I've been tinkering with Photoshop Elements

Because I can't resist fiddling with graphics software, I decided to give POWER OF THREE, my menage novella, a fresh new look. Instead of trying to wrangle three people onto the cover, and not really doing any of them justice, I decided to just show the lushly muscular chest of one of the delicious men... ;)

Read the blurb and a naughty excerpt of POWER OF THREE here.

Best laid plans and all that...

Well, so much for my post about goals. So far, this week, I'm failing magnificently at achieving anything! Have half written one blog post, but for the rest of it, am not getting very far...

Sadly it doesn't look as if I'll be publishing IN SEBASTIAN'S HANDS this week, due to a technical hitch. Basically, I forgot, when I got my all new all singing all dancing Win7 64 bit laptopamabob, that some older programs might not work on it. Most things are fine, but dear old Mobipocket Creator just won't play. It worked well on my old system, but because it's a fairly elderly program, it's just not compatible with 64 bit technology. So I've been faffing for hours on end, wrangling various workarounds using online converters and whatnot, but not finding anything completely satisfactory. However...

Just yesterday, I downloaded a program called Jutoh, which I think shows a good deal of promise. I'm still in the early stages with it and cocking things up a lot, but I can see that once I've learned it, it could be a much better way of creating Kindle ebooks and epubs, and lead to me producing a slicker, more aesthetically pleasing job. I'm pretty proud of the books I did with Mobipocket and various online converters, but I think I can do even better with Jutoh. But, I need to put in the hours learning how to get the best from it.

Hence the delay with SEBASTIAN.

So, looks like I need to get my finger out and get on with my goal tasks. The freebie I mentioned will probably be next week now too, but hopefully worth the wait, for those who didn't pick it up before...

Goals for the week - sort of...

Inspired by a chum from Twitter, Maria Smith, I'm going to try and make a goal list for the new week ahead.

First up is to assemble, format and publish a new mini novella. It's called IN SEBASTIAN'S HANDS, and it's what I call a BDSM love story in three acts. In the first story Megan and Sebastian meet at a party and discover that they share a deep seated need to play games of pain and pleasure. In the second story, the two have been together some time, and their relationship is growing richer and more fulfilling... and kinkier than ever with each day that passes. In the third story, Sebastian and Megan are a committed couple, happily looking forward to a long and happy life together, with lots of love, laughs... and spanking.

I'm also planning to set up a super freebie giveaway at Amazon for three days, another story of spanking and BDSM games, for those who enjoy a slice of romantic super perviness. Watch for that mid week. :)

I have three guest blog posts to write by the end of the week. I've done a rough draft of one, and have ideas for two more. So that's a start. Sort of...

Months ago, before I got caught up in work on my second Victorian opus, I stared writing a fun menage a trois romance about a girl who takes a holiday in a sleepy country village, and gets involved with not one gorgeous hunk but two! It's called TEMPTED BY TWO, I'd like to return to that, and write lots more of it. I'm at 20K so far, but it would be nice to make it to 30K at least, although probably not all next week.

I need to plan a bit of promo for my next Spice Brief. A GENTLEWOMAN'S PLEASURE is out on 1st February, the same day as GABRIEL'S NAUGHTY GAME, from one of my writing pals, Madelynne Ellis.

Speaking of Spice Briefs, I'd like to start making some notes for two more of them. THE RED CHAIR and THE WHITE ROOM are #2 and #3 in my Three Colors Sexy trio. The first of these THE BLUE BOOK, comes out in October 2012.

Yikes, I'm going to need to get busy and not mess about too much!

Where is the time going?

Good grief, where is January going? One minute it's Christmas and the next, we're two thirds of the way through January and not a lot to show for it. I can't believe how time flies so fast, as I get older. Just when I need it to slow down a bit. LOL

A lot of the time so far this month has been spent acclimatising myself to my new laptop, and to Windows 7 and various new programs. This is no hardship. I love new tech and I love fiddling with software and learning its foibles. I'm happy with my choice of laptop - a Lenovo Thinkpad - and I've even grown to love widescreen now, after holding out for a long time with 4:3 aspect. The extra acreage is great for things like graphics, especially.

