My cat Noodle is perched on my lap as I write this post. She’s helped me with promo for Bad Kitty, posing for pictures with the paperback. Don’t tell her she’s not the only inspiration for Xia, my felinoid heroine! Her contribution to Xia and her feline hero Rahal is unshakeable self-confidence. Noodle knows she’s beautiful and lovable, even if at this stage of her life she’s shaped more like a dumpling than a noodle and has a voice that can shatter glass. Likewise, my felinoid characters suffer their share of anguish, but never, like their human partner Cal, doubt that they are hot or that their lovers desire them. Real love? Oh, they have some doubts there, but they never doubt that the others want and like them. They’re so sexy and charming!
Two earlier cats who shared my life also inspired assassin Xia. Gypsy had been a feral. My ex-husband and I gradually tamed her, but she never lost that wild edge. We once caught her cornering a raccoon the size of a beagle. She weighed perhaps five pounds, but that raccoon was cowering and seemed relieved to be rescued by normally scary humans! Like Gypsy, Xia is tiny but deadly, and she can take on much larger opponents. Gypsy, though, never lost all her feral fears—the brave cat who’d hunt anything would run away at the sight of a pair of men’s work boots. Xia, too, is haunted by her past.
Pusheen was half Siamese but tortoiseshell in coloring, a sleek, elegant killing machine who devastated the local bird population. Her contribution, besides the grace she brought to slaughter, was her loyalty. I was her person and she’d protect me. Even if the only way she could figure out to do so was peeing on my ex’s stuff when he and I fought.
Luckily for the plot, Xia has resources an actual cat doesn’t. So when she needs to protect her adoptive family, she comes up with a wily plot that has definite benefits for her.
Of course, Rahal also sees some benefits to it. He’s felinoid himself, after all.
Excerpt (For some background, Rahal has been trying to blackmail Xia’s adoptive parents into being the faces for his anti-slavery campaign. She doesn’t like this plan, as it would interfere with their actual clandestine rescuing of slaves):
“My dads are obvious badasses. I’m petite and adorable and I look like the worst thing I could do is steal your lover, and I’m a trained killer. How is that not terrifying?”
“Point.” He started grinning, a real smile, not an aggressive display of fangs that nonfelinoids might mistake for a smile. “It’s classic cinema—you using the skills you learned as an exploited child to take out other evil people. But it only works if the audience isn’t dumb and so many people are dimmer than dark matter. I’m still leaning toward your fathers.”
He liked the idea. She could tell by his body language, the way his ears cocked toward her, the lilt of his tail. But she needed to sweeten the deal. Time for that good-bad idea.
She’d had sex for far worse reasons, such as I’m bored and I don’t feel like getting arrested tonight so I might as well pick someone up and It’s cold and dreary; why not curl up with someone warm. And since she wanted him as badly as she’d ever wanted anyone, why not? “Let’s put it this way. You agree to my offer, you get me. Any way you want, for as long as you want.”
“I’m not sure it counts as a good bribe,” Rahal said. “I’m all in for sexytimes with you, don’t get me wrong. But you’ve flat out said you’d sleep with me, so I’ll need more than that to consider it a bargain, not just a good time between two people who want each other already.”
Time for a careless shrug and studying her nails nonchalantly. “I never sleep with anyone. Never spend the night. But I will with you if you want. And, yeah, I was going to sex you once. No one ever gets more than once, even if they’re as good as you probably think you are. But you’ll get me all you want if you let Mik and Gan off the hook. No limits.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “If you say no, I’m out the door and you will never touch me again. But if any harm comes to my fathers because of this little plot of yours, I’ll be the one doing the touching.”
“In a life-ending sort of way?”
“In a life-ending sort of way. When you least expect it. I don’t care how tough you are or how good your bodyguards are. Sooner or later, you’ll slip up and I’ll be there.” Not an empty threat, she realized. He was good. He was probably way better than she was. But if he harmed her family, he was dead.
Rahal laughed. It sounded menacing, but mischievous, and definitely erotic. It made her shiver with lust right down to the tip of her tail. She hoped she wouldn’t have to cut off her chance to taste more of the beautiful body she’d enjoyed. Read the rest of this entry »
Last weekend I took my miniman to Denny’s to eat Breakfast. It was a mad house. I had to wait to find a place to park. Long line inside but space at the bar. So instead of waiting on a table we just decided to eat at the counter and low and behold we could see in the kitchen and watch the cooking staff, not to mention the interaction with them, the waitstaff and the manager on duty. I’m going to call her Judy, because I didn’t ever get her name!
