Thursday 31 December 2015

Guest Blog - Erzabet Bishop and Holidays in Hell

For my last post of 2015, I'm turning my blog over to Erzabet Bishop, a new-to-me author whose books I discovered this year, and highly recommend! I know Christmas is done, but what the hell. Let's take a look at her holiday offering...





Title: Holidays in Hell (Demons in Darkness Series #1)
Publisher: Etopia Press
Pages: 64
Tags: bdsm, bondage, demons, dom, domination, erotic fantasy, erotic romance, erzabet bishop, holidays, incubus, kink, paranormal erotic romance, paranormal romance, redemption, sub, submission, succubus, wax play

Blurb:
This year Christmas just got a little hotter.
Deck the halls with all things kinky. Jonas is an incubus with an incurable lust for women, gingerbread, and holiday lights. He needs one more soul to meet his quota. Amid the baubles and frivolity of the Winter Carnival, he meets Holly Pendleton—a woman with emerald green eyes and a body built for sin—and marks her as the final soul to end his contract. But now Jonas faces a heart-wrenching decision: take what he needs to feed his hunger, or sacrifice himself for the woman who has lit his own demonic soul on fire. Tied up with red ribbons, Holly just might be Jonas's deepest Christmas wish and the one woman who could set him free.
Holly Pendleton is still recovering from the death of her husband and Dom. The holidays are especially lonely until a dark stranger walks in the door to Harlowe's Bookery and Christmas Shoppe. The man's enigmatic gaze holds her and ignites her body and her mind. When Holly accepts a job to decorate the sexy client's apartment, she unknowingly steps into an age-old battle between the forces of darkness. Jonas Corsair is a man who makes her blood run hot and her dreams even hotter. But will she survive his hold on her soul?

Buy Links:
Etopia Press: http://goo.gl/QxC433
All Romance: https://goo.gl/LmnoQL



Read on for an excerpt!


Saturday 26 December 2015

The Force Awakens, as understood by someone who hasn't seen it

Unlike everyone else on the planet right now, I haven't seen the new Star Wars film. I'm not especially opposed to it, and I'm not trying to be all "I hate this popular thing! Counter-culture!" It's just not something that really grabs me. I've also never seen the second two prequels, and haven't watched the original trilogy for...many, many years.

However, it is inescapable, unless I want to stay off the internet and avoid all human interaction for the foreseeable future, which...I really don't want to do. So I feel like I have a pretty solid grip on the film despite not having seen it. I figured, to break up the landslide of promo blogs I seem to have going on right now, I'd share my acquired knowledge with the rest of you. That way, if you also don't want to see The Force Awakens, you can still chat about it with your friends and seem hip.

So!

This is Finn:




He seems to spend a lot of the film being surprised, I guess? I would have thought his experiences defending inner city London from alien invasions in Attack the Block (which I have seen, yay!) would leave him better equipped for sci-fi. Haha, I'm confusing the actor's character in this film with a totally different character he played in another film! Hilarious.

 He appears to be a Storm Trooper, at least at first, but then he meets Poe:







Poe is a pilot, or at least someone who poses as one for recruitment posters for the Rebellion (which I remember being a big deal in the original trilogy, and I assume is still a thing, because if I remember correctly, at the end of the third film, the Empire was blown up and I'd imagine that left a hell of a power vacuum that was probably filled with endless in-fighting amongst the remaining bad guys, or at the very least, an ineffectual interim government).

Poe and Finn fall in love, I assume?


Or maybe they don't. The above picture could be interpreted in many ways, but they definitely look like they become close.

Anyway, after they hook up, they meet the new Star Wars robot. I don't know what it's called. I literally googled "New Star Wars robot" to find a picture. This is it:





I don't know how it moves. Does it roll or hover? If it rolls, what does the head do while the body is rolling? Is the head attached to the body? Did it kill and consume RD-D2? So many questions!

Anyway, they meet the robot and it (based on the sand) lives near this person:



This is Rey, who based on this picture, I'm assuming has just seen something awfully meaningful but upsetting off-screen. I'm also assuming she's a Skywalker, just because nobody else seems to be so far.


