Vampires, Novels, and Updates, Oh My!

… sigh. I can’t seem to keep this blog updated to save my life.

As usual, quite a lot has happened since my last post. I’ve been going through a real rough time writing-wise over the past few months. Some of you who’ve been reading The Novelty Girls know that I’ve been having serious issues getting back into writing after taking a couple months off due to real life rearing its ugly mug. I’d end up with my Inner Dickwad running my head in circles every time I tried to work on something.

It didn’t help that I had a lot of trouble getting into what I was working on, either. It’s not surprising with A Touch Necromantic, as I need to do some more development work on it before I can make any headway. I’ve got a lot of characters and conflicts I don’t know much about, as it begins in a different part of the world from Passion.

With Stronger … well … *sigh* That’s a bit harder. The original version flowed so well, but this has been like pulling teeth. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve broken it off to work on something else way too many times over the past year, or if it’s because there’s a problem somewhere in the last several chapters I’m not recognizing.

Bottom line is, I’m having trouble with both of my main projects. This is not good when you’re trying to get back into writing after a long absence.

One night, I sat down and talked to Morgan about it. (I love it that my husband is a writer, too. He understands and often has some damn good insight.) He suggested that if I was having trouble, then maybe I should look at writing something for fun. Something that’s for me more than anything else. But I couldn’t come up with anything that I’ve got on the backburner that really fit the bill for that. The Reaper’s Price is close, but I have some amount of difficulty with erotic fiction these days.

And then it hit me. Arielle and Jackson. More than any other character I’ve ever written, Arielle’s voice flows for me. I love writing her and spending time in her little nook of that world. But I’d been planning on expanding the novella into something longer come fall, when it was closer to the date my contract would come due. (Cobblestone’s contracts are one year in length and renewable by mutual agreement of both parties.)

Life specializes in irony.

Within an hour of that discussion, I received an e-mail from Deanna and Sable at Cobblestone Press. Because they knew I was not happy there, they will be releasing me from my contract effective the end of June. Cobblestone is a great publisher that has a lot of potential to be a serious force in the industry, but … well, to put it simply, we weren’t compatible. Happens in all sorts of relationships. That being said, their actions here have shown a lot of consideration, and I deeply appreciate that.

Where does this leave me?

Hard at work on Twilight: The Novel. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep The Twilight Deception as the title for the novel, or if I’m going to find something else. Anyone got any thoughts there? LOL.

I’ve added almost 4k of new material thus far, and that should go up as I start to get into some amount of a writing routine. I’m a bit sketchy on where the novel is going; I’ve got the rough outline, but I need some more specifics. And probably to complicate things, also; otherwise, this is going to be an awfully short book!

Wish me luck!

A Passion Draconic Available Now!

A Passion Draconic has been released from Liquid Silver Books. (YAY! *squee*) The blurb:

Healer-Priestess Shaiandral would rather let the Dragonlord rot than save him. But when her Healer’s oath is called upon, she must rise above the contention between their two shifter tribes and travel to his realm.

When she arrives, the Dragonlord Veren is dying of a magical toxin. Shaiandral makes a sacrifice of her own blood to raise the required energy for healing, but her actions raise a demon from Veren’s flesh. A demon that can become incorporeal at will and is impossible to fight.

The demon gives her two options. She can either sacrifice her Oath-bound virginity to heal Veren–or she can become his new host. At first Shaiandral refuses, but faced with a choice between losing her virginal power or losing herself, she chooses the lesser of two evils. Taking hold of the rising energies, she threads them into a complex weave. Just when she thinks she’s failed, Veren takes a deep breath, returning to life. Using the power released in her orgasm, Shaiandral forces the demon into a wilting red rose, binding him forevermore.

Except Shaiandral has caused more problems than she’s solved. The sacrifice has left her with a sudden, consuming lust–and an inexplicable attraction to Veren, a man she should hate. Now, a demonic infiltration threatens both their realms. Can they overcome their differences and work together to stop this threat before the demons take hold once more?

Interested in an excerpt? Clicky!

(I’ll have a contest of some kind up in a couple days or so. ;))

Dragon Queen: Mating Call

I don’t usually post book promo in my blogs, but this is an exception…

Emily is a good friend of mine that I’ve known for (literally) yeeeeeeaaaaaaars. I’m very happy to finally see her published, and I hope y’all will take a minute to check this out.

She set out to cure her insomnia, but the Goddess gave her dragons instead…

Cora Phillips has witchcraft in her blood, but she’s convinced she inherited the recessive rather than the dominant trait. Her mother and sister are the real heiresses to the Lune tradition; Cora has neither the interest nor the inclination to take up the Dragonkeeper mantle. Years ago, she left the New York City Witch lifestyle to the other women in her family, and said goodbye to all the velvet and lace. However, during a moment of insomnia-induced insanity, she agrees to come back to celebrate Christmas/Winter Solstice with her family.

It comes as a shock to all three women when Cora, through clumsy fumblings to “get in touch with her goddess” at her sister’s urging, calls a pair of ancient dragons into her meditation circle.

Cora swears it’s a mistake. Her mother swears it’s the correct course of events. Eventually, every Dragonkeeper issues the call to mate. Problem is, nobody expected Cora to summon even a single dragon, let alone two.

Before long, the dragons’ guardians come knocking, literally, and ruin any hope of politely apologizing and returning the creatures.

For more information–and to read an excerpt!–head on over to Freya’s Bower.

The Twilight Deception released today!

The Twilight Deception releases from Cobblestone Press today!

Here’s a brief blurb, if you’re interested:

When the FBI receives word of vampire-related murders, they order tough-as-nails resident witch Arielle Thompson to investigate. But the last thing Arielle expects is to have her butt saved by a friendly vampire who claims he’s tracking the master vamp responsible for the murders.

Despite her wounded pride, Arielle can’t help her inexplicable attraction to this sexy-as-sin vampire who calls himself simply “Jackson.” He reluctantly informs her that their enemy is far more powerful than reports said — and his powerbase is only increasing.

Arielle and Jackson must team up to stop him, before he grows too powerful to defeat.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Wanna buy it? Click here.

In celebration of the release, I’ll be holding a contest for a free copy of The Twilight Deception. Comment to this post with a number from 1-30, and the person closest to the number I’m thinking of wins.

A Passion Draconic

I got my cover for A Passion Draconic, my forthcoming release from Liquid Silver Books. The cover is designed by the lovely Anne Cain, who did an amazing job.

The blurb, if anyone’s interested:

Healer-Priestess Shaiandral would rather let the Dragonlord rot than save him. But when her Healer’s oath is called upon, she must rise above the contention between their two shifter tribes and travel to his realm.

When she arrives, the Dragonlord Veren is dying of a magical toxin. Shaiandral makes a sacrifice of her own blood to raise the required energy for healing, but her actions raise a demon from Veren’s flesh. A demon that can become incorporeal at will and is impossible to fight.

The demon gives her two options. She can either sacrifice her Oath-bound virginity to heal Veren–or she can become his new host. At first Shaiandral refuses, but faced with a choice between losing her virginal power or losing herself, she chooses the lesser of two evils. Taking hold of the rising energies, she threads them into a complex weave. Just when she thinks she’s failed, Veren takes a deep breath, returning to life. Using the power released in her orgasm, Shaiandral forces the demon into a wilting red rose, binding him forevermore.

Except Shaiandral has caused more problems than she’s solved. The sacrifice has left her with a sudden, consuming lust–and an inexplicable attraction to Veren, a man she should hate. Now, a demonic infiltration threatens both their realms. Can they overcome their differences and work together to stop this threat before the demons take hold once more?