Author Archives: D.R. Slaten

Update 10/30/13

Status

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I’ll do a larger post tomorrow. I just wanted to briefly do a small status update today. Mostly because the blog hop is closing tonight. If you want a chance to win my latest release, go the Halloween Hop post and leave me a comment. I kinda think of these hops like trick-or-treating as adults go from one blog to another gathering chances for treats. lol

I will announce the winner of my giveaway tomorrow. Probably on the home page where I do most announcements. I might do more than one giveaway. It is Halloween after all and you never know what the spirit will move me to do. 😉

I think I might do nano. Although the work I’ll be working on is longer than 50k. So maybe I will use any 50k within the 92k-ish the novel will be as the barometer of whether I win at nano. I win. lol I like the sound of that. So if I can set shit up to make that happen more often than not, well, don’t shoot me if I do it. lol I should get one of those nifty word/progress bars to put in the side bar menu to track if I’m on target. But I am not doing this as part of the big nano. It’ll be a personal one. Just for me.

Cripes. November is almost upon us. I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. Halloween tomorrow. Then All Saints Day the day after. Should be a blast. Not.

 

Music Monday 10/28/13

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Justin Timberlake, y’all. Yes, yes I know. I’m sure some of you have strong feelings about my selection for this Music Monday. Don’t care. Not a me problem. He’s been on my mind lately. Not just because he has a new album out, but also because he’s been mentioned in a trilogy I was reading. Like worlds converging, yo.

See, I didn’t use to like JT. Not at all. I had relegated him to the corner of laughable boy band personas with lip syncing capabilities, pretty boy looks and easy docility. In other words, I wrote him off. Completely.

Then one night as I was on the way to the forum. No, not really. I just always wanted to say that. It was one night. But it wasn’t on the way to the forum. It was as I was hanging out watching HBO in my bedroom that JT came on in his FUTURE SEX/LOVE tour badness. He took over the screen. And he gave a helluva performance. Which made me rethink things about him. No, I still don’t think he has a great voice. But it’s passable. What he does have is the ability to perform and put on a show and entertain us. And that’s a talent. It takes skill. Charisma. He has it. He’ll never be a great singer. But he is a good performer.

So here are a few JT selections. Two from that concert I saw on HBO and one from his latest album. Enjoy!

Love Stoned/I Think She Knows

What Goes Around

Mirrors

Snippet Saturday- Homecoming

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holidayspice_smallHere’s a little treat from my upcoming soon-to-be released short story, HOMECOMING, put together by the good folks at Foreword Literary. It’s being released in a holiday anthology called HOLIDAY SPICE. I hear plans are in the works to have this out and in your grubby little hands by early November if possible.

I’ve seen the lineup of writers listed in the table of contents for this one and it’s a goodie. Should be some hot, hot, hot stories in there to help warm you up on a cold fall-ish/winter-y night. I’m pretty sure this is their first Holiday anthology. I’m betting it won’t be their last. It would be a good thing to get in on the ground floor and get the very first one and then each one every year after to make yourself a little collection. Plus, you might discover the next up and coming hot author in one of the anthologies. If my experience with past anthologies is any indication, then several of the authors you find in current anthologies will be the next Sylvia Day or something.

Anyway, here’s my story with blurb and snippet below.

Blurb:

Tessa’s known Nathan for most of her life. She should. He’s her younger brother’s best friend. Which means she’s also his elder by two years as well. They’re both home for the Christmas holidays. And for the first time, they’re together.

Tessa knows her brother isn’t going to react well. She doesn’t know how everyone else is going to react. What she does know is that she wants Nathan more than she’s ever wanted anything or anyone. This homecoming for the holidays could be the worst in the history of holidays, or it could be the best and the start of more yet to come.

 

Snippet:

“Babe, you look beautiful,” Nathan whispered from behind her.

She hadn’t heard him come up behind her.

Hearing his voice gave her an unexpected thrill. A fluttery feeling that began in the pit of her stomach and radiated out. God, she had missed him. Which was so funny. Nathan had been around her, her brother and in their home constantly when they were all growing up. Sure, she’d noticed he was hot and growing up hotter. But he was Rick’s best friend. So while she noted him in a vague sort of way because he was her brother’s friend, she hadn’t noticed. Not really

When he’d come and stayed with her for some job interviews in DC, she hadn’t seen him for several years. They kept missing each other at holidays. Not only had he grown up but he had become beyond hot. They’d gotten a little tipsy that first night and then everything had changed. She was pretty sure they hadn’t dressed or left her apartment the entire he’d been there. Ordering food in and staying in bed when they weren’t eating or showering. Or the few times he left for an interview.

