Liquid Silver Eye Candy

I'm a doofus. I forgot that I had signed up to participate in a Liquid Silver Halloween blog party! I'm (belatedly) participating in a round robin blog hopping party thing! I was supposed to post some eye candy in honor of the big Candy Holiday and then send you on to the next blogger.

Here's my eye candy picture. He seems to be saying, "Oh my, what's this I have in my pants?"

Or maybe he's saying, "Want some...candy, little girl?"



Anyone who comments will get a chance to win their choice of any two of my books. I'm going to give away two because I feel bad for doing this so late. :) You may want to wait for my next release, coming from Ellora's Cave on November 26. Here's a short blurb:

Erotic pleasure is so central to the Shinwa culture that one is considered uneducated if not well-versed in the Jin-Hakku, an ancient sexual reference. As a bonded triad, Kai, Joran and Hana have long enjoyed the carnal pleasures it describes.

However, infertility can be a death sentence and Hana has yet to conceive. Desperate, the men turn to an obscure volume of the Jin-Hakku. What they find is daunting—three nights of exquisite sexual “torture” that will test the limits of their stamina and self-control, but for Kai and Joran, failure is not an option.

Now, off with you. Go to the next Liquid Silver blogger, the fabulous Shara Lanel. You can win cool stuff!

Thursday 3: Research

There's a popular meme called Thursday 13 in which every Thursday you make a list of thirteen things. I did this for a few months, but I don't have time for thirteen! So, I whittled it down to Thursday 3.

I am in the midst of writing the third book for my Ellora's Cave Be-Wished series, tentatively titled Asking For It. In the course of my writing, I typically research many many things. This Thursday I'm listing three sites that I saved in my favorites file for convenient access.

1. I needed to find out how much the yolk of a goose egg might be worth if it was made of gold, and here is one of the sites I referred to. The picture of the little bars provided some scale for me.

2. Here's a list of fairy tales that has come in handy.

3. Finally, my hero is a military guy and I found this site on Aviator Slang really interesting, even though I think that he isn't in the air force after all.

Pre-Buzz

My Ellora's Cave editor, Suz, told me this morning that the final line editor (the person who does the final proofing of the manuscript) emailed her the following about Secrets of the Jin Hakku (and I quote!)

Please do me a favor, next time you "talk" to this author, could you let her know she has a brand-new fan? I absolutely LOVED this story!

The book has a fan and it's not even out yet! How cool is that? See that cloud up there? The ninth one? That's me on top of it. :D

TOP SELLER!

I just got word today from my Liquid Silver Books editor, Maria, that Hostile Takeover was the number one best seller for the third quarter of 2008. Hooray!!! 1656 copies sold so far. I'm not sure how that compares to other authors or other electronic publishing houses, but that's a nice quantity for me at LSB. :D

Doing the happy dance...

She Likes Me, She Really Likes Me!

Ooh! This just in: a fantastic "5 bookmark" review from Jennifer Ray of Wild on Books. I can't help loving the woman because she loves my books. Here's part of what she said about Wolf...

This author has a knack for spinning romances that are both fun and sexy – a combination I am a complete fool for. Ms. Willoughby kept me giggling with the wit she infuses into each page of the book, obviously having as much fun with this story as her readers will. She manages to keep the story amusing, never silly, and yet infuses it with a great big dose of sex appeal.

There's more, but that's the good stuff. :D

Thursday 3: Crackers Are Okay

There's a popular meme called Thursday 13 in which every Thursday you make a list of thirteen things. I did this for a few months, but I don't have time for thirteen! So, I whittled it down to Thursday 3.

I would not kick this guy out of bed for eating crackers, no sirree.

I'm currently writing the third book in my Be-Wished series, tentatively titled ASKING FOR IT. The hero is a soldier, but I haven't decided which branch of the military yet. This hunk obviously swims, so I'm thinking maybe Navy.

I'm also thinking...

