69 stories means 69 treasures in The Big Book of Orgasms

Why are there 69 stories in The Big Book of Orgasms? Well, the first reason is the most obvious, an allusion to the sex position 69. But for me as editor, it’s much deeper than that. The thing I hate most about editing anthologies, which makes me consider quitting every time, is sending rejection letters. I despise it, because I know what it’s like to get them. It’s no fun not to be able to include stories that are wonderfully written but I don’t have room for, or that are too similar to another story.

With The Big Book of Orgasms (and its predecessor, Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex), I had more room to include a wider variety of stories than I normally do. I could include masturbation stories like Tess Danesi’s excellent “Steamy” (read an excerpt HERE and Logan Zachary’s technology and gender-bending tale “Remote Control.” I had space for very short stories, such as “The Park” by Elise Hepner, which is only 249 words, and “Her Lover is a Flame” by Cecilia Tan, which has only 308. It’s pretty amazing to realize how few words an author needs to tell a story that’s erotic and evocative and memorable. All of the stories are only 1,200 words or less, which means you always have time to read one before bed.

It also means there’s room for diversity in terms of gender and sexual orientation. There are more male authors than I usually get in my submissions, many of whom, such as David Salcido of Blue Food fame, I’m publishing for the first time in one of my books (side note: I’d love to see more submissions for future anthologies from male authors and authors of any or no gender!). Check out “Baxter’s Boy” by Xan West (who is reading November 6th in San Francisco, see last paragraph) for a wonderful take on gender and desire.

I’m not saying The Big Book of Orgasms has every single type of orgasm a person could possibly have or way of achieving one, because that would be impossible for one book (I think?), but it does have a wide variety, and if it does well, I’d love to do another book like it. I love the creativity and playfulness and passion the authors brought to the stories. Some, like Lady Cheeky, who wrote “The Massage,” have even publicly admitted their stories are true (mine, “I’m on Fire,” is not, though hot wax play does intrigue me). There was room for stories ranging from romantic and sensual to down and dirty (and stories that combine those elements!).

There’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual characters. There’s sex toys aplenty, book lovers, forced orgasms, cross-dressing, bondage, spanking, students and teachers, sex as a headache cure, BDSM, flogging, exhibitionism, voyeurism, ice play, movie theater orgasms, a very tight pair of jeans and so much more. There are easily orgasmic characters and ones for whom orgasm is more of a challenge. And even though orgasm is the organizing principle, these stories are truly about the passion shared by these characters, for their lovers and themselves.

The book is also, if I may brag not humbly at all, a beautiful one. I’m always in awe of the gorgeous covers Cleis Press finds, but I think this one is especially lovely—not too over the top, but gets the point across that this woman is either about to have an orgasm, in the middle of having one or has just finished having one. If you happen to be in San Francisco, please join me and 9 of the contributors for a free reading this Wednesday, November 6tha t 6:30 at Good Vibrations, 1620 Polk Street at California; details are on Facebook but no RSVP is necessary. If you’re not nearby, please tell someone who is. There will also be a New York City reading January 3rd at reading series Between the Covers at The Museum of Sex. You can keep up with the book on Tumblr, where you’ll find excerpts from all 69 stories and the table of contents and intro and @BigBookofOrgasm on Twitter, and me @raquelita on Twitter. And if you do read the book, I’d love to hear what your favorites are!

I’d like to thank Delilah for offering me a guest spot on her blog so I can talk about my new contemporary romance Leave The Lights On.

One of my favorite things about writing romance is that it gives me the opportunity to explore what happens when people get a second chance with someone they crushed on in the past. In this story Parker and Sophie were childhood friends who, for several reasons, never got together when they were younger. Now that they’re adults they find themselves neighbors once again. Their friendship is instantly rekindled, as are the old feelings of longing. Sophie is a wedding planner and she invites Parker to accompany her to a food show. He’s more than happy to have any excuse to spend more time with Sophie, so he accepts, wondering if it’s a date or if they’re just hanging out. After a day of sampling all sorts of decadent creations offered from the vendors at the expo they stop at one final dessert display where Sophie tempts Parker with a chocolate treat. Here’s an exclusive peek at what happens next…

When love throws you a curve, swing for the fences.