Now, I'm making a leap in logic here, but it looks like the robot blows something up, forcing Finn and Rey to runaway from...is that a cattle pen behind them? IDK, whatever. There's an explosion, everyone runs away. I guess it's also possible the bad guy did it, because he has to show up at some point. This is the bad guy (I think):


He actually looks pretty badass, like someone took all the coolest elements from Darth Vader and Darth Toad From X-Men Who's Actual Name Escapes Me Right Now, and combined them in a design guaranteed to make people think this would be a badass character. I don't know anything about him apart from his name (Kylo Ren), so I'm just going to assume he's also a Skywalker, because they seem to end up as Sith Lords a lot.

Well, just the once, I guess, but at least one third of all the Skywalkers I am aware of have become Sith Lords at any rate.

Now, the characters I do remember from the first three films...by which I mean the first chronologically released films, not the first chronologically occurring films...are Han Solo, Leia, Luke, and Chewbacca, so I'll assume they show up once the three youngsters have got together and met the bad guy at least once:


This is Han and Chewie, and it looks like Finn might actually steal Han's jacket at some point.

This is Leia, who to be frank looks 100% done with Star Wars:






I guess she should have thought twice before helping to bring down a dictatorial space regime, doubtless leaving dozens of planets rudderless and in anarchy without an over-reaching government to tell them what to do, amirite?

And this is Luke:


He's fallen on hard times, from what I can tell. But, again, taking out an entire government tends to lend to civil unrest, confusion, war, and dissension, you know? I'm not saying I'm pro-Empire, or anything, but hopefully the Rebellion had a strong, swift plan in place for replacing the Emperor after Darth Vader pushed him down a space hole and died, because I've read a lot about what happens when citizens destroy their leaders and there tends to be a lot of assassinations and bloody revolutions for the potential new leaders, and a lot of starvation and cannibalism down the line for everyone else.

Anyway, these seem to be the key players in The Force Awakens. From here my knowledge is fairly sketchy, but from what I've gathered from Tumblr, the main story seems to be Poe and Finn running from explosions while Rey watches from a distance and face-palms? It seems like Kylo Ren shows up at some point and I guess they light-sabre fight for Rey's hand, even though neither Poe or Finn are romantically interested in Rey, because they have each other. But there's almost definitely a light-sabre fight, right? Maybe Kylo Ren falls in love with Rey. Maybe they're both Skywalkers (which probably doesn't preclude him being in love with her), and they have to fight to the death to purify the bloodline or something. Maybe Rey doesn't have a love arc at all and just hangs around in the desert looking troubled but competent.

I haven't worked out how Han, Leia, Luke, and Chewie play into things, but maybe Han, Leia, and Chewie stage an intervention to get Luke off the streets and into people clothes.

I guess this is the first of a new trilogy, so probably nothing is resolved in this film. Maybe we end with Finn and Poe tentatively kissing. Maybe the neighbouring star systems realise this galaxy is a fucking mess of civil war, rebellion, and planet-sized explosions and they get embarrassed they didn't step in earlier and decide to come in and sort it all out (in way that doubtless makes everything worse, because enforced democracy is not democracy at all).

In any case, I assume the film ends on a cliffhanger, probably with everything looking great for our heroes, but with the audience knowing something bad is lurking in the near future, like maybe Kylo Ren found a spare death star? I assume they had more than one, right?

I hope this has been a helpful cheat sheet for non-Star Wars watchers. I'm sure somewhere down the line, I'll get round to seeing the film, and I'll be interested to see if my guesses are anything close to the truth, or if Tumblr and Twitter have lead me totally astray.








Wednesday 23 December 2015

Guest Blog - Lucy Felthouse and Cupid!

Who doesn't love a Christmas romance? And one with a reindeer shapeshifter, no less! Let's let Lucy Felthouse fill us in...


Out Now! Cupid by Lucy Felthouse (@cw1985 @evernightpub) #holiday #christmas #erotica #romance #shifter #paranormal #pnr

As a postman by day, and one of Santa’s reindeer on a single very special night, Cassius Cupid eats, sleeps, and breathes deliveries. He doesn’t mind, but sometimes wishes that someone would send him something more exciting than bills and junk mail. 

One cold January morning, Cassius gets his wish. A young woman arrives with a parcel. Turns out it’s for his housemate – but Cassius doesn’t care. All he’s interested in is Carina – the beautiful female courier.

Has Cupid finally met his match?


Read on for an excerpt!


