Inspiration: Romance in the Interstices

Interstice (noun) in·​ter·​stice
plural — interstices
1a: a space that intervenes between things, especially one between closely spaced things
b: a gap or break in something generally continuous
2: a short space of time between events

Have you ever seen the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead? The play (also a movie) is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the point of view of the courtiers Rosencrantz and Gildenstern, minor characters who inhabit the interstices of the action of Hamlet.

I like to think of A Delicate Seduction as the Rosencrantz and Gildenstern of The Harwell Heirs series, except without the existential absurdism. Continue reading

Republishing Madness: Two steps forward, one step back, but still moving

For the last three years of my author life I’ve felt like Sisyphus pushing a stone up a hill, only to have it roll back down, thus negating any progress. It has been very frustrating, to say the least. Instead of writing, I’ve spent time and energy (and money) republishing novels and stories. Too often, I think I have given a story a good home, only to find it orphaned.

Republishing involves: re-editing (sometimes editing out a publisher’s style and reasserting my own); new covers; possibly new blurbs; ebook formatting; paperback formatting; new ISBNs (stupidly expensive in the US); uploading to retailer sites; plus promotion, promotion, promotion.

Basically everything an author has to do when self-publishing, except all of that stuff had already been done and now you have to do it all over again. Sigh. Continue reading

Summer Romance Bingo cheat sheet!

Have you heard? The Ripped Bodice, a bookstore in Culver City, California, devoted entirely to romance is having their second annual Summer Romance BINGO! Below is a cheat sheet to how my books can fill in your BINGO card! Continue reading

Reverse Harem? Well, only sort of…

Reverse Harem is the new hot trend in romance. Stories feature one woman and at least three men, each of whom is in love with her. The heroine can’t decide which man she wants to be with so her happily-ever-after is with all of the men.

Sounds like something I probably write, right? But I don’t. However, my stories do involve themes that are very, very close to reverse harem. I let my female characters have a lot of fun with the men in their lives, even if they only end up with one (or two) of them.

Below is a guide to some of the Reverse Harem-type themes in my stories. Continue reading

Yay! I’m Now Available On Google Play!

N.B. I will update this blog post as more of my stories go live on Google Play!
[UPDATE: All my books are now listed on Google Play!]

I have been waiting for an opportunity to sell my books on Google Play for a couple of years now, but Google Play is currently unavailable to “new publishers”. A few years back there was a scandal involving book pirates and app scammers plaguing the site, so Google felt the best method of dealing with this was to simply shut down access to all new publishers, including legitimate self-publishers like myself.

Trust me, I would never scam you. Continue reading

How A Book Gets Its Cover

Vote for my historical romance covers in the JABBIC!

It’s that time of year again, when everyone gets to vote in the JABBIC Readers’ Choice contest!

What’s the JABBIC? It’s Judge A Book By Its Cover (JABBIC), a well-known contest run every year by the Houston Bay Area Chapter of Romance Writers of America. It’s a super fun way to see lots of book covers by genre: Contemporary Romance, Historical, Inspirational, Mainstream, Romantic Suspense, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal, Sexiest Cover, and Young Adult. [UPDATE: The JABBIC contest is, sadly, no longer held!]

This year I entered >four of my covers, all in the Historical Romance category:
Imperial Warriors: Two Scorching Tales of the Roman Empire
The Pleasure Device (Harwell Heirs Book 1)
Disobedience By Design (Harwell Heirs Book 2)
Where Destiny Plays (Harwell Heirs Book 3)

They are all on page 4 of the JABBIC Historical category listing, and I’d love your 5-star votes! Continue reading

Where Destiny Plays Finally Re-Released!

I am beyond excited to announce the re-release of Where Destiny Plays, Book 3 in my Victorian erotic romance series, The Harwell Heirs. I am even more excited to show off the new cover: Continue reading

Ex-EC Titles Re-Released: Part One #notchilled

The publisher Ellora’s Cave has been having problems for the last couple of years. They’ve had massive layoffs, late and missed payments to authors and contractors, then, when they sued a blogger for defamation, all hell broke loose. There was mudslinging and accusations and a boycott of Ellora’s Cave books led by some pretty powerful people in the field of romance. EC authors themselves begged their fans not to buy their EC books so they could request reversion of rights based on low sales.

I want to go beyond the negativity, the “don’t”-ness of a boycott, and instead explore positive actions to support authors still trapped in the EC quagmire. Let’s get some love for your favorite EC author!
— Buy non-EC books by your favorite EC author!
— Write a review for a non-EC book by your favorite EC author!
— Blog or post on social media about non-EC books by your favorite EC author!
— Recommend non-EC books by your favorite EC author to all your reader friends! Continue reading

Harwell Heirs: New Gorgeous Covers!

Today is a very special day for me! Today the rights for two of the books in my Victorian erotic romance Harwell Heirs series revert back to me. This means I can go forth and republish The Pleasure Device and Disobedience By Design! And part of that exciting process is getting new covers:

gorgeous Harwell Heirs series 1 and 2 covers Continue reading

The Harwell Heirs, Reverted

Rights reverted, that is…

A special announcement to fans of historical erotic romance! My Victorian series Harwell Heirs is currently in limbo. Rights for two of the three books are in the process of reverting to me. I’m preparing to re-launch the series in February 2016.

So, if you are looking for The Pleasure Device (Harwell Heirs Book 1) and Disobedience By Design (Harwell Heirs Book 2) they are not available at the moment! But hang on tight, because I’m editing the text (minor edits really, no changes to the story) and getting new covers made (I cannot wait to show you the new covers!!) in preparation for the relaunch.
Continue reading