Welcome 2010!

The Big Christmas Feed

Welcome to our Big Christmas Feed from RSPCA on Vimeo.

Donate to the Big Christmas Feed!

It's getting a bit late to sort out Christmas now, so instead of late gifts and cards, I've made a donation to the RSPCA's Big Christmas Feed. Winter is a tough time for abandoned animals, and in this recession the situation is infinitely harder.

My own beloved cats Kuffer, Alice and Mulder will be warm and well fed over Christmas, but the RSPCA is doing its best to take care of the animals who aren't quite so lucky.

Donate to the Big Christmas Feed!

Is it or isn't it?

Bit of a mystery... Is SHADOWPLAY available in the US as an ebook or isn't it?

It's definitely available in the UK, although as far as I can tell, only from the Random House site, in epub format.

SHADOWPLAY - UK EBOOK

Now, that link says it's only for download in the UK. However, the lovely folk are All Romance Ebooks have Shadowplay listed for sale in epub format, with a price in dollars, so I assume that US readers are able to purchase and download it there.

SHADOWPLAY - US EBOOK

I may be missing something here, but it almost seems as if somebody doesn't really want people to buy this book in a digital form, because it's not listed at the UK Waterstones or W H Smiths ebook stores, and nor is it listed at the major US ebook outlets either.

Me, I'd love my books to be available in ebook form, because more and more readers are preferring ebooks over print books. Although I'll probably read some print books myself for years to come yet, I'm also going digital, because I read some titles on my Palm T3 and have now got a second hand Sony PRS-505 e-reader that I hope to start building up a library on soon too.

SHADOWPLAY - oldie but goodie reviews

The new reprint of SHADOWPLAY is out today [allegedly].

Shadowplay was originally published back in 1999 and I had a lot of fun writing it back in the day. I'm not sure how it's weathered the test of time, as I've grown a helluva lot as a writer in the intervening years... but back then, when it was originally published, I did get a couple of very nice reviews for it.

So, with many thanks to Kathee and Hazel, here they are:

TWO 1999 REVIEWS OF SHADOWPLAY

You know my name!

Yes, I've finally received word that SHADOWPLAY has actually been reprinted and it does have my name on the cover! And the very helpful Kelly is hoping to be able to circulate the proper cover image to the various online booksellers.

A word of warning though... It says on the cover 'an erotic romance' and really, I don't think it is one. It'd be more accurate to say that it's erotica for women, with some romantic elements. It certainly isn't centred on a one man, one woman, mutually exclusive relationship. In fact, it's pretty shagathonic to be honest!

Anyway, it'll be out on the 8th December, so judge for yourself. :)

Read excerpt

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Naughty Bits 2 - coming in March 2010

This beauty is due out in March 2010! It contains my story CHANCE OF A LIFETIME and a bunch of other great Spice Brief stories including Caught in the Act by my buddy Saskia Walker!

Naughty Bits 2 - Amazon.co.uk

Naughty Bits 2 - Amazon.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

INESCAPABLE!

My fabulous writing friend SASKIA WALKER has a spiffing new book out today! For full details and a hot excerpt, visit her blog.

INESCAPABLE

THE RETREAT available at Fictionwise

Wahey, my short BDSM erotic romance novella THE RETREAT is now available at Fictionwise!

Here's the blurb:

Ben Chambers is the perfect boyfriend, the perfect lover, the perfect man. Sarah adores him, but she knows that despite the deliciousness of their lovemaking, their shared interests, and the fun they have together, there's a certain special something missing in their relationship. And then, arriving for a hedonistic weekend of luxury at an English country house hotel, something happens that changes everything between them. A momentary, inconsequential pat on the bottom opens the door to a breathtaking world of daring and transgressive sexual pleasure...and forges a bond that's both profoundly physical and a melding of their souls.

Available at Fictionwise in a variety of file formats.

ps. if you fancy Edward Norton in The Illusionist, you'll like Ben... ;)

It's that night again...

Yes, I'm still alive...

Sorry I've not been posting here much lately. I seem to be exceptionally busy at the moment, doing nothing much. Weird that, isn't it? The days seem to fly by and I don't have much to show for them, most of the time... Think it's the cooler weather, and a cold I had that seems to have induced a lingering lurgi... sigh...

Anyway, thought you would like to see the magnificent photo of Kuffer, that I took a couple of days ago. He's the King of Demented Poses, and even at his advanced age, he still manages to score high marks for artistic interpretation. :)

So, what have I been doing, apart from drifting about in a stupor and spending too much time on Twitter?

