Tuesday Teaser: Eddie’s Prize again
A teeny snippet from the work in progress. Lisa and Eddie in bed, near the end of their honeymoon.
Through teeth clenched with effort, Eddie said, “We’re done talking about this. Your past is in the past. Right now, from this point, we’re starting fresh. Okay? You don’t talk to men any more than you have to, and I’ll control the beast. The jealousy, I mean.”
“Yes, but—“
To shut her up before the beast tore away from his control, Eddie kissed her almost violently. At last, the beast stopped fighting him and Eddie let himself sink into the warmth of Lisa’s mouth. He’d thought he was too tired to make love again tonight, but he was wrong.
Tuesday Truth: I love Baen Books!
Do you ever feel like the big publishing houses care a lot more about dollars than their customers? It’s sort of frustrating when an ebook costs more than the paper copy! That is NOT to say that I think all ebooks should be $0.99. Publishers (even self-publishing authors) still have to pay the art department, the editors and, of course, the author. Publishers deserve to make a profit. If they don’t, they’ll close shop and then where will we get our books?
One publisher that I think does it right is Baen books. If you enjoy fantasy and science fiction but don’t know about Baen’s ebooks, you’re missing out. What does Baen offer? Here are three reasons I love Baen:
- They have a FREE library. Yep, hundreds of their bestselling authors are absolutely free in the format of your choice. I’m not talking about duds that no one has ever heard of. They have Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton, Lois Bujold McMasters, Jacqueline Carey, David Weber, etc. etc. I give them huge kudos for offering great books for free.
- They offer eARC (advanced readers copies) months before the book is actually out. You pay for it. ARCs run about $15.00. But sometimes, when you’re jonesing for the next book in a series, $15 is a cheap price to pay.
- They sell ebooks that are in hardcover in books stores for $6.00. That’s right, that great new book that costs $24.99 in hardcover in the store (and $12.99-$14.99 in e-format at digital sellers) cost only $6.00 when you buy it from Baen.
How can you go wrong? Head over to Baen. Whenever possible I give them my business as a way to say “Thank You” for remembering that their customers are readers who love stories, not just wallets to squeeze.
The Romance Reviews Sizzling Summer Reads
All this month the Romance Reviews has been hosting a game where players can win prizes. Each day they post a few Q&As On Sunday July 22, one of the questions that players have to answer is:
How many men does Ray Madison say are fighting to win Carla as their wife in the Bride Fight?
After I thought about it I realized that is a hard question! It’s too late for me to change it now. The answer can be found in the excerpt from Sleeping With the Wolf under the Excerpts tab above. But I’ll be nice to you. Carla has a round dozen of the best and wealthiest men fighting for her.
If you haven’t been playing along, it’s not too late to start. Head over there to check it out!
http://www.theromancereviews.com/event.php
Tuesday Teaser-Eddie’s Prize
It’s time a for a teaser from my Work in Progress, Eddie’s Prize. Lisa, an international fashion model back home, is frightened, and wants Eddie to win her. Here are a couple paragraphs from just before the Bride Fights starts.
Lisa looked quickly at the sea of men on the theater floor and found Eddie by his dark gold hair and pale skin. He was almost directly below her, standing a yard away from the stage. For a one moment she forgot everything else while she ran slow, thorough eyes over him. Eddie was a god. A perfect idol fashioned of gold and ivory. He was shirtless and his lean chest and narrow waist were pale amid all the dark-skinned men. Lisa frowned. His pecs and abs were well-defined, but he looked so slender, almost skinny, compared to the other men he stood with. If those other men, so burly and thick, were who he would be fighting, he wouldn’t have a chance.
Ray seemed to read her concern. He patted her on the head like a child, although she was an inch taller than he was. “He might look a bit small, but he’s fast and a helluva lot stronger than he looks. He’ll mop the floor with the rest of them fighters. Just wait. I’ll be calling you daughter before night.”
Ugh, that was the bad part of Eddie winning. But still, Eddie was the best choice. Some of these other men eying her and puffing out their chests were handsome enough to be models – or they would be if they did something with their hair and teeth—but Eddie was the only one she wanted.
Tuesday Truth
The Truth of the Day is:
I need a nap. Yes, it is suppertime now, and I plan to write for at least 3 hours tonight, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need a nap. *yawn* I think I slept well enough last night, so I don’t know why I’m yawning and drooping.
Maybe it’s the heat? It’s not in the 90s any more, not quite. But the high hasn’t been lower than 86 for about three weeks. The average high for this time of the year is 83, so it’s only five or six degrees hotter. I don’t like hot weather. How about a few weeks of five or six degrees cooler than average, huh?
Masuku, aka Little Bit
Like a mother, a cat owner shouldn’t have a favorite, right? But Little Bit might be my favorite. Like the other two she is a rescue cat. She was live trapped along with her
mother and siblings in a state park when she was about 12 weeks old. I already had two, but a friend who volunteered at a local rescue shelter asked if I could foster her for a few weeks. She was so extremely skittish that she wasn’t eating at the shelter. So I took her, and never gave her back. I named her Masuku, which is Japanese for “mask”, but she was so small at that time that I ended up calling her my Little Bit of Nothing.
