UPDATE: The winner is…BN!
*~*~*

This is a big month for me. For the first time I can remember, I have two new books releasing barely a week apart!  My book, DREAM RIDER, arrives today, and the SILVER SOLDIERS: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology is a fast follower on May 9 with my contribution, “Star Diplomacy.” Both of my stories are about other-worldly protectors—one in the dream world and the other in a distant galaxy. That’s where the similarities end, to be honest. 😊 I’m a writer who likes to mix things up.

DREAM RIDER is the third book in my Dream Weavers series. I’m thrilled to get back into the dream realm with its sexy Oneiros brothers and the sleep raiders they fend off to protect the sleepers under their care. The hero of this book is the adventurous Zane that readers loved so much in the first two novels.

DREAM RIDER

As a Dream Weaver, Zane Oneiros isn’t supposed to hitch rides on the dreams of his charges, but he can’t help himself when the dreamer is Emily Hutchins. Beautiful Emily is his work friend, but in her dreams, Zane wonders if he can find more. When they share a kiss, everything changes. Cautious Emily becomes more daring, and Zane worries that meddling with her dreams may be the cause. Soon he’s battling to get the old Emily back and make their shared dreams turn real, not the nightmares.

DREAM RIDER is available on Amazon and is part of the Kindle Unlimited program.

Hot on its tail, SILVER SOLDIERS arrives.  I was so excited when Delilah chose my story, “Star Diplomacy“, to be included in this anthology. It allowed me to wrap up some unfinished business from my stand-alone Sci Fi romance, FALLING STARS. See if you can spot the secret about the Maelstromian race that I wasn’t able to include in the longer story. Stone and Misty have a chemistry that’s combustible, and they deserved to have their story told. You’ll need a cold bath after reading about this silver soldier and his match.

Star Diplomacy

With the threat of an interplanetary war looming, a hardened military negotiator must find a way to connect with the beautiful ambassador for the enemy.

Happy reading, everyone! ~Kimberly

Contest

To celebrate, I’m giving away a free download of the audiobook for DREAM MAN, the first book in the Dream Weavers series. Leave a comment on this blog post to be entered. The winner will be chosen by Delilah at random.

UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallans!
*~*~*

Psst! This blog is doing double-duty—also appearing over on the Delilah’s Collections website! Comment in both places for a chance to win! There are two prizes! And while you’re there, be sure to check out the posts and prizes from previous days!

May is nearly here, and it’s the final stretch of the school year. Even as merely a substitute teacher, I’m feeling very much the “What’s my Name? Who am I?” brain fatigue. And it’s also lacrosse season, which takes up the rest of the waking hours for my family. All of which is really too boring to blog about (and I’m honestly not sure I could cobble a cohesive blog together on any of those topics)… but the upcoming release of the Silver Soldiers: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology *is* something to talk about!

I’m thrilled to be part of this anthology! I’ve had a short story included in the past two anthologies, and it’s a treat to be in the company of such creative, masterful writers, and to see the variety of ideas that stem from a simple phrase such as “Silver Soldier” or “First Responder.”

I recently celebrated publishing my seventh book in seven years (not including an array of short stories in various anthologies, or the three children’s books I’ve written and illustrated). It’s easy enough to look at the company I keep with the other authors in this anthology and get depressed at my own slow progress… comparison can do that to a person. But this is one of the reasons I love the Romance community: we cheer each other on and remind each other that every step forward is cause for celebration.

So, I continue my writing progress, however slow-and-steady it may be. Because I love to write. And I love to tell the stories bouncing around in my brain, which lean toward futuristic, fantastical, or in a galaxy far, far away. I’m born and bred in a small city in Indiana. We have corn and basketball and the Indy 500. None of which light my fire. But when Star Wars came to the big screen, I was seven… and it rocked my world. My impressionable years were filled with strange creatures, droids with personalities, spaceships, lightsabers, and (of course) the wonderful sexual tension between Han Solo and Princess Leia. My love of aliens and the extraordinary—and falling in love—was solidified.

The upcoming Silver Soldiers anthology hits a little different for me than the previous anthologies. The timing is perfect because I am wrapping up a seasoned-romance, slightly-futuristic cyborg series set in my neck of the woods: Central Indiana. The second in this series, Tin Toy just released in December. The third and final book in this series is Tin Soldier, scheduled to release this August, tells the story of an older-soldier-turned-cyborg, and his love interest who is dealing with breast cancer. This anthology marks the first one where my story actually ties into a full book and series. The challenge was different this time. Everything mattered this time (names, backstory, goal, etc.) because it leads into the rest of the story. Yet I wanted it to have its own decisive HEA for the reader.

