Here, There, and Everywhere

Busy writer is busy!

But here's a round up of some of the guest blog spots I've done... I've got another one coming up on Friday, so really, I should start thinking about a topic, I know.

By the way, if you want to see what I'm up to Right Now, you can always follow me on Facebook... I post there fairly regularly.

In case you've missed them, however, let me give you  sum-up of the guest posts I've been doing.

First, at the Smokin' Hot Fireman blog, I did an article about my grandfather, who was a volunteer EMT and my experiences seeing a house fire right up close.

He [my grandfather] had his definite ideas about things; everyone should know how to swim, how to drive a boat, a tractor, and a stick-shift. You should know how to perform CPR, change a flat tire, and be able to cook a meal, clean up, and how to build a fire. You should stand up straight, read often, and be able to tell a potato plant from a weed. You should be able to sew on a button and how to drive a nail. You should always read the instructions. You should know how to bait your own hook, catch fish, and clean them. And it didn’t matter to him if you were a boy or a girl.

The grand-kids, and there were a gaggle of us, half girls, half boys, called him Poppy.

When he wasn’t farming or swimming, fishing or reading novels, he was a volunteer EMT. Halfway down the stairs, there was a two-way scanner. Middle of the day or middle of dinner or middle of the night, the scanner would make a warbling alert tones and the dispatcher would come on. “Local Peru, local Peru, we have a building fire at…” and Poppy would be out the door, hat in hand. His car—a very normal-looking car in all other ways—had a magnetic fire bubble he would slap onto the roof, plug into the cigarette lighter, and whoop away down the road.

(The grand-kids all loved to fuss about who got to reset the scanner after a call—since if you didn’t remember to press the button, we wouldn’t hear the next call. And woe betide the kid who punched the reset button before the dispatcher was finished with her information. Why yes, yes I did do that, once. Once.)

I stopped by Victoria Blisse's blog a few weeks back, talking about the first time I ever saw a naked man. All things considered, my weird obsession with music might come from this particular event, as well.

Young African-American men would come to wash their cars, listen to their street-music, drink beer out of squat mikey bottles, and socialize with their friends. There was a wide chain-link fence around the wash, and then a very steep hill into my backyard, but this didn’t keep out the noise, the empty bottles, or the young men who needed to take a piss.

As a twelve-year-old girl who honestly hated both types of music available from our local radio station (you had your country AND your western!) I was enthralled. They played motown. And reggae. And rap. And R&B. Music I’d never heard before. No Tiffany or New Kids on the Block, or Duran Duran for them! There was one guy – I never knew his name, but I always knew his car, a 1977 El Camino, dark blue with a light blue stripe – and he played Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald.

I would lay on the picnic table in our back yard, hands laced behind my head, staring up at the spangled patterns of sunlight through the pink and white petals of the crab apple tree, and just listen.

One hot summer day, I’m out there, a bottle of lemonade that my mom had left in the freezer for me gently melting, pooling condensation against my stomach, when someone crashed through the bushes of the embankment.

And then later, I told the second story at Sarah Jayne Carr's blog. Because you know, if there was a first time for seeing a naked man, the second time could only get more interesting...

So, once a year, I'd spend several weeks at rehearsals, making costumes, learning stage makeup and generally hanging out with other theater geeks. (The rest of the year I hung out with the band geeks, about half of whom were the same people.) One evening, we're hanging out in costumes getting ready to do production photos and a dress-rehearsal. The "professional" photographer is late, so we're all in the green room (which wasn't actually green) or spilled out into the hallway, bullshitting and carefully drinking Dr. Pepper through a straw so we don't mess up our lipstick.

Have you ever stuck a straw in a can of Dr. Pepper? It does not want to be there - the straw, I mean - and will keep sliding upward out of your can. If you're not paying attention, the straw will pop completely out of the can and splatter droplets of soda everywhere.

We're theater geeks. And high school students. And if there's ever been a more concentrated group of dirty minded individuals... wait, scratch that. I've been part of more dirty minded groups...

But we are making bad jokes and generally being obscene....

