Contest from Sheri Whitefeather!  Leave a comment for a chance to win
a free download of THE VAMPIRE PENDANT e-book and a Gothic cross keychain
to ward off vampires (or simply keep them under control, if you prefer. )
Two winners will be chosen at random.

FIRST TIMES. . .

Thank you, Delilah, for having me as a guest blogger.  I’m thrilled to be here and have to say how much I love your clever tag-line (Get in Bed with Delilah.  Everyone else has!).   I’m sure you hear that all the time, but it always makes me smile.

I’m celebrating the release of my 40^th book, but it’s also my first self-published project, as well as my first vampire-themed story.  Lots of firsts!  So, that’s my subject for the day.  Other firsts that all of us can share.   Ready.  Set.   Here’s mine.

First childhood memory:  I was two years old, and I was with my sister, Lanie, and Nonna (our-great grandmother from Italy).   I was chewing gum and I took it out of my mouth and tucked it into the dirt of a nearby potted plant.  I then laughed my fool head off, thinking it was the funniest thing ever.

First crush:  It was kindergarten and his name was Bruce.  I don’t remember anything else about him.  My first celebrity crushes:  Herman (Peter Noone) from Herman’s Hermits and Monkee Davy Jones (may he rest in cutie-pie peace).

First car I ever drove:  A 1969 Firebird convertible.   Fun!

First movie that made me cry:  Bambi

First song that made me swoon:  I think we’re alone now by Tommy James & the Shondells.   I was about nine years old when it came out (way before Tiffany’s version) and I imagined myself running off with a boy when I got older, much like in the lyrics.

First time I had sex (yikes!):  I was a teenager and his name was Dean.  And, yes, I remember more about him than I do about kindergarten Bruce!

First mentor:  This would be my theater make-up instructor in college.  He boosted my confidence and made me feel smart and savvy and creative.  My other mentors would be the throng of teachers who told me that I should be a writer.   I was quite young during those experiences and didn’t understand that they were mentoring me because I didn’t want to be a writer then.  The writing bug didn’t hit until I was in my thirties.

First muse:   A man known to my readers as the Online Warrior.   He is a romantic friend (yum!) and an artist and art model.   In fact, I keep one of his modeling nudes beside my computer.  Other people have inspired me, but not the way he does.  If you’re curious to see him, here’s a link    https://cheriefeather.blogspot.com/2011/11/online-warrior.html  where I posted his naked image.  You’ll also see that I plan to write a series of books he inspired.

First books I raved about:  When I was a kid, it was WYKNEN, BYNKEN AND NOD.  In my teenage years, it was two classics–THE SCARLET LETTER and TARZAN OF THE APES.  In my twenties, THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT by Sidney Shelton, CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR by Jean M.  Auel,  and RICH MAN POOR MAN by Irwin Shaw.   In my thirties, A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR by Jude Deveraux .  In my forties, Kathleen Eagle’s FIRE AND RAIN and Lucia St. Clair Robson’s heart-torturing epic RIDE THE WIND.  And, finally, in my fifties, it would be Suzanne Collins’s HUNGER GAMES trilogy.

Now onto my current release:

THE VAMPIRE PENDANT is the first book in the Blood Genies series,  erotic romance novellas featuring vampire hybrids (genies/vampires) living inside antique jewelry and taking blood in exchange for granting wishes.

As a teenager, Tessa Clarins was damaged by a fire, and now the scarred twenty-five-year-old virgin has been made beautiful by a wish.   But there’s a catch.  Tessa’s wish is only temporary, and so is her affair with Anthony Dumont, the wildly romantic “gen-vamp” feasting on her veins and stealing her innocence.  Night after night Tessa puts her heart on the line.  But so does Anthony, leaving sex, love, and secrets in his blood-hungry wake.

Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at Barnes and Noble

Happy wishes, everyone!

www.sheriwhiteather.com

It’s morning, and I just caught myself in mid-yawn. Yesterday was cram-jam-packed with work. Today will be more of the same. I’m determined to get a couple of things off my humongous list this week! So no time for a lot of chit-chat. Here goes.

Out with the old, in with the new.

