Seasons Greetings... Prince is not amused...

All the best for the Festive Season! 

Working on Wild - cover preview

I'm currently working towards self publishing this older title of mine, WILD IN THE COUNTRY. And this cover perfectly expresses my vision of Flora, the heroine. When we were discussing ideas for covers for Wild, my buddy Saskia Walker mentioned the dreamy sensuality of the old Cadbury's Flake television adverts, and that really inspired me! With that in mind, I was lucky enough to find this image fairly quickly on a stock site.

Although WILD IN THE COUNTRY has been published before and edited twice, I knew it needed a bit more work. Mainly to pick up odd little punctuation blips and things that slip in during file conversion and what have you. But as I worked on it, I knew I had to make some slight changes to the story. This book was originally written as a kind of crazy sex romp, with Flora as a free spirited girl, kicking over the traces of an old, more boring life, when she moved to live in a village full of rampant sensualists who enjoyed partner swapping and a host of wild erotic games. That's still the main... er... thrust... of the story, but thinking about Flora, and Declan, the central male character in the story, I wanted to give them a real romantic relationship. One that starts as part of the sexual experimentation they both enjoy in the village community, but growing and developing into something deeper, more forever... and in the end, exclusive. 

But that has to develop properly, and Flora can't go straight from wild experimentation, with Declan just one amongst a whole bunch of equally important lovers, to snap, he's The One. So I have to build in some more gradual realisation of their growing affection, maybe even an evolution that neither she nor he are consciously aware of while it's building. 

And of course, that takes much longer to do, and a lot more brain thrashing than just a simple check for misplaced punctuation and whatnot. I was hoping to get the new version of Wild out before Christmas, but if I'm honest with myself, I don't think that'll happen now. 

Will many people read this new version when I've written it? Who knows... But I'll have had the pleasure and challenge of revamping and revising it. A bit of proper mind work, to keep the old little grey cells from atrophying! 

And if anyone fancies a flavour of Flora *before* the revamp, you'll find her as Katy, in IN THE AIR TONIGHT. Many of the usual Wild suspects are there too, but under different names...

Who is Delaney Silver?

This is my latest release under my alter ego pen name, Delaney Silver. My Delaney books are a bit edgier, a bit racier and more explicit than my more recent Portia Da Costa books. They're self published titles, short stories, mostly, that were originally published at a time when I wrote erotica that was meant to be read by men *and* women... or even couples together!

Delaney stories are mostly kink-based, with the emphasis on themes of BDSM, femdom, and f/f etc. There isn't a massive difference between these stories and some of my earlier Black Lace novels. Those early Black Lace books were very often about a woman's journey of sexual exploration rather than a one-on-one relationship between a hero and heroine. They were far less erotic romance and much more erotica, although some contained love relationships and either implied or explicit 'happily ever afters'.

IN THE AIR TONIGHT is very much in the women's sexual exploration vein, featuring a heroine who's wild and free-thinking, and who enjoys relationships with several different lovers who live in her local village. It's actually a spin-off from a Portia title that I'll also be republishing soon, WILD IN THE COUNTRY. The revision work I'm doing on Wild means that the central couple choose a committed, exclusive relationship towards the end of the book, whereas Katy, the heroine of IN THE AIR TONIGHT, is a  hold-over from the previous incarnation of that story, and hasn't settled down with one man alone.

So you could say the characters in In The Air Tonight are alternate universe versions of the people in Wild in the Country.

Does that make sense? LOL

Anyway, here's the blurb:

When Katy attends her first formal evening event since her arrival in Briarwood Magna, she’s hoping for much more than just champagne, canapés and routine social chitchat. Her village friends are all adventurous hedonists, who love to party hard and explore all manner of steamy scenarios, and she wants to get in on the action.

Consequently, she’s thrilled when her handsome friend Mitchell touches and teases her behind the concealing ornamental hedge, and then again, inside the manor house, when she succumbs to the Lord and Lady who are fond of dark games of transgressive pleasure amongst the priceless antiques.

Most of all, though, Katy wants to thank her girl crush Sybilla for the aphrodisiac perfume the beautiful herbalist concocted for her… but she gets a big surprise when she discovers just what the scent is that’s been attracting droves of randy admiring guests to her side throughout the party.

Available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au and Amazon.ca

Also from Nook Books, Kobo and iBooks

There's a mini excerpt here!

Discover more about Delaney Silver here.