Saturday 19 December 2015

Christmas Treats Blog Hop!



What are our favorite Christmas Treats? Books, of course! Stop by each blog for a chance to win fabulous books & gifties for the Holidays!

I've been reading a mixed bag lately - my favourite recent read was Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport, which is an account of the final days of the last Tsar of Russia. It's an amazing, but heavy-going book, and I'd love to get some more of Rappaport's books under the tree this year! At the other end of the scale, I've just started Libby Bishop's Ghosts of Kingston Cottage, which is a paranormal romance full of psychic investigators, ghosts, and skeptics, which is right up my street! I'm about halfway through and really enjoying it. I know there are two more books coming up in the series, so that would make another great Christmas present for me.

Giveaway!

Since it's the season of presents (and good will, obviously), I'm giving away two of my favourite things - a book and some perfume! First, an e-copy of my Christmassy werewolf story, COLD NIGHT MOON.


After a difficult year, Ayla Hammond wants to give her girlfriend Shannon a dream Christmas. A cosy, romantic cabin in the woods seems like the perfect way to put their troubles behind them and start the New Year right. And at first, everything is going according to Ayla's plan...Until night falls.
There's something in the woods. And it's after Shannon.
 
*An Editor's Pick*

And to go with that, a 10ml bottle of Wolf Moon from my Etsy shop, Common Brimstone.




Top notes of musk, blue tansy and dogwood make for a dusky floral opening that fades down into an earthy base of violet leaf, pine and cedar. A trickle of patchouli gives this scent a wild edge.

To be in with a chance of winning, just leave me a comment letting me know what your ideal Christmas gift would be!

And remember to visit the other blogs on the tour:

Thursday 10 December 2015

Guest Blog - Ella Grey and one sexy phoenix!

Full disclosure: I got to beta-read an early version of BURN and I loved it! I have a soft spot for phoenix tales, and I loved Ella's funny, feisty heroine, Jace. So obviously I'm extra happy to have Ella today to share a teaser from her latest release.




Thanks for having me on your blog today. It's been a long journey for Burn and I'm happy it found a home with Evernight. I hope you enjoy Demon and Jace as much as I enjoyed writing them. 

She wants him... 

Jace knows there are things other than human living on the mortal realm—vampires, shifters, the fey, and her own brand of witchery. She thought she’d seen it all. Until she meets Demon. He's a Phoenix, a creature so rare that some don’t believe they exist at all. 

He burns hot... 

With the tendency to burn the partners he takes to bed, it’s been a long time since he’s had a woman. The empathic witch in the bar knows how to handle his type of fire and he’s intrigued. He just needs one night to connect with someone, a chance to feel anything but the constant loneliness. He doesn't expect that one night to change everything, including his heart. 

But something is chasing Demon and it’s willing to go through Jace to get him.

Read on for an excerpt and buy links!

Sunday 6 December 2015

THE SEA WIFE wins!



Thank you to everyone who voted for THE SEA WIFE in the Evernight Readers' Choice Awards. I really didn't think my little selkie story stood a chance, but of course I'm thrilled to be proved wrong. Clearly Fergus's influence did it, so here's a picture of him looking for a place to put what will doubtless be a gigantic winner's trophy:


Oh, and whilst I'm here sharing nice things, there's a lovely review for COLD NIGHT MOON over at Love Bytes, should you be interested in reading it!

Thursday 3 December 2015

Guest Post - Vikings! Werewolves! Time Travel! Welcome back Doris O'Connor...

It's always nice to have Doris here...She brings the best pictures...And who can say no to a viking werewolf?

Thanks so much for having me on your blog today with my new release Claimed by her Viking Wolf. You know that phrase.

It started with a kiss.

Well, in my case, and that is true for a vast majority of my stories.

It started with a picture.

This one to be precise:


The lovely Kim posted that hunk in my reader group The RavDor Chicks, and my muse drooled. After some brainstorming in the group, we decided that he was a Viking and a wolf shifter. It all went from there, and Kim’s very own Viking story was born J




Read on for the juicy details and a very adult excerpt!

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Blood Canticles News, Everyone!