Finally, yesterday I had a guest slot on Elizabeth A. Lance's blog talking about this, that, and the other. She's a lot of fun to work with and kept asking more and more questions and for more and more information, which was lots of fun to do a really interactive interview. Also, I love all the little cute pictures she picked to represent my interests and quirky habits.

Do you play games? If so what kind? If not, why the heck not?

Would you like my geek resume? I play Star Wars; The Old Republic as my current MMO, but have also played Warcraft, Everquest, City of Villains, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Rifts, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Asheron's Call, Guild Wars...

I also play paper and dice RPGs; including Shadowrun, 7th Sea, AD&D, Vampire, Heroes Unlimited, GURPS, Serenity RPG, various d20 games.

I used to play Collectible Card Games until I came to the realization that my friends were all terrible losers and worse winners and I wasn't having fun, but I do like things like Cards Against Humanity and Fluxx. I'm also a mean cribbage player.

(I also might possibly have a really bad Candy Crush Saga problem)

So, that's what I've been up to. I've also gotten two (2) short stories out and available; Synchronous Rotations from Torquere, and my story, Big Trucks, is out in Smokin' Hot Firemen. As always, my complete library of publications and buy links is here (because I am uber-lazy and I don't want to look all those links up. Again.)



In the meanwhile, I've written most of a New Adult, m/m novel, started a short story, finished WRITING (but not selecting or editing) the short-story collection I'm putting together with my best friend and fellow author Elizabeth L. Brooks, talked to one of my new favorite authors, V.L. Locey about writing the forward for that collection (tentatively titled Promptly Hot.), let some deadlines for short stories pass me by, talked with a company about my urban supernatural romance novel published, and freaked out about various home-disasters (annoying backed up sink is annoying) and national media events, spent some time with good friends, and generally went about pretending that I have a life that isn't entirely conducted inside my head.

Also, apparently I have just a few contributor copies laying around...

And I thought I might give some of them away.

Comment here, or post to my facebook wall between now and July 30th with which book(s) you want: available are Ladies of Steampunk magazine, vol 1, 2 copies of Steamlust, 1 copy of Coming Together: Hungry for Love, 1 copy of Smokin' Hot Firemen (I know there are two copies in the picture, but I mixed the books up before I took the picture and put 2 copies of Duty & Desire on my brag-shelf. This has since been fixed.), 2 copies of Duty & Desire (see above notation), one copy of Lustfully Ever After, and one copy of Cupid's Chokehold.

I'll draw three winners on July 31st and let those winners know on this blog, via email, and on Facebook.

Guest Post, Charlotte Stein

The first story I ever got published was Golden Moment, in Kristina Wright's anthology, Steamlust. I wrote the story based on a couple of ideas, one of which made it into the story; the other... did not.

First was the golden hour; my husband used to be an EMT, and he uses that phrase to describe the prime time to fix an injury. If you can get to an accident victim, get them in the ambulance and to the hospital in that golden hour, they will have a much better chance of survival, quick healing, etc. I know this because when my leg was broken in 5 places, we did NOT make my golden hour. In fact, my leg wasn't fixed until more than a day later, when I finally got into surgery because the ER doctor did not adequately convey the severity of the break to the on-call bone specialist. Would my recovery have been easier if I'd gotten surgery that night? There's no way to know, for sure... but my bone specialist was Very Angry when he saw my X-ray and actually waited ON HOLD to schedule my surgery for as soon as possible...  this concept did not quite make it into the story... maybe it'll make it into a later short. The only thing left from this idea is the title, Golden Moment.

The concept that did make it into the story; a friend of mine was telling me about the problems he had with his watch. It wouldn't work under direct sunlight. He wasn't sure what caused that, but if he was out in the sun, the watch would just stop, until it was shaded again and then it would pick up right where it left off. So, he could tell the amount of time he'd been out in the sun by comparing the time on the watch to the time as it actually stood.

