Tag Archives: fantasy

FarSeen Snippet 3

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In less than two weeks, my novella, FarSeen, will be released from Total-E-Bound. On October 18, 2013 to be exact. And to be more specific, FarSeen is available fFarSeenor pre-release download right now from the TEB site. It’s the general release that isn’t until 10/18/13.

FarSeen is part of TEB’s Wanton Witches collection. Which coincides perfectly with the Halloween holiday. Because FarSeen has three witches and it involves All Hallows Eve. Magic and menage, a fabulous combination. So without further adieu, here is the blurb followed by an excerpt. The third of my promised four. The fourth snippet will be posted on the day the book is generally released. Until then, enjoy excerpt the third. 😀

 

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.

 

Excerpt:

Before she could answer, her grandmother returned with a large man. Even though she had left Drew’s bed that morning, this man took her breath away.

He was large. Not tall but stocky, built. Big. He had light brown hair, threaded with golden highlights, but it was the stormy grey-green eyes that really captured her attention. He was almost too rugged-looking to be considered classically good-looking, but his eyes turned him from nondescript to stunning.

“Evie, honey, this is Trent,” her grandmother introduced the large man. “He’s going to help you find the source of the sickness.”

“Ummm, okay, Grandmother.” Evie was distracted again. At this rate, she was never going to figure out the cure. Between Sara’s interest in her hook-up last night and her grandmother bringing hot guys to her stillroom, Evie was going to be off track for days.

“He owns a computer security company but he’s agreed to do some consulting work for the coven,” her grandmother offered.

Evie’s brain finally caught up to the conversation with her grandmother. “Umm, I already have some help, Grandma.”

“Not as good as Trent, child,” her grandmother informed her primly.

“Oh, well.” She looked at Trent and shrugged her shoulders. “Umm, hi. I’m Evie.” She held out her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Evie,” he told her as he took her hand.

Oh snap. Her body shivered when he took her hand. The last guy she had had this reaction to was Drew and she had got all naked and sweaty with him.

 

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FarSeen Snippet 2

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This is the second of four snippets that I will post. Hope you enjoy. 😉

**Preorder: 6th September 2013 (the book becomes available to preorder through the TEB website)
**Prerelease: 20th September 2013 (the book becomes available to buy through the TEB website)
**General Release: 18th October 2013 (the book becomes available through all outlets)

FarSeen

Here’s the 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:

When she woke up, it was to him staring at her. He smiled at her when she opened her eyes. “Morning, Evie.”

“Morning, Drew,” she yawned at him. “Need coffee.”

She was so not a morning person. And she needed caffeine like a heroin addict needed their fix in the mornings.

Drew reached over and picked up the phone on the nightstand. She heard him tell the person on the other end that they needed coffee and two American breakfasts ASAP. Then she felt him push some magic through the line. No doubt their room service would be showing up pretty quickly, from the push she felt.

“You are my god,” she told him when he hung up. “I need caffeine and food, in that order.”

Not real sure about the whole morning-after protocol, she was relieved to sense that he wasn’t going to just shove her out of the door. Not that she had any illusions that they had a relationship or something after last night, but she still didn’t want to feel all weird and what not. Plus, maybe she could get a little morning action before she took off to her stillroom.

He was drifting his fingers lazily over her skin as she burrowed closer to his body heat. They had just started fooling around with more serious intent when she heard the knock on the door. Damn that push he’d sent. Just a little longer and she would have had some morning joy.

 

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OtherKind Series

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I wrote about how my brain thinks in series, mostly, and not standalone books a few days back. It does. Apparently, that is how my brain is wired. As a result, I have a Paranormal Romance series- OtherKind, with witches, shifters, fae and vampires and sundry of other paranormal creatures. It’s a world shared by humans. It is an interesting world. A world where monsters can be anyone and heroes tested in life or death situations. And where love relationships rarely, if ever, happen with just two people.

Total-E-Bound is publishing two novellas that make up the prequel to the issues that the protagonists will face in the books that follow. Yes, a two book prequel. I know most people have one book as the prequel. But that can’t be helped. My prequel needs two novellas to start the story arc. So that’s what there is. So there. The first novella is called FarSeen and it is being released as part of the Wanton Witches line. The second, Night Blind,  just got a contract offer. I haven’t got a release date yet. But I am hoping it will be sometime in December. My fingers are crossed.