Parker Wood’s dreams of becoming a professional baseball player are shattered when he’s injured in a devastating car crash. After two years in hospitals and physical rehab facilities, he’s ready to move back to his childhood home and take over the family landscaping company. The house and business are his, now that his father has passed.

Sophie Vaughn has suffered through a hellishly public divorce from a husband who couldn’t manage to stay faithful for two months of marriage. Determined not to let her personal drama impact her successful wedding and party planning business, she buys her parents’ old house, hoping the comfort of familiar surroundings will help her heal.

When Parker and Sophie discover they’re neighbors once again, it’s as if time has stood still. Their friendship is quickly rekindled, along with the decade-long crush neither of them ever admitted having. Then the heat between them exposes a long-held secret that threatens to tear them apart…unless they can detach from their painful pasts and move forward—together.

Warning: Contains sultry summer nights, steamy pool-side encounters, and you’ll never look at a jar of peanut butter the same way again.

Excerpt from Leave The Lights On:

Caramel and sea salt flooded his mouth as soon as he bit into the dark chocolate shell. “Jesus. I’ve got to get myself invited to some weddings. This stuff’s amazing.”

Sophie laughed, the shimmery sound sending tingles through Parker’s limbs. “Or you can be extra nice to me, and maybe I’ll bring you home goodie bags from all the ones I go to.”

She grabbed two sample boxes off the table and tucked them into one of the tote bags.

Parker chuckled. “Now there’s officially more food in these bags than in my entire kitchen.”

“That’s just because I haven’t taken you grocery shopping yet. We’ll get your kitchen stocked soon enough.”

“Sounds good.” Anything that involved more time with Sophie sounded good. His gaze was drawn to the saunter of her hips as she made her way through the crowd. Jesus.

“I think we’ve hit every booth. You ready to go?”

“Sure.”

Parker held the door as they left the convention center. As they headed down the street, the sky darkened with deep blue clouds. Thunder rumbled long and deep. “Think we’ll make it to the car before the storm starts?”

No sooner did the words leave his mouth than the sky opened up.

Sophie shrieked, “No. Run.”

They tore down the sidewalk, fat raindrops pelting them faster by the second. One of Sophie’s sandals slipped off, and she started giggling. “Wait, my shoe.”

Parker stopped, slicking his hair back off his face. “Got it?”

“No.” She laughed harder, grabbing Parker’s arm to steady herself as she wiggled her foot back into the shoe. “There.”

Her eyes sparkled as she gazed up at him, her breath coming fast from laughter, her rain-soaked shirt clinging to her every curve. Parker smoothed her wet hair off her cheek. The feel of her skin, warm and inviting, was too much. He couldn’t wait another second.

His lips touched hers mid-giggle, for just a second. He held his breath, his fingers still woven into her hair, waiting to see if she’d pull away. She hesitated, the sweet scent of her making him dizzy, then her mouth was back on his.

Sophie went up on her toes, leaning in toward him, her lips parting beneath his. She tasted like the chocolate they’d had and red wine they hadn’t, a decadent blend of the richest flavors he’d ever savored. He no longer noticed the rain or heard the thunder—his whole world had condensed into the kiss. The only word his brain could form was Sophie.

* * * * *

Author Info for Karen Stivali:

Karen Stivali is a prolific writer, compulsive baker and chocoholic with a penchant for books, movies and fictional British men. She is a multiple award winning author of contemporary and erotic romances for Ellora’s Cave, Turquoise Morning Press and Samhain Publishing.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | AllRomanceEbooks

Hi All! Cynthia D’Alba here. Mega thanks to Delilah Devlin for being the Kick-Off blog for my Texas Tango Release Tour.

Today is Halloween Eve. Growing up, Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays. I loved the dressing up, the becoming someone totally different from who you are every day. I’ve been everything from Jeanie from I Dream of Jeanie, to the standard hobo to Ms. Arkansas. Now, I have to confess, the year I played Ms. Arkansas I was twenty-five and teaching at a school of nursing! And before you ask…NO! I was never Ms. Arkansas. My singing and piano playing would have cleared the room…talk about scaring the poor children to death. 😀

Even today, I love to dress up in my cowboy hat, boots and denim. Makes this city girl feel just like a real cowgirl.

