Author Archives: D.R. Slaten

Saturday Snippet: Well Played

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From the forthcoming novel, WELL PLAYED, which continues the saga of Zoe, Deke and Nathan as they settle into their lives in LA. Don’t have a cover yet. And the snippet isn’t edited, so the usual caveats apply. Expect mistakes. 🙂

The questions kept coming. She kept trying to answer, but she was a little freaked out about the whole dead dude situation. It didn’t seem to matter to the cops. Obviously, it was the dead body giving the cops the something they needed to do. Part of that was asking her stupid repeating questions until she wanted to poke her own eye out with a fork.

“Look. I don’t know the dead guy well at all. We argued once last week about a scheduling error. I came in early today to do a stunt as a body double on a riding segment. I don’t really remember what I touched or didn’t touch. I was kinda freaked out. I don’t have any more answers. No, they aren’t going to change. And now I am done giving answers. Thank you.”

She was finished. No more cop questions about things she really had no clue about.

Surely they could see she had nothing to do with it.

She’d called it in for Christ sakes.

She really needed to call Deke and Nathan. She was sure this was one of those things they’d want to know. She was pretty sure this was one of those things that must be disclosed when in a relationship. She wasn’t sure, but if she were guessing she’d guess the whole going with telling would be the correct choice. If she kept quiet much longer, she would be explaining that as well.

As she thought about everything that had transpired so far in her day, she’d say it was going pretty shitty. It’s never a good thing when you find a dead body. It would’ve been bad enough just to have to deal with the cops and the paramedics and the rubber-neckers. But knowing she was going to have to try and explain to Deke and Nathan really capped off the craptastic day with just that little bit of extra. Special, really.

Shit.

Music Monday: Little Drummer Boy

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Pentatonix are fabulous. Listen to the video. You’d never know there weren’t any instruments used. It’s ALL them.

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas.

 

Smutty Sunday

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Netgalley Roundup

Picked up a few Cynthia Eden books from NetGalley. So this week’s Smutty Sunday is going to focus on her latest body of work.

1. Fear For Me

After several Eden novellas, I was ready for a longer, meatier book. I got it in Fear for Me.

The suspense in the book is great. I was kept guessing about who dunnit for most of the book. I love that. LOVE. There’s nothing I hate more than knowing who did it WAY before everyone in the book knows, or worse, figuring it out even when I wasn’t supposed to. If that happens, it colors the rest of the book for me.

Now for the love story. I wanted to like Lauren and Anthony. And separately, I did. I wasn’t real happy with the romance. And I don’t know why. There was angst. There was a passionate past. They were smokin’ hot in bed together. So I have no earthly idea why I didn’t dig on these two together. I’ve sat with this book, thinking and thinking about these two and STILL coming up blank about why I wasn’t convinced they needed to be together. Or maybe, it was that I didn’t believe the reasons they’d been apart for so long. SO DAMN LONG. It is becoming harder and harder for me to buy that people stay apart for such flimsy reasons for 5, 10, 15 YEARS. I wouldn’t do it. I don’t know many people who would. So maybe that’s why I have such a problem with this plot device.

Anyway, this is a solid Cynthia Eden read. Although, I love her PNR/UF stuff the best, she really does suspense very well.

 

2.  A Vampire Christmas Carol

 

This was a totally cute take on Dicken’s Christmas Carol.

Ben is tortured. And turning into a Scrooge. He lost the love of his life, Simone. And he blames himself. Only things aren’t always as they seem. And sometimes, Christmas is the perfect season for redemption.

 

 

 

Say Yes to Self-Defense

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Been thinking a lot lately about the state of the world and women in it. Our common experience as women who live in a world populated with people who are bigger than us, stronger than us, hormonally more aggressive than us coupled with the vagaries of our various political structures, social networks and economic opportunities, and I’d bet you’d be surprised if I told you we as American, and western, women have more in common with our sisters in the middle east than we do without spouses lying in bed next to us. You are probably calling me crazy. Discounting my opinion.

If I told you that it is my considered opinion that women are still oppressed and treated as lesser class, you’d scoff and tell me that we’ve come so far, baby.