Before I throw myself commitedly into writing IN THE FLESH, my Victorian opus for Spice, I've been attempting to dream up a few ideas for shorter works, probably ebooks. At the moment, I'm grappling with a story that's about a fallen angel type character... Am not sure about the precise details of who or what he is, I'm just playing it by ear and trundling along with the writing. Which may or may not be a mistake, because I've a feeling I should have planned it out better first, and worked out some kind of mythos for my gorgeous angelic character. All I know for certain is that he bears a startling resemblance to a certain 'consultant' who helps the police with their enquiries in my current favourite cop show... ;)

Mmm.... sigh... yum yum...

Latest releases from PDC

My three Risqué Reunions Spice Briefs - TWICE THE PLEASURE, SECOND TIME AROUND and NO LONGER FORBIDDEN are now available rolled together as one spiffing audiobook from Audible.com


NO LONGER FORBIDDEN is now available in the UK from the lovely Mills & Boon Ebook Store. Which means all my Spice Brief titles are now available over here, yippee!


My story FIREWORKS INSIDE is published in the Black Lace anthology SEXY LITTLE NUMBERS #1 - now available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and here's how the wonderful Ashley Lister describes my story:

‘Fireworks Inside’ is an exquisitely erotic romp from the high-priestess of erotica: Portia Da Costa.

It's a bit sad to be the high priestess of a dead religion... but hey, what can you do when a publisher decides they want to suspend your imprint? :(

I'm still here!

Sorry this blog hasn't been updated lately. Useless, aren't I? But I have been busy working on new book proposals and developing ideas for novellas and stories. Hope to start blogging again soon and posting bits and pieces of news. Nothing particularly mega on the horizon, just updates on writing that's already in the pipeline.

Second time around for SECOND TIME AROUND!

Look what's available at the Mills and Boon site today!

SECOND TIME AROUND

Ooh la la!

This morning I was searching the net for some old Portia pix, and to my surprise, I happened on the lovely cover above, one I'd never seen before and had no knowledge of... Wasn't sure what it was at first, but seeing the Spicy logo in the bottom right corner, it dawned on me that it's my first ever Harlequin story IN PRINT!

Yes, it seems that CHANCE OF A LIFETIME is part of a French print anthology of Spice Briefs, along with stories by Lillian Feisty, Kit Tunstall and Charlotte Featherstone.

So if you'd like to read these stories in French, Confidences is available from Amazon France.

Wonderful review for KISS IT BETTER!

Am delighted to announce another super review for KISS IT BETTER, this time from Wendy the SuperLibrarian! It's a really thorough, thoughtful and balanced review and gives readers a great snapshot of the book.

SuperWendy reviews KISS IT BETTER

Many thanks, Wendy!

In ALISON'S WONDERLAND!

I'm thrilled to announce that a short story of mine in the line-up of a spiffing new anthology from Harlequin Spice. Edited by the amazing Alison Tyler, it's called ALISON'S WONDERLAND and it'll be out in July 2010. The theme is modern day fairy tales, and the roster of authors is jaw-droppingly illustrious...

The Red Shoes (Redux) by Nikki Magennis
Fool’s Gold by Shanna Germain
The Three Billys by Sommer Marsden
David by Kristina Lloyd
Managers and Mermen by Donna George Storey
The Clean-Shaven Type by N.T. Morley
The Midas F*ck by Erica DeQuaya
Sleeping with Beauty by Allison Wonderland
Unveiling His Muse by Portia Da Costa
Always Break the Spines by Lana Fox
An Uphill Battle by Benjamin Eliot
Moonset by A.D.R Forte
Mastering Their Dungeons by Bryn Haniver
A Taste for Treasure by T.C. Calligari
The Broken Fiddle by Andrea Dale
The Cougar of Cobble Hill by Sophia Valenti
Wolff’s Tavern by Bella Dean
Slutty Cinderella by Jacqueline Applebee
Kiss It by Saskia Walker
Let Down Your Libido by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Dancing Shoes by Tsaurah Litzky
Gold, On Snow by Janine Ashbless
After the Happily Every After by Heidi Champa
Cupid Has Signed Off by Thomas S. Roche
The Walking Wheel by Georgia E. Jones
Rings on My Fingers by Alison Tyler
The Princess by Elspeth Potter

I'm beginning to feel like a real 'Spice Girl' now...

7 Spice Briefs published/to be published
2 book deal for full length novels
Contributor to Naughty Bits 2
Contributor to Alison's Wonderland

*Still* think I must be dreaming all this!!!

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Eating: cheap choc bix
Watching: Upstairs downstairs/Poirot
Reading: The Last Bachelor - Betina Krahn
Writing: not much of anything
Feeling: OK, but missing himself who's trudging the WW2 battlefields of Europe

Hey, hey, hey! Another PDC for sale at Mills& Boon!

