Ravished is popping up here and there!

This photo is from Shayla Kersten, who spotted the book in B&N in Little Rock yesterday. My inner geek squealed, “It’s real! It’s real!”

And Shawna B facebooked this photo she took at the B&N at Union Square, NYC!

I’d love to see more photos, especially from those of you who ordered the book from Amazon. You know, open the box, cuddle that book close, and click! I need to start a new contest, don’t I? For siting pics I can post. I have two entries already! 🙂

So back to the book…

What about my story will capture you? My hero? The romance? Or will it be the world I’m building? Here’s a very short snippet to introduce you to New Iceland. This scene is told from a secondary character’s POV, Birget, who will also have a big role in the second book, Enslaved by a Viking.

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The journey to Skuldelev passed in silence. Strapped into the back seat of a small, two-man snow-eater, she watched the endless drifts of white, stirred only by the shifting winds and blowing toward the frozen sea that bordered the lowlands they crossed. In the distance, the jagged peaks of the Keel Mountains sawed into the face of Sunni, the sun goddess, stretching the shadows of night to cloak the mountains and the city fortress of Skuldelev at its base.

Birget straightened to peer over Dagr’s shoulder at the city few Bearshirts had ever willingly entered. Where her own fortress stood as evidence of strength and precision, the keep rising several stories high, Skuldelev stretched like a lazy dragon resting across the top of the foothills. The fortress wall hugged the contours, turrets spiking like ridges on the beast’s back. Even the great, gated entrance gave the appearance of a dragon’s large, crenellated head with its mouth gaping.

A shiver rippled down her spine. The day’s happenings had passed in a whirlwind, and only now did it strike her that this might be her home for the rest of her life—this foreign, craggy, monstrous castle where men as rugged and unforgiving of weakness as their clan-lord lived.

Yes, it’s Snippet Saturday, but I’m continuing my countdown to the release of my new book. One reader has already told me that the book has shipped. So if you’re eager to read it, follow the link to the book to buy your own copy!

When I began writing Ravished by a Viking, I wanted to take a reader on a journey, sink her into a world she’d never imagined, but could believe. I also wanted to introduce the overarching conflict of the series in a way that would make the beginning of the quest memorable. I began with a secondary character whose error in judgment started the adventure. Here you’ll meet Eirik, Dagr’s brother, who will be the hero of the second book coming out later this year, Enslaved by a Viking. My hope is that this will be a world you’ll want to revisit again and again.

Enjoy the snippet. And Happy New Year!

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Eirik Ulfhednar glared into his opponent’s reddened face and adjusted his hand, just a slight movement to improve his grip, and then bore down with all his might. The muscles of his forearm and biceps burned. A spike of adrenaline seared his blood.

Harald, who had boasted his prowess over drinks, didn’t seem so confident he’d win this contest now. His lips pulled away from his teeth in a feral snarl, but his bushy red brows rose, betraying his surprise that the man in front of him, so much younger and more privileged than he, hadn’t already crumpled.

A smile eased up the corners of Eirik’s mouth, and he narrowed his eyes. He would prove he was every inch his brother’s equal and deserving of respect from the crew at the mining camp. Respect that they’d denied him since his arrival that afternoon.

However, respect had to be earned from these fierce, rough men. An accident of birth didn’t grant an Ulfhednar, a Wolfskin, any special favors inside this clan. Further, Eirik’s status wasn’t helped by the fact that the last time he’d visited the camp, he’d been a gangly teen with blemishes on his face, tagging behind his elder brother.

But Eirik wasn’t a boy anymore. This challenge was a good place to prove it.

Without a hint to warn his opponent, Eirik opened his jaws and yawned, then squeezed harder around Harald’s huge fist and slammed it into the table.

The crowd surrounding them roared. Large, meaty hands slapped his shoulders in congratulations. Eirik gave Harald a chagrined smile and stood to reach over the table and offer his hand.

Harald shook his head, scowling, looking none too happy to have been bested, but he gripped Eirik’s wrist. “You won fair. Only other man who ever bested me was your brother.”

