Tuesday Teaser 11/26/13: Wolf’s Vengeance
So here is a little snip from Mel and Snake’s story. Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the States. I don’t know if this little snip is worth giving thanks for, but I hope you enjoy!
“I’ve waited all my life to have a mate of my own.” Snake’s voice was low. “Between the ages of ten and twenty I barely ever saw a woman up close, but I always wondered what it would be like to have a mate. Someone who was mine to take care of and love. I dreamed of it. In my dreams my mate loved me and I would do anything for her.” His dark eyes looked directly at her. “I would never do anything to hurt you, Melissa.”
She hated being called her full name. “I believe you,” she told the bedpost.
“No.” His hand lifted and swayed from side to side as if to disperse her words like campfire smoke drifting in his face. “You’re afraid of me. I smell it on you from time to time.”
Mel resisted the urge to hunch her shoulders. She also forced her instant denial back. “Maybe I am. But I know I don’t need to be. You’ve been really decent to me. All your friends have been nice too.”
“Then why? Is it my wolf?”
Her shabby bedroom faded to be replaced by a nearly bare hotel room. She felt Randy Fosse’s hard hands digging cruelly into her shoulders to hold her down on the bed while Jim yanked on her shirt. The bruising pressure on her shoulders suddenly lifted, and a huge gray wolf tore into Jim Fosse, slinging saliva and blood over her…
“Yeah,” Snake said in a near whisper. “There’s that scent. It is my wolf, isn’t it?”
After the Crash Timeline
Have you ever wondered which story takes place when? Do they overlap? Well, even I get confused so I made this nifty little chart to help me keep track. This is actually a simplified version of the one I use. (Mine has actual events listed, but I don’t want to give possible spoilers for those who haven’t read all the books yet) Anyway, I thought maybe you would enjoy this. 🙂
Tuesday Teaser: 11/19/13-Wolf’s Vengeance
So… Mel and Snake were married yesterday, but he spent his wedding night on the floor. Tonight he has other ideas. Mel and Snake are in the kitchen, washing the supper dishes and talking.
“I can take care of myself.” Mel swept her thumb over the butt of her pistol. “Dad taught me to shoot before I was ten, and I’ve been wearing this gun ever since. I’m never unprotected.”
His laugh surprised her. “Glad to hear it.” He glanced over at the pot of wash water on the stove. “Looks like the water’s warm. Let’s get going on these dishes.”
Mel let out a shaky laugh. “Okay. I’ll get started if you’ll bring in the dishes from the dining room.”
After he went out to collect dishes, Mel braced herself with her hands against the sink’s rim for a long breath. Her husband was a stranger. A strange stranger, whose attitudes threw her off stride, but she thought she liked him. He didn’t push for details she’d rather forget. And he wasn’t grabby.
When he came in, holding a pile of dishes that would have taken two of her brothers to carry, she was busy at the sink. He set the dishes on the counter and took the washrag himself. “I’ll wash and you dry. You know where things go better than I do.”
How odd that a werewolf washed dishes with deft hands and hummed while he scrubbed. Again, that domestic image clashed with her memory of his snarls and growls in the hotel room. Which was the real Snake?
“Oh,” he remarked, as if the thought had just come to him, “I won’t be sleeping on the floor tonight. I’ll be joining you on your bed.”
A plate slipped from her hands to shatter on the floor. She blinked down at the scattered shards for a moment before realizing her mouth was gaping wide. She closed her mouth and stared at him. This shouldn’t be a surprise. They were married. Her uncle had performed the ceremony yesterday. Last night she had expected him to claim his marital rights, but he had only lain down on the floor in her bedroom. She swallowed now, her breath oddly cold in her lungs, and bent to pick up the pieces of the plate.
Snake stopped her with a wet hand on her wrist. His eyes were shadowed by thick stubby lashes, and it seemed to Mel they were carefully blank. “Was that such a shock?”
“Well, ye— I mean, no. Well, sort of.” Mel inwardly cursed herself for fumbling her words as well as the plate. She drew in a calming breath and tried to smile at him. “We’re married. You’ve been pretty patient, but I know you want to, uh …” She waved the dishtowel. “You know.”
He took a step closer, so close she could make out each individual eyelash that shaded his eyes. “Do you want to?”
