Sunday, April 19th, 2009
Computer woes and other bits

Damn these freakin’ viruses and trojans and DNS hijacks! I had a nasty one in the computer earlier this month and it cost me 100 USD to get it cleaned out. Two weeks later, another one has come in and now it’s blocking the virus software from scanning the C and D drives of my computer. I just didn’t have another hundred to blow on it but thank goodness my brother-in-law is a computer tech person and he has agreed to clean it out for me tomorrow. I really am going to need to learn more about secure and insecure websites, etc. to eliminate the chances of getting this damned thing again. Nasty! I also downgraded back to Internet Explorer 7 from 8 because the problems began right after I upgraded. What was the point?

In other news, though, I’m nearing the finish of working Flying Fish. I’m pretty happy with it overall and hope it works out. Feudal Japan has got to be one of the most challenging genres to write in! But I felt after 30 episodes of Furin Kazan plus my detailed book on the Samurai, research on Kabuki including watching a video of a performace online, and all the other research I’ve done, I felt informed enough to tackle it. lol. In my perception, Genji has touches of Albin from La Cage Aux Folles.

Which, speaking of Furin Kazan, by episode 30 Gackt has come in as a major character, not just someone they show a couple of times to let you know he will be coming onto the scene. He’s really excellent as Kenshin Uesugi and quite luminous onscreen! I have to say, the more I watch of this series, the more enamored of it I become. It’s really wonderful and aside from Yamamoto Kansuke, the really amazing character is Takeda Harunobu. The actor who plays him (don’t know his name offhand) really must be one of the best actors around today. I highly recommend this show.



Friday, April 17th, 2009
Eek a snake!

I swear the place we live in in Georgia is on legs! I capture and release at least three to four spiders per day from inside the house or on the porch (one was a black widow) as well as the occasional millipede.

The topper was last weekend though. I’d gone outside just for a few minutes to spray some bleach on the terrace (we’re practically in a swamp and everything gets moldy). I went back onto the porch, started to push my feet back into my slippers and eek! A tiny snake wriggled out of my right slipper. Now, I was only off the porch for three minutes and had just been wearing the slippers, so you see how fast these things can happen. I don’t mind snakes at all, HOWEVER, this little guy was something poisonous with its diamond shaped head and venom sacs. I think I got lucky he didn’t bite. He was terrified and might have done that to defend himself. I escaped a near miss…Which means I live on to write some more naughty tales. For the moment.



Monday, April 13th, 2009
Hot new release – Kiss of the Werewolves

KISS OF THE WEREWOVES
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
ISBN eBook: 9781419920455
Genre: Werewolf; Menage (M/F/M);
Length: Novel
Release Date: April 8, 2009

Read an Excerpt | Order Now as eBook
Since he was bitten three years ago on the plains of Tibet, Jie Sing has fought back the ravening beast inside him. His attempts are unsuccessful…until the stars lead him to the woman destined to be his mate half a world away in Boston’s Chinatown. Fighting off a deadly rival to keep her, Jie finds that in Megan’s arms, their passion keeps the beast at bay and he remains with her, practicing the sexual Tao to regain his full humanity.

However, in the midst of their practice, Jie receives an urgent call from his godfather calling him back to China immediately — Jie’s ex-wife in Beijing has accused Jie of attacking her in the street and had him arrested. But that’s impossible, seeing as he’s in America with Meg. Who is this “twin” and why does Meg need to make love to both of them in order to solve the mystery?

And as if things were complicated enough, the eerie howling out on the plain signals more danger for him and Meg…



Saturday, April 4th, 2009
Sidetracked again! lol

I don’t know how this happened…actually I do. I forgot that one of my publishers asked me to write an historical a few weeks back. I agreed. It’s so flattering to be wanted. lol and they are wonderful to write for. Anyway, I’d been trying to finish up these other projects first, not knowing that there was actually a deadline when this historical needed to be in.

Soooo, that means, I’m writing one in the next six weeks! Of course, it can’t be a long book in six weeks, but a novella is just right. I’ve had this m/m samurai thing kicking around in my mind for a while and so this is the opportunity to develop it. I don’t have a title so far but the story involves a ronin and travelling kabuki actor who meet at a hotspring and well, you can imagine what happens from there. I will be posting a blurb and sneak peek as soon as I possibly can.



Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Making progress…finally!

After dragging my feet for two years now on Fantasy Thief I’m finally almost to 13k with a final word count goal of 30k. I do have a specific place for it, but that will be for later.

