Yes, the heat of summer has hit down here in Georgia, with July coming in today. And since I’m more of an autumn person, I’m overheating.
But the good news is the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale is now here! That’s right! A month long book sale on ebooks of all kinds ready for your summer reading pleasure.
So whether you’re looking for a more laid back vacation on Esperance, a world with a great night life on Gambler’s Folly, or a bit of magic, you can find it all at Smashwords on sale!
Come on over and join the fun! Grab something cold to drink, get comfortable in your favorite chair, and enjoy the summer.
Am I the only one who can’t believe this year is disappearing so rapidly? Where has it gone?
But autumn has always been my favorite time of the year, so I can’t really complain. It just seems the year has flown by at a breakneck speed
What plans do you have for this autumn? When I was growing up, it was always a busy time. We had a large garden, so we were trying to get everything in and preserved before winter hit. And then there were the wild grapes to pick, not to mention the crab apples…
Have you ever had pickled crab apples? If not, you have missed a wonderful treat. I haven’t seen any around here, more’s the pity. We had a couple trees all the way at the back of one of our big fields. Right at the edge of the woods, the old trees gave us plenty of the sour little apples to pickle for later in the year. They were perfect by the time Thanksgiving rolled around.
Around here, the apples are just coming in and everyone is getting ready for the hayrides and corn mazes. Me and mazes don’t get along. I mean seriously, I can get lost in my own woods. I have no sense of direction whatsoever. Are you more like me or my husband, who spent most of his life always knowing where north was.
I’m about to finish the edit on Whiskey Jug Genie, so watch for it later this fall. Who doesn’t love a story about a genie? Come join me for this crazy, magical tale!
Watch here for release dates of Whiskey Jug Genie and Ben of Blackstone’s Forge!
Here it is August already and summer is in full swing down here in the Southeast. We haven’t had any rain in a few days and the temperatures are rising. But where has the summer gone?
I don’t know about where you live, but around here, school starts in August. In some areas, it starts as early as August 5. So everywhere in town is slammed with people trying to get their school shopping done. It is a crazy world out there.
But, with school starting, why don’t you sit back with a cold drink and a good book? With the kids in school, now’s the time to catch up on your reading.
Check out my books on Amazon for paranormal fantasy romance. Or check out Sultonna Nadine–my pen name for stand alones–for a bit more magic!
Esperance — a more frontier-like world where paranormal abilities abound.
Gambler’s Folly–a vacation planet with hunky shifters as Interpol agents, fighting crime and finding soulmates.
Master of the Fleet–an alternate universe of the Pacific Northwest, where magic is all around, but doesn’t seem to help Richard’s love life.
There you have it–a total of eight books to choose from.
So what are you waiting for?
Grab yourself a cold drink, find a comfy spot, sit back and take a virtual vacation to a mystical world.
A fantasy romance set in an alternate universe, on what we know as the coast of Oregon, we enter a world where magic is simply a part of everyday life. Our MC is Richard, heir to the family shipping business, and Master of the Fleet.
What does he do?
With his magical abilities with wind and water, along with a touch of mental telepathy, he helps keeps his ships safe out on the open seas. Also known as a weather shaper, he can correct air currents, calm stormy seas, or help change the weather when necessary.
The love of his life, or so he thinks, is Anne-Marie, a seamstress in town. Though they’ve been seeing each other for nearly two years, she has yet to accept–or refuse–his proposal.
But she never intends to marry. Men are to be taken for all you can get before moving on the next mark.
Things turn ugly when she convinces Richard to come with her to her home kingdom to celebrate the fall festival. A bit too much wine, all the excitement, and a bit of temper end with her exchanging marriage vows with Richard after being bound to him by a blood oath.
Richard is now married to a woman who says she can never love him. She’s bound to a man who has reason to despise her.
Love may have an uphill battle with these two.
Come with me and follow these two as romance works its magic, even in face of the odds.
After yesterday’s all day and all night rain, today is beautiful outside. Makes me wish I didn’t have so much to do inside, but the Lugnut and I can take a walk in a little while.
Still working away on Tiger’s Tempest in the Gambler’s Folly series. I have nearly 18,000 words down so far and, at the moment, a pretty good idea of where we’re going. Of course, with my characters, the route could change drastically. They are a headstrong bunch. But that’s what I get for writing about alpha male shifters I suppose.
If you could be a shifter, what would you be?
I always thought I would love to be a black leopard. They look so elegant, even if they do seem to have only two attitudes–calm, cool, and collected, or totally pissed off.
