Hi, all! Hope you’re having a great Wednesday! I’m afraid this post will not be particularly deep and thoughtful (sorry, I suck!). I’m working on my copy-edits for MIDNIGHT SINS and I’m trying to finish ‘em up today.

I also have several story ideas that are clamoring in my head. I’ve gotten lost in my thoughts a few times this week because I’m trying to pick and choose among these stories, and that getting “lost”–it’s resulted in my husband having to call my name several times…and him asking if I’m listening to him, at all? (The answer: No, um, sorry.)

Since I’m not contributing a particularly earth-shattering post today, I thought I’d give away a prize. Want an autographed copy of HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT ? (That’s the first in my Midnight trilogy; MIDNIGHT SINS is the second installment…) Then just tell me your favorite horror movie of all time. (I’m looking for some weekend movies!) I’ll be back on Friday to pick a winner.

Thanks!

HUGE congrats to Denise Agnew who finaled in the Passionate Plume Contest! Go Denise! The book she finaled with was Male Call, the first book in her Hot Zone series available from Samhain. I read it and I LOVED it. Woot!

Her sexy letters are his only lifeline in his dangerous world…

Successful computer software engineer Eve Carmichael melts under yet another hotter than hot letter written by Reserve army soldier Sean O’Callahan. Yet Eve can’t take the thought of his life in danger overseas, and she resolves to get a sex life—and a life period. That means forgetting Sean before anything bad can happen to him. To celebrate her thirty-fifth birthday, Eve plans a trip to Male Call, a male review club. Still, she worries about Sean. She hasn’t received a letter from him in too many weeks. And oh, how she longs for those flirtatious, hot letters.

Sean finds Eve’s letters to be the only lifeline in his increasingly chaotic world. As their feelings grow hot and heavy, he can’t wait to return home and kindle that pure firepower.

When Eve receives a letter from Sean saying he’s been wounded, her fears are realized. But fate and a little mischievous planning by her friends will serve up the greatest surprise of all.

You can buy it here.

Other books in the series. Aren’t these some HOT covers? Wow!

You can buy them here, here, and the next one here- on sale May 20!

Here’s a new release from more Bradford Bunchers!

Behind closed doors, the real games begin…

Winning it big.

That’s the name of the game at Las Vegas’s Liege Hotel and Casino, where the hottest fantasies hinge on a roll of the dice…and the tantalizing knowledge that anything could happen before sunrise.

Cocktail waitress Carinna wants a man to tie her up, not tie her down. Little does she know that her most willing partner yet has something else planned for this fiery Latina bombshell.

Dahlia is a burlesque dancer with a brain for business and a bod for sin. Her latest admirer may be a sweet-talking Casanova, but despite what he thinks she’s not giving anything away free.

Meanwhile, Amy has the perfect plan to rob the Liege Casino blind…until the intimidating owner catches her red-handed. Now she knows she’s going to pay… with both pleasure and pain.

Professional shill Cassidy is ready to experience a breathless rendezvous with her “friend with benefits.” But when he proposes five delicious nights of sexy blackjack, the stakes have never been so high.

Can be purchased here or here.

And last, but certainly not least is Cynthia Eden’s new release! Woot!

In her sexy and suspenseful new novel, Cynthia Eden introduces readers to a seductive world where powerful night creatures ignite dark, dangerous hungers…

Dr. Emily Drake’s patients tend to be a little unusual. Instead of the typical therapist’s caseload of midlife crises and mother fixations, Emily treats vampires with blood phobias and sex-demons looking for meaningful relationships. But her gift for recognizing and healing the Other—those creatures of the night that most humans don’t even know exist—requires a few house rules. First: Never trust a shifter. Especially not one like Detective Colin Gyth whose gold-flecked eyes and predatory air make Emily realize how much she’s been longing to lose control…

Colin can’t believe the doctor he’s been assigned to work with on the Night Butcher murder investigation is the one person who could expose his true identity as a wolf shifter. Smart, sexy, and stubborn as hell, Emily brings out the alpha male in Colin, unleashing a wild, heady desire that takes them both over the edge.

But in the shadows, the Night Butcher waits…eager to spill Emily’s blood and taste her terror. And he’ll use any means to destroy her, including the one person she has grown to trust…

You can buy it here or here.

