Hi, Delilah. I’m happy to be with you today as we ease (hopefully) into fall.
Well, if I ever doubted Climate Change and Global Warming, which I never did, this summer proved that our Earth is going through some troubling times. The Rim of Fire in the Pacific is working overtime. The glaciers are melting at a shocking pace giving us an actual Northwest Passage. The super volcano at Yellowstone is starting to worry me. And here in Maine we had the summer from hell.
It started slow with a snowstorm in mid-April (the morning of my birthday on the 20th actually, what a birthday present), cold weather for our annual International Marathon in late June, and then finally in July the 80 degree temps set in and lasted for two months. Normally we get a couple of days of 80 degrees in late August early September, but this year was a scorcher. It was made worse by the fact that most homes and business in Downeast Maine don’t have air-conditioning. In fact, last night I was considering going out to my car and turning on the A/C and sleeping in the back seat!
I was so looking forward to a bumper crop of raspberries and blackberries. Spring was glorious with their blossoms. But it was so hot that most of the berries scorched on the vine. Just shriveled up like raisins.
The heat has been especially bad on our wildlife. I’ve seen no deer or moose, just some signs of coyotes and a bunny that has stayed with us visiting every morning and evening when the temps are a little cooler. I haven’t seen a single hummingbird and normally they are numerous. But a bird built a nest in the top of my propane tank and laid some eggs. One is still there, unhatched. I think it got too hot before the poor thing was ready.
But some good things came out of this strange weather. My yard turned into crispy weeds instead of lush rye grass, so a saving on my landscaping expenses. The bugs were scarce until just the last week or so because we had an almost rain-free season. Then last week the mosquitoes, and we have huge ones up here, realized that if they didn’t get busy and start biting, their summer would be wasted.
Now the weather is turning. Today the high is 63 degrees and I saw a flock of Canadian Geese beginning their yearly migration south this morning. And with the cooler temperatures, all my apples (I have many trees, wild ones) will be ripening. I’m madly searching for a recipe for crabapple jelly now. And I have several trees near my house with apples the size of cranberries. I wonder how I prepare those?
However, now that it’s autumn (almost) I’m anticipating my most productive time of the year. I’ve just received the edits from my editor for my next book, The Russian Phoenix, the prequel to the last book in my High Tide Suspense series, Precious Stone. It’s what I call a fictional memoir—the story of a young Russian girl, her turbulent life in the 20th century including the Romanov Jubilee year of 1913, and her life adapting to the changes that threaten to overcome her during the rest of the century. It will be published in just a few weeks.
I’ve also started research on my next series, Wolf Moon. I’m very excited about that. I get to use my bachelor’s degree in anthropology! The first book, and I don’t have a title yet, is about a Shoshone girl, Glory, from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. The series begins in 1949 and each of the books in the series uses as the protagonist, one of the sons-daughters on the family tree of Glory Grey Wolf. There’s some mysticism, some politics, some adventure! Visit my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/AuthorMinEdwards where I’ll keep you up-to-date with my progress.
Have a perfect Autumn!
Min
Min’s Books
A gift of thanks to a young girl from the Tsar more than 100 years ago… and now the Russians want it back.
Collee McCullough, the owner of The Bakery in Stone Bay, Maine, has a perfect life until early one morning men in suits come calling. She has something someone dangerous wants. Something that her Russian great-grandmother Natasha took when she fled Russia in 1913. Too bad great-gran never told her family what she had or where she left it.
Jake Elsmore, visiting Stone Bay to sell his mother’s house, walks into The Bakery for a cup of Earl Grey tea, but gets more. There she is. A sprite in a flour-dusted apron, stepping out from behind a big burly policeman; a lovely, fiery-haired fairy toting a shotgun while two men are laying insensate on the floor of her shop. Looks like that tea will have to wait.
Russia: 1913. A time of celebration; a time of turmoil for Russia. But for Natasha it’s a time of horror.
