From the ERWA website:

EVENT ALERT!

GLBT Live Chats with the Pros

Who: Delilah Devlin, accompanied by Ily Goyanes and Sacchi Green
When: June 7th, at 8:00pm EST, (5:00pm  PST;  1:00am  GMT)
Where: ERWA chats are held on the ShadowWorld chat server, channel, #erachat. (Follow the link above. On screen you’ll see ‘Connect o ShadowWorld IRC’. In the Nickname box, key in your name. Leave the channels box at #ERAChat, and click ‘Connect’. A chat text box will appear at the bottom of your screen)

GLBT erotica is a genre to be reckoned with. ERWA will help interested authors with a “Live Chats with the   Pros.” Delilah Devlin,  Ily Goyanes, and Sacchi Green will be on hand to answer   questions, offer advice, and exchange ideas with authors of GLBT   erotica. Whether you’re penning your first gay fiction, or are a   spicy-seasoned pro, don’t miss these opportunities.

Delilah Devlin is a prolific and award-winning author of erotica with a   rapidly expanding reputation for writing deliciously edgy stories with   complex characters. Ms. Devlin has published over 100 erotic stories in   multiple genres and lengths. She is published by Avon, Black Lace,   Kensington, Harlequin, Atria/Strebor, Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave,   Samhain Publishing, and Berkley. If you want to know how to do the deed,   Delilah is the lady to talk to. This  is your chance to chat live with   her. Read about Delilah at www.delilahdevlin.com

Ily Goyanes is a journalist, food blogger, culture critic, publisher, and sex enthusiast. She has been writing and editing professionally since 1993. Her first lesbian erotica anthology, Girls Who Score: Hot Lesbian Erotica, is being released in August 2012 by Cleis Press. You can sample her salacious stories in Best Lesbian Erotica 2012, Lesbian Cops: Erotic Investigations, Spankalicious: Erotic Adventures in Spanking, and Power Plays. Follow Ily on Twitter @realily and check out her publishing house at ampersandeditions.com.

Sacchi Green‘s stories have appeared in a hip-high stack of publications with erotically inspirational covers, and she’s also edited eight erotica anthologies, including Girl Crazy, Lesbian Cowboys (winner of a 2010 Lambda Literary Award,) Lesbian Lust, Lesbian Cops, and Girl Fever.   Find her at sacchi-green.blogspot.com or on Facebook (as  Sacchi Green)

Out of 138 entries, the winner (by random number generator) of the Dragon Cup Contest is…ELF! ELF, be sure to email me with your mailing address so I can get your
prize into the mail. Congrats!

Disrupted Schedules and Kitty Alarms

This week is a killer. I’m trying to finish a book with my deadline looming, and I have so much other stuff to do. It’s frustrating. A lot of my time revolves around taking my ninety-year-old mother to her doctor appointments, to get her hair done, etc. I don’t mind; I love the time we spend together, and I’m thankful for it. Except it doesn’t allow me enough time to write.

Disrupted schedules are the bane of a writer’s existence. I love having big arcs of time so I can dig deep into my story and get into a rhythm, but then I have to stop and take my mom to the eye doctor or her dentist or maybe even keep my granddaughter for a couple of hours. The next day is what I call “hair day”, that lovely weekly appointment marked for my mother’s beauty salon appointment from now until eternity. Hair appointments are non-negotiable. At least I can take my laptop with me and write in the back of the shop while she’s getting beautiful. Then the next day…

You see how it goes. And then there’s the lack of sleep caused by my furry little friends. My sweet, innocent, unassuming little feline pals. The three wicked, crafty little minxes that wake me up an hour before my alarm goes off — usually by playing with the window blinds — because they either want to go outside or they need water or food. Seriously, who needs to eat at four a.m.? I do love those cats, I really do… but their kitty alarm clocks need to be reset and I haven’t figured out how to do that yet.

