Hello, this is Gavin, your friendly Excessica Publicist.  Here are Excessica’s releases for 03/15/10!  This week we have another HEA-fest including short stories from Dakota Trace, J.M. Snyder, and D.B. Story and a novelette from Parker Ford.  Enjoy and have a terrific week!

eXcessica new releases

Fifteen Minutes to Live

By Dakota Trace

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Story (6,515 words)

Category: Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 1

Ending: HEA

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

With her kids grown and gone, erotic author, Dannie Marion is thrilled when her publisher has invited her to participate in a publicity promotion for them. After joking around and telling her agent she’d love to interview Seanlaoch Conner, the Scottish actor who’d fueled many of her adolescent fantasies, she never dreamed they’d come through. Now in his sixties, Seanloach rarely gave interviews and was quite reclusive. She doubted he would lured out of his self imposed exile for a simple interview with her.

Then Seanlaoch makes an offer to live their last minutes to the fullest, Dannie is very tempted. How can she refuse? After all she only has fifteen minutes to live.

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, piercings, sex, and violence.

Money’s Worth

By J.M. Snyder

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Story(5,197 words)

Category: Gay Male, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: HEA

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

Carl has always harbored feelings for his outrageously crazy roommate, Ritchie, but he’s too shy to do anything about it for fear of ruining their friendship.

Outside a local club one night, a bum offers Ritchie a quick blowjob in exchange for ten bucks. Only problem is Ritchie doesn’t have the cash, and Carl isn’t paying someone else to suck off the guy he likes.

If Ritchie wants a blowjob so badly, why doesn’t he just ask Carl?

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, homosexual relationships, and oral sex.

Uncle Ed’s Lap

By Parker Ford

www.excessica.com

Length: Novelette (15,449 words)

Category: contemporary

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 1

Ending: HEA

Price: $3.99

BUY IT!

Fiona volunteers to help her recently widowed uncle get his house in order before starting her freshman year of college. Uncle Ed and aunt Carole are two of her favorite people in the world. While trying to help her grieving uncle, she doesn’t expect her school girl crush to turn into a torrid affair, but it does. She doesn’t expect him to want her at all, but he does, more than he can handle. And as her uncle struggles with the thoughts of wanting and having his niece in so many ways, Fiona struggles to show him that it’s all okay. That she’s not a little girl any more.

Warnings: This title contains explicit sex and language, incest, spanking, shades of erotic asphyxiation, bondage, elements of non-consent.

Encounters: Pig Girl

By D.B. Story

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Story (5,900 words)

Category: Fantasy, Romance

Firebolt Level: 2

Excess Level: 2

Ending: HEA

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

A little story about backwood’s smarts, a government cover-up, and a mysterious woman whose genes might not all quite be human. Share in this tale of a country boy who meets a mysterious woman whose critical needs he’s more than willing to satisfy in this sexy adult romantic fantasy.

Warnings: Mildly detailed sexual language, non-human character that some might consider taboo, but is she?

Key:

HEA = Happily Ever After

HFN = Happy For Now

? = Ambiguous/Unknown

See the Excessica symbol page for explanation of Firebolts and Excess Levels

Are you like me?

Before you say “Hell no!” and run away, let me explain. As a writer of erotic fiction, I’m constantly making word choices. That’s true of any writer, of course, but we in the erotica field are often making word choices to elicit certain reactions–we want to turn people on, or, at very least, NOT turn them off.

There are so many words to choose from when we’re describing body parts or physical acts, and I’m sure we all have our go-to words. I tend to go with “cock” for penis, often “pussy” but these days also “slit” for vagina, “tits” for breasts, and “asshole” for…asshole.

These are the standards, commonly employed in our field. They add to the mood and dynamic we’ve created between characters without being so weird or shocking they jolt the reader out of the moment.

But, if you’re like me, there are euphemisms you love but never use. For me, I happen to get a kick out of the word “schlong.” I think that word is hilarious! Have I ever used it in my work? No. Why? It’s too funny. If I were writing a comedy piece, I might find a place for it, but otherwise it’s probably going to raise more eyebrows than libidos. Look what happens to this excerpt from my menage story THE BIRTHDAY GIFT when I replace “cock” with “schlong:”

As Meredith drew her lids open, her heart nearly stopped. On a built-in bench at the opposite end of the isolated deck sat Richard and Ash. No clothes. Two men—two strangers—naked in Joyce’s backyard? A flutter of nervous excitement turned Meredith’s body into a battlefield. Leave! No, stay. Watch! No, go.

But how could she leave when, just a stone’s throw across the deck, Richard’s hard SCHLONG surged toward the well-defined muscles of his tight stomach? A tingling sensation culminated at the summit of Meredith’s lower lips when Ash reached over to stroke Richard’s rigid SCHLONG. Was this an unwelcome act? Apparently not! Richard’s magnificent hairless chest glimmered with sweat as he swept a hand across Ash’s brawny thigh. Close your mouth, young lady! You’ll catch flies.

Makes me titter more than anything else. I’ve got another one, too. I happen to really enjoy the word “snatch,” but, again, it comes across a little men’s mag for a lot of erotic encounters. Thinking back, I’m not sure if I’ve used “snatch” in my work. It’s a distinct possibility, but there are occasions where it just doesn’t work. Here’s a snatchified excerpt from my pansexual (m/f, f/f, f/f/m) novella ONDINE, which comes out on March 29th, 2010:

Welcoming Yvette’s touch, she hiked up the skirts of her gown with desperate determination. Moth to flame, Yvette’s hand cupped her SNATCH over her new silk panties. Cupped and squeezed. Beneath her bridal lingerie, sweet juices flowed. Surrendering herself completely to the woman in black, Ondine laid limp beneath the torrent of kisses. Whatever Yvette wished for, Ondine desired.

Forcing her satin-gloved hand beneath Ondine’s panties, Yvette plunged impassioned fingers into her silken SNATCH. The nectar flowed faster as she rubbed those tender lips. Yvette broke away to watch in the mirror, mesmerized as she massaged the bride’s SNATCH, but Ondine had waited far too long for that kiss. She wouldn’t let it slip away so easily. Grasping Yvette’s head in her hands, she brought the girl’s lips to hers and kissed them in a frenzy. There wasn’t much time. She had to get married soon.

Again, not quite the effect I was going for.

Oh, I just thought of another one–motherfucker. I LOVE that word. I USE that word. My editors, on the other hand, don’t love it quite so much and tend to gently sweep it under the rug. I almost never get away with that baby. “It’s too porny.” Well, strap me on and ride me like a pony, because I guess I’ve got a porny side too! LOL

So, again I’ll ask: are you like me? Do you have any of these funny or crass euphemisms you’d like to use but self-censor?

Do share!

Cheers,
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!
http://www.freewebs.com/gisellerenarde
http://twitter.com/GiselleRenarde

Today my mother took me to Cafe Hon for lunch. We ate in pink and white room full of teapots off of a table swathed in hot pink PVC. There were flamingos and hons. There were beehives and Elvis paintings. There was leopard print, hot pink and flash as far as they eye could see. And it was grand. Not just because I was surrounded by so much cool stuff, but because a good portion of my childhood was spent in that very neighborhood. As a kid, just up the block, I sat and waited in the lawyer’s office when my mom had appointments, my grandfather drove me down the Avenue to get my grandmother from work. If you went up the street a ways there was the church I went to with my grandparents when I spent the night. Farther down a piece, we traveled the road they lived on, counted off houses, looked at places that once seemed so big to me that were really so small. That despite decades that have passed, still looked nearly the same and very much like what home feels like.

My grandparent’s back yard where I played is roughly the size of a poker card. I know why my grandfather could cut it with a push mower, now. It was four pushes! The houses seem narrower, the alley’s damn near impossible to navigate. So much has changed and yet so, so much has stayed the same.

Over in Remington, we passed my other grandmother’s house, I was flabbergasted to realize that Charm City Cakes (of The Ace of Cakes on Food TV) is two blocks over from where I spent so much time rolling out saltwater taffy with the rolling pin from a toy kitchen set! Yes, I was a weird kid and yes I was excited. We passed the place where my grandfather would walk me down to the tiny park, past all the row homes with marble steps. We hit the street where my aunt lived. The one who used to watch me while my mother worked, she would watch soap operas all day but swear to my mom that she wasn’t. My mom found her out when I tried to give her a French kiss (my mother, that is). Hey! They were doing it on TV! Anyway, I had a total stroll down memory lane today. And it was good. And a bit sad. And a lot fun.

Recently I wrote a book that featured my mental version of the Avenue and the Hampden/Remington area. I really have not been there since I was young, barring brief trips to Remington when my grandmother was ill. It was as new to me today, in some ways, as if I were a tourist. I wrote my book the way I did and put off this trip because I wanted the fictionalized version of Hampden in my head to be in the book. I tend to take what is real and tweak it enough so that it is not so real. Or I blend locales. I know some writers completely fictionalize, some are completely accurate. I meet in the middle. So as usual, I wonder, what do other writers do? Care to share?

XOXO

Sommer

Hello, this is Gavin, your friendly Excessica publicist.  Our releases for 03/08/10 include Elise Hepner’s f/f account of the consequences two college students face when they don’t study for their exam, a red-hot BDSM novel from Dakota Trace, an enchanting paranormal romance from Vivian Vincent, and a wild collection of stories from Darcy Sweet.  Have a fantastic week!

eXcessica new releases

College Trouble

By Elise Hepner

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Story (3,631 words)

Category: Lesbian

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: HEA

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

Clair and Marie have been best friends for years. As college roommates their late night study session for biology becomes an exploration of their biology when these drunken slackers need some relaxation. During their test they are faced with the consequences of not passing when their professor gives them a crash course in extra credit.

Warnings: This title contains f/f sex, threesomes, forced sex, strap-on play, and a sexual student/teacher relationship.

Nisey’s Awakening

By Dakota Trace

www.excessica.com

Length: Super Novel (77,977 words)

Category: BDSM

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: HFN

Price: $6.99

BUY IT!

When a would-be Dom takes advantage of Nisey’s inexperience she is left bewildered and at odds with her own sexuality. Now scared of what she longs for she tries to hide from it until her best friend, Kalinda has had enough of waking to Nisey’s screams and takes matters into her own hands and contacts her older brother, Caelan. She’s had enough and wants her best friend back and thinks Caelan is the perfect man to guide Nisey back to what she longs for without traumatizing her friend any further.

Caelan is an experienced Dom, who has trained many first time subs during his time in the lifestyle, but his last experience with a newbie changed everything. When it blew up in his face, he decided to keep to the more experienced subs, so when his sister calls out of the blue with a request that he help her friend, he is intrigued but very leery. After all what could happen from answering a few questions?

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, spanking, exhibitionism, phone sex, bondage, toys, description of an attempted rape and sodomy.

Reflections of a Stranger

By Vivian Vincent

www.excessica.com

Length: Novel (57,274 words)

Category: Romance, Paranormal

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 1

Ending: HEA

Price: $5.99

BUY IT!

Kenny Rosnoski finds himself having dreams of a beautiful young woman. He feels a connection to her and can’t explain it because he’s sure they’ve never met.

Annica Miller was treated more like a servant than a daughter by her own mother. She spends time in her room to try and escape her mother’s harsh treatment. When she discovers the magic of the mirror in her room, she uses it as a way to hide away from her own life. Little does she know she’ll meet the man of her dreams-a man who lives 150 years in the future!

Warnings: This title contains graphic language and explicit sex.

Uno Due Tre Quattro

By Darcy Sweet

www.excessica.com

Length: Novelette (24,177 words)

Category: Short Story Collection

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: HFN

Price: $4.99

BUY IT!

A delicious anthology of nine erotic short stories about singles, duos, trios and foursomes. Tantalizing liaisons designed to make you squirm. This hot collection features wicked tales of ménage, lesbian encounters, homoerotic voyeurism, spanking, domination and exhibitionism.

• Uno
  1. The Soldier’s Wife – a wife alone plays for the camera.
  2. A Day to Myself – the accidental discovery of Gay Porn gives a married woman a whole new kink.
• Due

• 1. A Friend in Need – when Lara’s best friend asks for her help she discovers more than she bargained for.
  2. The Private Tutor – a spoiled piano student learns a lesson for life when disciplined by his tutor.
  3. Happy Birthday Baby – a nighttime encounter with a Cop on a deserted country road turns into the best birthday ever.
• Tre

• 1. Dirty Train Girl – dirty fantasies come to life on the 5.45 p.m. Train from Linley Station.
  2. Quid Pro Quo – a jealous wife doles out a little quid pro quo.
• Quattro

• 1. Simon Says – a game of Simon Says pushes the sexual boundaries of two couples.
  2. Revelations in the Dark – voyeuristic play ends in some serious sexual revelations for a Lila and Brent.

