The Return of Clever Bobby Stone

I'm thrilled to announce that my classic Black Lace title, ENTERTAINING MR STONE, has just been reprinted with a brand new, dramatic cover!

Entertaining Mr Stone is a favourite of mine, amongst my own books, for a number of reasons. When I was writing it, way back in 2004, I tried something of a different kind of voice for me, a story told in first person present, solely from the point of view of the heroine, Maria Lewis. I'd never done this before, but somehow it really worked and I had enormous fun with a new way of storytelling, really getting inside Maria's head and her thoughts and emotions.

I also loved writing the book because it gave me a chance to indulge my fannish passion for a fabulously talented actor who I had a major crush back then [and who I still think is sensational!], the amazing Vincent D'Onofrio. I was heavily into Law and Order Criminal Intent at the time, and I wanted to create a book boyfriend of my own who was somehow an expression of Robert Goren, but at the same time a new and unique character in his own right - a man who was sexy, powerful and dynamic, but not a classic pretty boy hero. Robert Stone is a middle aged man, husky of build, and with a touch of grey in his hair, but he has that certain je ne sais quoi which makes women fall at his feet and tremble at his - very kinky - touch.

Another fun part of the book was that instead of a glamorous international setting... I set the book in a reflection of the locale where I live myself, a medium sized city in the North of England. I also used other things from my own background ie. the specific setting is Borough Hall, a local government office building much like one I used to work in. Alas when I worked there, there was no Robert Stone-alike, and none of the shenanigans that take place in Entertaining Mr Stone... in that respect, the book is pure, escapist fantasy!

And Entertaining Mr Stone also initiated other stories, establishing the time and place for a lot of books that came after it.

In Suite Seventeen Stone and Maria are secondary characters and the Waverley Grange, which first appeared their book, becomes a major setting for not only Annie and Valentino's story, but many books that follow.

In Too Deep is set in the locale of Entertaining Mr Stone, but this time at the Borough Library. Gwendolynne meets Daniel there, but they too spend time at the Waverley Grange.

Another visitor to the Waverley Grange, is Jay Bentley in The Gift, and he and Sandy have many passionate encounters there, when they're not hanging out at her cafe in the small nearby town of Kissley.

The notorious Waverley draws many prestigious visitors, and one of them is handsome kinky billionaire John Smith, who has a piquant encounter with Lizzie Aitchison there, when he mistakes her for The Accidental Call Girl. John and Lizzie's story spans the The Accidental Mistress and The Accidental Bride too, shifting focus to Kissley Magna, the 'posh' end of Kissley, when John buys beautiful Dalethwaite Manor there.

So, Entertaining Mr Stone led to a lot of other things, and I'm pretty sure I'll visit the Borough and its environs again at some time in the future. In the meantime, here's the blurb:

When reforming bad girl Maria Lewis returns to her home town after a career blip she takes a drone job in local government, hope for breathing space and a chance to get her head straight. But the quiet life she was looking for is quickly disrupted by the enigmatic presence of her boss, Borough Director of Finance, Robert Stone. A dangerous and unlikely lust object, Stone touches something deep in Maria's sensual psyche and quickly attunes her to the secret erotic underworld that parallels life in the dusty offices of Borough Hall. 

But the charismatic Director of Finance isn't the only one interested in Maria. Knowing lesbian Mel has designs on the newcomer, and so does cute young techno geek Greg. Human Resources Manager William Youngblood would also like to prise the Borough's latest employee away from the arch-rival for whom he has ambiguous feelings.

Can adventurous Maria find time to experiment with this embarrassment of lovers? As well as entertaining her cool and sexy Mr Stone?

PRINT

Amazon.com :: Amazon.co.uk :: Amazon.ca
Barnes and Noble :: Waterstones

DIGITAL

Kindle: US :: UK :: CA :: AU
Epub: Nook :: Nook UK :: Kobo :: ARe :: Sainsbury's Ebooks :: Waterstones Ebooks
Apple: US :: UK :: CA :: AU



You can read an excerpt of ENTERTAINING MR STONE here.