But enough about me! Steamlust is where I first encountered Charlotte Stein. Her story, Mr. Hartley's Infernal Device, is my absolute favorite. Reading Charlotte's work is like feeling someone else tap directly into my brain and the random weirdness that happens there. I finished reading it for the first time, and I was absolutely shocked, rocked, and moved. In fact, it's been quite a long time since a piece of writing has directly affected me so much.

We've had a few email conversations since then - I wrote her once when something she said on Twitter made me feel like she needed a hug... anyway, she's a totally brilliant writer, interesting and wonderful, and I'm very happy to have her here today.

What are your greatest challenges in your writing career?

Not letting outside stuff worry me. Comments about my writing style, in particular, occasionally make it tougher for me to write. Bigger life worries sometimes put a dent in me. But as time goes on, I'm getting better at filtering stuff out. Luckily, I have some readers...and basically that's all I ever hoped for. Some readers who like me!


When did you find out that you wanted to be a writer? What inspired you to put pen to paper?

I want to say I was thirteen, but it must have been much younger than that. When I look back, I can recall writing my first "novel" when I'd just started high school. So I think I was around ten or eleven. I was an avid reader, and just wanted to read the kinds of things I enjoyed...so tried it myself. I basically rewrote a Ladybird edition of Sleeping Beauty, after painstakingly copying the whole thing out into an exercise book!

Of your published works, do you have a favorite? Why? 

Probably Control. I didn't worry what people would think, I wasn't concerned that the hero was submissive...I just went for it. And to my great joy, people have actually responded to it. It's sold much better than I ever thought it could with such a strange hero, and I'm forever happy and grateful for that. I love Gabriel, and love that other people do too!

Do you ever want to go back and edit an older story? 

LOL dear God YES. Not just edit...change completely. If I knew then what I know now...

How do you decide on character names?

I usually come up with names second. The character and their foibles and what not comes first, then I think of a name that fits. Of course, sometimes they walk into my head fully formed...but not always.

What's the worst thing that ever happened to you that you've incorporated into a story?

I've never incorporated anything that's ever happened to me in my work! There are little pieces of me...my heroines might like something I like, for example. But generally speaking, no real life events. Not even real life conversations.


Is there a character or story that's stuck in your head and won't leave, from either your work or someone else's?

Oh God, too many to mention. I've had characters stuck in my head for the better part of twenty years, from stories that I'd love to write but feel I can't for one reason or another. And then there are movie characters that have stayed with me...Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor...and more recently Wikus from District 9. These are the kinds of characters I dream about, often.

What writers or novels do you consider “must reads”?

Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Christopher Pike. Emma Holly, Cara McKenna, Ruthie Knox, Selena Kitt, Justine Elyot. So many fantastic new YA authors now...I've devoured stuff by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Lauren Oliver, Veronica Roth, Carrie Ryan. A must read for me is something that isn't just a trope I fancy. It's always powerful, interesting, weird and wonderful writing that drags me along. I want to be dragged.


Thanks so much for having me, Lynn!

Well, you're welcome! I'm so glad to have you here!

Contestia!

Ok...

First, I am all moved.

Yay, writer in the House! For Shizzle.

Whatever that means.

So... maybe I'll actually be around here more often and making with the writing. I have a few short-shorts due July 15th, a novella in the works, and part 3 of London Steam that I'm working on.

(in various loose interpretations of the word "work" because I am all kinds of not-capable of multi-tasking... also, I am all kinds of not-capable of letting other people do work when I am not working. It's one of those things... if the Husband is cleaning, I have to stop what I'm doing and clean TOO, even if I've been cleaning all day and I just want to relax. I have actually gotten to my feet to help him clean when I'm about two seconds away from bursting into tears from exhaustion.... I feel inordinately GUILTY when someone is doing something that I consider "my job" and cleaning and packing and moving are all parts of my job description... which is probably why we haven't moved in eight years...)

We still have one more big thing to do with the house. We're getting hardwood floors installed, and they did the Great Room last week before we moved in, but because our timeline was so tight, they weren't able to get it all done before we moved. So the office - where I am now typing to you from - wasn't fixed. The wood is in my closet, "acclimating..." and they'll bring in a few more crates of that on Friday to acclimate over the weekend. But it does mean I have to move my desk AGAIN and my computer stuff AGAIN to get out of the way while they replace the hideous white carpet.