Now he was moving to DC. He wanted to move in with her. And she wanted that too. She was just unsure of how their parents would react. And she was pretty sure that Rick would go ballistic.

Rick and Nathan had been best friends since grade school. She so did not want to get in the middle of that friendship. Not at all. But she refused to give up Nathan. Which meant that this Christmas was going to get tense.

“Hey, Nate.”

“I grabbed some mistletoe. Come with me. Let’s find a secluded place so I can put it over your head and you can kiss me senseless,” he said, his lips tipping up as he teased her.

“Nathan,” she admonished. “We can’t make out in my parent’s house.”

“Yes, we can,” he disagreed. “Either come with me and find a hidey-hole or I’m going to kiss you senseless right here.”

Wicked Warriors Halloween Hop 10/23/13-10/30/13

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I figured since I just had a release a couple of days ago, I’d join this hop to give away a copy. It is a Halloween Hop and my book is part of the Wanton Witches Collection by TEB. FarSeen has witches and magic and menage. With two wicked warriors, a girl’s Halloween is all about the treat.

I don’t know about you, but Halloween is one of my all time favorite holidays. I not only like getting tons of candy, but I like the whole dress up aspect of the the festivities. There is just something about it.

The Grand Prize for this hop is 5 autographed copies of Unbound AND a Kindle Paperwhite. This rocks. I’ve been lusting after a Paperwhite for quite some time now. So I am envious of whoever is gonna win the Grand Prize. Much envy.

My prize isn’t so fancy. It’s just my ebook, FarSeen, in whatever format you specify. I put the blurb below. So if you’re interested in winning a copy, leave me a comment. Any comment will do, but I would totally get a kick out of it if you’d tell me about your most memorable Halloween. Funny, Scary, Weird. Whatever.

If you’ve got some time, check out some of the other participants in the Hop and see if they have any themed prizes as well. Just because we’re grown ups doesn’t mean we don’t deserve to have a few treats show up in our bags as well. Halloween didn’t used to be all about the kids. And it shouldn’t be all about the adults. Let the kids have the candy this year as the adults collect delicious reading treats. And maybe a new Paperwhite to read them on.

The rafflecopter and link list to other blogs is at the end of this post. Have fun. Less tricks. More treats! 🙂

 

FarSeenBlurb:

Taking a break from finding the cure for a magic sickness killing witches, Evangeline (Evie) Parker picks up Drew for a night of hot sex. One night is not enough, however. In strange twist of fate, Trent, Drew’s partner also comes into Evie’s life. One night is definitely not enough when two becomes three. As they come together, they realize while separately they are good, together they are great.

All Hallows Eve is the time when the cure to the magic sickness is predicted to make itself known. Combining magic and sex on that special night cures more than the magic sickness afflicting the witch community, it also cures three lonely hearts.

FARSEEN is hot and sweet in a small tasty bite. It is filled with sex magic, lit up chakras and hearts slowly opening up to each other.

** Snippets can be found here, here, here and here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FarSeen Banner

A Sunday Observation

Chat

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In addition to the status post allowed by this theme, there is also a chat post. Trying that one out today.

So this week was a little hinky. Instead of random thoughts on Friday, I did a snippet. I normally do snippets on Saturday. But yesterday, I didn’t post anything to let the snippet post from Friday be at the top. I guess I could’ve pinned the post, but what fun would that be? So I did the snippet on Friday instead of Saturday because my book, FarSeen, generally released on Friday. So the snippet was in honor of that. It was a good idea. But then I was left with nothing for Saturday.

Today, instead of doing a book review of a sort, I am doing a little chat update. To let you know why I’m doing what I’m doing. lol

I have a dude that randomly walks around town and plays the tuba. It rocks. So, here I am sitting and writing, when I hear his tuba. It breaks up the monotony of my day. And I see him all over town. He walks everywhere carrying this big ass tuba and playing it for all the world to hear. I smile every time I see him or hear him. He brings a little bit of joy into my life. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t for other people as well. I also sure it brings no small amount of pleasure into his life. We all win. But mostly I do because I live in the town with the dude who plays the tuba as he walks around in random patterns. Yup, I win.

That is all.

FarSeen Release Day & Snippet

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Today is the day that FarSeen releases at all venues. It is part 1 of a 2 part prequel leading into my OtherKind series. March/April 2014 is looking like when Part 2, Night Blind, will release.