The next two books in the series starts the main show. One is a novella and the other is a novel. They are stories about how the different Others come out to the humans, who will be in control of the world and the age-old battle between good and evil. By the time the story arc wraps up, the world as the people in my books know it is changed as are the people themselves. Some parts of the world are better, others not so much. There is love and betrayal. Lust and denial. Friends who become enemies and enemies who become allies.

A tall order in the grand scheme of things. Even with multiple books, these subjects will never get fully exhausted. Universal questions will never get a definitive answer. But the OtherKind series will showcase humor, strength and being true to oneself in the face of change- drastic, monumental, world-shifting change. And I hope you come to love the characters as much as I love them. And get lost in the world like I have. Welcome to my mind- told and seen, in the form of a series.

Series vs. Standalone Books

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I’m not sure how other writers write. But it seems as more time passes and more stories flit through my brain, one thing has become clear. I am unable to write standalone novels. I got nothing against standalone books. Nothing at all. But my mind seems to work in series. Either with the same character through multiple book/storylines or with the same interwoven characters but focusing on distinct characters within a storyline.

 

I’ve tried to write differently. There are lots of stories that I think will be a standalone, but by the end, I am spinning off other tangential stories. Apparently, this is just the way my brain works. Some series are just two books that pop in my brain. Other stories have an entire universe and a story arch that spans several novels. A few of those expanded storylines even have side novellas attached.

 

Take my newest soon to be released book FarSeen. Originally, I slated two novellas to the story. But soon, I realized that those two stories are the prequel to two distinct story arcs. One arc has a 3-4 novellas and about 4 novels in it. The second story arch takes a different turn with 3 novels and no novellas. But they are from the same universe and traverse the story arc at different points in the time line. And while I am pleased as all get out the I don’t see dead people, I gotta say having so many imaginary friends talking to me from a made-up universe can be a little crazy making. Or at least make people who see me talking to myself seem like I am cra-cra. I want to explain, sometimes, that I am talking to my characters or that they are talking to me. But then I realize that maybe, just maybe, admitting that would make me even crazier in their eyes. Regardless, I think all writers walk around talking to imaginary people who only exist in their mind until they are revealed in ink. Imaginary friends are the glue that unites authors. Who knew?

 

Several of my other stories also are laid out in series format. Like a motion picture running in my head, I can literally SEE them. Just once, I want to write a story that doesn’t have one before it or after it. But alas, that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me at the moment. My only wish is that my universes are portrayed clearly, compellingly and with enough depth that my readers also end up talking to my characters. Now THAT would be a hoot. And a half.

Snippet Saturday- FarSeen 1

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This will be the first of four or so FarSeen snippets that I will post until the official unofficial release date(s).

**Preorder: 6th September 2013 (the book becomes available to preorder through the TEB website)
**Prerelease: 20th September 2013 (the book becomes available to buy through the TEB website)
**General Release: 18th October 2013 (the book becomes available through all outlets)

FarSeen

Here’s the 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.

 

In the beginning…

 

Chapter One

 

 

 

Tonight was the night. She was going to get laid—have a bona fide one-night stand. Christ, it had been so long since another person had given her an orgasm. She needed one. She just needed, period.

Hot, slightly slutty dress. Check.

Killer fuck-me pumps. Check.

Blood-red lipstick. Check.

Several condoms. Check and double check.

With a last glance at her reflection in the mirror, she walked out of the door on a mission. A mission to have hot, sweaty, anonymous sex. It was on.

She glanced around the ballroom, taking in the sights and smells of people who were drinking too much, talking too loud and just trying too hard. Maybe a business cocktail function wasn’t the best place to pick up a random guy. She smirked at herself. Oh well, if she did some networking then the night wouldn’t be a total bust. So her perusal of the room went from looking for Mr Goodbar to whether she knew someone to start off the evening’s round of introductions and small talk ad nauseam.

She would need a drink for this. Disappointment always needed a cocktail…or two. Smiling, she walked to the cash bar and ordered another vodka tonic.

As she turned from the bar, her elbow struck a solid mass to her right.

“Oops. Sorry,” she murmured as her glance went from her drink to the face of the man she had just elbowed in the side.