The winner (by random number generator) of The Glass Art Pendant Contest is…Rana Adams! Congratulations, Rana! Be sure to send me an email with your snail mail address so I can get this into the mail for you!

The Two Book “Two-fer” Contest

What can you win?
The following two books. Click on the covers to read more about them.

How can you win them?
Post a comment on any blog posting from today until the contest ends. Each entry counts as another chance to win!

This contest ends in one week, May 22nd!!

To start the conversation, here’s a question…

Is public nudity beautiful or inappropriate?

Just a reminder! The deadline for submissions is a month away! Please pass this along to all your writer friends out there! ~DD

* * * * *

Smokin’ Hot Firemen: Firefighter Romance Stories
Editor: Delilah Devlin
Publisher: Cleis Press in Summer 2013
Deadline: June 15, 2012 (although sooner is better!)

Smokin’ Hot Firemen is open to all authors.

Editor Delilah Devlin is looking for hetero firefighter stories for a romantic erotica anthology tentatively entitled Smokin’ Hot Firemen: Firefighter Romance Stories.

A firefighter is one of those iconic heroes who inspire a jumble of sexy images at just the mention of the word—a soot-covered face, sweat dripping from hard, chiselled muscles, the sexy snap of suspenders—yes, only a fireman can make suspenders sexy!

Smokin’ Hot Firemen will seek stories that satisfy the reader who craves the romantic idea of that soot-covered, smokin’-hot man while exploring stories set in American cities and small towns, as well as international settings. The stories will be contemporary. While traditional themes are likely to be featured, writers are encouraged to imagine greater in order to create tales that, while featuring this iconic hero, may also surprise.

Think about the big-city firehouse, teaming with sexy firemen, responding to a high-rise fire; firefighters arriving at the scene of an accident to pry a victim from a burning car; a strong, sexy man carrying a child from a burning house… All heroic acts we expect from our local heroes. Then think about the smoke-jumper parachuting into the hot zone of a forest fire; the sexy rancher next door, who’s also a volunteer firefighter, responding to an out-of-control brush fire; or even an oil-rig worker whose extra duty is to respond to a catastrophe on a rig in the middle of the ocean…

Then imagine the romantic possibilities of being held against that massively muscled chest by a man whose mission is to protect and serve…

Published authors with an established firehouse world may use that setting for their original short story.

The stories may be as kinky or vanilla as the writer wants—but a deep sensuality should linger in every word. Exotic locations and scenarios are welcome. Keep in mind there must be a romantic element with a happy-for-now or happy-ever-after ending. Strong plots, engaging characters and unique twists are the ultimate goal. Please no reprints. We are seeking original stories.

How to submit: Prepare your 1,500 to 4,500 words story in a double-spaced, Arial, 12 point, black font document with pages numbered (.doc, NOT.docx) OR rich text format. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch and double space (regular double spacing, do not add extra lines between paragraphs or do any other irregular spacing). US grammar (double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) is required.

In your document at the top left of the page, include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address, and 50 words or less bio in the third person to smokinhotfiremen@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name and pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. Authors may submit up to 2 stories. Delilah will respond in September 2011. The publisher has final approval over the stories included in the manuscript.

Payment will be $50.00 USD and two copies of the published book upon publication.

About the editor: Ms. Devlin has published over a hundred erotic stories in multiple genres and lengths. Her published print titles include Into the Darkness, Seduced by Darkness, Darkness Burning, Darkness Captured, Down in Texas, Texas Men, Ravished by a Viking, and Enslaved by a Viking. Her short stories are featured in Zane’s Purple Panties, and Cleis Press’s Lesbian Cowboys, Girl Crush, Fairy Tale Lust, Lesbian Lust, Passion, Carnal Machines, Dream Lovers, and Best Erotic Romance. She is published by Avon, Kensington, Harlequin, Atria/Strebor, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, and Berkley. In Fall 2011, she debuted her first anthology with Cleis Press, Girls Who Bite. In 2012, Cleis Press will release She Shifters and Cowboy Lust.

Direct any questions you have regarding your story or the submission process to Delilah at smokinhotfiremen@gmail.com.