Then there are about 400 million smaller projects, including all the UNpacking... and I have a bet with my dad that I can be "completely unpacked" by June 23rd. (Don't ask. My father and I are physically incapable of not pissing each other off if we're in the same room for more than 3 days... and he was here all week helping. And I appreciate the help. And at the same time... )

So, I'll be off-line again for Monday - Wednesday or so, which they install floor.

Ok... Now! Contest... what you're all actually interested in, I expect...

I have a "gift box" for one lucky reader; it includes a copy of Lustfully Ever After, a copy of Steamlust, an e-copy of Blister Effect (officially released next week, so this contest will run til a week past its release date!), an e-copy of Shifting Steam, The Age of Steam CD from my friend Jonah Knight (either a music download, or I can get the actual physical CD if you still do that sort of thing!) and a poster from last year's Ladies of Steampunk calendar; the Absinthe Fairy. (Link shows you the picture, I have it as a small poster...) Both physical books will be signed to a person of your choice, and if you want the physical CD, I'm almost positive I can get Jonah to sign it for you. He's nice like that. Also, weird. But nice.

So, here's the deets: comment below for one entry. That's it. No need to buy anything or retweet or whatever... if you DO retweet or facebook link or any of that fun stuff, I will add one extra entry for each "social media" thing you do, just LET ME KNOW that you've done so in the comments below, because I am social media inept sometimes and I might not see it. My twitter handle is @tisfan and Lynn Townsend is me on Facebook, so include appropriate linkage!

Blister Effect is released on May 23rd, and so I will run this contest til May 31st.

Have at!

Oh, Just a Few Mentions in Magazines...

Well now, would you look at this? April 2012, Hustler Magazine.

Or, just maybe... this...

On the Shelf

I play Warcraft.

I won't make any apologies for that; if I've not written some days because I was busy playing Warcraft, I have also blown off a raid and said, "Good luck, I have this chapter to write!"

Anyway, for those of you in the know - I was in a PUG yesterday. (Pick up Group... and much like calling something an ATM Machine, or saying a sandwich is served with au jus, saying PUG Group is just redundant. It's an Automatic Teller Machine. Not an Automatic Teller Machine Machine. You don't serve a roast beef sandwich with with juice. And you don't go on a pick up group group. This is not 5th grade. You don't like him like him, either.) and we had some people drop group. Me and 2 dps are standing around waiting for some healer to grace us with their presence.

"I'mma go finish these dailies while we wait," and the warlock vanishes from the instance.

"I was looking for something in the Auction House," says the shadowpriest, and likewise poofs.

I said, "Book, book... I know I had a book around here somewhere..." and I started digging around for my Kindle Fire. (As a side note, I love my Fire. Love it love it love it.)

"Oh," says the warlock, "What are you reading?"

"I'm re-reading Dragon Bound, since Book 4 is coming out in like 6 days, reading a short story to review for my friend Lucy Felthouse (look for it in a few days!), reading my own vampire novel in prep for revision, previewing some publicity materials and watching Vampire Diaries, Season One." (One of the reasons I love my Kindle is the ability to so thoroughly keep me distracted... until it runs out of batteries, I can get 4 or 5 different tasks done without even putting the device down!)

Instead of yawning over this complete glurge I just threw out onto the screen, the warlock says to me, "You're a writer? What do you write?"

I told him, "romance," expecting to get mocked. People do that. I don't mind. People are welcome to their opinions.

"Name?"

"Lynn Townsend."

Without missing a beat, "Steampunk romantic erotica, right? Yeah, that sounds cool."

Me. "Yeah, that's me." That was fast.

"I'm in indie bookstore owner. It's on our shelves. My wife's read it. She says it's pretty good."

Holy shit.

New Review

Another review for Steamlust.