Holy shit. He was gorgeous. Tall, blond and beautiful. Not pretty-boy beautiful, but the kind of beautiful that made a man stand out in a crowd. He had laugh lines around his mouth, kind eyes and hair that looked as if he’d run his fingers through it a time or two already. So it was the kind of beautiful that wasn’t polished, but was authentic. In a sea of plastic smiles and fake personalities, he stood out.

July Blog Chain

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Doing AW‘s July Blog Chain. I hadn’t planned to do this month’s cause I am seriously busy, busy, busy. I just left editing hell for revision hell and am on a crash course for more writing, editing and revisions. But I couldn’t resist the prompt.

This month’s prompt:
Dog Days of Summer

In other words, the hottest and most sultry part of summer. Etymology lesson here. As always, can be prose, poetry, play, fiction, nonfiction.

Instructions:
Simply post your blog’s URL in this thread to join. I’ll let you know in this thread when it’s your turn. Once your turn comes up, you have two days to complete a blog post using the prompt. When you are finished, please add a link to your post on the thread.

Each post should be less than 1000 words if possible.

Dog Days

“Did you find them?”

“No, my Lord. They’ve hidden themselves well,” replied the soldier. His mouth was in a tight line. His eyes showing the fatigue his body did not.

“Search every house in the quarter. I want my slave back. And I want him back too,” Lord Andier’s voice sounded calm. His eyes were fevered, however.

The soldier kept his thoughts to himself. Wisely. The heat was making everyone crazy. Although, the soldier knew it wasn’t just the heat making Andier crazy. Andier had been crazy long before the sweltering summer heat. Trying to find Dideron and the stolen slave, Isla, was trying to find a needle in a haystack. There were too many people. Too many poor. Dideron and Isla could be hiding anywhere.

“If you can’t find them by tomorrow night, there will be hell to pay,” Lord Andier’s voice was still flat, holding no emotion. “Do I make myself clear, Major Ascanto?”

“Perfectly, my Lord. It shall be done,” Ascanto replied.

“Excellent. Find Isla. Bring her to me bound and naked. Bring them both to me bound and naked. Then raze the entire city,” Andier spoke.  Ascanto wasn’t sure he heard correctly.

“My Lord?”

“Bring that bitch to me and the mongrel she’s fucking, then kill everyone on this planet,” Andier’s voice was razor sharp.

Ascanto kept the horror off his face, but it was a near thing.

“Lord, there are a little over a million people just in this settlement,” Ascanto tried to reason with his Lord.

“Yes, and they hid my traitorous Isla, no? And spawned Dideron from their loins,” Andier’s eyes lost their feverishness as he spoke. “I loved her. I gave her everything. She betrayed me. With a street rat. Kill them all. They are mine. This planet is mine. The city is mine. They live by my sufferance. And now they will die by my sufferance as well.”

Ascanto knew better than to answer. Not this time. Andier had just dropped verbal landmines. But Ascanto couldn’t hide his thoughts from himself. It hadn’t taken long for Ascanto to realize Andier was insane. Completely and clinically insane. Andier was also too powerful for any to speak of his insanity.

The vision of the city burning along with its inhabitants made Ascanto’s stomach turn. He knew it then. He should have never accepted this post. He’s had reservations about it from the first. He knew the superstition about the Sirius sector. Had chalked it up to imagination and the need to blame the unseeable on the unknowable and hadn’t put credence in the warnings that something was wrong, seriously fucking wrong, here.

Now Ascanto knew it was true. All of it. It was also too late. He’d been caught in the madness. Caught by his arrogance.

“Shall I warn them, my Lord. At least tell them to evacuate?” Ascanto kept the horror from his voice, knowing it would fuel Andier’s anger to even greater heights.

Andier didn’t speak for long moments. “Yes. Let them scurry to try and evade the destruction. Whoever remains will be sacrificed. Those left behind will be payment for those allowed to escape.”

“It shall be done, my Lord,” Ascanto replied as if Andier had made the suggestion. It was safer for all of them if Andier thought it was so.

Ascanto turned and walked to the door.

“Major,” Andier called. “Don’t fail me. Your men will pay for your failure. While you watch.”

Ascanto was glad his back was turned and he was facing away from Andier. He wasn’t sure he could kept the revulsion from his face. This Sirius sector assignment had been a clusterfuck from the first. It had just gone past clusterfuckiness all the way to fucked up beyond all belief.

“It will be as you wish, my Lord.”

