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Monday, September 29, 2014

Cover Reveal - Placeless

In October, Placeless, the second of the Bay Wolves series comes out. It's the story of Keaton McGrath, one of the wolves rescued in Boundless, and how he's adjusting to life in San Francisco. As of this weekend, I officially have a cover!
That smiley fella you see is not the troubled Keaton, but instead wolf activist Scotty who ends up helping to teach Keaton that a wolf is stronger when he's not alone. I love how Scotty's hopeful, optimistic nature counters Keaton's more melancholy ways. I'm really looking forward to sharing their story when it comes out!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Last chance to win

Today's the last chance to win the entire Silver Foxes collection from Amber Allure over at the Amber Pax blog. All you have to do is leave a comment on any of the posts made this week. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win.

Check it out!

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Fan Adventures in Buffy

In my post over at the Amber Pax blog, I shared pictures of men who were the same age as Jett and Trev in Flesh and Kisses. One of them was the scrumptious Alexis Denisof, who turns forty-eight this year. For those who don't know who he is, he played Wesley on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then on Angel. He's gone on to do Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, and he's currently in the TV series Finding Carter.

But finding that picture of Denisof put me in a Buffy mood, so color me tickled pink when I found this video yesterday:

It's a fan-made introduction created for an imaginary animated series for Buffy. Fans will recognize so many of the Easter eggs scattered throughout, but seriously, I smiled and laughed so hard. Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Another chance to win Flesh and Kisses

Want another chance to win my silver foxes story, Flesh and Kisses?

Head on over to Hearts on Fire Reviews and leave a comment. On Saturday, they'll pick a winner. What have you got to lose?

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Over at the Amber Pax blog

I am over at the Amber Pax blog today, talking about sexy forty-eight year-old men and offering another excerpt from my release yesterday, Flesh and Kisses.

Everyone who comments on posts over there this week gets a chance to win all five stories in the Silver Foxes collection, so head on over and check it out!

Monday, September 22, 2014

New release - Flesh and Kisses

Yesterday, my m/m reunion story, Flesh and Kisses, came out as part of the Silver Foxes pax at Amber Allure. I can't believe I've never done a high school reunion story before. The era is perfect for me, and these people so much like the ones I went to school with that it was a little eerie sometimes. But I loved writing it. I hope you're going to enjoy it, too!

The last thing Jett Walker wants is to attend his thirty-year class reunion, especially after spending all of high school in the closet. But then he learns the one person he was never able to resist will also be there—punk rocker Trev Chambers. Trev was the epitome of everything Jett wanted to be, and now he’s reuniting the band he made famous in the intervening years for a final blowout concert. Though nobody back home in Louisville knows he’s gay, Jett finally decides to go to the event. He needs closure, and one weekend pretending he’s straight is more than worth it.

When he discovers Trev lives less than two hours away from him, Jett seeks him out on a whim. The punk rocker has grown up, but as far as Jett’s concerned, Trev is more appealing than ever. And better still, he’s also gay, and available.

One brief conversation turns into a date, which raises the question...are Jett and Trev just living in nostalgia, or can they find a way to build a real future together?

Check out the excerpt!

Friday, September 19, 2014

TGIF

I have a crazy busy weekend ahead of me, so I'm holding these words of wisdom close so I don't go insane:

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Lamb Souvlaki

Clean eating is being good to me this week. Our summer of stress packed on the pounds, so I've been doing this month-long diet bet to get back on track. Sunday night, I made a lamb souvlaki (without pita) and a skinny apple cake that were both amazing. The cake also has a glaze but I didn't make it. We all agreed it didn't need it. Even the next day, it was ultra moist, and I've been asked to make it a regular thing this fall.

The souvlaki is out of an older WW cookbook and went straight to the top of my husband's request list. He's not a fan of tzatziki, so we all just ate it straight off the skewers, but man, so much flavor. I had to add a little bit of salt to mine, but nobody else did. I served it with a Greek veggie salad that really finished it off.