New Interview

There's a new interview with me up at ERWA at the moment. My friend Ashley Lister - author, journalist, reviewer and all round renaissance man - asked me a few 'Between the Lines' questions about how I create and then re-use characters, especially in my Stoneworld novels.

Between the Lines - Portia Da Costa

For those of you not aware of Stoneworld, it's the fictional northern municipal borough I created around this delicious man... Borough Director of Finance Robert Stone as 'played' by the awesome Vincent D'Onofrio. :)

Some excellent news!

I got home from my jaunt out on Friday to some really exciting news!

WILD IN THE COUNTRY my recent release from hot British epublisher Total-E-Bound is soon to go into print!!!

Wild in the Country was originally published in print in a slightly different version several years ago, but the publisher at the time never did any marketing or promotion for the line, so it pretty much disappeared without a trace on that first publication. Which was a shame, because even though it's not a giant classic of erotic literature, it's a really fun book with lots of rampant bonking and all round kinkery. A light hearted read to cheer you up and make you laugh at its absurdity as much as it turns you on.

Consequently, I'm really glad it's coming back into print again, especially as I know that there are lots of PDC readers out there who tend to prefer an actual book in their hands rather than reading an ebook.

I don't have any details about release date, or price, or where you can buy it yet, but rest assured, as soon as I know, so will you! So watch this space! :)

And a ps. to my fellow Vincent D'Onofrio fans....

Although Wild in the Country was written long before I turned on to our darling Vincenzo, I discovered when I was editing it again that I kept seeing the hero, Drew, as our guy. He's a tall, dark, strapping, gorgeously handsome artist with a wickedly naughty sexual imagination... nuff said! ;)

victorian frolics... and a fun new board

Yesterday and today, I've been working on a long short story/short novella that's set in Victorian times. It's about this rich widow who decides that next time around, she wants her sex life to be a bit more exciting, so seeks advice from a mysterious therapist called 'Madame Chamfort' and gets rather more than she bargained for...

I'm not a historical author as a rule. [Hysterical, yes, but not historical]. So A GENTLEWOMAN'S PREDICAMENT is probably wildly anachronistic and a bit mental into the bargain, but it's been surprisingly entertaining to write. It's originally inspired by a short I wrote sometime back in the actual Victorian age, but I've twisted it and mauled it and improved it and generally shoved a lot more blokes into it. Here's one of them, the whiskery, sturdy, but very naughty/sexy Ambrose... vaguely familiar, you'll note. ;)

I've finished the first draft of this bunch of nonsense, and now it's to go off to my critique partner, and then my agent, then to a nice editor who will hopefully say, 'Portia, you're a genius! I'll take it!'

More nonsensical fantasy there...

And here's something new for fans of Black Lace, whether they be readers, authors, or prospective authors. The fabulous Madelynne Ellis, with a tiny bit of foofery from me, has set up a fandabidosy new Black Lace Chat Board!

Click the ugly logo that I designed in order to visit us and say hello!

some good stuff, no writing...

Here's a new favourite of mine... The nifty show NUMB3RS! I caught a couple of episodes, then missed one, so I decided to treat myself to the boxed set of Season One, and have just had a mini marathon. Obviously, I love me a cop show... but I like the angle on this one. I've always had a thing for cute but extremely brainy men, Detective Goren being the prime example, but I must admit to being rather taken with genius Charlie in this show. He's not my usual type, but he's rather cute and so is his big brother too.

Have now treated myself to Season Two as well... I don't think this will replace my beloved Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and the brilliant Clever Bobby, but just because I love one it doesn't mean I can't like the other show too...

In other news, I managed to get my La Cie Porsche external hard drive to work properly and back up my Documents folder! Wonders will never cease!

It wasn't the drive itself, or the USB driver/card etc, as I'd feared... it was the poxy free backup software supplied with the drive!!! When I downloaded me a decent backup program - Genie Backup Manager - the backup set that I calculated would take around four days with the bundled software actually only took 15 minutes!!!!

So that's good news, innit?


-----------------------
While you're here, please, please, please pop over the the Night Owl Romance Awards and vote for me in the Best Erotic Contemporary Ebook!