Ascanto stepped out of the Lord’s chambers and into the scorching summer heat. It was so hot, it felt as if the flesh was melting straight off his bones. His men should be resting, sleeping off the heat. Instead, they were going to go searching for a missing slave and her lover. House to house.

Sacrifice. Sirius. The height of summer. The words kept repeating in Ascanto’s mind. Over and over again. Until Ascanto threw back his head and laughed. It wasn’t a laugh of amusement. Not at all.

“Perfect. History is come alive. Repeating after nearly a millennia,” Ascanto spoke to himself. He entertained the thought that he was perhaps going slowly mad himself. Cracked. Like Andier. It wasn’t the first time he entertained the thought that it was the sector driving them crazy. Something in the air, or not in the air.

Sacrifice. Sirius. Height of summer.

It was a loop none of them could avoid.

Sacrifice. Sirius. Height of summer.

He should have never taken this assignment. He should have begged for the spot in the Orion sector. On his knees if he had to. He should have pleaded for a transfer when he realized the extent of the rot in the Sirius sector. He didn’t. And now he would pay. His men would pay. They would all pay.

Sacrifice. Sirius. Height of summer.

Madness had come for them all. All because of a crazed Lord, and a love affair. Forbidden love affair, true. It was the insane Lord that turned the love affair from a romance to a tragedy. That turned the sheltering of lovers into a mass treason. That was going to turn this city from a bustling market into a slaughterhouse. And make everyone on the planet a sacrifice.

Ascanto gave orders to his men. His men were too well trained to show any emotion. They moved to carry out his orders.

Sacrifice. Sirius. Summer.

Ascanto wondered if other soldiers in other times listened as those very same words reverberated within their minds. He should have never accepted this assignment. His realization came too late, however.

Sacrifice. Sirius. Summer.

Three words. Embedded forever in his brain. He wouldn’t survive. He knew it. He accepted the inevitable. Then he moved to follow his men. Searching each house. Until death came for them all.

Participants and posts:
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to post)
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com (link to post)
articshark – http://www.drslaten.com/blog (link to post) <———— you are here
Sunwords – http://susannedoering.wordpress.com (link to post)
Diem_Allen – http://mindovermistakes.blogspot.com (link to post)
U2Girl – http://ancatdubh.org (link to post)
robynmackenzie – http://www.iwanttobeawesomewhenigrowup.com (link to post)
Lady Cat – http://radomwriterlythoughts.blogspot.ca (link to post)
MsLaylaCakes – http://www.taraquan.com (link to post)
pyrosama – http://matrix-hole.blogspot.com (link to post)
Angyl78 – http://jelyzabeth.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
SuzanneSeese – http://www.viewofsue.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
Diana_Rajchel – http://blog.dianarajchel.com/ (link to post)
HistorySleuth – http://historysleuth.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
AshleyEpidemic – http://www.soipondered.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
SRHowen – http://srhowen1.blogspot.com (link to post)

June Blog Chain

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Doing AW‘s June Blog Chain again. Might the last for a bit. I got a lot on my plate right now.

This month’s prompt:
Bugs

Yep. Bugs. Simple and easy. Prose, poetry, play. Fiction, nonfiction. It’s all good, all bugs.

Instructions:
Simply post your blog’s URL in this thread to join. I’ll let you know in this thread when it’s your turn. Once your turn comes up, you have two days to complete a blog post using the prompt. When you are finished, please add a link to your post on the thread.

Each post should be less than 1000 words if possible.

Bugs

“Don’t let them escape,” she cried.

“I’m tryin’ not to,” he answered.

“Oh my god. Get them.” She was horrified.

Silas wasn’t a very forgiving overseer. Not even a drop of compassion flowed through his veins. She and Orrin would be written up and their pay docked. The last thing she could afford was to have her pay docked.

“Hurry and get ‘em back into their containment units, Chessie,” Orrin’s tone was forceful while his voice was low. “Mebbe they won’t notice. Or mebbe we can tell ‘um they died in the unit.”

“That won’t work Orrin. They added the unit weight monitors yesterday. The units just got calibrated,” her voice held the resignation she felt. “It’s useless. I’ll file the report.”

“Shit.”

It wasn’t a minute after she hit send on the report, the communicator on the console started beeping. She didn’t want to hit the green button, but she did.

“Ms. de Marco?” asked Silas.