So far in my books, including those published and unpublished, I have leopards, panthers, wolves, bears, and now tigers.
What else would you like to see?
From Esperance, the next one in line is Ben of Blackstone’s Forge. As you might have guessed, Ben is a blacksmith. What makes him different is his family’s Talent for shaping iron.
No… That’s enough of a hint. You’ll have to read the book for the rest. But how about a tiny excerpt?
****
Excerpt:
If anyplace could be consider as hot as hell, it was a blacksmith’s forge in midsummer, Ben thought, as he strode to the well. Icy water filled his mug with a cheerful splash, after a couple quick strokes on the pump handle.
The first mugful went down in three healthy gulps. Pulling the folded kerchief from around his head, he rinsed the salt-encrusted cloth in another cold stream of water from the well.
The second mug of water brought a quick gasp as he poured it over his head, but it was refreshing after several hours of heating and hammering steel in the forge, where he worked with his father. Water flew in a circle of droplets as he shook the excess from his wavy brown hair, leaving it spiked in all directions.
Once more he filled the mug. Leaning his tall frame against the pump, he slowly sipped the cool liquid as his dreamy blue eyes scanned the street around the forge.
“Good morning, Ben,” he heard from a familiar voice.
Turning toward the voice, he raised his mug and gave a brief nod to the pretty young woman walking toward him. With her light brown, nearly blond hair, and warm brown eyes, she was a sight to give a man dreams.
“Don’t I rate more than a nod, Ben Blackstone?” she demanded. “You could at least smile.”
“Hardly seems worth the effort, Deborah, when all it will gain me is a snide remark or a new chastisement for some imagined affront.”
“You are the most irritating man I know,” she told him as he took another pull from the mug.
He had no response for her accusation and continued to enjoy the water before he had to go back into the hell known as Blackstone’s Forge. He loved the work, but summers could be downright miserable.
Deborah was still glaring at him, hands on her hips, head tipped to the side, and eyes flashing in anger.
“Did you need something, Deb, or are you just here to annoy me?”
“My name is Deborah, not Deb, and absolutely not Debbie. And yes, I do need something. I’ve got better things to do than make a special trip to annoy you.”
*****
Need something to fill the time until Ben of Blackstone’s Forge is published?
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. It is a beautiful day out here today, so I’m thinking of taking the Lugnut for a walk.
And then tonight, I’m going to find something to read. I just finished The Forgotten Witch by Jessica Dodge and loved every page of it. Elements of magic and romance, past and present lives… I would definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of the genre.
What are you reading tonight?
Can I interest you in something romantic, with a twist of the paranormal?
Just what are Talents anyway? I talk a lot about them in my Esperance books. So let’s take a peek at what I’m talking about.
Generally speaking, Talents are like psychic abilities. You may be familiar with the concept of mental telepathy or telekinesis. On Esperance, this takes a much broader stroke across the population. Healers have a gift for using energy to counter illness and work with doctors to keep the clan healthy.
Take for instance the Ferguson family. The ruling family of Clan Ferguson is known for having an affinity for the forest and wood products in general. In Clan Brannach, a family related to the ruling family owns a lumber yard. They also create works of art from wood in unusual ways, using these Talents.
When it comes to First Lords, those Talents can come in a number of ways. Most are adept at mental telepathy, telekinesis, remote viewing and the like. Some can teleport to places they’ve been to before.
What makes the difference in their strength is the amount of energy they can control to direct this Talent. No one has every found the limits of Jareth’s powers.
Then we come to Viviane, who should have lost any abilities she had during childhood. Nobody knows exactly why, but they resurfaced during the trouble her clan had with Clan Brannach, stirred up by her traitorous brother, Carl. All the Talents one would expect for an heir of the clan became hers, and were completely out of control.
This brought up another issue. Since Talent is tied to emotions in a lot of cases, whenever she became emotional at all, or began to daydream, she affected everyone within reach of her abilities. Maids would be dancing down the hallway as she visualized a dancer while playing her flute. Her anger sent people flying out of her path.
And the stronger her abilities became, the more trouble they were.
Now, picture two people who are extremely gifted when passion ignites in the bedroom…
Yeah…
Both Viviane and Jareth were tired of having to control their emotions during those intimate times, but so far the only solution was to go to the mountain cabin. While Jareth could teleport them up the mountain, it was rather a nuisance.
But Jareth has a plan and it’s almost time for Viviane’s birthday. It will certainly be one she will never forget.
Come with me to Esperance. Maybe we can wish Viviane a happy birthday in person.
And don’t forget Connell, over in Clan Belfort. We’ll talk about him next time.