Simply put, Steamlust is one of the most gorgeous anthologies I've encountered. From the first page, I was dazzled, mesmerized, and relegated to a state of breathless arousal by story after story in this extraordinary, exquisite collection. Since I'm not very familiar with steampunk, I'm not sure what expectations I had of this anthology, but any notion of them seemed exceeded such as to render them obsolete by the end of the first story--a story, incidentally, that was one of my very favorites and which set the bar for the remainder of the collection exceptionally high.

Astonishingly--and delightfully--it met it. Each story greeted me with evocative and brilliantly clever renderings of inventive ideas and mechanisms, solidly imbued with the spirit and imagination around which I have the impression steampunk is centered. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the additions of the steampunk elements of time, inventiveness, machinery, etc., amidst the blazing hot and beautifully rendered romantic encounters this book offers. It's made me think that perhaps this is a genre of which I should seek out more, and I offer sincere thanks to the editor and authors for providing such a luscious, scorching, spellbinding introduction to it.

For anyone with any appreciation for erotic romance and/or any inkling of interest in or curiosity about steampunk, mechanical engineering, fantasy, or even historical settings, I recommend this collection without reservation and with utmost enthusiasm--and I hope with all sincerity that every reader enjoys it as much as I did.

Made my New Year

 A review of Steamlust that made my day:

This book is glorious, all the stories are well written and sexy. The steampunk aspect is not over looked at all, with airships, rocket cars and space wars, the only thing hotter then the steam engines is the sex.

Kiss the Cats Goodbye

I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year.

Personally, I'm convinced I'm deranged. (yeah, I know, I was deranged before... shut up.)

I'm also in the middle of buying a house, moving out of the apartment I've lived in for 8 years, celebrating my best friend's 40th birthday, prepping for a vacation in Orlando in the beginning of December, dunno what my plans are for Thanksgiving yet, and dealing with another friend's failing marriage.

Not that real life ever stops happening.

And I probably won't get time to write on the weekends, so I'm looking at 2,300 words per weekday.

Yeah.

Deranged. You heard it here first.

I've decided to go ahead with Blood Sight, after another dear friend helped me with my outline. I know, I know, NaNo is about vomiting onto the page with no plan, but fuck it, I'd like a better shot at finishing. I want to write this novel, it's been percolating for a few years now and if nothing else, I want Marcus out of my head. My head is a really crowded place.

(Completely aside, I seem to have finally mastered only putting one space at the end of a sentence. Yay learning curve.)

I may not write much here, while I'm working, so if you don't see me, I haven't died yet.

Meanwhile: Steamlust is available for your Kindle or Nook. And Shifting Steam is now available on Kindle and also as a trade paperback. Lustfully Ever After is available for pre-order on Amazon, too, although there's not yet a pretty cover, and will be out in May.

See you on the flipside!

Steamlust, Reviewing #1

Obviously, I got my copies of Steamlust a bit ago - not the contributor's copies I have been promised (I'm still stalking my mailbox for those) but when a friend told me Amazon had shipped her copy, I ordered two copies myself. They came in while I was out of town, which just seemed so annoying as to be perfectly in tune with the rest of my life. (Which is not to say my life is horrible, just.. well, my friend said it best. "Murphy is a God and I am his favorite priestess.")

Saturday morning, while I'm on the third of what would be 14 miles for the day, I get a text from a friend; "Hey, I got your book! Can I come over and get it signed?" I spent most of the walk feeling slightly martyred. I was missing my first published work for a charity event. If that's not dedication to the cause, I don't know what is.

I took a few days to read it over and I don't know what the etiquette is for reviewing a book that you're a contributor for; so I probably won't post these on Amazon or Goodreads (or if I do, I'll have to throw in the caveat that I'm in the collection!)

Iron Hard, Sylvia Day - One of the things I really love about steampunk is that it's just a bit on the dirty side. People can die, people are in pain, the characters just seem a little more mature. They all have real life experience. Unlike the Historicals that make up a lot of what I read, there's very few pollyannas. Most of the women aren't virgins, and then men aren't always revoltingly rich. Day's heroine, Annie, is still grieving for the love she lost five years ago in the war; it takes an old friend of her beloved to reawaken the spark of womanhood inside her. Further, the women in steampunk are a lot more independent, able to exist and accomplish without a man. The delicate clockwork lovebirds that make up one of the central devices in Day's story are crafted by the heroine.

