Five Years on Kiva!

I got an email notification this week telling me that I've been on Kiva for five years!

Kiva is a nonprofit organization that aims to help people around the world get small, low-interest loans that help them start businesses, attend school, make needed renovations, etc. You can see explanations on Kiva's website.

I first joined Kiva in conjunction with the publication of my novella, The Six Swans, through Coming Together. All books that Coming Together publishes go toward some sort of charity project. In this case, proceeds from novellas that come out through the Coming Together: Neat line go into Kiva accounts.

You can see my Kiva lender profile here. Over the years I've used royalties from The Six Swans, along with other money I've added to it at times to make 61 loans!

If you'd like to get involved, it's easy to make your own account on Kiva. Or you can pick up The Six Swans, Giselle Renarde's Tangled Roots, or any other book in the Coming Together: Neat line.

Neat Collection

I've just found out that Coming Together has collected the first five titles in the Coming Together: Neat series into an omnibus edition. This includes my novella, The Six Swans, as well as work by Jenna Byrnes, Wendy Stone, Giselle Renarde, and Rachel Green.

The omnibus is available in paperback or as an e-book. The five titles together come out to a hefty 324 pages, so it's a solid read for the money.

As with all Coming Together: Neat titles, all proceeds go to support entrepreneurs around the world on Kiva. If you'd like to see where mine have gone, check out my Kiva lending page here.

Giving Back With The Six Swans

The Six Swans, my book with Coming Together: Neat, pays royalties into the micro-lending service Kiva. I promised to post updates about where the royalties were going.

I've just made a loan to Kristine, a woman in the Philippines looking to stock her store with electric fans, rice cookers, and the like.

Kristine caught my eye because she's used Kiva to steadily improve her business. This looks like her third loan with Kiva, and if you click to go back to previous efforts, you can see that she started with a direct sales service, no store. I think it's cool to see her using the system so well.

If you'd like to see more about the Kiva loans I've made, you can check out my lender page here.

If you'd like to read more about why I decided to publish with Coming Together: Neat, you can do so here.

The line has also been pretty active this year. You can see all the books in the Coming Together: Neat line here.

Doing Good While Being Bad

When I decided to publish The Six Swans with Coming Together: Neat, I agreed to a pretty unusual payment plan. All proceeds for books from that particular line go to Kiva, a website that distributes microloans to entrepreneurs around the world. Think Kickstarter, except that the recipients have to pay the money back and you don't get stickers and tchotchkes for contributing.

Royalties from The Six Swans show up as Kiva gift cards, and I can lend them as I choose, along with other members of the Coming Together: Neat lending team.

The book came out in early April, so I'm just getting the chance to get in on this. I've written before that my participation in Coming Together has often surprised me -- I tend to show up for the erotica and the chance to work with the awesome people, and then later I realize I'm really happy about the "altruism" in the "erotic altruism" that Coming Together espouses.

This was definitely the case here. Only when I went to actually make my Kiva account did I realize how exciting this is.

Here's the deal: Writing is a dream come true for me. How cool is it that I get to help other people achieve their dreams as a byproduct of pursuing my own?

Kiva also allows a really cool sort of transparency. If you want to see where royalties for The Six Swans are going, you can check out my lender page and see who I'm supporting. I probably spent two hours picking out my first loan recipient, Leala. I picked her because I wanted to help a fellow Pacific Islander female.

I plan to periodically update this blog with information about what's going on with Kiva. And, as always, a big thank you to the folks at Coming Together, for helping me learn to do good while being bad.

If you'd like to contribute to this (and read hot stories in the process), you can pick up The Six Swans, or any of the other books in the Coming Together: Neat line.

A Wedding Without a Bride

My e-book, The Six Swans, was released this weekend by Coming Together. Here's an excerpt from early in the book:

Just that morning, he'd collided with an attendant in a castle hallway outside his mother's chambers. Cream-colored paper scattered on the stone floor. Never too proud, Evan had dropped to his knees to assist, only to discover his own seal on the unfamiliar documents.

Attendants in the castle respected him so little that the servant dared to protest when Evan broke the seal. And what could the young king do? Until he married or attained his 21st birthday, the law afforded the queen dowager as much power as it did him. He could throw the churl in the dungeon, but the gesture would be futile. His mother would laughingly order another disloyal attendant to release him, and the result would be a servant with a grudge and a public example of his political impotence. Face burning, Evan held his mother's creature away with an outstretched arm so that he could read the words attributed to him.

"A wedding?" Evan roared, so loudly that the Lady Anthes herself appeared in the hall. The king advanced on her. "Mother, when would I have found out about my own wedding? Who, pray tell, is the bride?"

His mother didn't have the grace to look frightened. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. "I've asked you repeatedly to select a bride from among the many suitable ladies I have suggested."

"There can't be a wedding without a bride!"

"My point exactly. As you can see, you have two months' time to choose one."

"Cancel the blasted event! I've not agreed to marry anyone!"

"State weddings can't simply be halted in such a scandalous fashion. Royalty from the world over are already making preparations to attend. They may even be en route to this kingdom. You will have to set aside personal preference and do what is best for the state."