Then I’d point out that the likelihood of being raped isn’t so vastly different in different parts of the world. Sure, there are surges in war torn areas and areas filled with chaos. But in those areas who are just poor, just third world without so much external strife, the statistics are damning. And I’d go on to compare health care given (not merely available but actually accessed) is on par as well. There are far more parallels than opposites. Not even going into the similarities of how a society can keep an entire gender pinned down, the injury done to women physically is the same the world over. In just this one thing, being secure in our own bodies, every women on this planet is at risk. Most often, that risk comes from the home or the home neighborhood.

As the title of this post suggests, I want all women to begin to empower themselves. Take a gun class. Do I think a gun will make shit better tomorrow? No. But it will give you a feeling of empowerment. If you’re morally opposed to firearms, take a taser class or a stun-gun class or a pepper spray class. Take a damn class. Go to self-defense classes. Take martial arts. Become stronger in your body so it can help you get stronger in your mind.

None of these classes are intended to make you think you can take on a dude twice your size. The best and first course of action should always be to get away, get help and cause a commotion to get noticed. But maybe the class will give you the confidence to think of how to get away instead of falling apart, or to create an opportunity that can be exploited. It might be the difference between tragedy and triumph.

Every woman should be safe in her body. It is a travesty that this is not so. A many-pronged approach to resolving the problem needs to happen. One of those prongs is making women stronger in their bodies. There are all kinds of strength. By acquiring one, we help bolster them all.

 

Hot Autumn Nights Blog Hop Winner

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We have a winner, or three. 🙂

Drum roll, please… the winners are: Carolyn and BookAttict. But because it’s the Christmas season, I picked a third. Well, random.org did. lol My third winner is jennifer mathis. If you’re a winner and didn’t indicate your email address or book title and format preference, please email me or use the contact me page with the contact form, and let me know which ebook you would like, which format you prefer and an email address to which I may send the aforementioned prize.

To help that decision along, I’m linking to both the Holiday Spice anthology with my story Homecoming, and to the FarSeen. Just click on the pictures below and it will take to the parent pages. If you click through on the FarSeen cover on the OtherKind page, it will take you to the FarSeen main page complete with reviews, blurb and excerpt. Once you’ve read the tidbits available for the two offered prizes, that’s when an email to me should be happening or about to happen.

FarSeen

Click for more

holidayspice_small

Click for more

As soon as I know which book you want, I will either send a link or the book directly to you. I would really appreciate it if you’d leave a review on Amazon or goodreads or somewhere, but it’s NOT necessary. Mostly, I want you to enjoy my stories. 🙂

Also, if you didn’t win, but feel you must have my book(s), I would totally be happy and willing to exchange a copy for a review. Shoot me a note using the contact methods listed above for the winners if a review in exchange for a copy of the ebook is something that sounds interesting.

Last, but not least, THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the hop, came to my blog and commented. I really appreciate it. We all do.

Hope you all have a wonderful, happy holiday season!

Manday Monday and Tribute

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Paul Walker died a few days ago. I loved him in FF. Thought I share one of his pics today in tribute. Because we lost one of our go to Manday men. He will be missed, and not just because he was so pretty.

 

And a close up.

 

Night Blind Cover Reveal and Saturday Snippet

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Night Blind

nightblind_800_2 Just got my cover for NIGHT BLIND. It is so pretty. lol I really should wait to do a reveal until the edits and everything are all worked out. But I got so excited that I just couldn’t wait. I keep looking at the pretty, shiny and getting all excited. 🙂

This story is Part 2 of a 2 part prequel to my OtherKind series. The main characters in these two books are sisters. Unbeknownst to them, the witch sickness is the opening salvo by a madman bent on controlling the world, human and OtherKind alike. As sides are picked and lines are drawn, the world as they know it will be changed forever by this power struggle.

Night Blind is the story of Ellie, Lucien and Rory coming together as they hunt down the source of the witches’ magical sickness. Lucien is a Vampire Lord, Rory is Lucien’s werewolf body guard and Ellie is the witch sent to dispense the goddess’s justice. They’ve been sent to seek and destroy. Along the way, they find each other.

Ellie is Evie’s sister. Evie, Trent and Drew were featured in FarSeen. Anyway, here’s the blurb. Bear in mind that the blurb and snippet haven’t been edited at all. So, any mistakes are mine. Flog me. lol

Blurb:

Every Vampire Lord needs a shifter bodyguard. Rory’s 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. 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 in her capacity as Enforcer to Dallas. 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. It isn’t because he doesn’t like or want Lucien. Rory does. He’s just never been with a man before. As a result, Rory and his wolf were confused when Lucien came on to him in the past. With Ellie’s help, Rory’s not confused anymore. Now, what happens in Dallas… well, it’s not going to stay in Dallas

As Lucien, Rory and Ellie navigate the intricacies of a full triad and one man new to manlove, they also have to navigate the treacherous home of Dallas Vampire Lord during the winter solstice. Because something is rotten in the Texas city. And Ellie’s pretty sure it’s the Dallas Vampire Lord.

