Today’s the one year anniversary of my blog. March is also the month I finished my first full length novel. Yes, that’s right. March of last year was when I finished my first full length novel. It amazes me that it happened at all. Still. Today.
This isn’t going to be a long post. Just a little something to commemorate today. So this is my jumping up and down for joy… in writing. đ
Hopefully, next year– I will be able to write another little post of goodness.
My short story, Show Me, released last month from Cleis Press. Kristina Wright was editor and Lauren Dane wrote the forward. There are lots of really good writers who have contributed to this wonderful collection. The stories are hot which is why they are included in a Best EROTIC Romance 2014 collection. That’s all the warning you’re gonna get cause the title should be self-evident. Seriously.
Because my story is a short one, the snippet from it will be short as well. The book is BIG, though. So check my story out as well as all the others by some pretty damn fabulous writers.
Here’s what one review said about my story. Click on the link and it’ll take you to her Amazon review (she left it on Goodreads as well if you prefer to read your reviews there) which includes all of the stories in this anthology, not just mine:
Show Me by D.R. Slaten
Daniâs boyfriend wants to watch her pleasure herself. â Good, short and sexy story. Her embarrassment afterward was rather amusing.
~By MsRomanticReads âMichelleâ (Texas)
Amazon Reviewer
Snippet:
I slowly rolled over. Cupping my breasts as I spread my legs. Exposed. Bare.
âShow me,â he whispered. So softly that I had to strain to hear the words he spoke. âLet me see, baby. Show me more.â
I kept my eyes downcast. I couldnât look at him. My nerve wouldnât have withstood his direct gaze.
I hadnât realized how much I would like his eyes on my, watching me. But even as I knew that I liked that he stared at me, I still couldnât look at him.
Night Blind is up for Pre-Order today on the Totally Bound website. Â Click on the picture and it should take you straight to the page. It goes on sale everywhere next month on the 25th, but will be available for early download at Totally Bound on March 28.
This is the story of Ellie, Lucien and Rory. It is Part 2 of the Prequel to the OtherKind. FarSeen, which was released last year as part of the Wanton Witches Collection, was Part 1 of said Prequel.
Both are hot, serious, Â and funny. Plus, they have vampires and werewolves and witches and magic and sex and all sorts of good stuff. The two female lead characters are sisters and witches. FarSeen starts the story and Night Blind ends it. And although, they can both be read alone, I think the story makes more sense when read together. But what do I know? I just write the damn things. đ
This series has some bad bad guys. But it also has a great story about happily every afters and the good guys conquering in the end and all that comes with tales involving the forces of good against evil. And it has some hot sex. Did I mention most of these stories are menage, some are menage and more, and some are couple pairings. But the vast majority involve three players.
Here’s the blurb for the book in postcard form.
Enjoy!
St. Patrick’s Day is around the corner. So I thought that in honor of the Irish… I’d share some recipes that are Irish-y in nature. lol The beef stew below can be made with any food beer, but why not go for the Guinness? The more flavorful the beer, the deeper the underlying notes to the stew. I also do not add potato cubes to the stew either. I prefer to mash the potatoes and then ladle the stew on top of a mound of fluffy white goodness.
2 pounds beef chuck or sirloin, cut into 1-inch chunks (lamb is okay, too)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika- I use smoked
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 1/2 cups Guinness stout (any dark beer is okay)
1 cup beef stock
4 large carrots, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme
fresh parsley for garnish
Place beef cubes in a bowl and massage on 1 tablespoon of the oil. In another bowl, stir together the flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika. Dredge beef in this flour mixture until every side of all the beef pieces are coated and there is no loose flour in the bowl.
Heat remaining oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the beef in a single layer. If, due to the size of your pot, you need to do this in batches, take the time. The beef will steam instead of brown if you pile it all on top of itself. Browning it properly is the key to a good stew. After all the beef is browned, make sure it is all in the pot (if you did it in batches) and add the garlic and onions. Stir in for a minute or two (without letting the garlic brown). Add tomato paste, beer and beef broth and thyme. Add carrots, bay leaf, mustard and Worcestershire. Cover and cook for 3 1/2-4 hours at 325 degrees F until beef is tender. During second half of cooking check liquid level a couple times and add a little more beer or broth if too much has evaporated. If you like, you can make mashed potatoes ahead of time, place in a buttered casserole dish, cover with foil and keep warm in the oven with the stew during the last 20 minutes of it’s cooking.
Right before serving, remove the bay leaf, taste the gravy and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
Place a generous dollop of mashed potatoes or champ in a bowl, ladle stew over and sprinkle with parsley.
Brown beef as described above, then deglaze pan with beer and broth. Add all ingredients to your crock pot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Towards end of cooking check liquid level. Add more if needed.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Smutty Sunday. I just haven’t had time to read all the good books I’ve downloaded from NetGalley, or that I’ve just bought on my own because the deal was too good to pass up. I also will list a couple of titles I picked, but later decided against reading for one reason or another. Most of the time, I couldn’t read the selection not because of anything the author did, but rather because something about the story made me put the book down.
Anyway, here are a few reviews. And I will try to get to my backlog of books to be read.