Did she? In her mind’s eye she could see through his clothes to the thickly muscled body beneath. During their trip to the ranch she had seen him switch from man to wolf and from wolf to man often enough to have memorized how he looked naked. What kind of lover would he be? Sweetly fumbling like Danny? Viciously aggressive like Rob? He was strong, stronger than a normal man. He could do serious damage to her with a single blow. Her heart slowed to sluggish thumps, as if it were beating in a vat of icy molasses.
Fingertips rough with calluses grazed her cheek. “Mel?”
Her heart magically leapt free of the molasses to take off at a gallop. Staring at Snake, she jerked her head from side to side. “No, I don’t want to.”
His hand fell away. “Okay, we’ll wait until you’re ready.” He turned back to the unwashed dishes and spoke quietly. “Please don’t be afraid of me.”
Tuesday Teaser 11/12/13-Sky vs Mr. Magic
About a year before Wolf’s Princess starts, Rose rescued a battered tomcat from a bunch of boys who were torturing him. She named him Mr. Magic 8 Ball. The name was shortened to Mr. Magic, or just Magic. The cat is now overweight, scarred, missing most of one ear, and his tail has been broken more than once. He hates every living thing except Rose. He purrs for her. Taye would dearly love to chuck the cat out, but the creature won’t go. Rose loves that cat, and insisted on bringing him to Omaha with her. You can imagine how Sky feels about him, especially since Mr Magic believes Sky is an interloper and won’t let him near Rose’s bed.
Sky glanced around the hallway to be sure no one was watching, then lowered himself into a crouch so he could stare the nasty feline right in his baleful gold eyes. “Look, cat, this is my house. Rose is my mate. You behave yourself, or you’ll be out in the street, waddling after mice for your dinner.”
The cat yawned insultingly, the scent of fish rank on his breath. Realization ground Sky’s teeth together.
“You thieving feline,” he said with disbelief. “You ate my lunch! I’m going to– Dammit!”
He jerked back the hand he’d reached for the cat with.
Light footsteps sounded behind him. He rose swiftly to meet his mate’s angry glare. “Don’t you dare lay a hand on Mr. Magic!” she hissed.
He shoved his bleeding hand toward her. “Me? He’s the one who attacked me!”
“That’s because you scared him.” She bent to scoop the black butterball up and held him to her face, making kissing noises at him. “Poor Mr. Magic. I won’t let the nasty man hurt you. Poor little sweetie. I’m here now. You’re safe.”
Sky could swear the little beast smirked at him.
Wolf Tracker Audiobook!
Do you enjoy listening to audiobooks while you drive, clean, knit, etc? Why not try Wolf Tracker? An author, like a parent, shouldn’t have favorites, but I have to say, Tracker and Tami have a big part of my heart. I love, love, love Tracker! And Tami is strong enough to be perfect for him. Wolf Tracker is available now from audible.com. The narrator, Clementine Cage, captures Tami’s voice so well that you can hear the mix of vulnerability and strength in it that makes Tami who she is. Head over and give the sample a listen.
Tuesday Teaser 11/5/13 Wolf’s Princess
I’m TRYING to focus on Snake and Mel, but Rose and Sky keep blocking me! So I wrote this little scene to try to pacify them enough for me to get back to Wolf’s Vengeance. Let me set the scene. Rose has been in Omaha now for about 10 days, and it’s been three days since Sky moved her into his room. That afternoon they kissed–REALLY kissed– for the first time. All day Rose had thought about that kiss, wondering what it would be like to make love with Sky. This is the night he usually joins the mayor of Omaha and his cronies for their weekly poker game. This usually involves lots of liquor and women. Rose is just getting ready for bed when this scene opens. What do you think?
At the sound of the door opening, Rose snatched her discarded blouse off the bed and held it protectively over her chest. “Sky! What are you doing here? I thought you were going to be out late.”
He stood in the door, crisp white shirt unbuttoned to hang open, suit coat slung carelessly over his shoulder, the glare of electric light gleaming on the hard ripple of his abs. His stare was almost tangible. Rose shivered under the weight of it. “I’m back,” he said. “I couldn’t concentrate on my cards because all I could think about was the kiss we shared this afternoon.”
A flush of pleasure warmed her. Not sexual pleasure –well, maybe a little of it was sexual—but happiness that the kiss had affected him as much as it had her. “Well, step out for a minute so I can put on my nightgown and robe.”
