Contest at the Cafe!

I'm doing an impromptu contest over at Samhaincafe today, but any of you regular readers want to enter, go ahead and leave a comment here. Winner gets a digital copy of their choice of one of my four Samhain books. :)

ETA: Contest open until Sunday, 8:00 pm Pacific.

First review's in

The Chancellor's Bride scored with Katie Seely at ParaNormal Romance. Though reviews on that site tend to be brief, I'm damn happy with this bit:

"A scorching hot love triangle!"

And this bit:

"I highly recommend this book, but please remember to keep a fan handy. You're going to need it."

Heck, if that isn't enough to tempt a couple of people to enter my poor, neglected, past-its-prime pick-up line contest, I don't know what will. :D

August Excerpt Monday!

Time for yet another Excerpt Monday. This week, for lack of anything more timely, it's a snippet from my recent Samhain release, The Chancellor's Bride (m/m/f polyamorous erotic fantasy romance), which is selling like whoa and like damn at MBaM (but could always do better *ahem*).

And miracle of miracles, this excerpt is actually clean enough for my mom to read (if she were so inclined), but hopefully intriguing enough to, uh...intrigue you all. Yeah, so I used "intrigue" twice in the same sentence. It's late. Go ahead and sue me, I dare ya.

Hope you guys enjoy it. If you do, and you want a copy for nothing but a cheesy pick-up line, allow me to direct you to my currently stagnating cheesy pick-up line contest. Because the stagnant cheese is getting a little ripe--as stagnant cheese will--and all I need is a few more entries and I can wrap that baby up. :)

In other news, I am not in the nuthouse just yet. Ask me again in a week.

Today's the day...

Bound by Steel releases in print! Yay!

To celebrate, I decree a contest! I'm giving away a copy or two, signed by moi and shipped (knowing my tendencies to procrastinate and forget stuff) within a month of announcing winners.

For this contest, I want you all to compose a haiku, limerick or free form poem based on the following blurb:

A night of brutality destroyed her innocence…can the love of two people heal her wounded spirit?

“I’ve been thinking about Kaela…”

There they are—the words that lead Gil to suspect his wife Lianon is falling in love with Kaela, the beautiful, traumatized young woman they rescued from certain death six months ago. Gil has no idea how to compete with a woman for his wife’s affections, and part of him ceases to care as Kaela begins to work her way under his skin.

Kaela’s sweet innocence fills a chasm in Lianon’s soul she hadn’t even realized was there. As she gently helps Kaela rebuild her shattered confidence, Lianon begins to believe healing the young woman’s wounded spirit could be the key to wholeness for all three of them. If Gil agrees to follow her lead and help Kaela discover her own feminine power.

But even as they all succumb to their growing desire, Gil and Lianon are drawn against their will back into the intrigues and vendettas of Belthalas’ elite. With Lianon’s life at stake, Gil must weave a dangerous path between one adversary’s ambition and another’s lust for vengeance.
Success will save Lianon…but could cost them Kaela.

Product Warnings
This title includes explicit sex, including f/f, m/m, m/f/f, anal sex; bad language; questionable politics; violence; stringy, overcooked lamb; a dog with a major drool problem; and one seriously well-deserved comeuppance.

Haiku example:

Help! What do I do?
Wife's hot for the housekeeper.
What the heck--I'm in.

Limerick example:

A couple named Gil and Lianon
Adored one another, until anon
Kaela watched their lovemaking
And after partaking
Required a bigger bed to slumber on.

All right, pretty lame, but I'm sure you all can do better. Do your best, do your worst, gimme lolcatspeak if you like. It's all good. Winner gets a signed copy.

I'm not going to post a deadline just yet, but I expect to announce a winner within a week or two, depending on how many entries I get.

:)

ETA: CONTEST CLOSED, WINNER ANNOUNCED

if it doesn't rain...

I'm currently on the road on an emergency trip to help a friend, and won't be around until late tonight. And it's release day. Oy.

As far as The Chancellor's Bride goes, how about you all think up some goofy pick-up lines two men would use to woo a reluctant woman into their bed? Make them funny. Make them lolcat. Whatever. Leave as many as you like in the comments. Winner gets a copy.