Warnings: This title contains ménage, f/f sex, m/m sex, m/m/f sex, voyeurism, anal sex, non-consensual sex play, spanking and discipline.

Key:

HEA = Happily Ever After

HFN = Happy For Now

? = Ambiguous/Unknown

See the Excessica symbol page for explanation of Firebolts and Excess Levels

Well, I’m still buzzing a little. Last night, Saturday 6th March 2010, I played the biggest gig of my miniscule musical career.
I play bass in a swampy blues and roots band called The Medicine Show. We usually play headline in tiny venues. We’re not all that accessible as far as music goes, and we don’t seem to be the kind of band that gets asked to support anyone of note. Until last night.

Last night we played a fundraiser for the Sun State Roller Girls, a roller derby troupe in southern Brisbane. I’d been buzzing already for the last few weeks, because we were supporting Gentle Ben and His Sensitive Side, another Brisbane band who have some moderate overseas touring credentials. I like their stuff, and had never seen them perform.

Then, in a serendipitous twist, we scored another band to top the bill. The Lost Weekend festival down here was cancelled, freeing up a certain American band.

Nashville Pussy.

I mean, holy fuck. Anyone who hasn’t heard these girls and guys going at it is really missing out on some great down-home filth. It’s like Motorhead being pummelled by The Band. It’s like a Suzi Quatro/Warren Zevon/Melissa Etheridge threesome. Drums to make you drool. Bass that pounds your chest like the spirits from the Lost Ark. And more hot licks than a month in a cat house.

I was stunned by the ferocity and relentlessness of the performance, and also by the utter sexy goodness of the two women on stage. Ruyter Suys was recently voted one of the top ten female guitarists in the world, and I can see why. Not just her playing, which was like a thinking person’s Angus Young, but her stage presence. A Sideshow Bob hairstyle that she flung around like she was putting out spot fires. Moves that bring to mind nothing more or less than sex. And breasts to shame a woman half her age, always clad precisely nipple-deep in a top which just might, at any moment, give way…maybe…pleeeeease…

For me, though, the highlight was on the other side of the stage. I already knew that Karen Cuda was sex on legs. I’ve had these guys as Myspace friends for a year or more. I’ve seen the pictures. Utterly delicious and pure feminine intimidation. Put a bass in her hands and start the music, though, and she moves to a whole new level. Sneers, gyrations, attitude, more tattoos than the USS Missouri and the girl CAN PLAY. Really PLAY.

How hot is she? http://www.flickr.com/photos/omom/52298952 That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout.

I’ve always found that playing bass makes a hot chick even hotter. So what do you guys find sexy in music? Is it a voice, a look, a move? Style, attitude or even a particular song? Motown or punk? Jazz or psychedelia? Is it a style of player? The lead guitarist. The drummer. The singer (yeah, yeah, it’s always the bloody singer).

Oh, and Kiki, if you’re reading this, you’re disqualified! We’re talking fantasy here. It doesn’t count when you’re married to them!

Okay, things are getting bad! I thought the other day when the first of March made me realize I had missed a friends birthday on the 28th of Feb that it was because I was following days rather than dates. But, the email I just got that said Blogging and then my name made me go, it’s Wednesday? I have got to get my act together! I have two calendars, one on the wall in the kitchen with the families activities listed and one personal date book where all of my writing dates go for guest blogs and such. I guess I really should have opened it today! LOL

My excuse, well I just subbed a new story (to Fido) and am anxiously awaiting word, and I have just begun two more stories! Head is always swimming with ideas or words, etc. even if I am sitting at a basketball game or other school function. Lucky I can carry on conversations at all sometimes – good thing they are about nothing more than the weather or the current teacher all the parents are mad at at those school events!

Glad I could make it today – Ha Ha – but I am right in the middle of opening chapter one coming off the prologue. And, I am trying to figure out exactly how to describe that door at a respectable evening party in Regency England as it closes behind the man she thinks she wants to marry. Ah, such is the life of a writer. Crazy details about doors right before the three witches show up with their crazy magic to wreck the party – then anything goes!

Have A Great Day All!
Kiki

I’m away from my desk this week, so I thought I’d tell you about the book I’ll be taking with me. It’s FANNY HILL (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland. I’ve read it many times before, because it’s a real favourite. I first read Fanny’s tale when I was babysitting at the neighbour’s house. It was actually the first ever erotic novel I read. I was fourteen, and as soon as the couple went out and kid was asleep, my attention roved to the bookcases, and I happened on the erotica collection. Between Fanny Hill, a collection of naughty limericks, and the Joy of Sex, the time flew by… Ahem. Yes, I think the discovery of that naughty stash of books had a profound affect on me. It was Fanny’s tale that lingered in my memory most of all and the book has often called me back. I’m rereading it at the moment because I’m writing a book set in the same period and I prefer to read literature written during the period for research. One of the things I love about it the book is the wit. It got me thinking about sex and humour. There’s a wonderful bawdy sense of humour in the novel and that’s something that is hard to pull off as a writer. A couple of contemporary erotica authors who I think manage to combine humour and sex really well are Jeremy Edwards and Portia Da Costa. Who else should I be reading? What are your suggestions for erotic tales that get the reader smiling as well as aroused? Saskia http://www.saskiawalker.co.uk/home.html http://www.saskiawalker.blogspot.com/

It’s ironic that I’m actually blogging.  In August I wrote a story called Putting the Madge in Danna, about a 23-year-old bride-to-be, Dannika Elinopoulous, who blogs about sexual adventures that mimic Madonna’s sex life.  The idea for the story came to me while rollerblading, after seeing the movie Julie & Julia.  It’s a sex-comedy and probably not as erotic as some would hope but I think it’s really fun.

When I first started eroticizing I couldn’t take sex and sex fantasies seriously.  Was I embarrassed?  I guess I’m not very mature.  So, all of my stories were sort of mocking in a way.  That and I’ve had some real life disasters that worked their way into the plot.  (And I’ll certainly not tell you where!)  In Madge, the heroine tries to fuck her way to expertise – with disasterous consequences.  There’s a man who can’t get it up, one with a cock that just isn’t asthetically pleasing, another who can’t deal with a little menstruation, and still another who turns out to be gay.  It all works out in the end and Dannika’s easy-breezy personality takes it in stride.  And, she gets her happily-ever-after in the process.

I imagined it as a movie.  In my head I’d cast Mila Kunis as Dannika, Demi Moore as her mother, and Blackie from General Hospital as her father.  The Australian kid from The City would play her fiance, Zeus, with the woman from My Big Fat Greek Wedding as his mother.  Steven Soderburgh could direct it.  Oh, and Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell would play themselves.

It’s on a relatively new web-site, www.eroticarepublic.com.  Apparently there’s a rewards system where $ can be earned if the story gets favorited plus gets a high score, and gets a lot of views.  No pressure guys, really.  I’m just curious to see if the power of cyberspace really works, because it’s not like people in the real world know what I’m up to.  Not yet anyway.   My little comedy is 15,000 words long and begins with a lesbian Madonna fantasy.  After the dream, Dannika attempts to seduce a record producer, a health club trainer, a basketball star and others.  So far I’ve had a total of eighteen readers and all have responded positively.  I’d hate to leave it in the dark corner of a tiny web-site, lost and alone and hoping to make someone laugh.  Please read it if you get the chance and let me know your thoughts.

http://www.eroticarepublic.com/Story.aspx?id=1836&c=7

Hi, this is Gavin, your friendly Excessica Publicist.  We’re extra-wicked this week (03/01/10) with BDSM offerings from Jennifer Campbell and Elise Hepner.  We also have a powerful gay short story from esteemed author Rick R. Reed and a delicious collection of happily ever after m/m stories from Habu.  Have a great week!

eXcessica new releases

Creampuffs

By Habu

www.excessica.com

Length: Super Novel Length (83,453 words)

Category: Gay Male, Short Story Collection

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 4

Ending: HEA

Price: $6.99

BUY IT!

A heaping plate of both sweet and savory confection from a master of the gay male short story. Romance is “the thing” of this thirty-story anthology on man finding his man, the complex made simple, bitter becoming sweet, problems solved, dreams coming true, and otherwise sooner or later happy endings despite many a varied and painful journey to that satisfactory outcome.

Warnings: This title contains M/M, graphic language, anal sex, group sex, and nonconsent.

Pitfalls of Desire: Winston

By Jennifer Campbell

www.excessica.com

Length: Novel (62,223 words)

Category: BDSM

Firebolt Level: 5!

Excess Level: 4

Ending: ? (see key below)

Price: $5.99

BUY IT!

Winston Denning: a rich CEO of his own corporation who has four women wrapped around his finger. His wife Victoria lives in virtual slavery to him and is about to be condemned to a life as a stripper. His maid Gina has become his sex toy as has his corporate assistant Cassidy and worst of all; Tanya already a chastised sex slave whom he has forced to sell her body for money. Pitfalls of Desire tells the story of what happens when Victoria Denning stands up and along with the new found friends turns the tables on her husband in a most bizarre and sexual way.

Warnings: This title contains graphic depictions of male feminization, chastity, and forced sexual service.

Reckless

By Rick R. Reed

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Story (3,556 words)

Category: gay male, contemporary

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: ? (see key below)

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

Paul wasn’t looking for anything special that rainy autumn afternoon when he met Max in a Chicago Starbucks. But Max was-a simple, uncomplicated romp while his boyfriend was out of town on business. And Paul was only too happy to oblige.

Come along for a heart-pounding ride full of secrets and lies.

Warnings: This title contains homosexual content and M/M sex.

Sex Tool

By Elise Hepner

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Short (2,306 words)

Category: BDSM, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 4

Ending: ? (see key below)

Price: $0.99

BUY IT!

Everyone knows “that guy” at a party. The man who hits on innocent women all night with all the moves in the world but he just screams sleaze. Marcia goes to her friend’s parties specifically to teach these men a lesson. She see’s her mark from across the room and outwits him in confidence and speed, then she takes him to bed with her to earn and learn some respect for females everywhere.

What unfolds is a searing session in BDSM that whips her one night stand into shape and right into Marcia’s arms. He is caressed with pain, as well as want, from a woman who opens his eyes to the power of female sexuality. Rounds of sexual gauntlets and consent join these two together in their lesson on gender balance. Tip the scales and bend over boyfriend.

Warnings: This title contains f/m domination with anal sex, graphic language, and kinky wax sex play.

Key:

HEA = Happily Ever After

HFN = Happy For Now

? = Ambiguous/Unknown

See the Excessica symbol page for explanation of Firebolts and Excess Levels.

This March All Romance eBooks, LLC brings you 31 of today’s hottest romance authors and 31 chances to win fabulous prizes. Discover new authors, new books, and one more reason to shop at AllRomance.com and OmniLit.com… The Hunt is ON!

Daily Prize:1 Download from the day’s featured author and a $10.00 Omni Bucks Gift Certificate

Grand Prize:An iPod Touch, the most recent release from each of our 31 featured authors, and a $100.00 Omni Bucks Gift Certificate

********

EXCESSICA AUTHORS FEATURED:

Selena Kitt -  March 5 

J.M. Snyder – March 23

********

THE FINE PRINT

* Only one entry per person, per day please.
* Participants must be 18 years old or older.
* By entering you give us permission to post your first name, last initial if you win a prize.
* Deadlines for submissions is as stated for each day.
* Entries not meeting these requirements will be disqualified.

So which is better?  Recently when my Sony Reader quit on me, that’s the question I posed myself.  After a clumsy accident took out the e-reader I bought two years ago, I found myself looking at buying a new reader.  Yep, me who never thought she’d actually come into the electronic age when it came to my own reading needs am actually lost without my  e-reader.

So after I found out my original e-reader was broken beyond repair, (in other words, it was going to cost more to fix it than a new one would cost) I decided to go shopping for a new one.  While I’d  been very pleased with my e-reader, I decided to shop around and see what Sony and Amazon had to offer.

The newest version of the Sony Reader, the PSR 600, has wonderful features. It’s a touch screen driven ereader, and will last up to 14 days before it needs a charge. This is a plus compared to the week advertised by the Amazon Kindle.  One thing I did notice though is that while the Reader may last longer once fully charged, it cannot be read while charging as the Kindle can.  So this was a toss off for me. Do I want a longer battery life or being plugged in while I’m reading if I forget to charge it?  This is an issue for me.  I forget quite often to plug in my cell phone to charge it, and several times have ran my original reader down to where I couldn’t read it.

The next feature the Sony Reader has is the fact it can be expandable by using the slots available for both Memory Stick PRO Duo and SD cards.  Sony says this makes the Reader virtually limitless, as long as you purchase memory cards in addition to the internal memory. If it’s similar to my original reader, the internal memory will hold about 65 to 70 books depending on size.   As far as Kindle is concerned it has Sony Reader beat hands down, it’s internal memory will hold 1500 books…which is a lot of freaking books! While I’ll admit that idea of being able to add books to SD cards to expand is a good idea for those who have that many books.