So what's happening in my writing life. Well, I just delivered my second Victorian erotic romance for HQN. This one's called DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH, and it's a wacky conundrum of inspirations, including hints of Downton Abbey and an awful lot of Sherlock Holmes. The hero, Wilson Ruffington is an eccentric genius who can be a bit brusque and capricious, even if his heart is basically in the right place. He's not a detective, but he does have something of Holmes' analytical method about him. He's a scientist and a consulting technologist, a polymath who's brilliant in all areas of learning. The heroine is Adela Ruffington, and she's a second cousin, twice removed of Wilson, a woman who's as unusual in her own way as he is in his. Not exactly a beauty, with a crooked nose due to an accident [Wilson's fault!] and a few faint scars from chicken pox, she's been overlooked on the marriage mart, and being sensual in nature, she's taken control of her own erotic life in a way that's quite radical for a Victorian woman. But she's a New Woman, and member of the Ladies' Sewing Circle, so she's far from an uptight prudish miss.

In other writing news, I've just had word that a couple of my stories are going to appear in the fabulous Alison Tyler's next anthology for Harlequin. More about this as the details firm up, but my two stories are linked, about the same couple, and called COME AT SIX and COME AT NINE.

I've also been very active on the self publishing front, and have two recent titles that you might like to check out.

AN APPOINTMENT WITH HER MASTER - BDSM short story

DARING INTERLUDES - mini anthology of couples go wild stories

If you're in the mood for something wintry there's also FIRE AND ICE, a boss and P.A. story with a cold and very hot erotic twist!

I'm also very excited about my next new release, this time from Carina Press, my first with them. This one is a very risque BDSM erotic romance novella, called INTIMATE EXPOSURE. I hope you'll like its wayward and sexy hero, Red Webster, a roguish photographer with more than one naughty secret. Publication date is 6th February.

A blog post about blogging

As people visiting my blog will know... I'm the world's worst blogger. I used to post quite frequently, and muse on various topics with a semblance of mild intelligence, but nowadays the ideas don't come as easily. I think it must be my advancing age and querulousness. My creativity mostly goes into my fiction writing now, and only springs to life when I switch on my 'dark side' ie. the part of my brain that allows me to tell stories and have mad ideas for characters and bits of plot.

Outside of the dark side, my brain is a very sparsely populated region indeed, an echoing void consisting mainly of health worries, publishing worries, self publishing worries, and questions of what to have for dinner. It's a drifting soup of half formed notions, with odd thoughts about Poirot, Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes floating around in it too, because I watch and read so much stuff about these three fabulous sleuths that they've become more or less permanent residents in the wasteland inside my head, a place where seagulls flap and soar in the near emptiness.

I only blog this particular snippet because I find myself in the position of having not one, not two, but three guest blog posts to write in the next week or so, and I'm desperately trying to coax my 'little grey cells', as Poirot would call them, into some semblance of blogging activity, as opposed to a state of running around the room, and waving their arms about in panic.

It's going to be a reach though... So if anybody has any general tips or ideas for me, do please put them in comments, and I'd be eternally and wholeheartedly grateful. :)

DARING INTERLUDES - 'official' release

It's official release day today for my latest Walk on the Wild Side Books self published title, DARING INTERLUDES.

This is a mini anthology of stories themed around established couples who like to play naughty erotic games with each other, to keep their relationships fresh and exciting. As the title suggests, they're all daring, although some are more daring than others. ;)

In The Concubine, Merry spices up Rick's convalescence by telling him one of her super sexy stories and transporting him to a fantasy kindom where a beautiful and sensually accomplished courtesan lives.

Silver Screen is a walk on the wild side for the heroine when she's compelled to take breathtaking erotic risks at the behest of her wickedly imaginative lover.

Vickie and Terrence both have sexual secrets, and neither quite knows what's going on in the other's head when they're in bed, making love. But one day, Vickie reveals her Naughty Thoughts... and discovers a brand new, thrilling Terrence. A powerful man who likes to play spanking games.

Approximately 10,000 words/22 pages.

NB. these stories have all appeared separately as contributions in the printed anthologies, Obsession, Sweet Confessions and Women in Lust.

You can read a saucy excerpt at my web site and also find links to buy from various ebook retailers.

*** *** ***

And while you're in the mood for some sexy reading, why not check out MINDING AMY, by my writing buddy Saskia Walker? This hot contemporary romance is free to download at Amazon for the next couple of days, so grab it while you can!

Sassy London journalist, Amy Norton, is on the trail of a missing TV celebrity. When her over-protective father hires a bodyguard to accompany her during her investigative work, she’s furious. Things only get worse when she realizes the bodyguard is the guy she mistakenly approached on a blind date the night before. She was all over the man and embarrassed herself, big time. The last thing she wants is to have him obstructing her investigation, gorgeous though he is.

