I remember watching Star Trek: Voyager when it came out, thinking would this be the week that the crew would be able to return home? Those who have watched the show know it took a few years and many episodes for that to happen, but the weekly adventures of the crew’s journey kept viewers entertained. Growing up in a family that loved soap operas (Young and the Restless ), the episodic form of a television show wasn’t odd to me. From week to week and year to year the Newmans and everyone else had drama and trials, and you always tuned in because who knew what would happen next? (I haven’t watched the show in well over 20 years, but I still recognize some faces and some things never change.)

I like to think my Tobine Chronicles is its own science fiction universe and with each “episode” (each book has 3 chapters) the story deepens and the plot thickens. I’m a big fan of sci fi television, from Star Trek in all its incarnations to Babylon 5 and Crusade, to StarGate in all its forms and then some. There’s something about the weekly episode within an overarching arc. Right now the CW is doing this extremely well with its DC comics shows, Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and of course, Supernatural (which isn’t a part of the DC universe, but I can’t forget the Winchesters.)

As a writer it’s fun, and a challenge, to craft episodes that will keep readers entertained while working to move the story along. And yet, it’s something that I am really enjoying doing, and have plotted the Tobine Chronicles quite a few episodes into the future. A new episode will release every six weeks, so Tenni and her rebellion will have plenty of opportunities to free the people on the planet Tobine.

For fans of good science fiction television, I hope they also enjoy the Tobine Chronicles. Couple that with some drama  and erotic content, and the Tobine Chronicles will hopefully please readers of all kinds. And yes, eventually I’ll give Tenni her happy ending. But then she’ll probably have a whole new set of problems and the chronicles will continue.

Latest Release…

Tobine Chronicles Episode 3

In the battle to save the planet she loves, one woman must discover the truth about her past, and if she has the strength necessary to not just save Tobine–but rule.

Episode Three – As Tenni learns more about the Vilos’ plans, she wants nothing to do with the frog-like creatures. With the slave Kavin, she begins to make plans to escape only to discover that she’s been given a horrible twist of fate.

Buy from Amazon  
Buy direct from the author

About the Author

Adera Orfanelli is a newer alter ego for erotic romance author Mary Winter. She began writing several years ago when she discovered how fun it was to write stories about hot men and adventurous women living and loving in outer space. With the universe to explore, she lets the stars light her way and her imagination play. Now, she sees hot couples everywhere and her stories have moved beyond outer space and into the past, and into our modern day world. Right now, Adera is having fun writing stories her readers will love, and who knows where, or when, she’ll write about next?

She loves to hear from readers and can be reached at Adera@aderaorfanelli.net. Don’t forget to visit her website and sign up for her newsletter where readers receive coupons and specials as well as free stories.

Website: http://www.aderaorfanelli.net
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mwaowmk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mwaowmk

“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

So I am beginning to ask myself if Indie publishing is a better thing. I am not sure.

I have been writing for a long time. I do have a distinctive voice, and I read across many genres. Fortunately, both of my parents were avid readers and I could read long before I went to school. This kind of thing can really turn you off to education, but I was fortunate, that is not what happened to me.

My Dad used to let me read the newspapers with him, every day. Moreover, I still have an order for reading the newspaper: Horoscope first, comics second, and then the news. My Dad used to tell me, it is a good thing to have a positive outlook, (horoscope first) try to never lose your sense of humor, (comics second) and finally yet importantly, be informed (news).

This might not seem like great advice to give a four year old who is not yet in school, but it was not only great advice, but it served me well most of my adult life. I still read every day, and still read the newspaper in that order.

People often ask me what influences my stories. Those folks who know me well understand I grew up in a large family, in an old Victorian house with an odd reputation. People in my hometown believed it was haunted.

Truth be told, it was.

When my family acquired the house, I was given the back bedroom on the second floor. The house still had gaslights in each room although these lights had not been in use for many years. You see, the house sat vacant for a number of years, and that is probably why people believed it to be haunted.

I did not think much about it at the time, until one night I woke up to the sound of someone opening the door to my room. There was a full moon, and the light streaming in my window allowed the average person to read a newspaper. I knew this because I read every night. Moreover, earlier I used the moonlight to exceed my reading time.

So the knob rattled and turned and a man, youngish—about in his early thirties, stuck his head in the door and surveyed the room. He moved into the room from the hall, and took off his jacket, which he hung in the closet. He closed the closet door, walked past my bed to the window opposite me, and opened it wide. He then climbed out the window and was gone.

The first night I screamed bloody murder, but my mother did not believe me. She said I was dreaming. This happened often over the next few months and finally, I started to pay more attention to the ghostly images.

You see, the room would change with the nightly apparition. Once the visitor finished his trip across my room, things returned to normal. One night my best friend spent the night, and she witnessed what I’d been seeing for several months. Only this time, when the room returned to “normal” the window remained open. I also had a witness.

Keep in mind, as a young girl, I was not likely to share a story my parents told me would make me seem crazy to my friends. But, now . . . my best friend knew exactly what was happening.

Those early encounters, better explained by my Irish grandfather, became more of an adventure than frightening encounters. They happened on and off through the years of adolescence. None was truly frightening or hostile, but when people do not believe you or make you think you are crazy. Well, that is just wrong.

Highly likely you will encounter ghosts in many of my stories. I know how ghosts can catch you off guard, and sometimes frighten you when they only mean to help. Look for ghosts in my next book, The Covenant, about a white witch fresh from college with a brand-new MBA who returns home to revive the family business and learns secrets that may destroy her future.

Better yet, read the two free short stories on my website, http://www.aneryanwalker.com

Sign up for my newsletter for notices of new releases and free short stories.

My sister and I have a co-authored book coming out on January 31st—next Tuesday—and we’d like you to know all about it! It’s the sequel to Tarzan & Janine. If you love stories that will  make you laugh, you’ll enjoy this series! And best yet? There’s more to come!

Something to Talk About

What happens when a young and sexy Martha Stewart teams up with the Oscar Madison of radio talk shows? Sparks fly, romance blooms and their audience goes wild!

Casey Cramer is a cool, sophisticated home and garden talk show host on K-YAK 102.5 radio station. All she thinks she wants is to talk about fertilizer and place settings, while fending off her well-meaning country club parents’ attempts to push her into marriage with the “right man.”

To Casey, fellow talk show host, Rip O’Rourke, is nothing more than a rebellious, overgrown teenager flaunting his Hawaiian-shirted, ex-football player physique to “score” with anything with breasts. Proof of his perversity is the crude, but popular, hour of programming he hosts that discusses such manly topics as wet T-shirt contests and sports statistics. Casey wouldn’t spit on Rip if he were on fire, while Rip, on the other hand, wants to do more than spend time with Casey. She is a challenge to mankind as a whole and his goal in life is to see her crisp shirts and tailored slacks properly rumpled, just once.

Rip gets his opportunity when the radio station is sold to a large corporation and the station manager is challenged to come up with a prime-time show that will set the city on its ear. From one of Rip and Casey’s public arguments springs the idea for a show about the differences between men and women, and giving their audience, “Something to Talk About.”

Purchase at: Amazon | Nook | Kobo | GooglePlay | Print

Waving hello from Florida to Delilah and all who stop by. Glad to be here today.

In the top five questions authors are asked is: “Where do you get your stories?”

For a while when asked this, I quickly said, “the Amazon story store.” I mean, Amazon sells live lady bugs and rents goats, why not sell stories? But alas, I had to stop because too many asked me for the link.

Here’s the real skinny.

Writers are blessed/cursed with wild, vivid imaginations capable of great things. I firmly believe imagination is everything to a writer. Imagining is our super power. It’s a way to preview life’s coming attractions. It’s the ability to change the past in our mind’s eye.

Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” I’m not going to argue with Al.

Back to the, where do you get stories question. The correct answer is: writers get stories everyplace. Through our senses, into our minds, we ingest the world around us then reshape it all into new images in our imagination.

Recently my imagination was triggered by The Bureau of Land Management seeking volunteers to spend the summer in the middle of nowhere Montana in an abandoned haunted town. Not happening for me, but my mind took me to an abundance of romance possibilities and spooky stuff.

Then there’s the abandoned and boarded up Baker Hotel in Mineral Springs, TX. A big ole empty hotel just sitting there. I imagined a story about a group of mystery writers spending the weekend there and the last sentence of the book, “How would you rate your stay at the Baker Hotel?”

And songs. For me, songs are writing prompts. Take Ray Stevens’ DEAD SKUNK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. I immediately thought of a squished ex sprawled across the double yellow line. A hot detective convinced the ex-wife killed the skunk.

Who but an author can admire an ancient oak and imagine couples from every time period falling in love under the spreading branches? Then wonder how many bodies the roots are embracing.

I believe authors are a special breed. Every day we fade into the alternate world of books. Those written by others and the ones we’re writing. We extend our arms, put our fingers to the keyboard and imagination flows, letter by letter, across the screen. We can imagine anything and happily share what we conjure up with the world.

I use my imagination to write the Under Fire series about extraordinary women and the men they love. Military heroines. A Coast Guard helicopter pilot. A Coast Guard admiral. A Marine Corps Intelligence officer. A Federal agent who works closely with Special Ops men. Women at the top of their field in a man’s world. They don’t want a man to take care of them. They want a man who will accept them for who they are and stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their adventures.

Last year my imagination got the best of me and I published Let Me Tell You a Story, a collection of eight twisted and tattered tales from the odd side that will give you giggles and shivers, tears and sighs. It felt amazing to finally free these characters from my mind and put them on the page.

Let Me Tell You a Story

Table of Contents

TEA AND SHISH KABOB
A man recounts a mysterious story of growing up on the Florida coast after WW II.

ARTIFICIAL INTELISEX
A couple embark on a different life style journey.

BEFORE
An ultimate Deja vu tale.

THE TRUNK
A dying woman’s legacy of love and loyalty.

FOG
Three children alone on an island enveloped in fog.

LITTLE BOBBY WILLIS
A billionaire cuts his spoiled son off from technology.

DADDY DEAREST
A woman finds her father after 20 years of searching.

MAYHEM AND HANKY-PANKY AT DEBBIE’S
A totally tongue in cheek behind the scenes look at a salon.

Purchase at Amazon

BTW, I now answer the question, “Where do ideas come from?,” with a huge smile and say, “I imagine every single one of them.”

Where has your imagination taken you today? Or, where has an author’s imagination taken you today?

Rita
Web page http://www.ritahenuber.com/
twitter https://twitter.com/ritahenuber
FB   https://www.facebook.com/RitaHenuberAuthor/

When I wrote At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, I started it with a Fagin-style master thief in mind. His name was Luc Saint-Cyr and he would be the kingpin that everyone feared. Stories would revolve around his students, with him being the glue that held the stories together. In the first book, the two main characters would be brothers, Senth and Khyff Antonello.

After I started writing it, I hit upon the idea of making it a romance. The first would feature the younger brother, Senth, and the sequel would be about Khyff. Each brother would find the heroine he needed.

The Fagin character faded into the background. However, each time I wrote Luc into a scene, my critique group would ask when Luc would get his story. I had no story planned for him at all, so put it out of my mind. Luc had other plans. The more I wrote about him, the more I liked him. He surprised me at every turn, acting like the bad guy in one scene, but the good guy in another. An enigma. I could not figure him out.

I wrote him as I saw him, however, and by the end of the story, I was beginning to think there might be more to him than I thought. As I got to the very end of the story, literally the last page, I saw a huge twist I could throw into the plot that would not only bring Luc into the next book, but also set him up to have his own story.

I wrote it. Luc has since been in every story set in the Tarthian Empire. He changed completely from the way I originally saw him and became a complex creature with his own unique backstory and life. So much more than I conceived him to be. It paid to listen to my critique partners, but even more to listen to my characters.

The book has been a critical success. One reviewer wrote, “I wish I could recommend reading this book, but I must instead recommend reading it twice. The ending is a serious twist that throws everything into a different light.” Another said, “Think you know what’ll happen next? No way. It’s by Kayelle.”

I’ve tried to live up to those reviews and my own promise to readers in every book since. I promise a great roller coaster ride of a story that brings excitement, fun, and takes readers in directions they didn’t expect.

After I finished the two books in the Antonello Brothers series, I saw an opportunity to bring in a third brother older than both Senth and Khyff. Guess what? He has a strong pre-existing relationship with Luc Saint-Cyr. Who knew? It will be a surprise to everyone when it’s revealed. I’m plotting that one now.

At the Mercy of Her Pleasure
Antonello Brothers 1: a Scifi Romance

Hired to steal back a prototype taken by the imperial armada, Senth Antonello retrieves it, but his brother is kidnapped to force Senth to surrender the device.

Now he has to rescue his brother, outsmart the armada, and keep the item out of imperial hands. All doable, except for one small problem. He must do it in the company of NarrAy Jorlan, a genetically altered woman whose pheromones could enhance the mission or crumble it into dust with a single siren kiss.

He’s a thief. She’s a soldier. Do opposites attract? Oh, mercy!

Genre: Military science fiction romance set in a dystopian world.
Heat level: PG13 – sweet romance with a kick
Book length: 59,650 words (full novel)
Publisher: Romance Lives Forever Books
Series: Antonello Brothers (standalone books)
The sequel for this book is For Women Only.
The prequel to the series is Bro (and it’s free on my website).

Excerpt from At the Mercy of Her Pleasure

In this scene, Senth and NarrAy have just met. She’s considering whether to hire him to help her steal back the designs for a prototype her murdered parents designed. Because she’s a Better, an enhanced human with addictive pheromones, she’s not permitted to touch anyone skin-to-skin. Senth puts on gloves and prepares to shake her hand. All her life, she has been isolated from touch, so this moment is important to her.

NarrAy offered her hand. She’d practiced this with her father as a girl. “A gentleman doesn’t try to overpower a lady’s hand, NarrAy. But he isn’t afraid to be firm either.”

She held his gloved hand between both of hers. “I can see you’re a gentleman, Mr. Antonello.”

His cheeks reddened. “Just Senth, ma’am.”

She squeezed Senth’s hand. “And I’m NarrAy. Never Ms. Jorlan, nor ma’am. Not on this job. Understood?”

He met her gaze. “Does that mean you want me?” He blushed again and glanced down at their still-joined hands. “For the job, I mean.”

She bit back a laugh. What an innocent. “So long as we’re clear on who’s in charge.”

“When it comes to theft, NarrAy, I am. For everything else, you are, in every way.”

You have no idea. He had never once tried to look at her body. Maybe this dress will be okay after all.

“Come sit.” She gestured toward an adjacent room. “Let’s talk business.”

—

This book is free on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon http://amzn.to/1f7FQ2h
Amazon print http://amzn.to/2e4hpbX
CreateSpace (Print) http://bit.ly/bro-mercy-csp

About Kayelle Allen

Kayelle is a best-selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.

Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author

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Best motto for writers:
It’s only a book.   Your life doesn’t depend on it.  I read this in a writing book ages ago.  When you find yourself getting caught up in all the stress and insecurity that goes with writing, take a step back and know that, if nothing else, you can always write another one.  Don’t take yourself too seriously.  Perfection is not possible.  It’s only a book.  Tape that on your monitor.

Best overall advice for writers:
Write about something you love and something that you are passionate about.  Write a story you would want to read.  Your passion will come through in your work.  Don’t be afraid to take chances.  See motto above.  It’s only a book.  Start it and finish it.

Best Books about Writing:
I love On Writing by Stephen King simply because I related so much to his journey as a writer. You can’t go wrong with books by Gary Provost, Dwight Swain or Lawrence Block. They will help you master the craft.

Best ergonomic tools for writers:
Imak wrist pads.  They are made from ergo beads and provide very comfortable support for the wrists.  I bought mine at Staples. Never bend your wrists to type or use the mouse. Carpal tunnel syndrome is no fun.

Anti-Glare filters.  They will help save your eyes.  Need I say more?

Adjustable Foot Rest.   Another must have.

Logitech Soft-Grip Mouse.  Love the design.  Fits the hand perfectly.

Best way to get to The End:
Develop a writing schedule that works for you and stick to it.  1 page a day, 7 days a week.   10 pages,  2 days a week.  2 hours every night.  Doesn’t matter how much or how often. All that matters is you maintain it until you reached The End.

Everything His Heart Desires

The man most likely to drive her crazy…

Growing up in Lafayette Falls, senator’s daughter Natalie Layton hid her sorrows behind a bright smile that charmed everyone in high school—except Brett Harris. Hardworking and highly motivated, Brett dismissed Natalie as a slacker. Instead, she’s become an acclaimed photographer. And when Brett, now a successful cardiologist, needs her family’s help to secure a coveted position, Natalie’s more than happy to prescribe a little payback…

Hailing from the wrong side of the tracks, Brett believed he could never win the school’s popular princess. Now he’s intrigued by the complex and compassionate woman Natalie’s become. Gaining her grandmother’s goodwill is the key to becoming chief cardiologist—and Natalie has no intention of making it easy. But as mutual mistrust gives way to pure chemistry, there’s more at stake than either ever expected—and much more to learn about matters of the heart…

Short Excerpt:

Natalie strolled into the parlor. She stopped across from him at the center table. The pier mirror behind her gave him an excellent view of her bare back and the red bow at her waist. He had this wild desire to run his hand over her shoulder blades and down her spine. Maybe fool with that red bow.

Despite having a modest front, the dress radiated sex appeal. “That’s a hot dress.”

She flushed slightly and smoothed the slim skirt. “Elvis thought so.”

“Elvis who?”

“The Elvis. The King,” she answered. “Of course, he didn’t say it was a hot dress, but he liked it.”

Brett cocked his head, and she said, “Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. This dress is from the nineteen sixties. I found it in the attic. After my dad sold our house a few years ago, he brought a lot of stuff over here and stored it for me.

“The dress belonged to my mother’s mother. When she was in her twenties, she worked as a backup singer for some studios in Nashville and Memphis. According to the note I found with this dress, she wore it to party at Graceland, and Elvis was very impressed.”

“I bet he was.” I bet he got a hold of that red bow.

Buy Links:  Amazon   Nook   Kobo  Google Play  iTunes

About the Author

Patricia Preston loves writing single-title women’s fiction with picturesque settings and a host of unforgettable characters whose lives entwine in feel-good stories about life, love and finding happiness. She also writes short stories and historicals. She won the William Faulkner Award for Short Fiction, the Lone Star Writing Competition for Historical Romance, and Harlequin’s World’s Best Romances Short Story Competition. She is repped by the Seymour Agency and working on a women’s fiction/mainstream romance series for Kensington’s Lyrical Shine imprint.

Besides writing, she’s also worked as a librarian, medical office manager, and in a cosmetic department where she played with makeup all day. Her favorite place to hang out is her writing cave where must-haves are iced tea and epic music. She also enjoys photography, movies, and research trips to New Orleans.

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