What about you? How do you cope with disrupted schedules? I carve minutes out of all the busy days, minutes in which I can at least jot down a few plot points or make character notes. I’m interested to find out what you do about time management… and if you, too, have an annoying little kitty alarm clock.

Somehow, amid the chaos, I do manage to find time write. My genre of choice is romantic suspense with hot cops and big guns. Please check out my latest ebook release from Desert Breeze Publishing, DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL, the fourth book in my Keller County Cops series. In this book, Tessa Doucet studied mortuary science because the dead can’t hurt her. Then a monster from her past turns up on her embalming table, and she’s forced to confront the demon she thought she’d put to rest. Disturbed by the case Tessa stirs up, Detective Cash Starkey finds himself falling for her, even though he swore to keep his distance. He doesn’t want a relationship, especially not with a woman running from her past. Yet when Tessa’s life is threatened, he runs into the fray, and together they defeat her demons and put the past behind them.

Buy link:  https://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-301/Keller-County-Cops-Book/Detail.bok

Also… hope you’ll check out my new free author apps for the iPhone, the iPad, and most Android devices available now in the iTunes store and the Android market. Such an easy way for my readers to keep up with all my books, connect with my social networking sites, and get updates on new titles and where I’ll be signing. I’m really jazzed about this!

And please look for these upcoming titles from Desert Breeze later this year:

Emily’s Nightmare — August
Haunted Memories — October
KKC Book Five: Written in Blood — December

Website:  https://www.melanieatkins.com
Blog: https://melanieatkins.wordpress.com
Facebook:  https://www.face-book.com/melanie.atkins
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/melanie_atkins

Since I’ve filled my blog calendar with luscious guesties, I’ve barely had time to post my own news. And you know there’s always lots of that. Today, I’d like to talk about two anthologies that released early from Cleis. Two different flavors of erotica for my eclectic readers—you’re bound to find something to suit your tastes!

For those of you who think you don’t like anthologies, think of them as a chance to meet new authors or a collection of bedtime reads—just long enough to get you in the mood, but short enough you can actually have time to do something about it! Click on the covers if you’d like to head to Amazon to purchase.

From my story, “Ignition Switch”… 

I have a hyper-sensitive clit. Touch it with a callused finger or the scrape of a nail and I come out of my skin.

Men don’t get it. I can demonstrate how I like it touched, but most think arousal dulls the nerves, because the more aroused they get, the harder they rub and press—like my clit’s a damn ignition switch and all they have to do is push it more insistently to get me revved.

I explained my problem to my best friend Morgan one night over drinks. She studied me with her smoky grey eyes. “Do you mind my asking why the hell you go for dick?”

The question shocked me. The answer was on the tip of my tongue, but I held it there. Why indeed? It isn’t as though I truly craved a man.

Her lips curved—just the corners. “I bet if you showed me, I’d get it right.”

The suggestion tantalized. I raised my Bellini and took a quick sip, stalling before I replied. Morgan was attractive. I liked her full curves. I’d had the usual feminine curiosity about what she looked like nude, but never allowed myself to go there.

I swallowed, bubbles tickling the back of my throat, then forced a smile. “Are you teasing me?” I asked, surprised by the huskiness of my voice.

Her eyes narrowed, and she sat back in her chair. The glide of a toe up the inside of one calf made my breath catch. “Does it feel like I’m teasing?”

From my story “Tailgating at the Cedar Inn”…

I stepped out of the shower onto chipped and cracked aqua blue tiles with grout so dingy it was hard to tell what color it had been. Not that the bathroom was dirty, thank god. Just old. Like the rest of the 60’s-built motel I’d found on the little back country road.

I toweled my hair then shook my head like a dog, not caring where the droplets landed. It wasn’t a mess I’d have to clean up. For one last night I could be irresponsible, messy, even if it was only in a small way.

I draped the towel over the edge of the old white tub and sauntered naked into the small room with the double bed. It smelled of tobacco and industrial cleansers. The bedding looked clean if a little nappy from wear, but I peeled back the quilt-top and tossed it on the floor anyway. Pristine white sheets beckoned.