Fingers crossed I’ve succeeded!

If you haven’t already pre-ordered the Silver Soldiers anthology, do so today!

Contest: For a chance at a $5 Amazon gift card, what childhood movie was most influential in your life?

About Ava

Ava Cuvay is an award-winning bestselling author of out of this world Sci-fi and Paranormal Romance featuring sassy heroines, gutsy heroes, passion, and adventure… often set in a galaxy far, far away. She resides in central Indiana with her own scruffy-looking nerfherder and kiddos who remind her daily she’s not nearly as cool as she thinks. She believes life is too short to bother with negative people, everything is better with Champagne, and Han Solo shot first. When not writing, Ava is thinking about writing. Or wine. And she’s always thinking about bacon.

Her story inside Silver Soldiers: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology was “SNAFU—Situation Normal, All F***ed Up.”

A sidelined Army cyborg’s only joy is the dimpled smile of a curvy Pentagon admin until she offers him a proposition he should refuse…

When I first get an idea for a story, it usually starts with a single scene. For example, when I came up with the idea for The Fourth State of Matter, I had a scene in my head of a spaceship crashing while two characters are having sex in the control chair, seemingly unconcerned by the chaos happening around them. At this point, the characters didn’t have names or descriptions. I didn’t even know if they were human or alien. In my mind, they were just “male 1” and “male 2”. So, I started by freewriting this scene, giving it as much life as I could without any background information or details. The characters managed to land on a populated asteroid before I had to stop. Then, I stepped back and carefully read over what I had written.

Sometimes, this is where a story’s life ends. If I decide there isn’t enough potential, or if reading over what I’ve written doesn’t spark any more creativity, then I’ll set it aside and move on to a new idea. With The Fourth State of Matter, however, reading over that initial freewriting scene gave me a lot of ideas for how to flesh-out the world and the characters. A whole novel slowly unfolded in my mind just from this opening scene, so I started outlining the story from scratch.

My first step for planning out a full novel is to draw the characters. I’ve found that I can’t write about a character until I’m able to draw them. Not only does this give me an image to work with, but it can have a profound impact on the story itself.

With The Fourth State of Matter, my original plan for the trio was for them to only be a duo. I wanted to write a story about a human character that gets into a relationship with two aliens. However, this changed when I was trying to draw the aliens. Brog’s design came easily, and I could immediately see a backstory for the character on the page. I had an idea to create alien characters that were partially inspired by fantasy creatures. This would give them a sense of mystery and make them seem “larger than life”. Brog is my version of a reimagined mermaid, only instead of a delicate fish-girl, he’s a powerful shark-man.

Then I created a second alien that was a counterpoint to Brog. So, I drew Xavis, whose design is partially inspired by a phoenix. I liked the contrast between an aquatic species and a winged, bird-like species. Yet, it didn’t quite look right. Something felt off. So, I set Xavis aside and tried something new. This time I used a dragon as inspiration and came up with Desmodian. This also provided a good contrast alongside Brog, with a sort of “land and sea” vibe, yet it still didn’t look right.

It was only when I had all three characters on the page, trying to decide which to use, that I realized they looked best altogether. So, the duo became a trio, and the story was altered to fit this change.

Of course, characters are defined by more than just the way they look. It’s also about their personalities. Since the trio already hand a “land, sea, and air” theme going on, I took the symbolism a step further and based their personalities on the first three states of matter. Desmodian is the solid foundation that the group is built on. Silently stubborn and unmovable, he doesn’t react much with the world around him. He puts himself where he wants to be, both literally and metaphorically, and stays there no matter what. Brog embodies a liquid state in the sense that he is more adaptable than Desmodian but still maintains his own boundaries. He’s very reactive to even small disturbances, like a ripple effect, and while he is capable of standing still, he can also become an unstoppable tidal wave when he gets emotional. Lastly, Xavis’s personality resembles a gaseous state because he is the most wild and untamed. He sometimes seems to “have his head in the clouds” like he isn’t entirely grounded. This allows him to be the most creative and versatile member of the trio, but also makes him reliant on the others to keep him on track.

Once I established the characteristics of the trio, and their connection to the first three states of matter, it was a natural conclusion to base Pet on plasma, the fourth state of matter. This is what gave rise to the overall message and theme of the story. Pet’s journey into discovering himself as a person is the primary focus of the story, so I don’t want to spoil anything by explaining too much about how Pet’s character is inspired by plasma. Just know that it is a step-be-step journey that he’s still undergoing. After two books, he’s already come a long way in his personal discovery, but there’s still a much longer journey ahead of him.

