Cocktails Fiction and Gossip Magazine

Author Julie Eberhart Painter

“You have the write to remain a single title/ You have the right to come back as a series…”

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Author Christiane France Why Do I Write Gay Romance?

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Author – KC Kendricks

Creating Passion and Romance on the Page

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contents Miranda’s Mount

by Phillipa Ashley

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More books to pick from the garden

09 Author Jill James

Author Suzannah safi Purity Dwells Within

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GIVEN

By Author Ashlynn Monroe

WHAT A GIRL WANTS by

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Author Selena Robins

Hot Male

by Author Lillian Grant

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05 A word from the Editor

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Danita Minnis – Writing What She Knows

09 Susan A. Royal

Author Christiane France

38 Author Liz Crowe

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Author – KC Kendricks

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Author Charlie Cochrane

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Tina Donahue

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Andrea Downing

Suzannah Safi

Two Hot Romances from Kelli A.

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Author LaVerne Thompson

For the Love of a God: by Author Rosanna Leo

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Author Julie Eberhart Painter

INTRODUCTION

Director I’m a romance author, a promoter, a graphic designer, and the creator of Cocktails Fiction & Gossip e-Magazine.

I have many novels and short stories that are published and stons that are in process to be published with different publishers. As a promoter I created the new Magazine Cocktails Fiction & Gossip Magazine for everyone to participate in it, no limit to who will be in the magazine or what we will gossip about. It’s for all types of readers who like fiction and innocent gossip lol. I wanted to do something that I enjoy, have passion for, and I found that writing, promoting, and designing book trailers and covers are my real passion so I’m doing that and proud of what I’ve accomplished. Can’t have enough sleep, hick who needs it anyway LOL. Welcome and I hope you enjoy this issue.

WRITE READ ENJOY

IMAGINE OR DREAM

FANTASY

FANTASIZe

you can do it!

F R

antasies are written so readers can enjoy a different world every time they open a book.

Readers like to experience the rush that comes from living in a fantasy they may never experience or maybe experienced in a way or another. Whether it is romance, thriller, paranormal, suspense, or horror, writers only bring fantasies mixed with reality to make it believable for readers and make their enjoyment level elevate to a reality within the pages of an entertaining story. Yes, entertainment brings joy to our lives and it is an escape from our routine days. FANTASIES bring happiness to our lives!

eading or writing stories like erotic romance, mass murderers, and blood hungry villain doesn’t mean authors or readers have experienced the life or are obsessed by performing such acts, however, authors are storytellers and entertainers, and they love to deliver a rush not only to readers but to themselves as well. Writing is enjoyable to every author, and an engaging story is most definitely enjoyable to all readers. So, do not be afraid as a reader to fantasize and live experiences you may never live in real life, but you are definitely lucky enough to enjoy it within the doors of your fantasy world with an intriguing story a talented author wrote. Enjoy the ride and continue discovering new authors and stories from many talented authors in the market today.

F

antasize, you can do it!

Suzannah Safi 2013 -Issue14

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Author Charlie

Cochrane

Playing at Pirates Free read - Short StoryGenre: Edwardian gay romantic fiction Heat level: Saucy but not smutty

Cambridge, 1908

breeches role.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“She’s dressing as a man—breeches, jacket, boots, the lot.”

“Oh aar.”“Say it again.”

“Oh aaah.”

“Heavens preserve us.” Orlando looked paler still.

“Don’t tell me the college nurse is going to do the same?”

“That’s a bit better. Once more.”

“Oh aaarrr.”

“We’ve regressed. Really, that sounds like some yokel in a bad production of Thomas Hardy.” Jonty Stewart threw his hands up in despair.

“I don’t care. I’m a mathematician, not a pirate.” Orlando Coppersmith scowled.

“That’s beside the point. The Master of St. Bride’s wants you to be one. And not just you, remember, everyone in the college.” Jonty rubbed his lover’s shoulder; the man had to be coaxed through this somehow.

“Can’t I just give him a donation for Great Ormond Street Hospital and forgo the fancy dress ball?”

“You could, but that would be cowardly.” Jonty shook his head.

“Everyone’s so excited about it. I’ve seen Dr. Panesar out on Old Court lawn, cutting a caper with what seems to be a genuine cutlass. He’ll probably have someone’s ear off, which will enliven proceedings no end.”

Orlando snorted. “You’ll be dressed up to the nines, of course?”

“Can you doubt it? I’ve so many ruffles on my costume I’ll look like an ice cream.”

Orlando snorted again, but only because the thought of Jonty in that outfit was another of the reasons he didn’t want to attend the party. Not in tight breeches, anyway. His thoughts would be worn all over his placket.

“Anyway, nobody will take much notice of you, dread pirate Cantankerous. They’ll all be too busy staring at the Master’s sister.”

Jonty grinned. “She’s going all operatic and playing this as a

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Jonty snorted. “They’d never find a jacket big enough.

No, she’s coming as a saucy wench, which is why Dr. Panesar’s practicing his swordplay. So he can defend her honour.” He left out any snide comments about her not being likely to defend it for herself.

“If I have to dress and speak like a pirate, I won’t have to actually act like one, will I? No pillaging and the like?”

“Absolutely not. No such hooligan behaviour will be tolerated.” Jonty crossed his heart. “Not in St Bride’s hall, anyway. Afterwards, back in the less distinguished environs of our home, I’d have said the claiming of pirate privileges would be practically de rigeur.”

“I like the sound of pirate privileges. Will they involve any naval type exercises?”

“What, the old ‘run out and fire’ job?” Jonty grinned.

“Perhaps. Only you won’t find out unless you behave and come to the ball.”

“If we get to play exercising the great guns, I’ll be the best pirate ever.” Orlando stood up and saluted, which was hardly pirate-like but at least showed spirit.

“Come on then, Black Coppersmith, scourge of the seven seas and the Cam, we need to size you up for your costume.” Jonty smirked. “I’ll warm my hands.”

“Why?” “I get to measure your inside leg…”

Blurb Lessons for Survivors (Book 9 in the Cambridge Fellows Mystery series) Cambridge, September 1919 Orlando Coppersmith should be happy. WWI is almost a year in the past, he’s back at St. Bride’s College in Cambridge, he has his lover and best friend Jonty Stewart back at his side and—to top it all—he’s about to be made Forsterian Professor of Applied Mathematics.

With his inaugural lecture to give and a plagiarism case to adjudicate on, Orlando’s hands are full, so can he and Jonty afford to take on an investigative commission surrounding a suspected murder? Especially one which must be solved within a month so that a clergyman can claim what he says is his rightful inheritance?

The answer looks like being a resounding “no” when the lecture proves almost impossible to write, the plagiarism case gets turned back on him and Jonty (spiced with a hint of blackmail), and the case surrounding Peter Biggar’s death proves to have too many leads and too little evidence.

Orlando begins to doubt their ability to solve cases any more, and his mood isn’t improved when there seems to be no way of outsmarting the blackmailer. Will this be the first failure for Coppersmith and Stewart?

And how will they maintain their reputations—professional, private and as amateur detectives?

Buy links: Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008J4ZA4U, ARE http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-lessonsforsurvivors-868089-145.html Links for the rest of the “Lessons” series (and all the freebies) can be found here: http://charliecochrane.livejournal.com/114127.html

Author’s

Author links: www.charliecochrane.co.uk http://charliecochrane.livejournal.com/ You can reach me at cochrane.charlie2@googlemail.com (maybe to sign up for my newsletter?) or catch me on Facebook or twitter.

BIO As Charlie Cochrane

couldn’t be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes. Her favourite genre is gay fiction, predominantly historical romances/mysteries. She lives near Romsey but has yet to use that as a setting for her stories, choosing to write about Cambridge, Bath, London and the Channel Islands, all of which are places she knows and loves well.

Charlie’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People and International Thriller Writers Inc, with titles published by Carina, Samhain, MLR, Noble Romance and Cheyenne. Charlie’s Cambridge Fellows Series, set in Edwardian England, was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name.