I have been so hooked on writing M/M that I let this piece fall by the wayside, but I’m enjoying it now. I made some changes to the initial draft that rendered the characters deeper and sweeter to me. Once I like my characters, I can get into a writing groove and let the story come out. Once that’s finished, I certainly intend to continue with the M/M I started a few weeks ago. See you later and thanks for visiting.



Monday, March 30th, 2009
Available today – Men of Tokyo: Sudden Heat!

Publisher: Total-E-Bound
eISBN: 978-1-907010-09-5
Genre: LGBT; Contemporary
Series: White Tigers #5
Release Date: March 30, 2009

Order Now as eBook at Total-E-Bound
A weekend of passionate sex with a master White Tiger changes the course of Hiru’s life forever…

Since an injury cut short his career as a champion martial artist, Hiru has lived a quiet dutiful life consumed mostly by his job and his ever-unsuccessful attempts to meet a woman. When his best friend and co-worker, Koji, finds love and happiness…with a man…and leaves the firm to pursue a new life, Hiru misses Koji so much he begins to suspect his difficulty with women is something other than he thought.

Maybe…just maybe…he wants men too? Well, there’s only one way to find out – stay at the White Tiger, Tokyo’s most luxurious love-hotel for gay men and be massaged, caressed and…more by Quan Chan, one of Koji’s incredibly handsome fellow White Tigers.

Quan Chan is still nursing a broken heart when he’s asked to attend to Koji’s friend Hiru. So he’s completely unprepared for his sudden intense attraction to Hiru’s boyish good looks and incredible brawny physique. Hiru is like a human supply of catnip to the White Tiger inside him. All Quan Chan wants to do is purr and rub up against the other man. In spite of the temptation that awaits him back in Shanghai, Quan Chan spends an incredible weekend with Hiru, an encounter that launches him into ecstasy for the first time in what feels like forever.

However, when circumstances force Quan Chan back to Shanghai without the promise of return, the connection between him and Hiru proves stronger than a simple weekend of pleasurable exploration and Quan Chan finds himself suspended between Hiru and Wu Li, the most alluring and sensuous young man in Shanghai, a Golden Dragon, said to launch a man into bliss by a mere glance.

Back in Tokyo, Hiru feels Quan Chan slipping away from him. All he can do is follow his heart and hope it’s not too late…



Friday, March 27th, 2009
Yay! Good news!

This book has been available at Loose Id since October 2005 and has been one of my most popular titles. And NOW, it’s finally going to print! Yay! I don’t know exactly when that will happen but you know me, I will definitely be shouting it out when that happens.

Other good news:

Men of Tokyo: Sudden Heat releases this coming Monday, March 30, at Total-E-Bound! I’m really excited about this release.

Annnnnnddd….
After a couple of starts and stops because of glitches, I’m very ecstatic to announce that Men of Tokyo: Sudden Bliss and Men of Phuket: Tongue-Thai’d will once again be available in print! Of course, you will be among the first to know when this event occurs, probably within the next 6 weeks or so. Which means that at some point in the future, the other White Tigers books will come into print as well. I absolutely can’t wait. Especially since, as you know if you read the previous post, I sold my last copy of Tongu-Thai’d and so have none left.

I wish there could always be good news like this!



Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Funny and cool incident with a book

Finally after a long while, I have a chance to update here. I’ve been so busy with one thing after the next that I’ve not had time to write anything more extensive than a grocery list for the past ten days or so! I hope to get back to it soon even though life seems to have other plans for me at the moment. lol.

Anyway, today I was in the waiting room of the doctor’s office (my boyfriend had to have a catscan on his ribs due to a falling off a ladder incident a couple of days ago – he’s actually really okay, just checking to make sure) and a woman was there, waiting for her husband. She was chatting with me and Mitch and he told her what I do (Mitch is so sweet – he brags to everyone about my writing) and I just happened to have one of my books with me (the one pictured above) because as some of you might know, I’m narcissistic that way and love to read my own books. So I said, “this is one of my books.” I figured she’d take a look and probably be turned off by it since not everyone is into M/M erotic romance.

Well, after a couple of minutes she turned to me and said, “Can I buy this from you?” That was completely unexpected! So, she bought the book from me right there in the doctor’s office (it was one of the ones that is supposed to be sold anyway) and I signed it for her. She stuck it in her bag and said, “I’m not going to show this to my husband.” I hope she enjoys it! In any case, it was a nice thing in the midst of a trying and verrrry long day!