  Snippet:

“Thank you for your cooperation,” she said as she slid her blade into its sheath. It had taken her a long time to learn to sheath and unsheathe her blade in one move. It looked cool and impressed bad guys. It had the added benefit of not cutting off her neck at the same time. It was the latter she enjoyed the most. Although, she wasn’t adverse to imparting shock and awe in her opponents. “You can either call the Council for a pick up or dump him on the roof for the sun. The choice is yours.”

“The Lord sent word that he wishes to speak with you,” Morrie told her, ignoring her disposal instructions.

“Tell Luc I’ll get back to him,” she replied.

Morrie’s eyes got big  and wild while his guards went solid. “Enforcer, I don’t think he’ll be pleased by that news.”

His eyes stayed big. She wasn’t sure if he was shocked she wasn’t scurrying off to call the Vampire Lord or if it was because she had just called the Vampire Lord Luc. Probably a bit of both.

“Don’t care. I got a job to do, Morrie. I don’t have time to detour to speak to your Lord,” she was bone tired. She needed to report in to the Council. But she needed sleep. Killing rogues and drawing her power had left her very, very tired. “If he doesn’t like it, tell him to take it up with the Council.”

She turned and walked out the room. The scent of ozone receded as she made her way to the rear exit. She had no desire to walk down the hall again listening to people fucking and sucking, nor did she want to go through the packed blood den’s bar area.

She stepped through and walked out into the night.

I hope you enjoyed the cover, blurb and snippet! NIGHT BLIND will available early next year.

Preorder: 14th March 2014 (book becomes available to preorder through TEB website)
Prerelease: 28th March 2014 (book becomes available to buy through TEB website)
General Release: 25th April 2014 (book becomes available everywhere)

Hot Autumn Nights Blog Hop

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One more blog hop to end the year on a high note. I’ve got a new release this month from Foreword Literary in their anthology entitled Holiday Spice. My story, HOMECOMING, is in there. It’s a brother’s best friend turned lover and their first holiday at home… together.

I also had a release late last month from Totally Bound entitled FARSEEN. That book has witchy goodness, menage and magic. FarSeen is Part 1 of a 2 part prequel to my OtherKind series. NIGHT BLIND  is Part 2. I just got my cover for it, and HAT TRICK. If you scroll down the side bar, you can see the cover for Night Blind.  Or scroll down the blog and read a snippet from it. Homecoming and FarSeen have numerous snippets peppered throughout the blog, click on snippet in the category or tags and it will pull them up for you in one location. To see the cover for Hat Trick, mouse over titles and click on Name of the Game. Hat Trick is Book 2 in that series.

So this blog hop is to celebrate those things, like my book releases or just to have fun around the holidays. lol Thanksgiving is one such holiday. Food, family and football. The ubiquitous recipe for food coma. Our country could get invaded during the aftermath of Thanksgiving dinner and we wouldn’t do more than groan and roll ourselves onto the couch to lie down. lol

Speaking of which, my favorite way to spend hot autumn nights– especially a Friday night, is to go watch a local high school football game. Hanging out with friends, neighbors and other parents cheering on the local team sipping hot apple cider with someone you like-like. 😉 Holding hands, grabbing a 3-2 beer, making out under bleachers and generally horsing around. Grinning like mad when the team scores, booing the refs off the field and shaking my groove thang to the slightly off-key marching band. Could any night get more perfect? Whether this is date night with your lover or just getting together with the community, what a great way to spend a fall night. Well, I guess if it turned even more sultry and hot later, you know, after the game with… a… smokin’… hot… round… of… ummm… kissing. Yeah, that’s it– kissing. 🙂

Anyway, you can choose either the Holiday Spice anthology with Homecoming or FarSeen as your ebook of choice. Just leave me a comment. I’d love it if you told me about your perfect hot autumn night, but any comment will do. Just be sure to include your email, which format you want the ebook and which ebook you want.