So, back to my story. Did I mention yet it was a mad house?? Because OMG it was nuts in there. Pretty quick we got our drinks and placed our order. Waitress, Patricia, was super friendly. I figured it was going to be forever til we got food and we settled in to watch the cooks.
Holy. Shit. I have NEVER in my life seen 3 men cook as fast as they did. And they NEVER slowed down. Not once. Only time I saw them pause was when a waitress/waiter needed them to do something. They were immediately on it and then back to the orders. Ticket after ticket they closed.
It was incredible. Kid you not I was freaking in awe. And the waitstaff? They all helped each other. Cleaning tables, taking appetizers and orders out to other peoples’ tables. Fixing issues. And Judy? She wasn’t just standing off to the side and delegating. Hell to the no. She was in the thick of all of it doing everything she could to help her people and get customers taken care of.
Now let me add in the fact I’d been sick with Strep for almost two weeks, working 11hr days at my real job. Exhaustion doesn’t do justice to how I felt that morning. But these people were just awesome AND they saved me from having to cook or clean up for breakfast.
Our food was awesome. Perfect timing on everything. And Judy’s still running around like crazy.
We got finished, I paid, was about to leave but Judy needed to know how awesome they were all doing. So I waited for her to walk back behind the hostess stand, and then I asked to speak with her. She kind of deflated, but said “Absolutely, how can I help you?” On that kind of day, one extra person shoveling shit onto your plate is the worst. So I told her everything I typed above. They were all doing amazing. What a great crew she had working for her and she herself was one of the best restaurant managers I’d ever seen. Keep up the good work and she absolutely gained me as a repeat customer.
OMG you’d think I’d handed her a million dollars. She was so excited and told me I made her day and thanked me for taking the time to tell her. I heard her passing the news to two other people as I was walking out. Paying it forward to a complete stranger who needed a pick me up and a pat on the back made me feel awesome. We need more of THIS in the world to balance out the rest of the meh going around right now.
Speaking of paying it forward — I have a HUGE bag of conference swag to give away! Print books, a bag, bookmarks, pens, buttons and maybe a few naughty somethings throw in to make your heart go pitter pat!! How do you enter to win? Easy!
Just comment below and let me know something you’ve done for a perfect stranger that made their day and yours!! I’ll let my miniman pick a random winner tomorrow. Good luck!!
Decadently Yours,
Jennifer Kacey
Need something to wet your whistle while you wait to see if you won goodies??
May I suggest a delicious bite out of the Members Only series…….. 😛
Since I had an author bail on me at the last minute, I had an open spot…
So, since I’m being lazy—I was up at 6:30 to babysit the 2-year-old today, so I’ve earned it!—I thought I’d just post this reminder.
WOLF IN PLAIN SIGHT
Release date: September 22
Free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers!
To Super-cop Max Weir, the only good vampire is a dead one. Since his special police unit integrated with vampires, he’s had to suppress his natural hatred to work side by side with the undead to hunt down and terminate the deadliest killers. Now the unit’s hot on the trail of a new menace in town, a pack of werewolves prowling for vampires who don’t care whether humans get in their way.
When a stakeout goes awry, Max enters a bar looking for a fight or woman to help him blow off a little steam. What he finds is a winsome siren whose sexual appetites match his own.
Vampire Pia D’Amato is on a secret mission to take out Max—either by seduction or turning him. He’s become a liability to the Masters’ Council setting up jurisdiction in southern Florida, and she’s not leaving until she’s done the job. But Max is more man than she bargained for with a deadly secret of his own.
I’m busy at the moment dreaming up my next Uncharted SEALs adventure, and I got to wondering whether you knew I had a previous ex-SEAL series…
It’s a touch on the zany side because, for the heroines, I played with that old fish-out-of-water trope. They are all travel agents, having to check out the new adventure line of vacations they’re offering their clients, when you guess it—$hit happens.
For Maya in Dangerous Liaison, she’s mistaken for a drug lord’s daughter and kidnapped right out of an anti-terrorist training school.
I’ve given you a taste of Lace’s adventure below—her boat’s about to be hijacked for ransom.
And lastly, Susan in It Takes a SEAL is stranded on a desert island with her hunky SEAL.
I had fun with the stories, even more fun with the titles, they are all derived from movie titles. An author has to find the fun or her work would become drudgery. And of course, I say that while I’m sitting in my pajamas with bed head, while I begin my day’s work… It’s okay to hate me. 🙂
Comment for a chance to win Mutiny’s Bounty or a short story on this carousel!