The door closed with a quiet snick. “You won’t need them tonight.” Sky moved to her with the easy saunter of a predator who’d found his prey, the same glide she’d seen so often in his cousins, and then his hands fisted in her hair and his mouth fastened over hers with hot greed.
With her hands exploring the feel of his arms and shoulders, only the press of his chest against hers kept her blouse from falling and leaving her exposed. He was hard muscle covered by smooth satiny skin under the cotton of his shirt, and his mouth pushed all other thoughts out of her head. His hand, large and warm, smoothed down her bare back, and then up to cup her breast.
Her bare breast.
She managed to force an inch of space between them, panting. “Wait! What are you doing?”
“Princess, if you have to ask that, I must be doing something wrong.”
He clamped his hands over her rear end and hauled her so close to him she could feel the ridge his arousal dig into her belly. She couldn’t stop herself from rubbing her core against him, needing to ease the hot ache in her body. She was a virgin, but she knew what her body wanted. She just wasn’t sure she was ready for it.
“Tonight,” he said in a harsh whisper into her neck. “I’ve waited a long time for you, Rose. Tonight, in the bed right behind you, you’re going to accept my mate claim.”
“I am?” Her voice lifted in a cracked squeak that turned to a breathy moan when his mouth closed over her breast. She had never felt anything like it. All her curiosity about sex, her private carnal longings, rushed to the place between her thighs. “Oh, God, Sky, I am.”
Writing in Terms of $$
I seldom post anything about the marketing/profit/sales side of writing, but here goes.
There’s always been discussion about how much is too much to spend on an ebook. Some people say they never spend more than $2.99, even for big authors. Some say they don ‘t spend more than $0.99. Others say they get only free books. Some feel like they get a better deal to buy a paper book than a digital one. Some use the public library for most of their books. But everyone seems to think that ebooks are priced too high. And when I can get a paperback for less than I’d pay for the e-version, I have to agree. Well, my recent excursion into self-publishing has opened my eyes about the business side of writing. I had seriously never broken it down to dollars and cents before. Boy, what a shock! o_o
Suppose an author spends 100 hours to write, revise, rewrite and polish a 50,000 word book. S/he then hires an editor at $250, cover art for $100, a formatter for $35.00. The author spends $100 for advertising. S/he has spent about $385. How many copies does s/he need to sell on Amazon at $0.99 to break even? S/he would receive about $0.345 per copy in royalties. That means that to just break even, 1116 copies would need to be sold. That doesn’t pay the author for the hours s/he put into writing.
I can see why so many authors choose to skip paying for editing. After all, they want to make at least some profit to help pay the bills while they write the next book. I have read some books that the author edited him/herself and they were great, well-written books. And I have read some that were not.
It’s easy to believe that every book will sell 1000 copies, but frankly, they don’t. 750-1000 copies over a year is pretty normal. A successful author might sell 2000 copies, which would bring in $690, or a profit of $305. How many of us would be willing to make $305.00 for 150 hours of work? Personally, I’d like to make a little more than $2.00 an hour! I guess there’s a reason authors jokingly refer to themselves as “starving artists”. But is it really a joke?
I understand that a lot of readers have only so much money to spare for buying books. I’m right there with you. Money is tight these days for a lot of us. About the time a mom has finished buying school clothes in September, it’s time to start buying Christmas presents, and it’s tough to squeeze out even $20.00 out of a tight budget for ourselves. But reading, even at $7.99 a book, is still pretty cheap entertainment. How much do we pay to go to a movie? I would say $9.00 is a usual price for the ticket. Do we buy popcorn and a drink too? So for 2 hours of entertainment we could spend easily $15.00. We could buy two ebooks for that price, and have 10 or more hours of enjoyment. Actually, more, because I can re-read that same book a few months later for no extra charge, but I’d have to pay again to watch the movie.
Maybe the movie analogy isn’t the best. An avid movie goer probably goes to 3-4 movies a month. An avid reader might read 4-5 books a week. But I wanted to give you some information about the business side of writing. I write because I love to do it, but the royalties are nice too. 🙂 I figure most people have no idea how the royalties work, so I thought I’d share.
Tuesday Teaser 10/29/13-Wolf’s Vengeance
I’m writing Wolf’s Vengeance and thought you’d like a quick snip from that story. This takes place at supper the night after Mel and Snake were married.