Prideful pleasure warmed Eirik, and he wondered why he’d been so resistant to return to this rough camp. He’d thought he wouldn’t enjoy it. That the journey itself would bring back hurtful memories of his father. However, his brother had been right about his needing to learn more about his heritage than just the art of battling like a Norseman. His brother was right about most things, and it was time for Eirik to accept that fact.
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I don’t know about you, but for me, the hero makes the book. At the start of Ravished, we get a first glimpse of Dagr, the clan-lord of the Wolfskins, from the eyes of a secondary character. You can read that first full impression, and all of chapter one, if you click on this link. But I wanted to show you another first impression—the one from our heroine’s point of view with the hero acting the barbarian.

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Before the siren finished its first warning peal, Honora Turgay rolled to her feet from her bunk and slammed the comm switch on the wall with her palm. “Turk, tell me what’s happening.”

“Captain, we’ve been boarded by Vikings!”

“Pirates?” Her heart stuttered, then pounded hard against her chest. Norse pirates were a scourge on civilian vessels, but hadn’t dared threaten Consortium ships. Her ship couldn’t be the first. She could already hear the scornful whispers: What more would you expect from the daughter of Ahn Turgay?

“Not sure,” Turk said, his voice tight with excitement. “They entered through the hold. No other ships appear in our quadrant.”

“How many?” she bit out, pulling up her deep-space skin-suit and locking the tab at her neck.

“A dozen, no, two! More coming! They’re huge!”

She ignored the edge of awe in his voice. “Keep them from the controls. I’m on my way.” Touching the comm-patch on her collar to activate it, she decided against the additional seconds needed to don the outer layers of her uniform, opting to add only her boots. Time was of the essence. She had to get to the deck.

She slipped a stunner from its wall-mounted holster, then eased open her cabin door and glanced up and down the small private corridor in the left wing of the ship, leading from the officers’ quarters to the bridge.

Finding it empty, she hurried down the corridor to the end and up a narrow, ringed ladder to the hatch that opened directly onto the command deck.

“This can’t be happening,” she muttered under her breath. First the Viking cargo the bounty hunters had gathered, and now Vikings attacking her ship. Definitely not a coincidence.

A bad, bad feeling sat like a lump of the cook’s oatmeal at the bottom of her stomach. I am not my father. This moment will not define me.

Even before she shoved the door upward, she could hear angry shouts and the dull clang of metal. What the fuck kind of weapons were the pirates using?

Honora gripped her stunner tighter, slammed open the small round door, and climbed quickly through the hatch. All around her a pitched battle raged, and no one noticed her. She crouched behind the metal railing dividing the captain’s dais from the rest of the bridge, and edged toward her chair. If only she could get a message out to her command . . .

But then she got a good look at the invaders, and her stomach dropped to her toes.
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In five short days, Ravished by a Viking will release. That’s how many days I have to convince you that you want to read this book.

Here’s my first argument. The world building in my book goes deeper than the surface. Every facet of my characters’ lives has been re-envisioned—beginning with the story of how my Vikings arrived at their present state. I’ve built a legend into my story that will resonate throughout the series.

Every great quest tale ought to have a legend. You remember Buffy’s “There can only be one…”? Or the legend of the Aztec gold for the Pirates of the Caribbean?

When I started dreaming up how I could make my “Vikings in Space” world less ridiculous than it sounded, I knew the key was in developing a legend that made the concept plausible. I hit the books. My own personal library books, that is. I read everything I had regarding Viking history and mythology until a history for my Norsemen far from home began to form.

In the dusk of the final age of man, the bravest of warriors fought a fierce battle, joining all the peoples of the northern lands to battle a common foe, sure that the war they waged was Ragnorok—the end of times for all Norsemen. For the gods had come to Midgard, Earth, setting challenges for the warriors and plucking the fiercest, the strongest, and the most prolific breeders to abide with them in the new world where the “Regeneration” would occur. As the fires of the great war died to smoldering embers, The Chosen followed the gods onto the Bifrost, the shimmering bridge leading from Midgard to Asgard where the gods reside, carrying their worldly goods, and bringing their women and their animals to settle the golden world they’d been promised.

But the dreams of a land of endless harvests, green pastures rich enough to sustain them through the ages, gold vessels to sup from, and jewels to adorn their women, proved false. The gods sought to trap the warriors in endless labors, forcing them to burrow under icebound plains in search of “pure light.” Abandoned on their frozen world, the warriors rebelled against their slavery and returned to old habits and old ways, building fortresses of rock and ice. They chased away the gods, but soon they battled each other, raiding to survive, stealing food and women to sustain their endless appetites.