Natasha, a young cousin of Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova, the Empress Consort of all the Russias, is eighteen and living a life she never dreamed. The year is 1913, the 300th Jubilee Year of the Romanov rule and it has been filled with fêtes, balls, and excitement.
But the night of the last ball of the season a burgeoning love affair goes horribly wrong and she’s kidnapped and whisked out of Russia. Her adventures change her life in ways she could never imagine and take her far from home. But her travails forge her into a strong, resourceful woman of the new century.
Look for this, coming soon!
*~*~*
About the Author
Min Edwards is the pen name of archaeologist, former bookstore owner, and eBook designer (A Thirsty Mind Book Design), Pam Headrick. She is a life-long Texas girl who on a whim decided to leave the heat of Central Texas and move to her property on the coast of Maine. What was she thinking? Now Lubec, the most eastern town in the USA is her home. She writes from a desk near her kitchen window in an almost 200-year-old farmhouse overlooking apple trees, mating pheasants, rabbits which turn from brown to white in the winter, and the occasional moose. Just down the road is her private beach which is unfortunately not sand but shingle… small stones which have been tumbled by the surf for eons. And they sing when the 30-foot tides of the area wash over them. Her muse and constant companion is Zach, a 12-year-old black German Shepherd who offers comedic relief when she needs it… like when one of her characters is not following orders or a plot has imploded and it looks like it’s time to start over.
Throughout history, The Lady, Goddess of the Lycan world, has gifted werewolf packs with humans who carry her mark. Theodora Morrissey’s plans to return to college for her graduate degree are ended when she is awakened by an otherworldly voice on a rarely used airstrip in Nebraska. Injured and disoriented, she has no idea the discoloration on her back has marked her as a Seer, and that she is now a possession—and the prisoner—of the Novus Pack of Lycans.
To the Novus pack, the word of their leader, their Laird, is the law. With compelling gray eyes and long dark hair, Raider Black rules his pack with intelligence and ruthlessness. To cement the security of his pack, Black has committed to mate another Packleader’s daughter. But he’s finding it impossible to fight his attraction to the pack’s alluring new Seer, claiming her as his own.
Sweet, fearless, and unintentionally funny, Theo upends Black’s world and pushes the boundaries of his rules. How far is Raider willing to go, and what will he sacrifice, to save both his pack and the human Seer who’s found a way not only into his bed, but his heart?
Series: Romancing the Seas Book 1 Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, Romantic Comedy, Holiday Romance Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Publication Date: September 11, 2018
When Piper’s job sends her undercover to spy on Jack – the beyond sexy hook-up she can’t stop thinking about – she is forced to decide if her job is more important than her happiness.
HAPPINESS HAS A PRICE
Captain Jack Spencer owns and runs a whale watching company, Ahoy, Matey. When his business takes off, a jealous rival wants him and his company gone. Jack has no idea the delectable Piper Goldhirsch is tasked with scuttling everything he’s worked for – he’s too caught up in their magnetic attraction and her web of lies.
Piper Goldhirsch, head reporter for the tabloid TV show Business Buster, is all work and no play. When she and the all too tempting Jack Spencer have a one-night stand that turns out to be the greatest sex of her life, she is haunted by the powerful magic between them. Sent undercover to expose his whale watching business, she is torn between her assignment and the first man she has ever wanted. With her happiness on the line, Piper has only one choice.
She lifted her bare foot. He held her ankle with more delicacy than she’d expected from such a big man. As he slid the flat back onto her foot, his thumb grazed the indent near her anklebone. She shivered at the sensation. This close, the ocean blue of his eyes shone with intensity as he watched her. What did he look like beneath the costume and makeup? She’d noticed his sexy, crooked smile and the roguish way the corner of his mouth lifted up, as if he knew something she didn’t. His fingers wrapped around the back of her ankle, then stopped. She met his hungry eyes and nudged her leg forward into his hand. His fingers slid up an inch further, moving in a slow, barely there caress.
“I realize it’s none of my business,” he said. “But earlier, out in the ballroom…I don’t know what your friends said or did to make you upset, but if I can help at all, I’d like to.”
