Inspiration: Antiquities, Accents, and Together Alone

This is my Discovering Her Delight inspiration post. Warning! There are spoilers ahead for the book. If you don’t mind spoilers, read on. If you don’t like your romance spoiled, read Discovering Her Delight first!

An Initial Inspiration

I started the notes for Discovering Her Delight way back in 2014 (then known as Discovering Her Desire). I knew it was going to be a story centered on an archaeological expedition, I just wasn’t clear on the specifics. An archaeologist friend of mine had a bizarre idea: what if the hero had to write on the heroine’s back?

So I held on to that thought, and it continued to inspire the story. Why would he need to do this? Under what circumstances? And how would he do it in 1881? Continue reading

Preorder Ancient Shorts! 5 hot stories for chilly weather!

Ancient Shorts: An Ancient World Romance Collection is now available for pre-order! This collection features all five of my Ancient World erotic romance short stories, tales of discovering love in times long ago in Imperial Rome, Parthian Ctesiphon, and Byzantine Constantinople.

Pre-order now for only 99¢!

Then, on release day October 29th, as autumn descends, bringing with it cool and chilly weather, curl up with your ereader and warm up with these hot stories! Continue reading

Romancing the Throne, Part 2: The Eunuch’s Submission

In the opulent palace of Ctesiphon, the capital of ancient Parthia, lives a princess who searches for the stolen throne of her kingdom, the sella regia. She engages the services of a palace eunuch in her quest, a handsome and astute advisor. Over the years, respect and esteem transform into love, love deepens into trust, trust sparks sexual exploration.

Thus is the set up for my two short stories “An Unexpected Discovery”, an erotic romance, and the follow up, “The Eunuch”, a BDSM flash fiction erotica short. In “An Unexpected Discovery” the Parthian princess Roedogune searches for the sella regia with the assistance of Arashis, the eunuch assigned to her by her husband. It’s an erotic romance, so it’s not really giving it away to say Roedogune and Arashis end up together — romance is about the emotional and physical journey since readers already know there will be a happily-ever-after.

Creating a romantic connection between characters is what a romance writer does. And sometimes that writer is given an opportunity to explore the relationship beyond the happily-ever-after, to take a peek into the life of a couple after that first flush of excitement.

Continuing a romance is especially wonderful if the characters are beloved characters, more so if these are characters who almost did not make the page. Continue reading

Romancing the Throne, or, The History of a Parthian Love Story

Naughty Getaways: Eleven Sultry Stories is out! And it includes my ancient world romance, “An Unexpected Discovery” set in Parthia, the kingdom to the east of the Roman Empire. My heroine, Roedogune, is based on an actual historic figure, a Parthian princess who, along with the Parthian imperial throne, was captured by the Romans during their invasion of Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian Empire. Continue reading

New Mini-Anthology 99¢ Sale! Imperial Warriors is out!

Imperial Warriors: Two Scorching Tales of the Roman Empire is out! This mini-anthology includes previously published stories now available together for the first time. “The Promise of Memory” was published in Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors, and “Protecting Her” was published in Conquests: An Anthology of Smoldering Viking Romance. It’s my very first anthology of my own stories, which means it’s really a “collection of short stories” rather than an anthology (which implies several authors). But I’m calling it a mini-anthology because I like that word!

And it’s on sale for only 99¢!

To celebrate my new release, I’m keeping the price to only 99¢ for the month of June! [UPDATE: I’m keeping it at this price through August!] For this fabulously low price you get not only two scorching historical erotic romances, you get an introduction chock full of history plus a mini-bibliography, and an enticing excerpt from my historical erotica epic, Hadrian and Sabina: A Love Story. Continue reading

Write What You Know: Paranormal Edition

Hi everyone! I’m over at The Naughty Literati blog today discussing “Hot as Hades”, my story in Naughty Flings. If you don’t want to go over there, the post is below!

Beginning writers are often advised to “write what you know,” that way words and stories and emotions will resound authentically. The general public has glommed on to this aphorism and often conflates “write what you know” with “write your actual lived experience”. Erotica and erotic romance writers especially fall victim to this definition. We get a lot of “heh, heh” “snicker, snicker” at parties and such, because of course we’ve all done every blessed thing our characters have done.

Sigh. Continue reading

Rewriting the Persephone Myth

An excerpt from “Hot as Hades,” my story in Naughty Flings: Twelve Naughty Little Romps, is up today on our Naughty Literati blog.

When I was thinking about what to write for Naughty Flings, an anthology with the theme of springtime, the quintessential springtime myth came to mind, i.e., the story of Persephone. I decided to revisit this myth, but to put a new spin on it, which proved pretty easy.

Because I’d put a new spin on the story once before. Continue reading

Inspiration: The Promise of Memory

We’re counting down to release day for the Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors anthology. I’m guest posting on our blog today about my Roman-set story, “The Promise of Memory” and what inspired me to write it. You can either read the post below, or read it on the Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors website. The post on the anthology website has an extensive excerpt! Continue reading

Getting Off On History

My very first guest post on another blog is out today!

We have a webpage for the upcoming anthology Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors in which I have a Roman-set story, “The Promise of Memory”. [UPDATE: website no longer available.]

I’m talking about historical romance and historical erotica and why I find it so enthralling. You can either read the post below, or read it on the Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors website. [UPDATE: website no longer available.] Continue reading

Romans: Hair, the Emperors, and an Exhibition

I’ve been a Roman nerd since I was a kid. Not a I-know-every-minute-detail-about-them kind of nerd, more of a fascinated dilettante kind of nerd. I’m drawn to Roman culture and history, especially art and the emperors (“I, Claudius” was shown on PBS in my formative years). I did my master’s thesis on Roman mosaics. And I wrote a book on Hadrian.
Continue reading