Thanks so much, Delilah, for having me as a guest! And, don’t worry, I came alone — I didn’t bring my voices! Many authors talk about how their characters “speak” to them, and there’s frequently that teasing back-and-forth argument you have with a scene you’re currently writing: “Stop that. I’m in charge. Go sit in the corner.” I’ve certainly felt that way on more than one occasion. But I also have other voices: when I’m reading aloud!

Recently, I engaged in my first-ever public appearances as an author — reading from my debut Samhain novella, Spice and Smoke. Set completely in India and featuring an all-Indian cast of characters, it’s hardly text that matches my high-pitched, Valley Girl-Betty Boop patter. Let’s face it: I’m a tiny little Indian-American chick who cusses like a longshoreman. Bollywood hero or heroine, I’m not! But my third person narration, at least in my head, is that of a warm, husky, Indian accent…and the voices of my leads — from Avinash Kumar’s rough rumble to Michael Gill’s more casual mix of British and Indian — are distinct as well.

So, when I got up to the microphone, first at NYC’s Happy Ending lounge for Ravenous Nights (ravenous.journurl.com), and then at Madame X for Lady Jane’s Salon, I read in accents. Yup, I did voices. And, I’ll be frank, you never know if you’re going to sink or swim until you’re in the middle of it, praying people are engaged or laughing or fanning themselves. My dialogue, fortunately, offers a lot of cues. Many multilingual Indians effortlessly blend their languages, throwing a little Hindi into their English and vice versa — and I utilized that in my writing. When you’re dropping in a “yaar” (pal/buddy, sort of operates like “dude”), or a “na?” (no, used like a Canadian “eh?”), it really helps enrich what you’re sharing with an audience. It forced me to inhabit the bodies of these tall, handsome, desi boys…who wouldn’t know a Valley Girl if she walked up and kissed them full on the mouth!

To join the conversation, check out Spice and Smoke; it’s available at all major e-tailers, as well as the Samhain Publishing store.

Leave a comment on this post, and one lucky winner
 will snag a copy in the format of her choice!

Editor, writer, American desi and lifelong geek, Suleikha Snyder published her first romantic short in Ravenous Romance’s 2011 TOUCHDOWNS anthology. 2012 brought a bevy of releases, including Suleikha’s first novella from Samhain Publishing, SPICE AND SMOKE, a Wild Rose Press short story called HEART MURMURS, and a short in Cleis Press’ SUITE ENCOUNTERS. Suleikha lives in New York City, finding inspiration in Bollywood films, daytime and primetime soaps, and Hell’s Kitchen wine bars.

Sometimes, heroes and heroines don’t behave well. In the last story I wrote for Kensington, “Hot Blooded”, both hero and heroine have some baggage to turn loose. You can get a sense of how the heroine’s mistake is eating at the hero in this scene. Enjoy!

Tough and rough, tall and dark, these are men a woman never forgets. Experience pleasure like no other in the arms of a cowboy…

“Hot Blooded” by Delilah Devlin

Rancher Adam Youngblood is always happy to help a damsel in distress. But before he’ll pull the sweetly curvaceous and fiercely independent Cass McIntyre to safety, he demands promises of unconditional sexual surrender…

Sunlight broke through the clouds by mid-afternoon. Although the rain had stopped an hour before, chaos still reigned in the park as the rivers continued to rise. All the low water crossings were impassible. Climbers and hikers all along the trails had been stranded. When the Canyon Volunteer Fire Department called the ranch, Adam Youngblood bit back a curse.

The last place he wanted to be today was anywhere near the park and one particular little park ranger. But he headed straight for the headquarters building near the entrance of the park where the rangers had organized search parties to rescue stranded campers and hikers.

Mavis Benson who manned the information desk sidled close to him with a clipboard in her hands. “Adam,” she said hesitantly.

“What do you need, sweetheart?”

“We have a situation.”

He glanced at the organized chaos around him and nodded his head. “We certainly do.”

She pulled at his shirtsleeve and tilted her clipboard toward him. “Cass—Fortress Cliff—0800” was scribbled in purple ink. “She hasn’t checked back in.”