As far as weight and size, both the Kindle and Reader are close.  The  Sony weighs about 1o ounces and is roughly 4x 7. The Kindle is  around 10 ounces too and is 5 x8, so it is a bit bigger but not by much.  Both readers use the same “6 ink” display that mimics real paper and makes it much easier on the eyes to read.

Another big difference is the downloading.  With the Sony, it’s a simple attach to your compute via USB port and you can download it via the Reader Store or your own documents files.  This is nice because the Reader does support a variety of files, especially the  popular PDF files.  Almost all ebooks come out in the PDF file format.  The Kindle of course transmits your books wireless. No hookup to the computer required.This is nice if you happen to be out and need a new book but aren’t anywhere near your computer.  The Kindle also can read PDF files and for a small fee will send it wireless via their Whispernet.  It’s actually too bad.  Most of the pdfs  I’ve done this with only cost me 15 cents.

Finally it came down to price. The Sony Reader retails at $248  and the Kindle retails at $259.  So basically a ten dollar difference.  So which did I end up with? I bought  the Kindle and so far I love it.

I had a rough year last year as far as reviews. You’d expect me to follow that statement with “I got some terrible reviews”. No. No, I did not. It was my reception of them that was difficult. I had some awesome reviews, some great reviews and yes, some “GOOD” reviews. Oh, boo-hoo, right? Well, there are weird ass people like me who are never happy with anything below stellar. I bet a few of you reading this feel the same.

I spent one night licking imaginary wounds and having some wine (shocking, I know) over a reviewer calling me a ‘pleasant read’. Not saying I sucked, couldn’t write my way out of a paper back or should be dipped in tar and then feathered…nope, she called me a quick pleasant read. That night as I wallowed in my pleasantness, I happened to turn to Iron Chef. Nothing at all was on (I’m not sure that is possible with over 500 channels and selling body parts to pay the monthly wifi/tv/phone bill) so I turned on a tried and true entertaining show.

About one glass of wine in, I realized that I had just solved my own mental block with being reviewed as good as opposed to my self-set standard of “Earth Shaking Fabulousness to the Nth Degree!!!) <—-(neon). I mean, here were chefs that people deliberately sought out their food and their restaurants. They have been written up as cutting edge, the best, the most innovative, the most fabulous, the ones to watch and then they pull all these creative dishes out of the thin air using some bizarre secret ingredient. THEN they go and stand before judges who do not always know what the fuck they are talking about. Plus, all of them have different palates. So what is tasty to one could be repugnant to another (much like a book, yes?) and they stand there and they smile and they accept verdicts such as: too salty, undercooked, too much mayo, not enough mayo, I hate mayo. I don’t like the color (smell, size, cut or plate) etc.

And it dawned on me. They do not sit on their sofa and drink too much wine because someone called them pleasant. They just smile and nod and keep doing what they do. Because they are good at it. And then I felt sort of like a doofus.

My new motto is: I AM AN IRON CHEF (but with words). So when reviewers don’t think I have shifted the earth six inches to the left on its axis with the tale I have told, I smile and nod and go back and whip up something new. Maybe it will blow away their palate the next time.

XOXO
Sommer

p.s. I have inserted a video from Youtube but can’t tell if it’s going to come through.  I’m a bit Wordpress challanged. So here’s the link just in case! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWVE4D6JMtc

Hello from Excessica!  You didn’t have enough “Happily Ever After” on Valentine’s Day, did you?  Well, we’re having an HEA-fest with our releases for 02/22/2010!  Check out our contemporary romance novel from Jaida Ross, a domination-laced lesbian novelette from Alex Jordaine, a wild m/m historical set in the steamy tropics from Shabbu, and a passionate m/m contemporary from our own Selena Kitt.  Have a wonderful week!

eXcessica new releases

Second Chance

By Selena Kitt

www.excessica.com

Length: Story (10,005 words)

Category: Gay Male, Contemporary, Romance

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 3

Ending: HEA

Price: $2.99

BUY IT!

Ty has been hurt by life and has sworn off relationships, but his curiosity is piqued by a motorcycle-riding hunk who comes through his Wal-Mart line and buys the same thing day after day: two Slim Jims, a sixty-four count box of crayons and Cracker Jacks. Ty’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he goes out with Jonah, but Ty’s best friend, Lucky, is sure Jonah is bad news, and it does seem that both men’s pasts threaten their future together. Will they find a second chance with one another?

Warnings: This title contains m/m and anal sex.

The Gardener’s Gift

By Jaida Ross

www.excessica.com

Length: Novel (58,945 words)

Category: Romance, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 4

Ending: HEA

Price: $5.99

BUY IT!

Sent to live with a group of nuns after her mother’s accusations of immoral behavior toward her brother and stepfather, Candice Britt finally felt as though she belonged to a family. Putting the past behind her, she blooms and begins to set goals for her new life.

Thomas Lividini, the local landscape storeowner meets and falls head over heels for Candice even though she’s made a different choice for her life. He knows he must stay away from her, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. Thomas attempts to move on with his life, although he’s unhappy.

When Thomas arrives to watch Candice unveil her birthday gift, things heat up and it’s obvious to the sisters who sense something more than friendship between Candice and Thomas. The sisters make a plan to test Candice’s devotion. After her birthday dinner, Thomas leaves abruptly. He can’t stand being so close to the woman he loves. Her warmth and scent drive him insane and he doesn’t think he has the right to ask her to make a choice when she’d just met him.

After many months of fighting lustful desires she shouldn’t have in the first place, Candice makes her move.

Will she chose to move on with Thomas or without him?

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, explicit sex and suggestions of nonconsensual sex.

Kat and Sophia

By Alex Jordaine

www.excessica.com

Length: Novelette (18,540 words)

Category: BDSM, Lesbian

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: HEA

Price: $3.99

BUY IT!

Master David is having difficulties keeping his feisty slave Rosa under control. He loans her temporarily to the formidable dominatrix, Mistress Kat. The result? No more problems with Rosa. Mistress Kat is as cruel as they come. She takes no prisoners. When a person is disciplined by Kat they stay disciplined. Until, that is, she utters those fateful words “We’ll make a dominatrix of you yet” to Sophia, the latest addition to her small entourage of slaves. Then everything changes. Sophia is remarkably like Kat in temperament and also in appearance. She is her doppelganger. Or is she her nemesis? The two spirited women turn Sophia’s training as a dominatrix into an ultra kinky contest that becomes an epic battle of wills. Who will be the winner in their sexually charged power struggle? Will it be Kat or will it be Sophia? Place your bets now.

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, anal sex, domination, bondage and sadomasochism.

Despoiling David

By Shabbu

www.excessica.com

Length: Novelette (22,780)

Category: Gay Male, Historical

Firebolt Level: 5

Excess Level: 4

Ending: HEA

Price: $3.99

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For two generations of men, the Summerhills Reach rubber plantation in Malaya is a place of unbridled lust and the source of power. Finally, four men are locked in a struggle for control of each other and the wealth and power the plantation offers. As they seduce, mesmerize, and take their conquests, they are seduced in turn, against the background of the steamy Malayan jungle and the strange ceremonial rites of the full moon practiced by the dangerous Farhan. Will the one man among them who has sought love more than power finally triumph in this four-way struggle?

Warnings: This title contains M/M sex, graphic language, fetish, anal sex, group sex, nonconsent, mind control, and mild bondage.

Key:

HEA = Happily Ever After

HFN = Happy For Now

? = Ambiguous/Unknown

See the Excessica symbol page for explanation of Firebolts and Excess Levels.

So…is it just me, or do you all keep falling in love all over the place? Maybe workmates, maybe friends, maybe someone you walk past every day or even just once in a lifetime.

For me, the first time I was in love was when I saw the movie “Supergirl”. In hindsight, I think it was probably a crap movie, but I was about 13 and it starred Helen Slater. I was grumpy for four days, and it felt like a gravitational field had opened inside my torso. I was too young to realise that it was some form of love, and that the emptiness was due to the knowledge that that particular itch would never be scratched. The exact same feeling overtook me the next time I watched it, years later.

The second time, it happened on the street. I caught sight of a brunette wearing tight jeans and a flanellette shirt (all the rage in 1986 in the town I was marking time in). It was just a glimpse, lasting all of three seconds. Then I lost her and had to console myself with the company of my mother and sister. Just what a 16 year old boy wants.

Thing is, I hit 40 late last year and it’s still happening. It can’t just be me…can it? One of the hardest parts is that I don’t even seem to have a ‘type’. Race, nationality, skin colour, body shape, hair style or length, social standing…none of it seems to matter. There’ll always be just…”that thing”. In my bio I list some of the things I fall in love with: a scent, a playful expression, a casual act of intimacy. I could extend it to include a shared joke, a moment where I was her hero, a set of quirky glasses, a fierce tattoo…the list is practically endless.

What the hell else is a boy to do but write erotica?

For years I only wrote for myself and close friends. I never dreamed of really getting published, it was a fantasy that only happened to people who could afford agents and what have you. Writing was a hobby nothing more, nothing less. I wrote because I was driven to, my hands itched to hold a pen or get at a keyboard. My muse whispered the story in my ear, until it was all I could think about and had to get it out of my head or go insane from the ideas running round and round. The words flow through you like a fiery river, bubbling onto the paper. Only another writer can truly understand this uncontrollable urge to write. Either you have it or you don’t.

I’ve heard other writers talk about this passion. How they feel the pull of the pen, driving them to do what they do. For the longest time I never understood my compulsive writing. To everyone around me it was just a quirk. The nerdy girl always writing in her notebooks.  In the end I guess it and my determination paid off.

Mid-November through Mid-February is full of holidays and birthdays for my family. So, during that time if I was not buying & wrapping gifts or shopping or cooking or cleaning or entertaining or sitting at basketball games or figuring out new toys, then I was typing furiously. As of last week, I breathed a sigh of relief as my schedule cleared a bit (with the exception of basketball) and went out to have lunch with a friend. It was so nice that we sat in a booth for over two hours chatting! This week I am at it again. While I am giving up time to write in my quiet house when the kids are at school, it is so necessary to recharge the creative batteries.

Hope everyone enjoys their days!
Kiki

My eyes are bloodshot.  I’ve been at it all day, editing Cinderella Club.  Immersed if you will.  After a while I feel like I’m reading a book.  No, I mean someone else’s book but one that sounds so familiar.

I wrote the story because I was afraid there would come a time when I might lose my sex drive.  I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to conjure a fantasy to masurbate to, afraid that I’d finally find love and end up like so many others- just sharing a bed- and I’d need something to jump start my libido.  (I’m a very pro-active planner). 

It started with the image of a girl in a limousine.  Naturally she gets abducted and taken to a sexy castle and has lots and lots of kinky sex.  I read the limo scene today after months away from it and it actually turned me on.  I guess that’s normal but not for me especially after having read it over and over again until it was simply constructed sentences without typos.  I wanted to create a world I’d want to live in.  And I think I did.

I just felt so proud of myself. Because I wrote it for myself, do you know what I mean?  And when I spend hours writing ideas just flow.  Right out of my puss-puss.  Like I’m rubbing one out.

When I’m writing I feel like my true self.  It would be nice to be this free all the time and not worried about being ”appropriate” like I do when I’m in the “real” world.  It’s weird isn’t it?  This world feels more real to me than anything else I do.  And I swear I’m sober.  Just really really tired.

Mia

First off, I would like to apologize for disappearing this last month, due to a death in the family I have been unable to write. Luckily, I am back on track and look forward to further discussions with everyone here at eXcessica, and hope to find you all well!

****

If you are anything like me, than you probably daydream while you drive. We should all be paying attention to the road and not off somewhere in our imaginations but the reality is that our minds wander whether we want them to or not.

Most of the time these daydreams are fairly practical, anticipating conversations that lay ahead or finally thinking of a quip for a conversation that had already passed. This process is very similar to the process I use when writing. Running through a scene in the story is just like running through the events of your life and our lives tend to be great inspiration for stories.

Another popular daydream is the sexual fantasy.  These delightful escapes entertain us while we carry out our mundane tasks…and why shouldn’t these dreams be written out to entertain others when they want to escape their daily lives.

When I was younger I would fantasize about the many possibilities I could experience and overtime I have gone out and experienced them.  Those primitive sexual fantasies of my youth were fairly simplistic and achievable. The power of anticipation can ignite our passions. Now that I am older and a little more experienced, my fantasies go a bit more in-depth than they used to, they require a little more intent as well. Now that my mind requires more extreme situations, my imagination goes the extra mile to make these scenarios seem plausible. Justifying a need to hide in a gym’s locker room can be tricky, but can also provide a tantalizing climax should one of the weight lifters ( ) discover you and doesn’t seem to mind you watching all that much.