Heart of the Daedelus, Saskia Walker - Another female inventor; this one doesn't actually get to create her design. Nina doesn't have the money and someone has stolen her plans. Unfortunately for her - and fortunately for us - Dominic Bartleby wants Nina so badly that he has her designs brought to life. An altogether fascinating little story; I particularly like the Daedelus itself.

Fog, Flight and Moonlight, Sacchi Green - This particular tale is one of my favorites; the airship descriptions are wonderful, the sex is steaming, and the characters spark off each other with a vividness that leaves the reader wondering what happens next. (besides, secret societies are among my favorite plot devices!)

The Undeciphered Heart, Christine d'Abo - What happens when people are remade from parts that can never wear out? As a person transitions from the natural to the cyborg? What does society do? Mandy finds out when her beloved sacrifices himself to save her from an assassin's bullet. From then on, he is dead to society; they can never be together, no matter how they feel. If they resume their relationship, his mechanical parts will be stripped away and he'll die for a second time... can they find a way... a brilliant, emotional piece.

Mr. Hartley's Infernal Device, Charlotte Stein - I'm going to stop here for today, since this piece is my absolute favorite in the book. Written in first person, present tense, we gain entrance into Mr. Hartley's house to view his latest invention. We see Hartley, painstakingly painted and described by the woman who has loved him from the moment she first saw him, and has been unable to bring herself to show it. Mr. Hartley's device gives Elsbeth Havers everything she's always wanted, but never knew. I love this story, I've read it a half-dozen times now. The first time I cried, sniffling into three or four kleenex to get through it. (Ok, I cried the second time, too.) Really, I don't think I can say enough just how evocative and lurid this story is.

NaPlUrNoMo

Ok, I think everyone in the writing world knows about NaNoWriMo. I love saying that. Hate typing it, but I love saying it. NaNoWriMo. Just sort of falls off the tongue after being rolled around in your mouth like an everlasting gobstopper. With a trail of multicolored saliva following it. Ok, unattractive mental image. Sorry.

If you don't, go look it up.

I have done NaNoWriMo successfully (well, finished a project, wrote the 50,000 words, etc) once; that Draft Zero crock of steaming crap was so bad I didn't even show it to anyone. And then my hard drive crashed in January and I lost it anyway. Talking about the Bad Novel later with a friend, I got an insight into my hero - I could never quite figure out why he liked the heroine, although he insisted that he did. With my friend's comments, I was able to get a handle on him, figure her - the character, not my friend - out, and I rewrote the whole thing. Since I didn't have the draft to work from, this was a complete revision. And that was a much better story. Took me about five months to write. Marked Man, as I ended up titling it, is now in secondary revisions that I hope to complete by the end of the year.

I've tried a few times since then to do NaNoWriMo and sometimes I go for a week or so, and sometimes I don't even get started!

Well, I'm going to try AGAIN this year. I have several novel-ish projects percolating on back burners. (How is it that my kitchen has 2 back burners and 2 FRONT burners and my brain has 1 front burner and 5,000,000 back burners?) I have a series of urban supernatural romances; Blood Sight, Moon Shadow, Bad Intentions, and Death Magic. I have a steampunk romance, The Wormwood Trade. I have a zombie novel; Zom and the art of Undead Maintenance. I'll pick one and run with it.

Which brings me to the title of this blog entry.

NaPlUrNoMo

NAtional PLan yoUR NOvel MOnth.

I know, NaNoWriMo isn't supposed to be about planning. It's supposed to be about bashing your head in and hoping something useful leaks out.

Well, you know, NaNo is a like an RPG. And the first rule of an RPG is "If you don't like the rules, change 'em."

So, for the rest of October, in between looking for houses, promoting Steamlust, celebrating the fact that I've managed to not kill my child by neglect or accident for 8 whole years, and other crazy shit on my schedule, I'm going to outline and think about what I'm going to write for NaNo.