“Yes, this is she,” she answered, albeit reluctantly.

“I see from the report, your team lost a little under a gross of cockroaches,” he said. His voice held neither disapproval or approval.

“Yes sir. That’s correct,” she said. “It was my fault, sir. Mr. Abernathy bears no fault.”

“I noted that on the report as well,” he stated.

“It’s the truth,” she said emphatically. “Although Orrin helped me when I tried to get them back. They ran, sir. We couldn’t catch them.”

“The loss of the gross will cost the company just under $10,000 dollars, Ms. de Marco. How do you propose to rectify this situation?” Silas asked her.

“Well, I’ve given it some thought, sir. I would be willing to be docked half pay and work over time for the remaining portion,” she suggested.

“Acceptable,” Silas told her. Again, no inflection in his voice to indicate emotions running one way or another. “Computer please note the date and time of the agreement.”

“Agreement noted and entered,” a chipper female voice acknowledged.

“Will that be all sir?” she asked miserably.

“Yes. Good day,” Silas sign off. The communicator beeping one long beep to indicate the call was over.

“Crap,” she cursed.

“Doan worry, Chessie. I kin share my rations. I know you need ‘em,” Orrin offered.

“This can’t go on Orrin. We need to figure out a way to get the overflow when we open the units,” she said.

“How kin we do that if the company hasn’t?” Orrin asked.

“The company doesn’t care Orrin,” she said. “They dock the workers pay if any of those bugs get out. So they don’t have a profit loss. No profit loss equals no motive to fix the situation.”

“I guess that’s true,” Orrin agreed.

“Well we might as well eat lunch while we think about it,” she told him.

“Alright,” he agreed readily.

Orrin hit a series of buttons. Two bowls appeared with grayish extruded paste in them. He handed one to her and kept the other for himself.

“Hot sauce?” he offered her the bottle.

She took it. While the paste was nutritious, it tasted bad.

“Thanks. I can’t stand the taste plain,” she told him. “Since I started working here. Seeing how they live, I have to put something on it.”

“I just like the hot sauce,” Orrin grinned at her. “Even if the paste didn’t taste like shit, I’d put some on there.”

She didn’t say anything in response. There wasn’t really anything to say. So they finished their meal in silence. Each lost in their own worlds. She was pretty sure they were two vastly different worlds, but still, Orrin had his moments.

He wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but he was funny and nice. He was real nice. He’d helped her out on more than one occasion.

“Do you think we’ll ever get anything else to eat?” she wondered out loud. “I read about all the food that didn’t survive and I can’t imagine what they’d taste like.”

“I dunno, Chessie. Mebbe someday, the ground will grow things again. Or they’ll find somethin’ sides us and the bugs survived,” he said. “Until then, at least we kin eat all we want. Working with the food gots some benefits.”

“Yeah, at least my kid won’t starve,” she said sadly. “He just won’t have much besides food for a while.”

“Naw, girl. I told you I’d help out. And I will,” he said good naturedly.

“I can’t let you do that Orrin. You’ve been helping me out too much,” she said. “Who knew taking care of the food was so difficult?”

“They’re just particular. They don’t want ‘em to get out in case some other folks start to breed ‘em too. Then if everybody could grow ‘em and breed ‘em, the company’s profits would go down,” he said in a surprising moment of insight.

“Yeah. That makes sense,” she said. “It was just easier when I work part time in the office before Eric died, you know?”

“Yeah. I do,” he patted her shoulder. “Welp, it’s time to water the little buggers. Got to keep ‘em plump so they weigh more for sale.”

“Better than feeding them,” she shivered. She hated feeding them. Hated dealing with the corpses. The cyclical nature of the how they bugs ate human corpses, getting fat and then the bugs were ground into paste to feed living humans. Well, it just kind of freaked her out. If she’d never worked in this department, she wouldn’t have it in her face. She could have pretended. But when you’re the one feeding the damn things, it was real hard to pretend.

“Now ain’t that the truth.”

“You’re right. Let’s get back to work,” she sighed. “But one of these days, I am going to figure out how to get them from one unit to another without losing any of them.”

“That’d be a good thing, Chessie. Help us both out,” Orrin grinned at her.

Micro-farming cockroaches was essential now they were the only source of protein left on Earth. Well other than humans. But no one wanted to go there. At least not yet.