Monday, March 16th, 2009
Latest sale, yay! (And yummy excerpt)

I sold Barely Covered to Ellora’s Cave. Yay! I’m especially glad since it’s the pre-quel to Barely Undercover which came out in December 2007. And so, now that it’s ready, I can give you the full blurb and a proper excerpt. Hope you like it!

Blurb:
Lured to Club Moritz and then stood up by a spiteful about-to-be ex boyfriend, Boston homicide detective Frank Kazaminsky does not want to stand around alone in a gay strip club…that is…until the next act comes onto the stage. Damien is the hottest guy Kaz has ever laid eyes on and he watches, completely mesmerized, as Damiens strips down to a scanty g-string.

Unfortunately, Kaz isn’t the only one who lusts after Damien’s luscious body. Another audience member wants Damien, whether Damien is willing or not and Kaz is the one who comes to Damien’s rescue. Damien is grateful for Kaz’s intervention and finds in Kaz the first person who’s ever defended him in his life. And Damien has needed protecting in the past, desperately. The attraction between them is mutual and flares into lustful, delicious passion. However, the next morning, when Damien’s attacker turns up dead, Kaz is worried that his roughing up of the man has caused the death. Is he the killer? Or is it someone else?

Kaz must find out quickly, before the trail goes cold. Otherwise, Damien will go from being the love of Kaz’s life to the top of his list of suspects.

Excerpt:
“And now, gentlemen,” the announcer said over the cheering crowd gathered in front of the dance platform, “Pure hard-on material is coming onto the stage in two seconds. Get ready to drool, guys and give a warm welcome to…Damien!”

The crowd went wild, arms raised, practically rushing the stage. The sinewy, erotically-driven beat of Berlin’s Sex started playing and colored lights blinked rapidly from one side of the platform to the other, making a light show in the center of the stage.

The press of the crowd forced Kaz back toward the wall. Oh well. He decided not to jostle his way out and instead, leaned against the sidewall, avoiding the crush of horny guys waving bills. This Damien guy seemed pretty popular, having roused the biggest cheers of the night so far. With an eye to the stage, Kaz took a sip of his Perrier, his cop instincts having told him to remain sober from the second he’d walked into the place. Club Moritz might be Boston’s premier gay strip club, brawny bouncers and all, but there was a feeling here Kaz didn’t like. Something smarmy that had nothing to do with…

The spotlight panned to the far side of the stage where one arm appeared from the dark shadows. The mere sight roused another round of cheers, whoops and hollers. Kaz sipped his mineral water again. Theatrics had never impressed him.

“Come on! Get the hell out here!” someone nearby shouted.

Kaz’s gaze jerked to the owner of the voice, a big blond steroid monster in jeans and a T-shirt, drunk off his ass. Probably high too. Kaz had seen his type not make it into the police academy. Too much pumping iron mixed with steroid injections had drained all the blood from his brain. Kaz was big too, but being brawny didn’t mean you had to be a shithead. Had Kaz not been off-duty, he would have gone over there and questioned him in suspicion of being under the influence.

More cheers drew Kaz’s attention back to the stage. This Damien guy was in full view now.

Whoa. Kaz’s heart lurched. He lifted away from the wall and stared at the man, gaze glued to a strip of sinewy chest and abs just visible between the flaps of a billowy white shirt. Sweat gleamed on Damien’s skin and on the soft hairs glinting on his pecs. Kaz swallowed hard and he gaped openly at the treasure trail funneling down the center of Damien’s abs.

Damien moved then, flipping his head back. That drew Kaz’s look back up. Shaggy hair, the color hard to discern under the multi-colored lights, framed Damien’s chiseled face. Damien wore a big sexy smile and his large eyes flashed with promise. Wow, those were some eyes, heavy-lidded yet full of life.

That wasn’t all, Kaz noticed, scanning the guy’s face as Damien drew closer to his side of the stage. Damien’s face was movie-star perfection—softly sculpted lips, straight nose with one small bump, gleaming white teeth, right down to a tantalizing cleft in his perfect chin. As he danced across the stage and turned his back, his body-hugging black pants, shiny and smooth, set off his hard round ass so perfectly, it almost appeared they were painted on. When he slunk back around to face the audience, those shiny pants did the same for that perfectly outlined package in front.

Hot damn. Kaz’s mouth began to water. If Damien was supposed to make a guy drool and want to fit that cock in his mouth, he was succeeding.

The beat of the song thumped through the air, made the ground vibrate, a backdrop to the jeers and catcalls of the nearly all male audience. Damien danced back toward the middle where he halted in center stage, took hold of either side of his shirt and yanked it open.