“I’m okay. Just shaking something off.” She took a sip from the wine bottle as she watched him. She moved her foot closer to his chest urging his hand closer to her calf. His long fingers stroked her flesh.
She closed her eyes. “Mmm, that feels nice. Don’t worry about what they said. You got a name, pirate?”
“Jack.”
His tone was serious. She looked back down at him and smirked. Two could play that game.
“Oh, of course. You’re Captain Jack, and I’m Little Red Riding Hood. C’mere.” He stood and met her eye to eye. At five feet nine, she often had a vantage point in height in the workplace, which served her well when she wanted to be intimidating, but he had well over four inches on her, easy. His big, muscular frame towered over her. She took another sip of wine and walked her fingers up the buttons of his waistcoat. “Can I level with you, Captain Jack?”
“Yes.”
She pushed aside the question of why she felt so at ease with him when all she’d wanted was to be alone and smoothed her palm over his white pirate shirt, his strong pectoral muscles firm beneath her fingers. When she next spoke, her voice broke as she remembered why she’d sought solace in the first place; she’d gotten a man and his whole family deported.
“See, I’ve had a hell of a hard year. I’ve pushed myself and made magic happen in ways I didn’t think I’d ever be able to, but that magic comes at a price, and I’m not okay with it. Every single day, people want a piece of me. And on normal days, I can handle it. But right now, all I want to do, since you’re here,” she moved closer, her lips inches from his, “and I’m here, is to forget it all and make some magic of our own I can hold onto, even if it’s just this little moment.”
His chest rose and fell as he scanned her. Clarity and kindness were evident in his eyes beneath the desire, and she knew she could have a little fun with him. She noticed that his palms clenched the more she rubbed against him. She smirked, grabbed the lapels of his waistcoat, and crashed her lips onto his.
THE WOMAN WAS unreal. Her thick, pouty lips moved against his, and no sooner had she kissed him full on the mouth than he seized her around her wasp-sized waist and laid claim. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen, and her curves were soft and perfect in his hands. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth, and she met him eagerly. She tasted like strawberries and wine, and he groaned as his fingers slipped into her curls. It had been forever since he’d kissed a woman. She scored full check marks in every category, and then some.
Chances were she merely wanted a nice make-out session, but his body already demanded more. He wrapped his arms around her, spanned his hand against her back, and traveled down to the curve of her delectable ass. She shivered against him; the movement went straight to his hardened cock. He nipped her lower lip as he squeezed her bottom.
“Oh, you are one big firecracker, aren’t you? Tell me your name.”
She wrapped her ankle around the back of his calf as she hauled him in close. “No names,” she breathed.
He kissed her and moaned when she rubbed her core against him through their clothes. All right, he’d play along. For now. But he would take the lead.
About Roxanne D. Howard
Roxanne D. Howard writes sizzling erotic romance with Boroughs Publishing Group and The Wild Rose Press. She is a U.S. Army veteran, and a Columbia College alumni. She loves to read poetry, classical literature, and Stephen King. Also, she is an avid Star Wars fan, musical theater nut, and marine biology geek. Roxanne resides in the western U.S., and when she’s not writing, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband, children, and furry companions. Roxanne loves to hear from her readers, and encourages you to contact her via her website and social media.
Okay, I’m going to come right out and admit it. My confession/admission might get me in trouble with some erotica readers, but I have my big girl pants on and can take it.
There’s a popular among some people erotica genre that focuses on a submissive/dominant relationship that IMO takes a relationship to the extreme. I’m talking about daddy/baby scenarios. I admit I’ve only read a couple of them all the way through, but I’ve read enough blurbs to feel I understand how they’re structured. In essence (and correct me if I’m making this too simple) the dominant male insists that the female under his control act and is treated like a small child, complete with diapers and a crib. For reasons I don’t get, the women go along with the treatment. They might object in the beginning, but then it seems, something kicks into their brains and they decide to explore and even enjoy the situation. Often the so-called hero has staff or relatives that help raise the ‘child’. The whole house is set up to accommodate what doesn’t seem at all like playacting to me.