LAMB SOUVLAKI

INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 pounds leg of lamb, boneless, trimmed of all visible fat, cut into cubes
2 small red onions, root end left intact and cut into 6 wedges each
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 12 pieces
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. To make the marinade, combine the oil, garlic, oregano, and thyme in a large zip-close plastic bag. Mix well. Add the lamb, seal bag, and turn several times to coat. Marinate the lamb at room temperature 30 minutes or refrigerate overnight.
2. Preheat broiler. Spray a broiler pan with nonstick spray; set aside.
3. Alternate threading lamb cubes, 3 onion wedges, and 3 bell pepper pieces onto each of 4 (12-inch) metal skewers. Transfer skewers to the broiler pan.
4. Broil 4" from the heat, turning at least once, until the vegetables are tender and the lamb is cooked through, 8-10 minutes. 

NOTES: Serves 4. I made jasmine rice to go with this.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Shades of Pink, Vol. 2

As you may know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Last year, the first Shades of Pink event raised over $10.000 through more than 1300 donations.

For our second year, 22 authors have allied for 1 cause: fundraising for research. Their gift to everyone who makes a donation? A romance anthology (ebook) titled Shades of Pink (volume 2), totaling almost 150.000 words / about 400 pages as a PDF.

The suggested donation is $5. Funds are raised via Stayclassy.org and all proceeds go directly to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Readers can also donate to the charity organization of their choice (with a focus on breast cancer) and email their receipt to receive their copy of the anthology in either PDF, ePub or mobi (kindle).

Who: Catherine Bowman, Mitzi Calderone, Vivien Dean, JJ and TA Ellis, Sabrina Garie, Nina Day Gerard, T. Hammond, Susan Harris, Laura Hunsaker, Kallysten, Amara Lebel, Alicia J. Love, Deelylah Mullin, C. Deanne Rowe, Cynthia Sax, DJ Shaw, Alice Stark, Ashley Suzanne, Gill Taber, Natasza Waters, Zoe York, Angela Yseult

When: Now through November 15th.

What: 22 short stories, including…
·    4 paranormal, 1 sci-fi, 11 contemporary, 1 historical, 2 military, 3 BDSM, 2 YA (some stories have more than one genre)
·    3 spicy (ménage or kink), 7 sexy (explicit sex scenes), 12 sweet (no sex)
·    A couple of vampires, about three dozen humans including soldiers, geeks, teachers, librarians, writers, survivors, bosses, rock stars, teens, mages, wives, husbands and fiancés, 1 succubus, 1 genie, a few aliens, some werewolves and other shifters.
·    Pink, pink and more pink, including tattoos, plenty of flowers, precious stones, jewelry, a bookmark, a drawing, ropes, lingerie, a car, a bag, a vase, various clothes, an anteater and a squirrel.


Here you’ll find links to teasers for the stories, interviews of the authors and blog posts during all of October, a FAQ, and of course the link where you can donate and help this worthy cause.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

An excerpt of Flesh and Kisses over at the Amber Pax blog

I have a new release this weekend! My m/m silver foxes story, Flesh and Kisses, will be out at Amber Allure on Sunday.

To give you a taste of it, the blurb and an excerpt are up over at the Amber Pax blog today. Check it out!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Start Monday with a laugh

Let's start Monday off with a laugh, shall we?
 

Friday, September 12, 2014

Typewriter Art

I've been in a bit of a creative funk this week, but then this older video popped up to remind me that our creative limitations are only what we place on ourselves.


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Amber Quill titles on sale at ARe

Today only, all Amber Quill Press titles are 25% off at All Romance eBooks! That's all of them, from het to m/m to menage, including my most recent release, A Flight in Ice, and the Jamie Craig release, Between the Shadow and the Soul.

Time to stock up on your weekend reading!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Wednesday Words of Wisdom


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Fall television

One of my favorite shows, Sons of Anarchy, premieres tonight, which has me all excited about television again. I'll be getting more of The Blacklist this month and tuning in to try Black-ish because I absolutely adore Laurence Fishburne.

