction: Seducing Sharon by Marly Chance and Trek Mi Q'an - The Empress' New Clothes by Jaid Black.

Back in the day I actually found these ebooks through a Listmania on Amazon. I'm not sture if the cyber store were selling the ebooks them or not, but they are now with their Kindle. The cutie and I were traveling every other week and I was online searching for books to look for at the local bookstore when I stumbled upon a list that noted a few of my favorite authors. I clicked to read their recommendations and the details told me they were the "owner" of Ellora's Cave, an online bookshop that sold a variety of steamy romance ebooks.

Up to this point futuristics weren't my usual taste when it came to romances and yet oddly all the ebooks I chose on that first shopping trip were just that. This platform seemed to give me permission to experiment and try new genres. Sitting in a local diner reading from my laptop I discovered I also liked how these romances didn't close the door of the bedroom as if ashamed of what happens between people who love each other. I liked the fresh voices and how these authors stepped away from the usual formula. In the end they opened a door to more choices for my love of reading.

Then and now ebooks offer me all sorts of surprises and I love how they push the boundaries traditional publishing houses are slow to accept, if they ever do. While erotic romances can now be found on the shelves of a brick and mortar shop, it's been hard work by many people to get them there.

In the end, why not celebrate this week's festivities by jumping over to one of my epublishing houses listed on the right or go to Fictionwise. Take this opportunity to step away from your usual choices and pick something new and different to read off the cyber shelves. Or rediscover an old favorite, this ebookstore has it all. They have a huge selection of ebooks, including traditional books in the ebook format, new releases, free ebooks and a some that are under a dollar!

This week presents a great excuse to find the adventure in trying something different and introduce yourself to this way of reading.

It's Read an eBook Week!

There's all sorts of good intentions involved in this week and you can find out more about how to celebrate this week here - but I think if you go out, buy an ebook and read it sounds like a great place to start!

OH WOW!

I was recently honored to be interviewed by the fabulous William S. Dean for Erotica Writers & Readers Association Erotic Hot Spots column. It's up on the EWRA website and can be found in the Smutters Lounge.

If you've never been to EWRA then take this opportunity to look around, sign up for the monthly newsletter, there are some fabulous things to be found here.