It's official! I just signed the contract for the sequel to BLOOD WITCH, DARK DAYS. Huzzahs! The projected release date is February 2016, and this is the (unedited) blurb:

Vampires on the loose. Monsters on the streets. And a demon in her bed...
Lola Guntram's life is not getting easier. She's no longer wanted for murder, but there's still danger everywhere she turns. Isaiah's sinister influence still lingers in Fort Rosser, and her friends are breaking under the pressure.
To make matters worse, a new threat stalks Tristesse, and the demon duchess might not win this war. As more blood is spilled and evil draws ever closer, Lola has to ask herself what she's prepared to do – and what she's prepared to sacrifice – to keep her loved ones safe.
It probably goes without saying that I'm REALLY EXCITED! I loved writing Lola's second book and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that, come next year, you're all going to love reading it.

Monday 23 November 2015

I'm a Semi-Finalist!


The nominations are in for the Evernight Readers' Choice Awards, and I'm thrilled to say that THE SEA WIFE is a semi-finalist for Best Lesbian. I'm so thankful for everyone who voted, and delighted that my little selkie story is up there with so many other great titles. I'm in talented company!

But now it's voting time! Voting is open NOW for the winners, and closes on December 4th. If you'd like to vote for THE SEA WIFE, that would be awesome. It's a tough category - I've read all the other books, and I know they're great, but I hold out hope that I might steal a victory somehow...

How could you not vote for these ladies though?

I have jokingly said on Facebook that there'll be no more photos of Fergus there until I win, so if you're one of Fergus's millions (and millions) of internet fans, think not of me, but of him, and get voting!

Friday 20 November 2015

Author Interview - Rebecca Black

I love supporting a fellow Evernight author, especially if she's also a fellow Brit! I'm delighted to welcome Yorkshire lass Rebecca Black to my blog today. Her recent release, LET'S RIDE, is a beautifully erotic f/f story that I thoroughly enjoyed, so I asked Rebecca if she'd be willing to answer a few questions for me. So here we go!

Let's start with the obvious one – tell us a bit about yourself!

Well, first of all, hello! Thanks for having me, Naomi. I always find this question quite hard to answer but here goes…. I’m too close to 40 for comfort and have two kids who are both in school now. I have a very lovely and supportive partner who reads all my stories. I read a lot - the Kindle is both the best and worst thing ever invented. I have spent more hours than I care to think about procrastinating since I got my first one four years ago! I have travelled a lot but the older I get the happier I am to be home. I love chocolate and should probably try and distance myself from it a little better! I love recommending new books and authors to my friends. It’s beautiful chemistry when they love them as much as I do.

I hear you on the Kindle thing. I am stockpiling more ebooks than I can ever possibly read! Also the chocolate thing...

LET'S RIDE is a short, smoking-hot read with a lot of emotion packed in. Can you tell us a bit about the story behind the story? Were there any particular inspirations for this one?

Thank you. The inspiration came from a black and white photograph that I saw on Tumblr of a very beautiful androgynous woman sat on a motorbike. She looked like she had some serious attitude and just like that the character of Jo was born. The story started life as an erotic short (I post on rebeccablackerotica.com most Mondays for a popular meme called Masturbation Monday - there are 40 free erotic shorts on there now if anyone fancies having a look) and got loads of great comments. I quickly realised that the story had potential to be extended. So that’s what I did and luckily Evernight liked it too.

It's a great story - so much emotion packed into a short piece, which can be hard to pull off. What do you love most about writing erotica? And is there anything you don't love about it (or the writing process as a whole)?

I find writing erotica to be incredibly liberating. It’s like a sweet shop full of sexual fantasies!! I absolutely love it. I write under a pen name and very few people in my real life know what I do, so I try to write freely, and without censoring myself too much. It’s important to me that my characters aren’t judged on their sexuality but on their stories. I don’t particularly like labels regarding sexuality, although I realise that for some people they are necessary. I love reading about all gender pairings, my absolute favourite is bisexual menage. So you can expect some of that in the future.

Excellent! I'll be keeping an eye out for new stuff from you! Have you always veered towards erotica, or are there other genres you enjoy writing in?

I started off writing contemporary romance but I couldn’t get to the sex scene fast enough!! I have plans to go back to that genre soon, but I think I will always write some erotica. I love how erotica suits the short story form so well. It’s a great way to start writing and developing your style.

LET'S RIDE is your second release, and it's obvious from your website you have a few other things in the works – can you give us any hints as to what's next from you?