If you love you some Portia click here and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE every day until 31st October!

Road Trip

Over at Romance by the Blog today, Bella Michelle's topic is hot, romantic fantasy holidays... where would you go, who would you travel with, and in what car?

Me, well, I think it would be a road trip across France and Italy, taking in Paris, Monaco, Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. My companion, naturally, would be the Divine Vincenzo, and our car would be a 1962 Ford 250GTO, in cherry red. [They only cost $10 million!] See how happy he looks behind the wheel!


Real life? Well, I think a day trip to Scarborough, in a VW Passat with himself, would be nice!

So, where would your total fantasy hot romantic trip be to? And with whom, in what? Answers here... or at Romance by the Blog... or both, if you feel so inclined? :)

--
Telly: Shipwreck Detectives
Choc/Yummy: Lindt Hazelnut
Mood: goodish
Writing: slight tweak Gothic Heat
Reading: Radio Times
RSI/FMS: very, very achy and sore everywhere at the moment


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Hey, look at this!!!!

Isn't this great? I've been given an award by Val, on behalf of Vincent's Vixens for my fiction inspired by the Divine Vincenzo! Isn't this a lovely thing of her to do? I'm thrilled and touched by this... If I'm managing to convey something of the man himself through my fiction for these discerning ladies, I must be doing something right, mustn't I? :)

Hopefully, I'll be more or less back to what resembles normal for me today - after my marathon stay-up and my chatting exploits in the middle of the night... It was fun, but it was bloody hard going staying awake that long, and yesterday, I felt like half doped hell all day. Needless to say, not a word on Gothic Heat got done, and I endured a lot of angst, thinking it was shit and a pointless exercise - probably because I was so tired - but by the end of the day, I'd come back around to it. I also even managed to do a tiny bit of web design work that I have outstanding, so despite my sleep deprived state, yesterday wasn't an entirely lost day...

So, I must get back into gear today... Himself is away for ten days, visiting the WW2 battlefields of Holland and Belgium, and I wanted to spend this time alone, really cracking on with work. Two days of the ten have already elapsed, and I've not achieved much, so I have to kick it up a notch today... or else!

Before I leave, may I ask a question? Authors... what do you think of online chats? Do you enjoy them and find them valuable? Readers... do you enjoy real time chatting with authors? A chance to ask them questions about their books?

--
Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: sort of determined
Writing: thinking about Gothic Heat
Reading: not yet
RSI/FMS: everything knacked by sleep deprivation


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

eyeliner skills and other stuff

Courtesy of the marvellous Eliza, here's a slightly more understated makeup treatment for the Divine Vincenzo! There's a poll over at Lustbites about men and eyeliner, and as dear Vin is on the list, I would imagine there are folks thinking 'Well, I've never seen him wearing full slap in Law and Order Criminat Intent!'... The piccie above is of him playing Cholo, the terpsichorially gifted knife assassin in the movie Naked Tango. The film is pretty rubbish, but Vin is glorious... Can I mention fedoras, sideburns, spats... and of course those smudged and sultry 'smoky eyes'?

All this mucking about with pix of Vin in makeup is, sadly, about the most creative thing I've done today. I woke up in the early hours brooding and fretting over Gothic Heat. Again! The way it works is that I usually feel okay about it when I'm writing it, but when I'm not writing it, I realise how much, at this stage, is totally wrong with it. There are plot elements that I should be expressing, but am completely forgetting to define... It's sort of slow, and a bit muddled, and probably doesn't seem very much like a paranormal erotic romance... it's more like a rather angsty three way relationship tangle type book... I need to think timescale, paranormal plot elements, key characters that need to appear sooner rather than later, central relationship, hero motivations... I've got bits of stuff about all those in, but they really need to be more concrete and far more consistent.

I'll get there, eventually, and hopefully on deadline... but really, this must be the toughest book I've ever written!
--
Telly: British Superbikes
Choc/Yummy: various choc
Mood: troubled
Writing: about 100 words Gothic Heat
Reading: nothing much
RSI/FMS: bit sore


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Many Happy Returns, Baby!

