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Summer is Here…(maybe)

Posted in Fantasy Romance, Happy weekend, paranormal fantasy, Paranormal fantasy, Paranormal romance, reading, writing, tagged , , , , , , on May 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Or then again, maybe not. This is Georgia we’re talking about.

Let me explain. About a week ago, I built a fire in the living room to take off the chill. A few days before that, it had been up near 80F outside, so I had no firewood in. We all thought we were finished with the heat for the year. Just in case, I brought a little more wood up.

And then it turned warm. All right, not warm. HOT!

Three days ago we had two days of 80 degree weather again. Ir had rained, so outdoors was like a sauna. I turned on the AC not so much to cool down the house as to draw the humidity out of the air. Same thing the next day.

Yesterday the high was 63 with drizzle all day. Today may reach 70. I don’t know yet. But the humidity is once again terrible.

In the meantime, I’ve been doing some writing and some reading.

If you like murder mysteries, check out the Widow’s Island novellas. (I’ve been binge reading.)

On the home front, I’ve been writing an article about Gambler’s Folly and working on Tiger’s Tempest. My editor is working on Ben of Blackstone’s Forge.

Tiger’s Tempest?

Think Tiger shifters meeting on Gambler’s Folly. She’s a forensic photographer. He is president of the security division for his families pharmaceutical corporation and working with Interpol on counterfeit drugs. They hadn’t intended to get married when he offered to play tour guide for her skiing and photography trip to Crystal Mountains. It just sort of…well, happened.

And Ben of Blackstone’s Forge?

Ben’s family has a way with iron, which makes their trade as blacksmiths considerably easier. He’d always thought he and Deborah would marry, but when he left the village to finish his apprenticeship, something happened. Now she will scarcely speak to them. Both his father and hers are rather strongly suggesting they each need to find a partner, but the only woman he wants as his wife is Deborah. And because of what happened while Ben was away, Deborah has decided she will never marry. Until their fathers get together and come up with a solution.

Wish me luck. With this crazy weather and the hectic schedule I’ve had lately, I’ll need all the help I can get.

In the meantime, catch up on the Gambler’s Folly and the Esperance series. Both are available at Amazon and Smashwords, as well as most other online retailers.

Have a great weekend!

And as always,

Don’t Forget…

…to Share The Romance…

Photo by Thomas B. on Pexels.com

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It’s May!

Posted in Fantasy Romance, Mellie Miller, paranormal fantasy, paranormal romance, writing, tagged , , , on May 3, 2023| 2 Comments »

All right, who else remembers the musical, Camelot? With Julie Andrews?

Every time the first of May comes around, I think of the song from Camelot–The Lusty Month of May. It is such a happy, upbeat song as we head into spring and look forward to summer.

Now if the weather will cooperate… I put tomatoes out, thinking it would certainly be warm enough at night for them. But I’m keeping an eye on the temperatures. Last night it got down to 42 out here. If it gets much lower, I’ll have to start covering them.

In the meantime, I’m still working on Tiger’s Tempest. I’m also revamping Moonlight and Shadows as a novella for Smashwords.

So stay tuned for all of those coming up. Tiger’s Tempest will be a while. It is in progress and waiting in queue behind three other Gambler’s Folly books yet to be released.

But don’t forget the rest of the Gambler’s Folly series or the Esperance books on Amazon!

Have a wonderful month of May!

And as always,

Don’t Forget…

…to Share the Romance…

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Can You Give Me a Hand?

Posted in Fantasy Romance, Paranormal fantasy, Paranormal romance, writing, tagged , , , , , on April 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I just got an email telling me the cover for Too Many Talents was selected for the April Book Cover Contest over at Allreads. And I’m really excited!

For those of you who are fans of my books, could you do something for me?

Could you go over and cast your vote for Too Many Talents? It only takes a few seconds.

Anyway, this week is starting out better than last week, so here’s hoping the trend continues.

Thank you for following my blog and for reading my books!

Here’s the link!

https://allauthor.com/cover-of-the-month/15113/

And as always,

Don’t Forget…

…to Share the Romance…

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Editing Blues

Posted in editing, Fantasy Romance, Paranormal fantasy, writing, tagged , , , , , , on January 31, 2023| 3 Comments »

All right, I know there are some of you writers out there who don’t mind editing. And some who actually enjoy the process.

I am not one of those people. Hate it with a passion. I find it particularly tedious, even though I love the results once I finish with it and send it on to my editor. And I’m sure she appreciates my efforts.

I’ve heard the saying that your first draft is you telling yourself the story. The edits are you refining this story for your audience, and I suppose it’s true. I just hate the process. It gives me a headache.