Adam didn’t want to care. In fact, he hated the way his belly knotted at that piece of news. “Have you sent anyone to check it out?”

“They’re still assigning teams to sections of the park. Thought you might like to take this one yourself,” she whispered, her eyebrows rising.

Adam grimaced, tempted to tell her flat out she had the wrong man for the job. She didn’t know his interest in Cass McIntyre had been obliterated the night before. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Hotel Sex Is Hot

I love hotels, and I love hotel sex! That’s why I edited Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories and the new anthology Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories. To me one of the greatest things about a hotel is one of the most obvious: it’s not your home. Probably you’ve never been there before. There are all sorts of things to explore and examine and indulge in. I took a staycation with my boyfriend earlier this year at the Gansevoort Park Hotel, and it was fabulous because we ate dinner at the delicious restaurant Asellina downstairs and never even had to go outside. The bathtub made me want to move into it, it was so deep and luxurious. But I don’t think you have to stay at a fancy hotel to partake of good hotel sex (and that includes solo sex). Just the mere act of getting away can shake you up, just like how I sometimes go to a new location to write for a change of scenery. Those two things collided when I was in Milwaukee for business and stayed at the beautiful Intercontinental (if you are ever in Milwaukee, I highly recommend it!). I wound up eating dinner at the hotel bar and a sleazy guy started hitting on me, with the genius line, “You must be very smart” because I was, wait for it…reading a book (a galley of love and cooking memoir Apron Anxiety by Alyssa Shelasky, which I also recommend). He was a loser and made me wish I’d opted for room service, but I wound up turning that incident into the basis for a story!

I regularly schedule hotel dates because even when you don’t have time to travel, they are a way to get away from it all. The last hotel I stayed at was The Benjamin, and I made sure to take advantage of their pillow menu, though I couldn’t help laughing hysterically when I got to the “snore no more” pillow. One tip that I could have used: if you bring sex toys with you, make sure they’re all present and accounted for before you leave. I wound up leaving my riding crop there and was too embarrassed to call and ask if they had it!

In Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories, my new anthology out this month, there are sex workers, staycations, a mermaid, a murder mystery weekend, bondage (at the holiday inn!) and much more. I think Suite Encounters, like its predecessor Do Not Disturb, showcases a range of the ways people use hotels to get off. My story, “Special Request,” is one of the more outrageous, less realistic stories in the book. It’s an over-the-top fantasy inspired by a stay at the Westin in Los Angeles where they would have brought a treadmill or exercise bike to my room, and seemed to imply they could get a customer anything their heart desired. In my story, that actually happens. Here’s a snippet:

“So I booked this room because I’d heard from a friend that you will do anything to fulfill your clients’ wishes. I’ve been unable to find anyone who could meet my exact specifications, but you look like you’ll know where to find what I need. And my wish is for, well, an orgy. Tomorrow night. I want a room full of hot men and women to pleasure me and each other. Not professionals, just regular sexy people looking to have a good time. And I want you to join us. That’s a must. As a guest, off the clock. Confidentially of course—I must make sure not a word of this gets out,” Claudine finished with a Cheshire cat–like smile. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m heading deep into the Ozark Mountains tomorrow for a writer’s retreat. I have tons to get off my desk today. So this will be quick!

First, yesterday’s winner of Ily Goyanes’s POWER PLAYS is Robyn Evans! Woot! Robyn, be sure to email Ily at ily.goyanes@ampersandeditions.com!

Also while I’m gone, I’ll have blogs pre-posted, so be sure to stop in. Remember, you still have plenty of opportunities to win that pretty pendant I’ll give away next Tuesday! I’ll have Wi-Fi at the lodge, so I can stay in touch. No problems there. I hope. I live in the boonies and satellite connection is often iffy here. This will be deep in the piney woods…

I’m almost at the end of the next Delta Heat book. Want to know the title? I don’t think I’ve shared it here. Well, it’s Fournicopia. Does that give you a hint of the delights inside this story? Yeah, you got it. Those of you who have heard me griping about the fact the story’s all sex know now that it’s living up (or is it down?) to its title. 🙂