Duty and Desire

I'm thrilled to announce this; I'd been "forewarned" a few weeks back, one of those "if you haven't heard from me yet, it's GOOD news..." emails. I'm thrilled to be featured alongside some of my favorite writers, including Sacchi Green, Shanna Germain, Lucy Felthouse, Charlotte Stein, and Christine d'Abo. A special shout-out to Elizabeth L. Brooks, who is not only my best friend, but my editor, my co-conspirator, and all around partner in crime.


DUTY AND DESIRE: MILITARY EROTIC ROMANCE
Introduction: Beyond the Uniform
The Long Ride Home                 Delilah Devlin
Night Witch                               Sacchi Green
Shattered                                  Shanna Germain
The Grunt and the Ditty Bop       Craig J. Sorensen
Fighting for Fresno                     Ericka Hiatt
Homecoming                              Kelly Maher
Passing Out Passion                  Lucy Felthouse
Against the Wall                         Catherine Paulssen
The Thunder of War                    Anya Richards
Sergeant Rae                             Toby Rider
Dead On Her Feet                       Elizabeth L. Brooks
Out of Time                                J.K. Coi
Done                                          Charlotte Stein  
Wilco                                         Christine d’Abo
Christmas Presents                     Mercy Loomis
Snake Dance                               Lynn Townsend
Home                                          Michelle Augello-Page
For Better or Worse                      Kristina Wright


Aaaand I'll get to see if my father actually buys and reads my stuff. (for the record, I suspect he does NOT...) Because if he does, I may die a sudden and gruesome death.


I was told several times by Navy friends that "sea stories" are fair game for re-telling... that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

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.

SyFy Presents: A Line In the Ice

Cast: (in order by appearance)

Charlie Weller: Felicia Day

Theo Maigny - Andrew Lee Potts

Soren Dahlbeck - Michael Shanks

Lisa Steward - Leah Gibson

Eduard Guliyev - Adam Minarovich

Lysander Davies - Ed Quinn

Julius Hale - Conrad Coates

Summary: The Antarctic. Cold. Alien. Uninhabited. Until now. Strange creatures are appearing from a rift in the ice. An elite military squad stands between civilization and the mysterious invasion of monsters. Out in the ice one mistake is the difference between life and death. Charlie Weller (Day) thinks she’s seen everything—until a man crawls out onto the ice, barely alive and muttering about a place called Illyria.

Made Up Magazine recently got an exclusive interview with the director, Lynn Townsend.

MUM: So what made you decide to get on board with this project?

LT: Well, I read the book - you know I pitched the idea to Craig Engler in the first place - and I thought, what a great piece for SyFy. I mean, it's a really great story; and with such a small cast and confining location - the entire movie except for the last fifteen minutes - takes place in a tiny military base in the antarctic, it's perfect. SyFy does some excellent work, but they honestly just don't have the big budget... And this story is really character driven. That's why I was honestly thrilled to get to work with some of the best genre actors.

MUM: What was it like to work with Felica Day (Red: Werewolf Hunter; Eureka; Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog)?

LT: Oh, she's just a perfect Charlie. I mean, have you seen her? I know she does the quirky nerd frequently, but that girl is just SPUNKY. She literally rescued Wil Wheaten at Comic Con from some rabid sci fi fans, and you know they're the scariest things out there... So when I saw this role, I knew she was a perfect fit.

MUM: What was the worst thing about the set?

LT: Well, we had to use some leftover pieces of the Hoth stage for it - and let me tell you, getting through to Lucas is an exercise in red tape. The man has social secretaries for his social secretaries. And then it wasn't even put together right. We had several incidents on the set where the roof would literally collapse. And the Makeup Director used to grab his Darth Vader mask and stalk through the rubble. Funny, yes, but we lost at least a half day of filming.

MUM: So, who do you think really nailed their role?

LT: I admit, I was a bit dubious about working with Leah Gibson; anyone who's been on the set of Twilight is bound to be just a little flakey; but she was great. We had our moments, but really, she was quite good. And Michael Shanks... he's always throwing himself into his character, really heart and soul. Honestly, honestly, they're all excellent, and they really put a lot of work into this piece. I think viewers will be impressed.

MUM: Well, that's all we have time for today: Make sure to check out A Line in the Ice, a new SyFy original mini-series, set to air in December. Ooooh, I get chills, just thinking about it.

Tour Notes:

Please vote for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll for this tour. The blogger with the most votes wins a free promotional twitterview and a special winner’s badge. I want that to be me! You can vote in the poll by visiting the official Line in the Ice blog tour page and scrolling all the way to the bottom.

Learn more about this author duo by visiting their website, blog, Facebook or GoodReads pages or by connecting with them on Twitter.

Winner Winner

I have a winner for my blog/publicity contest, Rodney Johnson will be receiving:

A blank notebook, pen, and keychain featuring the cover for Steamlust, a copy of Dreamlover, the previous collection edited by Kristina Wright, and a half pound of coffee from Bean There cafe.

Thanks for everyone who entered!

Promotion!

Couple weeks ago, I got a $50 pack of stuff from Vistaprint for $10. As far as I can tell, this doesn't actually mean anything. Vistaprint's apparent money-making scheme is to charge a zillion dollars for shipping and handling, so they can charge almost nothing for pieces of paper. I'm ok with this; I chose the cheapest shipping option and while I didn't actually expect to get my stuff until the end of the month, I got it yesterday.

(If you're interested in printing your own business cards, or whathave you, there's a recommendation at the bottom of this page. You sign up, I get more stuff, you get more stuff. We kiss, we schmooze, we go home happy.)

And this is it. Lovely, yes?

There's a mousepad, a notebook (lined), some pens, and some keychains. (There are also some postcards on the way, they haven't arrived just yet.)

So... contest: This blog hasn't gotten much traffic, so I'm going to try to raise my readers a bit. For everyone who signs up for the blog ---> click the link over there on the sidebar, you get 1 entry. For every Twitter I get directing people at this contest, 1 entry. (RT @tisfan So I can track your tweets) Ditto Facebook. You can sign up for my new Fan page, too.

The package will include the notebook, a pen, a key chain, and some other assorted goodies: A copy of Kristina Wright's most recently released anthology (Dream Lover), a half-pound of my favorite coffee from my favorite coffee shop, and some odds and ends. I haven't put it all together yet, but this will be a fun little box of goodies, and honestly, wouldn't you LIKE something in your mailbox that's not a bill?

So... promote! Promote! Promote!

And thanks!

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