I’m hoping to have Whiskey Jug Genie out later this year and I’m struggling through it. I may have to start adding a splash of whiskey to my coffee at this rate.

It’s like I can see the story unfold in my head, but capturing those thoughts on paper as I paint those pictures for others is another matter.

And it seems in each story I write, I pick one word to continually repeat–sometimes several times on one page. What is wrong with me?

At any rate, this is only an update on my trials and tribulations. Wish me luck as I fight my way through.

Writers, drop me a comment and tell me about your woes as a writer.

And tell me which version of the cover you like best. It is still a work in progress. Remember, this is a redneck genie…

And as always,

For all my other books, go on over to Amazon!

Mellie Miller

Sultonna Nadine

Don’t Forget…

…to Share the Romance…

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Story Time Anyone?

Posted in fiction, Paranormal fantasy, writing, tagged , , , , , on October 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »

When I was little, my mother read to me nearly every day. And I read to my kids as they were growing up. Maybe you had the same experience growing up.

But where do you find someone to read to you now?

You’re in luck! I’ve decided to make audio versions of all my short stories and musings from Vocal.Media. And this first one is one of my favorites–Moonlight and Shadows.

A paranormal short story set in the high desert area of Wyoming, come meet Shade Shadowstalker, a rather unusual individual who works for the DEA.

Nighttime, under a full moon, your eyes can play tricks on you out there. Can you really believe that what you think you see is real? Or is it just a trick of the light.

Go on over to Anchor FM and listen to Moonlight and Shadows. And if you like what you hear, let me know!

Thanks for dropping by!

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Pen Names

Posted in Fantasy Romance, Mainstream sensual, Paranormal fantasy, writing, tagged , , , , on September 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I am often asked if I use a pen name. And the answer to that is both yes and no.

How can it be both?

When I first started writing and publishing my books, I used my actual name, mainly because it never occurred to me not to. Yeah, I’m a little slow.

But then I mentioned to a friend that my mother had another name picked out for me, but was pressured to name me after my two grandmothers. My dad was the eldest son of his family and I would be the first grandchild on my mother’s side. So she got overruled. When he asked what the name was, I told him. Sultonna Nadine. And he loved the name.

I told him he could name one of his characters Sultonna if he’d like, but he said no. The name was mine and I should use it somewhere. Maybe as a pen name. I thought it was a wonderful idea to honor my mother’s choice of names for me. And honestly, I’d always wished she’d given me the name she’d chosen. I feel more a Sultonna than a Mellie most times.

Since I already had both series started under Mellie Miller, I wasn’t sure what to do with the name, until I had the idea for Master of the Fleet. It didn’t fit in either series, but I loved the story. What if I wrote stand alone novels under a different name…

Et voila! Sultonna Nadine the author is born!

So there you have it–the story behind the author. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t like the spelling of Sultonna, so if you do a search, it will always come up with a different suggestion. But Sultonna it is.

Am I going to write more under this name?

Absolutely! I actually have two different stories ready for professional editing for Sultonna Nadine. I hope to have one of them out this winter. So keep an eye on this blog for news of a release.

Have a wonderful weekend and a splendid month of September–my birth month!

And as always,

Don’t Forget…

…to share the Romance…

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Of Dreams and Stories

Posted in Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Romance, Mainstream sensual, Paranormal romance, writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

One question I am asked often is where I get my ideas. Most people think I get all my ideas the same way, I suppose. But this isn’t the case.

Take Jareth, First Lord.

This particular story began with a dream. But the dream didn’t begin with the opening scene of the book. I wouldn’t have paid any attention to it, except it kept recurring for several nights. In order to make it go away, I wrote it down.

The next few nights, I dreamed a different scene from the story. Again, it wasn’t the beginning of the book, nor did it follow the scene I’d already written.

So, I decided to sit down and try to figure out how those involved in the story would get to the point of my dreams. And how did they connect?

Sitting down in front of my computer, I let my mind drift off into a daydream and began to write. After I had the beginnings of the story, the rest flowed pretty easily. Of course, there was a lot of editing to do, but at least I stopped dreaming it.

The original story became two books, Jareth, First Lord, and Viviane, First Lady. My editor noticed that i seemed to have one ending, took a breath, and launched back into the story. She felt it would work better if we stopped at the first break and continued in the second book.

Now the third book is Morgan–the Pixie and the Green Man.

Morgan was a character in my first book who touched my heart. I decided she needed a story of her own and spent several days wondering where I should start. And since I write romance, who would be her love interest?

