I've been remiss!

I got the cover for THE BEAST OF BIRCH HILL a few days ago, but I've been so swamped with other stuff, I haven't had time to share it. So here you go!

I looooooooooooooooove it! And the story itself is out this Thursday, 21st August. Look out for a ton of promo and a giveaway if I can stay organised for more than five minutes.*

PS - You can pre-order your copy on Amazon UK and Amazon US!

*I can't, but I'll run the giveaway anyway, promise.

Guest blog - Jorja Lovett talks about her new releases!

I'm happy to have Jorja here today talking about not one, but two new releases! Let's have the gossip, Jorja...

Thanks for having me here today. I have so much to share with you! From Aug 15th my little cougar romance, First Floor: Cosmetics, goes on general release. This is the second book in The Department Store series.

Take one younger man, add some illicit outdoor sex, and Maggie Fenton is inclined to forget she’s the oldest cosmetics girl at Kelsey’s Department Store. 

From the outside, it looks as though Maggie Fenton has it all. The glamorous head of the cosmetics department lives a life of luxury, but money definitely hasn’t bought her happiness. In reality, she’s married to a serial cheat who has made her life a misery for over a decade. With her husband chasing younger women, and her teenage co-workers’ catty comments ringing in her ears, Maggie’s resigned herself to being on the scrap heap. Until Jonah Hamilton puts temptation in her way and reminds her she’s still a red-blooded woman. 

 Commitment is a four letter word as far as Jonah is concerned. He has no intention of settling down when he has the whole world at his feet. The only reason he takes a summer job at Kelsey’s is to fund his travels. Well, that, and the sexy older woman he can’t help flirting with over the makeup counter. Maggie soon becomes a good friend and someone who shows him how good love can be. The chemistry between them is undeniable but is a fling enough to satisfy their desires, or is it simply the start of something bigger? 

Keep reading for an excerpt and a taste of Jorja's second new release, Pyramid of Passion!

Naomi Jane Clark, where the hell have you been?

I know, right? It's been a while since I did a proper blog, which is a bit ridiculous when I consider how much exciting stuff is going on in my writing life right now. In my defense, I have a pretty legitimate excuse. Remember I mentioned back in July that I was having some problems with an old RSI/nerve/muscle problem in my right arm? Well it got bad. It got really bad. As a result of this injury, I've always favoured my left arm for computer work/carrying, etc. As a result of that I now have the same problems in my left arm. And all through July it was really severe. We're talking cramps, pins and needles, aches, strains, the works. Waking up in the night with both arms completely numb. Stress headaches at work because the pain was so intense. Neck and back ache because my posture was going to hell as I tried to sit comfortably at my work desk for seven hours a day. So I went to my GP to see if she could recommend anything for the pain.

Instead, she sent me for blood tests to see if the pains were related to a vitamin deficiency, a thyroid problem, or a couple of other things. I got the results back last week, and although they found nothing that explains the pain, they did discover I'm low on folic acid, so hurrah for bonus secret medical problems!

So next week I'm going back to the GP. Now we've eliminated one set of potential causes, we can work on narrowing it down to muscular or neuropathic pain, and then look at the options from there. But in the mean time, I'm still in pain and I still have to do my day job. In light of that, I've been trying to restrict my "non-essential" internet/computer time as much as possible. Sadly, writing has had to fall under that category for awhile. I'm in a lot less pain currently than I was, but still not pain-free, and I'm trying to rest both arms as much as possible.

THAT SAID, exciting things are happening soon!

UNDERTOW is coming out on August 18th which is really, really, really soon! And I am really, really, really excited and I want everyone else to be really, really, really excited too. I honestly believe this is the best book I've ever written and I'm thrilled with Ragnarok Publications' support and hard work on bringing Ethan Banning to life. I cannot wait to share it with you all.

Oh wait, I can share a bit of it with you right now!

So that's exciting, as I may have implied.


The other exciting thing is that I've finished the first round of edits for my next Evernight release, THE BEAST OF BIRCH HILL, and I'm hoping I'll get a firm release date soon. This is a very different type of story to UNDERTOW, but dare I say it, just as fabulous in its own way, and I'm looking forward to joining the ranks of Evernight's Romance on the Go authors.

So that's all going on. And now I'm back down to my normal levels of pain (about a 3 on a scale of "I can't hold this for long" to "JESUS WEPT CHOP MY ARMS OFF"), I'm hoping to dive back into my wip, Nightmare Moon, and starting looking again at the next full-length Urban Wolf book and Ethan Banning #3. So wish me luck in getting some super-effective painkillers!

UNDERTOW has a cover!

Guest Blog - Beth D Carter and Vampires!