Look out for news of WILD IN THE COUNTRY coming soon. Read a taster.

---

A Pretty Weird Bloke - a slightly weird story...

A Pretty Weird Bloke is my latest self published release. It's a bit of a shortie, but hopefully weirdly sweet in a kinky BDSM sort of way. If that makes any kind of sense... why not give it a whirl? LOL

Here's the blurb...

Nikki thinks she’s found the perfect man in the form of her handsome, sophisticated work colleague David. He’s intelligent, funny, and a devastatingly desirable Alpha male in a traditional and slightly old-fashioned English way.

But even though she knows that he fancies her, it takes forever for him to make a move. And when he does, he issues a tantalising warning… he tells her that he’s a ‘pretty weird bloke’.

Nikki guesses that this is something to do with his preferences as a lover, but she’s up for an adventure. Even so, his interest in a certain part of her anatomy - and certain wickedly ‘testing’ things he’d like to do to it - is as unsettling as it is dangerously exciting.

Can she channel her inner daring and handle David’s weirdness… and walk on the wild side with him into dark, seductive pleasure?

Try an excerpt here

Buy from Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Also available from :: iBooks :: Kobo :: Nook

A TOUCH OF HEAVEN returns to Earth!

A TOUCH OF HEAVEN is my sensual paranormal romance novella about a gorgeous, mysterious stranger who entrances a forty-something woman who's beginning to have doubts about her own attractiveness. Patrick is house-sitting next door... or at least that's what Miranda hopes he's doing. If not, he's the most handsome, delectable squatter she's ever set eyes on!

TOUCH was originally published by Samhain Publishing a few years ago, but now I've self published it and it's available again at the usual outlets.

Here's the blurb:

Pleasure with a perfect stranger can be divine...

If Miranda Clay believed that angels exist, they’d look just like her neighbours’ new house sitter. Golden hair. Golden, naked skin. Muscles that are poetry in motion. Is it ridiculous that even his feet are beautiful?

When mysterious Patrick turns his heavenly blue eyes toward her and smiles… Well, how can a red-blooded woman resist his friendly offer of a soothing massage? But pretty soon his therapy to ease her forty-something aches and pains turns into an exquisite touch of pleasure, a storm of bliss that leaves her boneless and sighing.

But when Miranda reaches for Patrick to return the favour, he stays her hand—and reluctantly reveals his almost incomprehensible secret. He’s an angel on an earthly mission of kindness, and though he’s always longed to live a full, if messy, human life, he’s never been tempted to violate his unbreakable angelic code. Until now.

Soon, the deeply-in-love couple face a perilous decision, and Patrick will have to risk everything—even the prospect of extinction—to keep the woman he adores in his arms.

