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Dragon Lust
Contemporary Erotica
Cover Artist: Stella Price

O'Reilly's is an average bar. People go there to have a drink after work and play the type of games that satisfy their personal needs, no matter how odd or different they may be. On this particular night, the dragon's lust rules, but who controls the dragon?

Okay, I hear you. How is it possible to have a contemporary with a dragon involved? How does that work and what's this about control?

Well, without giving anything away, here's a subtle hint:


Artist Tiago Hoisel

You can pick up your copy from All Romance eBooks [ARe].

Book Talk!

Recently I heard the news that Gidget had died. Immediately, I thought of Sandra Dee, the blonde who played the young "girl-midget" surfer in the movies, not the dog from the Taco Bell commercials.

The incident had me, as usual, heading for my bookselves for my copy of the book. That's right, the movie came after the book Gidget by Frederick Kohner.

There was a time when I was living far from the beach and feeling homesick for some salt air. Lucky for me I had great friends and one who was as much of a book lover as I was. During one of his trips into a used bookshop, he came across a copy of the 1963 Penguin Book edition for 75p [in today's exchange rate that would be $1.24]. It is in pristine condition but I still read it with care.

The story, as far as I'm concerned, is a must read for young girls - actually anyone. It may be a different era, the 50's, but it still handles the crush [Moondoggie], going after what you want - no matter what other people may say [surfing], and much more [parents and teenagers, being smart is okay, friends, etc] in such a way, it is still relevant. Okay, I may be prejudiced about Gidget, it reminds me of home, but I think it is still a good read.

Authors After Dark Paranormal Weekend!

Save the date! October 23-25, 2009 - The Authors After Dark Paranormal Weekend is filling up fast! Sign up by August 1^st to get the lowest membership rate of $160 for the weekend. (After August 1^st, the membership goes to $175.)

The event is being held at the Suffern, NY Holiday Inn, located conveniently about 1 hour from New York City and most of the area’s major airports. Guest include:

Jacquelyn Frank

Sunny

Joey W. Hill

Stella and Audra Price

Bianca D'Arc

Rosemary Laurey

Jennifer Armintrout

Madeline Oh

Georgia Evans

Mechele Armstrong

Samantha Sommersby

Cat Johnson

Cathy Clamp

Eliza Gayle

Diana Castilleja

Leigh Ellwood

Tilly Greene

Selena Illyria

Adra Steia

Stephanie Julian

Judi Fennell

Kayleigh Jamison

Donna Grant

Robin T. Popp

Linda Mooney

Mima

Area attractions include the phenomenal shopping at Woodbury Common and the Forest of Fear, held on the site of the New York State Renaissance Faire at Sterling Forest.

The convention is limited to 200 attendees so your “face time” with your favorite authors is maximized. We’re having loads of panel discussions, parties and a fantabulous dealer’s room. We’ll also be holding a massive charity raffle to benefit the CAN and Pets Alive – a local no kill animal shelter.

Sign up now for the best rates! The conference registration is only $160 until August 1^st ($175 after August 1^st) and the hotel is $99 per night, double occupancy. Lots to do in the area will make this a weekend you will never forget!

eBook Talk!

I'm watching a show on French Polynesia/Tahiti and Paul Gauguin was how the show started. Even though it's a food/travel show [truly enjoy Anthony Bourdain's books and tv series No Reservations] the host talked about Gaugiun's desire to drop out of European society and submerse himself in the local life.

This immediately made me think about multicultural mixes and did you know I've written a few of those? Guess what? I have and truly enjoy doing them. Cultural differences tickle my imagination. So, let me tell you about a few of them.

I've mentioned this one before, in the tattoo/piercing blog, but in An Invitation to the World: New Zealand has Kiri Kanawa, half Maorian and half Anglo, Timu Tuhaere, a Maorian hunk of a rugby player, and Luke MacAlister, also a rugby player but an Anglo with blond hair and blue eyes. This threesome makes for a unique triumvirate.

The other story in the first book is Russia. Vasiliy Beketov, or Vasya, is a Russian and his soon to be lover is Zura Girard, a French-American.

Now, I imagine you believe the second duet in the An Invitation to the World series is also multicultural. It isn't, at least not like the first set is. India has Bodhi Burke, and English-Indian and Sati Chaudhari, pure Indian, and China has Yi Burton, a Chinese American, and Jia Li, pure Chinese.

On top of the characters in this series being a mix, the settings are as well, although they all end in the same place. New Zealand and India start in those countries, China starts in San Francisco, California, and Russia is pretty much set in the final location for all these stories. The lovers all make there home on a private island [shaped and located in the archipelago like their homeland] in The World is located in the Persian Gulf, Dubai, UAE.