Well, I’m finally recovering from RT 2008. By this I mean I’ve unpacked my suitcase, paid some bills and organized (though not cleaned off my desk,) and started to get back into the swing of family life.  You know. Yelling at the kids, doing laundry, generally being the domestic diva I am.

I didn’t feel well at the convention, unfortunately, and I wasn’t alone. But even so, I came back energized, writing-wise. No, I didn’t come up with a brand-new, shiny, full-fledged idea the way I did last year when Lauren and I brainstormed Taking Care of Business while standing in line. (Though we did talk about a followup to that book!) But I did come home with inspiration and ideas for layering some themes into the edits for my current WIP, Switch. 

I finished SWITCH before I left for RT and had planned to let it sit for awhile while I worked on some other things, but while there my mind kept turning back to it. Switch hasn’t been an easy book for me for many reasons. For one, it took me a lot longer to write than usual, partly because I stopped a few times to work on other things and partly because I struggled with the writing of it. I was really glad to have finished the first draft because it meant I could take a break from it, so to discover when I got back from RT that I really wanted to dive back in was…suprising.

Here’s the thing: I take a lot of my work from my life — not things that have happened to me, necessarily, but feelings and emotions and situations that make me THINK about “what if.” I don’t live everything I write about (my goodness, who has time?) but I do…FEEL it. I do feel what I write. Sometimes I feel it first and hold onto that and use it. Sometimes during the writing I start to feel the work, instead, which is also interesting.

I’d had an inkling about what Switch was meant to be for a few months, and it was pretty far from what I’d first anticipated the book to be. In its first incarnation it was a story about dominance and submission, a woman who finds misplaced notes in her mailbox meant for an anonymous person being given increasingly erotic commands. She discovers she likes the content of the notes — craves it, in fact. But when she discovers who the notes are really for, everything changes and she becomes the note WRITER instead of the note receiver.

The book is still “about” that — it’s what happens, anyway. But somewhere along the way a minor, throwaway character became more important, and now he’s an irreplaceable part of the story. I didn’t expect that.

And somewhere, somehow, the book became about choices. The ones we make, good or bad, right or wrong, and how sometimes no matter how much you think you want something, in the end you don’t take it because not having it is better for you. Sometimes, as Paige, the heroine says, you walk away.

So now I have to finish entering all my receipts and put some laundry away and take a shower and have some breakfast, and then I need to crank up the iTunes and get lost in this world again. But you know what?

I feel it.

M

PS — I was so happy to hang with my lurvely agent the glorious Laura Bradford (or LB as I like to call her) and Lauren Dane, Anya Bast and Ann Aguirre and Vivi Anna, and we missed Cynthia! NEXT YEAR IN ORLANDO!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of my favorite photos –

Happy April, everyone!

You may have noticed a few changes here at The Bradford Bunch. If you glance at the top at the “Bunch” names, you’ll see two new ladies listed–that’s because Vivi Anna and Megan Hart (two very, very talented writers) have joined our blog group. Yay!! Welcome, ladies!

In addition to our two new bloggers, the schedule here at the Bunch is switching up a bit. During the “work week” (from Monday through Friday), you’ll find regular posts from all of us, but on the weekend, we’ll be inviting special guests for blog visits. (Sorry, I had to put “work week” in quotes–because I know folks have schedules that are all over the place now, and, for many, the old Monday-Friday schedule is a thing of the past.)

I’ve always thought change was a pretty good thing. Change keeps us on our toes. Change keeps life fresh and interesting. Change…she is good!!

I am so excited to welcome our guest blogger today–Larissa Ione is a super fabulously talented writer and an all-around great lady. I’ve had the pleasure to be published in two Secrets anthologies with her–and I’ve also had the pleasure to read her two Sydney Croft releases. And regarding those Sydney Croft releases…wow–talk about HOT reads.

Larissa, welcome. So glad you could stop by for a visit!

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First of all, I want to thank everyone here at the Bradford Bunch for having me! I have to say, I squeed a little when Cynthia invited me, because really, look at the authors here!