No time for more--gotta check out and hit the ground running. Next stop, Canadian border. In four hours...

Oy.

ETA: I'm home, got in late last night. Will be around off and on today because I have to work. Oh, and I already got an email from a reader telling me how much they loved the book--how's that for fast? I'm pretty stoked. Hugs. :)

ETA: CONTEST CLOSED, WINNER ANNOUNCED

Excerpt Monday July

It's time for Excerpt Monday once again, when authors post odds and sods from their published work, upcoming releases and works in progress. As promised, I've prepared a little taste of Vessel, my new f/f/m fantasy romance, for you all.

This story is completely unrelated to all my other work, set in a different made-up-by-me universe with characters I'm already starting to adore. I'm planning to submit it to Ellora's Cave, and I'm crossing my fingers that they'll like it. It would be totally blammo to be one of the first authors in a long while to place a book with them that features some of the hot girl-on-girl(-on-guy) action.

And dang, is this book gonna have loads of that. This will be a true f/f/m polyamorous romance, similar to Bound by Steel. All three characters get in on the bed stuff, and all three get to share the happily ever after. The story's 18 ooo words in and almost writing itself. The complications, they abound. The ironies, they are suitably...ironic. The thwarted love, it is soon to be requited and then some. All that good stuff.

And fortunately for my mom, this particular excerpt is PG. Yup, mom's got the green light to go have a peek. Sorry to disappoint the rest of you. :P

Summer Reading Trail: July

From the Trail Head at VoireyLinger.com:

Follow this trail and discover great new writers this summer. These free reads include short stories, serial installments, deleted scenes and book excerpts from published and unpublished authors. This trail will run from the beginning of June through the end of September, and stops will be updated on the first of every month, so you can enjoy a summer of reading. You are encouraged to explore authors' websites and blogs, to take a moment to leave them a comment and to bookmark sites and visit often.

My own contribution to the July Trail is a brief erotic scene (m/m, f/f(/m)) connected to my upcoming release, The Chancellor's Bride. This particular scene does not appear in the novel--in fact, this will be the only place you'll be able to read it until (unless?) I get my butt in gear and write the rest of the story.

From the moment I wrote Collin and Harral's characters in Bound by Steel, I was determined to give them their own story, and that's what I did in The Chancellor's Bride. But when C's B begins, Col and Harral are already an established couple. Part of me still wanted to explore the very beginning of their relationship, that initial spark that drew them to one another. I wrote their first meeting a few months ago with the intention of posting it as a free read as release day approached. The July Trail gave me a great opportunity to do that.

Hope you all enjoy! And don't forget to follow the trail and read more stuff by some great writers!

Excerpt Monday!

It's once again time for Excerpt Monday, folks. This month, I've posted a steamy bit from The Chancellor's Bride, so if you all want a sneak peak, go look.

For some more steamy excerpts, try:

Evie Byrne, Historical Romance (R)
Aislinn Kerry, Paranormal (R)
Kim Knox, Erotic- Sci-fi Suspense (R)
Ella Drake, Sci-Fi Romance (NC 17)
Annie Nicholas, Sci-Fi Romance (NC 17)

Or go tp the Excerpt Monday site!

I promised a contest...

...and a contest ye shall have.

In honor of the print release of my second book, Healer's Touch (40% sex/volume), I am asking, nay, demanding you all come up with some brilliant diamonds of lolcatesque wit in my "Caption that Cover" contest. And no, I did not steal this idea from the Smart Bitches' post of yesterday--allow me to direct your attention to exhibit A, my comment timestamped 9:26 AM, May 27. Hah! In their faces! In fact, I bet those Bitches have been lurking around here and stole the idea from me! But I'll get them, don't you worry. And when I do--

*ahem*

As I was saying, I want lolcatspeak, and I want funny. And I know you all can deliver it. Enter as many captions as you like, and the winner will get a signed copy of the title in question.

Here's the blurb, for your edification:

She’s determined to break his eight centuries of celibacy—at any cost!

Darjhian healer Aru has been in exile for eight hundred years, barred from the Deathless Land and parted from his wife. Now fallen from grace and no longer immortal, he can never return to her.