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ILLICIT DESIRE BY tINA dONAHUE

Outlawed R e a l m , Book 2 Pleasure that destroys all thought.

Love that shatters all barriers.

Once a sex slave marked for termination, Lukan was miraculously liberated from E4’s Pleasure Palace, where E2’s fine, upstanding rulers secretly indulge their cravings for every imaginable vice. But freedom is not enough.

He left his heart behind with Arez.

Within her fragrant, heated caress, he knew everything denied him.

Rapture, contentment, tenderness…and love. Desperate to have her back in his arms, he embarks on a dangerous mission to deliver his untamed temptress from the certain death she does not know awaits her.

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Within her velvet cage Arez knew only carnal submission and loneliness—until Lukan. But he has disappeared, and she senses something different in the way the supreme ruler is using her. Then, as if Lukan felt her longing for his strong arms and fevered kisses, he is there to sweep her from this twilight dimension to another.

But true freedom lies just out of his grasp. To reach the last portal— and their destiny—Lukan and Arez must first outwit an army of predators that hunt them. Human, subhuman…and monsters. ____________ Product Warnings Features a lusty guy who makes Greek gods look wimpy, and a wanton woman who lives for scorching sex. When these two get it on, watch out, they ain’t playing at lust or love.

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Buy link: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/illicit-desire-p-6991. html Website: http://www.tinadonahue. com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/tinadonahue Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ authortina/my-books/ Amazon author page: https://www. amazon.com/author/tinadonahue

FOUR STARS – ROMANTIC TIMES “It’s a rare treat to find an oft-used trope crafted into such a touching, sensual page-turner. A meticulously detailed realm of subhumans, werewolves and genetically enhanced sex slaves provides the backdrop for an intense story of identity, desire and freedom. Peril and sexual exploration are well balanced with insight, making for a reading experience as thought-provoking as it is exciting. Elements of humor round out a winning installment of the Outlawed Realm.”

Summary: When his creators saved him from death, Lukan was forced to leave behind Arez, a woman he craves and adores. Desperate to rescue her, Lukan enlists the help of quantum physicist Nikoli Zorr to create a portal. Without a way to return to Earth, Lukan and Arez have nothing but their trust in each other to help them outwit myriad dangers and ruthless creatures.

Bridget Keown – Romantic Times

Dangerous Shift HE IS MR. BY-THE-BOOK, WITH A SECRET...

Shapeshifters live among us but remain unknown to most people except for the highest echelons of law enforcement, the military, science, and medical fields—until now.

SHE IS A LOOSE CANNON WITH AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM...

When a fatal virus strikes Shapeshifters all over the West coast, including members of the Shapeshifter Task Force in San Laura, California, reinforcements are called in from around the United States.

TOGETHER, THEY JUST MIGHT CATCH A KILLER. Lt. Nikki Hill of Missouri comes to San Laura and is partnered up with Lt. Sean Evans. They quickly butt heads on everything from proper police procedures to the moral ethics of euthanasia. They can’t seem to get a lead on the serial killer even as members of their own families are stricken with the virus. In their grief they turn to each other and hope they have time to discover if their relationship stands a chance or if they might just be the next victims of the species extinction disease.

Not Long Ago Erin has met the man of her dreams, but as usual there are complications.

It’s one of those long distance relationships, and Griffin is a little behind the times-- somewhere around 600 years.

Erin and her employer, March, are transported to a time where chivalry and religion exist alongside brutality and superstition. Something is not quite right at the castle, and Erin and March feel sure mysterious Lady Isobeil is involved.

But Erin must cope with crop circles, ghosts, a kidnapping and death before the truth of her journey is revealed.

Forced to pose as March’s nephew, Erin finds employment as handsome Sir Griffin’s squire. She’s immediately attracted to him and grows to admire his courage, quiet nobility and devotion to duty. Yet, she must deny her feelings.

Her world is centuries away, and she wants to go home. But Erin can’t stop thinking about her knight in shining armor. website: http://susanroyal.mmonfruit.com Muse buy link: http://tinyurl. com/85vgye3 Amazon buy link: http://tinyurl.com/7uy9yvf

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Miranda’s Mount by Phillipa Ashley When Miranda finds herself fighting for her home, her job and her heart, sleeping with the enemy may not be the best tactic...

With no family of her own, Miranda Marshall has developed a healthy respect some would say obsession - with other people’s histories. As property manager of a spectacular island castle in Cornwall, she’s made St Merryn’s Mount one of the UK’s most popular heritage attractions. While she may have the castle running like clockwork, Miranda hasn’t bargained on its sexy owner returning to claim his birthright.

Dark, handsome and with a rakish reputation, Jago St Merryn not only looks like a pirate but is intent on flogging the Mount to a soulless leisure corporation.

Miranda faces the battle of her life as she tries to persuade him to face up to his past and continue the St Merryn dynasty. But Jago has his own reasons for jumping ship and when he throws down the gauntlet to Miranda, she’s forced to delve into painful memories she’d much rather keep hidden . . .

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More books to pick from the garden

Forty-one-year-old Nicole Woods was content raising her son alone, working as an ad exec, and indulging in the more than occasional cleaning frenzy...until the night she met Wil Blanco. Her friends have decided that while her son is away for six weeks, it’s the perfect opportunity for Nicole to have a summer fling. Heading the top of the list is Wil -- sexy, successful, full of life...and twenty-five!

Regretfully, Nicole declares him “hands-off,” but soon he’s complicating everything, from her job at the advertising agency to her self-imposed ban on relationships. When Wil becomes her top client, she has even more reason to adhere to her “hands-off” policy. So why is Nicole finding it so hard to keep her hands off him?

Tiffany N. York tiffanynyorkauthor.com Goodreads Facebook Twitter Coming 11-23-12: THE ACCIDENTAL COUGAR from thewildrosepress.com

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Maya McAdam has never quite fit in, even on Earth where the magical elite sells alchemy on the black market. She has wild visions of conveyer belts turning into snakes and draws surrealistic pictures of places she’s never been. Partying and tossing back spells seems like a good way of avoiding her problems.

A week before her twenty-fifth birthday, her surrealist paintings finally sell. When a scarred stranger watches her from behind one of her sketches, she knows life is going to hell.

Maya would never have imagined she’s the daughter of a cursed king, and a bargaining tool for magical guilds. Will she fight demons and give up a desire for spells so she can find love with a warlock?

Or will she leave her friends and become the nightmare the magical elite fears?

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Buy from Amazon or eXtasybooks.com

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Purity

D

Quiet, timid, Hannah Williams has spent most of her life shying away from anything too personal. When her supervisor, Jenny Anderson betrays her to the satanic cult she’s part of, Hannah’s peaceful life is shattered. Trapped by black magic in the body of Jenny, Hannah must race to reverse the spell and reclaim her body.

Kevin Anderson is a man living a nightmare.

When his wife returns from assignment at Hartford Mansion, he has no idea just how things are about to change. With the real Jennifer Anderson trapped within a mirror, her hold is broken.

Free of her control, Kevin’s first impulse is to run far and fast…but something just doesn’t add up. Sweet, caring, the woman he calls his wife acts like another - a woman he could love. When Kevin learns the truth of his wife’s deceit, he’s thrown into a world of darkness and murder, of power and control - all the while trying to save Hannah and himself from Jenny’s evilness. Together, they must vanquish the evil surrounding them and save not only themselves, but the trapped souls locked within the walls of a mansion of death

Dwells

Click on the link to watch video http://youtu.be/hgKBjwU1RCQ

Within 2013 -Issue14

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GIVEN In a world without choices, one woman will find herself caught in the middle of six men and the emotions they develop for her. Krista is one of the last women on Earth, and her patriotic duty is to make babies.