I’m not going to tell you that I’ve liked all the books in this series equally. It simply wouldn’t be true. But out of all of ’em, I like this one the best. Seriously. I didn’t think I would based on my reaction to the last book I read in this series. I just knew Harber was a strong writer and I would enjoy the story. Maybe not love it. Â But it would be good in that it would be edited, the plot would make sense and normal romance tropes would apply.
I liked Savage Secrets a whole lot more than a little bit. Color me surprised. Pleasantly so. Happily So.
Cat’s motivation made sense. Rocco had flaws– some really big. Being forced to work together just happens to be the best thing that could’ve happened to either of them. Only they might not realize it until it’s too late. But that’s the rub isn’t it. When you have two deeply flawed characters fighting for vengeance, redemption, sanity and love–well there’s going to be some mess and pain and crazy–it makes for a great storyline, and Harber takes that storyline and makes a great read.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I wanted to like this book. I loved the premise– husband makes a fatal error in judgment and the books looks at the process of rebuilding all that was lost. It was the execution I had serious problems with. There are numerous instances of WTFuckery.
Spoilers coming up.
Come on now. He’s rich–she runs away– neither finds the other. Really?!?! No one files for divorce. No one does anything about the kid. He doesn’t question his vision as he lay bleeding and losing consciousness. She doesn’t yell and tell him to piss off when he tells her to leave. None of their friends OR family questions her disappearance.
End spoilers.
Too many things just din’t add up for me. I’m willing to suspend belief… I really am… but I am not willing to overlook common sense and how the real world works in over 75 % of the work’s world, if that world is modern America or modern South Africa or modern Europe, etc. Umm, cause, just no. If your fictional world mirrors a real world, it would be in your best interest to make sure that world MIRRORS the other world closely. Exactly. Almost the same. Â Otherwise, there will be people like me saying… all–WTF, over.
Can not review:
Off the Record by K.A Linde
The Companion y R.A Salvatore
The Godborn by Paul S. Kemp
I’ve noticed a trend lately in my reading. I don’t get to read a lot anymore so when I do get to put my grubby fingers on a book, I am uber excited. I want a more diverse cast of characters. I really, really do. But what I don’t want is for every gay supporting character to be a hot chocolate mess. Look, not every gay person is a slut, whore, has mommy/daddy issues and is generally all fucked up. Occasionally, a straight person is this way as well. And if you’re not straight or gay, then the chances of you being cra-cra increases exponentially. But I digress.
Trending in books, especially the contemporary romances I read are totally jacked up gay dude sidekicks. Like it’s a thing. Not to even begin to touch the cliche-ness of including such a character, it’s lazy.
Not that every fucked up gay supporting character is too much, but rather there just aren’t enough to populate all the books. See, there are reasonably well-rounded gay people in this world. But for some reason they don’t get written about. It’s either the flamer, the regretter, or the dude who will drown in liquid flames before he burns out completely– in the books, but not paralleled in real life. A few sprinkled here and there in novels wouldn’t be amiss. I bet it would track demographics. But all the books I’m reading that has a gay character is totally fucked up. Statistically, I know this can’t be true. I have gay friends and they range the gamut. Still, disparate per capita of fucked up gay dudes is noticeable. Almost as noticeable as all the god damn female virgins running around.
And yes, I did a post of how much I HATE the use of the virginity trope in romance. Not just because it places a premium on female virginity that is so steeped in patriarchal beliefs I hesitated to even acknowledge it in this post. But I did. Anyway, I digress. Ummm, yeah cause, taking the easy, lazy, shitty way out pisses me off and makes me feel bad for an entire segment of our population. Virgins and fucked up gay dudes alike.
I want three dimensional characters. People who are a little fucked, got some shit together, are real good at one or two things, and in general, are just regular normal messed up people. Not these super fucked up gay dudes who must have all of the problems because they like the butt sexx.
Seriously? Grow up. Meet some diverse people. Include them in your writing. Stop with the two dimensional cardboard caricatures. My reading needs have matured. Fictional characters need to as well. Give me depth. Give me the spectrum of who we are as people, persons and how we relate to the world around us.
Until then, if you have a really messed up gay dude character and he/she is messed up because they are gay or from sex or dicks and vaginas, I’m gonna have to pass.
And once again, for your viewing pleasure and to make Monday just a little more palatable.
How can any one have the grumps when a vision of this hits their eyes first thing?
Part of the OtherKind series, Night Blind is Part 2 of the Prequel. FarSeen was Part 1. Part 1 was about Evie. Part 2 tells Ellie’s story.
Preorder: 14th March 2014 (available to preorder through TEB website)
Prerelease: 28th March 2014 (available to buy through TEB website)
General Release: 25th April 2014 (book becomes available everywhere)
Blurb:
As Lucien, Rory and Ellie navigate the intricacies of a full triad, including one man new to man-love, they also have to seek and destroy the source of the sickness afflicting witches.