Most exciting and thrilling! Another of my Spice Briefs - TWICE THE PLEASURE - has been picked up for sale at the Mills and Boon Website, as well as the Harlequin one!

As Twice is the first part of the Risque Reunions trilogy, I'm hoping that the other two will also appear at M&B! Fingers crossed, eh? :)


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Eating: chocolate crunch creams
Watching: LOCI
Reading: Beyond Innocence - Emma Holly
Writing: sexay butler
Feeling: okay

KISS IT BETTER - out today in the US

Blurb

Pleasure with a perfect stranger…

Jay Bentley is a man with issues. Haunted by physical and psychological demons, he seeks solace and sexual oblivion in the pursuit of an exquisite erotic daydream from his youth, and the reality of a woman who has illuminated his inner fantasies since a brief meeting years ago.

Sandy Jackson has always known that a certain magic is 'missing' from her life. She's feisty and philosophical, but her dreams are filled with heated images of a handsome Prince Charming she once encountered, a man who will kiss everything better and thrill her with glorious, dangerous pleasure.

But the past is an illusion, and the present fraught with conflict and uneasy compromise… can two passionate lovers reconcile their differences and slake their burning sensual hunger for each other in a wild and daring liaison?

Excerpts here and here

Available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Another great review for KISS IT BETTER!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Win a Portia Prize at Lauren's Pad today!

For a chance to win a fun Portia Da Costa prize today, zip on over to the fabulous Lauren Dane's Blog and leave a comment.

Lauren has been doing a month long competition, LAID BARE WITH FLAIR, to celebrate the 4th August release of her sensational, sizzling new release from Berkley Heat. LAID BARE is red hot contemporary romance with elements of menage and BDSM. I've not yet had the pleasure of reading it, but it sounds delicious!


My contribution to the festivities is a cute Yorkshire Rose Tote Bag, containing 2 Black Lace novels of the winner's choice, from my available backlist. As Black Lace will no longer be published after the end of this year, these might become collectors' items, so please do enter. :)

Another incentive to visit and comment is a tantalizing excerpt of my book that comes out on 4th August in the US! It's the bit in KISS IT BETTER where Sandy, the heroine, first gets to chat up a mysterious, sexy and dangerous looking man who's been watching her...

Laid Bare with Flair Contest Day 29! | Vixenwriter
http://www.laurendane.com/blog/2009/07/31/laid-bare-with-flair-contest-day-29/ [more]

Two thoughtful pieces on Black Lace

Here are links to two excellent blog posts on the end of Black Lace. One by Michelle Buonfiglio at the Barnes and Noble Heart to Heart Blog and one by Lisabet Sarai at the Erotica Readers and Writers Association Blog. Both ladies are far more eloquent than I could ever be on the subject. :(

KISS IT BETTER, my last ever new Black Lace novel, will be available on 4th August in the US.

Click here to read an excerpt.


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Eating: Dark Chocolate Cadbury's Fingers
Watching: Upstairs, Downstairs
Reading: Beyond Innocence - Emma Holly
Writing: working on my sexy butler novella
Feeling: under the weather

NO LONGER FORBIDDEN now available at Fictionwise!

Yeehah! NO LONGER FORBIDDEN is now available at Fictionwise, for those of you who like to shop there for your ebook purchases!

And here's a link to a tasty excerpt if you like to try before you buy! :)


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Eating: nectarine
Watching: poldark
Reading: beyond innocence - emma holly
Writing: story/novella, mentalist inspired
Feeling: still gutted about Black Lace

Look at this, eh?

This is the widget for CHANCE OF A LIFETIME... from the MILLS AND BOON SITE!!!!

Yes, I have a book on sale from Mills & Boon, my dream publisher since the late 1980s. Being published by Harlequin was a sumptuous sundae of utter deliciousness, but this placement on the M&B site is the succulent cherry right on the top of that achievement. Colour me utterly chuffed! :)

In other, far less appetising news, my other publisher Black Lace, is apparently going 'on hold' for the time being, according to this piece in the online Bookseller. Us authors don't know any more than this at the moment, alas, but it don't look good. :(
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Eating: cheap chocolate biscuits
Watching: history channel
Reading: Beyond Innocence - Emma Holly
Writing: sexay butler novella
Feeling: sad about Black Lace, happy about Spice

RISQUE REUNIONS... final instalment!

NO LONGER FORBIDDEN, the final story in the Risque Reunions trilogy is out today!

Ten years ago, when she was nineteen, Annette Fraser was wracked by a huge crush on her math teacher, Nicholas Laurence. In her heart, she knew her feelings were true, and that Mr Laurence reciprocated them, but his strict ethical code forbade him revealing his emotions, and her natural good sense prevented her from doing anything silly. Ten years later, and never having found a love such as she felt for her handsome, cultured teacher, she looks forward to meeting up with him again at a school reunion as adults and equals. But unfortunately fate has dealt Nicholas a painful blow. Badly injured in a car crash, but now recovered, he still bears the scars. Annette’s love is undiminished, and on seeing her, Nicholas knows his feelings are also unchanged, and more intense now that their love is no longer taboo.