Her “six”, the men who have won the right to call her their own, know they have to impregnate her quickly or risk losing her back to the government. As society fills with additional violence and unrest, her men keep her sheltered in a fortress of maximum security. Krista has left a her prison at the Young Women’s Educational Protection Facility for another. When a mysterious man arrives and offers her the chance for true freedom, will she be willing to leave the life she knows behind or will she remain “given”?

publisher’s website http://beachwalkpress.com/given/ Author’s website link http://www.ashlynnmonroe.com

EXCERPT

She felt a connection, and the sensation filled her with relief. Maybe everything would be all right. God, I hope it’ll be all right. Please don’t let them hurt me. With at least one, she felt the stirring of real emotion. It wasn’t lust or love, but it was better than being a mindless sex slave. In the instant of realization, her gratitude for Braxton overshadowed her resentment of him and his five cohorts. They were as much prisoners of circumstance as she was. It wasn’t as if they selected her any more than she’d chosen them.

“Are you disappointed with what you received? It’s not as if you were able to specify body type or hair color.” She maintained eye contact with Braxton the entire time she spoke, even though it was hard for her.

He flushed. “I’ve always thought blondes were more my type, but right now I’m pretty sure I have a thing for brunettes. Krista, you’re a woman. That fact alone makes you perfect, but you are beautiful. Sweet, fresh… believe me, we aren’t going to be picky.”

She frowned. It’s not as if she was asking for grand, love poetry, but his raw honesty was a bit hurtful. Well, I asked, she reminded herself. “Thank you for being honest.”

“I’ve always thought brunettes were sexy.” Jared spoke up. She turned to see him flushing and grinning. “I’m a bit jealous right now. Braxton is hogging your attention. I think you’re beautiful and, if I had a choice, I couldn’t imagine not picking you.” His exuberant words made her grin.

She bit her lip, trying to cover how pleased his words made her. Even if he was just saying it to get into her good graces, she needed to hear just that type of pretty lie. Glancing at Braxton, she noticed he didn’t look very happy.

“How about you? What do you think of us, Krista?” Braxton looked at her hard, daring her not to lie with his expression.

“I’m relieved. I’m glad you’re all young and attractive. I’m glad you live in the same house, and I’m glad you are friends. I’ve heard stories of how awkward the sharing can be.” She blushed fiercely. “I’ve only seen propaganda about what it is to be with six men, but have you talked about the reality of how we’ll accomplish this?” She glanced over at the security guard and her embarrassment grew. Krista reminded herself the guard knew why they’d picked her up. She turned her attention to her men again.

“We’ve spoken about this often, usually after one too many beers, but yeah we’ve got a rough idea.” Max was the one to speak. “We all have our own rooms, and you also have a room of your own. We thought tonight we’d give you your choice, and then after that we’ll use an order determined by drawing lots. Sorry, buddy,” he said in Jared’s direction. He turned to look at Krista again. “Everyone wanted to be first. It sucks to be the guy who has to wait.” He winked. “Unless you’d like to take on more than one of us at a time, baby, what do you think?” Her mouth dropped open. His words were too horrifyingly close to the creepy propaganda film she’d seen the day before. Braxton slugged him in the arm.

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WHAT A GIRL WANTS by Selena Robins Review:

“Selena Robins writes some of the funnest characters I have read. What a Girl Wants is witty, charming and at times laugh out loud funny. It is highly entertaining and like a good movie you don’t want it to end.” ~The Romance Man~ Selena Robins Website - https://selenarobins. com/ Selena Robins Musings Blog - http://selenarobinsmusings.com/ To Buy Links: Samhain Publishing - http://store.samhainpublishing.com/selena-robins-pa-1418.html Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Whata-Girl-Wants-ebook/dp/B003FK5QBA/ref =sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344629792&sr=82&keywords=selena+robins Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble. com/w/what-a-girl-wants-selena-robins/110040 2297?ean=9781609280222 Kobo - http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Whata-Girl-Wants/book-vIPZDxQkikK5lqA4PnSmDA/ page1.html?s=vtwpGPYMMUqdIY1ehHtcbQ&r=1

She’s got the moxie. Travel journalist Maddie Saunders has new attitude, and wants two new accessories

to go with it. One, turn her triple-X fantasies into reality with Mr. Sex-On-Legs—her friend, Alex Donovan. And two, find her biological father to see if her gene pool has a deep end.

She never expected fulfilling both wishes would take her life down a drastically different path.

He’s got the secrets. Alex Donovan, an investigative reporter, grits his teeth when he accepts a

joint assignment to Hawaii with Maddie. He’s vowed to never get involved with any woman he can’t walk away from. Maddie falls under the heading of “Look, but don’t touch.”

Trouble is, Maddie excels at giving Alex a hard time—in more ways than one.

Complicated? Absolutely.

Especially when Alex discovers the shocking, unexpected reason they were both sent to Hawaii.

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Hot Male by Lillian Grant

One man. One sensual dance. One night only to prove his love.

Michael wants Maggie. Maggie has Sam. Two’s company, three’s a crowd.

Years ago, Maggie tried to seduce Michael Monaghan, only to have her efforts rebuffed. Now she’s older, wiser, happily in love with Sam Stephens, and determined to keep her distance from Michael.

complicated by the coldest winter in Dublin in years. With Michael, Maggie and Sam stuck in a house with only one bedroom, simmering sexual tension starts to boil over.

Michael wants Maggie. Maggie isn’t sure what she wants. Sam just wants to punch Michael in the nose.

Two’s company; three could be something else altogether. http://www.lsbooks.com/lillian-grantc161.php http://www.amazon.com/LillianGrant/e/B004F8XS84/ref=sr_ tc_2_0?qid=1354916930&sr=1-2-ent

Michael Monaghan, hot male stripper, has all manner of women falling at his feet, except Maggie. All he can do is watch from afar as Sam Stephens wins the heart of the one woman he really wants.

Sam Stephens is just tired of Michael watching Maggie’s every move.

Now there’s trouble with a capital T! Maggie’s Great-Aunt Maud has run off to Ireland with Michael’s Uncle Declan.

Maggie needs to get to Aunt Maud and talk some sense into her before Declan’s gun-totting wife catches up with them. With Michael and Maggie off to Ireland together, Sam isn’t about to be left behind.

Tracking down the runaway lovers is

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If you asked Danita Minnis

want it. Lesson learned: don’t try to save them.

When she’s not writing, Danita which is easier, writing songs exercises her lungs at her son’s or writing novels, she would soccer matches and their favorite theme park, because everyone say it was the former. Melodies knows it’s easier on the stomach and rhymes are second nature. to scream your way down a roller What her characters want is coaster. another thing entirely. With her debut novel, Falcon’s Angel, she learned to listen to her spunky heroine and sinfully confident hero. They’re funny and in danger, and that’s just the way they

Falcon’s Angel

Danita Minnis – Writing What She Knows My debut paranormal romance Falcon’s Angel is a suspenseful

journey that takes you from the verdant land of eighteenth century Italy to modern-day England as Falcon and his Angel combat a devil-worshipping cult who has wanted their blood for two hundred years.

Reincarnation, mystery and passion, all the elements that I love to write about are in this story that I had to write for many reasons.

I am fascinated by the evolving soul. I think we are all here for a reason. Why not learn the lesson instead of continuing the fight into the next lifetime? I met a very wise woman once who put it simply: we are energy. Keep it positive or you generate negativity. In other words, you don’t learn your lesson, whatever it may be.

You will almost always see soul mates in my stories. If I had my way, we’d all have our very own soul mate in every lifetime. That’s why I write about lovers who knew each other when. From one era to the next, they love. From one corner of the world to the next, they may not recognize one another at first but they always come home in the end!

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Mystery and whodunit are ingrained in me as much as the soul-mate theory. Isolated, creepy old houses will get me every time, but add human shortcomings such as a defiant young woman fighting for independence only to run into the hands of devil-worshippers (yes, Angel is no angel) leaves you wanting to scream, ‘don’t go in there!’ But they always do, don’t they?

In Falcon’s Angel, suspense is just as palpable as romance. Falcon and Angel love but will the devilish cult il Dragone take that love away again (and again)? Or will these two lovers finally master the repeating tableau in this lifetime?