1) ...maybe this guy uses that knife to take out the bad guy who has captured me, but the bad guy is no match for my good guy. Afterward he cuts the ropes that bound my wrists together. Because I'm way to shaky from my experience to walk, he carries me to safety, barechested, of course. (Him, not me. LOL)

2) ...or maybe I'm a Lara Croft type gal and we're just completed a mission together. We've been fighting the attraction to each other for a long time, but I can see in his eyes, he can't take it anymore...

3) ...or, I was being held on a boat of some kind, and there's a helicopter dropping a harness down to me. Looking into my eyes, he straps me in with words of encouragement. Promises to see me in the helo. And of course, he's a man of his word.

Heh heh. Thank you God for giving me my imagination. It's my favorite toy.

5 Bookmarks!

Every once in a while I Google my name and look what I found! An outstanding "five bookmark" review by Jennifer Ray of Wild on Books.

I absolutely LOVED this book! Kate Willoughby left me utterly delighted with her whimsical tale of love and magic...

Mariah was just adorable. Sweet and guileless, it was no surprise to see Tucker fall completely in love with her.

Likewise, it was just as easy to understand why Mariah has never been able to stop thinking of Tucker since that one night they spent together years before. He is kind, fun, and thoughtful – and still as sexy as a man can get.

I can’t tell you how happy I am that this is only the first book in a series. I will be first in line when the next magical story in Willoughby’s Be-Wished series comes out!

You can read the whole review here, but that's the good stuff. She's already got a copy of A Wolf at Her Door and I can't wait to see what she thinks of it.

The First Sparkle of the Topaz!

Here's the cover for my next release!!! Squeeeee!!

I'm currently in the last round of edits for this Topaz themed novella, due out in November and I'm really excited. It's the first time I've ever created an entire world.

In All In and A Wolf at Her Door (the Be-Wished series) there's a fairy world that I made up, but it co-exists with our world, so it feels more like a half-world. And within Wolf, there's the werewolf shifter sub-culture, but again, it had to jive with Earth and us pitiful, non-paranormal humans.

But in Secrets of the Jin-Hakku, everything's new. I was God. It was so cool.

Anyway, I digress. The real subject of this post was supposed to be the rockin' cover. View it. Admire it. Allow the subliminal message to fully enter your brain. (BUY IT IN NOVEMBER...BUY IT IN NOVEMBER...)

P.S. I need to apologize for hijacking my own blog. I was supposed to post about why Grant Wood's painting "Young Corn" has significance for me, but the arrival of my new cover disrupted the plan.

SILENCE

I'm in deep deadline doo-doo.

Can't blog.

Forgive me!

A WOLF AT HER DOOR: Test Your Knowledge

Welcome to Day 2 of A Wolf at Her Door Week on my blog. Today I'm presenting a fun quiz to see how much you know about werewolves and other shifters. Answers will be posted tomorrow.

1. Today, some people truly believe that they are humans with the souls of animals. What do such people call their belief system?

A. Lycanthropy
B. Spiritual therianthropy
C. Lycanthrophilia
D. Werephilia

2. In 1992, a poll of Russians found that ____________ of respondents believed that werewolves existed.

A. 10 percent
B. 35 percent
C. 50 percent
D. 80 percent

3. In Celtic folklore, men were often seduced by the selkies, beautiful women who were really...

A. Horses
B. Seals
C. Deer
D. Swans

4. In the Amazon, one hears legends of the 'boto', which can transform into a young boy or a handsome man. In animal form, the boto is a...

A. Jaguar
B. Maned wolf
C. Cougar
D. Dolphin

5. In Japan, many legends tell of the kitsune, who often appeared in the form of a beautiful woman. The kitsune was a ....

A. Wereswan
B. Werecat
C. Werefox
D. Werebadger

6. What is the psychological term for a person who thinks that he is a wolf?

A. Lycanthrope
B. Zooanththrope
C. Lupine
D. Anthrolobos

7. From what material were werewolf-slaying instruments supposed to be fashioned?

A. Silver
B. Platinum
C. Gold
D. Tin

8. Quite a few physical signs were taken to be indications that one was a werewolf. Which of the following was NOT a sign that one harbored 'the animal within'?