That tiny move earned another round of testosterone-filled yells. Kaz could only stare, frozen as Damien slipped one arm of the shirt partway down, exposing a muscled shoulder. In time to the music, he wound his hips and then his upper body, making the shirt fall open just enough to reveal a coin-sized nipple.

Hot blood pumped suddenly through Kaz’s chest and gut, right down into his cock. He’d been watching hot guys strip up there for the last half hour or so, but this Damien guy…

“Get those fucking pants off!” ‘Roid monster’s drunken jeer sounded over the rest of the crowd.

What a frigging douche bag. For some strange reason, Kaz found himself hoping Damien hadn’t heard the lewd remark.

If Damien heard the guy, he gave no indication. He was busy teasing the crowd, whipping them into a froth. Slowly, sensuously, he lowered the other arm of his shirt, exposing both shoulders, his chest, and part of his chiseled abs. All the while, those slim hips never stopped winding.

Kaz blinked. When he opened his eyes, Damien’s shirt was off his torso and flying into the crowd, into a sea of reaching hands where it disappeared. Kaz salivated some more, wishing he’d caught the shirt. The urge to press it to his face and breathe in Damien’s scent seized him.

Shit! What the hell was going on with him? Since when did he want to smell a guy he’d never met?

There wasn’t time to wonder about it. Damien’s whole upper body showed now. The spotlight overtook the multi-hued lights, giving Kaz a glimpse of Damien’s real coloring. Hair, a rich chestnut. Skin tanned, nipples the color of warm cinnamon. And eyes…Damien turned and wound his way downstage again, in Kaz’s direction, making Kaz especially grateful then for his hawk-like eyesight…eyes a rich shade of green.

The guy was magnificent.

Kaz’s heartbeat sped up and heat simmered between his t-shirt and skin. Even the blond ‘roid monster’s lewd yelling close by faded into the background as Damien continued to dance.

Hands locked behind his head, Damien ground his hips in sensual circles, turning front and back, driving his audience to a pitch. Dollar bills cascaded through the air at him, showering the stage like paper rain.

Damien’s face broke into a wide, dazzling grin. He halted, both hands on one side of his waist.

The crowd roared.

Kaz gulped. Damien was working open his pants from the side. The black material had hidden a zipper that…inch by inch, Kaz could see ran the length of Damien’s leg.

Slowly, torturously, in time to the sinuous beat of the music, Damien lowered the zipper.

Kaz shook himself. When had he started panting? Good thing the guys around him were at least as worked up as he was, caring only about watching the sex god on the stage as he revealed one sloping hard thigh. Bit by bit the material fell away. Damien pivoted quickly, concealing his front from the crowd. They cheered and hooted. Damien rewarded them with a round of his hips and staccato flexing of his perfect, round ass cheeks, separated only by a g-string up the crevice.

Hot damn. No wonder the crowd had gone wild when the announcer had told them who was dancing next. Kaz’s mouth went dry now. Never in his adult life had he wanted to tongue a guy’s ass as badly as he wanted to right this second. And yet, when Damien turned back to the front, Kaz found his gaze roving upward, wanting to look into Damien’s eyes again. There was something to him, a sparkle.

“Fucking hot!”

Kaz turned. The blond asshole again. The guy was practically slobbering all over himself, a glazed look in his eyes while he stared at Damien. So—that was the source of smarminess Kaz had gotten when he walked in. This guy, right here, a few feet away from him. Kaz watched him, sizing him up, the way his police training had taught him. A big part of his instruction had been learning to trust his instincts. This character was trouble.

Then Kaz thought of something else. Had he, himself, been staring at Damien this way? He hoped not. And why did he suddenly feel so protective of Damien? The guy was hot as hell, obviously in control of his body and of the bodies around him. He could take care of himself.

Feeling chastened, Kaz tried to turn and couldn’t. He dared to let himself look up at the stage again. And felt a jolt right through his middle. The heat travelled right to the head of his cock.



Friday, March 13th, 2009
Today’s hunk – Christian Cooke

I don’t know about you but I find him adorable. We recently started watching “Demons” on the BBC, a sort of British Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of guy.

I enjoy it a lot and don’t care if the theme’s been done beforeI mean, let’s face it, if overdone themes were going to be put out of commission, I’d be in trouble. As a romance writer, I always need to take those themes and recycle them in my own voice and with my own characters. It seems that if a theme is done well, as I feel is done in “Demons,” then it doesn’t matter if it’s been done before. Vampires and the people who slay them (and other demons and the people who slay them) can always ben interesting as long as the characters are interesting and well done.