Sedonia Guillone

It happened much faster than I thought! It’s available now at Amazon. Yay! I love when this happens.

Blurb:
In desperation for his life, Yuzo Kitano escapes the sadistic clutches of Taro Suzuki, one of Tokyo’s fiercest yakuza, and seeks refuge with Suzuki’s arch-rival, Kikuchiya Fujimara, owner of the White Tiger, a luxurious love-hotel for gay men which also serves as a spiritual community for its inhabitants. From early meetings with the handsome, charismatic leader who trains men in the sexual Tao, Yuzo senses deep inside he’s found someone he can trust and who will keep him safe. What he doesn’t expect is the absolute sensual bliss he finds with Kikuchiya’s skilled lovemaking and realises he’s found what he’s really wanted his whole life. But does Kiku want him in return? At first, Kiku sees only Yuzo’s alluring beauty and desperate need for protection. But the headstrong impulsive Yuzo is also the first man Kiku has ever met whose touch is healing and calming for him, rather than a distressing channel for his psychic abilities, and the more he makes love to Yuzo, the more Kiku is in danger of losing his heart to another for the first time in his life. However, Kiku also knows that when Suzuki finds out where his slave has gone, there will be hell to pay. Kiku has already made one harrowing sacrifice to the yakuza in return for his freedom and might not survive a second…

I was just on Amazon and happy to find that the page for Men of Tokyo: Sudden Surrender has been posted in preparation for the print release on JULY 6th. Yay!!! That’s really only a few days away. I’m really excited and can’t wait to actually hold the book in my hand.

And in e-book format, Flying Fish releases next Tuesday, I guess that makes it July 8th. So next week is going to be an exciting one in terms of book releases.

Just finished a second round of edits for this book. It took much much much less time than before because I had soooo much work to do on the first round, what with interviewing the homicide detective and all. I must say that it gave me the time I needed to fall more in love with my characters. This always makes the story so much better.

And so, it’s on to finish Fallon’s Jewel which is now almost to 17k. The romance is heating up nicely between Kenji and Fallon, as is the mystery of Kenji’s true identity. Will who he really is be a permanent barrier between him and Fallon? The mystery goes on…

And I have begun writing the samurai story – a murder mystery in which the hot romance blooms between the samurai policeman and the blind masseur who gives him the experience he needs to go undercover as an anma and nab the murderer. When I write a murder mystery, I always bit off a much bigger piece than I can chew at one time, but I can’t resist. It’s so much fun to write, especially set in a period I find so fascinating. I think the working title for the moment on this piece will be Blind Passion, not only referring to the blindness but also the nature of the murder. I like titles that convey double entendres.

I’m back at work doing research for my latest M/M samurai erotic romance which is also a murder mystery. However, when it comes to an historical, much research is required. I’m learning all I can about the Tokugawa Shogunate, the last period of feudal Japan before the samurai class was abolished in the late 19th century.

The working title I have is Blind Passion and the romance centers around a samurai police man and a blind masseur. I will give more details, a blurb and a teaser as soon as I’ve written enough to have a teaser to show you. However, right now, I’m educating myself on the vast and complex bureaucracy of the Tokugawa shogunate, the structure of Edo (now Tokyo) as well as the nuts and bolts of the particular brand of police work my character will be doing. I actually love doing research and am excited about this project. Like I said, I will tell you more as it develops…

I just wanted to share this sweet review I got from a fellow erotic romance author, Janice Irving.

Some books when you read them are such a pleasure that you savor the experience. This was what I felt reading Sudden Bliss. At first, the story seems deceptively simple. An overworked man is forced to take a vacation, but on impulse, he visits a love hotel for men, giving into the forbidden side of himself for the first time.

Koji is weighed down by the responsibility of his job, but as he reveals himself to his skillful caregiver, Naoto, the pain behind his life choices opens like a camelia blossom, slowly unfolding.

In fact, I often thought of Japanese flowers while reading this and about the hidden fire under the surface. The lovemaking is incredibly sensual and healing, since both men are wounded.

Trust me, when you are feeling bad, this is the kind of story to curl up with. Like bringing a branch of cherry blossoms into your house in February and watching them bloom early, it takes you into another space.

Thank you so much!

As some of you already know from earlier posts, I’m a total fan of Qiu Xiaolong’s Inspecter Chen series. I just finished his latest one, The Mao Case yesterday after finally having snagged it out of the local library.