A. Eyebrows that meet over the bridge of the nose
B. Sleeping with your mouth open
C. Excessive body hair
D. Eyes that relfect red light in the dark

9. One of the common beliefs about werewolves is that if you are bitten by one, you will also become a werewolf. What disease is responsible for this belief?

10. What do you call a werewolf from the southern United States?
A. Alabama wolf
B. Loup garou
C. Wendigo
D. Shapeshifter

How do you feel you did on the quiz? Have you ever even read a werewolf book before? Just wonderin'. :)

(Every comment made this week gets you a chance to win a free copy of Wolf. Winner to be announced 9/29.)

A WOLF AT HER DOOR: Bring On the Sex!

Whenever I have a new release, I dedicate an entire week to that book and A Wolf at Her Door, the second book in the Be-Wished series, is coming out on Wednesday!

Here's a blurb:

In this second book of the Be-Wished series, Paige gets her wish – a hot night with a sexy alpha male werewolf—and Adam more than fits the bill. But with the quirky wish fairy Davina in charge of the magic, something’s bound to go wrong.

If you haven't read the first Be-Wished book, no worries. While I personally prefer to read series books in sequence, you should not have a problem understanding this book at all if you haven't read All In.

Oh wait. Forget I said that. You should DEFINITELY buy All In (the first Be-Wished book) AND A Wolf at Her Door. Yeah. That's it. Buy them both. :D Buy Hostile Takeover, while you're at it. Heh heh.

Okay, back to the reason we're here today-- A Wolf at Her Door.

I always get a kick out of analyzing the amount of sex that occurs in my various books. Here are the Sex Stats for Wolf.

Number of Sex Scenes: 5

Shortest Sex Scene: 1602 words

Longest Sex Scene: 3801 words

Sex Percentage: 31%

Wow. It's one third sex! I think that's the largest percentage I've ever had. And yet, don't think that it's just a bunch of mindless bonking. It's not. This story got much more serious than Book One of the Be-Wished Series, All In. So perhaps I should describe this as bonking...with heart. LMAO.

Regarding sex scenes, do you prefer them from the female or male point of view? Or does it matter?

(Everyone who comments this week will get a chance to win a free copy of the book. The winner will be announced 9/29.)

An Encounter of the Hirsute Kind

The hero of my new release, A Wolf at Her Door, is a werewolf shapeshifter. So, once a month, he goes furry. He gets a tail. He lopes around the wilderness on four legs.

However, when he's in human form, most of the time, he's a normal guy. But last night I got my copies of the published book and was happily reading it with a goofy smile on my face. (Trying to concentrate despite the fact that the rest of the family was watching FRINGE really loudly.) And what do I find? A MISTAKE. Good Lord. My editor and I combed through this sucker many times, but apparently we should have checked it one more time because this gem of a sentence appeared:

The hair on his hairs stood on end...

My first reaction was angry despair, but that was only for a moment. Soon after I was chuckling. The mistake is so silly I can only hope my readers will recognize that and laugh. I like to think of myself as pragmatic, and pragmatically there's nothing I can do about this. So, why waste the energy being upset? In fact, maybe I can turn this into a contest. "Fine the glaring error in Chapter Whatever and win a prize."

Anyway, the point is, my guy is a wolf shifter, but he does NOT have hair on his hairs. *snorts*

But this is a minor glitch in comparision to what my friend RG Alexander is going through with Hurricane Ike. Her book is being released today and she has no internet with which to promote it. So, a few of us are helping her out. Here's the cover. Here's a short blurb:

Twins Hawk and Val are Fianna warriors under the vengeful curse of a scorned goddess. Following the prophecy in the Book of Veils, they search for the one who can help them retrieve the Claíomh Solais before their enemies get the chance. Their quest leads them to Linnea. One touch and there can be no doubt that they have found their match. But will she accept them once she knows the truth?

Since I just finished writing a menage tale, I'm extra-curious to see how others handled it. I hope you give RG a try. (Or even a buy!) :D

Coming Soon!