Okay, here’s where I jump on my soapbox. No way do I see any redeeming qualities in a man who treats a woman like that. I also don’t think much of a formally independent woman who goes along with such a demeaning show.
That said, to each their own. After all, I often write about capture situations. Note that I didn’t say the word fantasy since in my stories, the capture and its aftermath is the real deal and not some play situation the characters have agreed to. A shrink might say I need help. All I know is a lot of readers buy into those stories, and I’m here to thank them.
Wolf’s Storm
Forced together by a mountain snowstorm and their smashed cars, two loners are fated to spend a night together. Once the cabin door closes behind them, need takes over. They must have sex, only sex, not a relationship. But the nearby dark wolves have their own agenda.
Thank you, Delilah, for having me as a guest blogger on this special day!
Today is my birthday. Many people I know stopped caring about birthdays sometime in their mid-twenties. After that pivotal 21st, which marked the ability to go bar-hopping using your actual ID, birthdays seem to be just one more reminder of the slippage of time. One more year older and, if you’re lucky, one more year wiser.
Some people don’t care for their birthdays because it’s another step towards their own mortality. Others, like my husband, simply don’t like the attention.
I am not one of these people. I love my birthday. It’s the one guilt-free day of the year I get to enjoy being fussed over, and I can be as lazy as I like. And I get pie – because everyone knows, there’s no calories in anything you eat on your birthday.
Over the years, I’ve had some truly terrific and truly terrible birthdays. My 21st birthday was spent in a foreign country, mostly by myself, watching Princess Di’s funeral. Kind of a letdown. My 39th, however, was one of the best I ever had, with a surprise party back in my hometown that included friends and family I hadn’t seen in years. My adult stepchildren even made the five-hour trek north to be there.
I’m now firmly ensconced in my 40s, and I still love marking my birthday as much this year as I did when I was 5, 16, or even 39. With every passing year, I find I give one less care – about what people think, about what society expects, about what a woman my age is supposed to be/think/do. Instead, I can focus on what I love – my family, my friends, my writing. It’s incredibly liberating.
Each birthday, to me, isn’t a step closer to “old age” or “knocking on death’s door”. It marks the passing of yet another amazing year – one that saw two more published books, children’s milestones, a special anniversary. And it presents another challenge for the next year. If this year was so good, how am I going to make the next even better? I don’t know… but I can’t wait to find out!
*~*~*
Cate Tayler is a beach baby, born and raised on the Connecticut coastline. She met the love of her life while serving in the US Air Force, and after extensive overseas travel, they are now raising their four children in the wild suburbs of Maryland.
Love Me Harder, the next installment in her Mystic Point series, releases October 1st.
Take two spicy chefs. Stir in a meddling mentor and a deadline for success. Pepper with hot sex and longing looks. A recipe for love…or will it all go up in flames?
The First Course…
Juliet Winslow earned her saltiness. The sassy chef made a fresh start in Mystic Point after divorcing her cheating bastard of a husband. Now the renowned head chef of the local French bistro is living the free life she wants, surrounded by good friends and the occasional casual fling. Until one tempting night with a scrumptious cowboy gives her a taste of what she’s missing.
The Main Course…
Nate Faulkner is on a mission. After discovering the truth of his parentage, the cowboy chef left his Montana home determined to prove his worth to his family and the father he yearns to know. His chance comes when his mentor agrees to invest in a restaurant with him, a small French bistro in a beach town in Connecticut. Nate has big plans for reinventing the place, but the tasty head chef who comes with the business is cooking up all sorts of distractions and threatening to throw his carefully planned menu into chaos.
Dessert…
A battle of wills is being whipped up in the kitchen. The harder Juliet and Nate fight against the attraction simmering between them, the hungrier they get for one another. But do they have the right ingredients for a happily-ever-after?
The first of the SEALs in Paradise stories is here!
