A science-fiction setting is popular for both writers and readers of erotic romances. The reason is simple, at least it is for me. Give me a fictional world and I can design it to meet any number of needs. The rules, regulations, and social standards we all live with can’t get in my way when I’m writing. I can make them go away.

A domineering man and submissive woman don’t require justification when the lifestyle is standard operating procedure in the world I came up with. I don’t have to justify why a man throws a woman over his knee and repeatedly applies his hand to her ass. Readers of spanking erotica accept that this is how things are done within these pages. A woman doesn’t yell “insanity” if the man in her life treats her like a child. Instead, she gets the norms of the world she finds herself in. Sometimes, it takes a while but that’s part of the fun.

Okay, that’s all well and good. A woman wears a collar and crawls on hands and knees behind the hunk who commands her to because it’s expected and she’s turned on.

But what’s their physical world like?

Setting is vital to me. I can’t start a story until I know what my characters’ world looks like. And here’s a secret: I suck at creating fictional worlds. If you’ve read some Vonna Harper erotic fiction, you may have noticed I don’t put my characters on distant, exotic planets with complex social and political structure to say nothing of blue suns and five-legged household pets. Instead, I rely on corners of the world I know.

Case in point, one of my eroticas is Midnight Touch. Much of this story about a couple with heavy loads of emotional baggage takes place in eastern Oregon. No urban center or exotic city for me because I’ve never lived there and have no desire to. Give me wide open spaces every time—spaces where the few residents live their isolated lives in private.

Sara’s dead ex-husband was a domineering SOB who got away with treating her as he wanted. She seldom saw anyone and didn’t know whether she could trust those she did. She repeatedly tried to escape but never succeeded. I didn’t need to invent a planet because I planted poor Sara in ranching country with more cattle than humans. I know what eastern Oregon’s high desert land looks and smells like. I’ve been there. No need to try to figure out where water and other necessities come from. I’ve seen the wells.

My hero Mace doesn’t belong there, but he has no choice because Sara needs him in ways only he understands. Taking him deep into that isolated setting while he grapples with the forces that brought him there was so much fun. I put that poor man through a lot. Fortunately, he’s up for the challenge.

As for why I chose a country where antelope live, it almost never rains, the nearest grocery store is fifty miles away, and two people struggle to find peace and love there.

Looks like you’ll have to read Midnight Touch to comprehend their dangerous journey, hint, hint. You might also wind up with a darn good idea what panoramic eastern Oregon is like.

Midnight Touch

Obsession. Insanity. Darkness.

The words explain why Mace Seeger has come to see a woman he should have nothing to do with. But when he finds Sara Parmenter’s photograph in her dead husband’s wallet, her haunted eyes touch his soul, distracting him from her naked bound body.

The woman he finds at the isolated ranch is no longer trapped with a cruel and violent man because Ronnie Parmenter is gone, murdered.

He’s no longer a danger.

Sara desperately wants to believe she’s free from her nightmares—and to understand why she’s willing to risk everything with Mace, a man maybe she shouldn’t trust or believe.

A lifetime ago she’d been a sexual woman. The realities of her marriage had stripped those things from her, but being near Mace has reawakened primitive needs. She’s returning to life.

But Ronnie isn’t done.

Get your copy here!

UPDATE: The winner is…Linda Richter!
*~*~*

©Diana Cosby 2020

As a writer, refilling my muse is important, and I’ve found that walks in nature are amazing muse inspiration.

Surrounded by flowers, lush grass at the pond, the cool breeze through the trees in the woods, or the tang of salty air at the marsh, each journey is special.

With the birds migrating, it’s exciting as each day, I never know what I’m going to see.

During spring, birds are building nests, while other animals are tending to their young.

Nature is magical, and I’m continually in awe of the incredible wildlife that I see.

Each day as I step outside, I can’t wait to see what inspiration nature will offer my muse.

About the Author

A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothers series have been translated into five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.