Until the day the gods returned…

~New Icelandic Chronicles

Ragnorok, the Bifrost bridge, and the Regeneration, are all concepts pulled directly from Norse mythology. And I wrote my new legend in the figurative language and tradition of the Icelandic Sagas—as Norsemen might have if they’d been uprooted during the Early Middle Ages, before Christianity arrived. Their history and the stories they’d tell wouldn’t stop when they left Earth. And when you enter the pages, you quickly realize that the men who exist on that new world aren’t as simple as the legend depicts. They may live in a harsh, unforgiving environment, but they aren’t crude or stupid. They are imbued with a sense of destiny. And they know their lives and adventures will be recounted in the old tradition.

Thank you to Delilah for inviting me to pop in today and thanks to all of you for stopping by during what is a very busy holiday season. This year the season has been a bit different for me. While most people are making plans for New Years Eve and penning their soon to be broken resolutions for 2011, I find myself anticipating something else—the start of a new PBR season (that’s Professional Bull Riders not Pabst Blue Ribbon for you non-fans. LOL)

Perhaps it’s that my Twitter follow list over the past year has become filled with bull riders, stock contractors, ropin’ rodeo cowboys, and fellow cowboy-lovers from all over the world. And in this world, which a few years ago was quite foreign to a New York girl like me, we (me included) are counting down not to New Years, but instead to the opening day of the 2011 season which kicks off at Madison Square Garden in NYC on Friday, January 7th. I’ve got my tickets and am waiting as anxiously as the rest.

How did I, a born and bred suburbanite, get hooked on bull riding and cowboys? It started out of necessity. I was writing a book about rodeo cowboys a few years ago and was forced (ha, real hardship there!) to consult with real live cowboys for research as well as watch anything I could find about the sport on TV. It’s apparently addicting, both the cowboys and the sport, and now I’m hooked on both, book research or not. But it’s not just me who is easily addicted. A reviewer recently wrote that reading one of my Studs in Spurs series books made her want to watch bull riding and one of my readers bought tickets to a PBR event after reading my book. The love of cowboys proves universal!

Anyway, Friday night, January 7th, when my friends join me at MSG (they got me and themselves tix as my Christmas gift), we’ll see if I can get them hooked as well. There will be lots of questions because they are more suburban that I—at least I own horses while all they own are prints of horses for their walls—but I’m ready for them. After all these years of research for my bull rider series, I can quote the announcers and analyze the rides with the best of them.

I’ve included a short blurb from my newest bull riding cowboy book. I dare you not to fall in love with him!

Happy New Year and Happy Reading to you all and Let’s Buck!
Cat Johnson

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

What happens in Vegas…sometimes follows you home.

Studs in Spurs, Book 3

Pro bull rider Chase Reese knew things move faster than an eight-second ride in Las Vegas. He just never expected to be driving home with a national championship under his belt and a wedding band on his left hand with no clue how it got there.

Yet he can’t complain about the stripper bride beside him. From the moment his buddies bought him a lap dance from her, her trembles told him there was more to her than stiletto heels.

Leesa Santiago has met the perfect guy. Her timing couldn’t be worse though. If it was just their explosive sex, she could walk away. But from the moment her lap dance brought her this close to his baby blues, she was hooked. She can’t lie that she couldn’t be happier to bear his name—or guiltier that she’s using it and his Oklahoma farm to hide out from mob hit men.

That’s before Chase’s family gets involved. And his determination to do the right thing pushes her to do the one thing that will keep him safe. Break his heart.
Do cowboy boots mix with stripper heels? And can a love that started out on the wrong foot end up on the right one? That’s the risk you take waking up in Vegas.

Warning: Contains one happy-ending lap dance that will make you squirm, some pretty hot sex between two strangers who also happen to be married to each other, and a huge surprise conclusion.

Find more information about Cat’s other Studs in Spurs series eBook and paperbacks featuring hot bull riding cowboys at: Cat’s Website and Samhain Publishing

What’s going on through your walls?

By Keri Ford

Nothing overly exciting leaks through the sheetrock for me. When I was younger my room was against the living room. I got to listen to episodes of Cheers and Seinfeld when I was supposed to be sleeping. When we moved my only wall share was with the bathroom…. Yeah, a few breaks from Sister through the night (something I could have done without!) was it.