I have a short story coming out soon in The Prompted Anthology which will be edited by Oleander Plume and F Leonora Solomon. That was so fun to do. Oleander posted a list of hilarious prompts and I used “two undercover cops on a stakeout are bored and horny.” That story is called Donuts and is m/m and involves interesting ways to eat donuts!

I’ve also got some more short stories coming out in anthologies for F Leonora Solomon next year. There are a couple of femdom stories included in those that I really enjoyed writing.

My current WIP is a m/f erotic romance. I started it a year ago, right at the beginning when I first started writing and lost my way with it. I went back and read what I’d written a few weeks ago and thought, ‘that’s not half bad!’ So I’ve picked it up, edited it and now I’m busy finishing it. It’s about a woman who is finding the strength to let herself fall in love after an emotionally abusive childhood. It’s going to be steamy hot and there is humour in there, so it’s not too heavy. I hope to have it ready for submission before spring 2016. It’s going to be a full length novel (60,000 words plus) so it’s going to take me a while to get there.

Ah, the joys of rediscovering a lost project! I've been doing that a lot this year. 

And last, the really hardball question: tea or coffee?

That’s a difficult one because I’m from Yorkshire in England so we really like a good strong cup of tea, but I also love coffee. So I’m going to cheat a little here if that’s ok and say tea with food (this is mainly referring to fish and chips!) and coffee any other time.

Thanks so much, Naomi!

Thanks, Rebecca! Looking forward to seeing what's next (I think I can already imagine how "Donuts" might go...Sounds interesting!). I really do recommend checking out LET'S RIDE if you're in the mood for a fast, fulfilling slice of spice. And you can visit Rebecca at her website for news and Masturbation Monday. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.


Monday 16 November 2015

COLD NIGHT MOON is in the wild!

It's release day for Urban Wolf 5, COLD NIGHT MOON! If that doesn't deserve fireworks, I don't know what does.



Book 5! I can't believe it. My werewolf girls have come a long way since WOLF STRAP, and yet, in the world's timeline, it's really only been a year. COLD NIGHT MOON closes out the year that began in SILVER KISS, and sees Ayla and Shannon trying to have a normal Christmas where nothing bad happens. Trying being the operative word. Look, it's me. Something bad is going to happen.

Want to find out what? COLD NIGHT MOON is available on Evernight's site, Amazon US, and Amazon UK, and should pop up in all the usual places throughout the day too. I really hope you'll love the latest chapter in Ayla and Shannon's adventures - I'm hopeful that 2016 will bring many more!


~Editor's Pick~ 

After a difficult year, Ayla Hammond wants to give her girlfriend Shannon a dream Christmas. A cozy, romantic cabin in the woods seems like the perfect way to put their troubles behind them and start the New Year right. And at first, everything is going according to Ayla's plan...until night falls. 

There's something in the woods. And it's after Shannon. 


Need to know where to start with the Urban Wolf series? I've got it covered!

WOLF STRAP (A Free Read)
SILVER KISS
BLOOD HUNT
PHANTOM FEARS (A Free Read from Shannon's POV)

Saturday 14 November 2015

COLD NIGHT MOON - Cover reveal!


Ta-da! I don't really feel like I need words. It's a beautiful cover, my ladies look great, and the colour scheme is perfect. And COLD NIGHT MOON is out this Monday, 16th November! So expect the usual flurry of activity then while I share links and basically ram this down your throats. Here's the blurb!

After a difficult year, Ayla Hammond wants to give her girlfriend Shannon a dream Christmas. A cosy, romantic cabin in the woods seems like the perfect way to put their troubles behind them and start the New Year right. And at first, everything is going according to Ayla's plan...Until night falls.

There's something in the woods. And it's after Shannon.


Wednesday 11 November 2015

Wednesday - The End



Yes. Last night I typed THE END on Dark Days, or at least the first draft. Huzzahs! That's one Anti-Nano target reached, and ahead of schedule too. I'm setting the manuscript aside for a week or so while I wait to hear from my beta reader, then I'll set about polishing that baby up ready for submission. I'm never quite sure whether I'm happy with a book or not when I first finish writing it, but the closing pages of Dark Days made me feel the same as the end of UNDERTOW - exhausted, a bit dirty, but grimly satisfied.

