I woke up to a snowstorm today. I thought it was appropriate, since most of the book that I have coming out today, RELEASE, takes place in the midst of a blizzard in Chicago. There’s something about a city when a really bad storm hits, as if a spell falls over it. Sound is muffled. All the activities that we don’t think twice about doing normally, like running errands in the car, are halted. Strange to think that Mother Nature can have such a profound effect on a centuries of technology, but there you have it.

One thing about a snowstorm, it gives you a wonderful excuse just to hang out at home, cozy up with a book and have some quality ‘down’ time. I envy people who live in warmer climates constantly—more so as the years go by. But sometimes, on a day like today, I really love the snow.

In RELEASE a snowstorm provides an opportunity to rekindle a love between two people that had been destroyed by violence and secrets. Sean and Genny are thrown together in the company penthouse as the city is immoblized by the blizzard.

Mother Nature really does always get her way in the end, I guess.

Here’s an excerpt from RELEASE. Since it’s a Release Day for me (harhar) I’ll give away either a download of HOLIDAY BOUND or winner’s choice of one of my backlist books to one person who leaves a comment.

RELEASE
Publisher: Berkley Heat
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic suspense
Release Date: February 2, 2010
Format: Trade Paperback

His need for her was so absolute, he agreed to share her with another man in order to possess her.

Genny loved her husband Max, but something was missing—a sexual charge that was instead ignited by his business partner, Sean. He was ruggedly handsome, with a heart-stopping smile and a slow, sexy New Orleans drawl that made Genny weak. The more time they spent together, the stronger the attraction between them became and when her husband offered to share her with Sean for one intoxicating night, both Genny and Sean were too tempted to refuse.

That night in the company penthouse, Max and Sean showed Genny the heights of ecstasy. But it was Sean who scored her very spirit, and one-on-one, they were red hot. But as Genny learns, there’s a price to pay for such impulsive pleasure. What began as a night of forbidden desire spirals into a whirlpool of murder, sensual submission, secrets, and a scorching passion that threatens to consume everyone it touches.

EXCERPT (Adult rated)

The blonde woman cried out in agonized pleasure as her orgasm notched back up again to its original potent blast.

Genevieve must have whimpered in mixed misery and arousal, because suddenly Sean’s head whipped around.

The woman continued to keen and moan while she gushed in climax, and Sean pinned Genevieve with his stare. His fierce, blue-eyed gaze hit her like a bolt of electricity. Her muscles jerked, the harsh movement awakening her from her trance.

The next thing she knew, she was flying blindly down the hallway. She heard him call out to her, his voice sounding flat with incredulity. He called out again, this time sounding closer . . . too near for her to make it all the way to the front door without him overtaking her.

She thought she might shatter into a million pieces if Sean put his hands on her at that moment. She fumbled for the master bedroom door and rushed inside.

“Genny. What the hell—”

His exclamation was cut off when Genevieve slammed the door and swiftly turned the lock. The handle jerked. His hand thumped on the door. She pressed her back against the wood, straining to hear in the taut silence that followed.

“Genny.”

She clamped her burning eyes shut at the softly uttered plea. It must be a hollow-core door, because she could actually hear him quite well. It sounded like he’d spoken with his forehead pressed against the crack between the door and frame. They were only inches apart—

“You picked a hell of a time to come waltzing back into my life,” he said, his low voice vibrating with emotion.

“I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Obviously.”

She licked her tear-spattered lips. For the first time, she realized her face was soaked. She must have been crying for a while now . . . maybe since she’d first heard Sean’s easy drawl resounding from the depths of the penthouse.

“Go away, Sean.” Her heart thundered in her ears in the pause that followed. The door gave slightly, as though he’d just pushed himself off it.

“I was here first.”

“You can go straight to hell second, boy.”

His chuckle sounded appreciative . . . amused.

Sad.

“Just give me a minute to tell her good-bye.” For a second, she thought he’d walked away, but then his deep voice penetrated the crack of the door again.