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Interested only in experiencing an adrenaline-packed adventure first-hand to give her credo when she books her clients’ adventure vacations, Lace McElhannon finds more excitement than she can handle when she meets and falls into bed with ex-SEAL Dex Haygood.
Fresh from protecting transport ships from Somali pirates, Dex figures his latest job will be a cakewalk, until he finds himself in deep water, swimming with sharks and trying to protect Lace when the yacht they’re sailing on is taken.
“Sweetheart, the sharks are down there.” Ice blue eyes wrinkled at the corners as the man bending over the side of the olive-green skiff pointed a finger into the clear blue depths beneath her.
Did he think she’d missed seeing the swarm, or flock, or whatever the hell you called a group of freaking sharks? They were busy ripping into the grisly bundle of fish parts and guts the dive crew had dropped to the sea floor in a wire basket—which was why she’d hurried over here.
“Exactly! Like any sane person would purposely swim with sharks?” She let her voice frag, then crimped her lips to keep from saying anything else that made her sound like she was twelve. Lace McElhannon was glad she hadn’t given him a snarky wag of her head while she’d said it. But seriously, who would blame her for being snotty? Great White sharks were swimming thirty feet beneath her toes and he wasn’t doing anything about it! Read the rest of this entry »
For someone with an admittedly short attention span (me), I seem to choose pursuits in life that require an awful lot of perseverance. So today, I’m going to talk about 5 Reasons Writing a Book is Like Climbing a 14er.
For the non-mountaineers reading this, a 14er is a mountain peak above 14,000 feet in altitude. In Colorado, where I live, there are 53 of them. I like hiking in general, but climbing a 14er is not your average scenic hike. We’re talking major elevation gains and decreasing oxygen, people. You have to want this.
At first, it might seem like writing a book—an activity during which you spend a great deal of time with your butt planted in a chair—would not be very much at all like a wilderness excursion requiring considerable physical conditioning.
VS.
But that would be wrong. Here are 5 ways in which these two activities are similar:
#1 Initial excitement of planning/deciding to do it.
Getting an idea for a new book is exciting. You’re full of ideas, planning new characters, imagining what it will be like when it’s done, and you feel powerful. You know it will be work, but the idea is just so good, it will be worth it. Deciding to climb a mountain, and picking which one, is exciting, too. You’re looking at fantastic photographs other hikers have posted, planning which routes will get you there, what physical training you need to do in the meantime, and imagining the sense of achievement when you stand at the top.
#2 At some point, you are going to ask yourself “why am I doing this?”
Every writer I know of has, at some point, looked at what they’ve written and lost hope. For one reason or another (your plot didn’t hold together as well as you initially thought, or the market for your type of story has just tanked, or any number of other writer-related insecurities), you want to abandon the project.
At some point, while hiking a 14er, many hikers (myself included) are out of breath, battered by wind, out of the ideal shape we promised ourselves we’d be in, and looking ahead at the miles yet to climb, thinking, “why did I think this was a good idea?” It would be much easier to just turn around and head back down…
(Note: with hiking, there can be safety concerns that lead to abandoning a hike. Know the difference between perseverance and foolishness. Lightning, in particular, is no joke if you’re above tree line. If a storm is approaching, get to safety. The mountain will still be there another day.)
#3 You keep going anyway.
Even when every sentence is a struggle, you keep writing. You may walk away from the screen for a little while, but you eventually come back and re-attack the project. Maybe you do have to do some editing, and work on your craft. Or maybe you give yourself permission for that first draft to suck miserably, knowing that you can always edit it later. Whatever. You keep writing, because you know that walking away would lead to regrets you don’t want to live with.
Same with 14ers. If you want to make it to the top, you keep planting one foot in front of the other. You rest, drink some water, and Just. Keep. Going.
#4 Comradery
When you summit a 14er with someone, you share a bond with that person forever. The more epic the mountain, the more epic the bond. Hikers also tend to help one another out—it’s the classic man vs. nature struggle, and all men (and women) on the mountain are in it together.
Authors do the same thing—at least, I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of authors who think it’s important to help each other be the best we can be, whether that means helping a new writer improve her craft, or helping promote a new book you’re excited about.
#5 The Ultimate Accomplishment
There is no feeling that beats the feeling of typing the words “The End.” Except, maybe, the feeling of reaching the summit of a tough 14er. There’s a reason authors shout it from the rooftops when their book hits the shelves (or goes live at Amazon) – they’ve worked for that day. Same reason you’ll see summit photos plastered all over the walls and social media pages of an avid hiker.
