Various Updates

I've been collecting a bunch of things that I want to mention, so I'm going to gather them together into one news post.

Best Bondage Erotica 2014



It's out, and it's got my story "Eel" in it. I haven't gotten my contributor copies yet, but I'm looking forward to reading this, and am sure it's hot as always (and early reviews indicate it is). Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel has been collecting mini-interviews from the contributors, and you can find them here. I talked about the inspiration behind "Eel" here. And, because this came up on Twitter, we're not talking about eels as in the creatures here—the story is about a woman who likes to escape from ties, much to the consternation of her various tops.

The Conqueror Womb: Lusty Tales of Shub-Niggurath



Do I have to tell you how much I love it when I get a chance to dirty up the Mythos? My story, "Our Child," is slated for inclusion in this forthcoming book from Martian Migraine Press, edited by Justine Geoffrey and S R Jones, and oh my elder gods I had fun writing it. It's got the distinction of being my first Lovecraftian milking fetish erotica (because Shub-Niggurath is a fertility goddess, you know). And that's not all it's got. If I do say so myself, it also has a serious literary point.

As a side note, I attended a conference last year on Lovecraft and all things Lovecraftian, and I have to say I was very disappointed by the negative attitude toward erotica that I picked up from the panels there. Even if Lovecraft himself would have blushed with horror to know what I like to do to the Mythos, I think it's always been ripe for the ministrations of people in my field. I found it a bit rich to see writers of weird, pulpy horror prepared to dismiss another genre as schlock. My dears, we writers of weird, pulpy things should stick together, all innuendo intended.

I was so annoyed by the negative bias that when I got home I threatened half-seriously to go ahead and write "Booty Calls of Cthulhu" just to show you what pulp can be. Unfortunately, something very close to that title already exists on Amazon, so I'll have to come up with a different clever revenge.

When The Conqueror Womb comes out (I believe around Valentine's Day), let us all go out and buy many copies of it. I like to celebrate my weird erotica.

The Fugitive's Sexy Brother



My kinky suspense novel, The Fugitive's Sexy Brother, came out in paperback at the end of December! You can get it at Amazon as well.

Here's the blurb:

Emily Boysen is sick of low-level bounty hunting jobs that don’t pay her rent, and sick to death of her ex-boyfriend taking credit for her work. Ready to claim her due, she takes on the quarry of a lifetime, the notorious Fernando Bonavita. But instead of the fugitive, she captures his sexy younger brother, Javier.

Javier Bonavita never wanted to know the truth about his older brother’s activities, instead protecting him out of loyalty. When he uses his hacking skills to pose as Fernando, he never expects to uncover crimes he can’t stomach. Beautiful Emily has no idea how glad he is to be in her custody—as long as he’s her prisoner, he doesn’t have to face his brother.

Passion flares between Emily and Javier, and soon he’s putting the handcuffs on her. Suspicion grows along with their feelings, though. A sinister plot centers around Fernando, and untangling it will test their loyalties to the limit.

Oh Get a Grip!

I have joined the amazing group blog, Oh Get a Grip! Read the list of who else writes this thing and you'll see why I was so flattered to be asked to write with them. My first post was about my most treasured erotic books, and I will be posting there every second Thursday. Check it out (and be sure to read what my fellow contributors have got to say—this is a very talented group of erotica writers).

New Year

Hey, did you notice that 2014 started? Many people posted their 2013 word counts, goals, and such. I'll be honest—I planned to do the same. But as the days have slipped by, it's occurred to me that I'm happy I didn't. One of the main things I'd like to do this year is slow my obsession with counting. I have effectively tortured myself that way for many years. I would like to free myself of the tyranny of deciding whether not I'm a good person based on whether or not I crossed an arbitrarily selected threshold of words produced. So, let's leave my count for 2013 a mystery, shall we? I worked hard and wrote tons, and I plan to do the same this year.

That's all for now, though I hope I will have much more news to share in the coming weeks and months!

At Romanticon!

I'm currently in Canton, Ohio, attending Romanticon. If you are here, feel free to look for me. I'll be part of a panel tomorrow on sexy bounty hunters, and will otherwise be around and happy to meet people. My first book from Ellora's Cave came out in June, but I've been busy since then...