Today I'm welcoming Beth D Carter and her new release, vampire love story, AS MIDNIGHT LOVES THE MOON (it is an awesome title - I'm glad we get the story behind it!). Take it away, Beth...

Thank you so much for hosting me! “As Midnight Loves the Moon” went through many incarnations before becoming a MMF story. I had originally written it without Daphne, as a straight MM story and no sex, but it sat for a long time because something was missing…until I thought about adding a human girl into the mix, and then my poor dying heroine popped into my head. After that, well, who doesn’t think of sex and vampires? It’s almost symbolic, as the fang slides in so does his throbbing member.

Okay, sorry for the purple prose! LOL!

I’ve also gotten a lot of compliments to the title. I must admit, I didn’t dream of this all on my own. One of my favorite campy movies from the 80’s was “The Pirate Movie” with Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol. In the movie, Frederic (Atkins) asks Mabel (McNichol) “Mabel, do you love me?” And she replies, “As midnight loves the moon.” I’ve always loved that line.

As Midnight Loves the Moon

Wayde Wallace is a vampire. He’s been alone for a long time, until he smells the sunshine scent of a woman and finds Daphne Sabella. Her blood smells intoxicating until he catches the stench of sickness upon her and realizes Daphne is dying.

Alexander Malden is a Shade cop sent to patrol the supernaturals who lives among humans. A rogue vampire is killing women and he thinks Wayde is the monster because only a trickster can make him feel such lust and longing.

To prove his innocence, Wayde goes out to find the real rogue vampire and Alex can’t help but follow because the mating bond has already settled between them. And when they believe they can finally help Daphne, she’s become the next victim. Now they must rescue her and turn her before her heart gives out.

Read on for an excerpt!

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."

Albert Einstein

Sometimes I really wish everything happened all at once, though. I think I'd get more done. At the moment I'm working on a novel that's really important to me, but progress is slow for a few reasons. The main one right now is I've had a flare-up of an old RSI/muscle/nerve problem in my right arm. I've been favouring my left arm for years because of this problem, so I'm now having similar problems there too. So doing stuff is painful for me. Like, any stuff. Carrying a bag of shopping. Waving at someone. Typing. You know, all the stuff. So I'm trying to limit my writing for a while until the flare-up...flares down.

And this is SO FRUSTRATING because I've just settled into the rhythm of the book. I know what happens next, I know where I'm going, I know where the characters are going, and I just can't physically do as much as I want. Voice recognition software isn't an option, so I'm basically lucky to be writing 1k a week at the moment. Hopefully this will change soon.

The other reasons for having a lack of time are nicer. Common Brimstone remains busy, and as well as being in the midst of developing several new perfumes for my general catalogue, I'm working on a new line for my Raw Brimstone range, which I'm really excited about. Business has been good enough that I've been able to invest in some really spectacular essential oils and absolutes, which means I'm getting to try some beautiful all-natural combinations out.

I'm also working on a Sekrit Project code-named Project Bashful which I hope to be able to talk about in the near future, but that's on a back-burner at the moment because, well, everything else. It's a non-essential thing right now, so it's getting shoved down the to-do list. But I'm excited about it and I want to find more time for it as soon as I can.

And I'm also working on a giveaway for THE BEAST OF BIRCH HILL's release, but luckily this is something I can do without using my arms very much.

But really, it's the writing I want time for at the moment. This book, these characters, this idea...It's all so big and vivid and important, and there's never enough time to get as far as I want, as fast as I want. I think I've pretty much accepted that my days of writing 5k+ in a single session are gone, and that even my days of writing 2k a day, every day, are almost certainly gone. But 1k a week? That's just crap.

So what do you do? I can't fix my arms except by not using them, and I can't not use them. For one thing, my day-job is almost entirely computer-orientated. I can pick and choose certain activities though: I'm trying to stay off the computer more in the weekday evenings (counter-productive to writing, I know, but hopefully if I rest my arms more in the week, I can write more at the weekends). I'm trying to do little bursts of writing throughout the day when I do write, rather than settling in for one marathon session. If the pain persists, I guess I'll speak to my GP but I already know we're tried everything short of amputation :/

So I'm caught in this place where I'm doing everything slowly but I have no time to do it in. I guess this is some weird version of the Red Queen's race.

Because that wasn't already weird.

Alternative Hump Day with a Kraken

Artist's rendition of me getting shit done.

Because I officially named 2014 as The Year of the Kraken, a year in which to be ballsy and risk-taking, like the kraken. Or at least, like the kraken as I interpret it to be. And this week is definitely a week for getting shit done (or getting shit started in one case), so I need a mid-week kraken to remind myself that I'm an actual adult and can do actual adult things. Maybe more on that later, depending on whether or not I get a reply to an email I sent yesterday.

Artist's rendition of me getting distracted by toys. You know, like an adult.