It’s also the feeling that makes both writers and hikers bask in the glory for only a short while…because before long, they need to start planning the next book, or the next peak to climb.
Entrusted: A Relic Guardians Novel
To protect her country’s future, she’ll have to commit treason…
ENTRUSTED by Allegra Gray is a stunning historical Young Adult masterpiece of suspense, hope, and determination. This story follows orphaned Audrey as she’s tasked with keeping ancient relics safe from tyrannical hands and their unholy deeds. With the help of a charming adventurer, Tobias, Aubrey must do all she can to protect the relics she’s been entrusted to guard…even if it costs her life. Read the rest of this entry »
At a conference last week, I had a reader come up to me and tell me she had been so mad at me last night.
I perked up, wondering what she’d either taken offence at or really loved. I hoped she was going to say my hooks kept her going chapter after chapter.
Her next sentence surprised and delighted me.
“Greg and Jill sat down to eat and you described the food so well, I wanted my own order of Diamond Lille’s meatloaf platter.” She continued, “I had to go raid the fridge.”
I thought a lot about what this reader had said and then realized my characters have a love affair with food because as their author, I do too. I won’t ever be the one to write a book where the scenes go on without a speck of food consumed from first to last page. I’m more like Tolkien in that manner, and my characters more like Merry and Pippen who not only expect second breakfast on their quest, but also elevenies. Which is a delightful idea to implement in most work places.
I’d warned my roommate before we even got on the plane to go to New Orleans that for me, it was all about the food. Experimenting, tasting, learning new techniques, my trip was filled with overwhelming smells and tastes.
And my writing is the same. I want my characters to experience living on the California coast line through their taste buds. Jill has a scene where she’s grabbing one last clam from the waitress before the bucket is taken away to be packed up as leftovers. I can totally see myself doing that when interrupted from a meal I was enjoying.
The current book I’m writing has a Carmel Apple Cheesecake mentioned on page one. I’m trying out a similar recipe on my day job co-workers in a few weeks. Hey, writing has it’s privileges and if I get to eat vicariously through the choices of my characters, the better for me. Especially as I’m eating a salad and drinking water for lunch as I write this blog.
I’m putting up a Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe on my blog this week. (www.lynncahoon.com) Come visit if you want. Coffee will always be fresh and in my imaginary kitchen, treats like those from Pies on the Fly will be available 24/7. With no calorie counting.
Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books, and More—has somehow been talked into sponsoring a 5k race along the beautiful California coast. The race is a fundraiser for the local preservation society—but not everyone is feeling so charitable…
The day of the race, everyone hits the ground running…until a local business owner stumbles over a very stationary body. The deceased is the vicious wife of the husband-and-wife team hired to promote the event—and the husband turns to Jill for help in clearing his name. But did he do it? Jill will have to be very careful, because this killer is ready to put her out of the running…forever!
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon is an Idaho expat. She grew up living the small town life she now loves to write about. Currently, she’s living with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. Guidebook to Murder, Book 1 of the Tourist Trap series won the 2015 Reader’s Crown award for Mystery Fiction.
I woke up late today. I babysat last night and I’m just a little tired. Add the fact, I didn’t get my swim in yesterday, and the world just doesn’t feel right. So, I’ll make it easy on myself today and do something I love doing when I’m at a Facebook party. You get to do a little bit of work—not much—and I get to sit back and read the fun answers!
Here’s the work…
1) Subscribe to my newsletter and tell me you did (I’ll trust you): My Newsletter
3) This isn’t required, but you can subscribe to my blog by scrolling down the left-hand column of this page, looking for “Subscribe to blog via email”. That way, you’ll never miss a contest or a free read!
In addition to telling me you’ve done the things I’ve asked, answer this question, and then take a look at my Short Stories page to choose one free read (from the top three rows) for yourself…
If you could be magically transported into any television series world,
which would you choose to live inside?
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THESE STORIES ARE NOT PART OF THE GIVEAWAY!
However, they are free if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber!
If you love hot, sexy SEALs and an adrenaline-pumped story, don’t miss the first three stories in the Uncharted SEALs series, including my latest release, Through Her Eyes.
Click on the covers to learn more and to purchase!
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon is an Idaho expat. She grew up living the small town life she now loves to write about. Currently, she’s living with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. Guidebook to Murder, Book 1 of the Tourist Trap series won the 2015 Reader’s Crown award for Mystery Fiction.