An Interesting Way to Start a Day

Today I'm meeting the ladies for breakfast. We do this as often as we can, unfortunately, not as much as we'd like. The last time we gathered was Groundhog Day and it was Clarissa's first visit.

She made quite a showing at the local diner, the other patrons and paparazzi were taking her picture at every turn, and she needed to resort to sunglasses while inside. However, it was a big day for her so she put up with the intrusion to her personal space.

Hope your day is a fun one!

Something New, Again!

Okay, I enjoyed it so much the first time, I'm doing it again!

What is that, you ask?

Candles.

For the 2009 RT Convention in Tampa the Love's Immortal Pantheon anthology authors decided to have special candles created, put them together, and that was a giveaway we offered to celebrate the paperback's release. Hephaestus Lays Down the Law was handled by Jfay at Studio 3B and it has to be one of the best experiences I've had in ages. Hephaestus's scent has been called Hot Blooded and it is my very favorite - cinnamon and red wine. The candle itself is also fabulous looking, I mean, it suits the God of the Forge and Master of Fire.

A few months later and I needed to come up with a something unique as a promotional giveaway at the two conventions I'll be attending in October. Nothing was coming to mind, but each time I walked into my office and was treated to a delightful waft of Hot Blooded, it finally came to me that what I was looking for was sitting right in front of me. You see, Jfay creates these scented wax shapes called chips and, like pot pourri, throw off the chosen smell, only they remain crisp, clean and pretty in appearance.

So, after dashing off an email, it has all been handled, and now I'm even more eager to go to these events. Lucky for me, Jfay will be creating another unique candle, this time for Hamish in Highland Heat. The scent, Scottish Glen, will clearly speak of Scotland, but also perfectly frame the story.

Through this most recent partnership with Jfay, I've joined Wick'd Reads stable of authors, and am looking forward to more candles in the future.

If you can't make it to either the Ellora's Cave RomantiCon [Oct 9-11], where I'll have a basket with Hamish's Scottish Glen candle to giveaway or Authors After Dark Weekend [Oct 23-25], where I'll have a basket with both the Hephaestus Hot Blooded candle and Hamish's Scottish Glen candle to giveaway, then you should know that you can always purchase one through Wick'd Reads.

Hump Day Reflections!

Ryan Reynolds is in both The Proposal and X-Men Origins so he isn't doing too bad but he just received some great news. He has been accepted as the next big super hero, Green Lantern. And, to up the exposure, he is one of the eye candy guys on my website for July!

Check out who else is there, they are all in current flicks.

Book and eBook Talk!

I've been traveling from California to England and many points in between. Knowing me, you wouldn't be surprised that books/ebooks had their place in my travels.

The iTouch was loaded up with reads and I had a total of 3 Linda Fairstein paperbacks that went with me. I'm on my last one and it happens to be the first that hasn't immediately pulled me in. I'm sure it's me being tired of traveling that has tested my time to read. On a side note, in a previous Book Talk! I wrote about my having a problem with a statement made in one of her books and I did a little polling of friends in both countries, searching others opinions. It was unanimous and I must be biased even though I didn't think I was. Anyway, LA had the reputation of more people having guns than NY.

Shockingly enough, I came home with only one book. After a trip to Bettys, a must visit Yorkshire tea house found in Harrogate, York, Northallerton and Ilkley, my mother-in-law treated me to a copy of Hearts, Tarts, and Rascals. I can't wait to read the history of this institution that happens to be a place that shows up in The Gilded Cage [or Hot Couture]. I'm often asked if anything I do in real life shows up in my books and now you know for sure. Yes, it just so happens that hands on research is my favorite kind.

Almost three months and that has been it on the books/ebook front. There hasn't been much time for reading, even less time for writing, but I'm home now and have some great choices in my hardcover and electronic TBR piles. Sitting on the shelves in the office is a non-fiction, vampire slasher, historical, contemporary, and a suspense - I like to mix it up. On my iTouch, the TBR list has all types of romances - other than inspirational, I'll read it. However first things first. I'll finish The Deadhouse and after that, it's going to be a favorite author of mine, Selena Illyria, who has a new ebook, Ba’al & Bondage, being released on July 15th. I was lucky enough to read the opening bits to this one and must know how it ends!

There was something I noticed in the various places we visited - the smaller the library, the more it was used. Interesting. My only comment in regards to this finding, in these unusual times, is to use it or lose it.

What did I bring back with me?

A flag!

The cutie is British, English actually, but specifically a Yorkshireman! With this we'll have to add another flag pole to the front porch, one on each side of the stairs.

Another good thing to happen is that Ellora's Cave is discounting loads of paperbacks more than 20% while supplies last! Customers also receive one free paperback on each print order and two free books on print orders over $35 (free books are selected at random).