It’s that time of year again over at Smashwords–Read a Book Week!
Are you ready?
All the authors at Smashwords have the opportunity to enter this yearly sale and choose how much of a discount you can find on the books you want to buy. And all of my books are included in the sale!
The storm, that is. If you’re anywhere here in the Southeast, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Helene really did a number down here, especially in the Carolinas.
We had quite a bit of rain and a little wind here where we are, but nothing like on the coast. A large, mostly dead, branch fell down and bent a lean-to roof behind one of our sheds, but the house and vehicles are fine. It could have been so much worse.
I know a lot of you out there have had a rough week, so I’m going to have a weekend sale, beginning Friday!
All my books on Smashwords will be available this Friday, October 4, through Monday, October 7 for only $0.99 each!
So if you’ve never read any of my books, or haven’t finished a series, now is the time! Go on over to Smashwords and find you next read for the weekend. All books from both series, plus Master of the Fleet, all for $0.99 each.
Just as I was getting used to the cooler autumn temperatures, Mother Nature decided to revisit summer, with high’s in the 90’s. I am so over this heat…
In the meantime, I’m working on getting Old Flame out for the holidays. With any luck, this will be the last rewrite.
Wish me luck…
Anyway, if you’re looking for my books on Amazon, go to my Author’s Profile Page! You’ll find all the books I’ve written there. Looking for a particular series?
Don’t worry! I’ll have another book out for the Esperance series soon, too. And after that, I’ll work on getting Sultonna’s next book finished. (It’s in editing…)
In the meantime, have a lovely last week in September.
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.
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?
I’m headed to Gambler’s Follyfor a while. It’s been a while since I visited with Dam and Kari.
What? You aren’t acquainted with the Leone family? We need to fix that right away!
Come with me to Gambler’s Folly. Meet Damiano and Karianna in Book 1 and follow their romance. You’ll also meet Dante, Marco, Paulo, and Nagi, who will pop in every now and again in other stories along the way.
After that, in Book 2, Dante’s Angel, we can go to Italy with the whole bunch for Dam and Kari’s church wedding. And you can share in the joy, frustration, and chaos when Dante finds his soulmate, who happens to be one of Damiano’s cousins.
Book 3, The Russian, introduces a new character–Dmitri Ivanovich Volkov, known as The Russian. He is an anomaly, even for a shifter. Over 500 years old, he found his soulmate over 200 years ago, and held her in his arms as she died. He doesn’t want another mate. The heartache is too great. But Mother Nature has other plans for The Russian.
Where can you meet all these characters?
Go over to the Gambler’s Folly page on Smashwords. For this weekend each book is priced at only $0.99 in the series! And once you have, you can vacation with me!
Yeah, I’m not a happy camper this week. About a week ago, I tripped in a parking lot and fractured my right patella. After an after noon in ER, they decided I just needed to wear a brace until I could see an orthopedic specialist. So a few days later, I got in to see the doctor,, who told me much the same thing. Keep a brace on when I’m up and walking around. Take pain killers as needed. See me in two weeks for more x-rays.
It’ll be about 8–10 weeks healing time.
In the meantime, it is taking me forever to get things done. My daily walks are not a thing until I can walk properly again. And sitting at my desk is somewhat less than comfortable. Go figure, right?
So I haven’t done much writing this past week, though I have been reading through the next book for Gambler’s Folly to mark it up for editing. I do this on my Kindle Fire, so I can read without sitting at my desk. I’ve found I can highlight areas I want to work with and then take the Fire in to my desk and go through it there.
Much easier on the knee that way.
So what will be the next book for Gambler’s Folly?
Old Flame, which will be Book 4.
What’s it about?
They met at university thirty years ago. Though they were friends, they never really dated each other. Since then, Kort has had two failed marriages and become a multibillionair, considered the most eligible bachelor on several worlds. Elizabeth married and has recently become widowed.
Her kids bought her a ticket to visit them out west, and then surprised her with a vacation package to Gambler’s Folly. At the hotel her first night, waiting to fly to the spaceport for the shuttle flight, she runs into her old friend from university, also going to Gambler’s Folly.
And then the fun begins.
Still in editing, this will be a little while yet before it’s ready to publish, but I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, how about an excerpt?
EXCERPT
It was only a short drive to the hotel from the spaceport. Word must have gone ahead that Kort would be in town, so as soon as he stepped out of the limo cameras were flashing.
When she stepped out of the limo, there were questions from all sides.
“No, Liz is an old friend I met before I got on the shuttle. Since we were both staying here at the Stella d’Oro, I offered her a lift. I may convince her to have dinner with me later, but that’s all. We’re simply friends from our university days.”
“Is Liz short for Elizabeth?” someone called.
“Yes,” he answered.
“What about it, Liz? Any designs on Mr. Behrens?” someone else asked.