UPDATE: The winners are…Julie Andrade, Colleen C, and Debra Guyette!
*~*~*

IGNORE the “Pre-Order” message — it’s LIVE now!

Thank you, Delilah, for letting me come here today! Over a year ago, I was here whining, er, I mean, blogging about the saggy middle of my book “Tin Toy” (click here to read that blog post: https://www.delilahdevlin.com/blog/2021/08/30/ava-cuvay-flabby-middles-giveaway/).

At the time, I was struggling with the storyline and the characters… Nothing seemed to click in spite of my repeated attempts to outline a general direction for it all. I’d re-written the first five chapters half a dozen times; I’d re-outlined the story the same number of times (no small feat for someone who leans more toward pantsing than plotting).

I couldn’t pants this book. Not entirely. It’s the second book in my Silver Cyborg Series, so I couldn’t just let it wander toward an HEA for my two characters and be content. The overarching story from Book One had to continue and advance and get to a point Book Three can take it in for a goal (weak sports-reference here ;-).

Apparently, I couldn’t plot the book, either. So was mired and stagnant.

BUT, then everything finally clicked. The muse hit, the planets aligned…something happened. Honestly, I credit the savage approach I took to the story over this past summer. I shredded the thing. Mercilessly. I switched things around. I cut tens of thousands of words. I turned entire chapters into alternate POVs. I was ruthless: if it didn’t move the story or characters forward, no matter how pretty my prose, I dumped it.

The experience was a lot like a plumbing blockage, to use a crude analogy. Over a year of plugging away (plunging away) to get something moving rather than merely swirling and churning, but I now have a brand new, shiny book. Tin Toy is LIVE TODAY (tosses confetti and blows party horns)!! And I’m already a few chapters into the third book in this series, Tin Soldier. In fact, I have a prelude to Tin Soldier as an entry in Delilah’s upcoming anthology: Boys Behaving Badly: Silver Soldiers. And I’m also working on my second dragon shifter story.

Whatever blockage had my writing stuck, it’s gone, and my writing is finally flowing (and in the right direction)! I gotta admit: I’m very relieved. 😉

 Giveaway

Since I have a brand now shiny book today, I’m giving away three Kindle versions of Tin Toy to random winners that I’ll choose on Monday, December 19^th. Comment with something you struggled with that finally went right for you this past year.

Grin, the hero of my most recent cyborg romance release, is an architect. He designs buildings and oversees their construction. His skills are very much in demand. He enjoys his role tremendously.

His newfound heroine, Mohini, is planning an extremely dangerous mission. The participants won’t likely survive it. They will be venturing deep into enemy territory, possibly facing battle robots and armies of undead warriors. There will be explosions and shootouts and firefights in deep space.

An architect is likely not the first hero anyone would consider for such a daring assignment. (grins)

Grin isn’t a normal architect, however. He’s a cyborg and all cyborgs were trained for battle. Many of Grin’s brethren LOVE fighting. It pleases their design.

Grin doesn’t enjoy fighting. At all. His programming is different. Killing or harming beings gives him no joy.

He will fight, however, to protect the beings he cares for. Grin will do anything to keep his daring female safe, even risk capture by a past enemy and/or death.

That, I believe, makes him even MORE heroic. He is stepping forward when needed, knowing full well he isn’t the perfect candidate for the tasks he’s volunteering to complete.

I suspect you’re the same way. You’ve tackled tasks you had no experience or interest in completing because those tasks had to be done.

Maybe you took care of a child while their parents were ill, rearranging your already busy days to ensure they were tended to and happy.

Or you helped a newcomer to your town find the post office. (That is an extremely stressful task for a direction-challenged person such as myself.)

Or you loaned a much-cherished reference book to a writer, knowing the book might be damaged or you might not get it back.

Or you asked a hard question of a leader, knowing it had to be asked but the leader wouldn’t welcome it.

These are hero moves. You might not be saving the entire world but you ARE saving someone’s world. You’re making a difference in lives and in the universe.

Tell me about your moments of heroism. I want to hear how you’ve stepped forward in the past and helped when it would have been much easier for yourself not to volunteer.

Grin And Bare Him

This cyborg will be the warrior his female requires.

Cyborgs are designed to fight. That is their primary purpose and 98.2356 percent of the manufactured warriors enjoy battle. Tremendously.