Yet he cleaves to his marriage vow and holds himself apart from everyone—especially Viera, the former prostitute whose sexual energy provides the power needed for his healing work. She presents a temptation he must constantly hold at bay if he’s to keep to his vow.

Viera isn’t interested in fighting temptation. She wants Aru. He wants her. What could be simpler? After three frustrating months working with him, her need for him has reached the breaking point. He claims he can never touch a woman again, but Viera isn’t the type to take no for an answer.

Over four glorious nights, she shows Aru everything he’s denied himself for eight centuries. But a shadow hangs over their passion. Aru is keeping secrets about the nature of his mortality. And now he faces a terrible choice…

Break Viera’s heart, or risk destroying her with the knowledge of what he truly is.

Product Warnings

This title contains: graphic sex, including anal sex, f/f and m/f/f; bad language; inappropriate use of a kitchen work surface; flagrant tickling of ivory; and a wagon-load of good, old-fashioned voyeurism.

Deadline for entries is Wednesday the 10th at 11:59 PM.

Excerpt Monday!

It's Excerpt Monday again, that day when a bunch of us share links to excerpts from contracted work, released books or WIPs. Everyone who's playing this month will be posting five links to excerpts by other authors. My own is to a snippet from the work in progress you can see in my sidebar. I've picked 5 authors who all write similar genres with similar heat levels.

Kirsten Saell, Erotic Romance/Fantasy (NC-17)

Ella Drake Erotic Paranormal Romance (NC-17)

Ainslinn Kerry, Paramornal Romance (R)

Elise Logan, Paranormal/contemporary (R)

Vivienne Westlake, Historical Erotica (R)

Kate Willoughby Fantasy/Paranormal Erotic Romance (NC-17)

Want more? The Excerpt Monday site has a buttload of links to a ton of talented authors. Yay!

Happy Monday everyone!

Excerpt Monday!

It's excerpt Monday at Romance Divas, where promo-minded Divas have provided links to snippets from WIPs, contracted works and soon-to-be-released books. I posted the link to my own Chancellor's Bride--and FYI, I've also put up three new excerpts for works in progress on the Free Reads page of my website, if you all are interested in what I'm working on.

Go. Read. Have some fun.

Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin (with poll)
Cami’s First Kiss by Bria Quinlan
Excerpt Monday by Mel B (silentdreamer)
A Halloween Novella by Vivienne Westlake
Monday Excerpt by Maureen McCarrie
Monday Excerpt by Crista McHugh
Another Time, Another Place by T. Sue Versteeg
Monday Excerpt by Kinsey Holly
Del Fantasma by Becca Sheridan-Furrow
The Chancellor’s Bride by Kirsten Saell (Excerpt rating: PG, Site Rating: NC-17)
Scenting Cinnamon by Ella Drake (Rating: NC-17)
Asking for It by Kate Willoughby (Rating: PG-13)
21st Century Courtesan by Eden Bradley (Rating: Adult)
Excerpt Monday by Evie Byrne (Excerpt rating: PG, Site Rating: NC-17)
A Run for the Money by Gina Ardito
The Scroll Thief by R.F. Long
Resisting Kane by Stephanie Adkins
Inheritance by Lynne Chandler
The Encounter by Rose London (Rating: Adult)
Dying Embers by B.E. Sanderson
More than Magic by Babette James
First in the Soulguard series by Amber Gilchrist

Read an Ebook Week

More than a day late, and a few bucks short, I'm here to remind you folks that it's Read an Ebook Week. Now, for me, pretty much every week is Read an Ebook Week, but for some of y'all, not so much (which is why I picked a publisher who also does print).

I'm not going to bore you all by sermonizing on why ebooks are totally blammo. If you're here, even if you're the type who swears you'll give up print books when someone pries them from your cold, dead fingers, you can probably list many of the benefits of digital books. What I am going to do is tell you to head over to ShannonC's website and check out her author interviews here, here and here. Being the glutton for punishment *ahem*, I mean dedicated ebook fan and supportive buddy that she is, she asked me to participate, as well, and my interview will be up tomorrow. For any of you who haven't yet given my books a go, she'll be giving away one of mine to one lucky commentor, yay!

You might also note that she mentions Crossing Swords in her romance book meme, as one book she wished she had written. I don't think I could find a better compliment anywere. Thanks, babe. :)

Cheers.

ETA: My interview is up. :)


There. I blogged. Happy now, Seeley? :P

It's the big day!!! (and a contest, too)

...and I've been doing pretty much nothing.

Okay, not true. I finished a short story I started last night--a 3000 word contemp erotica written in the present tense and first/second person POV. Totally not my thing, but I was... inspired. *ahem* I'll post it later in the week once I've polished it up.

I've also been wracking my brain for contest ideas. I so wanted to come up with something silly for you all to do to qualify, but then this post at Dear Author got me thinking about revenge and whether it's a trope that's attractive on a woman. I mean, revenge--like a crisp, white dress shirt--almost always looks good on a man. Considering some of the themes in Crossing Swords, I kinda thought the discussion was applicable.

So here's what you all have to do for your big chance to win a signed copy of my very first published book: Just tell me in the comments what you love/hate about revenge plots in romance. It can be a simple as"ZOMG, I love them!" or "I hate them because men are jerks," (and frankly you won't get much argument from me on the second one, these days, heh), or a detailed analysis of what kinds of plots work for you and which don't. Just gimme something. Anything.

Deadline is Friday, Jan 30, winner announced by Monday.

Just do it. You know you want to.

Just a couple of things...

Today is your last chance to get in on Amy's contest over at Romance Book Wyrm and have a chance to win one of these babies.


And believe me, they're even more gawgeous in person than they are on a screen.

Tomorrow is the big day for Crossing Swords. Out of the nest it goes to either fly or plummet. I'll be at SamhainCafe on the 28th, posting excerpts and generally making a pest of myself (yeah, what else is new?), although I'll also be working, so if anyone sees my boss coming, the signal is the call of a screech owl, followed by hollering "tippy-toe" three times. I'm thinking I'll probably do a bit of a contest myself, although I'll have to think up some fun and embarrassing things to make you all do to qualify. Hmmm....


Also, I've finished proofing my galley copy of Healer's Touch (only two real errors that I could find, and just a few other things to change. Yes, my editor and I are just that good. LOL). It's scheduled to release in print the third week of June, woot! AND, just Wednesday (the day I wrestled my dryer into submission and made it my bitch, I ROCK!!), I opened my email and found the galley for Bound by Steel. It's scheduled to hit print in August. So it's gonna be one happy summer for me, yay!


Also, FYI, the word-meter down aways and to the right-------> is a lying liar, and I'm too lazy to beat the truth out of it, so I'll just update you all here. Chancellor's Bride is currently sitting at 56 500 words, and I've rejiggered the estimated word count when complete to about 65k. So it's nearly 85% done. Perhaps it will even be finished in time to get under contract before my galley for BbS is due, so it can make it onto the Coming Soon page. Although, as I've discovered with this book in particular, holding my breath is kind of bad for my health.


So that's it for now. I'll see you all back here tomorrow, when I will hopefully hear the delightful flutter of little, baby wings, rather than the whistle-thud-kaboom of a falling bomb. :D

Guest Author at LVLM

Dudes! Author and fellow Samhellion Anne Rainey is over at Loving Venus- Loving Mars, talking about her new Samhain release, Burn.

It's all about the hot girl-on-girl-on-guy action, plus there's a $10 Amazon GC up for grabs, too! Head on over and leave a comment for a chance to win.

Just do it. Doooooo eeeeet!!!11!

Dudes, I'm up for grabs...

...or rather, my first loverly book is, over at Ciar Cullen's blog.

Apparently Ciar is not a Scrooge. Far from it, she is amply imbued with Yultide cheer. She is overflowing with generosity and love for her fellow reader. She's got Christmas spirit out the ying-yang, and is looking to spread it around. If there are any of you all who have still not bought, begged, stolen, won, absconded with or otherwise procured a copy of my debut, Crossing Swords, now you have the chance to rectify the situation.

Just mosey on over to Ciar's, leave a comment telling her how desperately you're jonesing for my book, and in the New Year you could be the proud owner of your own shiny new digital copy.