Anyway, for those who don’t know me, I’m Larissa Ione, and I write steamy contemporary romance for Red Sage, emotional contemporary romance for Samhain, and sexy, dark paranormal romance for Grand Central Publishing. Under the name Sydney Croft (with writing partner Stephanie Tyler,) I write erotic paranormal s/f action-adventure for Bantam Dell.

I’m also a recovering television addict.

Oh, wait – I’m not recovering. I’m smack-dab in the middle of my addiction. But my problem isn’t reality TV or American Idol or even regular prime-time television.

No, I’m addicted to TV series on DVD.

For some reason, I’m always late to catching a series when it comes on TV. Either I’m not interested, or I don’t have time to get engaged in yet another TV show that eats up my time. So I don’t watch new shows, but eventually, I’ll catch one – and get hooked. But by then I’ve missed several shows, if not several seasons (for example, I didn’t start watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer until season three. THREE!)

So now, I’m busily buying up entire season sets of shows, which I watch while I’m on my torture machine, er, elliptical.

To date, I have all five seasons of Angel, all seven seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, two seasons of The Unit, every season of every Star Trek show, the complete collection of Firefly, the complete collection of The Dresden Files, the complete collection of the old vampire series The Kindred, and four seasons of Sex and the City.

And just now, I filled my shopping cart at Amazon with the first two seasons of Supernatural, which I didn’t start watching until this season, so I have a LOT of episodes to catch up on.

Okay, off to the elliptical, because up next on Buffy The Vampire Slayer is my favorite episode ever…Once More With Feeling. Gotta love singing demons! And hey, if you like BTVS as much as I do, feel free to stop by my website and check out my new Demonica Series, which is sort of Grey’s Anatomy meets Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The first book, Pleasure Unbound, releases in July. Now, if I could just talk someone into putting it on DVD…

What about you? Do you have any TV series on DVD?

Larissa Ione

www.larissaione.com and www.sydneycroft.com

(First, a quick note:  The Bradford Bunch recently changed web hosts.  If you commented yesterday and you don’t see your comment–please let me know.  We tried to move all comments, but if one or two slipped by, I apologize!)  Now, on to my post for today:

I love it when I read a book or I watch a movie, and later (hours, days), I’m still thinking about one of the characters. A character that keeps living in my mind–one that makes me think and wonder or one that just makes me happy to remember…that is one great character.

I think Nora Roberts created a truly outstanding heroine in Eve Dallas (her J.D. Robb books).  And Linda Howard made me absolutely fall in love with Wolf Mackenzie in Mackenzie’s Mountain.  Yep, that book was my first Howard read, and I was hooked after that.

Multi-dimensional characters–heroes and heroines with real flaws, painful pasts, and strong spirits–those are unforgettable folks.

When I think of movies…I tend to focus more on villains.  Maybe it’s because I love to read romances, but when it comes to movie watching, I’m more of a horror/scary show kind of girl.  Hannibal Lecter was unforgettable to me.   Not because of his gruesome acts (although, yeah, those made an impression!), but because of his cold calculation and absolute brilliance at mind games.  He was chilling, evil, and unforgettable.

But what about you?  Are there any unforgettable characters that you’d like to share with me?

(And a final note:  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!  May your day be filled with green…and may it be a glorious day!   :smile: )

I’ve received the ARCs for my June 08 Kensington Brava anthology, WHEN HE WAS BAD (which includes my tale, Wicked Ways, and the talented Shelly Laurenston’s Miss Congeniality).

Wanna win one of these ARCs? Then tell me why you like a hero who has a bit of a dark side. Because the heroes in this anthology, yep, they’re the bad boys.

Here’s a blurb for Wicked Ways, told from the POV of my bad boy hero, Cain Lawson:

I’m too dangerous for her. I know it, but I can’t get my sexy new neighbor out of my head. When I hear her scream one night, the absolute last thing I expect to see is Miranda Shaw—star of my hottest fantasies—being attacked by a vampire. Now the undead jerk is after her, and I’m the only thing standing between the beautiful lady and a killer who just won’t stop. Well, too bad for him, because that vamp has just made the worst mistake of his afterlife—he’s tangled with a shifter. And Miranda, well, she’s so busy watching out for him that she won’t see me closing in on her—not until it’s too late—and I’m about to show her just how wild I can get…

* * *

I’ll be back on Friday to select one commenter to win the ARC.

Good luck!