Enter James Ferguson, whose family has Talents related to wood and the forest. His nickname for Morgan is Pixie, since she is much smaller than her is. Because of his abilities, she calls him her Green Man, which is how we arrived at the title.

Book 4 will be coming out soon–Too Many Talents. This one continues the story from Viviane, First Lady and brings in the story line from Clan Belfort and the new heir–her nephew, Connell.

Watch for it here!

And as always,

Don’t Forget…

…to Share the Romance…

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Too Many Talents

Posted in Fantasy Romance, Fiction books, paranormal fantasy romance, Paranormal romance, Romance, writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Yes, Too Many Talents should be out later this month. Book 4 from the Esperance Series, it continues where Viviane, First Lady left off. It picks up just after Jareth and Viviane return from her brother’s trial in Clan Belfort.

Viviane’s training has not progressed well since returning from her brother’s trial. Her instructor and husband feel it’s because she’s resisting training due to an unfortunate incident in the court. But the more she resists, the more often her Talents get out of hand, causing episodes almost every day.

What will it take for her to finally step up and be the multi-talented First Lady she was born to be?

Back in Clan Belfort, her nephew, Connell, struggles with the concept of Talents. Why should he need these weird abilities to rule the clan when the time comes? And why must he leave his old friends behind and move to his grandfather’s home to train? But when old friends, jealous of his change of status, decide to harm his little friend, Nellie, his abilities take over and save her from harm.

Maybe this is his turning point. And maybe he should talk with his Aunt Viviane.

Watch for Too Many Talents, Esperance Book 4

Now, how about an excerpt?

“Viviane, Duncan is worried about you and has me worried, too.”  

“Worried? Whatever for?” she asked.

“I know how you feel about your Talents, but hiding from them isn’t the answer. And neither is running away and pretending they don’t exist. Duncan and I feel the loss of control you are experiencing is coming from something besides the porting aspect of your Talents.”

“I don’t know what you mean, Jareth,” she answered sharply.

 “Yes, you do, Viviane. Since we’ve been home you’ve been resisting your Talents, and fighting them, especially during training. They will win in the end. In the meantime your control will get worse and worse, until it is manifesting more unpredictably, even when you’re not working with it. With the strengths you have, you will hurt someone, while trying to deny your heritage.”

“But Jareth…”

“Your Talents have to be trained,” he stated emphatically. “There is no escape from it. You have to let go of your fears and put your entire will into your training. It’s the only way to gain control before you do irreparable harm.”

“I don’t want these Talents, Jareth! I never have! Why won’t they go away and leave me alone?”

Now, from Connell in Clan Belfort.

At ten years old, he has been chosen to train as heir to the clan in Carl’s place, which requires him moving to his grandfather and first lord’s home, away from his friends, and for now, his family.

Why does he need Talents to rule the clan anyway? He doesn’t see the point in all this training and the headaches.

But when his old friends come down for the Gather, their jealousy makes them lash out in the one way they know will hurt Connell–by picking on his friend Nellie. As they restrain him and try to hurt her, his Talents come to the rescue, making him think about all those things he’d heard and now how they might apply in real life.

Here’s an excerpt from Belfort.

With a huge sigh, Connell took a deep breath, let it out, and dropped down into his mental working state. Focusing on the little box on the bench, he tried to reach out and nudge it to the end of the table. Instead of scooting to the end of the table, it rolled over twice and refused to budge another inch.

Coming back to his conscious level, he shrugged his shoulders in aggravation and looked up at Master Olivier.

“Well, at least you didn’t slam it into the wall. But why did you roll it instead of slide it?”

“I have no idea, sir.”

“Maybe we should work on something else for a while. Go get a drink of water, stretch out for a minute, and come back. We’ll work on your telepathy and see if we can narrow down your focus.”

By the end of the day’s session, Connell had a tremendous headache, and he was aggravated and frustrated with his progress. What was he missing? Master Olivier told him it would all come together soon, but what if it didn’t? His whole family and clan were counting on him, and he couldn’t even move a box from one end of the table to the other.

Watch for Too Many Talents! I’ll keep you posted!

To get the first three books in the series, go to Amazon or Smashwords!

And as always,

Don’t Forget…

…to Share the Romance…

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What’s Coming Up?

Posted in Fantasy Romance, Mellie Miller, paranormal fantasy romance, Paranormal romance, writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The three book series, Esperance, will soon be joined by a fourth book–Too Many Talents.

How about a little background?