In TEXAS TANGO, both my hero and heroine are wearing masks to the outside world. Travis, as the long-suffering widower and Caroline, as the happy-go-lucky doctor with nothing to tie her down. Sometimes a costume can be fun, like the one I’m wearing in my picture for a book signing. But other times, the costume and mask are hiding true feelings from the world as well as the wearer, as in TEXAS TANGO. I wanted Travis and Caroline to have to face what they really want out of life and have to confess it to themselves as well as to the world.

TEXAS TANGO releases from Samhain Publishing in one week. It’s the second book in the Texas Montgomery Mavericks Series. Here’s a little more what it’s about.

Their wedding might be fake, but there’s no faking the mutual attraction.

Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 2

Dr. Caroline Graham is happy with her nomadic lifestyle fulfilling short-term medical contracts. No emotional commitments, no disappointments. She’s always the one to walk away, never the one left behind.

But now her great-uncle is gone and her grandmother is on her deathbed, more concerned about Caroline’s lack of a husband than her own demise. What’s the harm in a little white lie? If a wedding will give her grandmother peace, then a wedding she shall have.

Travis Montgomery has one dream left—to build the ranch he and his wife planned before he lost her to cancer. There’s just one thing standing between him and the last bit of acreage he needs—a last living heir who has one traveling foot out the door…and an unusual request that challenges his determination to never again place his heart at risk.

The land he wants in exchange for a faux marriage. Everyone wins. Until things start to snowball…and the hearts they stand to lose are their own.

Warning: This book contains a tortured widower who doesn’t want a wife and an independent doctor who doesn’t want a husband. Hot stuff between the sheets and failed efforts to avoid emotional involvements.

Want more? Click HERE for the opening of Chapter One.

TEXAS TANGO can be pre-order now from any of the stores listed below or check your favorite online store to purchase.

Amazon | Samhain  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Kobo

Thanks again to the Delicious Delilah Devlin for having me here today. I love love love to hear from readers and there are lots of ways to find me. Online, you can find me most days at my website or my group blog.

Follow me at Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Goodreads or Pinterest. Or email me at cynthia@cynthiadalba.com

To send me snail mail, write to:
Cynthia D’Alba   PO Box 2116     Hot Springs, AR71914

Now for the fun stuff! I have an exclusive two-day giveaway running today and tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll be here. You can sign up both days. So what might you win? Check out the Rafflecopter below! Good luck.

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

AND as my Release Tour moves into November, I have incredible jewelry prizes and some personalized prizes. So be sure to check my personal blog every day. It’ll remind you where I am that day so you can earn lots of entries.

And last, but not least, I have freebies for the asking. Texas Tango Cowboy Hat jar openers, Texas Two Step Cowboy boot jar openers, pens, postcards, trading cards. Drop by my contact page and let your request there.

One lucky person who leaves a comment here today will pick up a western-themed Christmas ornament, so be sure to leave an email address so I can find you.

Thanks Delilah for inviting me over today! Hope to see some of you on my upcoming tour stops.

Ghosts and Haunted Houses

Let me start by saying thanks to Delilah for having me on the blog today!

Since Halloween is right around the corner,  I wanted to talk about ghosts and haunted houses.  I lived in a haunted house for numerous years.  It was a very beautiful, historical house, but never really felt like a true home.  Over the years several visitors had said they’d seen or felt the presence of someone standing in their room at night.  We didn’t talk much about these events until after I had moved to a new house. That’s when the stories were confirmed by relatives and friends.

There were two places, specifically, that visitors had had these experiences.  The first one was the guest room. The door leading to the sitting room was originally an outside door.  Everyone who stayed in that room said they’d been awakened in the middle of the night due to hearing the door slam. But it never opened.  I had heard the noise myself on numerous nights, but never spoke about it.

The second hot spot in the house was the upstairs.  In my bedroom, I ‘felt’ the presence of what I perceived to be a young woman in a long white gown standing by the windows.  I also felt her in the master bedroom turret, again by the windows.  What confirmed her existence was a conversation I had with my grandmother who  lived next door.  I had never discussed this ‘woman’ before with anyone.  But one day, my grandmother asked me if I had any idea who was the woman in the white gown at the windows.  She had seen her.  I had only felt her.  And despite me never telling my grandmother this, she saw what I had sensed.

There were other ghost tales from the house as well, including a old, bearded man seen in the kitchen, a civil war era ghost in the hallway,  and a ghost in my brother’s room.

I had one cat who refused to go into the guest room at night. She would stand at the step leading up to the room from the family room and hiss.

I did discuss the situation of my haunted house, including additional details, with one of the founders of T.A.P.S. / Ghost Hunters.  It was a very interesting conversation. He felt the same as I did, that the spirits in the house were not bad, but I did have a connection with them.

Nothing bad was ever felt in the house, but it was strange knowing we weren’t the only family/inhabitants there.

In my book SHADOWS OF THE SOUL I have a little ghost girl.  I enjoyed writing her into the plot.  Perhaps living in a haunted house sparked the idea for this character.

Do you have a haunted house or ghost story to share?  I’d love to hear it.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Have a Happy Halloween!

SHADOWS OF THE SOUL
(Book 1 of the Paradisian Chronicles)
By Angelique Armae
ISBN: 978-0-9845151-4-1
Publisher: Diversion Books

When Hell’s sexiest bad boy–Nicolai Valentine–defied Lucifer, he lost everything.

Now Heaven’s fearless human warrior–Isabel Heart–has come to Nicolai’s rescue.

When the two meet…

A haunting past is reborn…

Isabel Godfroie Heart is a Paradisian Scholar-an immortal human trained in the ways of Heaven and Hell-who’s suffering from memory loss. During her last battle, a dark force erased specific portions of her past life memories. Now she remembers little of times past, save for the fact she’s a demon slayer mentored by the archangel Gabriel. When ordered to a new post to help translate a volume of ancient text from a forbidden verse, Isabel is forced to work with the dark prince Nicolai Valentine, a soul who may or may not be responsible for her memory loss. If only she didn’t find the tempting creature so hard to resist…

Born to a fallen angel and a mortal mother, Nicolai Valentine is a prince of the Grigorcov, the children of the fallen sons of God. Searching for the lost chalice that will save his kin from eternal damnation, Nicky unknowingly unleashes the Hadean Virus, a dark entity targeting members of the Grigorcov. Now the entity has been unleashed on man’s world and Nicky’s in a race against time to find the antidote that will stop this deadly parasite. But in order to keep the Hadean virus from attacking again, Nicolai must enlist the help of Isabel Godfroie Heart, the Paradisian Scholar he was unable to save from the wrath of Hell centuries ago…

Buy Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Giveaway:   A set of book cover  magnets for Shadows of the Soul and The Bride Wore Demon Dust 

Send your name and email address to:  aarmae@angeliquearmae.com  to enter the drawing.  Please put ‘magnet contest’ in the subject line. One winner will be chosen at random from the list of entries.  US and Canada residents only, please.

Website Links:
Website:  https://www.angeliquearmae.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngeliqueArmaeFans
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AArmae

Author bio:

Angelique Armae is a native New Yorker who’s as zany as the city she grew up in. As a child her favorite toy was Emerald The Witch, a small doll with green eyes, green hair and purple skin.

Miss Armae is published with Diversion Books and ImaJinn Books.  Her books have garnered numerous awards and nominations, including the Sapphire Award, P.E.A.R.L. Award and Word Weaving Award. Angelique’s first novel, COME THE NIGHT, made Fictionwise’s Best of the Best list, rounding out the top five best selling dark fantasy books of the year.  Her current book SHADOWS OF THE SOUL, a novel about angels, demons, vampires and the humans who interact with them, made Amazon’s Kindle Bestsellers list.

Aside from writing, Angelique also dabbles in digital art. She is the recipient and two time nominee of the Dream Realm Award for best cover art.

When not working, Ms. Armae enjoys traveling, learning about the ancient Celts, exploring history and learning new languages. Angelique studied history and French literature at SkidmoreCollege.

I’ve never been a country girl. I grew up in a small city. My father covered his back yard in asphalt and made it a half-court basketball court for my five brothers. I listened to WLS radio out of Chicago. My influences were more Saturday Night Fever than Urban Cowboy. My teenage years were spent with The Cure, Duran Duran, and Depeche Mode. So how the heck did I end up with all this country music on my playlists?