I stumbled upon this wonderful set of murder mysteries in the same library when the cover for Red Mandarin Dress (the book just before this one, I believe) caught my eye. I read the blurb, took it home and hot immediately hooked. I’ve since read all of them except for When Red Is Black of which I own a copy and am keeping it on reserve so that I will not have finished all of them yet. A strange habit of mine with books I love. I’m doing the same with Howard Fast’s famous Masao Masuto detective series.

One of the things I love most about Qiu’s series are the supporting characters, his partner Detective Yu and Yu’s wife, Peiqin who helps them on their cases at times. What I love about these two characters is the relationship they have with each other. Being a romance author, I would appreciate this part. We learn in an earlier story that Yu and Peiqin were “Educated Youths” during the ’70s when middle class high school students in China were sent to the countryside to learn to work the land from the peasans. Yu and Peiqin’s parents had arranged for the two of them to look after each other. They were out in the countryside together for ten years during which they fell in love and then married when they returned to the city. Their relationship is very sweet and they have the kind of partnership I believe most people would want in life.

As usual, this latest case of Inspector Chen’s has him investigating a politically sensitive issue concerning the past life of Chairman Mao who, it’s revealed, pulled some real King Henry the VIII moves to get rid of one woman when he wanted the next one. As usual, there are twists and turns and a surprise ending, in which a bad thing happens that weighs heavily on Inspector Chen’s conscience. (No spoilers, I promise.)

This is where my being an erotic romance author colors how I see other books, I suppose. While I totally recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a good murder mystery with very likeable characters, it occurred to me that poor Chief Inspector Chen is really deprived. Here he is, a handsome, virile man in his mid-thirties and in all the time that’s passed during this series, the poor man has only had sex once! The scene was erotic and beautifully written, but really, I just feel so badly for the man. He’s hard working, honorable and devoted. Women are falling for him all over the place and he manages to resist temptation right and left. Instead, he has to smoke one cigarette after the next and sublimate with food. (Each book has numerous scenes of vividly drawn banquets and meals, which make you want to eat your way through Shanghai and then onto the rest of China.) You know if I were writing this, he would have had several more encounters at least and end up with someone.

It may sound like a criticism of the book. It’s not at all. It’s just a thought that occurred to me after following this series and getting to know and like the character. Well, hopefully, Qiu Xiaolong will write more of these and at some point, Chan Cao will have some romance.

After more than two years of working on Fantasy Thief, putting it off again, picking away, on off on off, I finally have finished writing it this past minute and sent to my editor! Yay! God bless her, she is certainly patient with me, lol!!

If you need a visual for the hero, Tim Kang comes the closest I’d say.

In any case, it’s after two in the morning, I have a cold or flu or some kind of pesky bug and probably should get some sleep. Now I can move on to finishing up that queue that’s been building up…

Talk soon.

Anne Cain has done it again! She really rocks and her art gets better all the time. She couldn’t have made this a better cover and I just want to stare at it all day. *sigh* She really did capture the essence of the story with this one and I have to say it’s one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever gotten, if not the most beautiful.

Finally finished edits for this one this morning. I had to write in another sex scene which I did, in a shower – a milieu I enjoy writing about in my books, and then sent it in to my editor.

I plan to pick up with Fallon’s Jewel now. It’s impossible for me to pick up a work-in-progress while I’m in edit land. They’re completely different modes of thought. Still, however, in spite of the spurt of inspiration for storylines, the writing is much slower than I’m used to. It just seems I don’t have as much energy for it and I often have to rely on discipline to get myself to sit down and type. Not that I don’t love writing. It has nothing to do with that. I love writing and I love my characters and stories. I guess things happen in life that divert the energy elsewhere. I used to be quite the workhorse, pumping out one book after the next. Who knows? Maybe that will happen again.

As a nice diversion, however, I’m reading the next installment of the Inspector Chen series I love so much by Qiu Xiaolong. The Mao Case. I’m sure it’s wonderful, I’ve only just begun. I only have one other book left of this series after this, so I’m making it last.

Other than that, I eagerly await the cover for Flying Fish which comes out in early July. I can’t wait to see what the cover artist – whoever it is – comes up with. Of course, I’ll post it as soon as it’s available.

Still in edit land on this one. I guess when a story is heavy on police procedural, it takes longer to make sure the details are right.

I spoke to a detective sergeant in homicide at the Boston Police Department for over an hour this morning and he told me so much. He’s been there since the 80s so he was incredibly helpful. It was also my first live interview doing research for a book. I have to say, I was shy about calling at first but it was really fun to conduct a research interview.

That said, I hope to get edits wrapped up this week so I can get going on my new m/m in progress. I will post about that on my next blog update. Talk to you soon and thanks for visiting! I really appreciate it!! Sedonia