Feeling in a mood, she answered, “Who says I’d have him?”
She had expected a laugh or two, but got stunned silence before the questions began again.
“Now, you’ve heard it from the lady in question. Like I said, we’re simply friends who met again recently after several years. We’re catching up on old times. Don’t imply anything else, please.”
When they’d finally made it in the door and out of sight of the reporters, Kort turned to her with a laugh and gave her a big hug.
“Who says I’d have him? That was brilliant, Liz. It’ll keep them going for days.”
“I have no idea why I said that. It just slipped out. Are we likely to have a following everywhere we go?” she asked.
“For a day or two, until they get the idea I’m telling the truth. Unless you change you mind and decide you’ll have me instead?”
“Don’t press your luck.”
Wish me luck with the knee, and I’ll try to keep you posted on what I’m up to down here in the Southeast.
Of course, it’s raining here in Georgia, so I think the barbecue is off for the afternoon. But at least my guy made it home for the weekend. We can cook indoors and watch a movie with the cats. They are, of course, pointedly ignoring him for being gone.
Hope you’re all having a wonderful Father’s Day. Give that guy a hug while you have him here. You never know when his time on earth will be over.
After the last bit of chill, Mother Nature has chosen to go straight into summer. We’re supposed to have temperatures up in the 90’s this weekends, with night time lows warmer than our daytime highs were just over a week ago.
But the tomatoes are looking good and enjoying the sunshine, even if I’m uncomfortable with all the temperature shifts. All in all, a good time to stay indoors and get with the writing!
What have you been working on lately?
I’ve finished the first draft and read through of Lady Calloway and gone back to Scotch and Soulmates and Old Flame to make the corrections I made on the Kindle.
I don’t know about you, but I cannot read a manuscript properly on my computer monitor. But what I’ve found works a lot better is to save it out as a mobi file –I use Calibre to help with that–and upload it to my Kindle Fire. That way it’s more like reading a book without going through reams of paper and cartons of toner.
I haven’t figured out a way to make the changes to it on the Kindle, so I highlight the sections where I’ve found problems or bits I want to rewrite. Once I’ve finished the read through, I take the Kindle to my desk, open the book and the manuscript on the computer, and work my way through.
Yes, it is a little cumbersome, but whatever works. Right?
With the three of those moved out of the way for a bit, I’ve revisited the unfinished WIP for the Esperance series. The next one to publish will be Too Many Talents, Book 4, followed by Ben of Blackstone’s Forge, Book 5. The one I’ve pulled back out of the “to be finished” folder is Gregor Thayne–Heir of Rowan.
Way back in Viviane, First Lady, we meet Gregor’s father, Lord Kinsey of Clan Rowan. His was the deciding vote in the trial in Clan Belfort. In this book we meet his son and heir, who is a bit of a rogue. Earlier in life, Gregor decided he’d had enough and refused to be the clan heir. Taking off for the far side of the clan, he took his mother’s surname and became a city guard.
Eventually, he and his father came to an agreement and he returned to his duties as heir. But he retained the last name Thayne as a final show of rebellion.
But he was not a happy man when his father announced the marriage arrangement he’d made with another first Lord, pledging him to a woman he’d never met.
How will this all turn out? Your guess is as good as mine at this point. My characters tend to have minds of their own and go off on tangents I’d never imagined.
Watch for Too Many Talents later this year. And who knows? There may be something else from Sultonna Nadine as well.
Haven’t read the Esperance Series? You can find in on Amazon or at Smashwords!
Happy Mothers Day tag close up among a bouquet of flowers over a white wood background
I know. Mother’s Day isn’t until Sunday. However, I normally write on Friday before the weekend gets too hectic.
What are your plans for Mother’s Day?
When I was growing up, we normally had a bunch of friends over–families from church with all the mothers, fathers, and kids. My dad would do a big chicken BBQ and each family brought a side or dessert. Mom and I usually made a big batch of potato salad.
Come on. We ALWAYS made a big batch of potato salad. What’s the point of potato salad unless there is some left over to sneak out of the fridge later? And the few times we tried, we still wound up with the big yellow bowl full, plus about two servings which wouldn’t fit…
It was a beautiful time up around the Great Lakes. While winter has finally paased, and the weather has warmed, the summer swelter hasn’t yet arrived, Hay fields are growing toward mowing season, spring flowers are popping up everywhere. It is truly a beautiful place. And the spring flowers didn’t bother my mother as much when we picked bouquets. The golden rod and wild flowers in the fall about did her in, so they had to sit outside on the cistern lid, in front of the kitchen window.
How do you celebrate Mother’s Day?
And perhaps your mother likes to read…
I’m getting into a book our daughter bought for me–the complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I know. I’m weird.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend and a Happy Mother’s Day!