I also have a lesbian erotic romance slated to come out from EC in June of next year, and I am super excited about that.

You can find all my EC titles here.

Design and Scandal

A quick note that I've got another book on the way from Ellora's Cave, this one to be released as part of their Curve Appeal theme series. The books in this series feature curvy women as protagonists. My story, Design and Scandal, is about a costume designer who has an on-set romance with a major movie star. More details to come!

My other books with Ellora's Cave are The Fugitive's Sexy Brother, a BDSM bounty hunter story, and Get Laid, a tale of renovations and madcap sexual adventures.

The Fugitive's Sexy Brother: A Tour Compilation

I recently did a blog tour for The Fugitive's Sexy Brother. If you'd like to enter to win a $5 gift card to Ellora's Cave, you still have time (you can find instructions in any of the tour posts)! I also wanted to gather up the links, because I am pleased with a lot of the posts.

Finding Mr. Wrong -- on the importance of having a good villain

Standing Out from a Field of Perfect Torsos -- on why it's not all about the alpha male

BDSM Comes in Different Flavors -- on how I used different tones for different BDSM relationships in the book

What a Character Has to Lose -- on how characters come to life when they care about odd things

It's Not Just About the Knots -- about how bondage doesn't always require expertise

Submission Isn't Weakness -- on how my hero dominates my heroine only because she lets him

Get Laid Today!

Renovators have invaded the home of Jason and Eliza Wu. The two haven’t seen a clean surface in months and, even worse, haven’t had a moment to themselves. With stress in their work lives added to stress at home, the couple desperately needs to have some fun. Jason and Eliza embark on a bold plan to make love and get out of the house—at the same time. Through a series of hot adventures and wild mishaps in the car, at Eliza’s mother’s house, on the top floor of the library and everywhere in between, Jason and Eliza find that not only can they survive renovations, they might even be sorry when they’re over.

A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

I had a ton of fun writing this book—-Jason and Eliza's relationship stays strong because they both have a strong sense of humor and like to have fun together. I hope you like it, too!

You can pick it up here.

While you're at the Ellora's Cave site, check out my other title there, The Fugitive's Sexy Brother.

Bounty Hunters, Bail, and Other Odd Facts

Welcome to my little corner in the On the Hunt blog hop! On the Hunt is a series of books published by Ellora's Cave on the theme of bounty hunters. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to see links to what my fellow authors have done, and information about what I'm giving away!

For my entry, I thought I'd share some of the research I did on bounty hunting as a profession.

I'd always associated bounty hunting with Boba Fett from Star Wars, so the first thing I did when I decided to write for the series was find out what the job is in the modern (not science fictional) world. I discovered that bounty hunting is illegal in many places, and it's an odd, Wild West sort of thing in the U.S.

When people in the United States get arrested and sent to jail, they often have the option to put up some money as bail. When a person does this, he or she earns the right to go free until the trial, at which point the money gets returned. However, a bail bondsman can put up bail instead, essentially giving the person a loan for that amount. Then, if the person doesn't show up, the bail bondsman forfeits the money they loaned.

Enter bounty hunters. An 1872 Supreme Court decision called Taylor v. Taintor is widely credited with giving bounty hunters the freedom they currently have in the U.S. To paraphrase roughly, that decision determined that the bail bondsman functions like a jailer, and so can do the sorts of things a jailer might, such as seize or imprison a fugitive. By extension, the bail bondsman is able to farm that out to bounty hunters, who have some pretty extraordinary rights in a lot of states. For example, in many places, they're allowed to break into a fugitive's home to retrieve him or her.

Some states don't require any sort of licensing—-all you have to do to be a bounty hunter is say that you are one. My state, Rhode Island, is one of the lenient ones. This post explains:

Bounty hunting in Rhode Island is not governed by any specific legislation... Because of this laxity in legislation concerning fugitive recovery, Rhode Island can be 1 of the easiest states to find employment as a bounty hunter under a properly registered surety agent.

Bounty hunters are freelance workers who typically get paid a percentage of the original bail. According to this post, the average bounty hunter salary is between $25,000 and $50,000 a year. So, while it's a glamorous job, it's not likely to make a person rich and famous. On top of that, because the work is a bit uncertain, it lacks stability. The same post says bounty hunters usually get 5-10% of the original bail. In larger cities, it says average bail is $20,000-$50,000, which would work out to $2,000-$5,000 a job for the bounty hunter. It's not chump change, but it seemed clear to me that it could be a tough life.