Or, if you've already experienced the sheer bliss that is my timeless prose, check out the other titles she's promoting through her contest. A few of them are from fellow Samhellions and I betcha there's at least one up there that you'd enjoy. Who knows? You could discover an author you adore.

Do it. You know you want to...

Pimpage!!!

After discovering one of my fave writers of the dirty books--the awesome Portia da Costa--has finally, after 20 years, become a Harlequin author, I knew I had to pimp her out to all y'all:

A Spice Briefs erotic novella, published 1st November 2008.

The videotape shocked and thrilled her...and really turned her on. She’d found it in a small, out-of-the-way sitting room of Blaystock Manor, where she was working. Now everyone was away and she finally had an opportunity to watch at her leisure. There on the screen was the Marquis, her much fantasized-about boss, administering a very sexy spanking to some girl. The intense erotic sizzle she felt compelled her to begin touching herself. And as she lost herself in pleasure, she suddenly realized he’d entered the room and had been watching her.

But embarrassment turned to excitement when he urged her to continue, then began to touch her intimately. It was only the smallest hint of what she’d witnessed on the tape, but she knew she had to have more...much more!

Hot excerpts here and here. Chance of a Lifetime is available from eHarlequin, Fictionwise, Books on Board and Amazon Kindle. To purchase Chance of a Lifetime for 89 cents, visit eHarlequin Afternoon Delights between noon and 3pm on Monday 3rd November 2008

Spanking, huh? I am so there...

Smokin Hot Sex

Blogging buddy and fellow girl-on-girl aficionada, Madame Butterfly, has just reviewed Bound by Steel, and has lots of nice things to say about it.

Snippet:

That said, Kirsten Saell writes some of the most smokin hot sex out there and I had to keep the fire extinguisher next me in case my eBookwise spontaneously combusted. Whoa!

As usual, for me anyway, Kirsten Saell’s gritty, bawdy, colorful way of writing is so entertaining in itself, and that made this book so much fun to read even outside of the story. Her writing and story telling seems to be maturing with each book and I hope there is a third Emissaries of Belthalas because I’m totally addicted.

Guess I better get writing. :D

Release Day!!! And a Contest!!

Well, today's the big day--Bound by Steel is now available. Unfortunately, the Canadian federal election and the tryptophan in last night's turkey have conspired to steal all my verve. Even if I hadn't overindulged in the ubiquitous bird and all its assorted accompaniments, I'm pretty sure the notion of braving the weather today so I can exercise my democratic responsibilities would have me equally nauseous. Bluh.

Methinks perhaps when I am done eenie-meenie-miney-moeing at the polls, I will bundle up with a blankie and some flavored coffee and partake in my usual release day tradition: read the book, surf yon webs, post an excerpt and give away a book or two.

I expect that y'all will be acquiring this beauty before doing anything as unimportant as voting for whichever political tool you hate marginally less than the others. (And I hear the economy is bouncing back, so you all got no excuse now to not buy it.) Heck, at least with a book, there's a chance you won't feel like you've wasted your time, right? I mean, if I want to participate in a giant wank-job, well, I'll pick one that isn't political, and has a hope in hell of getting me excited. :D

For all of you who still fear impending economic disaster and are looking to save yourself five bucks and change, you can head on over to Loving Venus- Loving Mars for a chance to win a copy for nothing. And even if you aren't the contest type, you can still pop in and read the hot girl on girl excerpt.

Now, to vote. One potato, two potato...

Already??!!

Where on earth does the time go? Feels like Healer's Touch just came out yesterday, and here I am staring down the gaping maw of another release day.

Bound by Steel will be available on Tuesday. As it happens, BbS shares its release day with another significant event for those of us who live north of the 49th. Yes, Tuesday October 14 is election day for us Canucks. The political choices, they are as lame as ever. The fiction choices, however, are looking much more peachy.

In honor of election day, and in anticipation of Bound by Steel's release, I am going to post an unusually clean excerpt. All right, not clean, precisely, considering the questionable politics. Please remember, the political views expressed in this excerpt are not necessarily those of the blog owner.

"Tell me, Master Gil, do you know much Fjorn history?"

"As much as any man who is neither Fjorn, nor a historian."

"Then you must be familiar with the fall of the Temple Knights?"