Undercover Investigator, Sebastian Armitage, is amused and fascinated by the situation and sets out to charm the pants off the hot-headed Ms Norton. She is one sexy lady, and he wants her. Before long they embark on a red-hot affair, but how is Sebastian going to point out that she’s going about investigate work the wrong way, while keeping her sweet?

Now available to download for free from: Amazon and Amazon UK

New Year, new laptop

Well, it's a new year, so I thought I would treat myself to a new toy. Well, not exactly a toy, it's a bit of kit essential to my work, as my trusty HP Compaq is now showing its age quite seriously and I don't want it to conk out and leave me stranded. I've been fancying a new Lenovo for quite some time, so I finally took the plunge. This is my first widescreen laptop, and at first I was not sure I liked that, after being with 4:3 screens for so long... but now, I'm beginning to really enjoy the additional acreage and also get used to the new touchpad which seemed a bit odd to start with.

What am I doing with this nice bit of kit? Currently reviewing some rather old stories of mine, with a view to publishing them myself. Naturally, this involves a lot of revamping and polishing. They're not bad, but they were written at a time when I knew far less about my craft than I do now. I thought they were the bee's knees then, but now, I see faults and ways that I can make them shine and live anew for a new decade... well, new millennium in some cases.

So, look out for some new self published releases in the next month or so, when I've brought these stories right up to super shiny 2012 code!

ps. notice how Sherlock and John are keeping an eye on me while I work?

Two from Saskia!

My writing pal Saskia Walker has two great releases out at the moment that you really need to grab!

The first is a brand new Spice Brief, GOING DOWN 

"He was a confident man, subtly commanding, too. Would he be like that as a lover? Yes, I just knew he'd be masterful."

Jennifer hoped she'd meet someone during her six-month stay in Paris, but she didn't expect to find a captivating man like her neighbor Armand Lazare on her very first day. From their initial encounter in their building's antique elevator, he makes her feel wanton, excited and unexpectedly aroused by the way he takes control. But as much as this new desire unnerves Jennifer, she's even more eager to explore it—with Armand as her master....

More information here

The second is a hot free read, FORBIDDEN, exclusively available at Amazon.

Emmanuelle Forsythe is the daughter of a lord, but she's embarking on a secret, forbidden affair with her father's estate manager, Jacob Finch. Jacob is as much a slave to their mutual desire as she is, even though he has been warned off.

On the night of her twenty-first birthday party, while the banker who her parents want her to marry is ensconced with her father, Emmanuelle defies her family's expectations by escaping to make love with Jacob in the gardens. Her behavior is decadent and passionate, a brief taste of something magical that she believes she can never truly own. But Jacob wants more than one night and asks her to keep seeing him, whatever the consequences.

More information here

Why not treat yourself to these two and shake off the post Christmas blues?

FAR FROM PERFECT - print edition out today!

My contemporary romance FAR FROM PERFECT is released as a print book today! I've received my author copies and they are lovely and shiny and beautifully produced, so if you prefer the feel of a traditional paper book in your hands, now's the time to indulge yourself. :)

Here's the blurb:


Enduring passion, turbulent emotions, and an engagement of convenience…

Four years ago, Anna Felgate seduced Nick Lisitano, a family friend she’d known all her life and always had a crush on. It was only supposed to be a one night thing, and the chance to lose her virginity with an experienced older man and legendary lover… but one taste of passion with Nick branded her soul for all time.

Four years ago, Nick Lisitano had a single night of peerless lovemaking with the one beautiful young woman he’d told himself he could never, ever have. Scarred by his parents’ nightmare relationship, he’d sworn off commitment forever in favour of temporary liaisons, but he knew Anna deserved deep, enduring love.

A far from perfect match, the two agree to forget their ecstatic night and manage to maintain a cordial distance for four long years. Until a family crisis brings the two of them together again and Nick makes a daring proposition… that they enter into a temporary façade of an engagement, to lift the spirits of his dangerously ill father. Against her better judgement, Anna goes along with him, even in spite of the perilous emotional turmoil that she knows being close to Nick again will bring.

But with genuine feelings for each other, and a volcanic mutual attraction that’s just bursting to reignite, can Nick and Anna keep to the terms their pragmatic agreement? Or will the passion of past become a present affair… and maybe more?

Click here to read an excerpt of FAR FROM PERFECT and check out buying links at various outlets.

Of course, if you like a digital version better, there are also links to buy the ebook in various formats from various vendors.