And that’s it. I married and we moved into a rental house. The bedroom was in the back and butted against the laundry room. I got to hear the dryer. *whoo-hoo*. I’ve again moved into a single-wide and let me tell you, the walls are so thin on these puppies I can hear my son playing with cars in his room. On the opposite end of the trailer. Nothing more exciting than that.

I know other people get some pretty cool eavesdropping through their walls. Shortly before my book was to release, I set up an alert for “Through The Wall”. Sixty-plus hits were rolling in everyday. None of those about my book, mind you, but about people just hearing crap through their walls. Sex, TV, some kid’s music practice (eek!), singing (most likely another, eek!), fighting—you name it and somebody somewhere is hearing about it right now.

My heroine, Stephanie, gets some pretty freaking cool eavesdropping. Instead of sleeping, she stays up late and listens to her neighbor’s headboard banging against her bedroom wall. And where there’s headboard knocking, you know there is other awesome stuff to be heard!

What’s the most memorable thing you’ve heard through a wall?

~~~~~~~~~~

She doesn’t want wild and raunchy, just a little spice…

Stephanie Faulkner listens to her neighbor’s nightly sexcapades through her bedroom wall. What used to make her blush now has her reaching for her vibrator. But she’s had enough self-fulfillment and now wants the real thing.

He wants commitment and long-term, not a quick roll…

The only woman Parker Madison ever wanted for long-term was Stephanie…but she’s off-limits. He’s tried to find a substitute but there just isn’t another woman like her. Now that she’s available, if he gives her time to get over her ex-husband…will he finally get his long-desired chance?

Short-term doesn’t lead to long term. Or does it…?

Read Chapter One HERE!!

~~~~~~~~~~

Visit Keri At:
Website
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Through The Wall is now available in ebook format for only $1.99 from Amazon Kindle | Smashwords

Thanks so much Delilah for having me today!

On January 4th, my attention will be divided between two books—one, my first print title with Berkley, and the other, my next cowboy menage with Samhain. Most of my efforts are going toward the Viking book because I need it to be a success for me to be able to write more stories for Berkley. They are very different books, but both are ones I know you will enjoy. In the next week, I’ll share snippets from the Viking book, so that you will get a flavor of the fun that’s in store for you.

Something to keep in mind… Ravished by a Viking is available for pre-order now and is on sale for $10.20—a savings of $4.80 off the cover price. I don’t know how long that price will hold. If you order now, your card won’t be charged until it ships on the 4th! Ravished at Amazon

So today, is a “Tale of Two Books.” Click on the covers to read the openings for both. Tomorrow and Wednesday, I’ll have guest bloggers sharing this space, but after that, it will be Ravished excerpts up until the day. 🙂

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What a Viking wants, a Viking takes.

When his younger brother goes missing, Dagr, Viking warrior and Lord of the Wolfskin Clan, will do whatever it takes to get him back. But nothing could have prepared him for Honora—a feisty, intelligent woman who is nothing like the women of his world—women who are content to serve their men in all things. Drawn to her despite her recalcitrant nature, Dagr is determined to show her who’s boss both in bed and out.

When the two enemies-turned-lovers join forces to find Dagr’s brother they are thrown into a rousing adventure full of danger, intrigue and erotic abandon. Can their passion truly unite them or will their different worlds lead to destruction for them both?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Two men plus one woman equals three bodies on fire…

True Wyatt’s hands are going to be full enough keeping the herd alive through the dead of winter. The last thing he needs to hear is that his brother Lonny has rented out their isolated hunting cabin to a reclusive writer—especially a sassy, disaster-prone brunette. Who has the time to babysit a city girl until Spring?

With a deadline looming, erotica writer Honey Cahill is looking forward to six distraction-free weeks to finish her next book. However, between Lonny’s flirty sensuality and True’s hard-edged intensity, the Wyatt brothers set the stage of her imagination for a winter of wicked delights.

The fire that destroys the cabin, though, is as real as it gets. Forced to seek a bed under True and Lonny’s roof, the temptation to experiment—all in the name of research, of course—is overpowering. One night in their arms doesn’t feel like enough; it feels like more. Particularly with one cowboy who fires all her cylinders…