Every Vampire Lord needs a shifter bodyguard. Rory has been Lucien’s for a while now. And although Rory’s been protecting Lucien’s body, Lucien has just been plain lusting after Rory’s body. Unfortunately, Rory’s been rebuffing Lucien’s advances. That is, until Ellie comes along with her witchy bad self. The Witch Council is sending her to Dallas in her capacity as Enforcer. And to make matters more interesting, they’re also sending Lucien and Rory.
Ellie’s mission is to find and destroy the source of the witch sickness. Along the way, she uncovers Rory’s reason for hesitating in accepting Lucien’s advances. Rory’s never been with a man before. As a result, Rory and his wolf were confused when Lucien came on to him. But with Ellieâs help, Roryâs not confused anymore. Now, what happens in Dallas…Â well, itâs not going to stay in Dallas.
As Lucien, Rory and Ellie navigate the intricacies of a full triad, they also have to navigate the treacherous home of the Dallas Vampire Lord during the winter solstice. Because something is rotten. And Ellie’s pretty sure it’s the Dallas Vampire Lord.
Snippet:
The door behind her opened. Her magic flared without any prompting from her. Only one other time had her magic reacted so violently without her volition.
She knew without turning around that Lucien and Rory had entered the Council Chambers. Great. Just what she needed.
âGood evening, Council Members.â Lucienâs voice was like liquid silk. He didnât just talk, he all but purred when he spoke. Even after all the years heâd been alive, he retained just a hint of his French accent from his heritage.
It was unbelievably sexy.
I have two new releases this month. My short story, Show Me, is part of the Best Erotic Romance 2014. The book in hardcover and digital released last week. It is awesome-sauce-y. lol The story is a little risque- lol. I mean… it should be ’cause, ya’ know, it’s part of an erotic anthology. đ
Anyway, my couple is pretty new to their relationship and this story is a slice of their lives together. A very spicy peek into their bedroom. It’s hot, hot, hot!
Kristina Wright edited the anthology and Lauren Dane wrote the foreword. It rocks, seriously.
Enjoy!
The second release I have this month is Hat Trick. It’s the second book in my novella series about some dudes who play poker together. Oh, they also happen to be professional athletes.
Home Run started the series. By the end of that book, the main characters had moved to Houston and gotten together. Hat Trick introduces the guys in the poker players group.
Silas and Emma have their story in Hat Trick as a result of Dani and Noah getting married after they moved to Houston. Sparks fly as the best man and the maid of honor fulfill their duties to the marrying couple, and to each other.
By: daya_devi
It’s the day of love– for love and lovers.
To that end, I found a compilation of 80s love songs. Yeah, I know it probably dates me… but no one did or does love songs like those songster of yesteryear. So listen to the music as you finish out the post and let the notes carry you to a far, far better place. đ Journey, Foreigner and more.
Enjoy!
Nothing says Valentine’s Day like candy and flowers. Bet you didn’t know you could combine those two things. I’ve put a recipe for candied roses down below. But don’t limit yourself to roses. There are lots of edible flowers and a veritable rainbow can be had depending on which bloom you choose.
Roses first came to the West from Persia in 1240 by way of French Crusaders. The first known cultivated rose is Rosa gallica var. officinalis, also known as the apothecary rose. I use the petals for various things: potpourri, bath fizzies, bath salts, rose water, and cooking. The petals are lovely in salads, but what I really like to do is candy them and make rose sugar.
-pasteurized egg white beaten with a little water (if youâre concerned about using raw eggs, -you can use simple syrup or prepared meringue powder)
-Granulated sugar
-Fragrant rose petals, well rinsed and patted dry
-A small watercolor brush
-Fragrant organic rose petals, well rinsed and patted dry
-Sugar
-A clean, pretty jar, such as a Ball Kilner rubber-sealed jar
1. Make sure your rose petals are organic (pesticide free). Remove the bottom white tip of each rose petal and discard; the tips have a bitter flavor. Assemble your supplies.
2. Paint both sides of each rose petal with the egg wash, simple syrup, or prepared meringue powder.
3. Sprinkle the prepared petals in sugar on both sides
4. Set on a piece of parchment paper or wax paper and let dry overnight. If you use simple syrup, the petals wonât hold their shape as well as they do with the egg wash
5. Use your candied petals as edible decorations for cakes, puddings, candies, cookies, and pastries. If you donât plan to use them right away, store sugared petals in a freezer.
1. Make sure your rose petals are organic (pesticide free). Remove the bottom white tip of each rose petal and discard. Sprinkle sugar on the bottom of the jar and sprinkle a layer of rose petals over it. Layer more sugar and rose petals until the jar is filled. Store in a cool, dark place (such as your pantry or cupboard or “close roome”) for several weeks. When you open up the jar youâll be met with a rosy perfume. You can remove the petals before using.
2. Use your Rose Sugar to flavor pastries, cookies, and confections or sprinkled over their tops. Stir the rose-infused sugar into tea, lemonade, or anything youâd like to give a slight rosy flavor. Itâs particularly nice sprinkled on top of scones and shortbread.
***
As you listen to love songs and eat delicious things, remember… today is about love. And love is about giving to others. So don’t forget to spread and share the love. Not just today, but everyday.
Copyright © 2024 D.R. Slaten All Rights Reserved.