I'm going so much into financials because these numbers actually turned out to be the main inspiration for my book for On the Hunt, which is called The Fugitive's Sexy Brother. I envisioned a woman (named Emily Boysen in the book) who is determined to be a bounty hunter. However, because she's not entirely confident about competing for the most lucrative jobs, she scrapes by on low-level work, getting paid $500 here and $250 there. When the story begins, Emily is tired of struggling and ready to try something bigger.

Next, I imagined the villain, her ex-boyfriend Matthew Lodi. Matthew made a name for himself years ago with a really big score. He got paid so well for that job that he thought he'd hit the big-time and bought a super-expensive sports car, a Lotus Elise, California Edition. Unfortunately, Matthew soon learned that those kinds of jobs don't come along every day. At the point we meet him in the story, work has dried up to the point that Matthew is resorting to some pretty dirty tactics to keep his car.

Odd as that path is, this is usually how I come up with story ideas. I start learning about the subject I want to write about until something grabs my attention and characters and a story begin to form around it.

Read on for a blurb about the book that resulted from this research, information about the other authors in the series, and a giveaway!

Blurb:

Emily Boysen is sick of low-level bounty hunting jobs that don’t pay her rent, and sick to death of her ex-boyfriend taking credit for her work. Ready to claim her due, she takes on the quarry of a lifetime, the notorious Fernando Bonavita. But instead of the fugitive, she captures his sexy younger brother, Javier.

Javier Bonavita never wanted to know the truth about his older brother’s activities, instead protecting him out of loyalty. When he uses his hacking skills to pose as Fernando, he never expects to uncover crimes he can’t stomach. Beautiful Emily has no idea how glad he is to be in her custody—as long as he’s her prisoner, he doesn’t have to face his brother.

Passion flares between Emily and Javier, and soon he’s putting the handcuffs on her. Suspicion grows along with their feelings, though. A sinister plot centers around Fernando, and untangling it will test their loyalties to the limit.

Buy Links:

All Romance

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Ellora’s Cave



Giveaway:

I'll give away a $5 gift card to Ellora's Cave to one lucky commenter. Please include your e-mail address in the comment so I can get in touch with you, and tell me if you'd rather be the hunter or the hunted. I'll select the winner randomly on June 24, after the blog hop is over. Good luck!

Out Today: The Fugitive's Sexy Brother

My first book for Ellora's Cave, The Fugitive's Sexy Brother, is out today!

Here's the blurb:

Emily Boysen is sick of low-level bounty hunting jobs that don’t pay her rent, and sick to death of her ex-boyfriend taking credit for her work. Ready to claim her due, she takes on the quarry of a lifetime, the notorious Fernando Bonavita. But instead of the fugitive, she captures his sexy younger brother, Javier.

Javier Bonavita never wanted to know the truth about his older brother’s activities, instead protecting him out of loyalty. When he uses his hacking skills to pose as Fernando, he never expects to uncover crimes he can’t stomach. Beautiful Emily has no idea how glad he is to be in her custody—as long as he’s her prisoner, he doesn’t have to face his brother.

Passion flares between Emily and Javier, and soon he’s putting the handcuffs on her. Suspicion grows along with their feelings, though. A sinister plot centers around Fernando, and untangling it will test their loyalties to the limit.

A Romantica® suspense erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

So far, it's only available on the publisher's site, here (but the site allows people to purchase using PayPal, without needing to have an account). I'll post more buy links once they're available. I'll also be going on tour later in the month, at which point I'll share the stories behind the story! Enjoy!

The Fugitive's Sexy Brother

Just got the cover art for my bounty hunter-themed BDSM book, The Fugitive's Sexy Brother, which will be out later this year from Ellora's Cave. Pretty, huh?

Get Laid Cover

I just got the cover for my forthcoming Ellora's Cave book, Get Laid, and it's a beauty! I particularly like that the male cover model is exactly the sort of hot Asian man I imagined as my hero.

In addition to Get Laid, I have another book coming from Ellora's Cave, currently titled The Fugitive's Sexy Brother. More details when I've got them!