So, what next? COLD NIGHT MOON is out next week (EEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!), so I'll be around for all the usual book release nerves/promo/excitement. Otherwise, I plan to spend a lot of time with my Amber Morgan hat on, working on Wild Blood MC 2. If you're interested, I'll be doing my Monday and Friday check-ins, and Wednesday snippets, for that project here. You can also follow me as Amber on Twitter and Facebook. So if you like contemporary romance and paranormal m/f romance, you'll probably like Amber! In fact, if you like me, you'll like Amber just as much, I would imagine.

Monday 9 November 2015

Monday Check-In

So! Another Monday is upon us. Ugh. How was everyone's weekend? My Saturday consisted mostly of taking Fergus to the vet for his annual boosters. He bravely hid under the kitchen table when I tried to get him in the carrier, and had to be fished out by my mum, who was willing to endure his wrath since he hates her anyway. As usual, once he was at the vet's, he quite enjoyed himself. We have to go back this weekend with a urine sample, as he's been drinking more than usual lately, and that can be a sign of renal problems in a cat his age. So wish us both luck with that!

Sunday was a good writing day - almost 3k on Dark Days, which means the end is absolutely in sight. Ideally I'll wrap it up today and then leave it aside for a week before doing some editing. In reality, I'm in the middle of my Christmas rush at Common Brimstone, and if I'm going to stay on top of my incoming orders, I'm going to spend most of my evenings making perfume rather than writing. So...we'll see.

In other news, I have a release date for COLD NIGHT MOON! November 16th - save the date for my new Urban Wolf short story. I've seen the mock cover and it's beautiful <3 Really can't wait to show that off to you all!

And in other other news, the annual Evernight Readers' Choice Awards are open for nominations! Here's the scoop:


***NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN***

Nominate your favorite Evernight books of 2015 during our READERS' CHOICE AWARDS!

Leave your name and email address at the end of the nomination form for the chance to win a $25 Evernight GC!


Reader Nominations: Monday, Nov. 9th - 18th
Voting: Nov. 21st - 30th
Winners announced first week of December
Evernight books published between Nov 1, 2014 - Oct. 31 2015 are eligible.

My eligible books, should you wish to vote are, BLOOD WITCH and THE SEA WIFE. I also have some Amber Morgan titles that are eligible, and you can see their details here. I think that's everything for today - back on Wednesday (or sooner with that beautiful new cover, hopefully!).

Saturday 7 November 2015

Guest Blog - Ravenna Tate's Weathermen are here!

I'm delighted to have Ravenna Tate on my blog today with a (very adult) teaser from the latest in The Weathermen series. I love these books - it's sexy romance with a sci-fi twist, and they're loads of fun! So let's find out what A SLOW-BURNING DANCE is all about...


 
A SLOW-BURNING DANCE - The Weathermen 5
***Click HERE to purchase directly from
Evernight Publishing***

When Sela Chavez inspects the unit in a strip mall that will soon become her very own dance studio, she’s on the cusp of a dream come true. Until she spies Damien Rivera, her brother’s boss. She knows he’s financing the project, and she knows he’s a player. 

When he invites her to a concert, she can’t seem to look away from his gaze. But gorgeous eyes or not, she has no intention of becoming Damien’s next conquest. 

Damien is part of a group of friends financing the efforts to put a stop to The Madeline Project. The program now has a mind of its own, thanks to a virus called Tommy Twister. These men have power, resources, and money, but they’re as ruthless and possessive as the storms ravaging Earth. They call themselves the Weathermen…  

Read on for an excerpt!


Friday 6 November 2015

Friday Check-In The First

I'm happy to report that I'm on target to finish Dark Days (maybe) this weekend! "Maybe" because I'm not quite sure how much wrapping up I want/need to do, and because I'm not quite sure what my absolute finishing point is for this book. Lola has to decide to do Something, but I don't know if she should decide now or at the start of Book 3, so...

And I'm also wary of rushing because I can see the end is in sight, which I think is a big weakness of mine. Once I see the finish line, I want to charge headlong towards it and just be able to say "DONE!" The problem with that is...it doesn't make for very good book endings. But hey, that's what second drafts fix, right?


Wednesday 4 November 2015

Inaugural Anti-Nano Snippet!