The world I call Esperance was settled during a very disturbed time on Earth. People with a particular remote viewing ability sought new worlds to colonize, as it seemed Earth might not survive. On this new world, these individuals, called Seekers, also helped discover minerals for mining concerns, new food which could be used by the new settlers, and many other things.

As the colony would take time to become self-sufficient, Earth subsidized them with shipments of necessities they couldn’t manufacture yet. Machine parts, medicines and the like were at the top of the list.

Until the shipments stopped coming. The colony struggled to keep going until a mutated virus wiped out over half of the colony. Without the medicines from Earth, they were at the mercy of nature. Many skills were lost, machines broke down with no way to repair them, and the remaining settlers descended into chaos, each man for himself in a bid to survive.

After several decades of this confusion, a few among them developed Talents–psychic abilities such as telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, and a host of others. Using these new abilities, they got together to impose the rule of law to save what was left of their world.

Dividing the world into clans, each named after one of the original talented men, the colony slowly began to revive. New Talents, which took the place of mechanism and medicines, began to emerge among the people. Some had abilities relating to wood and the forest. Others for various sorts of metal or stone. And those who could heal using energy became the new medical professionals among them, while the herbalists researched various plants to add to the mix. Some had very minor abilities, others became masters in their field.

Until we come down to the time of Jareth and Viviane, several hundred years after the end of the confusion.

Viviane has Talents she should never have developed. Though she has struggled for control, an unfortunate outburst of temper at her brother’s trial nearly takes a life. Now terrified of her abilities, she begins to resist her training, which only makes the outbursts of uncontrolled Talent more frequent. Jareth and her instructor struggle for a way to make her understand how important her training is, as her uncontrolled manifestations of Talent become a daily concern.

Follow her continuing story in Too Many Talents.

We are also introduced to her nephew, Connell.

When the original heir of Viviane’s home clan, Belfort, turns traitor, another heir must be found. He should be of the family line, and still able to access his Talents. The only one who fits the bill is Connell, her sister’s son.

Connell, who is only ten and a half, isn’t sure why he needs Talents to be a ruler. After all, what could go wrong which would require it? And why does he have to come live with his grandparents for this training? But when his friends from home come to the clan center for the Gather, he learns a lesson about jealousy, friendship, and Talent he won’t forget soon.

He also learns how helpful it is to keep control of his thoughts, when he accidentally finds himself in Jareth and Viviane’s study, unannounced and quite confused, after letting his temper get out of control.

Watch for Too Many Talents, coming soon!

Haven’t read the first books in the series?

Go to Amazon or Smashwords for your copies today!

And as always,

Don’t Forget…

…to Share the Romance…

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The Story Behind The Russian

Posted in Fantasy Romance, Mainstream sensual, Paranormal romance, Romance, writing on April 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Did you ever just look at someone and say, “He looks like a wolf, or bear, or a big cat?”

Maybe it’s just me. I know. I’m weird. Nothing new there.

But that’s how The Russian began, from seeing someone who instantly reminded me of a wolf. Of course my mind then took hold of the idea and began to wonder what sort of person he would be as a wolf shifter. And so it began.

Dmitri Ivanovich Volkov, a wolf shifter, was born in Russia a long, long time before Gambler’s Folly was settled. He’s lived over 500 years. How long exactly? Even he can’t tell you. He has spent most of his life in the military or as a mercenary across Earth, and later, across the galaxy.

He was finally approached by Interpol and has been working with the special division–all shifters–for several years. Though mainly based on Earth, he gets to Gambler’s Folly frequently chasing contraband.

A little over two hundred years ago, his soulmate died and left him adrift in the world. Deciding never to get close to anyone again, he has avoided long-term relationships. One thing he has learned in his life is that everyone he meets will eventually be taken from him.

But Mother Nature has other plans for him on Gambler’s Folly, in the form of a petite blonde who’s scent is reminiscent of vanilla and lilacs. Sensing something wrong while on a walk, he finds her surrounded by gang members intent on doing her harm. Using one of his unusual abilities, he sends them away and walks the girl home.

For the first time in a long time, he is drawn to her. The need to protect her, to be with her, is nearly overwhelming. And before he even knows her name, he leans down to kiss her, before apologizing and taking his leave.

How could he have known she also worked for the Special Department? Or that she would be in the office the very next morning?

And who could have predicted they would be soulmates?

All from a picture of someone who reminded me of a wolf.

Welcome to my writer’s mind. It’s crazy in here!

Want to read The Russian?

It’s available for Kindle, in paperback, and hardcover over at Amazon.

How about the Gambler’s Folly Series?

That’s it for now. Have a great week.

And as always,

Don’t Forget…

…to Share the Romance…

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