I grew up with the Twilight Zone and Hitchcock’s masterpieces as background music in a busy New York City household with four very imaginative big sisters. (I was once locked in our big, dark and creepy old basement while my mother was at work – very inspiring!) It is no wonder I love the worlds I am able to create as a writer. It is an alternate reality, a place I can go to contemplate fantasies and make them happen. That’s exactly what I did with Falcon’s Angel. In this story you will see my love of all things medieval, haunting and witchy.

With Falcon dodging a serrated blade and Angel dodging the lustful il Dragone, these two didn’t let up until I wrote it all down. I might go a few days without a character attack, but my guilty conscience knows I have unfinished business. I can’t leave Angel in the clutches of a sex-crazed devilworshipper, can I? Hmm…well, I better not. Falcon would put me on his hit list after that.

Writing is a labor of love for me as singing was once. I’m a singer-turned-writer. Having worked the New York City nightclub circuit I couldn’t leave my love of music out of this debut novel.

Who knows, maybe nightclub singing will end up in one of my books. It’s an interesting vampire-like existence to wake up at 9:00 pm and call your friends and family to say goodnight before you go to work. I’m very attracted to the prowling darkness of a vampire’s life. More of that to come in Book Three of the Cardiff Family series when Angel’s uncle Xavier has to decide between love and his human existence.

Classical music, Angel whispers in my ear. Since I can’t sleep when Angel’s talking, and since I love classical music as much as contemporary, classical music it is. In Falcon’s Angel, she plays the violin and Falcon is an accomplished pianist.

Blurb Angelina wants to go unrecognized when she leaves her family’s Yorkshire estate to play in a symphony in Italy. When she starts running she has no idea just how much she is running from: a stolen Stradivarius, a birthright of mysterious powers and a past that got her killed over two hundred years ago.

Falcon wants the Stradivarius in her possession, and goes undercover to track down a thief. But he is not the only killer in search of the violin. il Dragone, a devil-worshiping cult, wants revenge for a past only they can remember.

Falcon’s Angel is a paranormal romance of love which ended in tragedy in eighteenth century France. That love is tested in a fight of good versus evil some two hundred years later. This time around Falcon and Angel have an opportunity to put a stop to the cycle of murder and mayhem, if only they can remember.

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Liquid Silver Books http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/books/falconsangel.htm LSB Short Link http://www.lsbooks.com/falcons-angel-p225.php Amazon Author page http://www.amazon.com/Danita-Minnis/e/B008EAB4Q2/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0 Amazon Falcons Angel http://www.amazon.com/Falcons-Angel-ebook/dp/B0086WG6N4/ ref=la_B008EAB4Q2_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344173645&sr=1-1 Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/falcons-angel-danita-minnis/111163237 4?ean=9781595789426 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RomanceAuthorDanitaMinnis Facebook Author Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Danita-Minnis-RomanceAuthor/433534206657385?ref=hl Blog: http://danitaminnis.danitaminnis.com/ Networked Blogs http://www.networkedblogs.com/user/1345144572 Google + https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/115952729941261769379/115952729941261769379/ posts Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9183360-danita-minnis Klout http://klout.com/#/Danita_Minnis/topics Pinterest http://pinterest.com/danitaminnis/ Stumbleupon http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/RomanceAuthorDan Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/o1515015619

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Two Hot Romances from Kelli A. Wilkins

About the Author: Kelli Wilkins is a

multi-published author who has written more than 80 short stories, fifteen romance novels, and four non-fiction books. In summer of 2012, Kelli published two new romances: Killer in Wolf’s Clothing (Amber Quill Press) and The Viking’s Witch (Medallion Press).

contemporary, gay, and paranormal genres.

My recent books, Killer in Wolf’s Clothing and The Viking’s Witch are at two ends of the spectrum.

Killer in Wolf’s Clothing is an erotic gay paranormal and The Viking’s Witch is a traditional historical.

No matter what genre I’m writing, all the same elements of a book are there (characters, plot, setting, theme, details) and they all have to be developed, whether it’s a fantasy or a contemWhen people hear I write roporary romance. Each book bemances, they usually ask “what comes an adventure for me as a genre?” Well, the answer is, evewriter. I never know what time ry genre. I’ve written novellas period or plot I’ll explore next. and novels in historical, fantasy,

Hi everyone!

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I invite to read

I’m also Twitter Goodre Reader and my lnk_3?q

Here are plot summaries for each book:

K

iller in Wolf’s Clothing

D

eke doesn’t play nice and has no time for games. He only wants two things—to get laid and to get revenge against the arsonist who super aggressive Alpha male, a serial kill- murdered his friends. Finally free from Greg’s reer, and a visit to a kinky sex club… What straints, Deke is ready for action, and Larry is more than willing to submit to Deke’s needs. has Larry gotten himself into?

A

T

W

ogether, Larry and Deke set out to find the killer. hen Larry learns that his boyfriend Greg Their hunt takes them to an all-night Alpha sex changes into another man during the full club where things heat up for the two of them. moon, he has a hard time accepting it—unBut when Larry unwittingly falls into the clutches of til he meets Deke, Greg’s alternate Alpha personality. the murderer, it’s up to Deke—and Greg—to save him before it’s too late.

T

he Viking’s Witch

A

bout to be burned at the stake by her fellow villagers, Odaria does what any betrayed witch facing certain death would do. She calls down a curse. Within seconds, rampaging Norsemen raid the village, capturing everyone except her.

this domineering man, or will she fall under his influence?

A

fter Rothgar witnesses Odaria’s powers, he strikes a bargain with her. The raven-haired beauty will use her magical abilities to help him with his quest in exchange for safe passage off the isle.

But can she be trusted, or is she using him to exact vengeance on her village? ut her reprieve is Together they must fight short-lived, and bloodthirsty villagers, batOdaria lands in the tle a mutinous band of clutches of the Norse lead- Norsemen, find a missing er Rothgar. Can she remain Norse ship, and learn to true to herself and fight trust each other . . . before her growing attraction to time is up.

B

everyone to follow my blog http://kelliwilkinsauthor.blogspot.com/ d interviews, reviews, excerpts, get writing tips, and catch up with my newsletter, Kelli’s Quill.

o on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kelli.wilkins1 r: www.Twitter.com/@KWilkinsauthor and eads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1123678.Kelli_A_Wilkins rs can find my writings on site www.KelliWilkins.com y Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Kelli-A.Wilkins/e/B001JSAB24/ref=sr_ntt_srch_ qid=1326933452&sr=8-3 2013 -Issue14

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Times They Are A Changing

H T

ave you ever gotten up one day and realized your daily routine has changed?

he kids are now able to drive themselves to school, in fact one no longer even lives at home, she’s off at college. Well that change happened to me not too long ago. The first time I realized it I shut my eyes. I thought if I went back to sleep perhaps I’d wake up in the ‘real world’ since I was obviously in an alternate universe. Because of course my child was still at home, and my God they’re babies how could they be driving.

But no such luck.

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E

ventually I hop out of bed or the dog nudges me awake so I can put her outside but the house is empty quiet and I don’t like it. Regardless of my desires that became my new routine.

But I try not to dwell on the silence in the house. Now I turn on the radio or news first thing, and then I try to get out of the house more. I hate housework and that I put off as long as possible. However, yes as a writer, most of my day is spent in front of the computer screen, but when my kids needed me more, I had a lot of breaks, time away from it. Nowadays I have to invent breaks for my self. All in all, that’s a good thing.

Author LaVerne Thompson

I

’m a multipublished author. I write sci/fi, fantasy and contemporary romance as well as romantic suspense under Ursula Sinclair.

Sometimes with a tad of violence and a smattering of erotica. I also write interactive stories at http://rpworldgroup.org [and create videos for books. Yeah I know quite a lot but I

needed something to fill in all that blank time.

Which is why my motto is ‘So much to do so little time. ‘ ]

I

f you want to read more about me and my work please visit my website

http://lavernethompson.com

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For the Love of a God:

by Author Rosanna Leo Blurb:

Conservator Maia Douglas is an expert on ancient Greece and its mythology. She would never tell anyone at the museum where she works, but she’s always had a secret crush on the mythical Eryx, Greek god of love. There is nothing she loves more than to tend to her favorite statue of him, and her nighttime dreams are filled with luscious images of Eryx making love to her.