Just as I lay back, sighing with relief, sounds from outside the room jarred me from my happy haze. Tires squealed, masculine laughter bellowed through the thin walls, and car doors slammed. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s the last day to enter the New Dragon Cup contest!
Click on the link for the entry rules! ~DD

Why A Ménage

First let me thank Delilah for hosting me on her blog today. I might get a little deep because it’s been that kind of a week.

Have you ever had a fantasy? Men and women are different. They have different kinds of fantasies. To be perfectly honest, women are different—they have different kinds of fantasies. So have you ever had a fantasy?  Do you fantasize that you’re famous? Or maybe that you’re the go to girl or go to guy for someone who is famous? Do you want to be a sports star? Do you have to have Josh Hamilton’s batting record? Do you have a fantasy to be a rock star or actor or let’s just get down to brass tacks, do you just fantasize that you’re rich?

Fantasies are important because fantasies are goals. They provide us with an innate sense of reaching for more than who we are or who we want to be.  Sometimes they are simply escapes. An escape from our ho-hum life and too many errands and schedules and bills and frankly, who doesn’t want to fantasize their way out of the long lines at the grocery store on a weekend when you’d rather be sleeping in?

So if “those” kinds of fantasies are healthy, what about sexual fantasies?  Aren’t they healthy, too?

Not if you’re a woman…

There seems to be a common misconception in our culture that women shouldn’t have sexual fantasies. I mean there are booty and booby magazines by the hundreds, half-naked women on cars for men to lust after so they will go and shop for that vehicle and more—because retail and Hollywood figured out a long time ago that sex sells. But that’s okay, because it sells to men.

Then along comes a little book call 50 Shades of Grey and suddenly “Mommy porn” is born and it’s astounding just how many readers gobbled it up. It became the numbers 1, 2, 3 best sellers (with its two sequels) in weeks. It blew the top of this frothing pit of sexual fantasy for women from college co-eds to soccer moms to silver-haired grandmas and I know for a fact at least one great-grandma in a wheelchair.

As a romance reader for more than three decades and an author, was I shocked by this? Of course not, what is a romance novel but a variant of a sexual fantasy? What is the BDSM sub-genre but a sexual fantasy? What about a ménage?

But you’re not supposed to talk about it…

It’s 2012 and we’re not supposed to talk about liking sex. Apparently according to some people, we’re not supposed to talk about sex at all. Some people believe that if you add enough sex to a story it will sell no matter how good that story is and some believe that if sex isn’t an extension of an organic relationship between the characters (whether it’s an MF, MFM, MMFM, MMF, or MFMMMMM – yes ladies, those books do exist) then it’s just porn written to sell.

Wanna know a secret?

It doesn’t matter.  It really doesn’t. I promise you that two years ago, I used to say “I can’t write sex scenes.”  It wasn’t a matter that I couldn’t write them, I was just embarrassed by it.  Yes, embarrassed.  Like so many women I felt that if I said I “liked” to write sex scenes or that I wanted to write them, it should only be said quietly to those people who knew me very well and who would, of course, keep it private.

Because we’re really not suppose to like sex or talk about it.

When I was little, my grandmother always edited the sex scenes when she read her Harlequins to me and that makes sense, because seriously – who is going to read sex to a kid? Exactly – really creepy people. But for years, she referred to it as “cleaning” or “taking a nap.”  Even when I was an adult, she wouldn’t say the word sex – but I guarantee you that the books she was reading had loads of it in there.

We’re embarrassed by this because we’ve been told that in our society it’s not okay to like sex. I mean, you can, but only if you keep it to yourself.

I think I’m tired of keeping it to myself. I like sex. I like to read good sex scenes and I like to write them. I recently released a book in February called Cassandra’s Dilemma that featured a polyamorous relationship. I wasn’t really sure how that would go for me, but the characters refused to be anything else and I believe in going where my characters take me. But when it came to promoting it, I kind of choked a little—why?