Gil frowned, wondering exactly where this was going. "What man isn’t? High Prelate Eddard of Banebury wanted his brother Hillard on the Fjorn throne, despite the fact it was already occupied. His Knights would have succeeded, but for perfidy within the ranks of the Temple priests. After the debacle, it was decided that the clergy had too much earthly power, and the Order of Temple Knights was disbanded."

"A foolish knee-jerk reaction if there ever was one," the chancellor concluded.

"How so?"

The chancellor deftly peeled a prawn and bit it in half. "They disbanded an entire order of elite fighters—fighters who had, up until that one incident, been unerringly loyal to king and country—who then had no choice but to turn mercenary and find positions in the private armies of the Fjorn nobility. In essence, the disbanding of the Templars only increased the chances of civil war."

Gil sat back and took a long sip of his wine, intrigued despite himself by the man’s unorthodox politics. "What would you have done, chancellor?"

"The crown would have been better advised to enact measures to prevent nobility from rising to supremacy within the Temple. I will not need to tell you how such measures would have benefited Fjorg in its more recent troubles with the Dragon’s Head. And they ought to have written legislation consolidating all the armed forces of Fjorg under the aegis of the crown. A king cannot effectively rule if he must always tiptoe around his lords and their personal militias."

Gil stabbed at his salad with a three-pronged fork cast from pure silver. "But allowances must surely be made for a lord to defend his land, his vassals and tenants, and of course his family. Even these days, the world is a dangerous place. The Bal-shar may be gone, but brigands and raiders still victimize the innocent, especially in more isolated regions. You can’t possibly advocate the total abolition of the traditional household guard?"

Chancellor Collin smiled with a dry humor that did not quite reach his eyes. "That is exactly what I advocate."

Gil set his fork down on the edge of his plate, the delectable salad turning tasteless in his mouth. He may not be able to see quite where this conversation was leading, but he was beginning to feel the first stirrings of unease, and he’d learned over the years to trust his instincts.

The chancellor’s smile widened, but did not grow any warmer. "It is my belief that a strong king, with the proper resources, must be the ultimate authority of the land. If he is granted sufficient wherewithal through taxes and manpower, it should be his sole responsibility to govern, and to protect his subjects. And the first rule of good governance is upholding the law."

"And if a man has a grievance with his neighbor?"

The chancellor lifted his glass in a salute. "A king who cannot smooth over a neighborly feud has no business being king."

"And what," said Gil, trying to maintain a certain lightness of tone and not entirely succeeding, "ought a man do when he has a grievance against his king?"

"Then that man has a problem," the chancellor said quietly, his smile gone.

Gil pretended a keen interest in his wine as the serving girl brought in the second course, a roast pork sirloin with pearl onions, baby peas and a loaf of white bread hot from the oven. Everything looked delicious, but Gil’s appetite had fled. Over the course of the long wait in the salon, he had largely discarded the possibility of working with this man, and this…discussion only reinforced that decision.

The girl finished dishing out their meal and retreated. Gil picked up his knife and speared an onion, not with any real intention of eating it. All he wanted now was to finish this ridiculous conversation and get the fuck out of here. "Your interest in the topic seems more than a passing one, chancellor."

The chancellor’s smile was back full force. "I’m a man of ambition. A such, I aspire to change the world for the better."

"Surely you have no royal aspirations? After all, Belthalas has no king."

"Belthalas may be a city-state," the chancellor said affably, "but it is more similar to Fjorg than you might realize. Scaled down, it possesses all those parts that comprise a kingdom—a ruler, his loyal nobility, the civil service, a strong clergy, the commons and a militia. Unfortunately, it also abounds with mercenaries who threaten the stability of its righteous governance."

And there it was, out in the open. Gil stabbed a second onion onto the point of his knife. "The Emissaries."

Chancellor Collin’s teeth flashed, but the coldness of his eyes lent his smile a predatory aspect. "The Emissaries."

Gil’s fingers tightened on the haft of his dagger. Without being too obvious, he made a note of the exits, and where they were likely to lead.

Oh, dear. It looks like someone has an agenda. *sigh* I guess this is what happens when politicians don't get enough action in the bedroom...