She’s not a little bit anymore. At her last vet check up she weighs a very respectable 10 pounds. She is still very skittish. Some of my friends have never seen her. While I was away for the Annual Author & Reader Get Together, the friend who works at the shelter came over every day to play with the kitties and feed and water them, and she texted me asking if I was sure I had three cats. She only saw two.
Like most cats, Little Bit will sleep anywhere. But she is particularly fond of snoozing in places I’d rather she not, like the middle of the Christmas Village. She is so adorable, though, that I can’t quite get angry at her.
I have decided that Rose Turner will have a cat. Some neighbor’s barn cat will have kittens and Rose will fall in love with the cute little runt of the litter. She’ll cajole Taye into letting her keep it. The adorable little kitten will grow into a huge cat who loves only her, and hates any man who comes too close to “his human.” He’ll especially detest Sky, who will be sporting angry scratches on his hands and face to mark his every attempt to seduce his mate. I imagine the other wolves will enjoy ragging on him about it.
The Merry Miaow
It’s a sunny Sunday morning here in Fargo, ND. It’s been hot all week, and it will continue to be hot this week. I personally detest temps in the upper 80s and lower 90s (that would be 31-35 C) and that’s what we’re getting. The average high temperature for Fargo in July is about 83. Really don’t like it to be warmer than 70, myself.
My cat Merry, however, loves laying in the one patch of sunlight that sneaks through the blinds. She just plain loves warmth. Unnatural creature. When I take the laundry from the basket to put away, she dances with impatience for the moment she can jump in and curl up in the still-warm basket. She’d prefer to jump in while the clothes are still in the basket, but thank God I broke her of that habit. (at least, she doesn’t do it while I’m watching her. If I turned my back, I bet she’d be snuggled up with the sheets and towels quick as a wink)
She is also fascinated by boxes and bags. What is it with cats and empty recepticles? Seriously, in my place, any empty box will have at least one cat in it.
As you can see, she has lots of long, fluffy white fur, which is as soft as bunny fur. It sticks to everything. I take it with me, apparently, because my chair at work is liberally coated with white hairs about 2 inches long. I get so depressed when I’m sitting down in my chair after a couple hours of thorough cleaning and see white hair dancing in the beam of sunlight. That’s another reason I hate sunny days! Although she drives me slightly crazy, I love her. She is very sweet natured, doesn’t have any bad habits, and always uses the box. Really, what more can you ask from a cat?
Do you have a cat? What little quirks do they have?
Blog Hop!
Welcome to Maddy Barone’s stop on the Sexy Summer Solstice Blog Hop! If you fall off the train, just click http://justromance.me/ to get back on. Or if you have stumbled on this post and want to join, click that same link above.
I know other participants are writing short stories and all kinds of other good stuff, but I’m deep in writing Eddie’s Prize, Book 4 in the After the Crash series, so I thought I’d just post a few of the pix I’ve collected as inspiration. Enjoy!
This is Eddie Madison, the hero of Eddie’s Prize. He’s nearly 26, with a slim build, shoulder-length golden blond hair and turquoise eyes. In the post-apocalyptic world he lives in, women are few. He is the son and heir of the most powerful man in his area, but if he wants a wife, he has to enter a Bride
Fight and win her.
Lisa Anton was an international fashion model before the plane she was on crashed in a desolate future where strong men rule by might. When she first sees Eddie she thinks he’s a golden sex god. She’s worked with many handsome male models in her career, but Eddie tops them all.
There you go, a little eye candy! It’s just the heat of the summer sun that has your cheeks flushed and your eyes glazed, right? Yeah, me too.
Tuesday Teaser – Sleeping With the Wolf
Here is a short teaser from Sleeping With the Wolf, the first book in my After the Crash series. Taye is trying to explain to Carla that it was his wolf who chose her as their mate:
“Your wolf was the one who picked me to be your mate?” Carla tucked a heavy lock of her walnut brown hair behind her ear and studied Taye as if he were a Where’s Waldo poster. When he was in human form she saw no sign of his wolf.
“He did. To be his special companion. He wants you to be the person who belongs to him, kind of like … a horse belongs to a human.”
Carla stared at him blankly. “A horse?”
Taye frown and shook his head. “That’s not a good description. It’s like…”
As Taye trailed off, obviously frustrated to not be able to explain better, another man stepped up to the table. He had light brown hair in a tangled mess hanging in his face and past his shoulders and vivid green eyes peering through it. “I heard my father explain it once to my mother. He said that to his wolf, she was like the only warm house in the middle of a deadly blizzard. She gave him a safe place to shelter in, one that was just for him, and he would take care of that safe place and defend it from intruders.”
Carla’s mouth formed an “Oh,” without sound. Then, “Is that why the wolf doesn’t want me to shake hands with other men? He thinks that might let them into his safe shelter?”
“Exactly,” said Taye with relief. He rested a hand on the other man’s arm. “Thanks, Quill.”
Quill had a shy smile of surpassing sweetness, and Carla reduced her estimate of his age from early twenties to late teens.
Coming Soon! Win a Nook!
Here’s a quick heads up about a blog hop starting next week. You can win tons of great prizes, like books and a Nook Glowlight ereader pre-loaded with a ton of romance novels. You can read short stories and excerpts of books, enjoy a little eye candy and maybe find some new authors. So stop by and see what’s up next Wednesday through Sunday.