Because it had sex and a lot of it.

I didn’t really think about that until recently when I finished Jacob’s Trial in edits and had it queued up for its release date. It’s the second book in the series after Cassandra’s Dilemma and it has sex – lots of sex in it. And you know what. I am thrilled about this book and I don’t feel any of those twinges that I felt with Cassandra’s Dilemma. In part because I realized that even though I’ve never been particularly shy about the subject, I was still trying to look at myself through the lens of a conservative culture that frowns and labels books with open sexuality “mommy porn.”

Why a ménage?

I started off calling this blog why a ménage and I’m going to answer this right now. Because it’s a great sexual fantasy to imagine two, alpha males who care about you so much that they put aside some of that innate, biological competitiveness to be with you emotionally, mentally and yes, sexually.  The physical intimacy in a ménage is just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a healthy fantasy and I loved writing Jacob, Cassie, and Helcyon’s journey to finding each other and finding a balance in that relationship.

Are sexual fantasies worth it? Absolutely. Because a sexual fantasy is all about you and that’s why we like to read books that explore the fantasies we might have and why many authors like to write them. Your fantasy is healthy, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

I like sex. I hope you do, too.  Because sex feels good and sexual fantasies should, too. Without our fantasies, life would be pretty dull.

I’d love for you to leave a comment on anything you feel like saying on the subject. I’m not going to ask you if you have sexual fantasies or what they are, but I will give away one copy of Jacob’s Trial to one lucky commentator and I’ll announce that here in the comments on Thursday, June 7!

Yesterday’s Winner!

The winner (by random number generator of the free download of Bitten in the Big Easy is…#2: Betty Hamilton! Betty, send me an email to arrange delivery of your prize!

Ongoing Contest

Don’t forget! The New Dragon Cup Contest ends this Tuesday! Click on the link for details! Keep posting those comments!

Mailings

If you’ve followed me for long, you know I’m up to my ears and depend on my assistant (my daughter, actually!) to put together my mailings. I have just over a month’s worth of stuff to send out now, so she’ll be working in my office this week to get them wrapped!

New Releases this week!

Yes, multiple! Crazy, I know. But something for everyone, I think! Click on the covers to read excerpts!

1) June 6th — Charmed in the Big Easy

Charmed includes these two connected stories:
“Under the Rainbow” by Paisley Smith

When novice witch, MeLeah McKinney is sent on a mission to retrieve a talisman from the grave of famed Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, she’s not sure how she’ll be able to perform the sex magick ritual required for energizing the relic. Especially given that it’s been a long time since she’s had sex. She decides to gather energy at a live sex show on Bourbon Street. But she isn’t prepared for a little help from Celestine Laveau’s ghost who’s crossed the rainbow bridge to spend one night in the arms of a beautiful woman.

In order to defeat the ancient vampire who endangers them all, just one talisman is hardly enough…

“The Mambo’s Door” by Delilah Devlin

Ingrid Kassel is a fledgling witch, uncertain and not in complete control of her powers, especially after drinking a double-shot of vampire blood. With the same instructions as MeLeah—retrieve an object buried with a daughter of the Voodoo Queen—she angers the spirit guarding the tomb and finds herself entering a shadowy limbo, where she meets beautiful Marie, living in fear of a demon who also desires the black magic candle infused with the powerful mambo’s blood. In desperation, Marie tricks Ingrid, capturing her and seducing her to charge the candle for her own bid for freedom.

2) Available Now! — Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories

This released earlier than its official June 12th date
(includes my story, “Tailgating at the Cedar Inn”)

SUITE ENCOUNTERS features hotel erotica in all its forms, from honeymooners having sex on the beach to loving couples on vacation to coworkers heading downtown for secret quickies, not to mention exhibitionist thrills (and chills) of getting it on in the pool on the roof at The Standard Hotel in front of everyone! The award-winning editor of the Best Sex Writing series, among many others, Rachel Kramer Bussel knows the winning formula of stories of sex in every possible setting — luxury hotels, seedy motels, spas, SRO’s and everything in between.