For me that eureka moment came when I was telling one of my friends about a fantasy I had, not only did I have their full attention but when I was done talking they wanted to know what happened next.  The truth was I didn’t know…I hadn’t thought past the good part but found it interesting that I had their attention so keenly fixed to my story.

Since then I write my fantasies down whenever I can.  At first it was just a way to get them out of my head, but then I found out that there is a market for my fantastical stories and being an erotica author has paid off. I would have never guessed masturbating could be so lucrative outside the bedroom!

The moral of the story is it pays to keep a journal of some sort and write down these things when you think of them, because we all forget stuff once we finish with our self gratification. Note: it is a little difficult to write while you are driving, and since I am a great promoter of safe driving please wait until you stop the car before jotting down these daydreams!

Hello, this is Gavin, your friendly Excessica Publicist.  Our releases for 02/15/2010 include naughty office escapades from Penelope Friday and m/m author Kris Klein, the newest collection of sexy robot tales from D.B. Story, and an erotic horror offering from Varian Krylov sure to burn up your screen.  Have a great week!

eXcessica new releases

The Fembot Chronicles Volume 3

By D.B. Story

www.excessica.com

Length: Super Novel Length (83,472 words)

Category: Sci Fi, Story Collection

Firebolt Level: 2

Excess Level: 2

Ending: HEA

Price: $6.99

BUY IT!

For adults, in this collection of 5 new stories we continue to explore the future world of robots-fembots in particular- from the author’s own unique perspective. The stories show the resulting interactions and relationships-including sexual-from the wider variety of robots that we are certain to build to appeal to all tastes. The results are always sexy and romantic. Contained in this volume are:

• Strip Club Tales – A trio of stories from parallel universes all taking place at a legendary gentleman’s showclub. Here you’ll learn the stories of Olivia, Beth, and Kassie, all of whom had their lives formed in the cauldron of the coercive control nets used to keep them under tight control at all times.
  
• Samantha’s Tale – where we explore the tribulations involved when we design robots to meet our own sexual fetishes, before casting them out into the cold, cruel world afterwards to have to make it on their own. It tells a story wherein a thirty-something man, and a similarly aged fembot with a sexual secret, find their way through the jungle of the workplace to each other.
  
• Runaway Cherie – a story showing the darker side awaiting robots who run away from their owners and those who live to retrieve them.

These are stories that don’t pull any punches about how we will actually relate to, and with, our robotic companions if we build them correctly to start with.

Warnings: This title contain robots in sexual situations including non-standard sexualities.

Punishing Pansy

By Penelope Friday

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Short (1,306 words)

Category: BDSM, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 3

Ending: HFN

Price: $0.99

BUY IT!

Work is a place for working, not for illicit pleasures. When David catches his employee Pansy masturbating, he needs to teach her a lesson – and it seems Pansy is all too willing to be taught.

Warnings: This title contains masturbation, spanking, and m/f sex.

Everybody Fucks Raymond

By Kris Klein

www.excessica.com

Length: Short (5,317 words)

Category: Gay Male, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: HEA

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

It’s a temp worker’s dream for Aaron Adams-working at an upscale accounting firm in Phoenix that openly caters to hiring GLBT employees. Better still, Aaron’s finally been invited to sit at the lunchroom’s “rainbow table,” where all the “gay elite” at DCH mix and mingle together, sharing laughter and office gossip. Soon, however, Aaron realizes there are some very stereotypical haters in the bunch-when a short, beefy, almost supernaturally good-looking Latino enters the lunchroom just long enough to buy something from a vending machine. The entrance, and exit, of senior accountant Raymond Aguilar sets the rainbow table to twittering; it seems the gossip going on around the office is that practically every gay guy in the building has bedded the hunky Latin stud, who’s pretty much known as the office slut-something Aaron has a really hard time believing. Convinced Raymond Aguilar is the victim of some bitchy queens who are just jealous-or angry because they can’t have him themselves-Aaron takes it upon himself to visit Aguilar’s office that afternoon, to tell him what’s going on…where a wayward erection, from being so close to the testosterone-oozing slab of machismo, turns Aaron’s meeting with Raymond into a new definition of “employee relations.”

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, m/m sex, anal sex, and cum swallowing.

Dead Souls

By Varian Krylov

www.excessica.com

Length: Story (8,408 words)

Category: Erotic Horror/Supernatural

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 4

Ending: ? (see key below)

Price: $2.99

BUY IT!

Paul calls the shots. His friends know it. His son knows it. And his women know it–all of them, except Lena. With the return of the delicate Russian waif he’d used up and cast off years before, Paul’s control and his sanity begin slipping away. Even when friends start to disappear and die, Paul can’t possibly imagine the dark power the wraith Lena wields, or the horrifying revenge she has in store for him.

Warnings: This title contains scenes of rape, oral sex, M/M sex, and anal sex.

Key:

HEA = Happily Ever After

HFN = Happy For Now

? = Ambiguous/Unknown

See the Excessica symbol page for explanation of Firebolts and Excess Levels.

I used to be as strong a V-Day resistor as I was a radical feminist. I thought it was a cruel pseudo-holiday (no, no, no…I didn’t say “cool super-holiday”) created by Corporate America to make lovers into consumers. Think of all the stuff we’re supposed to buy our girlfriends on V-Day: a dozen roses to go with two dozen chocolates, an expensive meal in a fancy restaurant, and a tiny slip of lingerie she’s supposed to squeeze herself into after eating all this! Over and above the big items, we’re supposed to buy a piece of cardboard claiming the capacity to speak our feelings for us.

It all seemed so false to me. In many regards it still does. I don’t think it’s right for the social Powers That Be to dictate what we must buy for our partners and when. I also think it’s pretty ridiculous that we condone the pouty behaviour of those who get suicidal over lack of a date or not getting a nice enough gift. I guess I have the same anti-commercial complaints a lot of people have about Christmas. There’s too much pressure on people to produce spectacular gifts. In a sense, Valentine’s Day is a lover’s Christmas.

Now that I’m part way through this blog entry, I’m asking myself if my title is a lie. Am I truly a convert or am I just putting on a show because I happen to have a Valentine’s e-book on the market? (Ooh…did Giselle really say that?) Yes she did. And why? Because if you scrap the commercial aspect of the holiday, I really do like everything V-Day stands for.

Sex. Love. Romance. Communication. Trust. Relationships.

These are topics I write about every day. You know I love sex, love my girlfriend, and love love itself. My Sweet and I have a good thing going. We celebrate our relationship every day, even when we’re at each other’s throats (and I don’t mean erotic asphyxiation—we’re not into that sort of thing). We tend to have aligned views on most matters.

All the same, I cringed when I asked her views on Valentine’s Day. I was completely prepared for her to say, “You’d better have something spectacular planned.” She didn’t—thank god! I can’t afford enough gifts to express in material objects how very special she is to me. Luckily, I have other ways of communicating how much I cherish her. I have my words, and my art, and my body. How could any object made out there in world of factories express my love better than I can express it myself?

Now to answer to my initial question. What converted this Valentine’s Day resistor? Is it corny to say the love of a good woman? I’ve realized that V-Day can be taken as a wonderful opportunity for partners to express their mutual, ongoing love. It can be a day to connect or reconnect. It’s an opportunity to show and tell a partner the great impact they’ve had on our lives.

With or without a partner, Valentine’s Day is also an opportunity to meditate on love itself. There are infinite sources of love in this world. Love doesn’t come solely from romantic partners. We must love ourselves before we can truly love anybody else or accept love from them. Remember, the longest of long-term relationships is the one we have with ourselves.

So, above all else, show yourself some love this Valentine’s Day.

Love to All,
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!
http://www.freewebs.com/gisellerenarde
http://twitter.com/GiselleRenarde

So normally I blog about something to do with writing but this weekend, I don’t foresee a lot of writing getting done.  Yep it’s that time of year again.  Not only is the holiday of love among us once more the Winter Olympics in Vancouver started last night.  So this means the hubby and I will spend the next 14 days watching the various competitions.  For me it will be figure skating, speed skating and both the men’s and women’s half-pipe, while my husband will be focused on the Hockey and luge events.  While I’m not a sports nut there is just something about the Olympics that glues me to my set every time.  As a family we watch both the opening and closing ceremonies and my young daughters, Gabby (8) and Penny (7) were in awe as they watched the snowboarder fly though the rings and into the arena last night.

They were like, “that’s so cool”  and the Canadians didn’t disappoint.  I know the world had given them high expectations to compete with China’s production two years ago  in Beijing.  While I’ve watched both and China did impress me, I did like Canada’s ‘more intimate and back to their founding father’s and nation’s past’ show.  With having a bit of Native American blood from my mother, I loved the bright colors of the dancers costumes and felt a pseudo sense of homecoming despite the fact that they were honoring the First Nations and not my own heritage.  (What can I say I love anything to do with Native Americans.)  Of course the ceremony was a bit bittersweet with the honoring of the Georgian luge skater who died tragically yesterday during a  training session on one the worlds fastest and dangerous courses.  I was happy to see the Georgian group take their place in the opening parade of nations to honor their fallen comrade.  All in all it was a wonderful opening ceremony and I went to bed last night with K.D. Lang’s version of the classic “Hallelujah” stuck in my head. It was worth staying up to almost midnight to see such a beautiful show topped off with Wayne Gretzky lighting the outdoor cauldron after helping light the one inside of the arena.

So the rest of my weekend will be filled with watching the Olympic events and even though my anniversary is tomorrow and Mr. Trace and I will be celebrating fifteen years together, we’ve decided to spend the day in watching our favorite sport and just spending a little one on one time together while the little ones are gone. I do plan on making some delicious finger foods to share. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than curl up next to the hubby and watch America win some gold medals…and if that’s not romantic enough for everyone else…sue me! I’ll save the romance for the books I write.

eXcessica new releases

And Spoil The Child

By Habu

www.excessica.com

Length: Story (8535)

Category: Gay Male, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: Happy For Now

Price: $02.99

BUY IT!

Enter the hallowed halls of the Mount Holly boy’s prep school, where young men are trained for athletic scholarships at prestigious universities and hidden away for unseemly histories of being naughty with other young men-but where the environment only encourages their naughtiness and broadens their experience to include older men. And Spoil the Child is a twisting tale of a professor-student struggle for one-upmanship and dominance.

Warnings: This title contains graphic language and m/m sex.

Behind Locked Doors 2

By Emma Hillman

www.excessica.com

Length: Novelette (18,968 words)

Category: BDSM, humor, lesbian, Rubenesque

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: ? (see key below)

Price: $3.99

BUY IT!

Thursday has never wanted to be shared but here she is, being passed from one Master to the next as if she is nothing more than a doll, there only to please them. All this because Scary hated not having been the one to break her. The damn man obviously thinks he’s a god. Ah, let her laugh! He’s just like the other ones, except…except now he’s also the only one who seems to take care of her. The only one who manages to make her come, the only one who tries. What’s going on? Why is Scary suddenly the man she goes to? And why does no one listen to her when she says she doesn’t do women?

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, group sex and elements of lesbian sex.

Checkout

By Elise Hepner

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Story (3,249 words)

Category: Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 3

Ending: ? (see key below)

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

Hardcore punk rocker Jennifer’s been exiled from her safe, far away college back to her small town. The trouble started when she was caught having sex with her college adviser, Paul-by the Dean of Students. All she wants to do is damn the man and the trouble has just kept coming. She’s forced by her socialite parents to work the night shift in her local grocery store while fending off come-on’s from customers and a circa 1950’s boss.

But things get more complicated when Paul comes back into town for a little stop-and-shop. Jennifer is forced to confront their growing master/slave relationship and the mounting feelings she’s been harboring all summer. Meanwhile, Paul the good ol’ boy whose grown up playing football and exuding charm is ready to put Jennifer’s smart little mouth to work. All she wants is for him to stay. But he won’t take anything from her without a price.

Warnings: This title contains graphic m/f/m sexual situations, spanking, a high level of dominance, and submission play.

Deliver Me From Hell

By Annie Fox

www.excessica.com

Length: Story (12,391 words)

Category: Menage, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 3

Ending: ? (see key below)

Price: $2.99

BUY IT!

Imagine a near perfect marriage, a husband and wife who rarely fight. Okay, so Jillian is a little shy in the art of love making…but she desperately wants to please her husband and wants him to please her as well.

What price will there be to pay for all this unbridled pleasure?

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, F/F sex, and light submission.