I'm feeling pretty chipper about Dark Days! There is even the possibility I could finish it this very weekend if I keep the weekend free (and apart from taking Fergus to the vet, my weekend is free at the moment so...fingers crossed!).

So here's a snippet which is as spoiler-free as I can make it this late in the game....











Monday 2 November 2015

Anti-Nano Begins Anew!

Good luck to everyone who started NaNoWriMo yesterday! May your words come swiftly and your...blockages...be few? Your writing blockages. All blockages.

I am not doing NaNo, because I know I can't commit to the minimum daily word count due to my shoulder/arm problems/perfume business/day job/inherent laziness/old episodes of Raw is War/delete as appropriate. But I love the spirit of NaNo, so I always aim to commit to something writing-wise in November, and thus, Anti-Nano was born.

The principles of Anti-Nano are simple: pick your goal and hop to it. Whether it's to write a certain amount each day, finish that story you've been avoiding for months, or brainstorm ideas for your epic, game-changing ten book series, you set the goals and pace yourself accordingly. My usual Anti-Nano goal is just "write something every day," but I'm adjusting that slightly this year and giving myself two goals.

1. Finish the first draft of Dark Days. I'm so close! The end is definitely in sight, and I feel like I can by done by mid-November if I stick to my current pace.

2. Once Dark Days is wrapped up and has been sent to my brave volunteer beta reader, I'm going to work on my next Amber Morgan title, Wolf's Hunt. It's not impossible that I could finish that before the end of November, but I'm not aiming for that particularly. I just want to crack on as much as I can before the end of this year.

My caveat is that I have two short stories scheduled for release in the next couple of months, so I'm awaiting edits which, obviously, take precedence. So my goals may jump around a bit depending on when the edits arrive and how intense they are.

I post check-ins on Mondays and Fridays, and snippets on Wednesdays (if I can find non-spoilery snippets for Dark Days this late in the game). Hopefully this will be a productive, creative month for everyone!


Saturday 31 October 2015

Happy Halloween!


What's everyone doing on this spookiest of days? I love Halloween, but I'm too introverted to go out there in costume and party hard on the actual day, so my celebrations tend to be quiet and mellow. Last night my BFF and I went to see Frankenstein at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge - a performance made notable by huge amounts of Brit Pop, one audience member collapsing into the ice cream stand, and one couple disappearing during the interval. All credit to the actor playing the Creature though - he really sold it! Throw in liberal amounts of chocolate, and we had a great night.

Today I'm planning to work on Dark Days, but I'm throwing out a few spooky links for you to enjoy while we all eat our Halloween candy.

Looking for some dark and creepy music to listen to? Check out this Death and the Maiden playlist. Or if you're after something more witchy than macabre, there's this compilation. And as far as I'm concerned, we can't talk spooky music without mentioning The Misfits' Famous Monsters album:



Want some unsettling reading material? The Eight Most Intriguing Unsolved Crimes are right here. Or you can check out Cracked's list of creepy urban legends that just happen to be true...If you want something more monstrous, how about Ten Terrifying Canines From Around the World?

Halloween drinks? I've got you covered!



Of course that's just for starters - there's a ton more recipes here!

And naturally we can't have Halloween without some terrifying television. Obviously I'm always a sucker for the totally legit and utterly credible Ghost Adventures, which follows the trials and tribulations of three failed nu-metal singers as they shout at empty rooms and try to find a ghost to fight:

But if you want something genuinely scary, you can always try one of the Top 20 Scariest Asian Horror Films. Personally though, I don't think you can beat Jason Vorhees.


Whatever you do, have a fun and fearsome night and enjoy yourselves!

Tuesday 27 October 2015

How about making today Fairy Tale Tuesday? Pumpkin Spice is here!

Fairy Tale Tuesday has a ring to it, right? I'm gonna make it a thing. Let's start with a brand new fairy tale from Pumpkin Spice!


SCARLETT HOOD & THE HUNTER – The Amāre Tales - an Editor’s Pick from Evernight!
In the merry village of Amāre, love isn’t just the town’s namesake—it’s a way of life. When Scarlett Hood discovers that her grandmother’s retirement fund has been targeted by the wolf of Wall Street, Bernie Wolfe, the photo journalist realizes she will need more than her telephoto lens to take him down. She’ll need help.