Her brother Mord’s face creased with sly humor that Mel immediately recognized, though he tried to disguise it by setting his mouth into an earnest line. He leaned over the supper table, gazing at Snake with faked concern. Snake sat so close beside her on the wooden bench she could smell his subtle scent and feel his thigh pressed to hers.
“Are you sure you want to be my sister’s husband?”
Snake’s profile was calm as he swallowed the last bite of his blueberry pie. One thick brow arched and he cocked his head. “Yeah.”
Mike joined in the sly teasing with a tsking sound. “You positive? You know what her track record with husbands is?”
Mel slammed her fork onto the table. “Cut it out, Mikey.”
Her new husband put a hand on her knee beneath the table and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I don’t know what a track record is.”
It cheered her to see her brothers shut up, but it was only a momentary reprieve. “You know what happened to Rob Fosse?”
Snake cut Mord off. “Sure. He got what he deserved.”
“Melissa Ann is quick to shoot,” Mikey said with a sad shake of his head. “Mind your toes, and other parts.”
Mel gave him a furious snort.
Mord smirked. “And then there was Danny Bell.”
Mel’s hand went weak. Oh, God. Danny. The name cut a burning gash over her heart. She leaped to her feet and grabbed her plate. “Sara, wanna give me a hand with these dishes?”
Snake waved the girl back. “I’ll help with dishes.”
He sent a cold glare at the twins, and maybe he would have said something to them if Marc hadn’t intervened.
“You boys have time to flap your mouths, you have time to clean the outhouse,” he said evenly.
Amid protests at the late hour and other complaints, Mel made her escape to the kitchen. Snake followed her, a muscular wall of silence as he set the kettle to heat for dishwater. When it was done he took her hand and looked into her eyes.
“Who is Danny Bell?” he asked.
Tuesday Truth 10/22/13-Wolf’s Oath is here!
Yes, Wolf’s Oath is out and available at some retailers!
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Smashwords
And will be at Barnes & Noble, the iBookstore, Kobo, Sony, etc in a few weeks. If your reading device requires .epub or .pdf, and you don’t want to wait to read the book, you can buy it at Smashwords in the format of your choice. I am very excited about Connie and Des’ story. Did you wonder why Connie went from declaring she would never marry to showing up at the den with Des for the wedding ceremony? What happened to change her mind? Find out in Wolf’s Oath.
Connie Mondale, co-pilot of a plane that crashed in a future where women are rare, has no intention of being forced into marriage, thank you very much. A former fighter pilot, she’s accustomed to being in charge. But leading two dozen undisciplined women is harder than flying missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. Scarier, too, with woman-hungry men outnumbering them two hundred to one, and demanding marriage. When Des, the grim-faced werewolf who is always there for her, offers to share the load, how can she refuse?
Des Wolfe knows Connie is his mate. When she refused him, he tried to settle for being her friend. But when an opportunity comes to have her for his own, he grabs it with both hands, determined to have her love. If that means taking on a whole house full of women and making them his Pack, he’ll do it. There is no price too high for Des to pay to have Connie for his mate.
Can Connie give her heart to a werewolf, or will Des have to settle for only her body in his bed?
Risky Readers!
A couple of years ago, while I was at Lori Foster’s Reader & Author Get Together, I had the embarrassing and worrying experience of losing my debit card. Duffy Brown had hosted a guided shopping trip for us, and when I opened my wallet to pull out my debit card so I could buy a cute little Coach purse, the debit card wasn’t there. Ack! Panic! You can imagine how I felt. I walked across a big parking lot to search the bus we had come on to make a frantic search, and another author came with me to help. Donna McDonald was calm and encouraging even though I was freaking out. I’ve never forgotten her kindness.
Now Donna has started a new blog to help readers find new reading material. She says it’s “A site for romance readers with cross-genre reading habits” which I think is clever. A reader who loves paranormal romance but is getting a little weary of vampires might like to see what books are out there with cyborgs, or ghosts, or elves. Just scrolling through Amazon can be unwieldy, but at her blog you just click a tab and see what is listed. Each title also includes the blurb and an excerpt, and buy links. It is so convenient to find new stuff! The site is new, but growing. Go take a look!
http://riskyreaders.blogspot.com