After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothers series, The Oath Trilogy, and the first four books of The Forbidden Series, she’s thrilled with the release of book #5, Forbidden Realm.

Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.

Contest

***ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my guest blog post about, ‘Nature – Amazing Muse Inspiration,’ on Delilah’s blog between 20 May 2020 – 31 May 2020. The winner will receive a signed copy of His Woman.

Diana Cosby, International Best-Selling Author
www.dianacosby.com
The Oath Trilogy
MacGruder Brother Series
The Forbidden Series

It’s been a tough couple of months for all of us. We all need an escape, something to help us relax. I’ve been reading a lot—it’s what I do. But it’s also a great time to watch movies, especially older movie series. Maybe you’ve them, maybe you haven’t. Either way, pop some corn, grab some chocolate, and watch them for the first time or enjoy them again.

Lord of the Rings—If you haven’t seen these films, you really need to. I’ve seen them over a half dozen times…probably more. They are amazing feats of cinematic magic. Fantasy, epic battles, good versus evil, unforgettable characters, and a beautiful love story. And let’s not forget Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn.

In order: The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.

Underworld—If you’re a fan of the paranormal, you have to see these films. The heroine is kickass. The first three movies are the best. The final two lack the punch of the original two.)

In order: Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Underworld Awakening, Underworld: Blood Wars.

The Bourne series—You have to love Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Lots of amazing action.

In order: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy (with Jeremy Renner) and Jason Bourne.

Pirates of the Caribbean—I love Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. These films are action-packed and filled with so much fun, not to mention a wonderful love story.

In order: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End, On Stranger Tides, and Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Indiana Jones—Harrison Ford makes us all want to be archeologists in these amazing movies. Drama, adventure, good versus evil, and so much fun. (The first three were wonderful, but I didn’t enjoy the last one as much.)

In order: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

If these don’t suit, here are a few more you might check out: Star Wars, Rocky, Die Hard, Terminator, Hunger Games, John Wick, and Rambo. And if you’re feeling really ambitious, why not go back to the beginning and watch all the Avengers movies.

What are some of your favorite movie series?

And if you’re looking for something to read, you might want to check out ARCTIC BITE, the second book in my Forgotten Brotherhood series, out now.

Arctic Bite
Forgotten Brotherhood, Book Two

Being immortal doesn’t mean you can’t die. It just means you’re damn hard to kill.

When Alexei Medvedev joined the Forgotten Brotherhood—paranormals hired to assassinate other paranormals—he knew it wouldn’t be a cake walk. But his next target is one of Death’s own Reapers gone rogue. For the first time since he started this gig, “damn hard to kill” feels more like “damn near impossible.”

Tracking Cassie Dobbs brings him to a remote bar in small-town Alaska, where this hot-as-hell Reaper is casually serving drinks, as if she doesn’t have a bounty on her head from Death himself. Alexei is dangerously intrigued. Everyone in the Brotherhood knows the first rule: don’t fall for your target.

But Alexei soon has bigger problems to face than an unexpected attraction. They only send assassins after those who deserve to die…or so he’s been made to believe. Now that he’s met Cassie, though, he’s not so sure.

What if everything he’s been told is a lie, and the person he’s been sent to kill is the only one who knows the truth?

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0867QY8W2/
Entangled: https://entangledpublishing.com/artic-bite.html
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/arctic-bite-n-j-walters/1136703731
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/arctic-bite
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/arctic-bite/id1504086378

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:
Website: https://www.njwalters.com
Blog: https://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Sign Up: https://eepurl.com/gdblg5
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

UPDATE: The winner is…Pansy Petal!
*~*~*

My degree is in Costume Design and Construction, so I make the BIG MONEY! Just kidding, but you knew that already. What I love about costuming, especially on a big scale with a small budget, is just how creative you have to be.

I guess, when you look back at my life, my passion has been in the arts. I was a type-A student for the academics stuff, but I loved the arts. As I grew older, it wasn’t just being a dancer or an actress, the background/technical theater “stuff” became my new focus.