Help arrives in the unlikely Jack Hunter, the local bean farmer, who struck it rich only to lose his golden crop to Wolfe. Now working for the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC), Jack is on the hunt to bring down Wolfe and Giant Investment Services. Nothing—not even his unbridled attraction to Scarlett—will keep him from tackling the man who stole his grandmother’s land and put him out of business. Can Scarlett Hood and Jack Hunter team up together to bring down one of Amāre’s worst villains and find their own happily ever after?
 Read on for an excerpt and buy links!

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Things That Are Happening Right Now

This probably isn't really happening
So I'm back to writing daily after my most recent bout with Probably Rotator Cuff Syndrome. Not quite back to 1k a day, but I'm no longer turning out 0k a day, so I'm happy. I don't know if I can still finish Oath Breaker Dark Days by the end of this month, but I'm really hopeful!

In the mean time, I'm waiting for edits on COLD NIGHT MOON, as well as a new Amber Morgan story, so despite not being able to write much, I seem to be busy on the writing front. At the same time, I don't have much to talk about, so I thought I'd share some things that are happening in lieu of actual content from me.

First! Attack of the 14 Nights of Halloween is happening! This is a blog hop organised by Laughing Vixen Lounge, with a prize jackpot ($225+) full of jewelry, perfume, clothing, accessories and more! One of the prizes has been donated by Deep Midnight Perfumes, one of my favourite indie perfumers, and I urge you to take part in the hop for that reason alone.

Second! My friend and fellow author/cat-lover, Olivia R Burton, has launched a podcast called I've Got No Beef With You, where she'll be talking to her fellow vegans about their journey to veganism. The first episode is up now, and features adorable guest appearances from her cats, and is really interesting to boot, even if you're not actually vegan. I'm currently in the process of phasing dairy out of my life, so it was good to hear some different perspectives on that. Check it out!

Third! Jeffrey Combs guests on Caustic Soda podcast. Who's Jeffrey Combs, you ask? Get out! It's this guy:


There aren't many good film adaptations of HP Lovecraft's work, and I'm not sure that Re-Animator is "good" in an objective sense, but it's a cult classic and it's totally amazing in a crazy, beautiful way, and I love it. Since it's Spoopy Season, why not treat yourself to both the podcast and the film?

I think that's everything that's happening right now. I'm heading back to the writing cave!

Sunday 18 October 2015

Attack of the 14 Nights of Halloween Giveaway! - With Laughing Vixen Lounge


Halloween is just around the corner and it's time for the 4th annual Attack of the 14 Nights of Halloween Giveaway from Laughing Vixen Lounge. 7 wickedly fun shops have come together to create one spooktalcular Prize Pack ($225+) full of Jewelry, Perfume, Clothing, Accessories and more! All shops are offering Gift Cards or your choice of item(s) so there will be something for everyone. Many of the shops have items perfect for any book lover along with lots of other unique, handcrafted and custom designs. You can enter via the Rafflecopter below or visit the Main Giveaway Page on the Laughing Vixen Lounge Blog HERE.


Join us daily on the Laughing Vixen Lounge Blog during the giveaway for our Halloween Movie Marathon featuring the Guess the Movie Game and our Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt. Each event will get you daily entries in the giveaway plus a special giveaway for the Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt. Find full details for these events HERE.


October is the perfect time for watching spooky movies. Along with the Halloween Movie Marathon each of our participating shops, and many of our blog sponsors, will be sharing some of their favorite movie choices with you.

For me, you can't beat the classics! My favourite Halloween watch is definitely Friday 13th - the original (I refuse to accept the existence of the remake).


Why? Well, first off it's one of the original slasher flicks, right up there with John Carpenter's Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street for kick-starting the genre! Secondly, I love the twist on who the villain is. And third, this is the franchise that (eventually) gave us the iconic Jason, hockey mask and all, and I love Jason. The silent, unstoppable killer. You can't reason with him. You can't fight him. You can only run - and hope. Now that's scary.



The giveaway runs October 18th - November 1st and is open worldwide. 1 winner will win the Prize Pack and 1 winner will win the Scavenger Hunt Prize Pack. Laughing Vixen Lounge is responsible for all giveaway details. Please visit the Laughing Vixen Lounge Blog HERE to see the full prize list, participating shops and daily giveaway events. a Rafflecopter giveaway