FarSeenFarSeen had been available through TEB’s website for pre-release download. But today is the general release date. I will update buy links as I get them. Sometimes they are slow rolling in. ** Link to Amazon **

In a few days, I’ll be doing a Halloween-y Blog Hop. I’m giving away a copy of FarSeen to a lucky commenter. So stay tuned if you want to try and win a copy. Although, it’d be cool if you bought a copy and tried to win a copy. It’s like a two-fer. Who doesn’t like a two-fer? Everyone likes a two-fer. So try it, you’ll like it.

This will be my fourth and final snippet in the FarSeen snippet saga. Too much more and the whole story will be available snippet by snippet. lol Anyway, I’m sticking in the blurb again. The snippet follows the blurb. There are a few other snippets running around my blog. Both of today’s release and my other releases. You can either hit snippet in the category box or something to pull them all up. It’s small bite sized pieces of goodness.

 

Blurb:

Taking a break from finding the cure for a magic sickness killing witches, Evangeline (Evie) Parker picks up Drew for a night of hot sex. One night is not enough, however. In strange twist of fate, Trent, Drew’s partner also comes into Evie’s life. One night is definitely not enough when two becomes three. As they come together, they realize while separately they are good, together they are great.

All Hallows Eve is the time when the cure to the magic sickness is predicted to make itself known. Combining magic and sex on that special night cures more than the magic sickness afflicting the witch community, it also cures three lonely hearts.

FARSEEN is hot and sweet in a small tasty bite. It is filled with sex magic, lit up chakras and hearts slowly opening up to each other.

Snippet:

“You don’t think it’s just because you are hunting too much? Using too much magic or too often?”

“No, it’s more than that. I’ve drained my magic before. This feels off. I can’t quite describe it. Like a rapid discharge of magic instead of a slow trickle of loss. I’ve been doing my job long enough to be able to accurately estimate my capabilities and the level at which I perform. It’s off enough for me to not only notice, but it’s kinda scaring me as well. I want to sleep all the time,” Ellie said softly. “So I’m not just drained, I’m past drained. Which has never happened to me before I got this sickness. Never. Not once.”

This more than anything alarmed Evie. Ellie, for all her carefree attitude in other aspects of her life, was deadly serious about her work. Being the arm of justice for the goddess didn’t leave much room for joking. It didn’t leave much room for anything other than total dedication.

Evie fought down her alarm. Or at least, tried to prevent it from showing. If Ellie could put on a brave face, continue to do her work, it was the least Evie could do not to add to that burden by showing how upset she was.

“All right, sis, I need to get going as well. Grandma wants me to stop by before she brings in All Hallows Eve tonight,” Ellie told her.

“It was good to see you, Ellie. I’ll give you a ring tomorrow or the next day, ’kay?” Evie kissed her sister on the cheek and watched her leave.

She sighed. She needed to find a cure and save her sister.

 

 

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New Purchase

Status

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Seriously posting a status update to talk about hitting the button for a new Kindle Paperwhite 3G… y’all. OMG. I am so excited. Seriously. I only have one reading device and it is really, really old. Like getting to the point where it keeps shutting down and rebooting old. Like I might not have a reading device soon old. So I ordered the new device. I could’ve gotten the non- 3G one now. But, I dig on the 3G. A LOT. It makes downloading books way easier to have both wifi and 3G capabilities. And it’s for life so the extra money is well worth it. The one I have now is 3G as well and it ROCKS. Wanted the same for the new one.

So I broke down and looked at the available options. And because I already have a Kindle, I’m getting another one. It’s just the way I roll, yo.

This seems to be the week for me to get electronic devices. I also picked up a small 7 inch tablet. It’s yellow and cute and I like it. I need more time to study it. But it seems cool for now.

Smutty Sunday 10/13/13

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Changing it up a little bit again. Instead of genres or specific books, I thought I ‘d do an author recommend and mini spotlight. Not on the authors, but on their books. The more I thought about doing reviews today, the more these two names kept popping up in my mind. Elizabeth Hunter and Thea Harrison.

They write about similar things. Kinda. But their writing styles are vastly different. I love them both. For each, I like a particular series of books and tolerate the others in the authors stables. But even for the books that aren’t my favs, they rock. Really good writing, decent editing and tight storylines. Both authors have things to share that are really good things. Their worlds are worlds I like and want to be a part of.

Elizabeth Hunter and her Elemental series of books are a bundle of goodness just wrapped in a book looking package. I love vampire stories. I love original stories. I lurve original vampire stories. LURVE. Can I say <3 enough times? I don’t think so. Her vampire lore is stunning.