“Are you okay? Did something happen?”

She stared at the enormous king-sized bed in front of her—the bed where the three of them had become drunk on pleasure three years ago.

Did something happen? She’d say it had.

Genevieve had been forever changed on the night Max had offered his young wife to his super-sharp, second-hand man . . . the night she’d burned beneath Sean’s touch.

“I’m fine,” she said blankly, her eyes glued to the bed as vivid memories played before her mind’s eye . . . memories brought to the forefront by being in the room where it’d all happened.

“Yeah, right,” she heard him reply wryly.

“Will you just leave me alone?”

“That’s likely.”

This time, she sensed for certain that he’d walked away. A minute later she still hadn’t moved. They passed within feet of her.

“You’re acting very rudely,” the woman accused petulantly as she moved down the hallway.

“Yeah, I’ve been told I have a problem with that,” Sean replied evenly.

“Is there someone here? Who were you talking to?”

But then their voices faded. She heard the front door open and shut, and knew Sean was escorting the female out of the tight Sauren-Kennedy Solutions security. He’d get her a cab. He may have grown up poor, friendless, and fatherless, one of the ‘conduct disordered’ terrors of the mean streets of New Orleans, but Sean’s manners were impeccable.

Genevieve still hadn’t moved when he returned a few minutes later. She stood stock-still, her back against the door like she thought she was on the penthouse’s window ledge with the city looming below her toes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the handle turn. He spoke softly again near the crack in the closed door.

“You’d better open up, girl. You don’t really think that excuse of a lock is gonna keep me from you, do you?”

Her pulse threatened to leap right off her neck. She’d never heard him call another female gull, his drawl softening the “r” until it was only barely audible.

The sound of it on his tongue had always felt like a caress.

She spun around and flipped the lock. Her gaze remained fixed on the carpet as she stormed past him. She grabbed the bag she’d dropped in the foyer and reached for the handle on the front door. His hand rose behind her, shutting the door with a precise snap.

“What happened?”

“What makes you think something happened?” she asked irritably. She was hyperaware of him just inches away, leaning down over her. Heat resonated off his body.

“Don’t, Genny. Haven’t you punished me enough by avoiding me all this time? You know I’d never have wanted you to see what you just saw. Not in a million years.”

Her soughing breath was the only thing that broke the silence that followed. Her chin dropped to her chest.

She did know it. She may have her doubts about him, but she knew instinctively Sean Kennedy would never purposefully hurt her.

The havoc he’d wreaked unintentionally on her life was another matter altogether.

I’ve been asked several times within the last couple of days if I have any advice for new writers. I’m a little uncomfortable giving advice, since most of the time I feel like I’m not sure what I’m doing myself. But I have made plenty of mistakes and I’ve learned from them. Here are some of the things I would tell new writers based on mistakes I’ve made in the past.

1.) Just do it.

Hands on keyboard, butt in chair. I know it’s scary. You’re wondering if you can do it. You’re frightened you don’t have the ability to finish a book or, worse, it will be really awful once it’s done. But if you have the desire to write the book, you can do it. If your first book is perfectly awful, guess what? That’s really not a bad thing. Really. It’s not bad thing if you learn from the mistakes you made in that book. If you use it as a learning tool. In fact, a bad first book can be the very best thing.

2.) While you’re just doing it, turn off your internal editor.

That internal editor is a killer. It whispers this sucks, this is wrong, this character is doing the wrong thing, this plot is weak, on and on and on. It can murder your book before you have a chance to really begin it. Give yourself a little room in your mind to just be free to write. Let your creativity off its leash for a while. At least during that first draft. The internal editor is GREAT for editing your work, but you want to keep a firm leash on it during that first draft so it doesn’t kill all your creativity or worse, make you quit writing it.

3.) Find a critique partner or a critique group.

I’ll warn you now; it’s not easy to find one that meshes with you and your personality. At least, that was my experience. I did finally find a small one that worked for me and, after that, a single person. They were all extremely helpful. Not only did they give me their take on my plots and characters, but they were there to support me when I had a rejection or celebrate with me when something good happened.

4.) And/or join a good writer’s organization.

RWA is a great one for romance writers. Joining an organization will not only provide you with much-needed support, but much-needed information as well.

5.) Finish the book.

No rewriting and perfecting that first chapter endlessly. Move on. Finish the whole thing. If you want to go back to the first chapter when you’re done, fine, but don’t let making it perfect become a convenient excuse to not write the rest of it

6.) Find an agent.

A good one. Don’t sign with the first yoob who shows interest. Research that person. You owe it to yourself to sign with the right agent and to sign the right contract. This is also why joining a writer’s organization is a good idea. The members will have opinions on just about everything, including agents.

7.) While you’re in the submission process, write something else.

It’s a really bad idea to sit there and angst about your submission. The submission process is very long and has all kinds of stomach lurching ups and downs. It’s far better to move in a positive direction. That means a new manuscript.

8.) Persevere

I read this quote today that seemed timely. It went something like, “Success happens to those who hang on after everyone else has let go.” Or something like that. I don’t know who said it, but it’s true. If you want it, hang on.

9.) Have confidence in yourself and in the stories you have to tell.

This is an extremely hard business that can crush your ego at every stage of the process. I’m not saying have an inflated ego, I’m saying believe in yourself and the stories you’re writing. If you can’t do that, you won’t get very far.

Or at least it’s beginning to feel like it.  And, honestly, I’d rather have the books than the snow. Though apparently I’m going to get both this month. LOL

Every once in awhile in an author’s career–at least in mine–there comes a month where several different publishers decide to release at the same time. This month I’ve had four releases–3 print, 1 ebook. The print is a reprint of the entire Realm Immortal series from Samhain Publishing. Mandy Roth, aka Natalie Winters, did the cover art for the second printing and I am totally thrilled with the look she gave them!

Which one is your favorite? I’ve been getting a lot of emails for all of them, but the unofficial tally is that Stone Queen is in the lead.

Realm Immortal:
1.King of the Unblessed - ebook / print
2. Faery Queen - ebook / print
3. Stone Queen - ebook / print

On the ebook front Divinity Warriors continues with the new alternate reality plane, Divinity Healers: Ariella’s Keeper. This is the first book of the trilogy.

Hope you all had a wonderful Jan! Stay warm!!

I’m hoping to get my revised draft of Princess Poltergeist, the tentatively titled sequel to The Ghost and the Goth, to my critique partner next week, so this will be a relatively short entry! J

(Speaking of which, I have seen the cover for G&G, and it is beautiful! Unfortunately, I can’t share it just yet, but it should be soon.)

I have the great privilege of going to visit my alma mater, Valparaiso University, next week to speak to the English majors about getting a job in the writing field. I’m also going to be stopping by a YA lit class to discuss that particular genre/field with them.

My sister happens to be in that class (always helps to have connections!), and the other night, we happened to be discussing her reading list for that class and the phenomenon we refer to as “lesson-y” books. It is limited almost exclusively to the YA genre/field (and children’s books, but I think that’s a whole other thing) and is one of our greatest pet peeves as YA readers, especially when we were the target audience’s age.

“Lesson-y” books are ones in which a character or characters undergo trials and tribulations only to come out on the other side having learned—in anvil to the head type fashion—some life LESSON. Don’t do drugs. Don’t have premarital sex. Listen to your parents. And so on and so forth.

Don’t get me wrong—I fervently believe that what makes a character’s journey readable and enjoyable is the prospect of change. We read to see a character change, to believe him or herself worthy of love, capable of slaying the dragon, etc. That’s the whole point.

And I do hope that every single reader walks away from a book having gained some new knowledge or perspective.

But why is that some books need to SCREAM this lesson? Why make it so obvious that it’s about as organic to the story as a 10-story plastic flamingo in somebody’s lawn?

Part of the beauty of fiction, in my opinion, is the opportunity to live someone else’s life and learn from his/her strengths and weaknesses without actually undergoing said events yourself. And as we all know, lessons in life aren’t always as clean cut as we’d like them to be. Artificially creating them to be that easy and clear is a disservice to the intelligence of readers of every age, and not doing anyone any favors.

Wow, that was kind of rant-y, huh? J Ooops!

In any case, in preparation for my talk with that YA class next week, I’ve been thinking about books that touch on serious topics and provide opportunity to see people/situations/problems in a new light WITHOUT beating you over the head with a lesson.

Here are a few of my picks:

·       Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Actually, pretty much anything by Ms. Anderson is wonderful in this category)

·       The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen Randle

·       The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen

·       The Hate List by Jennifer Brown

·       Good Girls by Laura Ruby (I freaking LOVE this book because it handles teen sexuality—a touchy subject, obviously—with such grace and realism.)

·       North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

·       The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

What do you think? What others am I missing? I’m always up for discovering more of these gems!

Last weekend I went to see Avatar. I won’t talk about it here (if you want to hear me rant about the movie visit my blog), but one good thing from the entire (long) experience for me was the previews. There are two BIG movies coming out that I can’t wait to see. The first I’m taking my 10 yr old daughter to next month:

The second I’m taking the DH to in the end of March:

Aside from the fact I am a HUGE Greek myth lover, the timing of these movies couldn’t be better. Usually “they” (the elusive experts) say movie trends are about two years behind book trends. For me, that’s not true. My first paranormal releases April 27, 2010, and it’s based on seven warriors who are descended from the greatest heroes in all of Ancient Greece. Percy Jackson & the Olympians? Dude! Um, yeah. I’m writing about the heroes! And Clash of the Titans? Wow. Perseus? Right up my alley.

Do I plan to play this up for the release of MARKED in late April? Oh, you betcha. I’m thinking some fun movie-related contests will be in order. More to come on those later. But in the meantime, I have this awesome countdown widget for MARKED to share. Feel free to copy and paste around:

And…since I should be getting ARCs of MARKED this week, you might want to follow me on Twitter (if you aren’t already) and check my blog, because I’m going to be giving away a few ARCs in the next week or two.

How about you? Looking forward to either of these movies?

Hi everyone,

I had the most perplexing experience in the store yesterday.  Last time I checked, it is still January.  Here in Ohio, we have had one good snowfall so far.  Just one.  I’m fairly certain that February will probably have at least one more good snowfall, and I wouldn’t be surprised by one in March, just when I’m twitching to start planting for Spring.

When that first snowfall dumped on us, I went out and tried to find some snow boots for my little one, so he could go out and stomp around in the snow with warm feet.  Nope!  Sold out.  I was too late.  My bad.  I’ve never been good at shopping, and the little guy’s feet grow so darn fast, I never want to buy anything too early.

So I figured, I’d go out and buy a set of boots now.  Easy right?  Not quite.

Guess what they had stocked in the store?

Swimsuits.  Lots and lots of swimsuits.

If you walked through the back of the store, you would have assumed that it was 85 degrees, not freezing rain outside.  They had attachments for sprinklers to turn them into play fountains, water guns, water balloons, snow cone makers (I’m not kidding), but no snow boots.  No snow gloves.

What the heck?

First of all, if I really wanted to buy a swimsuit for my kids right now, they’d grow out of it before they could use it this summer.  And there’s no WAY I’m trying on a swimsuit after the post-Christmas cookie binge I just went on.

I can’t find what I need to buy, (stuff for the snow) because someone in the store’s distribution chain of command has dictated that the way to turn a profit is to push the next season so they’re ahead of the game.

I’m not ahead of the game!  I need snow boots!

That got me thinking.  The bottom line here is this store has failed to give me what I need when I need it, and so has lost the opportunity for a sale.

As romance authors, are we giving readers what they need when they need it?  Do we even know what our readers really need?

The only thing I have to go by is conversations on blogs and my own feelings about what I would like to read.  Obviously I write SFR, but I write it because I feel like I need a story based on high-stakes adventure with a sense of wonder and possibility.  I need a story with gripping emotion that is focused on the romantic arc.  And occasionally I need to read something just plain hot and steamy.

What do you need?

What are you looking for that romance isn’t delivering for you right now?

And have you stumbled on the last cache of snow boots out there?  What have you read that really satisfied what you were longing to read lately?

Jess

Out of the FedEx box and into my heart! The ARCs (advanced reader copies) for my debut book Mistress by Mistake arrived a few days ago, and I’m still so excited. I hear from my writing friends that paper-bound ARCs are getting kind of rare—a lot of publishers are doing everything electronically. But I have real-honest-to-goodness-books that I can hold in my hand, and I’d like to share that experience with you! MBM does not come out until April 27, but here’s your chance to get a reading head start. This is an uncorrected proof, but by my estimate there are only 6-7 teeny tiny mistakes, which should in no way impede your enjoyment of the first book in the Courtesan Court Trilogy.

Please leave a comment below telling me how you like to read—paper or pixels? Do you own an e-reader, and if you do, what kind is it? How many books do you buy in an average month (print and e)? AND if you also go to my website, http://www.maggierobinson.net and sign up for my newsletter, I’ll  enter your name twice in the ARC drawing. I’ll notify the randomly-selected winner by January 25th and mail out a pretty red ARC, and include a coverflat as well, so you can dress it up.

Look for more ARC and other giveaways as I begin the Mistress Countdown. Good luck!

Allright, YAY I am so pleased you all entered and helped spread the word about my first book for Avon! This is a dream come true for me and I’m still a little freaked out that I am going to be published…LOL, that people are actually going to be reading my books! ANYWAY, it’s time for the winners….for this blog and I’ll post seperate winners at my website blog.
Using the amazing randomizer copyflats go to:

Jackie Burris
The Book Queen
Dana

And after making a ton of ballots for each person who entered, the winner of an ARC is

Theresa W!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!

Please email me at my website with your deets and I’ll get everything in the mail this week! Again, thank you so much!!!!!!!!

Juliana

Hop over to my blog at Here to see if you won there!

Before I get started on my thoughts of the day, what do you think of the hero in my latest Ellora’s Cave release?  Last time I posted here I was mulling the disconnect between Beast Master’s story and the cover, but this time I’m a beyond happy camper.  Wow.  Talk about intense, just like my hero.  Why can’t I bring him home?

Last week I turned in my latest contracted manuscript for Kensington’s Aphrodisia, a sucker that held at 85,000 words before I tightened it a bit.  I don’t often write long so that surprised me.  His Slave is an erotica, specifically a capture theme with touches of BDSM and some dark and dasterdly minor characters.  Part of my tightening intailed taming those characters so I could better live with them.  Hopefully readers will understand.

Once His Slave was out of my mind so to speak, I went back to a romantic suspense proposal I’ve been working on for too long trying to get it to be what my agent needs to take to the marketplace.  Hopefully I’m there now but I’m first running it past a writer friend whose opinion I truly value.  If I recall, I’ve gone back to Denali Danger three times focusing and deepening each time.  I have a villainess who initially was rather mysterious because I didn’t know her.  It took longer than I care to admit but I understand her now.  She’s multi-facited human being with a disadvantaged background and a hunger for a sense of belonging that leads to–well, a lot of nasty stuff.  My heroine has gone through her own changes, not deepening so much as changing focus.  In the beginning I tried to force her into a box but Laura saw right through the ill fit and called me on it.  Now my heroine’s growth and change throughout the story is a natural outgrowth of her personality.  If she walked in the door, I’d hug her and pour her a glass of white wine because she’s a deer friend.

What I’m saying here is that for me at least, creating a character isn’t a simple matter of popping them out.   At first they’re in essence newborns, cute and fascinating but without fully realized personalities.  That takes time.  And what an exciting journey that is for the writer.

Vonna

www.VonnaHarper.com