One day, the peace at Maia’s beloved museum is shattered when a new director arrives. A man who looks exactly like her image of Eryx. As Maia watches, he manages to upset her ordered museum world, at the same time he inflames her with unwanted desire.

Maia does not know that her new boss is actually the god Eryx, disguised as a mortal so he may work in antiquities. Although he is the god of love, he has forsaken his sexual nature because of a curse that has killed any woman he’s dared to love. Though he fights it, Eryx is drawn to Maia with a force he’s never experienced in a thousand years. But can he convince her of his true identity? And can he protect her from a vengeful goddess who seeks her destruction?

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xcerpt:

And without knowing quite how it happened, she found herself being led across Yonge Street to the Mad Irishman Pub. As they crossed the busy road, Eric put his hand on the small of her back. For some reason, she felt safe with his hand there. Warm and safe.

Maybe it was because the cars were just peeling away from them. Even though they were jaywalking, all the cars came to a halt before Eric. It was like Moses crossing the Red Sea. Maia couldn’t count how many times she’d almost been hit in the past by unfeeling downtown Toronto drivers.

Yet those same drivers couldn’t make enough space for Eric Lord.

It must be his shiny blond hair. His golden highlights were a blinding beacon.

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Dye job, she decided.

tremendous unease, Maia looked away again. He hadn’t said anything sexual or vulgar. He’d only said her name. Yet, for some reason, the way Eric Lord said it made her feel as if he was touching her, caressing her most intimate places. She adjusted the way she was sitting, and angled away from him a little.

God help her, her panties were wet.

They got to the pub, and he led her to a plush half-circular booth tucked in the back. As he let her pass him to get into the booth, he placed his hand on her back again. Once again, a blazing heat trailed from his fingers through her clothes and right into her pores.

What was it with this man? She’d known menopausal women who didn’t feel so hot to the touch all the time.

She sat down and blew up her messy bangs with a breath, feeling hot herself. She then watched the waitress drool all over Eric as she handed them menus. Maia made a face, but plastered on a happy grin when she saw him looking at her. They ordered. A Guinness for her and a cranberry juice for him.

Buy Links: http://www.lsbooks.com/for-the-love-of-a-godp239.php http://www.amazon.com/For-The-Love-Godebook/dp/B007WZHRNO/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1 http://www.allromanceebooks.com/productfortheloveofagod-784781-140.html http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b133222/ For-The-Love-Of-A-God/Rosanna-Leo/?si=0

“Aren’t you going to have a real drink?” she asked.

“I’m good,” he chuckled quietly. “I don’t drink alcohol.”

Oh God, she thought. Was he an alcoholic? Or a health nut? She wasn’t sure which scenario alarmed her more.

“So,” he continued. “Do you mind if I call you by your first name?”

“Don’t like being so formal with your peons?”

He stared back at her, obviously holding back a retort. His eyes flashed as if lit from behind. For the first time, she noticed all the golden specks surrounding his dark pupils. They made his eyes seem an even deeper green, like the forest after a storm. It was such an arresting effect. She had to look away for a moment.

“I hope, going forward, you’ll call me Eric,” he said in his deep voice. “Not asshole or moron.”

It was her turn to laugh. “Fine. Then you can call me Maia.”

“Thank you, Maia,” he replied, almost in a whisper.

Her vagina clenched. It actually seized. Feeling

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Author Robin Danner

Robin Danner writes sweet and

sexy historicals and lives in Alabama with her husband and three sons. When she is not writing, she enjoys watching reality television and singing karaoke … quite possibly off-key!

She is a graduate of Troy University and published her first novel not long after earning her degree in Biology. She currently works full-time and shuffles her time between writing, work, and her family.

Find out more about Robin at http://robindanner.webs.com.

Blurb for The Princes Bound

Prince Mathis wants nothing but peace for his kingdom, while his brother, Prince Talin, seems determined to align his own kingdom with their family’s sworn enemy through an alliance in the form of marriage. Mathis will be damned if he will witness the ceremony binding his brother to the daughter of the man rumored to have murdered their father.

Talin’s most trusted captain, Nadia d’Arcy, is ordered to abduct Mathis and bring him by force to Noventia for the wedding, a marriage that is not what it seems to be.

Mathis and Nadia’s mutual attraction tests both the captain’s loyalty to her prince and Mathis’ already worn patience. As a rebellion begins to threaten all that they hold dear, Nadia must

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Blurb for The Princes Determined

choose between the life she has always known or surrender to the handsome prince who is determined to make her his.

After a failed wedding, Rowena of Bevelaire is abandoned by her treacherous father and left to the tender mercies of her intended groom, Prince Talin. A dangerous man with his own agenda, Talin could be Rowena’s damnation or destiny.

To safeguard his people, Prince Talin is determined to do anything, including marry the daughter of his bitter enemy. But a marriage to Lady Rowena could cost him a kingdom … or his heart.

Blurb for The Princes Knighted Sir Hugh d’Arcy has returned from the battlefield to escort Sara, the princess of Noventia’s sister, to wed another. The mission is his duty, and his personal agony. Sara has never forgotten her love for the boy Hugh once was.

When captured, a shocking revelation brings their love to life again. To save all he has sworn to protect, Hugh faces a devastating decision.

Can Sara convince him her love is strong enough to overcome any obstacle?

Buy Links: www.lsbooks.com

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B

“You have the write to remain a single title/ You have the right to come back as a series…”

Author Julie Eberhart Painter

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In 1995, on a ladies room floor of a Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, I picked up three new copper pennies.

At the time I attended the writer’s conference to pitch a book based on a Tahitian legend. (Daughters of the Sea will release January 25 from MuseItUp Publishing).

law dies on their service.

In the hospice offices, a whole new set of nutty buddies emerge. Hospice workers are under stress and subject to burnout. The nurses, social workers, a guilty preacher and a stuffed frog named Croakette romp through the offices chased by a psychic meI had begun writing Kill Fee, a cozy dium who knows their secrets with mystery staring Penny Olsen. Penny eerie accuracy. The hapless humans is a curious seeker of truth, the kind become entangled in the predictions of young woman who, like Jessica they hear at their readings in CassadFletcher and Miss Marple, shows up aga, a real Spiritualist town. All hell at crime scenes just when everything breaks loose, and the medium ends was expected to go well—and didn’t. up stabbed through the heart with her It occurred to me at the time that Pen- knitting needles. ny could become a series player. “The And just when everything was going Three Penny Mysteries” would facili- so well—or not. tate her getting caught up in three of my main interests: duplicate bridge, which can bring out the murder in anyone; hospice care, my then current passion, and of course, my life-long passion for the writing world.

In 2011, Penny Olsen made her debut as a single title book, the star of Kill Fee, a cozy mystery. The first murder takes place at a duplicate bridge game, and the next murder…well you see what’s coming here.

Kill Fee became a best seller at fictionwise.com and won the CTRR Best Book award in February, and Book of the Year 2011 from champagnebooks. com, its publisher. When is a single title the first in a series? Now. I’m happy to say that Medium Rare, a cozy novella will be published December 3, 2012 when pretty Penny’s life is continued. In Medium Rare she is married to her hero from Kill Fee. Having given up her job and serious bridge playing, she joins a hospice team as a volunteer after her father-in-

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Bio

Julie was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and moved around the country. She stabilized, and remained for 25 years five miles west of Daytona Beach, Florida, the setting for her recent cozy mysteries. http://www.books-jepainter.com, or go to her Amazon Author Page

%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3AJulie+Eberhart+Pai nter&keywords=Julie+Eberhart+Painter&ie=U TF8&qid=1321374034&sr=1-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B005EYUYSK

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i

Tasmania, The Devil You Say? But maybe not for long— We put in at Bernie, population 20,000. The first stop was the Wings Wildlife Park. The park takes only wounded, threatened animals and their young born in captivity. The wombats are adorable although they look like marsupial “fat rats.” Emu strutted behind fences. Parrots and a small eagle were caged in the aviary, and of course, the infamous Tasmanian Devil lurked behind high fences baring its bone-crushing teeth.

