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Anna M. Taylor: Where and When I Enter (Contest)
Monday, June 7th, 2021

UPDATE: The winner is…Jennifer Beyer!
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Some years ago I read a book by Paula Giddings entitled When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. The stories I read about women who made history from Ida B. Wells to Shirley Chisholm inspired me then and inspire me still. But the book had an unexpected outcome on me. At least unexpected by me, but I suspect not by the author.

Giddings’s title made me stop and think about where and when I enter history as well. School has trained us to think of history as something made by others, but you and I make history in small and large ways every day. As a minister, I have worked with at least a hundred churches and their ministers and lay people seeking how to share their faith and resources with their communities. As part of a community organizing group, I helped address issues of inequality in the communities in which I lived and worked.

As I look back on the last year and a half, I am filled with awe and pride by the creative ways neighbors have helped one another get through the tragedy of this pandemic. These acts of kindness—both random and intentional—will be included in books written about this time. Those who acted will be cited by name just as Giddings’s book names women like Anna Julia Cooper and Mary McLeod Bethune, who chose to challenge the racism and sexism of their day.

However, there are many more who will remain unnamed but whose acts will have touched hearts and minds and spirits, enabling everyone to be encouraged during this difficult time. The smile you share with a stranger from a distance or a phone call you make to someone who is homebound create ripples of goodness that touch the universe in many pay-it-forward ways we may never know. I wonder if this isn’t why history has always had my heart.

My initial idea for this post was to share unsung Black history events that took place in June, events that aren’t getting the attention June 19th—Juneteenth—is getting. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when in Galveston Bay, Texas, the Union army announced the official end of slavery to more than two hundred and fifty thousand enslaved people. There’s a move to make Juneteenth a national holiday but is anyone commemorating June 17, 1775 when Peter Salem and Salem Poor were commended for their service at the Battle of Bunker Hill? As I made my list of such lesser-known events for this post, I realized even Peter Salem and Salem Poor had their names recorded in a place where I could find them and their deeds. Inspired by the title of Giddings’ book, I switched gears and decided to make this post a place where you and I could share when and where we enter history. That way someday someone can come across this post and read about where and when you entered history.

So for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card, but more importantly to be remembered for posterity, share a moment in your life when you made an impact on the history we call everyday life. 

Haunted Serenade

All the women in Anora Madison’s family have lived as “Poor Butterflies”: women still longing for but deserted by the men they loved. Determined to be the first to escape a life of abandonment, Anora fled Harlem for Brooklyn, severing her ties with her mother, Angela, and with the man who broke her heart, Winston Emerson, the father of her child.

Six years later, she comes back to Harlem to make peace, but a malignant spirit manifests itself during the homecoming, targeting her mother, her aunt, Winston, and their little girl. Determined to stop the evil now trying to destroy all she loves, Anora must finally turn to Winston for help. But will their efforts be too little too late?

Buylink: https://amzn.to/3aXifyu

Excerpt from Haunted Serenade

On September 15, 1963, the one-year anniversary of my aunt Diana’s death, four young girls in Birmingham, Alabama died when their church was bombed for its involvement in the Civil Rights movement.

My mother called that evening and inquired after my health and the health of my daughter Cammie—the granddaughter she vowed never to acknowledge. Fear, anger and sorrow sounded in her voice. Mine too. We mourned those girls, their families and the sister/aunt we both loved. In that spoken grief, I silently mourned what had died between my mother and me.

The following month she called again, this time inviting me to bring Cammie to dinner. Like some sulky child, I felt tempted to ask what took her so long. Instead, I swallowed my hurt and came home.

Cammie squeezed my fingers and stared at 13 141st Street with a wide-eyed wonder only six-year-olds possess.

“Wow. Grammie has a real house.”

I don’t know what excited her more: the prospect of meeting her maternal grandmother or visiting a real house. Single-family homes with front stoops, porches and backyards were things she saw only on television. We lived in a Brooklyn housing project with eight apartments to every floor and eight floors in every building.

All last night she ooo’d and ah’d over the photo of Number Thirteen my mother had sent her. Too wound up to sleep, her pudgy little body tossed and turned like a happy puppy on the double bed we shared. She shook me awake each time a new possibility occurred to her. Did her Grammie really own the whole house? Could she have a room of her own when she spent the night? Could she have a puppy there? No cats or dogs were allowed in the projects. How many staircases were inside the house? Did it have a doorbell she could ring?

The sound of her excitement cleaved my heart. She showed no signs of discontent with our life, yet the smile she wore as she slept told me my daughter had desires of which I was unaware.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annamtaylorAuthor
Twitter: @Revannable
Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/355nKv0

What’s about to happen here? (Puzzle-Contest)
Sunday, June 6th, 2021

UPDATE: The winner is…Rita!
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Puzzle-Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what’s about to happen here! Have fun!

Ending Soon!

  1. Cratered Weekend? (Puzzle-Contest)Last day to enter! Win a FREE book!
  2. FREE Read! See what happens when Beauty meets Beast!Last day to claim your copy! Everyone gets a FREE book!
  3. Tell Me a Story (Contest) — Win a $5 Amazon gift card!
  4. Short Story Anthologies (Contest–3 Winners!) — Win a FREE book!
Happy Birthday to the Red-headed Hellion!
Saturday, June 5th, 2021

Sometimes, if you’re very, very lucky, you find your best friend. Someone who loves you warts and all. I was lucky enough to meet her 37 years ago. Although she started out as Daddy’s Girl, she’s become my partner in many crimes (just kidding, although I would help her hide the bodies!).

So, join me, if you want, in wishing her a very special day…

Happy Birthday, Kelly!