3) Available Now! — Girl Fever: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex for Lesbians

This released earlier than its official June 12th date
(includes my story, “Ignition Switch”)

GIRL FEVER is Short fiction at its best from rising erotica star Sacchi Green, whose LESBIAN COWBOYS took the top award at the 2009 Lambda Awards. This big book of lesbian quickies satisfies on every level with stories from top-notch contributors that evoke the heat, the urgency and the “gotta have it” moment of the quickie. There are long-time companions, one night stands, meet-cutes and meet only once stories to fuel your fantasies in this only book of lesbian quickies on the market today.

Sudden sex, when your need is too great wait. Sex in planes, trains and automobiles, and roller coasters, carnival rides, elevators, and ferries as well; and if a bed is handy, that’s fine too. Shanna Germain’s “Answering the Call” shows us games EMTs play in an ambulance, while Victoria Janssen’s “The Airplane Story” crams us into the metal-walled bondage of an airliner restroom. Sommer Marsden makes the very best use of “An Hour,” Allison Wonderland gets it “Off and On” in under ten minutes, and Tigress Healey offers “Six Minutes or It’s Free.” But there’s more to it than speed, and the sixty-nine pieces in Girl Fever by skilled writers Cheyenne Blue, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Delilah Devlin, D.L. King, and scores of others offer characters you’d love to fuck, evocative settings, and well-rounded stories that can intrigue and surprise you along the way to seduction.

4) Sometime this week — Dragon’s Desire

An ancient dragon sends a loyal knight on a quest to find a virgin to ease his curse. Who knew a virgin would be so hard to find?

I have to come up with a decent blurb for this book THIS WEEK.

Suffice it to say, it’s menage (m/f/m and m/m/f). There’s an ancient curse that started way back when, a dragon with a problem, a loyal knight who seeks to “slay” the dragon’s appetite, and a modern, unsuspecting, but surprisingly adventurous virgin. There’s magic, danger, humor, some light BDSM. Oh, and tons of nasty sex.

As soon as I get it back from the formatter, I’ll post the Amazon link and let you know it’s out!

The Wild Ride Continues

Thanks so much to everyone who purchased Two Wild this week! You put it at the top of Samhain’s Bestsellers’ list, and you have it rising up the chart at Amazon!

If you read it, there are a couple of things y’all can do to help me—if you have the time and inclination.

1) “Like” and “tag” the book on Amazon.
2) Post a review at Samhain, Barnes & Noble and/or Amazon. Let another reader know whether you consider the book to be worth their time and money.
3) Okay, one more than a couple! Tell someone about it.

I appreciate all your support.

Live Chat this week!

Cleis Press freelance editors Delilah Devlin, Ily Goyanes, and Sacchi Green will host a chat about LGBT writing on June 7, 7 PM EST, on the ERWA site. We’ll be discussing writing, answering your questions, and generally having fun talking about our favorite genre. Drop by, toss us some questions and prompts, and we’ll all have a good time. https://erotica-readers.com/ERA/AR/Erotica_Authors_Resources.htm

Sunday Report Card

Notice I left the SRC for the very last? That’s because this was not the productive week I’d hoped it would be. I did edits and edits—Fournicopia is done! Dragon’s Desire is done (except for the formatting). I’m still wrapping up the last read through of the galley for Cowboy Lust. I did add two strong chapters to my paranormal for Montlake, but I wanted four! Let’s hope this week rolls along without any family drama or publisher interruptions.

If you see me goofing off online, you have permission to spank!

On June 6th, the next story in the Femme Noir series will release! Since today’s theme is all about strong men, I thought I’d let you meet Baron Samedi, the loa of the crossroads between the worlds of the living and the dead. Enjoy a little taste!