The pup looks like a black and red Rottweiler puppy.

Once grown, our veterinarian remarked “It looks like a “rat dog.” The expert handler, who was trying to wean the pups from their mother’s milk, held one pup firmly in his thick, long-gloved hands so that we could pet the fourweek-old. (We didn’t.) If the teeth don’t get you their long fingered claws might. From birth, they spend their lives trying to kill each other—a Darwinian fluke.

When the full-grown Devil stands on his mound and threatens the world, the inside of his ears and mouth flare red. His blood-colored mouth and long fangs establish his intent. Unfortunately, a rare form of contagious face cancer has invaded their population. Hence evolution dictates that the Devils are breeding much younger even at age one instead of waiting until two or three. They are rapidly dying off; the uninfected ones are being sent to preserves in Australia to save the species.

Tasmania is a state of Australia. The island is close by, but between New Zealand and the mainland. The entire population of Tasmania is 480,000. Hobart, the capital, houses 110,000 and the rest are decentralized. There are no fullblooded aboriginals left on the island now. Nor are there any Tasmanian tigers, a marsupial wolf-like creature. The Tasmanian tiger, a spotted small black and white wolf once used for fur coats, is thought to be extinct. The last one is believed to have died in captivity in Melbourne, Australia in 1936.

When this landmass separated from Australia, some animals were trapped there, while others stayed on the mainland. Dingoes that preyed upon the weaker species were left behind, so species survived in Tasmania that might otherwise have been food for the dingoes.

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Contenue with Author Julie Eberhart Painter

“Little Tassie” is a unique oasis of good weather and good feeling, a remarkable blend of English and more reserved like New Zealanders, than the Australian culture. Australia is to New Zealand and Tasmania what Texas is to the USA. Louder, bigger, more open.

Australian laws guide Tasmania, so it seemed curious that we had to wear our seatbelts in the buses or be levied an $80.00 per person fine.

Yet a week later in mainland Australia, at no time was that law enforced.

Tasmanians are descended from convicts. They remained after serving out their sentences rather than go back to England. The main religion is Protestant with a few Pentecostal and Catholic churches sprinkled in. Paper making is the big industry in Bernie. King’s Island Cheese, a high fat cheese, and blue vein (blue cheese) and cheddar are made there, also Tasmanians grow their own vegetables, and harvest fresh fish from the streams and rivers.

Tea-tree plants make the rivers brown, but the water is pure and safe to drink. There are no chemicals such as chlorine or fluoride added.

They have no genetically altered crops.

Their industries are considered clean industries so Tasmania is classed as a green island. They are the source for the opium poppy, grown for legal medical export. It’s easy to control on this isolated island.

Rainfall, between 24 and 95 inches, soaks into a chocolate colored soil. It doesn’t get hot there, averaging about 21-degrees C in summer and 12-degrees C in winter. Being Down Under, they are able to grow apples, potatoes and pick raspberries from Christmas throughout their summer. Golf ball-sized cherries grow on the northwest coast and are exported to Japan. Cattle, sheep and tree farms are coming back since they’ve discontinued mining ore for making titanium oxide.

It’s not quite perfect. Cheeky blackbirds, though

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harmless, will steal your crackers and attack the apples. All Tasmania’s snakes are venomous, but they have short fangs and are not feared. The residents wear thick socks under their shoes. The island is home to the red-back spider, which is deadly poisonous. Koalas are not native to Tasmania, but have been imported for display to tourists. The gray wallaby, and varieties of possums that love to eat the roses, are natives to the island.

Little Tassie is quite accessible to its Australian mainland. One doesn’t have to fly to Australia from Tasmania. There’s a regular overnight ferry from Melbourne to Bernie and also a ferry to Davenport. One can take one’s car and sleep in it for free, or get a cabin for $60.00, or a stateroom for $100.00. “Blinking Billy,” Tasmania’s charming name for their lighthouse welcomes travelers home.

JULIE EBERHART PAINTER IS THE CHAMPAGNE BOOKS AUTHOR OF MORTAL COIL, TANGLED WEB, AND THE 2011 BOOK OF THE YEAR, KILL FEE. THE SEQUEL, MEDIUM RARE RELEASES ON DECEMBER 3, 2012. IN JANUARY 2013, DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM MUSEITUP PUBLISHING. VISIT JULIE’S WEB SITE AT WWW.BOOKS-JEPAINTER.COM

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Christiane France Author’s Bio

Book blurb

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Christiane France believes love makes the world go round, be it a brief, happy-for-now affair, or a happily-ever-after lifetime commitment. She also believes in Fate.

If two people are meant to be together, they will be and nothing in time, space or the real world can keep them apart. Christiane

lives near Niagara Falls with her husband and The Boys--two black and white Persian cats.

To learn more about Christiane and her work, please visit her website at www.chrisgrover.ca

The day before Drew McEvoy is to fly home, following a temporary work assignment in London, he trips going down the stairs to a teashop and is saved from injury by the quick thinking of Englishman, Michael Dawson.

Michael can see Drew is a little shaken up by the incident. He invites Drew to sit at his table to catch his breath and offers to buy him a cup of tea.

The chemistry is there from the word go. Drew doesn’t know if it’s a momentary thing, or if it could turn into something more, and there’s not enough time left for him to find out.

All he can do is hold onto the moment and stretch it out to the very last drop.

Tea turns into lunch and they end up chatting the afternoon away. When the teashop closes and they’re forced to leave, Drew assumes the interlude is over and they’ll each go their separate ways.

But Michael surprises Drew by inviting him to have a drink at his flat and then go for dinner somewhere.

Drew knows the very most they can have is a few hours. This time tomorrow they’ll be thousands

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of miles apart. Should he risk spoiling their brief time together by telling Michael that? Or would it be better to keep his mouth shut? After all, they’re just ships passing in the night, right?

Released 9 December 2012 by Amber Allure http://www.amberquill.com/ AmberAllure

Why Do I Write Gay Romance?

A male author once asked how I, a straight female, could write gay romance. I told him the same way he writes about nymphomaniacs and serial killers and other authors build a parallel universe or write tales of werewolves, shifters and creepy fantasy critters that go bump in the night—you don’t need firsthand experience to write a book all you need is a vivid imagination. First, check out a few pics of really buff guys, pick your two faves, add a tiny pinch of real life plus a healthy helping or three of what if?, stir well and who knows where the journey will take you? If you’re lucky it will take you to the moon. And if you’re really adventurous it may take you beyond the moon to something a little darker, a little edgier, something that makes your heart beat faster, until you’re on the edge of your seat, biting your nails and wishing like crazy you were there and he was— I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks here, or not.

So why do I write about men making love to other men? The truth? I adore men. I love that little boy who lives within all of them, the shy pride in a race well run or a fight well fought, and their fierce defense of those they love. And I love a nicely toned male body complete with a tight butt and all the trimmings, it’s a major turn-on. Okay, I know, this type of perfection has more to do with fantasy than reality, but that’s okay, we’re allowed to dream and so I write about that, not real life.

I write erotic romance, mostly stories that end hea (happily ever after). Once in a while, as in Missing, Presumed Dead http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/MissingPresumedDead.html, at the end of the story, Greg, my hero is still searching for The One. But I promise, in Greg’s case, The One is out there, just waiting in the wings for the right moment to step into Greg’s life and for me to write their story.

There’s a question that’s been bothering me for a while, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to find out if a reader or two would be willing to satisfy my curiosity: Does the setting/location of a book affect your decision to purchase, or is it the blurb that makes you buy? The reason I ask is because I’ve

noticed contemporary stories set in foreign locations often don’t do as well as those set in North America.

For example, Blues In The Night - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/BluesInNight.html is set in the South of France yet it didn’t seem to appeal to readers in the same way as I think it may have if it had been set somewhere here like maybe New York or L.A..