*SQUEE* A Wolf at Her Door is on the Coming Soon page at Ellora's Cave. The countdown has begun!

Small Squee

I have a Google alert set up for myself and today I got one that actually gave me cause for a smile. My book, Hostile Takeover, is, as of this moment, a bestseller at Fictionwise.com, an online bookstore. :) I really don't know how that translates into numbers, but I just like the word BESTSELLER there next to one of my titles.

My, What A Big Lens You Have

Here is the cover for my upcoming release from Ellora's Cave, A Wolf at Her Door. Wolf is the second in my Be-Wished series and I'm so excited that it's coming out next month! This guy's nose is a tad big, but maybe that's a good thing because in the book his sense of smell is highly acute. LOL

Do Over!

Okay, the excerpt I posted a few days ago is no longer part of the book. The title is no longer DOUBLE DARE. This happens sometimes. I write a beginning and scrap it and start over. Think of it as a warm up. Like stretching. (see picture)

Oh, and speaking of that picture...my body does not do that. Maybe if I were dead someone could force it into that position, but otherwise, no.

Tie Me Up?

I got a great/puzzling review on Hostile Takeover. Natasha Smith, the Romance Junkies reviewer, loved the book, which is terrific! However, she called it a BDSM novel. This was a surprise to me! I hadn't intended for it to be. My concern is that people who are into BDSM get it and become irritated when they find it's not an accurate depiction of the BDSM lifestyle.

However, the important thing is that she enjoyed the book. Yay!

Writerly Wonderings

I recently finished writing a novella set in an alternate world that I created. I had so much fun. I'd never done that before, but having read a gazillion fantasy and science fiction books when I was a young(er!) woman, I had a good idea of what was necessary.

I borrowed a good deal from the Japanese culture, which has fascinated me ever since I saw the mini-series Shogun on TV in the seventies and then read the book. I made hot baths a central and social activity in the lives of my Shinwa people. Any names or words I made up had an Asian feel to them. Their society is feudal, but somewhat matriarchal. And my main characters wear robes, called yukata, the actual Japanese word for robe. I may change that though and just make a word up. My editor, Suz, and I have yet to get to the editing stage.

Anyway, I'm infatuated with my world and I want to set more stories in it, and I wonder if this is normal. After I finish my current Be-Wished series for Ellora's Cave, I want to explore the Shinwa world some more, which would mean writing more menage stories. (The Shinwa people form triads, not couples. Conception requires two males and one female.) So, I'm wondering if Sherrilyn Kenyon, Angela Knight, Nora Roberts, etc. experience that same pull. It's a lot like when I became obsessed with beading and I made dozens and dozens of bracelets. I would make a pretty pattern and color combination and then get an idea of how to do that same thing but with a slight twist, like variations on a theme. I ended up with no two bracelets exactly the same.

Also, I am concerned about my voice. My Shinwa voice is so different from my Be-Wished voice. I worry that my readers will be upset/disgruntled if they expect one and get the other. **sighs**

Review of Hostile Takeover

Hey, here's an excerpt from a review of Hostile Takeover. :D

"hot, hot, hot!"

I really liked the intensity of this book. I have never read a work written by a female author that can capture the male frame of mind so well. The innocence of Fiona...reminded me of what it felt like to be an innocent in the presence of someone you are very attracted to. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to remember that rush, and feel a lot of extra heat!

Reviewed by Dawn Epton on 5/11/08

Good reviews always make me smile. And I'm really jazzed to hear that she thought I nailed the male frame of mind, even though the reviewer is a woman. It's something I work hard on in my writing. Here's a link to the whole thing if you are so inclined.

Sold!

I just got word that my new editor, Sue-Ellen Gower at Ellora's Cave, wants to buy my menage quickie, titled TOPAZ TRIAD. Yippee!! Doin' the Happy Dance! Can you dig this utterly phallic topaz I found? LMAO. She really liked it and the only major change I need to do is to add a little nookie to the ending. This is my fourth sale to Ellora's Cave.