She has other books, a shifter series which is slowly coming forth, and a contemporary with an unusual twist. Nothing you read that she wrote will disappoint you. It’s just that some things delight slightly more than others. If I had to choose, I be all about the Elemental series. But  no place is the wrong place with her books.

Thea Harrison’s Elder Races books are so lush, so epic, I can’t gush enough. Again, awesome world building. Just awesome. the depth of some of these characters is amazing. And my favorites are the first book and the one about the Vampire Queen. LOVE those two the mostest. The others were good as well. But the interesting storyline for the first book really grabbed my attention. And the way paradoxes was handled in the vampire queens books was fabulous.

Thea started another series as well. It was interesting. But nothing close to the caliber I’ve found in the Elder Races series. But then again, it could just be a young serious and the superlayers won’t show up until later.

Mixed Bag w/a Snippet

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I’m feeling all free form today. I’ve got a lot of shit to do. Although I am ever grateful that I’ve gotten a lot of shit done. I seem to write and be productive in cycles. Whatever. i was going to do my usual snippet today seeing as it’s Saturday. But I thought I do a few different things today. So in no particular order…

1. Scrivener is working out well so far. I’ve got no cause for complaints. I think the more I get into it, the more I’ll like it.

2. Began writing the first full length book in Steel and Stilettos. It’s been kinda cool working on two different interweaving storylines. It should be fun. And it looks like I will meet my end of the year deadline for getting my writing goals finished.

3. Edits. The bane of my existence. I would rather poke my own eye out than edit. Some people are naturally handy at this skill. I am not one of them. It is excruciatingly painful for me. So of course, I am currently editing Hat Trick and still awaiting edits on Driven and Homecoming. I do not like the current edit to writing ratio. 3-1 the other way would be okay, but this way… not so much.

4. Here is a small snippet from something I am currently working on. Don’t tell anybody. Shh… keep it between us.

They both looked up, their faces only separated by inches. She couldn’t resist. Not anymore. She closed the distance between them slowly. Giving him time to move if this wasn’t what he wanted.

He didn’t move.

She licked his lower lip then took it between her teeth, gently sucking it into her mouth. He tasted divine. She could feel his breath as he exhaled softly. She licked along the seam of his mouth, asking to be allowed entrance. He opened slightly.

She could have moved her tongue in fast and hard. It was what she wanted to do. She was greedy for a more complete taste of him. But she held herself back and went gently, moving slowly in. Sipping when she wanted to gulp.

 

5. I got a new chest of drawers. And now I must rearrange my clothes. It’s a task. I’ve been assigned it. There isn’t any escape.

6. Two more blog hops planned before the end of the year. One for Halloween to support my Wanton Witches Collection story, FarSeen. The other to bump up Home Run as well as hype the next book in that series, Hat Trick.

7. Did I mention, TEB contracted Night Blind? It’s being released next year. There is a lot of excitement going on over there. It should be a fun ride. We’ll see. They are looking at two more books in that universe. Got my fingers crossed.

8. Geez, I didn’t know I had so much crap all jumbled together to make up a writing life. Who knew? If I remember more crap, I will edit it in.

 

Random Thoughts Part 9

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Why haven’t they buried all the electrical wires yet? Why are there still wires above ground where wind, trees and a variety of other dangerous conditions exist to break said wires? I don’t understand this. Doesn’t the cost of maintenance above ground outstrip the cost of putting the wires underground? Not to mention it looks better. A lot better.

Can there be two weeks of weather that doesn’t require that either the air conditioner or the heater be on? Can we do that say like twice  a year? When summer becomes fall and winter becomes spring. Or something like that. So that I could get a break on my electric bills. Seriously. Be temperate. So I can be off the juice for a few weeks. It would be greatly appreciated.

When I start writing a book it goes slow. Then I get into it and it goes fast. Then at some point, I get sick of the story, want to writ the next one and can’t wait for the story to end. So the ending comes slow as molasses as well. I think you write at mixed variable speeds due to what you are writing as well as you excitement level about writing it. It’s being able to get in 2000 word days even when you aren’t feeling the first word that distinguishes the wanna bes to the already theres.

It never fails that when you need to hear something. Like it is crucial for the continued survival of the human species, a vehicle with a loud ass siren will go by and make whatever it was you were listening to not be heard at all. Not even a whisper. And they don’t just go by in ones .No, they go by in multiples. So it’ll be a while before you can hear what you needed to hear to save the Western Civilization. Some days it just goes like that.

That is all.