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CECK was originally published in September 2005 and was my second appearance in a “Caveman” anthology. Oh, and excuse my alien heroine’s accent. I promise it’s only a temporary thing until she gets her translator adjusted! Enjoy!

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From Coffee Time Romance: “…An encounter of the best kind, these two leave sparks across the sky in a sizzling adventure you will not want to miss.”

Etienne Lambert, a Cajun ex-soldier fresh from the horrors of the war in Iraq, discovers that he’s an alien when an alien woman arrives at his door to take him home. When he resists, she kidnaps him. He soon learns he is the last potent male of the ruling line of their planets and it’s his duty to return to assume the mantle of rule and sire the next generation of the ruling caste.

Mariska is a fightership commander who has succeeded where all the mages, seers, and trackers have failed. She has found her race’s last hope for salvation! When the future king demands that he start work immediately on the primary mandate of his rule — to sire children — she can’t refuse His Majesty’s command.

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Etienne leaned forward, cuddling his beer between his hands, letting the silence wrap around his jangled nerves. Here in the swamp, in a hunting cabin filled with happy childhood memories, he hoped to finally shrug off his soul-deep sadness. He loved his brother and family, but he didn’t want to invite them into the dark place he’d been forced inside ever since Tekrit.

Arnaud had left half an hour before, frustrated and hurt—Etienne knew it, but couldn’t reach out to him, not yet. Maybe a few more days of staring out at the green, wet world around him would drown the memories of the sun-baked dirt that drank his buddies’ blood like a thirsty sponge.

He needed time to fit back into his old life. He snorted at that thought—like he’d ever really fit in to begin with. Taller by a foot than his brothers and swarthy-skinned to their olive, he’d often wondered if he hadn’t been traded in the bassinet at birth. And he’d never been satisfied with what life offered him in the bayou—it’s why he’d enlisted in the first place.

A twig snapped nearby, and Etienne froze. As if he’d never left Iraq, time slowed, and in one long moment he realized the crickets had stopped their raucous chirping, the owls no longer called to one another—he had a visitor.
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A feature of my old website was a page I wrote to accompany each book release called “Behind the Book.” Close Encounters has been around long enough to have one of those pages. I’ll feature an excerpt and offer up a free download to one lucky winner tomorrow, but in the meantime, this was what tripped around my mind when I wrote the story.

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New Orleans and the bayous of Louisiana have always fascinated me. From the murky, smarmy ambience and the spicy full-flavored foods, to that distinctive dialect filled with French and Southern inflections—everything is a definite turn-on, appealing to the underlying darkness in this writer’s twisted mind and soul!

So I was thinking, if aliens were coming to America, where better for an encounter to happen?

My hero needed a little darkness in his soul to match the landscape in my mind, so I went with what is familiar to me. I understand the military man and have lived in the desert of the Middle East, and with the war in Iraq so much in the news, a hero fresh from the horrors there worked in a beautiful and poignant way.

My damaged hero, Etienne, needed to lighten up and learn how to open his heart to caring again—and accept someone he cared about touching his body and heart.

So I gave Etienne to Mariska. Mariska is worldly in a galactical sort of way, but innocent when it comes to heart lessons and the darkness that can haunt a person who’s seen too much. She’s hell bent on accomplishing her mission and saving her planets, and her work is cut out for her trying to convince a man who thinks he’s already given enough to go along with her plans.

Painting the picture of where he came from to where he arrived was part of the joy of writing this story. It was a flight of whimsy—my grown-up ET.

This is how today’s blog starts:

I’ve never traveled in a starship, never lived in a castle in 12th century England, and I’ve certainly never cast a spell that turned a bunch of crushed herbs into a murder of crows, but that hasn’t stopped me from writing about them. However, meticulous research can only take me so far. There’s nothing like walking in the dirt I’m going to write about to add that touch of realism to a story…

If you want to read the rest, follow this link: After Midnight Fantasies

Hey! Stick around for the derby pictures, but today’s my report card. Let me get business out of the way first. You know why I do this, right? If I don’t hold myself accountable in a public way for my progress, I might just decide to take a vacation. 🙄

I realize I’ve been absent a lot lately. I’m not deliberately dodging connections, but I’ve had a very hectic couple of months. This last week was another crazy, crazy week. Not a lot of new pages, but progress nonetheless.