Now, I never made a living as a costumer, but when my son was in middle school, they did a small scale production of Pirates of Penzance. There was already a costumer on the show, but I enjoyed finding cheap alternatives for costumes… and that continued on into my son’s high school years. When they did a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I had a blast!

But I also had a huge headache!

How do you take $600 dollars and make a complete production with one seamstress (me) and my costume assistant (my son)? Well, my mother’s curtains became Peaseblossom’s bodice and hood, a bag of ripped T-shirts from Goodwill were cut into leaves for Oberon’s costume so he could hide as part of the forest…and on and on…

But my biggest “make it work” moment was Bottom’s donkey head. It started out as a random concept of putting foam on a hat and then adding the “skin.” So out I went to get foam scrap, some super glue, a yard of grey felt, and a few random odds and ends.

I had to chop the foam and stick it here and there on the baseball cap from my son’s peewee days, and then carve away the mound of foam until it looked like a donkey head. It’s a random, learn-as-you-go process, but that head cost me less than ten dollars and it was a complete labor of love…and creativity.

Now, why am I telling you all of this?

Well, writing a short story, for me, follows the same process.

Get the idea, gather some parts (plot points), and start adding in the magic. For the First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology I started with the idea…a rescue.

Firefighters. Good one.

Oh, a firefighter rescuing a firefighter. Okay…then what?

Rival firehouses? Okay…that’s good for conflict!

Maybe they knew each other in the Academy? And they were almost a thing? Okay, okay, keep it coming. And now that he…no, now that she pulled his hot ass from the frying pan…oh…someone’s getting lucky! Oh, wait! No, they both are!

Once I had those pieces together, I realized I needed more pieces. I went to a talk done by Kristin Higgins’ husband about firefighters, and when I asked him for his advice about what kind of an accident would require time off but not endanger his job or career, he answered and I’m so grateful.

All of this for a short story?

Yep! Absolutely! And writers? We do it over and over again. It’s a rush, it’s a drudge, it’s a crazy random happenstance sometimes! So, here’s hoping you’ll order your copy of First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology and discover the rollercoaster that I took Webb & Gina on!

You’ll also see them in my Center City First Responders Series! So make friends with them now!

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you’ll enter the giveaway, too!

Contest

Sometimes, we have to create on the fly. A missing ingredient in a recipe. Or a Halloween costume created from some bedsheets and bungee chord? Tell me what’s a moment that made you celebrate your own creativity!!

Win your choice of one of my books, like Justice for Sloane!

UPDATE: The winners are…ALL 5 commenters!
*~*~*

Thanks for having here today to talk about the box set reissue of The Anthem Trilogy from Pride Publishing. This is a real pleasure for me, as the Anthem books are very close to my heart. I spent the best part of three years working on the trilogy, and the characters became part of the family for that time.

My original plan was to write one big novel, but I realized very quickly that would be commercially impossible. No romance publisher would take a 600-page book at that time, and instead, I set about telling Daniel and Elijah’s love story across three books. I always plan my books in advance, working out all the character and plot details, and that was even more important when telling such a big story. The three novels are thrillers as much as romances, and I had to make sure that all the elements fit in place before I began.

But at the heart of everything is Daniel and Elijah. I love these guys. They meet in the first book while working on a luxury cruise ship. Daniel is a singer, Elijah a comedian, and they hit it off right away, but it’s far from smooth sailing for this pair. Across the three years in which the story takes place, I put them through hell. The guys get caught up in a horrific storm at sea, murder, betrayal, and revenge.

The timing of this reissue is kind of fitting, too. I should have been on a cruise right now, but like everyone else, those plans are on hold indefinitely. So why not join Daniel and Elijah onboard the Atlantic Anthem and take a trip to sea with them? It will be a bumpy voyage, but definitely worth the risk.

THE ANTHEM TRILOGY

1. Anthem of the Sea
2. Anthem of the Dark
3. Anthem of Survival

When Daniel Blake meets Elijah Mann the attraction is instant. Handsome and talented, they are immediately drawn together. The perfect men for each other. Daniel has never been in love before. Most of his adult length has been focused on his career, first in a failed boy band, before cutting his teeth on the cabaret circuit and finally finding success on a TV talent show. At twenty-nine, he’s achieved more than most. The time is right to focus on his personal life. Tall, dark, sexy and funny, Elijah has it all and Daniel can’t resist him.

But a figure from Daniel’s past comes back into his life just as he meets Elijah. Jealous, bitter and twisted, Oliver Gill has never forgiven Daniel for his success. A success that was rightfully his. Fueled by hatred, Oliver’s actions set in motion a catastrophic chain of events that have far retching consequences for Daniel and Elijah, a threat not just to their happiness, but to their lives.

GET IT NOW:
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Pride Publishing
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

Contest

Comment for a chance to win one of THREE copies of the ANTHEM TRILOGY!

About Thom Collins

Thom Collins is the author of Closer by Morning, Gods of Vengeance, Silent Voices and the Anthem Trilogy. His love of page-turning thrillers began at an early age when his mother caught him reading the latest Jackie Collins book and promptly confiscated it, sparking a life-long love of raunchy novels. He is currently working on a new series.

Thom has lived in the North East of England his whole life. He grew up in Northumberland and now lives in County Durham with his husband and two cats. He loves all kinds of genre fiction, especially bonk-busters, thrillers, romance and horror. He is also a cookery book addict with far too many titles cluttering his shelves. When not writing he can be found in the kitchen trying out new recipes. He’s a keen traveler but with a fear of flying that gets worse with age, but in 2013 he realized cruising is the best way to see the world.

Check out his website for news updates and a free ebook The Night!

Links:
Website: www. thomcollins.co.uk
Twitter: @thomwolf
Instagram: ThomCollinsAuthor
Email: thomcollinsauthor@aol.com

I have a confession to make, one which likely shows what a sheltered life I’ve lived:

Last year, I discovered that tentacle sex was… a thing. And as I shared my shocked wonder with my fellow author pals, their response was always a shrugged “Oh, yeah, Hentai. It’s been around for a long time.”

*blink*blink*picks jaw off floor*

So, it would seem that the Japanese tentacle erotica, which falls under the category of Hentai, essentially anything that isn’t human-heterosexual-twosome-sex in both the Japanese and English language, has been around since as early as 1814 when a Japanese artist depicted a woman having “relations” with two octopuses in his “Dream of a Fisherman’s Wife.”

Honestly, I shouldn’t have been shocked. After all, the 80s were my formative years, and the movie Better off Dead starring John Cusack was when I learned the difference between covering a love interest with testicles versus tentacles. However, my mind was blown upon the discovery of Hentai, specifically tentacle sex, for two reasons:

1) As a romance author, I thought I fully grasped the breadth and depth of what turns people on (obviously, I didn’t). And,
2) As a Sci-fi Romance author, this opened a whole new area of possibility when crafting my characters and worlds.

Turns out, an old dog can learn new tricks, and I put the knowledge in my back pocket, anticipating an opportunity to use it. That’s when Delilah’s Boys Behaving Badly Anthology call for submissions came. So I played with the concept of tentacles and had a blast doing it. You can read the result in Delilah’s upcoming anthology, currently on pre-order (links below, in case you haven’t already one-clicked).

I hope you like the story about spaceport bar owner, Lorlii Atarga and Fire Force Captain Roark Trekker!

Excerpt from “The Siren’s Song”

While verbal sparring, especially the joking innuendos, with Roark was entertaining, she’d give a bottle of rare Carhind’n Rum to change that into a physical tussle. But how to transition to a more climactic sort of ribbing? She was hornier than a bayhar and ready to ignite with little more than a smooch of his full lips. Her sexual drought had lasted several months at this point. No one seemed interested in her, outside of her mixology skills and Twofer Tuesday specials. A little attention from a handsome man that didn’t involve anything shaken, stirred, or two fingers neat…

Lorlii swallowed hard at the thought of what Roark could do with a couple of fingers. He’d never know, but he starred in all her masturbation fantasies.

First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology Pre-Order links:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086JBGW7W/
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/first-response-7
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1136763722?ean=2940162803409 https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Delilah_Devlin_First_Response?id=o5HZDwAAQBAJ&hl=en_US
https://books.apple.com/us/book/first-response/id1505242080

About the Author

Ava Cuvay writes out of this world romance featuring sass and sex set in a galaxy far, far away. She resides in central Indiana with her own scruffy-looking nerfherder and tween kiddos. When not writing, Ava is thinking about writing. Or wine. And she’s always thinking about bacon.

https://avacuvay.com
https://www.facebook.com/AvaCuvayAuthor/

An interesting thing happened the other day. (No, this has nothing to do with the six hours my son recently spent in the ER but if you’d like to hear the whole crazy hopefully never to be repeated saga, let me know).

I’m nearing the end of my latest hot romance and was barreling ahead getting closer and closer to the climactic scene, when suddenly, I couldn’t get a single word to stick on the monitor. I spent an entire day finding other things to do and was giving myself mental kicks. I tried on an excuse I’ve used a lot of lately, specifically, that an offspring’s health was of primary importance. But he’d recently gotten some good medical news, and I’d felt a surge of creative energy. I wanted to write. I NEEDED to. Riding high on that energy, I wrote for about a week only to hit a wall. Why couldn’t I find a single workable word to come off my fingers? Browbeating myself, I spent the evening staring at the TV.

The next morning while in the shower, something started knocking on my brain. This has happened enough times that I know to pay close attention. I swear my muse lives in the shower. As I ran up the water bill, it came to me. A simple thing really. No need to start the danged book over. Without realizing what I’d done, I’d taken a minor character in a direction that didn’t fit. My narrative about his background was all wrong, nothing my h/h could springboard off. Yes, it was a fascinating story, and one I’d like to explore, but it had nothing to do with helping my h/h get to know themselves and each other.

Fixing said minor character was a simple matter. I needed to jettison his hang-ups and give him new ones that would dovetail with the main storyline.

I deleted a couple of hundred words and replaced them with superior ones my h/h are more than happy to hang their hats on. They can relate to said minor character because they now see themselves in him.

Well duh, Vonna, you’ve been at this writing game to know all the pieces of a story need to fit together. No going off on unrelated tangents regardless of how pretty they appear.

Tomorrow for sure I’ll write THE END.

Then after edits I’ll start the journey again. That’s how this writing gig works.

P.S. I’ve been pimping a couple of spanking stories I self-published, but it’s time for a change. Carnal Days is as dark as I’ve ever gone. I gave it a BDSM label, but that really isn’t what this story about a sex slave training facility is. There’s no HEA. Instead, it documents a new reality for a woman caught in a world not of her making.

A Dark Thriller: Carnal Days

A commanding man hires Carnal Incorporated to provide him with a pleasure-trained submissive woman who will see him as her master.

Two experienced Carnal operatives capture quiet, beautiful Shari Isle. It’s more than a job for the pair of trainers. There’s nothing they’d rather do. The reclusive artist is forced into a world of restraint, lessons, revelations, and unrelenting sexual stimulation.

Shari has no choice except to submit, but it’s far from a nightmare. Day by day she slips deeper into the dark lifestyle she’s been forced into. Far from being horrified by her new reality, she opens herself to the reality of being owned and used. She obeys, not simply because she has no choice, but because the dark side of BDSM is so seductive.

Her time at the training facility ends, and she’s delivered to a dominant man haunted by demons he has no intention of ever sharing. Escape and freedom for Shari? Impossible. Life with a powerful man who sees her body as his playground? Yes.

Carnal Days taps into many women’s fantasies about giving up control. That’s the keyword, fantasy. In no way does Vonna condone such behavior in the real world. She writes escapism for a mature audience.

Get your copy here!