And I know this is probably a stupid question, but I would LIKE some opinions anyway; what would YOU like to see?

Early Release, Odds and Ends,

Well, it looks like Steamlust is actually now available... you can get it here through Amazon, or here through the publisher. (My story specifically IS mentioned in the blurb at Cleis, so even if you're NOT going to buy it from them, please feel free to go look at the splash page, because you know, it's awesome.)

If you would like a signed copy, I will be setting that up through this website shortly, but I'm going out of town this weekend (of COURSE I am... and my copies of the book will arrive while I'm GONE!) so I don't really have time to do it now. (If you've already BOUGHT a copy and would like to ship it to me to sign, I'm happy to do that, as well. Please send me an email at lynntownsend dot writer at gmail dot com and I'll give you the deets on that. You will have to send me a check or a return pre-paid shipping label, because honestly, I don't get paid that much yet and while I love you for being a fan, I don't love you enough to spend my entire payment on shipping!)

I've also started the process of getting an Author page on Amazon, so I'll show y'all that as soon as I get "approval".

Flash Fiction Friday will be delayed this week; I've got 4 left from last week, so I don't need any new prompts just yet. Sorry about that. I'm going to be in DC walking 60 miles in the hopes of eradicating breast cancer. (Feel free to donate if you want. I've made goal, but it's a good cause. This walk mainly brought to you by Flowers Power; my dear friend Leslie donated quite a lot this year.)

I'll be having a book release party at the Bean There Cafe in Norfolk, Saturday, Oct 15. This is an open event. If you're local, feel free to come by. I'll be signing books, doing a reading, answering questions and talking sex. Should be fun.

I signed my second contract this week; Shadow of Kenfig will be presented to you in print and e-book formats from Torquere Press. More deets on that when I know them. (Torquere is LGBT stories.)

I currently have a few stories out; Garden Variety (which I should hear about Real Soon Now), On the Fly, and Ripped will probably be going out today or Monday. Working hard on P.B.E.M. for Duty & Desire. After I finish that, I'll be working on the sequel to Shadow of Kenfig, The Blister Effect, and editing my novel, A Marked Man. (By the way, I am "hiring" for a few beta readers for Marked Man... this is a full length, ~150,000 word fantasy romance. If you're interested and you will actually DO THE WORK, please contact me.) Then I have a short story for Kingdom of Desire due in December. I have another m/m steampunk novella in the works, too, The Wormwood Trade. Got that partially outlined. So, the rest of the year is looking pretty full.

Hope you guys are doing well and I'll see you after the 3 Day.

Book Trailer

Sooo... the book trailer for Steamlust is out. It's quite adorable and I'm delighted to see it. And now you can too...

The first book trailer I ever saw was for one of Julia Quinn's novels... (not that one, actually, but I don't remember which one it was...)

Before that, I'd never even heard of the concept. I'm still trying to decide if it's useful advertising, just plain fun to make, or what...

I read a lot of books on my kindle recently, and romance authors are doing a lot of "here, read my backlisted books for 99 cents each!" So I've bought a LOT of them... the problem is, with kindle books, there's no back cover. I don't always know what I'm getting. I've picked up a couple of romance-lite books; all about the love story with no sex. I'm ok with that, really; Pride and Prejudice and Tenant of Wildfell Hall are two of my favorite books and there's no sex scene. But sometimes, I get to reading a romance novel, get involved with the characters, and then I'm just waiting for the sex.

And I feel like I'm on a bad date where he goes home without kissing me goodnight. Did I do something wrong? Am I that unappealing? Where's the payoff?

I'm really much better about these things when I KNOW I'm not getting the payout.

Of course, a book trailer still doesn't tell me if the book's going to sizzle. I wonder if we could get some sort of rating system... a Five Kiss for hot, steamy, plentiful sex and a Peck on the Cheek for "white wedding, no honeymoon."

Hey, give me a prompt, would ya? For Flash Fiction Friday? Four words and I'll write a story. Link me an image? Something.... Or I'll be forced to get creative.