I hope you enjoy the hop. To get the most out of it, check out the others in the hop as well. There is a $80 grand prize gift card as well as cool winnable swag from other authors. The gift card is being picked at random from a commenter from one of the blogs.  If my understanding is correct, random.org is being used to pick a blog in the linky list at random, then a commenter from that blog will be picked at random. Just as an FYI– you increase your chances of winning the GRAND prize if you comment at each blog. So stop by, have fun and enjoy yourself!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

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Happy Turkey day y’all. Gobble, gobble. lol I actually like Thanksgiving as far as holidays go. I like that it’s about food and family and getting together. In my family, at dinner, we go around the table and tell about the one thing we are the most grateful for that occurred in the last year. Not all the things that make us give thanks or a few of them. Just one. It makes us focus and keeps the momentum going so everyone gets a chance before the dinner is over. It’s awesome.

So many of our holidays have turned into three ring circuses. I like hanging out with friends and family, watching football and generally just being with the people who love us and we love back. Then if you’re lucky, you made plans to go gorilla shopping the next morning, complete with infiltration plans and an exit strategy, with those very same people. Cause for Black Friday shopping, you NEED a posse. People who will have your back and not leave a man behind. But they also have to have sharp eyes to look for bargains as well as coordinate color combinations. So really, you want a variety of family members to go with you to cover your back. Yes, it has gotten that grime out there. Little blue haired old ladies will cut a bitch to get to the blouse on sale. Seriously.

I also vary my menu a little every year. Yes, I do turkey and ham. And most of the sides are perennial favorites. But this year instead of a chocolate pecan pie, we are having a dark chocolate mousse. I’ve decided to forgo candied yams in favor of the simpler baked sweet potatoes. And so on. Here’s my Thanksgiving menu:

brined, dry rubbed turkey
ham
mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and herbs
sweet potatoes
green bean casserole
broccoli and cauliflower in a cheddar cheese sauce
stuffing with chestnuts, gruyere and bacon bits
turkey gravy
pumpkin pie
chocolate mousse
cranberry sauce

This menu is for 4 people. I add more sides and maybe an appetizer sampler if I have guests arriving. But for the small, nuclear family thing? The above menu has been honed from years of tweaking to find the perfect balance for my family. Yours may vary.

Now the best part of Thanksgiving isn’t the main menu, although that is pretty great. Nope, the best part is the left-overs. I like messing around with different recipes to use the turkey as much as possible. I even use the turkey carcass as a soup base. But that’ll come later. And if you serve turkey for Christmas, then some of the leftover recipes will stand you in good stead.

Saturday Snippet

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Hat Trick-6x9 master-16-Nov-medHere’s a sneak peek at one of the novellas that have been contracted, but not yet edited. I gave you the cover reveal earlier this week. So I thought I’d give you a snippet form the same work. The caveat is that you don’t judge too harshly if you see any typos and stuff cause it’s unedited. lol In other words, keep that shit to yourself. Now if you see the same mistake after editing, please do inform me so that I might make fun of the appropriate people. lol

Anyway, here’s a little snippet from Hat Trick.

Enjoy!

 

 

“What?” he asked as she stood still continuing to peer into the waste receptacle.

“No condom wrappers?” she asked perplexed. She strode over to the bathroom and picked up the trashcan that was just inside the door. Then her gaze swept over the room. “No condom wrappers, Silas.”

Shit. He wracked his brain to remember what he’d done with the condom wrappers and the spent condoms themselves. He got nothing. Not one iota of an idea for what he’d done with the protection he had used regularly since he’d been getting laid. He’d never, not ever not used a condom when he had sex. No matter how drunk, how fucked up he’d gotten. Not ever. Evidence of his diligence was usually left somewhere in the room in which he’d engaged in sexual relations. And as his gaze traversed the hotel room, he noted one thing. There was an absolute lack of evidence that a condom was even pulled out last night, much less used.

As Emma slammed down her coffee cup, he could’ve sworn that the sound was his world crashing down around his ears. Shit. Fuck. Damn.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Emma chanted. More to herself than to him. She looked over at him. “I’m on the pill. Well, the shot really, but birth control anyways. As long as you haven’t slept with half the Houston female population without protection, we should be covered.”

He was offended. “Hey, what if you’ve slept with half the Denver population without protection?” A ridiculous assertion, but still he didn’t like being called a man-whore even in a roundabout manner.