Participants and posts:
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to post)
Diem_Allen – http://mindovermistakes.blogspot.com (link to post)
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com (link to post)
articshark – http://www.drslaten.com/blog (link to post) <————————–me
Lady Cat – http://randomwriterlythoughts.blogspot.ca (link to post)
U2Girl – http://ancatdubh.org (link to post)
MsLaylaCakes – http://www.taraquan.com/ (link to post)
SuzanneSeese – http://www.viewofsue.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
robynmackenzie – http://iwanttobeawesomewhenigrowup.com/ (link to post)
Sunwords – http://susannedoering.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
Angyl78 – http://jelyzabeth.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
susanielson – http://somesemblancethereof.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
HistorySleuth – http://historysleuth.blogspot.com (link to post)
SRHowen – http://srhowen1.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
Lyra Jean – http://beyondtourism.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
xcomplex – http://arielemerald.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
milkweed – http://www.thistlequill.blogspot.com/ (link to post)

 

Men Should Read Erotic Romance

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Normally I post random thoughts on Friday. But this Friday, my random though deserved a separate post. Men should read Erotica and Erotic Romance. They should do this for a number of reasons. Here’s a perfect illustration why.

*I used to be in a book club. It was a chick lit book club. But we had a dude in it. And he’s the one that turned me on to erotic romances. He told me he read them because his wife appreciated it.*

So guys, read erotic romances. Your women will appreciate it. Really they will.

First, read it because it’ll help you get into the mind of a woman. Now I’m not telling you to use lines from the things you read. But if your at a loss for what a woman wants in a particular situation, use the readings as guide posts. If your feeling at a loss because your brain is from Mars and her brain is from Venus, women writing men characters can give you a glimpse into the wants of how women might want you to respond. This isn’t rocket science dudes. And even if you don’t think any real life dudes would behave the way males behave in romances, still it’s like an outline for how she wants you to behave. Get as close as you can while still being authentic.

Second, read and reread the sex scenes. Seriously. Reading explicit erotic romance can make you a better lover. Trust me on this, you want to be a better lover. After many martinis and lots of heart-to-heart girl talks, LOTS of men need to do better. If you don’t think this is about you, it is. Your girl just won’t tell you. I will. Read some frickin’ books. Learn some new techniques. Figure this shit out cause YOU really need to. Really. I can’t stress this enough. Can’t. Stress. This. ENOUGH. This post is about you. Seriously.

If you’ve ever wondered what women want or the woman you are with can’t verbalize what she wants, read some frickin’ books and try out a variety of the things being written in those books. It’s a pretty sure bet, at some point, you are going to hit upon what your woman wants. If you’ve gotten into a rut or you don’t think your current technique is all that, don’t read dude publications to fix things. You want to read women’s writings, thought and wants. I mean it is women you are sleeping with. Who better to give you pointers on how to be a better lover than women? Ummm, no one.

Third, even if you’re not in a rut or your woman thinks you sex it up fine, it’ll still expand your mind. You’ll get ideas. And they are kind of fun to read. It’s not called mommy porn (a term I loathe but fits here) for nothing. Even though most dudes are visual, there’s only so much shitty porn on TV you can watch before you’ve seen just about everything. Reading erotica and erotic romance will help broaden your horizons and you can visualize as you read. It totally engages your imagination. See it’s a new avenue to get your stranger sex fix.

So there are a lot of reasons guys should read Erotic Romance and Erotica. For them and for their partners. Of the three reasons above, I find one of them to be the most relevant to me. But I hope I given some dudes some things to think about because all of the reasons are relevant to guys.

Smutty Sunday 4/28/13

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Hey, looky here… it’s Sunday. Smutty Sunday to be exact. It’s that time again. So, here’s my weekly reading recommendations.

The sci/fi recommendation for this week is an oldie but goodie. This series helped one of my friends get into science fiction and fantasy as a genre. Made her excited to read that “weird” stuff. One of my other friends, a guy, scoffed at this series and the Eddings  series I started her on. He wanted her to jump right into Piers Anthony or something. You know, “real” science fiction. I told him that she would get hooked on this and then he could move her into the other stuff. You can’t just start someone on serious sci-fi. So I guess Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince Trilogy and it’s follow up series Dragon Star series is like one of the gateway drugs. Cause we did get her hooked and she did move to more serious sci fi and fantasy. But still, this series will always have a special place in my heart.