I discovered it purely by accident. Earlier this year, I wrote my very first short story featuring a cowboy hero in V Is for Vindicated — my contribution to Love Letters Volume 6: Cowboy’s Command. Where does a certified city slicker trying to write about a rough and tumble rodeo guy turn for inspiration? Music, of course.

And what I found in my own iTunes library shocked me.

I didn’t even notice it was happening. In a true testament to the power of the crossover hit, I found that my playlists were already loaded with country (or country-flavored rock) tunes. Some old and some new, and a few nothing more than a guilty pleasure.  There they were, ready and willing to inspire. Proof that not only could I step out of my comfort zone, but I already had.

Here are just a few of the tunes that fueled V Is for Vindicated. What are some of the surprises lurking in your music library?

Crazy ~ Patsy Cline
Need You Now ~ Lady Antebellum
Look What You’ve Done to Me ~ Boz Scaggs
Grow Old With Me ~ Charles Kelley
Somebody’s Crying ~ Chris Isaak
This Kiss ~ Faith Hill
Witchita Lineman ~ Glen Campbell
Bad Things ~ Jace Everett
Hate To Lose Your Lovin’ ~ Little Feat
Blue Bayou ~ Roy Orbison

Maggie Wells is a deep-down dirty girl with a weakness for hot heroes and happy endings. By day she is buried in spreadsheets, but at night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. The product of a charming rogue and a shameless flirt, this mild-mannered married lady has a naughty streak a mile wide.

Fueled by supertankers of Diet Coke, Maggie juggles fictional romance and the real deal by keeping her slow-talking Southern gentleman constantly amused and their two children mildly embarrassed. They are the food purveyors to three dogs, a passel of fish, and one impertinent house rabbit she claims is the love of her life. Shh. Don’t tell her husband.

You can find her online at https://www.maggie-wells.com, on Twitter @maggiewells1, or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMaggieWells.

Bondage Boot Camp Part 2 & Contest

Oh
MY
GAWD!!!!!!!

Bondage Boot Camp Part 1 was NOTHING compared to Part 2!

My next adventure in Kink Land (I’m picturing #CandyLand for the naughty here) was in Dallas at a convention called Beyond Vanilla. This one was more the leather crowd – boot blacks, knife play, predicaments, blood, puppy play and rope. Mmm…rope. My favorite!!

It was very diverse and there were so many classes I had to pick and choose which ones I wanted to attend. So I spent 3 days learning all about different kinks. Some I’d never been able to see in person, and the experience of it happening live and in color was amazing!

What was the first class I chose to attend you ask? Masterful Mindfucks. Yep, and I tell you this, it kicked off the conference with a bang and a half. By the end of the hour and a half I’d seen leeches, fake blood, had a tarantula flung at me (which I thought was real mind you and I do still scream like a girl), learned what a lifetime gangbang might look like, and was reminded what burnt hair smelled like. Talk about jumping into the deep end. I LOVED IT!!

My favorite two classes were Predicament Bondage and Blood Play, which the latter totally shocked me, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Predicament bondage I’ve seen before, and experienced a tiny bit of, but the class I went to was incredible and unbelievably entertaining. It was put on by a Sir and his three “boys”. Three full grown, beautifully naked men!! And all three of them were gorgeous so it was no hardship watching them be put in “interesting” positions.

The first predicament was intense. The Master had his husband, yes I said husband, strip and do 25 pushups. Not too tough right? WRONG! We’re all counting for him, and he’s butt naked in a room of 40 of us or so watching his every move. At the end of the last one his Sir made him hold the push up position. He taped his legs together, very effectively gagged him with a chili pepper duct taped in his mouth and then to give him incentive to hold the position he pulled a sheet of mouse traps out from under one of the conference tables and laid it beneath his stomach on the floor. It was intense! He did great and was able to hold it until the traps were removed. His Sir set off the traps at the end just to prove they were live. Then he showed predicaments with two people and three people. What one does affects the rest, normally is some deliciously depraved way that made my jaw hit the floor. Crazy naughty! Seriously had to hit the reset button on my brain after that class!

Okay, blood play. I had some idea what to expect on this one, cause…HELLO…it’s blood, but I’d never been in the same room with it and I didn’t know how I’d react. I’m not squeamish of blood by any means, but would it be sexy or gross or just ho hum whatever, I could take it or leave it.

I REALLY liked it and that surprised me. The class was put on by a guy and he had two women and one guy bottom for him during the class. He did a cutting with blood cupping **FASCINATING**, needles on this gorgeous girl who really REALLY likes needles, and a venous pull on a guy from the audience for reasons that are too convoluted to go into here. It was beautiful and organic. The chemistry and tension between the Dom and his subs truly touched me. He kept having to remind himself not to get lost in the moment since he was teaching a class. That spoke to me more than anything else, the connection in their play.

That seemed to be the common theme throughout the weekend. The presenters and participants sharing what they love and their enthusiasm was contagious.

That is what I took away from my bondage weekend. Oh, well, and quite a bit of rope burn from three suspensions back to back to back Saturday night. (**GRINS**)

It was a great weekend and one I would recommend for anyone new to kink or curious about kink, or just freaky deaky and you want to get your kink on.

GO FOR IT!! Find the you you’ve always wanted to be, and let her out to play!

CONTEST – Bad Girls of Romance Trading Cards plus Swag and Trading cards from yours truly. Plus, maybe a little bit of something extra from Romanticon since I just got back!

Tell me a kink you’d love to try, but haven’t gotten to…YET!!!

Members Only, Book One

She knows it’s wrong. Cyn shouldn’t have feelings for fraternal twins Jared and Chris, her best friends. She shouldn’t want them to tie her up or strap her down, to take her one at a time—or together. The only way to control her taboo desires is to write them down and lock them away in her diary. Guys like Jared and Chris could never be interested in someone like her, or in the kind of sex she craves.

But Jared and Chris have read her diary, and sweet little Cyn is in for the shock of her life. The brothers not only own a members-only BDSM club, they want her. Need her. And now, with their unlimited funds and an entire establishment devoted to fulfilling her darkest pleasures, they’re going to claim Cyn for their own.

Inside Scoop: If you have a kink, this book probably has it too. If you like your ménage romances extra hot with a side of male-male romance, spanking, voyeurism and girl-on-girl action, come and get it.

A Romantica® BDSM erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Buy Links below and others on the TIC webpage along with an Excerpt and Video

Amazon | Ellora’s Cave | Barnes and Noble

Website – https://www.jenniferkacey.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.kacey.7
Twitter – https://twitter.com/JenniferKacey
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6941549.Jennifer_Kacey
Pinterest – https://pinterest.com/jenniferkacey/

A Very Menage Christmas is available for Pre-Order Here!!!

Jennifer Kacey is a wife, mother, and business owner living with her family in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.

What Scares You in a Fun Way?

I think about this question a lot around this time of year, because I seem to find myself writing my characters into scary situations a lot. For me, fun scary isn’t bloody gutsy. I think slasher movies/books are too unsettling to enjoy. I guess I’m more into psychologically and environmentally scary stuff.

Give me a deep, dark wood, or a creepy old haunted house any day.

So what is it about these places that’s fun scary to me? I guess it’s the anticipation of something horrible in a setting that, under a bright sun, would seem normal and harmless. Terror slides into place under a fat moon or a storm-drenched sky. It pulses to life as the sun dies and is a living, breathing force until the sun rises again.

Fun scary is the monster in the closet or the ghoul skulking behind a tombstone. It’s a child’s nightmare…a madman’s dream. It doesn’t slash or eviscerate, but the possibility is always there for violence, like a rancid hope.

I particularly love atmospheric scary. It pulses with a thunderous heartbeat of its own, dragging you into a terrifying abyss of fear and helplessness. A stormy Cliffside at night, with the ocean pounding violently far below. A dark, chilled cave filled with the stench of death and other…much worse…things.

Sometimes horror masks itself in play, like in the following scene from my upcoming romantic suspense, Hell Hath No Honeybun, where my hero and heroine find themselves looking for a killer in the black-light-drenched rooms of a Halloween fun house!

Enjoy!

What happens to a songbird when she sings the wrong tune? She quickly finds herself in a flight for her life!

Garrick Honeybun was only at the Halloween fundraiser as a favor to his cousins and his Uncle Brick. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the singer, who stirred his senses like nothing he’d ever experienced, and had a voice like molten honey. In fact, he fully intended to tell her how much he enjoyed her singing.

Unfortunately, somebody got to her before he could. And when the guy who shoved her around behind stage showed up dead in the cloak room, Garrick’s beautiful songbird took a runner. Now Garrick had to find her, and when he did, he fully intended to find out why she killed the guy—and figure out how he could help her get away with it.

Book page

* * *

As they got closer, the sounds of mechanized screaming filled the night. The sound, even muffled as it was, made Ena’s stomach hurt, because she knew it was a thin veneer over the true horror waiting inside that house.

A warm hand lay against her back, a soft breath bathed her face as they started up the wide, wooden staircase. Garrick’s breathing was regular, his touch gentle. His unflustered presence took the edge off Ena’s terror.

The bulb over the front door flickered ominously. Movement on the roofline made Ena look up just as a huge, black bat dropped toward them, its eyes glowing red in the dark. She screamed and flung up a hand to swat the beast, before she heard Garrick’s chuckle and realized it was just a prop.

Ena swore softly as the bat lurched upward on a noisy cable. “I’m not going to survive this,” she muttered.

Garrick moved past her, reaching for the doorknob. He lifted a finger to his lips and pulled the door open a few inches, peering inside before slipping through in front of her. He grabbed her hand as he went through the door and pulled her in behind him.

When the door closed they stood in total darkness.

Garrick stilled, the fingers holding her hand tightening as they listened, trying to get their bearings.

Something clanked in the distance. A speaker belched a horror-movie scream and Ena jumped, wrapping her fingers around Garrick’s arm.

A stale breeze wafted past.

She thought she heard the soft exhalation of breath and spun around, icy fingers of terror slipping up her spine. A sense of movement on the floor made her jump and give a little yelp. The terrifying sound of tiny, pattering feet suddenly surrounded them. As if someone had opened a cage full of critters and dumped them into the room. Something squeaked down by her feet and she gave a little scream. “Rats! Garrick!” Ena rammed him with her body, not sure what she expected him to do about it but certain they’d be better off as a single unit, rather than two, easily separated potential victims.

He lifted a hand and light flared. Garrick pointed the phone toward the ground.

Nothing.

“It’s just a sound track,” he told her with a smile in his voice.

Ena shuddered. “I’m seriously not going to survive this.”

A flashing light snapped on overhead. The flashing made things in the room seem to move and lunge toward them and Ena was relieved when Garrick tugged her hand and they used the disconcerting display to move through the space. As they neared the door on the other end of the room, someone screamed, the sound filled with agony. Ena’s immediate thought was that it was Jackson.

She started to run.

A blood-covered figure pitched toward her, the chainsaw in its gore-coated hand roaring to life. Ena kicked out, her foot smacking hard against the metal frame of the simulated attacker. “Ouch!” She hopped away as the “monster” retreated noisily.

“Are you okay?” Garrick supported her arm as she hobbled around for a minute.

“Yes, I’m…” The room went black again. Something shifted behind her and hard hands grabbed her arm, yanking her backward. Ena screamed as the wall opened and the ruthless hands ripped her away from Garrick. Her scream was quickly cut off by a brutal punch to the temple and the darkness in front of her eyes found its way inside her brain.

Book page

Author Bio:

Sam writes as Sam Cheever for mainstream romantic suspense and fantasy, all heat levels; and Declan Sands for m/m romantic suspense and fantasy. Sam’s published work includes 40+ works of romantic suspense, and fantasy/paranormal. Her books have won the Dream Realm Award for fantasy, been nominated for and/or won several CAPAs, were nominated for Best of 2010 with LRC and The Romance Reviews, and won eCataromance’s Reviewer’s Choice award.

Sam is published with Changeling Press; Ellora’s Cave, both Romantica and Blush; Musa Publishing; and Electric Prose Publications (her own imprint).

Visit her websites to find out more about her work and activities: www.SamCheever.com or www.DeclanSands.com.