I mostly write contemporary m/m—usually guys in their thirties with real life problems, along with a few m/m/f adventures, the odd paranormal, and a couple of time travels. My favorite theme though is “reunions”—reuniting characters who for whatever reason missed connecting the first time around and have been given a second chance.

This is the basis for my last release ANYTHING YOU CAN DO – http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/AnythingYouCanDo.html

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Author – KC Kendricks

short biography KC Kendricks calls the great state of Maryland home. Living in a rural region, KC enjoys most outdoor activities that do not require snow. In warm weather KC can be found walking the dog, biking on the C&O Canal towpath, planting delicacies for the deer, playing in the creek, or lazing on the patio with an e-reader or a laptop An administrative assistant by day and author by night, Kendricks is a 2008 Amber Heat Wave Winner. With numerous top ten best sellers, Kendricks’ work has been nominated for a CAPA from The Romance Studio, the Elisa Rolle LGBT Rainbow Award, and twice for Best GLBT Story at Love Romance Café.

KC’s erotic gay romances, both contemporary and paranormal, are of a mix of heat and humor that celebrate love and hope for mature readers.

You can find KC Kendricks on the web at the following locations: Website at: http://www.kckendricks.com Between the Keys blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1989106.K_C_Kendricks Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/ Kc-Kendricks/1439574042 MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kckendricks Join the mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo. com/group/betweenthekeys

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Seducing Light by KC Kendricks Asher Myles struggled to put his life back together after an identity thief striped him of everything but his talent for capturing light and shadow with a camera lens. With a new job and a new start, Asher’s on his way to Montana—and a meeting with the man he’s fantasized about since he first saw him on the silver screen.

Book blurb

Nick Light, actor, director, and Hollywood royalty, doesn’t like paparazzi. When he agrees to have his Montana ranch photographed for a style magazine, the unexpected happens—he falls for the man with the camera. Nick’s secret comes out when he realizes Asher is also gay.

If there’s one thing Nick can’t resist, it’s a man with a talent for seducing light...

SEDUCING LIGHT Available now at Amber Allure http://amberquill.com/AmberAllure/SeducingLight.html ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-1-60272-530-0

Creating Passion and Romance on the Page Of all the things I do in my day, every day, writing romantic stories is my favorite. It’s also the hardest and the most rewarding. The day job pays the bills - writing lights up my life. If for some horrible and unimaginable reason I stopped writing, I think I’d become like a sleepwalker, not really a participant in the world around me.

So, how then does one take pure thought, ethereal in essence, pull it out of the air and trap it on the page to be shared? How do you create passion and romance on the page? I set out to write an article on that subject, and I’m suddenly a bit stumped. I do it, but when it comes to explaining it, this writer is at a loss for words to describe The Big Picture. I can only speak to how it is for me in the context of The Little Picture.

Perhaps this is why we love to read - no one tells the same story the same way. And that’s all the many sides of the romance genre is – the same story retold. Person A meets that special Person B (in some instances it can be Alien B), and sparks of all sorts fly. In the end, there is love, and the hope for a permanent, happy future. It’s the retelling of this basic premise in all its incredible, wonderful, joy-

ous diversity that keep us reading, and writing.

I’m a visual learner, meaning I absorb information best by seeing it. Seeing a photograph triggers the majority of my stories. It can be a snapshot of an attractive man, or something like a garden, or the seashore.

What happens to me in my mundane little life is a bit amazing. Suppose I see a snapshot of a man. I get a flash that I ‘know’ him and his name is Levi or Tyler or Fallon. From there, the imagination, or muse if you like that term, takes over and I see his story like it’s a movie.

The hard part is holding on to the movie long enough to get it typed onto the page.

This is where innate gifts and learned skills come into play. I have to feel it before I can write it. I have to get inside my character’s head and share his heartbreak and hope. That might sound odd considering I write male/ male romance, but it’s not.

bottom line is people are people and emotion is emotion. How the characters make love doesn’t change the sexual and emotional need to connect intimately. Gender only dictates how they take care of satisfying it.

One constant question I ask myself is, “does the emotion feel real?” If it doesn’t feel real to me, it won’t to anyone else. To make the story work, the passion has to be true to the individual characters. There are all sorts of passion in a story – passion for a cause, a hobby, a career – so all that has to be believable throughout the entire story.

That’s where my own passion comes into play. I have a passion to write the best story I can. Without it the pages would be blank and life would be very, very dull.

I don’t want to get up on a podium here, and I really could when it comes to some things like the right to love the person you love. The 2013 -Issue14

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About Author

Liz Crowe

Microbrewery owner, best-selling author, beer blogger breweries, on the soccer pitch and in high-powered real esand journalist, mom of three teenagers, and soccer fan, Liz tate offices. Don’t ask her for anything “like” a Budweiser lives in the great Midwest, in a major college town. Years or risk painful injury. of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as an ex-pat trailing spouse, plus making her way in www.lizcrowe.com a world of men (i.e. the beer industry), has prepped her for www.brewingpasssion.com life as erotic romance author. www.a2beerwench.com www.facebook.com/lizcroweauthor When she isn’t sweating inventory and sales figures for www.twitter.com/beerwencha2 the brewery, she can be found writing, editing or sweating www.facebook.com/groups/romanceforreallife promotional efforts for her latest publications. www.facebook.com/jackgordonrealtor www.facebook.com/craigrobinsonmd Her groundbreaking romance subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” has gained thousands of fans and followers who are interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”)

Her beer blog a2beerwench.com is nationally recognized for its insider yet outsider views on the craft beer industry. Her books are set in the not-so-common worlds of 40

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Blurb A brutal attack left Lori Brockton convinced she was damaged goods. By the time she emerges from hiding two years later, ready to run her family’s famous brewery, she’s determined to be independent--never rely on anyone ever again. Nearly a year of working in every corner of Brockton Brewing Company, from warehouse to pub, front office to kitchen, teaches her all she needs to know about the business. Then, she comes face-to-face with masculine perfection in a suit and her world is rocked in more ways than one.

Garret Hunter is the new Brockton business manager who takes one look at the beautiful, sad young woman and his entire existence coalesces around winning her heart.

But standing between Garrett and what he believes is his true love, is a six-foot six-inch blond-haired bad boy brewer.

Eli Buchannan is a craft beer rock star, recently hired by Brockton to drag the company into the 21st century. He brings innovation and attitude plus a prima donna ladies’ man reputation. But he’s sworn off anything resembling commitment, personal or professional, after getting burned at his last job on both fronts.

Garret Hunter is “The Perfect Man” -- handsome, successful, stable, and eager to settle down. Eli Buchannan... is not.

Compelling, smoking hot, creative and elusive, he represents everything Lori Brockton should avoid. But just as she makes a difficult choice, a drastic life-changing shift occurs, and nothing is ever the same again.

“Paradise Hops is a beautiful and heart wrenching story of healing and redemption. A story about love, and how life can bring you beauty as you push through adversity and find personal triumph on the other side.” – The Romance Reviews “Paradise Hops is not your average feel-good romance – it’s a story of flawed, realistic characters finding solace with one another. It’s tragic and yet hopeful and so wrought with emotion that I had a hard time putting it down.” – Sinfully Sexy Books “With its erotic, romantic scenes, multidimensional characters and bittersweet ending, Paradise Hops is an incredibly moving, emotionally charged roller coaster ride that readers won’t soon forget.”

Making the Tough Call Or When the Ending Writes Itself I don’t consider myself in any way an expert when it comes to anticipating what a reader wants by way of a book ending. I understand the accepted, and many cases mandated Happily Ever After (HEA) for hardcore romance readers. Having never been a reader of traditional romance may be good for me in that sense because I never got used to having stories tie themselves up in a nice, neat bow by the end.

Now, hang on…save the tomato tossing and nose thumbing for a second.