Cynthia Eden’s Fallen series ROCKS! I love her books. All of them. Usually when I read an author, there is a book or two that I just can’t stand or don’t think is as good as the others. Not so with Ms. Eden’s books. And her latest series in her ‘verse, the Fallen, about fallen angels is all kinds of deliciousness. Seriously. Hot angel dudes, crazy supernaturals, fabulous sex and action that just doesn’t quit. A girl really doesn’t need much more, yeah? I can’t wait for the next in this series to be released this summer. Can’t. Wait.

Kate Pearce House of Pleasure series with Simple titles are historically hot. I started reading these books a while ago. They just kept getting better and better and hotter and hotter. When  I read historicals, I am not really used to fabulous sex in them. Not many writers go there. Sure, some of them put in a little more than mainstream sex scenes but really Georgian and Regency period books are lean on the smex. Not these. They are HEAVY on the smex. And not just the mainstream kind, but the kinky, dirty, naughty kinds. Now can you see why I like them? But it’s not just that. In addition to fab sex, they have a story. A good story. They are yum!

Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner is my weekly non fiction rec. If you want to know little bits of everything and not a whole of of something, this book will help you. It explains the economics behind all sorts of random facts. Like why drug dealers still live with their moms. They talk about the hidden cost/benefits behind crazy random things. This book is funny, interesting and it will get you to think. Not a bad thing for any book. But for a nonfiction book that talks about economics, you know a topic that makes most people’s eyes glaze over, well that borders on miraculous, yeah?

Smutty Sunday 4/21/13

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Yeah, Yeah. I know. Today is the day that I help point you in the direction of smut to read. But before we do, here is a thought for the day. I heard a comedian say this… it’s only a joke if we both laugh. Think about that. How many times has someone said something hurtful, racists, criminal, etc. and played it off as only being a joke. If we both laugh, then yeah. If only the speaker is laughing then it is something other than a joke. Something that most people would only think would be okay told in a joking format. But underneath? Well, that dog don’t hunt, yeah?

So on to my normally scheduled program. Ilona Andrews and her Kate Daniels books are a series that I have read again and again. Seriously. They are that good. Urban Fantasy at its best. Not all Sci/Fi has to be high fantasy or deep space nine-ish. lol Urban Fantasy is part of that genre as well. A sub-set to be sure but nevertheless it is a pretty damn entertaining sub-set. And when it comes to my dollars, I like to be entertained. I like to read stories that seem fresh with strong characters. Ilona Andrews is a husband and wife team. They write kick ass books. I like the Kate Daniels ones the best but their Edge books rock just as well.

New Adult has been all the craze for a while. Everyone wants to be a New Adult Author, to rep a New Adult Author or to publish a New Adult author. I have waded through a lot of them. Most of the writing sucks. But there is a gem or two to be had. R.K Lilley’s Up in Air series is good as is Jodi Ellen Malpas’s This Man series. Both are trilogies so you get the characters for more than one book. One is set in the US, the other in the UK. I like books about British people. They say funny things. lol Some of the New Adult stuff seems to have a lot of conflicts and issues that don’t ring true. These two have decent explanations for why the characters are the way they are and a decent storyline that holds it all together.

For adult smut, I really like Lorelei James’ Rough Rider series. First, there is an assload of books in the series. Always a good thing. Then there are smokin’ hot cowboys in those assloads of books. Another good thing. Last but not least is the sex in them there books. A great thing. It’s an amalgamation of goodness all rolled into one. Most are M/F but one is MMF and then there are instances of menage that the characters engage in on an individual basis. See, something for everybody. lol

Now to my last recommendation for today. It’s an oldie but goodie. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I have read this book at least once a year since it was first introduced to me. I love this book. When I first read it, I identified with Scout. Then I got to know all that was good about Atticus. At some point, I pondered Boo. But it wasn’t until I really thought about the old lady kicking her opium habit that I got the full flavor of the book. All of those things make this a book that I read again and again. Because as I get older, Scout, Atticus and Boo are people I wish I knew but it the little old lady that I wish I were. I want to be her. Courage. Strength. Determination. All of that. To be FREE of addiction and to meet death unfettered. And to make that happen. 30 minutes at a time. Strong. Brave. Resolute. Any of us can do that in 30 minute bites. Yup, I want to be her when I grow up. I surely do.