Lately I’ve been inspired to think about my method of writing (such as it is). This has come partly from our intriguing new friend here at eXcessica, Mia Natasha, and partly from another good writer pal of mine, the lovely Katie Salidas.
Mia blogged last week about how she approaches writing as if it’s watercolor painting. Katie was telling me that she’s very much a “pantser”. I feel like I’m somewhere between these two methods.
For all that I’m very much at home (and in love) with words, I’m not particularly good with either process or discipline. There are external, kid-related factors, but most of the trouble is right here inside my cavernous cranium.
At times, I find that writing is like raking leaves in a hurricane. There are swarms of words rushing past me, so many that I can’t see through to the next sentence, let alone to the next chapter.
Oftentimes, especially when I’m in new territory as a writer, I feel like I’m Hansel. I’m dropping little breadcrumbs so that I can find my way back, only to find that the words have eaten them all, and I can’t even remember why the hell I’m there.
Most times, though, I find writing a story very much like painting a river. I make sure there are stepping stones all the way across, each one an important plot point. Usually I have to leap across to the next stone and then paint in the details behind me…but it’s a friggin’ river, and nothing stays where it should be! Then halfway across I realise I’ve missed a spot and have to go right back to the start. And then the new patch dries a different color so you have to repaint the whole darn river to match it…and just how the hell do you know it’s time to step across to the other side?
Oh, but once you do, and you look back on your handiwork…yeeeesssssss…

I’ve noticed a recent trend in my work. Almost every one of my stories has a menage. Why? I don’t know.

I just feel this draw to write about threesomes. Is it because they’re more erotic than a couple, but less complex to write than a foursome? Yes I’ve written about four people and despite what you might think it does get complex trying to make sure that everybody gets a piece. At least it was for me. Back to my menage obsession, I think it might have something to do with this… what red blooded female wouldn’t want two hunky guys chasing after her, sandwiching her between them for a night of burn up the sheets sex.

But there is something else, perhaps writing menages is my way of challenge myself to push. Three characters, three points of view. Can I do it? Can I make it so it’s not confusing? Can I make it so all the charterers are understood? Can I write so no ones left out? Hmm maybe there’s more to writing about a love triangle than I thought. Or maybe it just boils down to I want to try a menage, but can’t, so I’m living vicariously through my characters.

What do you think dear readers, Is it…

A) Menages are erotic

B) I’m challenge my writing ablity

C) Living vicariously through my characters

D) All the above

I was invited back to chat last night at Romance in the Backseat, where authors and reviewers were discussing reviews from both sides of the playing field, especially when so many reviewers are authors themselves. It has been interesting to hear from reviewers, their concerns and fears as well; plus what authors hope reviewers will talk about when writing about their books. I have a review blog myself where authors review/interview other authors. I have been having a lot of fun doing it with such a creative bunch.

Lots of eXcessica authors have been on, and are coming on as well. So, thought I might highlight a few things you may want to look at, or look for to come from your favorite eXcessica writers.

Check out some recent posts from January:
Author Simon Lowrie’s Review of “Heidi and the Kaiser” by Selena Kitt http://authorsbyauthors.blogspot.com/2010/01/author-simon-lowrie-reviews-heidi-and.html
Author Erin O’Riordan’s Review of “The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl” by Marc Schuster
http://authorsbyauthors.blogspot.com/2010/01/author-erin-oriordan-reviews-singular.html
Author Annette Gisby’s Review of “Dead To The World” by L. E. Bryce
http://authorsbyauthors.blogspot.com/2010/01/annette-gisby-reviews-dead-to-world-by.html

And, mark your calenders for…
Feb 4th, Author Annette Gisby Reviews “The Trespass” by Barbara Ewing
Feb 8th, My interview with Author Emma Hillman
Feb 16th, My review of “Deliver Me From Hell” by Annie Fox
Feb 18th, My review of “Shelter From The Storm” by Molly Wens
Feb 23rd, Author Erin O’Riordan Reviews “Faeries Gone Wild” by MaryJanice Davidson, Michele Hauf, Lois Greiman, and Lenadra Logan

And, so much more is too come with interviews by Mallory Path, reviews by Selena Kitt, and a possible debate on HFN vs HEA endings is brewing as well!

Have A Great Day, and Take Some Time For A Little Fantasy!
Kiki

Not only have I been published with eXcessica for three months, I have now seen my book in a beautiful print version as well as witnessing ebook availability all over the net, and I’ve had a couple of great reviews!

Night Owl Romance gave UNLEASHED a top pick rating and called it a collection of “sizzling hot shorts.” UNLEASHED also made sex educator Violet Blue’s Top Ten Sex Books of 2009 list in the San Francisco Chronicle!

To celebrate all this good news I’m giving away a print copy.

For your chance to win the book, just leave me a comment on this post. You can enter no matter where in the world you are, and I’ll keep the offer open until 5pm  on Sunday (GMT) when I’ll ask my Loverboy to pick one at random. I’ll post the winner’s name in the comments, so call back Sunday or Monday to see if you’ve won.

Hugs

Saskia

www.saskiawalker.co.uk

UPDATE: This contest is now closed. Lucky number 4 won!

Watercolor paintings are created in transparent layers.  Abstract shapes of color slap white paper then dry so that the artist can swig more vibrant versions of the same over and over again.  There are actually techniques- like leaving the white of the paper rather than painting it white, and using dry brush to create detail.

I attack a story in the same way.  I start out with a light layer.  Although an idea comes to me fully formed I don’t know exactly what the characters are going to say and I don’t see everything in the room.  Sometimes I write long hand and other times I just type then I reread it and decide that someone should wear a hat or there should be a magazine on the table that a character must pick up and I add those things as a second layer.  I push farther ahead and then go back because that previous layer is now dry and ready for another. 

Sometimes it seems as though these ideas were there all along even though I pulled them from the air and then worked and reworked them.  I’m an artist -a painter, and I love feeling like these words I’ve layered together are like another art form.  Instead of a visual language with text I’m making a written picture, if that makes any sense.

Because when I paint I’m thinking about a lot of things, things that have happened,  things still in the dream stage, and then once the painting is finished I look at it and I remember not the choices I consciously made but the feelings generated by the piece.  It’s like I’ve verbalized the visual.

With writing I actually take things that have happened and turn them into a dream state, and try to create a visual atmosphere using words.

I envy those of you who can write 5,000 words per day and crank out stories left and right.  It doesn’t work that way for me.  I have to do a whole lot of nothing first.  I have to see a vision of the finished product, like a psychic I guess, and I have to live with the ideas in my head for a while until finally I’m ready to commit them to paper layer by layer.

I’ve started editing Cinderella Club (scary and exciting!).  And on a bittersweet romantic note I wrote a short story for the Valentine’s Day contest on Literotica.com if you want to check it out.  It’s called Ghost of a Chance.

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=460034

eXcessica new releases

EROTIC BRITS

By Jacqueline Applebee

www.excessica.com

Length: novella (39,785 words)

Category: Anthology

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: Happily Ever After

Price: $4.99

BUY IT!

Join a tour around the United Kingdom with Erotic Brits. In these eighteen tales, you will see a Britain you probably didn’t know existed. There are no tea and crumpets on the lawn, no genteel romances or period pieces. Instead you can enjoy a scorching-hot rendezvous on an Irish ferry, where a woman happily submits to three men, letting each of them use her for their pleasure. In St. Albans, a choirmaster orchestrates a three-way in a cathedral, whilst disciplining his wayward chorister. They all know the drill-misbehave, and receive some very personal correction. However a sexy visitor who inadvertently breaks the rules doesn’t know that correction means taking one man from the front and one from the rear.

If you ever thought the United Kingdom was a nation of stiff upper lips, then prepare to learn what really gets hard in the U.K. This unique collection celebrates all the naughty exploits that take place up and down the county, including women who love to have kinky fun in a queer London pub, and a threesome who enjoy outdoor sex at historic Edinburgh Castle. The locations don’t only provide a backdrop to the lusty scenes-they become an integral part of every sizzling story. This tour is not in the guidebooks, but you can take it right now!

Warnings: This title contains f/f and m/m sex, multiple partners, menage, bisexuality, transgender themes, BDSM, and anal sex.

THE BROTHERS DIM

By Kris Klein

www.excessica.com

Length: Story (11,351 words)

Category: Gay Male, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 4

Ending: Happy For Now

Price: $2.99

BUY IT!

Mark, at thirty-three, is over the whole finding-sex-online thing-until he comes up with a posting that turns into the ultimate lure for finding straight men that can be talked into some gay sex. An ad on Craigslist nets him a slew of replies, particularly in two prospective young bunkmates, Kyle and Chuck-who, at twenty-one and nineteen respectively, have a lot more in common than Mark could ever realize. Planning them for back-to-back head sessions (Mark shares with NO ONE), when Kyle arrives late and Chuck shows up only minutes later, Mark concocts a last-minute scheme to try and work a sizzling threesome with the two straight guys-with himself as the star-and his sexual appetite is only made more ravenous when he learns that, quite by accident, he’s now standing in his bedroom with a pair of brothers. The only question now is, just how far can he get these boys to go…not only with another guy, as advertised…

But good God, maybe even with each other?

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, m/m sex, coercion, anal sex, and incest.

THREESOME

By J.M. Snyder

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Story (3,598 words)

Category: Gay Male, Contemporary

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: Happy For Now

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

When Chris and his boyfriend Alan stop into a local bar for a few drinks, the last thing they expect is to be propositioned by a stranger looking to earn a little extra cash. At first Chris laughs off the offer, but Julian can be nothing if not persuasive. His suggestion of taking on both guys at the same time does wicked things to Chris, and he knows he’s in for the time of his life if he can just get Alan to go along with it…

NOTE: This is the only ménage à trois story I’ve written to date and began as a 300 word flash fiction short published by Ruthie’s Club. It appears in my print collection Shorts.

Warnings: This title contains graphic language and explicit scenes of gay or M/M sex.

YOU’LL LEARN

By Stone Franks

www.excessica.com

Length: Short Story (4,994 words)

Category: Lesbian

Firebolt Level: 3

Excess Level: 3

Ending: Happy For Now

Price: $1.99

BUY IT!

I dare you. Three words that will make a teenager do just about anything you want them to. Of course when you go out to bars with fake ID hoping to meet interesting older women you don’t realise this. Or a thousand other things. But you’ll learn.

Warnings: This title contains exhibitionism, masturbation and bad language.

*sigh*

I just heard a news story about parents insisting their children’s grade 4/5 teacher remove the dictionary from their classroom to prevent students from looking up inappropriate words. “Oral sex” was their main concern.

I’m not saying every tidbit of knowledge is appropriate for every age group (hell, kids should definitely not be reading my work) but for goodness sake, people, children are curious little beggars. They’re going to find out about these things one way or another and if they have the presence of mind to look a word up, it’s obviously percolating in their quickly-expanding brains.

When I was a child–younger than grades 4 and 5, as I recall–we did the very same thing. My friends and I had three dictionaries to work from. We’d look up naughty word in the french dictionary just to see if they were there. Next, we’d look them up in the french-to-english dictionary for translation, and finally move on to the english dictionary to find out if the meaning was the same. As we discovered, some words that are naughty in one language are entirely innocuous in another. (Except for the word “cock”–that one’s pretty universally euphemistic LOL)

Children are like cats–naturally curious. Where they differ is that children are not going to die from looking up words in the dictionary! Removing a classroom’s dictionary is akin to book-burning in my mind. It’s revolting. Parents, this is what educators refer to as a “teachable moment.” You might feel uncomfortable dealing with it, but pretending “bad” words don’t exist is not going to help your child’s development!

I just pulled out my Oxford English Dictionary to look up the word in question.

ORAL SEX – noun Sexual activity in which the genitals of one partner are stimulated by the mouth of the other.

That’s what everybody’s so upset about. Hmm…maybe if they were getting a little more of it, they wouldn’t be so fussy. Just a thought.

Hope you have a censorship-free day!
Bright Blessings,
Giselle Renarde

Recently while driving in the car, I heard this radio commercial for the half priced bookstore in my town.  The guy was going on and on about this new “fancy electronic reader” he’d gotten for Christmas.  He was going on and on about how it didn’t feel like a book, smell like a book, or even fit on his bookshelf. Or that he constantly wanted to shake it to turn the pages. He couldn’t take in the tub if he wanted or heaven forbid if he forgot it in a hotel room.

It was basically a commercial that was promoting his store and traditional books.  I did get a chuckle out of it, since I’ve been in the store and they sell video games, DVD’s,  computer software,  music cd’s  AND books.  But I digress. The fact that I heard this commercial in a small town of only 35,000 in the middle of the mid-west just surprised me. It’s the first radio commercial I’ve ever heard talking about an e-reader. It also just had me realizing that e-books are coming of age even in the small community where I reside and makes me more than happy that I’ve chosen to go the e-book route opposed to traditional books. Not to say I don’t love seeing my books in print, I do! I just foresee the e-readers becoming more and more popular despite their costs.

I own one myself and love it, even though I occasionally pick up a traditional book now and again to share with my dad. The convenience of them are wonderful even if I can’t take them into the bathtub with me. Personally my husband loves them because I don’t have a gazillion books laying around the house. Which reminds me, he’s been begging me to go through my books and weed  them down again.  Ah…another item to add to my growing to-do list.