I'll also be trying out Forever, though only because of Ioan Gruffudd, Gracepoint because my family will watch anything with David Tennant in it, and How to Get Away with Murder because Viola Davis is the bomb.

What are you going to be watching?

Friday, September 5, 2014

Sale today at Amber Allure

Today at Amber Allure, all of the Calendar Boy stories, written by Pepper and I as Jamie Craig, are on sale for 50% off! For those who aren't familiar with them, they are novellas each based on a specific month, unrelated to each other. They run a wide gamut of genres, from contemporary with silver foxes (July: Vintage), to paranormal with werewolves (October: Trick of Silver), to nostalgic contemporary (November: Over Here). Something for everyone!


Thursday, September 4, 2014

The Reference Shelf - The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook

I love baby name books. There. I said it. At one time, I had ten different books, though I've whittled that down to the core four over the years.

But I've been obsessed with naming things since I was a kid, mostly because I grew up with a name that gave me every type of conniption fit known to man. My first name is a common Norwegian/German name, but practically unused/unheard of here in the US. In my lifetime, I've only ever met one and heard of one other. At least half the people who see it for the first time say it wrong, while a good proportion of those that are left don't even try. On top of that, I had a last name that was too simple for people to believe. I spent the first twentysome years of my life arguing with people about it, usually when taking reservations because they thought I was taking the piss out of them. It got to the point where I wouldn't even say it for new people, just spell it out and then let them stare at it and try to figure it out for themselves.

Because of all that, I got obsessed early on. My rubric on whether a baby name book was any good was whether my name was in it. If it wasn't, put it back on the shelf and laugh at how incomplete it was. If it was...well, that's how I ended up with ten different baby name books at one point.

My favorite for writing, however, is hands down The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook.
I have the 1994 version (which I've had since it came out), which is why the purple hardcover above is different than the one on Amazon. It was unavailable for a few years, but it turns out that it got re-released in 2010. Lucky for you guys!

Trivia: It's done by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Yes, that Sherrilyn Kenyon. Before she broke through. I never put the two together until a few years ago, in all honesty. I never really looked at the cover much to notice.

Why do I love this naming book above all others? Because of the way it's organized. It has essays in the front about various naming conventions, but it's the lists that make this my go-to name book. Instead of being divided into two sections, male and female, like most baby name books, it's organized by origin, and then by gender. So there are sections from English (quite large) to Basque (two pages) to Native American (which is further broken down by tribe). Is it completely accurate? No, not really, but reference books should always be a starting point for more research if it's that important. Is it comprehensive? No, but it's pretty damn big. Over 20,000 names.

The Internet has made name databases much more common, especially with the tools to search by origin, but this book still remains my go-to reference. I have to admit I'm tempted to pick up the updated version and see how different it is.

Plus, it's got my unusual name on three different pages. How can I not love a book like that?

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

New contract - Silences of Fallen Stars

Woo hoo! I sent off the contract yesterday for my stories in the Amber Allure 60s pax that's coming up this winter. It's called Silences of Fallen Stars. Here's the blurb:

When they graduated from high school in 1962, best friends and secret lovers Jim McCutcheon and Ronnie Mayer had high expectations for the rest of their lives. Six years later, both are back in the small Nebraska town they called home, and worse, no longer together.

Once the golden boy, Jim now works on his grandfather’s farm, ignoring the disappointed looks he gets from everyone who expected him to end up at NASA. Ronnie lives in his parents’ basement, recovering from the blast that sent him home from Vietnam. Neither one is where they want to be, but it takes a special request from Ronnie’s mom for Jim to swallow his pride and visit.

Though it doesn’t go well, it opens the door for the two young men to start communicating. One question haunts them, though. Have they changed too much to find their way back to each other again?

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Words of Wisdom

I'm having a rough morning. I made the mistake of reading comments on an article I knew would be controversial. Though I try to live by the desire to respect an individual's beliefs/desires (as long as it doesn't hurt or negatively impact on another's life), sometimes, I really loathe how closed-minded and prejudiced people can be.

So I'm trying to focus on this today: