NaNo Day 3:
Viking-2—2035 words
GWB-Me—591 words

Shades of the Forbidden

by Eliza Gayle

“Subspace is my perfect paradise vacation from busy-mind… blessed be to the Dominant who can stamp my ticket there.” ~ Unknown

I find that writing stories that might fall in the realm of the taboo to be an exciting trip into the darker side of life. Reading them is even more fun. From the light and kinky spanking stories to the gritty and emotional dramas that make us stay up half the night to find out what happens between the hero and the heroine in the end. BDSM romance and erotica comes in so many flavors it’s impossible to define it in a simple box. I’ve seen more than once a book is poked at for “not” being a BDSM book. Probably what they really mean is that it’s not their BDSM.

Whether I write dark or light I often find myself questioning whether I went deep enough into the psychological aspect of a scene, but sometimes that’s not what it’s about. In a lighter story the focus is on the kink and the characters willingness to explore their sexuality with their partner. Those can sure be fun. The emotional drama of an in depth D/s relationship is an entirely different animal.

Both have their place and their fans.

Generally my contemporary stories are character driven. I only go as far to get to know my characters a little before I sit down to write. I know who they are, what they want and where they need to be. The rest is a journey of discovery as the story unfolds. My latest release, Bottoms Up, is a little more on the lighter side with some interesting forays into domestic discipline in a relationship. Versus the next release, Midnight Playground, which surprised both me and my editor with it’s intensity.

Of course after angsting for a few stories about the emotional complexities of D/s, I am sooo ready to write something different and I do the genre bounce. That’s me right now. I’m participating in nano this month (even though my daily word count is generally higher than what is needed for nano) and I’ve switched gears and headed back into the realm of my paranormals. Witches to be specific. Although I’ve managed to find a way to work in a little, okay maybe a lot, of D/s there too. *g*

Snooping is risky business…sometimes it pays off in unexpected ways.

Jenn has been in love with her best friend since college and despite their years apart she is determined to at least find out if he has any interest in her. When the opportunity opens up in the form of a job interview in his hometown, she jumps on a plane with a plan to see what happens.

Riley walked away from Jenn after college to explore and understand the dark side of him that harbored needs he knew she was too young to understand. They kept in touch and after years of exploration into his kinks, he’s decided the time for hiding the truth from the woman he loved has come to an end.

When Jenn finds a BDSM book and a flyer for a local sex club in his condo, she is both shocked and intrigued. Riley catches her red-handed snooping through his things and dares her to give him and his lifestyle a chance. Two days to explore her potential submissive side and see where it leads.

With no hesitation and barely a thought to how far he might go, she jumps at the chance to prove she’s the woman for him, even if it’s just for the weekend.

Read An Excerpt

My Website

NaNo Day 2:
Viking-2—1905 words
GWB-Me—518 Words

Unfairness
By Lex Valentine

Unfairness abounds in the world we live in. Despite writing romances where there is always a Happily Ever After (HEA), I sometimes let the unfairness and cruelties of the world seep into my work. In my current release, Sunstroked, one of my heroes was closeted for most of his life because his cousin, the pack Alpha, was homophobic. In my November and December releases, unfairness has a role in each story.

Rock My World, coming November 12 from Ellora’s Cave, has a stalker in it who’s filled the heroine with so much fear that she lies and pushes the hero away in order to ensure he’s not a target too. Afterburner, in the Honorable Silence anthology due out in November from MLR Press, is about two Air Force pilots who fall in love and must contend with the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. In December, there’s Unbreak Me about a magic wielding warrior who was imprisoned unfairly, suffering rapes and torture, all because someone coveted the position her father held. Also coming in December is Christmas Wishes, another short story in my annual Christmas Cowboys series. The hero has it bad for the heroine but she’s older than him, a widow with a broken heart whose husband died in Afghanistan. Someone with a past that tragic isn’t the kind of woman you just hit on.

Another story I recently finished (whose release date I’m unsure of) is In the Light. This is a dark tale, a short story of some 6500 words, written for my friend author Patric Michael. It will be in his anthology Wishing on a Blue Star from Dreamspinner Press. In the Light features one of my signature characters, a werewolf named Weylyn Randall. The story is about bullying and doing the right thing and the sometimes high cost of both. It’s also about everlasting friendship and love. But it’s not a love story nor does it have full-blown sex in it.

For those of you who know me, you’ll know that no sex is a bit of an aberration. To date, the only other story I’ve ever written without sex is Ain’t Nuthin’ But a Hellhound, a dark tale in the Weirdly anthology at Wild Child Publishing. But In the Light has overtones from conversations Patric and I had and it’s with a sense of profound joy that I give it to him.

As unfair as life often is, my character Weylyn brings a sense of buoyancy and fun to everything I’ve ever put him in. He first debuted in a serial story where I wrote prior to being published. Then I wrote him into my Pink Chair Diaries trilogy (also before I was published.) Next, he showed up in Common Ground, Tales of the Darkworld Book 5. He pops up everywhere and he’s great fun for readers. For a taste of Weylyn, you can go to my website and click on the freebies page. There are links to the PCD stories which are free to read. Common Ground isn’t free but I hear that the Dreamspinner anthology may be a freebie.

I combat the unfairness in life the only way I know how…with laughter. Weylyn usually brings that so he’s a great read when you’re feeling down. I don’t have a link yet to Patric’s anthology, but below are links to the other works where you can read Weylyn. A few laughs won’t make unfairness in the world go away, but it makes it easier to live with. And Weylyn is a lot of hot, sexy werewolf fun!

Here’s a snippet from In the Light:

Sipping his ale, Grant shot Weylyn a wry look. “You’re trying to get me laid?”

Blinking in mock innocence, Weylyn said, “But of course! What else would a friend do?”

“Fuck the only guy in the bar I’m interested in.”

Grant made a face and Weylyn could barely contain a laugh. He loved bantering with Grant.

“You have to bring that up again? Geez, man. You are never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“No.” Grant popped a few peanuts in his mouth. “You are the only guy I know who can get laid without even trying…without even wanting to! A guy tells me he’s a power bottom and asks me if I’m interested. Before I can even reply ‘Hell yeah!’ you’ve got him topping you!”

“That only happened once,” Weylyn protested. “I didn’t know you’d already been talking to him when I met him in the men’s room.”

Weylyn felt the sting of guilt. It was true that he’d ended up with more than one guy whom Grant had had his eye on. Not that he’d meant to. Every time it had happened, he hadn’t known Grant was interested in the guy. His friend tended to be really low key about his sexuality and wasn’t a blatant prowler like Weylyn. Grant never broadcasted his sexual preferences but Weylyn knew that he gave it away fairly easily because his gaze never followed women, only men.

“I can’t believe there are Fallen Angels you haven’t fucked,” Grant grumbled and finished his drink. The bartender brought him another one instantly.

“Dude, I swear to you, I haven’t been with that many.” Weylyn tried to edge the peanuts closer to him as he watched his friend.

Grant eyed him in mock disbelief. “Still don’t believe you, but I’ll find out later. I’m not yet in the mood to go chatting up the men in here only to find they’re one in a long list of your conquests.”

“You make me sound like some kind of sexual predator.”

“You are a predator. In everything you do. It’s inherent in your nature as a shifter,” Grant conceded. “Believe me, I understand that. Add that to the whole rock star thing you have going and you get laid without even trying.”

Whew! Weylyn can certainly be a handful! If you’d like to read more Weylyn you can and some of it is free! You’ll find Weylyn here:

The Were & The Chair
I’d Fuck You

If you’re interested in reading more In the Light, I will post on my blog Sunlight Sucks and on my official website when and where you can get Wishing on a Blue Star (which contains work by several well-known M/M romance authors), just as soon as I have the information.

Many thanks to Delilah for letting me and Weylyn take over her blog today!

Lex Valentine
Lexvalentine.com ~ sunlightsucks.com ~ fivedarkrealms.com

Okay, so that was my annually resurrected Pumpkin Butt picture. Happy Halloween!

Do you sense a note of “Bah! Humbug!”? That’s because I don’t have time to go play. November’s Hell Month.

Like I’ve said before. I have three books due on December 1st. So, I have to hunker down and “get ‘er done” (*gagging* I may have lived in Texas but that phrase makes me cringe).

What am I doing to make sure I get there?

I’ve gone no mail on most of my loops because I’m getting ready to drop off the face of the earth for 30 days. Not that I won’t still be here. Blogging is so ingrained. It was a hard habit to make, but now it’s like getting up to pee first thing in the morning.

I’ve joined National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again this year. See the blue calendar icon on the left? If ever you see red on any of those days—get on my ass!! It means, I failed to meet goal. And if you’re a writer and planning to NaNo too, here’s my profile page so you can friend me and nag me up close and personal. I’ll do the same for you. Delilah’s NaNo

I have most of the family on board with the idea that I am crawling into a hole and only coming up for air when I can’t stand the smell or need something to feed the engine. Most, I said, because I still have to contend with kids.

I have stocked up on teas and coffee. Have a box of energy drinks stored next to my fridge.

My desk and office are clean, ready for that starting gunshot…

So, you want to know how I actually plan to get 75,000 words on the page (most NaNo’ers are going for 50,000) by the end of the month? By writing 2500 words every damn day, come rain or shine. And if I knock ’em out in the morning, I can actually spend some time doing something lazy. But if I screw around, or get covered up in kids, I’ll be up late, sucking on Red Bull.

I’ll be back later tonight with my monthly wrap-up.

My guest, Sloan, is on a blog tour. Be sure to check out her blog to find out where she’s going next! ~DD

So today is my busy day. Pumpkin picking, haunted hayrides and haunted houses, oh my. Me and my daughter and three of her friends are spending the day and night doing spooky things. Then, if memory serves, something was said about burrito night and major chocolate milk shakes. Guess who will be cooking and doing that….LOL

Q: What is your favorite part of Halloween?

A: I’m not really sure I have a favorite part. I like dressing up, spooky places, all the
kids dressed up who come to my door for treats. Caramel apples, bonfires, hayrides.
There are just too many things to pick just one.

Do you have a favorite part of Halloween? Please share.

Remember, to enter to win the prize for today you must leave a comment.

TODAY’S PRIZE: A DOWNLOAD OF MY DEBUT NOVEL, HIGHLAND STONE.

SLOAN MCBRIDE
~~Love Spans All Time~~
www.sloanmcbride.com

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

From the Heavens comes a hero who will take your breath away.

Reese Whittaker dreams of falling for a man who shares her love of archeology and ancient civilizations. But being attacked by a horde of demons and rescued by a Sumerian God—a well-armed, gorgeous Sumerian God—opens up a whole new world she never knew existed. And awakens a mysterious power within her that attracts all kinds of supernatural attention.

Dagan, son of the Air-God Enlil and a Time Walker, is sworn to protect the human race in general, and one young woman in particular—Reese. He’s not the only one mysteriously attracted to her powerful life force. Underworld leader Kur craves it for the untold power it will give him to strike a blow at the deities of Dilmun.

Dagan is forbidden by law from interacting with Reese, but from the moment he sees her, the fury—an intense sexual need for bonding—blinds him to all the rules. Should the pantheon discover he has fallen for a human, the punishment could mean suffering beyond imagining for him…and death for her.

Warning: Contains language, lots of action, Sumerian Gods, gorgeous men, tough, stubborn women and some creatures from the Underworld that make life hell.

So, picture this.

My driveway’s looooong, and yesterday the UPS guy left a rather large package next to the gate, which looked long and skinny from the distance, but wasn’t, which had me saying as I walked up the drive, “I don’t need no stinkin’ hand truck.”

I get to the box. It’s big. I think, “It’s only a hundred fifty feet. I’m not gonna go all the way back for that little wagon now.”

A third of the way down the driveway, I set it on the ground huffing, gather my breath and shout for the 6-year-old whizzing by on her Tyko trike. We set the box on the trike and get maybe 20 feet, kicking the wheel all the while to keep it going straight, when the plastic body of the trike bends at the middle, suspending the wheels.

I set the damn thing on my foot. Lift foot, scoot. Lift foot, scoot. 10 feet to go and mom comes out. “How come you didn’t ask for help?”

Grumbling, I let her grab one end and between us we wrestle it to the garage. Then I lean back and stretch—and ouch!

Now, my back’s tight and achy. I took a Metha-something pain pill, laid on my couch and didn’t give a crap about anything. I think I watched three TIVO’d episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, but I can’t tell you much about what I saw, except I’m ready to bitch-slap the Asian chick. Oh, and isn’t OWEN HAWT?! She so doesn’t deserve him.

This morning, I’m moaning, not because I still hurt. The pill relaxed the pain away, but now I have a ton of catchup to do. 😐

Hi Sis! Thanks for having me on your awesome blog. Congratulations on all your releases this year. You are on fire!

I must admit I wasn’t sure I could pull off a good ménage story when I started writing HONOR BOUND, especially since I started with a little man-lovin’. But I knew how tantalizing it was with just the thought of having two men making love to one woman at the same time. As it happened, the writing came easy, fast and hard…Oh wait, the fast and hard part was what the men were doing to Honor!

I had so much fun writing the male, female, male ménage that I decided to give Jake a female, male, female ménage to make up for leaving him without a woman at the end of HONOR BOUND. That will be DUTY BOUND in January. And that was soooooo much fun, I’m continuing the BOUND and TIED series with ménage stories.

And what’s so fun about a ménage? The thought of getting all those sensitive spots attended to at once? The idea that more is really better and why settle for less? No longer leaving the odd man (or woman) out? Sharing in the sexual pleasure?

I’d love to hear from all of you on why a ménage could be fun. I’m giving away a download of my Fit to Be Tied to one lucky commenter.

Also visit my website for more chances to win books at http://www.mylajackson.com/

For a hot and sexy historical western and ménage, check it out!

Two lonely miners in the Colorado Gold Rush and one tempting widow-turned-thief get tied in knots over each other.

When what feels right could get a man killed…

Zach Braun struggles to resist his unnatural desire for his claim partner, Jake. The two rugged miners have been alone in the mountains for months, with no women to relieve them. Exhilarated by the discovery of gold, they give in to their lust and discover sexual delights in each other.

A witness to seduction…

Widow, Honor Whitaker, is on the run from her Indian captor, when she stumbles upon two men whose sexual activities intrigue her and make her want to join. Determined to retain her independence she takes what she needs from a cabin and runs.

When a thief attempts to steal their gold, Zach and Jake aren’t quite sure what to do with her, so they tie her up. They are shocked to discover their thief witnessed their sexual antics and that she was aroused by what she saw.
Together the three learn to let go of social mores and to accept what feels good as right, not the devil’s work. But their newfound delight in each other might come to an end when a savage comes to claim what is his.

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“I survived because I was tougher than everyone else.” Bette Davis

I can claim “tough”.

I served 14.5 years in the U.S. Army (including a stint in the Middle East during the Gulf War), plus another 7 in the Guard.

I gave birth to a 10.5 pound kid without so much as an aspirin.

I worked full time, wrote full time, and put up with a 3-hour commute each day.

So why do I want to whine like a 5-year-old because I’m up at the butt-crack of dawn now and can’t go back to sleep?

It’s my own damn fault. I looked at my calendar, carved up what I still had to accomplish for the rest of the month, then did a little backward planning to come up with my To Do list for the next few days. Today’s has a hellish 30 items I need to get through to keep on track. I’ve been making great headway on the Viking story, but shoved everything else aside this week to make sure I kept focused on goal #1, but I can’t afford to let all the other little things slide either. They add up. And they keep my edgy.

So, here I am at O-dark-thirty, getting the the first thing scratched off my battle list. And if I’m reverting to Army-speak, it’s because I feel like I need to roll out today like I’m getting ready to cross the LD (the line designated to coordinate the departure of attack elements). Hooah!