Dakota

There comes a point during every work in progress when I just don’t know if can possibly go as far as I want too. It’s a form of writer’s block I like to call “The Shy Bubble”. I start worrying that this time will be the final time someone will read my work because I’ve gone too far or I start judging my work against others who are even more adventurous. I get shy of my sexual leanings. I want to convert to something easier, less soul bearing, less me. If I write shyer it will be easier, that’s what the little voices inside my head tell me.

Those voices lie. A lot. They are absolutely freaking nutso. But every now and then I take the time to indulge them to write something sweet, flirty, not flashing off the page with red hot erotic content. And you know what? I’m never satisfied. It always sounds contrived or void of emotion. But it’s a necessary evil to remind myself I’m doing this because I love it and I can’t do anything else. I pop my little illusion of a safety bubble holding me back from everything sexy because it’s just not “right”. Then I pick up a piece of paper and write.

What really reminds me of how open the world is to my writing involves an hour and a porn website and that’s it.

Sometimes it’s when you’re uncomfortable that the magic happens on the page. So as long as people continue reading what I write, and there will always be people, then I’ll keep popping my little bubble and drying myself off.

We all have our own struggles as artists. What are some of yours?

eXcessica new releases

THE FEMBOT CHRONICLES: VOLUME 2

By D.B. Story

www.excessica.com

Length: Super Novel (81,734 words)

Category: Sci Fi, Story Collection

Firebolt Level: 2

Excess Level: 2

Ending: Happy For Now

Price: $5.99

BUY IT!

In this second collection of 6 more stories we further explore the intriguing future world of robots-fembots in particular, but not exclusively-from the author’s own unique perspective.

• “Pickup at the Robot Club” tells the story of the dark days after the robots are first emancipated and struggling to deal with their new reality of being cast out to survive as best they can. And of Jon, a human looking for more than just quick hook-up, even if he still has a lot to learn about robots in general.
• “Robert Steel” tells of Sandi, a graduate student of the Fembot Studies course out to tame and capture the wild m-bot of her dreams.
• In “Aunt Lonnie” a young man discovers the secret of his too sexy Aunt Lonnie and why she was shunned by the rest of his family.
• “G. Jane” tells the story of a Gigolo Jane model whose life is run by a smalltime pimp until she and her sister fembots are forced to cope on their own.
• “Marilyn” speaks to the problems a fembot encounters when she is made in the image of the famous screen icon. Can she finally find a happy ending this time around?
• “Abandoned Property” is a story of opportunity meeting preparation, otherwise known as luck, as a young man visiting paradise finds a way to bring it all back with him.

Romantic, HEA, and light GLBT themes are explored in how future relationships may well work out.

Warnings: This title contains sex with robots including F/F themes.

STUCK ON YOU

Edited by Selena Kitt

www.excessica.com

Length: Novel (58,512 words)

Category: Gay Male, Anthology

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: ?

Price: $5.99

BUY IT!

In this anthology, we bring you stories about men who just can’t seem to keep their hands off each other and whose lives become enmeshed and entwined in hot, romantic ways. Even in spite of some sort of obstacle, these couples manage to stay stuck on each other, so don’t worry, it all ends with a wonderful, happy ever after! Don’t miss eXcessica’s first gay male anthology!

Warnings: This title contains graphic language and gay or M/M sex.

MY BEST FRIEND’S DAD

By J.M. SNYDER

www.excessica.com

Length: Novelette 16,307 words)

Category: Gay, Contemporary, Erotica

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: Happy For Now

Price: $3.99

BUY IT!

I had the worst crush on Mikey Pierce’s dad. As excited as I was to graduate high school and go away to college, what I looked forward to more was returning home a grown man who might fit in with the guys Mr. Pierce invited over for poker at his place. Whenever I spent the night at Mikey’s, I always wanted to join in their game.

But Mr. Pierce was in the dining room. He wasn’t alone. The man in there with him owed Mr. Pierce a couple hundred bucks from playing cards, and I had a ring-side seat as he paid up.

Warnings: This title contains graphic language, male masturbation, voyeurism, and gay sex (oral and anal).

BOOK OF EROTIC TALES

By A.P. Miller

www.excessica.com

Length:  Novelette (20,599)

Category: Paranormal, Anthology

Firebolt Level: 4

Excess Level: 3

Ending: Happily Ever After

Price: $3.99

BUY IT!

An anthology of paranormal erotica containing the following stories:

After Hours:
Gerard Kent was a firm strict business man who enjoyed ordering people around and having them at his every beck and call. His secretary Dianna did his constant bidding, but she didn’t know her boss had a secret until one day when she does some snooping and finds out his deepest darkest secret. But what he doesn’t know is that she also has a secret of her own. Will Dianna expose her boss or will he find out her secret before she decides to reveal his?

Warnings: This title contains graphic language that is not suitable for anyone under 18.

Over the past few years I’ve seen many calls for submission for works of both erotica and erotic romance. What has caught my eye lately has been the apparent increase in calls for works from female authors only.
There’s a juvenile part inside me which wants to call out “Hey! Sexism!” Luckily, that juvenile is easily distracted by a couple of pictures of, say, Emmy Rossum or Jodie Foster.
I really can’t pretend to know what it’s like to be female. In general terms, what pleases you or scares you, how you feel you are seen by men or by other women. As such, I make no judgement about the fairness of having a female-only category.
What I haven’t gotten my head around yet is the big question of why? Again, this is a genuine question, not a challenge. Why are there calls for female authors only? Has it sprung from the gender discrimination of previous generations? If so, is that discrimination still happening? I’d formed the belief that the fields of romance, romantica and erotic romance were already very rich in female authors.
Perhaps some female readers just feel uncomfortable reading the erotic works of a male author. Perhaps they’re the same women who choose the “female-only” section of the gymnasium. Maintaining the mystery can be a good thing.
Or is it a quality control issue? A couple of years ago I went to a meet-and-greet lecture with three female erotica authors. One of them, Krissy Kneen, voiced the opinion that a lot of the male-authored erotica she’d read was very mechanical. She meant not that it was cold or rigid, just that it was very linear, perhaps reminiscent of furniture assembly instructions. It focussed far more on what was being done than why.
So, do a lot of men write romance poorly (for female readers)? I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts.

Sunday the family and I went to our local Borders, as we walked around the store I realized why I like shopping online so much better.

First I couldn’t find anything. Websites I can look by genre, author, title, etc. But at the store it took me, what felt like, forever to find anything. The books in the store were spread all around the place and with no rhyme or reason. Fiction inter meshing with non-fiction, DVD and CDs thrown haphazardly into the mix, with toys dangling from the rafters. I mean what the heck this is a BOOK store, not toy store.

Second people camped out everywhere, tweens sitting in front of bookcases so you can’t get to them. Come on people it’s a store, not a library buy it or get out of the way. Jeez. Online I get to sit in my comfy chair and browse with no one jostling me, looking over my shoulder.

Best thing I can buy whatever I want and no one will judge me. I found this book at the store called Fetish. I didn’t buy it because I felt self conscience. Why? I’m a grown adult who should be able to buy whatever the heck she wants right? But for some reason I felt like a perv for even looking at it with my kids in tow. I find this seriously weird since I’ve never been this way before. I’ve never cared what people thought of me. Yet standing in the crowded store with other moms, kids, tweens and weird old guys I felt strange buying this book. Like everyone was judging me. It was an unpleasant and unfamiliar sensation, which I didn’t like. So I’m going back to my non-judging, uncaring computer where I can buy whatever freaky crap I want and the only one to care is my hubby when he gets the bill.

So what about you do you prefer online or offline buying?

Wynter O’Reilly
~Stories that’ll make you melt!~
http://wynteroreilly.blogspot.com

Art work done by Popeye Wong

Okay, so I get here today and see what I was going to write about was written about yesterday by Annette Gisby in her blog post, “What Is It About Erotica?” Must be a common phenomenon then! I was going to write about the same idea after an email my husband got. So here I go…Hope you don’t mind, Annette!

First off, I can’t control myself but to comment on Annette’s statements, “In any of my thrillers and murder mysteries, no one has ever asked me, ‘Oh, so you’re a murderer then?’” and “I’ve never met a real life wizard or aliens from space either but I wrote about them too.” Of course, by now most of you know that after writing paranormals I was accused of being a witch by some men in my neighborhood who obviously have no idea what the term ‘imagination’ is. Ah, if I could only wiggle my nose or wave a wand… I have been working on a story about a sorcerer who is a musician and uses his music to woo women to him, to which my husband (a songwriter) replies, great now everyone will think I am a witch too! I comforted him by saying I would address the issue in my dedication! Ha Ha!

Speaking of dedications, this is how I got to this topic today in the first place. I have thanked my husband in a few of my books for his support of my work, and for being my inspiration, things along those lines. Pretty broad statements. So, of course, the poor guy gets an email from someone who after his wife has read him passages from my books says, “You the man!” To back up, my husband once asked me to skip the dedication in my next book and make the disclaimer that my husband is no where near as lucky as the heroes in my stories. Might have to do this for him the next time. Or…no we won’t go there!

I have gotten the odd comment myself when asked what my next story is about, like “Oh, you have done that?” To which I am always tempted to answer, “Yep, I conduct sexual magic spells all the time!” But, I do behave, and have a lot less parents who will sit by me now at certain school events anyway! LMAO! When I first started writing erotica, I was hesitant to let anyone know, but my husband said I should be proud of what I do. So, I am sticking with his advice! Let them think what they want! To semi-quote Practical Magic, “How about you do what you do, and I’ll do what I do, and we will see where that takes us.” Or something like that…

Or wait, just saw this one while searching for the last…Aunt Jet Owens: “And this is what comes from dabbling; I mean you can’t practice witchcraft while you look down your nose at it.” Get where I am going with this one? Sometimes I think the lady doth protest too much!

Welcome to my secret life.  I’m naked and slathered in fragrant body lotion with a shiny fresh mani/pedi.  My hair is pulled back and out of my face because I just applied my new Chanel lip gloss.  I am a sexy woman.  Some say beautiful but most think I’m sexy. 

I’m really liking my legs right now.  I put them through a rigorous three times a week schedule of squats and extensions and serious abductor-adductor squeezes.  I always wear high heels – boots, shoes, sneakers if I could.  My breasts fit perfectly in a man’s mouth and, if you’re looking for body hair you won’t find any down south.

My name is Mia Natasha.  I wrote a novel and Excessica.com will publish it later this year.  It’s about a young sex slave trapped in a centuries old BDSM club that shares a secret kinky history with the Cinderella fairy tale.  I can’t wait to share it with readers because  I’m essentially sharing my fantasy, and that’s really sexy, don’t you think?  I’ve always been attracted to stories about bondage.  Call me a freak but I even get turned on in the hardware store looking at racks of colored duct tape.  Sometimes I watch crime shows because I like to see people in handcuffs.  Is this too much information for my first blog post? 

Cinderella Club is also a romance because I wanted to create my dream man- a tall, blonde artist with a dominant streak.   I wonder how much dreaming I’ll need to do to find a real man just like him?  Last year I dreamed of having the book published and here I am.  So I’m in the dreams-can-come-true club.    

What are your secret fantasies?  Are they fulfilled by reading erotica?  And what are your dreams?  I’ll be blogging every other Tuesday.  I look forward to meeting you and learning all I can about how to please you.

Mia

I write in different genres. So far, I’ve done romance, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, erotica m/f and m/m.

In any of my thrillers and murder mysteries, no one has ever asked me, “Oh, so you’re a murderer then?”

But write something to do with any type of sex, the questions come thick and fast.

“Oh, so you like being tied up in bed?” that?” LOL!

Personally, I’ve never tried it, but I like exloring different concepts in my fiction that I wouldn’t necessarily do or have done in real life. I’ve never met a real life wizard or aliens from space either but I wrote about them too.

A murdery mystery writer is not expected to have committed murder in order to write a good story.

So why should erotica be any different? Do I need to experience every kink, every fetish in the world before I can write about it? Can an erotica writer only be considered a “proper” erotica writer if she has experienced what she writes about?

Would you feel cheated if you read a fetish or kink that you enjoy was written by someone you later discover has had no real life experience of that particular kink? Or do you just read for the story?

Take care,
Annette

THE LONG ROAD
By Molly Wens
www.excessica.com
Length: Novelette (27,530 words)
Category: Romance
Firebolt Level: 4
Excess Level: 3
Ending: Happily Ever After
Price: $3.99
BUY IT!

Virginia Whorten is alone. In a desperate bid for freedom, she escapes her opulent gilded cage. Afraid to stop moving, she runs in fear that her powerful, brutal husband will find her.

Clay Dirksen, a successful landowner and farmer, meets Ginn and is immediately taken by her sweetness and gentle vulnerability. He sees the future in her eyes and the pain she’s endured in the past. It takes time-and gentleness-to woo the broken woman, but with care, she learns to find her heart once more.