Evan tore the paper in half, then in half again, and threw it at her feet.

"Childish," Lady Anthes murmured, gesturing for a servant to take the torn paper away.

Evan glared at her. "How could my sudden marriage be best for the state? Surely, the woman would need time herself to prepare?"

"Any woman you choose will jump at the chance to be your queen. I've explained to everyone that, for security reasons, you can't allow the woman to be known until she's come to live in the castle."

Evan stepped in close, pitching his voice so only his mother could hear him. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Lady Anthes' face softened. She reached up and stroked a lock of Evan's hair. "You will turn 21 in a few months, my son, and the law will no longer allow me to rule by your side. I worry for you."

Evan gaped. He'd been a fool to hope for the freedom his birthday promised. His mother's machinations would force him to live with a viper in his bed—one groomed, no doubt, to report to Lady Anthes and no other. The law forbade a common bride, who might be grateful enough at the elevation of marrying a king to refrain from betraying him. Among noble ladies, his mother's influence extended even to the farthest kingdoms. Speechless with rage, Evan tore away from her.

He turned the old king's signet ring around and around on his finger. His mother had been distant until his father's death. In five short years, her presence had grown to crush Evan utterly. He called for his hunting party.

The Six Swans is available from Smashwords, 1PlaceForRomance, and Amazon. All proceeds go to Kiva, which offers microloans to entrepreneurs worldwide.

Announcing The Six Swans

My novella, The Six Swans, came out this weekend from Coming Together. Here's a description of the book:

The young King Evan struggles to become a man and ruler amid the choking influence of his mother’s spies and machinations. When he meets a silent, beautiful woman in the woods, he can’t resist the pure, honest sensuality of her touch. Bringing her to the castle as his wife and queen is Evan’s declaration of independence. The king’s hard-won happiness falls apart, however, when his mother accuses his new wife of murdering their first-born child. Evan believes that the private, physical language he shares with his queen tells him everything he needs to know, but as tragedy strikes again and again, his love and faith are tested to the breaking point.

"The Six Swans" retells an old fairy tale of a princess who must take a vow of silence to save her brothers from a curse, the king who falls in love with her despite the seeming insanity of the curse conditions, and the sexual connection that’s strong enough to overcome the isolating power of the princess’ vow.

I've written a lot about this publisher. The tagline is "Doing Good While Being Bad." All proceeds from sales of The Six Swans go to Kiva, an organization that gives microloans. The book is on sale for $1.99 from online retailers including 1PlaceForRomance, Smashwords, and Amazon.

Share the Love Blog Bash

There's an awesome blog event going on the whole month of February. Coming Together Presents editor Lisabet Sarai will be hosting a blog bash at Beyond Romance, featuring daily excerpts and posts from contributors to the Coming Together line.

Coming Together has the most awesome tagline: "Doing Good While Being Bad." Proceeds from erotic books in the line go to various charities. My work was in Coming Together: As One, an anthology of menage erotica that benefits ONE, the campaign to end global poverty.

My book, The Six Swans, which will be coming out soon, is part of Coming Together's Neat line. The proceeds from that go to Kiva, which offers microloans to entrepreneurs around the world.

This is awesome stuff, and the editors have an amazing lineup of writers. I'll be participating in the blog bash -- my date is February 24. But stop by all month. There are some awesome prizes, including a Kindle Fire and $50 at All Romance E-books!

Announcing The Six Swans

I've previously blogged about the Coming Together series, an excellent charity series of erotica with the delicious tagline "Doing Good While Being Bad."

They're being kind enough to publish my story "The Six Swans" in their new erotic novella series, Coming Together: Neat. I'm not sure exactly when the book will be out, but you can see the cover if you follow the link.

The Six Swans is an erotic retelling of the fairy tale by the same name.

The young King Evan struggles to become a man and ruler amid the choking influence of his mother’s spies and machinations. When he meets a silent, beautiful woman in the woods, he can’t resist the pure, honest sensuality of her touch. Bringing her to the castle as his wife and queen is Evan’s declaration of independence. The king’s hard-won happiness falls apart, however, when his mother accuses his new wife of murdering their first-born child. Evan believes that the private, physical language he shares with his queen tells him everything he needs to know, but as tragedy strikes again and again, his love and faith are tested to the breaking point.

The original story is told from the perspective of a princess who must take a vow of silence to save her brothers from a curse. I’ve always been interested in the king who falls in love with her despite her seeming insanity, and so I wrote The Six Swans from his perspective. I wanted to tell the story of his passion and loyalty, and of the sexual connection that’s strong enough to overcome the isolating power of the princess’s vow.

The result is a story that's dark, sexy, and deeply romantic.

Now that I've told you about the story, let me talk a little about the cause. Sales from Coming Together: Neat go into Coming Together's account on Kiva, a website that allows users to give small loans to entrepreneurs around the world. For years, I've loved the idea of microloans. I like how empowering they are for both the giver and the recipient, and I love the statistics on how often they're paid back and how effective they seem to be in changing people's lives.

Please consider checking out "The Six Swans" and supporting the other titles in the Coming Together: Neat line. I'll post more information here as it becomes available.