…with Vincent D’Onofrio.

I’ve been on a jag of late, recording old episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It’s the only cop drama I watch, and I wouldn’t watch it at all…except for Vincent. I’d loved him in Full Metal Jacket (even though war pics aren’t my thing), The Cell (ONLY because he was in it, the rest was crap), and Men in Black (remember the bug-man?), but never fully appreciated him until he became Detective Goren.

He’s not classicly handsome. He’s large, lumbering, but oddly graceful. He’s moody, dark, a little scary, very unhinged. But I love the way his character thinks, and I wonder how much of his own personality has been imprinted in the character by the writers. He seems so complex, so intelligent, so goddamn intense…I find him very sexy.

I just watched another episode, and it was so good it won’t leave me. He empathized with a killer who was patterned after Jeffrey Dahmer, no doubt. He’d drilled holes in his victim’s heads to make companions for himself. Vincent’s character understood he wasn’t really a monster when everyone around him thought the opposite. His compassion was strange, given the grisly nature of the man’s crimes, but Goren’s compassion opens another little doorway to clue us in on what makes him tick.

I don’t know if he’s won any awards for his acting, but he should (Cool! Just checked the link I posted and he’s won four Emmys). Goren’s not wrapped too tight himself, and it’s his unraveling, one episode at a time, that’s so fascinating to watch. Of course, I may just have proven I’m just as wierd as he is. 🙂

Thanks to everyone who visited me yesterday at Access Romance’s All-A-Blog! Our conversation over the day was very enjoyable, and I think we all got to know each other a little better. LOL

Icia, if you’re reading this now, I’ll be sending you a copy of Sin’s Gift when it releases as your prize!

Be sure to join me today at Access Romance’s All-A-Blog, where I talk about my summertime gripes and my new EC book, Sin’s Gift! And ya know…I do offer bribes for you to post!

And before you go, take a look at the cover for Alluring Tales: Hot Holiday Nights, coming in November!

Progress so far on Texas Men for Kensington

*sigh*

My “progress” doesn’t even rate a single percentage point. Don’t get me wrong. I love new starts. At this point, the book’s wide-open for sexy possibilities. I have the opening scene in my mind, and it pulls heavily from my recent adventure at the Bachelor Auction (see previous posts)—all the funny things I saw, all the slavering women, the sexy and not-so-sexy men who strutted their stuff for a good cause. Can’t wait to get that down.

What always intimidates me is getting past the opening and plowing into the no-man’s land of the saggy middle of the book. Beginnings and endings are soooooo easy! Keeping it fun in the middle is the true test of a writer. And this book will have three tests because it’s a collection of novellas, interrelated, but all written by me.

To keep it interesting for me, I’m throwing in a topic I’ve never fully explored—namely BDSM. Sure, I’ve done plenty of spankings and some light bondage in my stories before, but this time, I have a Dom who will be featured in two of the stories and plenty of “equipment.” So, I’m doing some reading, visiting some BDSM blogs, and asking for lots of advice. Y’all have any good resources? If so, please share ’em!

For those of you who have been waiting a really long time for me to unleash a new series…well, you still have little while to wait. On June 25th the first in my “Shadowlands” demon series will be out. In the meantime, you can drool over the cover and whet your appetite with an excerpt.

Thought I’d start out with a bang and the cover of a collection of shorts Harlequin Spice will release next March! Don’t you love it?! That month is shaping up to be another crazy busy one for me. Darkness Burning (the third Dark Realm story from Avon), Texas Men (my next single-author anthology from Kensington) and now Size Matters, will all be out in the same month.

For those of you who talk with me online, you know I’ve been suffering Internet outages since the end of April that left me with intermittant Internet or email capability. Hopefully, yesterday’s repairs did the trick. I’m here for now, anyway!!

As soon as I opened my email yesterday, I found a message from my editor at Kensington asking if I’d like to be in the next multi-author “Cowboy” book (see The Cowboy and Only with a Cowboy to see what I’m talking about). Of course, I couldn’t resist the challenge. So you’ll hear me cursing cowboys for the next three months straight as I finish up Texas Men then plunge right into the cowboy book. Ack! (I act scared, but I actually do better under pressure, so take all my grousing with a grain of salt.)

Lastly, I have an agent. A great one. Don’t want to talk about it too much for fear of attracting negative mojo, but I’m quietly jazzed about the whole thing!

It’s been such a busy month for me. When I look back at my calendar, I’m amazed I accomplished so much.

I finished another story for Ellora’s Cave. I’m still wrapping up edits for the third Dark Realm story. On Monday, I slammed out a short story to submit to a foreign anthology—finished 25 pages and it wasn’t total crap! I attended a Bachelor’s Auction and gained tons of research on that event that will help me with my next project. I tromped through a graveyard with my Arkansas writer friends and came up with some wicked ideas to fill another tale. Oh, and I wrote another chapter to satisfy my MIK fans (or drive them nuttier, depending on how much you love Quentin!).

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog contest. I do have a winner. Many of your comments on the blog made me smile. And thanks especially to the volunteer readers who helped me shape the short story into something entertaining on Monday. I really needed the support to keep slamming those pages.

Once in a while, I need a challenge like that to blow out the cobwebs and to see something FINISHED. Most projects take a long time of thinking and dreaming, then weeks of writing. That one day marathon left me feeling flushed and victorious!

Back to the contest. First, here are the answers to the questions:

1) What’s the title of my latest release? Royal Bondage (at least on Sunday, it was!)
2) What’s the title of the book I’m giving away in my newsletter “for readers”, one chapter at a time? Knight Dreams
3) In Sin’s Gift, what police substation does the hero’s brother work in? The East Substation
4) In Seduced by Darkness, what waterway jumped it’s banks, flooding a cemetary and freeing a monster? Bayou St. John

The winner of the blog contest will get a tote with a stash of Romantic Times goodies (a couple of books included)! And she is…Stephanie[dragonstar1974@aol.com]! Steph, be sure to send me your snail mail address privately so I can get your package to you! Congratulations!!

| Damned, Delicious and Dangerous is out today! Includes“The Demon Lord’s Cloak”. Bound and naked, Voletta has every reason to fear the mysterious man holding her in his arms. Instead his brooding presence intrigues her, his hard body excites her—and his rough touch arouses her…

Men of darkness, men of passion…trapped by temptation and bound by desire. No woman can refuse their erotic invitation for sexual pleasure…

5 cups from Coffee Time Romance: “…A tale rife with passion, The Demon Lord’s Cloak will leave a reader breathless and counting the hours until their own true loves return. Be prepared for scintillating sex and delectable dialogue, Ms. Devlin writes her own brand of hot happily ever after.”