Geez, it must have been one helluva party!!!!

My Red Hot Love Affairs

I'm guest blogging at ROMANCE BY THE BLOG today... on the topic of my red hot love affairs with guys like this...

Why not nip on over and join the fun!

There's a prize for commenters and the chat is already getting v. naughty... :)

ADDENDUM FOR THE BELLAS

plucky British grit and all that...

Yes, I have been working... I managed to do some stuff, even though I didn't actually get dressed today... shock horror! I working the bedroom anyway, but usually I get up and bathe and do my exercise and occasionally go out in the garden or take a walk and all that... Today however, I just lay around a bit, then sat up and started to work. You'll be pleased to know that I'm bathed and in clean clothes now... but it's taken me until tea time to get that way!

And what have I been working on? Gothic Heat, you ask? Nope, haven't done anything on that mutha for a week now, although I do feel that I still actually 'like' it and will be happy to return to it. No, I've been polishing another project/WIP that I originally worked on many, many months ago. It's part of a joint project with another author, and as there's been a slight development on that front [nothing radical, don't get excited!] it was time to dig it out and review it. I was pretty pleased with it at the time, in my own doubtful way, but looking at it after all this time, it was easy to pick out areas for refinement and improvement. I think a gap like this is often very useful, as you can look at a piece with fresh eyes and a different perspective.



Anyway, the hero if this novella is called Red, and he has a beard! Actually he wears glasses too, but I couldn't find a piccie of the divine Vincenzo with both glasses and beard. If anyone happens to have one tucked away on their hard drive, or knows where there is one to be found, do, do, do let me know!!!

Lastly, an important public service announcement...

On Friday I will be a guest blogger at the fabulous ROMANCE: BY THE BLOG... and I'll be posting on the topic of MY LEADING MEN. You don't need a thousand guesses to work out that the above mentioned gentleman will be featuring on that roster, do you?

--
Telly: old films and stuff
Choc/Yummy: one cupcake
Mood: weary
Writing: editing Red's story
Reading: bits and bobs
RSI/FMS: generally poorly


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

All the best people bleach their hair...

Thought I would simply post something pretty today... because I need it!

--
Telly: Agent Cody Banks
Choc/Yummy: miniature carrot cakes with buttercream
Mood: no comment
Writing: none
Reading: none
RSI/FMS: so so


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

A good day...

Despite having not done much writing work... other than futzing about with a short... today has been a very pleasant day.

Got a bit of publication news this afternoon which pleases me mightily. It's another that I can't quite announce yet, because it's not 'official'... but I think I can say safely that it's 'almost certain' that a certain novella I've rabbited on here at length over the months might see the print light of day in 2008. Big smiles!

I was also deliciously tickled over at Romance By The Blog, when the lovely host there, Michelle, posted a gorgeous piccie of the Divine Vincenzo, just for me!



--
Telly: snooker
Choc/Yummy: turkish delight
Mood: delighted
Writing: editing a short
Reading: Rosemary Laurey Forever Vamps
RSI/FMS: bit sore, not bad


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

bits and bobs

Wahey, I discovered today that Black Lace's Wicked Words Paranormal Eroticashort story collection is already listed at Amazon.com! Obviously the above is not the actual cover... just me having a bit of fun with the title of my particular contribution... oh, he's such a bad, bad boy!

Good news on the Gothic Blue front too... My good buddy Ashley Lister has just reviewed it for the Erotica Readers and Writers Association. The review won't be up for a while yet, but here's a choice titbit from what Ash has to say... "Portia Da Costa does many things very well: plot, characterisation and (in the case of this title) she injects a credible suggestion of the supernatural in a realistic world." Suffice it to say that I'm mightily pleased with this lovely review, and I'll post a link to it as soon as it appears at ERWA!

As I've been feeling out of sorts today, I've been watching movies and telly instead of working [for a change... hah!] and chief amongst my viewing as been THE QUEEN, which I have out on loan from Amazon DVD Rental. I wasn't sure whether I'd like this film, and I'm not a monarchist, in fact I'm a bit anti if anything... but this film is just excellent! Helen Mirren is beyond awesome in the role, and I can see now just how richly she deserved her Oscar... Of course there's no way of telling just how 'real' this film is in terms of accurately portraying the Queen... but I certainly found myself feeling much more in sympathy with this 'story' version of her.

--
Telly: The Queen
Chocolate: Nestle Heaven
Mood: weary, fuzzy
Writing: none
Reading: none
RSI/FMS: sore hands due to lifting bags of books for charity collection

Today's fun poll...

Get Free Opinion Polls

I've survived... and a bit of good news!

Well, I survived my trip to the dentist... apart from a bit of flutteriness due to the fact that my dentist, Nilesh, is so dreamy! :)

No treatment required, just the usual look-see and a bit of a polish here and there. I managed to drag the consultation out a bit by asking a bunch of questions, but eventually, sadly, I had to give him up to the next patient...

The other good news is that my short story Watching The Detective has been accepted for Black Lace's forthcoming Wicked Words: Paranormal Stories and Fantasies collection. This is a fun piece... about a television set that becomes possessed by some sort of demon or paranormal force during the course of a cop show... Clearly, I can't specify a particular show, for legal reasons... but I'll leave it up to my like-minded buddies out there to choose the show they like... cough... LOCI... cough...

--
Telly: UK History
Chocolate: Green and Blacks
Mood: good
Writing: not yet
Reading: magazines
RSI/FMS: rather achey

ack, everything in favour's against me...

A wasted day... cleaning up, sorting books, trying to get a memory upgrade for my lappie organised... did a nifty post here... then the broadband went down, and I lost it all! Grrrrrrr!

Still, Criminal Intent has just been on... and that's enough to calm the savage beast... or stir it up more than ever, if you know what I mean... nudge nudge... wink wink...

Isn't he pretty?



--
Telly: LOCI... nuff said
Chocolate: caffe latte chox... yum
Mood: not too bad, considering
Writing: nowt today
Reading: Thunderball - Ian Fleming
RSI: so so

better?

Well, I think I'm beginning to get a handle on that paranormal story of mine... but even though I might end up with something I quite like, I still don't feel all that optimistic that the editor will like it. It might end up being one for a future self published shorts collection or something... It's been very weird to get the tone for this thing. It's more a slightly fun story, and not linked to any established mythos... just something inexplicable that may or may not be a trick of the imagination. Don't know whether this can be classed as paranormal or not, hence some of my doubts about it. If I get it right though... it'll be one for the delectation of my Vincent friends... I think the title alone gives sufficient hint of that... ie. the thing's called Watching The Detective!

Have been watching stuff to do with ballet in the last few days, as background research for TechnoGothic, which has an ex dancer as a heroine. Some behind the scenes stuff has been particularly useful, and now I'm watching a performance of the great romantic ballet Giselle. Masses of elements of gothic tragedy in this story... and the juxtaposition of love and death is always powerful, but the plotline really does irritate me in a lot of ways because Prince Albrecht, the supposed hero, is such a jerk! And Giselle herself is a nitwit for falling for such a selfish user. Down to earth Hillarion is the guy who really loves her, and what does he get? Bumped off by the magic dancing fairies when he should actually be *rewarded* for his love and devotion! While soppy, self centered Albrecht gets away with it... He's supposed to be eternally sorrowful, but I bet you anything when the curtain goes down he v. quickly gets over it and is back to chasing innocent peasant babes in a different village to get his end away before very long...

--
Telly: Giselle
Chocolate: Cadbury's Chocolate Biscuits
Mood: okay
Writing: Watching The Detective 1.4K words so far
Reading: Radio Times
RSI: not bad, have deduced that my current twinges are due to cracking walnuts!!!

crushed....

It's 'crushes' day over at LustBites and here's mine... surprise, surprise...

Suite Seventeen..... at Amazon.co.uk!!!!

It's listed!

Suite Seventeen - at Amazon.co.uk

They've spelt my name wrong... because they've got the info from Amazon.com, and they spelt it wrong at first too... but hey, it's now available for pre-order for those who must have access to *my* Valentino ASAP!