“Under the Rainbow” by Paisley Smith

When novice witch, MeLeah McKinney is sent on a mission to retrieve a talisman from the grave of famed Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, she’s not sure how she’ll be able to perform the sex magick ritual required for energizing the relic. Especially given that it’s been a long time since she’s had sex. She decides to gather energy at a live sex show on Bourbon Street. But she isn’t prepared for a little help from Celestine Laveau’s ghost who’s crossed the rainbow bridge to spend one night in the arms of a beautiful woman.

In order to defeat the ancient vampire who endangers them all, just one talisman is hardly enough…

“The Mambo’s Door” by Delilah Devlin

Ingrid Kassel is a fledgling witch, uncertain and not in complete control of her powers, especially after drinking a double-shot of vampire blood. With the same instructions as MeLeah—retrieve an object buried with a daughter of the Voodoo Queen—she angers the spirit guarding the tomb and finds herself entering a shadowy limbo, where she meets beautiful Marie, living in fear of a demon who also desires the black magic candle infused with the powerful mambo’s blood. In desperation, Marie tricks Ingrid, capturing her and seducing her to charge the candle for her own bid for freedom.

A crash sounded. The bedroom door splintered, exploding inward.

“Well, well,” came a deep voice, at once dry, rasping and crackling with anger. “Ma’man has been busy. She sends me presents, then fails to deliver ’em into my hands.”

Ingrid couldn’t help it—she tore her glance from Marie’s to stare up at the figment striding toward the bed.

He was tall, so slender he looked nearly skeletal, with skin stretched so tightly over prominent cheeks that she saw only shadow in the hollows beneath. His eyes were black and flat, the pupils narrow slits. It was the top hat, a crazy affectation, that identified him as Baron Samedi, loa of the dead.

“I’m not a present,” she said, lifting her chin and wondering where she found the courage to defy him. Maybe it was the last trace of vampire blood, maybe it was the trembling of Marie’s fist beneath hers. Whichever the cause, anger burst hot inside her.

“Not a present. Also not dead,” the loa said, leaning down to sniff the air around her. “How delicious.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Thunder Horse Family of North Dakota

People are always asking me where I get all my ideas. The answer is…everywhere! The Thunder Horse brothers grew out of several encounters. An interesting name of a Marine Corps Officer who happened to be a Kiowa native from Oklahoma, a story about the wild horses in the Badlands and my time spent in North Dakota, traveling across the plains and visiting the Badlands. Put all those elements together, add murders, bad guys and there you have it!

Thunder Horse Heritage
Harlequin Intrigue
June 2012

They once exchanged their wedding vows. Now he vows to keep her alive.

She’d been his wife for barely a day and now FBI agent Tuck Thunder Horse was responsible for identifying her body. So he was more than shocked when Julia Anderson turned up very much alive-and on the run. Julia confessed to witnessing a murder and now needs Tuck to help her stay alive…and protect the baby he hadn’t known she’d had.

Julia and Tuck’s marriage might not have lasted, but there was not time for recriminations with a killer on their trail. As Tuck struggles to put their painful past behind them he can’t help but find himself overwhelmed by his love for his little daughter…and his still-burning passion for Julia. Unable to trust anyone but each other, they know working together is the only way to safeguard their child. Could their one-day marriage turn into a life-long adventure?

Buy at Amazon
Buy at Barnes & Noble

THUNDER HORSE SERIES:
HOSTAGE TO THUNDER HORSE
THUNDER HORSE HERITAGE
THUNDER HORSE REDEMPTION

About the Author:
Elle James spent twenty years livin’ and lovin’ in South Texas, ranching horses, cattle, goats, ostriches and emus. A former IT professional, Elle is proud to be writing full-time, penning intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edge of their seats. Now living in northwest Arkansas, she isn’t wrangling cattle, she’s wrangling her muses, a malti-poo and yorkie. When she’s not at her computer, she’s traveling, out snow-skiing, boating, or riding her ATV, dreaming up new stories.

You can reach Elle James at www.ellejames.com or email her at ellejames@earthlink.net. Also see her sexier alter ego Myla Jackson at www.mylajackson.com.