I have a degree in English Literature and so spent a fair few hours reading the “classics in the canon” and was lucky have at least one professor who liked to pick current novels that could be seen as extrapolations of a classic theme. Since I’ve become published, I have had the opportunity to discuss romance novel memes, themes, heroes and heroines with everyone from publishers and editors to bloggers, reviewers and readers— a lot. And I have news for you: There are NOT that many original stories when it comes to “contemporary” anything be it romance, mystery, comedy, teen lit, chick lit, you name it. While the introduction of the paranormal craze has added an element of…creativity to the themes they remain very consistent. I am not a reader/writer of paranormal, or of sci fi, or fantasy (other than a pretty incredible Young Adult series I just read) so it’s hard for me to address this without adding my bias so I’ll let you go where you will with those genres.

I tend to hark back to some very classic themes with many of my books, connecting them directly or indirectly to Shakespearean or even Greek plots. One thing those guys knew (besides geometry and other things useless to yours truly) was human nature. And you do not get much more romance, contemporary melo-

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Author Liz Crowe

Contenue with

drama with a dash of sexy intrigue than, say Oedipus Rex, or Julius Caesar or even (my favorite) The Taming of the Shrew. I also love the use of foreshadowing but using a light hand, making many readers go back once they hit the end of some of my books just to “find that hint” they thought they remembered.

It’s not a new theme. It’s a Shakespearean tragedy really, which are all based on Greek ones---the hubris of man (or woman) bringing him (or her) low only to have human nature lift them up, stronger, if reduced for the experience.

Paradise Hops is hands down one of the most difficult books I have written. I went a step beyond the more traditional “wounded hero healed by the one woman he never thought he would meet.” I made the wound- I hope you enjoy it. ed one the heroine, and tossed in a fair bit Cheers of personality issues with hero #1. Now Liz don’t get too excited. This is NOT a “ménage romance” (I’ve got those too but this is something very much not that). Our heroine, Lori Brockton, has traveled through a personal hell and emerged, shell shocked but pushed by her father to learn the family business—beer brewing—to finally bring her back to the land of the living. Just when she is getting a handle on that, Hero #1 drops into her life in the form of Garrett Hunter, the man hired to be general manager for the brewery.

And while he seems perfect to the naked eye, he has his own set of issues that make him, well, real. As Lori is attempting to decide how to handle a budding relationship, Hero#2 makes an appearance. Eli Buchanan is a larger than life, semi-celebrity brewer hired to spruce up Brockton’s sort of staid product line. And he is sex on a stick as far as Lori is concerned.

This project allowed me to flex my writing muscle, to explore a unique way of structuring the novel to include a brief dream state that “feels like time travel” when it actually is not. Not everyone who reads this is willing to go with my thought processes and this novel has garnered VERY strong reactions on both sides of the reviewer/reader aisle. And I mean very strong ones. Not many people say “oh, this was pretty good,

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what’s next?” No, I get emails, FB messages and tweets either raging mad and “WTFing” about it or (more often, thank goodness) still in tears, ripped apart emotionally, and gushing about how powerful it was.

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Author Andrea Downing Andrea Downing has spent most of her life in

the UK where she received an M.A. from the University of Keele in Staffordshire. She married and raised a beautiful daughter and stayed on to teach and write, living in the Derbyshire Peak District, the English Lake District and the Chiltern Hills before finally moving into London. During this time, family vacations were often on guest ranches in the American West, where she and her daughter have clocked up some 17 ranches to date. In addition, she has traveled widely throughout Europe, South America, and Africa, living briefly in Nigeria. In 2008 she returned to the city of her birth, NYC, but frequently exchanges the canyons of city streets for the wide open spaces of the West. Her love of horses, ranches, rodeo and just about anything else western is reflected in her writing.

Loveland, a western historical romance published

by The Wild Rose Press, is her first book. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Women Writing the West.

When Lady Alexandra Calthorpe returns to the Loveland, Colorado, ranch owned by her father, the Duke, she has little idea of how the experience will alter her future. Headstrong and willful, Alex tries to overcome a disastrous marriage in England and be free of the strictures of Victorian society --and become independent of men. That is, until Jesse Makepeace saunters back into her life...

Hot-tempered and hot-blooded cowpuncher Jesse Makepeace can’t seem to accept that the child he once knew is now the ravishing yet determined woman before him. Fighting rustlers proves a whole lot easier than 44

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Blurb

fighting Alex when he’s got to keep more than his temper under control.

Arguments abound as Alex pursues her career as an artist and Jesse faces the prejudice of the English social order. The question is, will Loveland live up to its name?

Why Research Put My Blood Pressure Up Back in June, 2011, when I was barely returned from living in Britain, my daughter and I headed off to Colorado for 4 days to a spot in the NE corner of the state where the prairies meet the mountains. This was necessitated by research for my book, Loveland, and my daughter bears absolutely no responsibility for what happened. The reasons for my choice of location are varied and personal but, aside from anything else, I wanted to see the prairies to the east, visit Cheyenne, Wyoming to the north and get into the Rockies to the west. (Just as a note here you may wonder why anyone would wish to see the prairies. I’ve driven through them numerous times, vast expanses of untouched American soil. But the mere fact that there is a Pawnee National Grassland sort of sent alarm bells my way that what once covered 60% of the USA now has to be protected and is fast disappearing) The epicenter of all of this was Loveland.

Loveland is perhaps best known as a town to which romantic geeks send their valentines cards in order to be hand-stamped “Loveland” by a bunch of Senior Citizens (known to my British readers as OAPS), who need to supplement their social security (pensions in the UK). Since I am not far off from this predicament myself I bear them no ill will. But that is the heart, you should pardon the pun, of Loveland.

Anyway, my daughter and I decided on a motel that met our travelling needs and selected a Marriott. This turned out to be

situated in what in Britain would be called an ‘Industrial Estate’: a purpose-built horror of single-story office spaces intermixed with ‘inns’ and restaurants in the most sterile environment known to man. One could have sworn that the Stepford wives were about to hold a reunion there. This was not an area for fine dining; in fact, if you look up restaurants in Loveland you’ll find the choice so limited as to make Wendy’s look a firm possibility.

So one night we decided to go for gold and mosey on over to Lonestar. Lonestar may not be known east of the Mighty Mississip but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what their cuisine and ambience will be. Daughter Kit (well that’s not her name but she will die of embarrassment if I mention her real name) ordered a salad, being the more sensible of us two, and I went whole hog for the chicken burrito featuring TWO whole chicken breasts and more sides than the entire team of the NY Knicks puts away in a year. It also featured, unbeknownst to me until I took my first forkful, more salt than is mined from the Dead Sea in a decade. It was definitely a case of ‘have a little burrito with your salt.’ And not only was there salt in the burrito but the baked potato had a crust of sea salt, thereby ruining my favourite part of the spud. I could literally feel my blood pressure going up about 5 points per bite.

When the young and overenthusiastic waitress came to ask us how the meal was, I turned to her and asked if the cook was in love?

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This won me a good kick under the table from Kit. But here’s the thing: a few short years ago Kit and I were dining after the theatre in London when a similar problem occurred. We had decided to share a side dish of vegetables which came so salty neither of us could eat them. Not being highly original and holding the belief that forgetting how much salt you are throwing in food means your mind is on other matters, I said the exact same thing to the waitress there, a young ‘resting’ actress no doubt, who looked at me and laughed and simply took the dish off the bill.

Back in Loveland, however, our cheerleader friend looked at me, her face slowly caving in as if invisible hands were pushing her cheeks. “I’m sorry your meal wasn’t to your satisfaction,” she whimpered. I sat there in some disbelief while Kit stared angrily at me and stepped on my toe. “Oh, no, no,” I hurriedly apologized, “It was fine. Just fine.” And then I gave her what was no doubt the biggest tip of her young life.

Could it be possible, I wonder, that (a) she was actually in love with the chef and my comment was too close to home? Or was it (b) she knew a little tear would elicit a bigger tip? Or am I (c) just too cynical? In any event, my heart recovered, the book was written and published and I have since returned to Loveland. On a saltfree diet.

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