Grin, a K model, is one of the rare exceptions. When he escaped his cruel creators, he set down his sword and allocated his processors to less violent pursuits. He projects he’s left his war-waging planet rotations behind him forever.

Then he meets his beautiful, beguiling female, the one being he’s destined to protect, to claim, to love for all eternity, and his plans for peace are completely decimated.

Mohini needs a ship.

She has a dangerous mission to complete and the first step in that assignment is arranging transport to an enemy-controlled planet. The vessel she has set her sights on is guarded by the sexiest cyborg she’s ever seen.

To gain access to his ship, Mohini is prepared to kiss, caress, seduce the muscular male. The mission is her focus. The pleasure she experiences will merely be a bonus.

A female has to do what a female has to do to save the universe.

Grin And Bare Him is a Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.

It features a humanoid female undertaking a dangerous mission, a cyborg intent on keeping her alive, and an enemy with enough firepower to blow up an entire sector.

Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09ZCWMSDV
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09ZCWMSDV
Amazon AUS: https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09ZCWMSDV
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/grin-and-bare-him/id1622100495
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grin-and-bare-him-cynthia-sax/1141413965
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/grin-and-bare-him
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1145153

About Cynthia Sax

USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Sax writes steamy Cyborg, Alien and Contemporary Romances. Her stories have been featured on TV, in Star Magazine, and numerous top ten lists.

Sign up for her dirty-joke-filled monthly newsletter and visit her on the web at www.CynthiaSax.com.
Website: http://cynthiasax.com/
Newsletter: http://cynthiasax.com/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cynthiasax/
Twitter: @CynthiaSax
Blog: http://tasteofcyn.com/

My favorite romance trope of all time is Beauty and The Beast.

One love interest is scarred and surly and believes they are unlovable. The other love interest is beautiful and optimistic and is bursting with love.

They are complete opposites, yet they work. They’re magical together.

I can read this trope again and again, whether it is the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale version or a steamy paranormal romance with a beast shifter in the beast role.

And I write this trope again and again. Each couple (or more) is different because each character is different. They have different histories, different traumas, different ways of withdrawing or hiding themselves from their unique worlds.

Often the beasts in my stories are the heroes. I tend to put myself in the place of the heroine when I read or write and my fantasy is being with the beast.

In Provoking Odium, my latest Cyborg Romance, however, the human heroine claims that role.

Briella is nicknamed Beast for several reasons. She appears fearless, taking on missions deemed too dangerous by others. She is a skilled pilot, a “beast” in the air. No one can fly a freighter through space like she can. She is also scarred, both physically and emotionally. Having been rejected in the past, she now pushes other beings away. She doesn’t allow anyone to get close to her…in any way.

Odium, in contrast, is physically perfect. He’s a cyborg, and they don’t manufacture unsightly cyborgs. (grins) He isn’t, what I would view as, optimistic or sunny in temperament. But he does have quite a few friends and most beings like him.

He wants to claim Briella as his female more than he has ever wanted anything or anyone else. She is his genetic match, and she is also his soul mate.

She’d realize that IF she stopped avoiding him. Odium is persistent and he is determined to care for Briella and protect her. He’s willing to give up his lifespan to do that.

What is your favorite Beauty And The Beast romance?

Provoking Odium

A Beautiful Cyborg

While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.

A Human Female Others Call Beast

Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.

***

Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.

It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.

Buy Today:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS: https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119

About Cynthia Sax

USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Sax writes steamy Cyborg, Alien and Contemporary Romances. Her stories have been featured on TV, in Star Magazine, and numerous top ten lists.

Sign up for her dirty-joke-filled monthly newsletter and visit her on the web at www.CynthiaSax.com.
Website:  http://cynthiasax.com/
Newsletter:   http://cynthiasax.com/newsletter/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/cynthiasax/
Twitter:  @CynthiaSax
Blog:  http://tasteofcyn.com/

I have a new release! It’s sexy, features an ex-Army vampire, and it’s set in post-apocalyptical Texas! What more could you want? Oh right, did I tell you it’s sexy? And not terribly long if you’re looking for a quick afternoon read. Did I mention it’s FREE in KU Unlimited?

I hope you’ll give the story a read, and if you have time, review it. Readers trust other readers…

No Tender Mercy

Read an excerpt | Order your copy here!

Open Contests

1. We’re Dead Horse! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! (Contests–Multiple Prizes!) — Win an Amazon gift card!
3. I love Saturday! Plus, a Puzzle-Contest and More Open Contests! — Win an Amazon gift card!