I mentioned to you earlier this week that I spent several days at my daughter’s, babysitting and walking dogs. I managed to work in the mornings after getting the 5-year-old on the school bus and after getting her and the 8-month-old into bed at night. All the hours in between were a bust. As well, I stayed up until the red-headed hellion came home from work after 12:30 AM every night and we talked until 3-ish before heading to bed. I’ll be going back there tonight for the week. I’m hoping I’ll be better prepared this time and will actually sleep when I get the chance so I can be creative. She’s on dial-up and it’s a chore to get online and twitter or post, so I won’t be doing much of that.

Work-wise this past week, I completed a short story entitled The Weekend and submitted it for consideration. I worked on blurbs and cover requests for the two cowboy stories for Samhain. And I completed galley edits for the upcoming print anthology Captive Souls.

Yesterday was especially jam-packed. I attended the monthly Diamond State Romance Authors meeting, and honchoed it because our president was a no-show. Afterwards, I went to lunch and watched the Razorback game with friends while brainstorming story ideas. And then last night, I went to a roller derby match in Little Rock with Cyndi D’Alba and Shayla Kersten. I had a blast. See for yourself!

My flash didn’t work, and without light, the camera couldn’t catch the action very well, but I like this one anyway.

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I’m back at home for now. Have to head back to my daughter’s on Sunday night. Gawd, I’m exhausted. I’m hoping I can work on new material next week in between changing diapers and de-pooping dogs (It did feel like the theme of my week was “shit”!). We’ll see. Right now I’m sleep-deprived and feeling a bit like a walking zombie. Tomorrow’s the monthly Diamond State Romance Authors meeting, and some of us are planning a trip to watch a live Roller Derby match afterward. So, needless to say, neither rest nor writing is on the horizon.

To celebrate Halloween, Ellora’s Cave is offering every vampire book up for sale. If you haven’t read the My Immortal Knight books yet, here’s your chance to save some cash while you catch up on the series. It looks like book #7 will be out in November, so there’s no time like now to find out what happened prior to the next installment!

My daughter needed help at home for a few days. My job was to wait for the 5-year-old after school, play with the 8-month-old and keep her from swallowing everything she wants to put into her mouth—oh, and walk the three dogs. Of course, nothing is ever easy. Like those dogs? A Malinois, a German Shepherd and a Dachsund (the meanest of the bunch)—who all have an appetite for cats (daughter has two). So, as you can imagine, every time I got out the leashes, I had to shut up the cats, who love to play hide-and-seek, so they didn’t become the dogs’ next meal.

I’ve done this before. Raised my own brood and zoo. I wasn’t going to have any problems doing that and writing…

Pfft! I did manage to finish up a short story today and work on blurbs for my next cowboy stories. Not a complete loss. But tomorrow I’ll be back at home and catching up big time. Hope you had a more restful week!

I work hard at my craft, so I’m entitled to brag now and then. I wanted to share some of the fabulous reviews Lockdown has received.

From Novelspot: “…I am a big fan of Delilah Devlin’s work, so was eager to review LOCKDOWN. I think the character of a woman’s correctional officer is fascinating and not really touched on. Add in the supernatural spin this book contains and you know you’re in for a treat…LOCKDOWN is another hot read not to be missed by Delilah Devlin. The creativity and sexual energy in this supernatural erotic tale is amazing. I was caught up in the mystery and the foreshadowing evil in the story. All three characters were wonderfully done, and I loved their hardcore attitudes. This is a read you’ll not want to pass up.…”

From Manic Readers: “…LOCKDOWN was pure perfection…As good as the sex is I found myself totally immersed in the evil shadowing the three characters. I was downright riveted to my pages…Suspense, danger, mouthwatering sex scenes and a demon should be enough to make you pick up LOCKDOWN. I will recommend this book to everyone I know, it’s just that good!”

From Reader Reviews: “…LOCKDOWN by Delilah Devlin offers a uniquely different erotic tale. The sensual scenes are very well written and a pleasure to read. The plot is very complex for a novella, yet the author carries it well. I really enjoyed this story and hope that there will be more to follow along this line.”

From Just Erotic Romance Reviews: “…Delilah Devlin always delivers stories with real characters. LOCKDOWN is terrific at building suspense and creating tension; as a reader you can’t wait to see what will happen next…”

If you missed this story, which came out earlier this year, and want to learn more before you buy, click in the cover!