Hot SEAL, Salty Dog
SEALs in Paradise Brotherhood Protectors, A Brotherhood Protectors/ SEALs in Paradise Crossover Novel
Navy SEAL on vacation in Mexico wakes up married to a jilted bride and retraces his steps to matrimony…
Confirmed bachelor and Navy SEAL Chase Flannigan is celebrating his separation from the Navy in the tropical paradise of Cabo San Lucas. After a particularly hazy night, he wakes up with a ring on his finger and a beautiful woman in his bed, and no memory of how they got there.
Stood up at the altar, jilted bride Maggie Neal snags her best friend and goes on her honeymoon, one groom short only to wind up in bed with a hot SEAL, married and extremely hungover.
Together, Chase and Maggie take a walk down a fractured memories’ lane to discover how they ended up hitched. In the process, they discover a bullet hole in Chase’s baseball cap, a drug cartel with a vendetta against them and a burgeoning love born of respect and adventure, a love they never expected to find in paradise.
** Salty Dog ** is part of the Brotherhood Protectors Series. It is also in the “SEALs in Paradise” connected series. Each book can be read as a stand-alone. They do not have cliffhanger endings.
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“New company creates hackproof proprietary software…”
“DHS warns companies targeted on dark web”
“Hacker exploits Netgear router to nab US military drone files”
“Chinese group engaging in cyber espionage against US companies, report says”
“FBI warns hackers are targeting internet routers”
Software by Design creates new hackproof security software By Joe Mallory The Electronic Blog
In a world where suddenly nothing on a computer is safe, Liam Benedict, the wunderkind of proprietary software, is setting the world on fire with his ability to design software that will work only for one program on one system. It’s a boon for both corporations and Benedict, because the software is broken apart and reconfigured each time a client begins a new project.
Benedict says it also can protect financial information at banks, financial management firms, any entity where privacy and secrecy are more important than anything else. He has a team of trained, trustworthy experts who write code and create programs that are virtually impenetrable.
His explosion of success has come to the attention of Arroyo, a multinational conglomerate run by billionaire Taylor Cantrell and her husband, Noah. They were recently here in Tampa to seal the deal to make SBD a part of Arroyo. This reporter tried to arrange an interview with them but was told everything goes through their public relations department on San Antonio, Texas.
We did, however, learn that the company is moving to larger, more secure quarters even as you read this. There is also a rumor that Benedict’s newest client is a defense contractor who may or may not be designing a super secret project for the Department of Defense.
I’ll be doing my best to keep you updated.
Out and About Tampa Bay The blog that tells it all
Is there a romance brewing or is the tech world’s newest wunderkind in some kind of trouble? High profile, much-in-demand criminal defense attorney Sydney Alfiore was spotted having drinks with Liam Benedict, owner of Software By Design. Benedict is much in demand because of his firm’s ability to design software that is project specific. Defense contractors are lining up to hire him. Rumor has it he has a new client who needs the best firewall in the world for a super hush-hush project.
Alfiore, meanwhile, is smack in the middle of a very high profile murder trial, where it’s said her client may be on the verge of convicted. Don’t believe it. Alfiore always pulls a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute. The media has been covering the trial on a daily basis and every television station wants five minutes of her time.
So how did these two people find the time to meet for a drink? And look very cozy doing it?
Stay tuned for further details.
Double Deception
No one could tell who was telling the truth…
For Liam Benedict, the merging of Software by Design into the Arroyo mega-conglomerate is a dream come true—until someone on his staff screws with critical software and puts the company and its future in grave jeopardy. Suddenly life is not so euphoric for Liam. His contract with a defense contractor is in jeopardy, he doesn’t know who to trust on his staff and there is a distinct possibility a foreign power is behind the whole thing.
When forensic data analyst Eric Braun discovers who it is and how they did it, he is killed before he can tell Liam who the mole is. Framed by the killer, Liam is arrested for murder. It will take the combined resources of beautiful criminal defense attorney Sydney Alfiore, the woman he, loves, and the huge Arroyo Corporation to solve the riddle, but can they do it in time?