Short Story Anthologies (Contest–3 Winners!)
Friday, June 4th, 2021

UPDATE: The winners are…Mechelle, Cheryl Bowers, and Ani!
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I’m working away at a new collection of short stories from some very talented authors—sexy stories all centered around cowboys! In the meantime, because I love to share these books and introduce you to authors you might not know, I want to make sure you know where to find these books. All my anthologies are listed on my Collections website. They are full-sized books—none less than 60,000 words—and ALL of the ones we published ourselves are available for just $0.99! A STEAL. We want you to read them, so we’re making sure cost is not an impediment! Be sure to visit the site and peruse the available titles: Delilah’s Collections

Contest

Comment for a chance to win a download of one of the full-size books below. You can tell me whether you love short stories. Tell me what theme you’d like to see for the next one. Or just ramble about what you’ll be doing while you’re reading the sexy shorties in this collection (passing time in a dentist’s office, reading sexy stories to your significant other in bed at night, etc.). Just be sure to comment!

Here’s what you might win (click on the covers to learn more):

First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology Rogues Blue Collar

Open Contests & Giveaways

  1. Cratered Weekend? (Puzzle-Contest) — Win a FREE book!
  2. FREE Read! See what happens when Beauty meets Beast! — Everyone, get your FREE short story! (It’s a sexy one!)
  3. Tell Me a Story (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
Tell Me a Story (Contest)
Thursday, June 3rd, 2021

UPDATE: The winner is…Carol Cox!
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IMG_8426I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is (that looks wrong, but I promise it’s not) a brainstorming game. You roll the dice and whatever pictures appear face up are the ones you use to riff off a story.

Here’s the roll…

Do any of these symbols tell you anything? You can pick some or use all of them. Tell me a story, or just a glimmer of an idea, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!  

Gail Koger: Behind the Scenes Looking at VEXING VOSS
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021

Hey, I’ll admit it. Sex scenes are not my forte, but I had to up my heat level for Vexing Voss. I took a vow of celibacy when I was thirteen and pretty much suck at all the intimate details. You know? What goes where. Okay, you can stop laughing now. Geez. I may have exaggerated a tiny bit.

I saw my first naked guy in jail. No, I wasn’t arrested. I worked for the Glendale Police Department and part of my duties included prisoner checks. Yeah, that’s right. I had to go in the stinky cells and make sure every one of our “guests” were still breathing. So much fun. This moron had decided to stuff his pants down the toilet, and of course, he went commando. He turned and proudly displayed his Mister Dinky. I’m thinking, this is what all the fuss is about? Since the judge had a strict dress code in his court, numbnuts got to wear his water-soaked pants to his arraignment. Hey, we didn’t have jumpsuits back then.

Because of my lack of practical experience, I had to research what makes a smoking hot love scene. The local prostitutes were a bust. They took their johns into a cornfield. How romantic is that?

Luckily, I discovered my neighbors. Now when I need something new, all I have to do is go out in my backyard and wait. My neighbor and his current girlfriend are frisky in the pool. Their lusty screams set off every dog in the neighborhood, and I pick up pointers from their unusually athletic sexual positions. No, I am not a Peeping Tom. It’s research.

Voss, the Overlord’s Battle Commander, was determined to make Zoey his mate. She was equally determined it was never going to happen. When her clever disguises, skunk perfume, stun gun, smoke bombs, and tranquilizer darts failed to stop him, she was forced to negotiate her surrender.

Their mating scene had to be perfect. But how? Voss was one very frustrated male, and Zoey still mourned her lost love. Add in Voss’s unique man parts, and you’re heading for a disaster of epic proportions. I decided to use humor to defuse the situation.

“Wait! Can I see it first?”

Voss sat Zoey on the counter. “See it?”

“You know, your snake penis thingy.”

He stared at her for a long moment and then nodded. “Yes, you may examine my thingy.” He removed his weapons belt, boots, and battle suit.

Wowzers, he had one fine ass. Tight. Muscled.

Voss turned.

His chest was so ripped, she wanted to lick every inch of it. Zoey’s eyes bugged out. Holy guacamole! A slit had opened in Voss’s abdomen, and out it slid. His penis was snakelike with a frill of tentacles around the top. Kinda freaky.

“Freaky?” The Battle Commander’s voice was a low growl.

Oh hell! Zoey had forgotten the cardinal rule. Never, ever make fun of a guy’s penis. “No need to get all snarky. I was just a little…uh…surprised. Can I touch it?”

“Yes.”  The snake stopped, and the copper-colored frill opened and closed almost as if it was scenting the air.

Vexing Voss

For Voss, a Coletti Warlord, conquering the universe is a piece of cake. After all, he’s a master of psychic seduction; no one can resist him when he sets his mind to it.

Zoey Jones is determined to find her mother’s killer. Surrendering to a fierce Coletti warrior is the last thing on her mind. When Voss is determined to make Zoey his mate, she unleashes her own brand of whoop-ass to discourage his pursuit. When her clever disguises, skunk perfume, stun gun, and smoke bombs fail to stop the ruthless warlord, she’s forced to negotiate her surrender: she would mate with him if he would help her find her mother’s killer.

To Zoey’s surprise, Voss agrees, and the hunt is on. Their quest to bring the villain to justice leads to unlikely alliances in an interplanetary war, and more surprisingly, to love.

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Vexing-Voss-Coletti-Warlord-Book-ebook/dp/B07D7ZYL4Q/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

My Links:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1598719.Gail_Koger
https://twitter.com/Askole
https://www.facebook.com/Colettiwarlordbooks/
https://www.amazon.com/Gail-Koger/e/B001K838BY

FREE Read! See what happens when Beauty meets Beast!
Tuesday, June 1st, 2021

For your reading pleasure… Just click on the cover to get your FREE copy! The Obedient Wife