Since Dexter has been airing on CBS, I’ve been trying to catch each show.  I’m drawn to this series–I’ll admit it, I’m intrigued by the idea of a serial killer who only kills other serial killers.  I’ll also admit that Hannibal Lecter, yeah, I find his character interesting, too.  Interesting–because he’s not a one-dimensional monster (and neither is Dexter)–he’s got layers, secrets.  There is a reason for his madness.

It was obvious that in Hannibal Rising, Hannibal was the hero.  Not a villain with an odd sense of justice.  Not a monster.  The hero.  Audience members were supposed to get drawn into his story.  To understand his crimes.  The villain, the killer who I had watched slaughter and um, eat, his kills, had become the lead in a story–and I think some (perhaps many) people were rooting for him to keep making his kills. As for Dexter…yeah, I think the writers want him to be seen in a twisted light.  Part demon, part savior.  He kills, but he also makes the guilty pay for their crimes. But when does he pay?  (Haven’t seen Season Two yet, so don’t give anything away to me!)

I don’t know about the “rooting” part for me.  I do watch these guys because I like the dimensions of the characters. I like that Dexter and Hannibal aren’t cardboard cut-outs.  I like that they aren’t completely evil–that deep inside, there is a glimmer of goodness.  I’ve always wondered–is anyone completely good?  Is anyone completely evil?

I also wonder…just how dark is too dark?  How far can a writer push a character and still get a positive response from readers?  In the case of old Hannibal, well, I think the answer might be pretty far.  But what about you?  How do you feel about the rise of these darker characters?  And how much is “too much” for you?

Today’s post will be short and sweet (well, okay, maybe not sweet).

I have a question for you all…

Just what is it that makes a heroine too stupid to live?

Too stupid to live (TSTL)–I’ve seen that a lot lately on message boards, but I’m dying to know what exactly hits a reader’s hot buttons when it comes to heroines who cross the line between come-on-that’s-not-smart  to okay-lady-I’m-throwing-the-book-away-now.

Come on, spill. What drives you crazy?

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Today, we’ve got a special treat–the very talented Natasha Moore is guest blogging. I love Natasha’s work–her tales are highly emotional, sensual, and leave me feeling like I’ve got to get my hands on her next story, ASAP! Natasha’s current release is Quinn’s Curse, one very hot pirate story–jeez, have I ever said how much I love pirates?–available from eRedSage.com.

And, now, I gave you…Natasha!

* * *

I want to thank Cynthia Eden for inviting me to post today here at The Bradford Bunch. Looking at all the great authors in this group and the stories they’ve written made me think about how we, as writers, manage to come up with story after intriguing story, character after amazing character. Usually it’s readers who ask writers where we get our inspiration. They wonder how we come up with the ideas for the stories we weave from nothing but our heart and soul and bits of people and places and things. Some stories have been in my head for so long that I honestly can’t tell you where I got the ideas. Some I know exactly where my inspiration came from.

Several factors came together to give me the idea for my most recent release, Quinn’s Curse, from Red Sage Presents. First of all, Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Carribbean gave me the idea of a cursed pirate hero. Mmm, can’t get much better inspiration than that. My memories of the old movie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, gave me the idea of a ghost that only the heroine could see. A picture of the Portland Head Lighthouse gave me my setting on the rocky coast of Maine. And then the beginning came as a workshop project for my local RWA chapter, asking for a scene showing a character making a choice.

Sometimes a title will pop into my head and the whole story will flow from there. Bad to the Bone, which will be included in Secrets Vol. 25, started with just the title - and my heroine Annie Shane, who wants to shed her good girl image and become a bad girl, grew from that. It still amazes me the stories we can weave from a single phrase.

I’ll still read books that just blow my mind with the story ideas and twists and turns and characters that make me wonder, “How did she THINK of that?” I love it when that happens. Whether we call it a muse or inspiration, whether our ideas come from movies or settings or the turn of a phrase, I think the process of writing stories is simply magic. And I’m thankful every day that it happens.

Oh, and one last thing. My husband, my greatest supporter and the love of my life, tells everyone that HE’S my inspiration. So let’s not tell him about this post, okay?

So where do you get your inspiration??

Natasha

Romance with more…sizzle

www.natashamore.com