Buy from Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Also available from :: Nook :: Kobo :: iBooks

~~~ Try an excerpt here... ~~~


NB. thanks to Carolan Ivey for her help with the blurb

New short story release - HIS PRIVATE DANCER

Looking for something short and sexy and told from the male POV? Well, look no further!

HIS PRIVATE DANCER - a decadent tale of saucy burlesque

With a front row seat at a private burlesque show, Mr Curtis finds himself bewitched and seduced by the gorgeous Madame X.

As the silken gloves and feather boa go flying, the mysterious beauty works him up into a fever of desire with her steamy, exotic moves.

Will there be an encore? An even hotter show?

Buy from Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Also available from :: Nook :: Kobo :: iBooks

FAR FROM PERFECT - new edition - 99c/99p until 27 August!

My sensual contemporary romance, FAR FROM PERFECT, is being given a new lease of life, courtesy of Entangled Publishing! To celebrate, it's available at a special low price of 99c/99p until 27th August 17. Anna and Nick's story is pretty hot stuff, though I say it myself, but if you buy it this week you get it both hot *and* cheap!

FAR FROM PERFECT... what it's about A night of earthshattering lovemaking left Nick Lisitano wracked with remorse for taking advantage of Anna’s innocence. He knows Anna deserves deep, enduring love, which is not something he can offer her. He’s managed to keep his distance until now, but his father is ill, and he knows just what will bring his family together and give his father peace. A wedding. His wedding. To the lovely young Anna. Four years ago, Anna Felgate gave her virginity to the man who held her heart—long-time family friend and legendary lover, Nick Lisitano. That one night branded her for life and ruined her for any other man, but Nick has been cold to her ever since. Until now that is, when he comes to her with a crazy plan…a proposal…of marriage. Anna knows she shouldn’t agree to Nick’s plan, but how can she refuse the man who holds her heart. Read an excerpt here Available from :: iBooks :: Kobo :: Nook :: Entangled Publishing Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Lessons and Lovers - now in print!

LESSONS AND LOVERS

Lover after dark…

By day, he's the perfect personal assistant, bodyguard, chauffeur… by when the lights go down, he's a devastating sex machine, using his hands, his lips and his breath-taking body to drive his employer to the very limits of pleasure.

Wealthy young widow Hettie Miller loved her husband, but night after night, she's tormented by desire. Lonely and confused she turns to Starr, her faultless servant, the man whose cool reserve and discretion hide the wild, hard-driving soul of a sensualist.

But does Starr really care for her, or is he simply performing his duties, as supreme between the sheets as he is elsewhere? Hettie hopes for more… because she's falling, and Starr's rocking her world.

Read excerpt here

Now available in print from:

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

Seasons Greetings!

A very Merry Christmas 

&

a Happy New Year!

Slings and arrows

Blargh! I'm poorly, and I have been for a week and a bit now. I feel better than I did, but this bout of what I suspect is Swine Flu, has really knocked me out of the great groove of productivity and positivity that I've been in recently.

There's not a lot I can do about it. I'm not one of these super focused, super determined writers who can push on through in situations like this. I just have to give in and wait out the virus, hoping that it doesn't dig in too hard and linger with me too long.

So, I'll be cosseting myself, keeping warm and hydrated and rested for a little while yet, and I'm hoping it won't be too long before there are more reports from the Dumpster Office of Doom and updates on the progress of Her Lover's Secret.

Meanwhile in the Dumpster...

Here's a photo of the Dumpster Office of Doom that shows real improvement!

I now have a desk. With a phone. And a lamp. There's still a mass of stuff to sort and get rid of, but it's sort of homey and more comfortable in there. I have a basket chair to sit in, with a proper back rest and a lovely purple velour seat cushion on order, as well as a pink faux suede footstool. I'm starting to go in there to eat lunch and read, as well as to shred paper and decide what to throw away. Haven't really worked, as such, in there yet, but I'm moving towards that.

I think when I make some more significant progress in the clearing out, and possibly get rid of a huge table that's still in there, and replace it with something smaller, I might indulge in a comfy office/gaming/recliner type chair too. I've bookmarked a few likely ones on Amazon.

Writing progress is still very stately. I don't have the attention span and focus I used to have [and I didn't have much at the the best of times] so my word count, though daily, is very modest. I'm still working on Her Lover's Secret, filling in the gaps I left in the first draft. I wish I could write faster. I wish I could spend more hours a day on it. But I just can't, at the moment. So I plug on at a very steady rate, and hope for the best.

Writing?

As you know, I've been writing a thing called Thing, a sort of generally romantic women's fiction non-plotted writing exercise just to keep my hand in. I've done about 8K of this 'thing' so far, and while I like it, it's not really going anywhere as, of course, it has no real structure, no angst, no conflict, and none of the other things that constitute a good piece of fiction. But, I'm not writing it to sell. I'm writing it to keep writing, in the hopes that soon I'll return to writing something readers will actually enjoy.

However, I'm now starting to feel inklings of an urge to return to the project I was working on when I stalled, which is a sensual romance romance novella, #4 in my Secret Pleasures series. It was called The Boss's Secret, but I've decided that doesn't really fit right. Lawrence, the hero, is more than Rachel's boss. He owns the company and quite a few others. I see 'boss' as someone that a character interacts with every day, on site, whereas Lawrence is a distant, lofty figure who only very occasionally might visit her workplace. So, a new tentative title is Her Lover's Secret, which I think is evocative and fits the story better.

Her Lover's Secret started out with one hero template, and now has a different one, probably just as unlikely. He's a gorgeous man, but not conventionally so. As Lover's Secret is an older hero story, he has white streaks in his hair, and he's in his late forties. He's also about 6' 7" tall!

Above is a draft cover I designed for Her Lover's Secret, but I'm not sure I'll use it. I may even go mad, and get a pro designer to do me a cover. It's rather difficult to find cover images when you have a very specific looking hero with silver streaked hair, so you generally have to go with a 'headless' cover in these cases. And show his chest rather than his face and hair! LOL

'Lawrence'

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad