Steampunk Inspiration (Part 1): A Naughty Device

Steampunk? A historian writing Steampunk?

I’m used to writing about characters and situations and places that actually existed or could have possibly existed (I mean, c’mon, it is fiction). I’m definitely not used to writing stories that take place in some futuristic pseudo-past where women wear corsets — leather corsets! — on top of their clothes. Besides I know absolutely nothing about science or mechanics (except when I was young and owned a VW Bug).

What’s the old adage? “Write what you know”? When you get right down to it, what on Earth does a librarian-art historian really know about erotica, much less Steampunk erotica? Continue reading

Getting Off On History

My very first guest post on another blog is out today!

We have a webpage for the upcoming anthology Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors in which I have a Roman-set story, “The Promise of Memory”. [UPDATE: website no longer available.]

I’m talking about historical romance and historical erotica and why I find it so enthralling. You can either read the post below, or read it on the Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors website. [UPDATE: website no longer available.] Continue reading

Amazon’s Adult Filter Buries Your Naked Bodies

[UPDATE: I’ve had to delete old, broken links in this post.]
Recent news about my publisher Ellora’s Cave is not good. Freelance editors and cover artists have been laid off – including both my editors. I’m worried about my cover artist since she is a freelancer, although she is still listed on the company website. [UPDATE: Alas, she is no longer.]

There was a lot of hullabaloo in the blogosphere and on Twitter about this news, which was originally a private communique to EC authors. Some people complained that Ellora’s Cave charges too much for ebooks especially since so much self-published material is so cheap, some people ruminated about financial concerns at EC, some people wondered about poor business practices at EC (this one about Farrah Abraham’s advance is interesting), and some people thought it was disingenuous of EC to blame Amazon although perhaps Amazon’s launch of Kindle Unlimited had something to do with it.

But what no one seems to be gossiping about is Amazon’s adult filter and how that is quite possibly the reason for EC experiencing a “sharp decline of ebook sales via Amazon.”

And as an indie erotica author, I have some personal experience with precisely that. Continue reading

Meet My Character Blog Hop: Joseph Phillips

I’ve been tagged in another blog hop!

This blog hop highlights a main character from an author’s work-in-progress (WIP) or recently published or soon-to-be-published work. I was tagged by the witty and always fascinating Karysa Faire, who has a sexy character named Rodger in her WIP Swashbuckler, but she decided to introduce Hannah on this blog hop, a character from an entirely different book in a projected series that sounds absolutely wonderful. I’ve put all her links at the end of this post.

Now on to meeting one of my characters… Continue reading

A Sweeping Romantic Epic

Harwell Heirs series update! Notes on Book Two and Book Three!

Disobedience By Design, the sweeping romantic Book 2 of my Harwell Heirs series finally has a release date: July 25, 2014. You can add it to your wishlist on the Ellora’s Cave site. Continue reading

More First Times: Booklovers & Advertising

I’ll be attending my very first convention as an author this week: the 2014 RT Booklovers Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. It will be my first time in New Orleans, as well.

Continue reading

Two New Erotic Shorts Coming Soon!

May is Short Story Month, and I’m taking the opportunity to announce I’ll be in two upcoming anthologies. I’m amongst some greats in the erotica canon with these books, so am feeling a little amazed and abashed, as well as super excited! Continue reading

Writing Process Blog Hop: How I Do It

I’ve been tagged in the Writing Process Blog Hop! I was tagged by my colleague Jasmine Haynes who writes erotica and erotic romance (and other books under other names). She has a new release from Berkley Heat, Teach Me a Lesson, the second book in her Let’s Misbehave series.
Jasmine writes very hot sex! There is a voyeur scene near the beginning of The Principal’s Office that is so absolutely scorching I had to look around to make sure no one was watching me as I read it!

Now on to the official Writing Process Blog Hop questions. Continue reading

Character-Driven Sex Redux, or, “What do you want, Brick?”

I was talking to an artist friend at a party recently, and he mentioned listening to some author interviews where they described how they create their characters. He was astounded that some authors create very detailed backstories and personality inventories for their characters, including information that never makes it into the final novel. He asked if I did the same.

I confess I do not. Continue reading