Read an excerpt

Available from eHarlequin, Books on Board and Amazon Kindle

But if you want to know the full story of what happens at the Walton Wood High School ten year reunion... you need to read the other instalments too!

TWICE THE PLEASURE

Ten years after leaving Walton Wood High School, Caitlyn Green still has a crush on the class heart-throb she yearned for in her final year. Organising the catering for a school reunion seems to be a great, non obvious way to meet Drew Hartley again, and either finally hook up with him or get him out of her system for good. The trouble is, back in the day, Drew was always hanging with his buddy, Steve… and ten years later, the two men are closer than ever.

Read an excerpt

Available from eHarlequin, Fictionwise, Books on Board, Sony Ebook Store and Amazon Kindle

SECOND TIME AROUND

Sweethearts from their schooldays and wed too young, Willa Riley and James Adams, are now separated due to marital stresses and a different vision for their future together. Some years after their split, Willa attends their school reunion, unsure how she’ll react on seeing James again, but determined not to stay away, like a coward. She’s in for a surprise though. Her formerly diffident ex husband is a transformed, self assured man who’s grown into himself and found confidence in an outdoorsy career that really suits him. Always desirable, he’s ten times as sexy in his dominant, sexually adventurous new persona, and Willa responds to him with renewed passion that astonishes and shocks her. James has the measure of her bossy personality now, and there’s sweet joy for her in the act of submission to her newly masterful husband and the way he punishes her with delicious, loving pleasure-pain.

Available from eHarlequin, Fictionwise, Books on Board, Sony Ebook Store and Amazon Kindle

Hope you enjoy reading these three linked stories as much as I enjoyed writing them!

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Eating: banana
Watching: wimbledon later
Reading: A Hint of Wicked - Jennifer Haymore
Writing: thinking about a novella
Feeling: pleased about Risques

First sighting... NO LONGER FORBIDDEN

Wahey, isn't it hawt?

Due out next Wednesday... excerpt here!


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Eating: cheap chocolate digestive [just one!]
Watching: tennis
Reading: just finished Gorgeous as Sin
Writing: not yet
Feeling: fine

New Release Today!

Ben Chambers is the perfect boyfriend, the perfect lover, the perfect man.

Sarah adores him, but she knows that despite the deliciousness of their lovemaking, their shared interests, and the fun they have together, there's a certain special something missing in their relationship.

And then, arriving for a hedonistic weekend of luxury at an English country house hotel, something happens that changes everything between them. A momentary, inconsequential pat on the bottom opens the door to a breathtaking world of daring and transgressive sexual pleasure...and forges a bond that's both profoundly physical and a melding of their souls.

NB. The Retreat previously appeared as part of the BOUND BRITS anthology.

Available now as an individual story from TOTAL-E-BOUND


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Eating: banana
Watching: Wimbledon stuff
Reading: Gorgeous as Sin
Writing: Victorian novella
Feeling: OK

Super review for KISS IT BETTER!

I've just received a super review of KISS IT BETTER from author, journalist & reviewer LUCY FELTHOUSE!

Here's a snip of what she has to say... "pacy, sexy and the characters are fantastic. As per usual, I found myself wishing I was in the shoes of the female character"

Click here to read the full review


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Eating: fruit
Watching: nothing much
Reading: Gorgeous as Sin - Susan Johnson
Writing: notes and bits various
Feeling: OK

Exciting News!!!!

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been offered a two book contract to write erotic romance novels for Harlequin Spice, the big sister of Spice Briefs, the line of short erotic fiction I've been writing for since last November.

I don't have full details of publication and delivery as yet, but the first book will be the critter I've been calling Victorianoid, which is actually an erotic romance set in the late 1880s, provisionally entitled IN THE FLESH. It's a kind of Victorian 'Indecent Proposal', with a feisty heroine, determined to make the best of a tricky situation she's got herself into, and a hot, sexually voracious, very alpha Victorian gentlemen who takes a fancy to her. I think it's going to be lots of fun!

IN THE FLESH is loosely linked to A GENTLEWOMAN'S PREDICAMENT and A GENTLEWOMAN'S RAVISHMENT which come out back to back as Spice Briefs next Spring!

Not sure yet what the second book of the deal will be... but I'll worry about that when the time comes! :)



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Eating: potato snacks
Watching: Airforce Afghanistan
Reading: various
Writing: nothing today
Feeling: excited!!!!