What they find together is a world of passion, fire and joy. In each other’s arms, they find what each has been searching for all their lives. Through steamy nights and laughter-filled days, they fall deep in love.

But it’s not to last. Ginn is torn from the heaven she finds with Clay, snatched away by her husband’s vicious design. Setting his hired thugs on the unsuspecting Clay, JP Whorten leaves his wife’s lover beaten and near death while he carries Ginn back to hell.

Trapped in the dungeons below her husband’s house, she has given up on life. Existing solely on the memories of Clay’s touch and the magical light in his eyes, she little resembles the woman she once was. She spends her days as a slave, awaiting her husband’s ruthless pleasures and praying for the deliverance of death.

Clay wakes in the hospital in a state of panic over what may have happened to Ginn. Enraged over his inability to save her, he forces his uncooperative, broken body to walk out of the hospital.

Will he be able to find her? Will he be in time?

ROCKSTAR
By J.M Snyder
www.excessica.com
Length: Novel (57,975 words)
Category: Gay, Contemporary, Erotica
Firebolt Level: 2
Excess Level: 3
Ending: Happily Ever After
Price: $5.99
BUY IT!

Adam Blue is destined to be a rockstar. As lead singer of Viral Blue, he knows it’s just a matter of time before he’s on his way to fame and fortune. If he can just get a studio to sign his band and get his songs on the radio, he knows he’ll make it big.

When they land a spot onstage at a popular nightclub downtown, Adam hopes to get noticed. But he doesn’t expect to meet sexy Paolo Raucci, owner of Raucci Entertainment, a local studio looking for fresh talent. Paol likes Adam’s sound and, more importantly, likes Adam, as well.

But when Paol brings the band into the studio, his partner Lewis isn’t quite as taken with Adam’s rockstar attitude. Lewis doesn’t want to sign the band until Adam proves he’s willing to work. Unfortunately, the band takes second priority to Adam’s growing interest Paol … an interest that has nothing to do with his musical career.

The stress of recording their first studio album threatens to tear the band apart, and Adam’s ego further drives a wedge between the members of Viral Blue. Paol does his best to keep the band together, but ultimately it’s Adam’s call.

Adam wants it all-his band, his first record, and his new lover. Now that his dreams are finally within reach, what does he have to do to make them come true?

ONCE AND ONCE AGAIN
By Phillip Sweeny
www.excessica.com
Length: Super Novel (99,582 words)
Category: Romance
Firebolt Level: 2
Excess Level: 1
Ending: Happily Ever After
Price: $6.99
BUY IT!

Broken in body and spirit, twelve-year-old Luke lies in the mud at the bayou’s edge after being brutally beaten and thrown from a speeding train. Guided by a mysterious unseen force, nine-year-old Marie stumbles upon his near lifeless body-their souls bonding as he awakens and stares into her crystal blue eyes. Marie and her parents nurse him back to health at their bayou home, deep in the Louisiana marsh. There is one problem-he has lost his memory. Marie treats him as ‘brother’, yet deep inside, her love grows. However, all is not clear in the path to true love as Luke recovers his memory, moves away and grows to manhood, marrying another who wants him only for the act of procreation. Will Marie recover from the shock of losing her secret love as she retaliates by marrying the first man who shows an interest in her? Will Luke, searching for the difference between sex for lust and sex for love survive as his marriage crashes? Will the bonds Marie and Luke developed during childhood bring them together? What is this mysterious force that intervenes at each crisis point in their lives?

IMPRINTED
By Darcy Sweet
www.excessica.com
Length: Novelette (28,809 words)
Category: Menage, Contemporary
Firebolt Level: 4
Excess Level: 3
Ending: Happy For Now
Price: $3.99
BUY IT!

“The right kink…watching…spanking…” Mrs. D lifted her hand, and then swished it through the air. I flinched waiting for the contact that never came. “Kinks like those imprint on your sexuality. As solid as a handprint in wet concrete. They’re with you forever.”

One summer college break while working for his Step Dad’s landscaping firm Jacob accidentally spies a naked Mrs. D masturbating. He tries not to watch-not wanting to be a Peeping Tom-but when Mr. D arrives home and begins to spank his wife he finds that he can’t turn away. He’s so turned on by the scene that he makes himself come while watching. He thinks that’s the end of it until Mrs. D looks out the window and whispers his name.

He’s been caught.

He waits for her to tell his Step Father and all hell to break loose, but instead she invites him back-to watch again. This time the play revolves around him. Mrs. D elicits a confession from her husband exposing that he wants Jacob. Jacob hear it and realizes that he wants him too.

Jacob finds himself pulled into the sexual web of the provocative Mrs. D. Through her he lives out fantasies that he never knew he had-fantasies that forever imprint upon his sexual psyche.

Because if there’s one thing a pornographer loves, it’s censorship….

I’m a tad peeved over here. Hallmark.com erased a message I wrote to my girlfriend the other day because of “Inappropriate Content”? Seriously! And you know why? Because I’d used the word “clit.” They trashed my e-card and sent me that bullshit “Inappropriate Content” message. Thanks for the censorship, there, Hallmark. Seriously? I can’t send my girlfriend a thank you card for some killer lip service without spelling the word c-l-i-t?

Guess it’s back to GoGayCards.com. They say yay for gay and don’t censor my damn messages. Actually, it’s a really cute site if you haven’t stopped by. They have gay cards, lesbian cards, lots of great Pride cards, Love, Miss You, Get Well, Flirting, Birthday, Holidays…and the category I make most use of with Sweet: “I’m Sorry.” Jesus, those things come in handy. LOL. Postcards and Video Cards. Something for everyone!

Actually, I’ve just come up with a slogan for them: “Where’s a gay to go? GoGayCards.com!” Just remember, I said it first. *grin*

I also have a great affinity for someecards.com. Crikey, they have some funny greetings. And, trust me, the content of their cards is way more inappropriate than anything I could come up with. Sweet is particularly fond of the card with an elderly couple pictured and the message, “I’d wax my asshole for you.” Or how about, “Things are starting to get serious between me and my hand-held showerhead“? Funny. And, the always useful, “Let’s fuck in public tonight.”

You have no idea how much of my life I’ve wasted on this site. LOL.

Cheers, my darling ones,
Giselle Renarde

When it comes to promotion I’m trying to tell myself to relax and just breathe. I can see how easy it is to get caught by the promotion storm and never write another word again. To sit and link back, chat, and tweet the days away. But that won’t happen to me because I’ve got a list. The list to end all lists. Bullets, numbers, practically an outline to how to promote well without overdoing it. At least that’s what I tell myself. I’m a compulsive list maker.

But is there such a thing as over promotion? Do you ever get that annoying feeling after seeing one too many adds, blog posts, comments, etc? Do you ever wish someone would stop spamming your inbox with newsletters and happy advice?

Personally, I like it when I keep updated as much as possible. I love to get promotional information because most often I love the people who are doing the promoting. If I don’t love the person it goes right to the spam box. But I know that several newsletters in more than a month will drive me crazy, and over blogging will make my head explode.

So, how do you like your promotion, hot or cold? Naughty or nice? A lot or a little?

There will be no quiz later. Unless you want to tell me your favorite sexual position.

I kid.

I had a chat last night on Two Lips Reviews with Tina and that was one of the questions she asked me. Honestly I never thought about it before. I mean I know what I don’t like about writing.  Edits are the pits for me, even though I know they make the story better but my favorite part?  That had me stumped.

How to pick one part of writing that I liked more than everything else?  I love to hear the clack of the keys as I type.  It blends so well with the soft music I normally listen to.  I also love watching the interaction of the characters as I build the story.  It’s always a pleasure to see them come to life in front of me. It also makes my head a little less crowded as it seems I always have a head full of characters just begging me to write their stories. Holding a finished book in my hand also ranks right up there with being my favorite part.

While these all bring me pleasure, I’d have to say that hearing from the readers is my favorite part of writing.  Knowing I touched just one person with my writing makes it all worth while for me.  I know these seems egotistical but honestly it’s not. I’m an avid reader myself and know what a craft writing well done stories is and the amount of talent it takes to totally engage an audience.  So even if I never completely master it, I can say I gave it my best shot and hearing from the readers lets me know I”m one step closer.

I’d love to hear from other authors what their favorite part of the writing process is. Maybe you can come up with other things, I possibly overlooked?

I’ve fallen ass backwards into a few nice promo things this year. I get emails “how did you get here?” “how did you get there?” from other writers/new writers. The answer is I usually say Yes!. Not because I’m a slut (heh) but I am a promotion whore. I will pimp myself in any way I can, and unless the folks approaching me are being insane or unreasonable, my policy is to try and say Yes!

Will you donate a copy to a contest? Yes! Will you allow us to interview you for [insert super small site here] or [insert medium site here] or insert [big busy site here]? Yes! Can we quote you? Yes! Will you pop in and chat for a bit? Yes! Will you allow us to use an excerpt for our blog party/launch/sale? Yes!

See a busy site and have a comment? Don’t be shy! Comment. How many folks are going to click your link? Well, you never know but it sure as hell can’t hurt can it? Go to the free lists as often as they’ll let you and post snippets of your work. Excessica supplies a list when you are all official and whatnot of places you can self-promote. Use It! Twitter has turned out to be a great tool and don’t be shy about asking people to Retweet and if they ask you for the same say Yes!

My final word is never assume it won’t work. Try everything and trust your instincts. Recently, I saw a call for snippets to be run in a major UK magazine. I had just had a book come out and I emailed on a whim, just some niggling intuition to go ahead and do it already. But, I pretty much resigned myself the fact that it was an exercise in futility, but what the hell, right? So I gathered everything outlined in the call and sent it and…hmm, turns out they were putting together the February issue when my email came in and tada! It wasnt’ a wild goose chase. It was a falling-ass-backwards into free advertising situation.

My point is, say Yes! as much as possible. Be friendly, kind, open to ideas, think outside the box and remember, no advertising/promo/networking scenario can ever be ‘too small’ or not worth it. Don’t kill yourself, don’t spend hours staring at the magic box, but do interact with sites, lists, other writers and donate here and there to get word of mouth out. And always take a shot on that exercise in futility because it might not be so futile after all.

XOXO

S

Now we have all heard the saying before, “Sex is not just good, it is good for you!” Before, women and men alike have scoffed at the idea, but stop where you are, and ladies hide this information from your men—it is true! After some serious digging to unearth any respectable truth to this saying, I stumbled upon five benefits to having sex that everyone should know about. So, the next time you are not quite in the mood but your partner is begging with those puppy dog eyes, remember this information and give them a hand…

Sex Can Ease Stress and Stop Depression

A number of people would dispute this point, many saying they feel further pressure with the need to squeeze sex into the schedule. Stop kidding yourself. Sex (better yet, making love) is one of the best organic medicines for stress management. Studies illustrate that those who engage in frequent intercourse and attain orgasm are less violent and aggressive than those who have sex on rare occasions. Furthermore, other studies have shown that regular sex can also lower death rates for both men and women and reduce the risk of heart attack in women.
Those who endure depression and follow a therapeutic and medicinal regiment may also experience relief from sexual intercourse. According to State University in Albany, NY, semen can act as an antidepressant. The study showed that women having sex without protection had fewer signs of depression than others due to hormones released during the act. (Side note: Please be sure to practice safe sex, condoms should always be used unless you and your partner are magnanimous or the pill is being used)

Sex Can Prevent Prostate Cancer

You heard me right, prevent cancer. Numerous studies have shown that a high ejaculation frequency among men was linked to a decreased threat of prostate cancer. Reported by the Journal of the American Medical Association, men who orgasm a minimum of twelve times per month reduce their rate of cancer by 30%. And men will jump for joy to hear that those who increase their ejaculations more than three times per week, have an additional 15% decrease in prostate cancer risk. Before you boys start clapping your hands with glee and use this as a pretext to get your partner in bed—this study also applies to those who masturbate, so if she/he is not up for a little ‘sack time’, grab that bottle of lotion, light some candles and curl up with a naughty movie!

Sex Can Burn Some Major Calories

One more advantage for those who complain there is no time for the gym. Sex has proven to burn between 100-140 calories per hour (dependant on position and place). That statistic is more calories burnt that one hour of walking!
What’s more, since sex is a legitimate form of exercise, it can also be proven to reduce cholesterol levels, blood pressure and improve circulation as well as any other exercise regimen. The deep breathing and increased heart rate in thirty minutes of intense intercourse can boost the flow of blood to the entire body; supplying fresh hormones, nutrients and oxygen to the brain and other organs.

Sex Can Relieve Those Dreadful Cramps

Many women have found that sex and orgasms can actually alleviate menstrual cramps. In a study performed by Dr. Roy Levin at Sheffield University in England, he found that during orgasm a woman’s uterus contracts causing it to use up excess Prostaglandins (a hormone produce by the uterine lining). This hormone moves menstrual blood from the uterus, causing menstrual cramps, thus removing excess Prostaglandins can limit the uterine contractions during a period.
An added benefit of sex during a period is ending the cycle sooner. You are not reading this wrong, I said sooner! When a woman orgasms, her uterus goes through several muscle contractions which can hasten menstruation. When the uterus contracts, the lining shifts and is forced out through the vagina, thus causing the rest of your menstrual blood to be shed sooner, as a result ending the period early.

The New Headache Cure

Hate to break yet another excuse, but it is time we women told the truth. How many men have heard the infamous lines, “Not tonight, honey. I have a headache”? I will admit to having used that defense once or twice, but no longer. Several research groups (most lead by men, I am sure) have found that vaginal stimulation during sex and orgasms can provide pain relief by releasing chemicals that calm migraine receptors. In a study performed by Headache.com, of eighty-three women questioned, 30% noted some pain relief from migraines after intercourse, 17.5% became completely pain free, while only 5.3% noticed a worsening of symptoms after intercourse.
Now go get busy!

Hi, I’m Gavin, and I’m acting as our new publicist. I hope everyone is staying warm, and here are Excessica’s exciting new releases for January 11, 2010!

Faithe and Salvation
By Aden Kains
www.excessica.com
Length: Story (14,697 words)
Category: BDSM
Firebolt Level: 3
Excess Level: 3
Ending: Happy For Now
Price: $2.99

Buy It!

Morgan Tremayne comes from a long line of self-made, wealthy, honorable Dominant men, is on a quest to find his “kindred spirit” – a woman who recognizes her own true submissive desires, and will willingly accept him as her Dominant on a life journey of self discovery in a mutually devoted, consensual D/s relationship. In a total power exchange, he’ll be devoted to her, protect her, care for her, teach her, never punish her without cause; never intentionally cause her pain she could not bear simply for his own satisfaction; guide her on a journey of self-discovery. In return, she must be willing to surrender completely to him: She must be secure in deriving her happiness from his pleasure, sexual and otherwise; must be content with his being in complete control of her life, body and soul. When, as a young adult Morgan meets Belinda, he senses immediately that he’s found his “kindred spirit.” But ultimately, their D/s journey takes them both on a fateful course neither of them can control, leaving Morgan caring about nothing, existing without living. Until he finds free-spirited, sassy Faithe by pure chance. Is Faithe his new kindred spirit? Will she be his salvation? Will he be hers? Faithe and Salvation is a stimulating, gripping, sensual graphic story of a man and two women coming to grips with their deepest desires that’s sure to leave you thinking about your own sexuality.

Enslaving Sylvia
By Cherry Lee
www.excessica.com
Length: Novelette (23,815 words)
Category: BDSM, Contemporary
Firebolt Level: 5
Excess Level: 4
Ending: Happily Ever After
Price: $3.99

Buy It!

Pet, princess, puppet, slut, sweetheart, slave-she was everything he wanted to own. But could Sylvia accept her new life?

Sylvia has longed since childhood for something she couldn’t even name. Only as an adult did she learn about BDSM and 24/7 Master/slave relationships. But she’s not confident enough to pursue what she wants. Luckily, the Master she’s waited for steals her away and enslaves her. She quickly realizes she’s been offered the life she had always dreamed of.

Abused and used, pampered and cuddled, humiliated and shamed, bathed and babied, bound and whipped-she belongs to the one man who can give her everything she needs. She’s been enslaved by a Master who protects her and calls her His own.

From Boys to Men
By Kris Klein
www.excessica.com
Length: Story (7,205 words)
Category: Gay Male, Contemporary
Firebolt Level: 4
Excess Level: 3
Ending: Happy For Now
Price: $2.99

Buy It!

After five boyfriends in two years, twenty-year-old blonde boy-toy Michael has indeed learned that he’s looking for love in all the wrong places. All he wants is a true, honest, and monogamous boyfriend-something, he complains to Benji one sunny afternoon as they eat lunch in a Mexican restaurant, that seems impossible among guys his own age. Even Manuelo, their spicy, well-built young waiter at the lunch, is juicy enough to put on the menu…but Michael’s having none of it. A side trip to the john brings Michael in touch, however, with a man over his twice his age, who’s cooking in the restaurant kitchen-a slab of Latin beefcake with handsome, finely-chiseled features and the physique of a world-class bodybuilder. When Michael learns that the forty-eight-year-old god, Rudolfo, is Manuelo’s father (and the restaurant owner) Michael concocts a plan to seduce the straight (and very married) Latin stud later that night, after the restaurant is closed…if for no other reason than to prove to himself that a real man can indeed satisfy, in ways the “boys” he’s been seeing lately have been sorely lacking.

The Wizards of Venus:Book One – Magic Touch
By Dakota Trace
www.excessica.com
Length: Super Novel (70,129 words)
Category: Science Fiction, Romance
Firebolt Level: 3
Excess Level: 3
Ending: Happily Ever After
Price: $6.99

Buy It!

Welcome to the World of Venus. Unlike many had believed, it’s not an uninhabitable place, but one which simply has cloaked its people from outsider presence. In a world of magic and warriors, High Prince Randall deCarthwright and his two best friends, his cousin, Jonathan deCarthwright, and the daughter of his dad’s advisor, Grace Anne O’Connor, grew up.

Rand, the crown prince, soon to take over the reins from his retiring father; Gracie, who longs to follow her dad’s footsteps; and Jonathan, a powerful vindexicis warrior who has become the head of security for the royal family – all think they are on their set courses, until a prophesy shatters their belief.

Gracie was aware of the prophesy but with time and distance from her chosen mate, her belief in it is broken. She becomes livid when she finds out her father and the King of Venus have arranged her marriage to Rand. She’s shocked to find out Rand wants the marriage to take place. Against the advice of his sentient power, Ruzac, Rand’s given Gracie the time she’s needed to grow up before claiming her. Now, with the time at hand, the mezlcar, their intense mating ritual, begins to burn as an unseen force plots against them, and Rand is torn between mating with or protecting his chosen.

Join the wild ride as Rand attempts to convince Gracie of their right to be together, all while trying to defeat the bad guys with a bit of help from his friends – a spunky offworlder, and two unpredictable sentient beings.

I’ve mentioned before that I simply love words. Words as individual creatures, words strung together in sentences, words spat out like bullets, words rolling down a hill until they’ve gathered up so much mass that they just need to be a novel. Recently I discovered something which a heck of a lot of you out there probably already knew: reading is wonderful stress relief. Having such close access to my boys for four weeks straight was both a delight and a burden. I mean…they’re boys! “Boys” rhymes with “noise”! They’re both at school now and they have grown used to having 6-8 hours of stimulation plonked into their lives every day. I do okay, but the yelling and jumping and thumping (we have wooden floors) actually seems to burrow into my head and drain the strength from my body. Reading has always been one of my three favourite pastimes, but during the Christmas break, whenever I began to feel overwhelmed, I just put on my earmuffs, grabbed a book and gave myself 15 minutes of reading time. Have any of you ever done that primary school drama exercise where you pretend you’re a bag of sand with a slow leak at the bottom? You’re supposed to gradually shrink and flop onto the floor. It felt like that, except in reverse. The letters and words, so skeletal on the page, poured into me, and it was as if they were filling me from the feet up, giving me an internal strength. As if all the tiny skeletons were linking hands and building me back up. So how about all of you? Does reading fill you? Or is there something better? I’m all ears (which is even more obvious these days, now that I shave my head).

Today I’m wondering if character names effect how we perceive characters?

For example take a strong, alpha male and give him the name Sue. Yeah like the song. Would the reader be able to take the character seriously let alone believe in the character. As an author some times I take an agonizingly long time to find just the right names for my characters. I use names to transmit if a character is strong, weak, feminine or masculine.  Some names we immediately associated with money or high society. You rarely hear about a girl from the ghetto named, Buffy. Same goes for red-neck or ethnic. We make assumtions by names.  Just for fun I’m going to list 3 names, then under those I’m going to make up some charaters. Let’s see how many we get right.

Biff
Jethro
Ming-Lee

Biff- six two, beer gut, missing his front three teeth, wearing cover-alls hanging by one strap and smoking a pipe.
Jethro- five three, little belly, neat suit, carrying a briefcase and works as a lawyer
Ming-Lee- five five, hour glass figure, jeans tee-shirt, short blond hair, bad orange tan, and blue eyes

Okay so this wasn’t a fair test since you probably figured I was going to mix it up, but what was your first thought when you saw those names? Names have power, they help the reader visualize the characters. But don’t be afraid to mix it up a little, knock us out of those stereotypes. Personally I love the idea using uni-sex names, Jamie or Taylor. Make the reader wonder for a sentence or two, then toss them a curve ball. Something else fun is using masculine and feminine forms of the name. Example Shandy with a y it’s a boys name, but spelled Shandie with the ie it’s a girls.

So next time your reading, writing or just meet a stranger, think about what their names might really mean.

Wynter O’Reilly
~Stories that’ll make you melt!~
http://www.myspace.com/wynteroreilly

Now, first off, I will admit that sometimes when I am writing, the words just kind of flow out of me without my own cognizant recognition of them. I am in the zone, I guess. So, sometimes when I go back an read a manuscript to edit it I end up surprised by what I wrote. But, this…well it is just…

Monday I was editing a story. I was getting into it and becoming excited about what I wrote, so I assumed that the frenzy I had been on before the holidays to get this story out of me and into the computer had gone well. In the beginning, maybe it was. Then, after the hero and heroine finally gave into their desires letting them override their internal conflicts, when they fell into each others arms, when the kissing and touching became hot and heavy ~ the next two lines of the manuscript read…

[insert sex]

Chapter Six

Wow! I must have really been inspired there! I often use brackets to let myself know when editing that this was the idea I was going for, but not the wording for it I wanted especially when a scene is coming fast. But here, I skipped a whole scene! I was in a state where I was writing about 6,000 words a day on this story, and when interrupted I was reaching for paper to scribble notes, so who knows? But seems it was time to break out the sex toys and bring some excitement into this story!

Where was my head that day? Probably also being forced to do an inventory of all I still needed to do for the holidays, [insert brain here]! So, bring on the new year, I say, and may it be filled with [insert sex term of choice here]!

Happy New Year!

Starting a new year always excites me. It’s when I look back at what I’ve done, and then ahead to what I hope to achieve. When it comes to writing I also realize just how long I’ve been doing this. I started writing fiction over 16 years ago. Yikes. Even so, it still feels very new and mysterious to me. I think I’ve learned a few things along the way, but it wouldn’t be hard—I started with very little skill and some very mad ideas.

It’s a huge learning curve, and I know I’m only so far along it. What I thought I’d do today is post about a few really basic things I wish I’d understood or thought of earlier, based on my own trials and errors.

What the hell is this thing they call voice? I have to confess that the whole concept of voice confused and worried me no end. After years of struggling with the concept, I read that voice is about letting your personality come through in your work—it’s all about the way we choose to communicate. I experienced a light bulb moment. It made me relax into the writing process and let my natural instincts run. At that point I believe the process became “storytelling” rather than “writing a book” for me.

To network or not to network? I’ve struggled with this one and never seem to get it quite right. Writing is a lonely business, no doubt about it. Thanks to the internet there are so many possibilities, it’s more a question of deciding what level of interaction we need – if you’re looking for a CP you have to start somewhere. Writing is a solitary activity. No escaping that fact. What it comes down to is the writer and the blank page. Run with the pack, yes, but don’t lose sight of your own page in the scrum.

Get comfy! Oh boy, I wish I’d put more thought into this one earlier. It really pays to consider your tools and your environment—you would with any other job you took on and this is no different. If you’re a writer and spend long hours at the PC, you need as much light as possible. I discovered that the hard way, by not getting enough. A good, supportive chair and a proper desk are very important too, and I’m glad to say I finally got these after years of struggling with an old dining table and the cheapest office chair in town.

Never stop learning about the business! I’d love to just write and write, but I found we need to keep our ear to the ground. In this business things change all the time. Nowadays I try to read one article or commentary every few days, to keep my mind active about the act of writing and the business of publishing. Let’s face it, anyone who assumes they know everything in life is in for a nasty shock.

Two principles of teaching that apply particularly well to writing! 1) Learning by example—i.e. from reading well written books. 2) Practice makes perfect—the more you write the more you’ll develop your skills and ideas. Again, these are things I can easily lose sight of when I’m buried in a manuscript or having problems. I try to remind myself of them, not only to learn, but to gain perspective when I’m struggling.

Always carry paper and pen! Yes, I forgot a lot of things I was convinced I’d remember later. I keep log books for story plans, notes and scene outlines, but the perfect line for my story will always come to me when I least expect it. I now have notebooks and scraps everywhere. The resulting scrawled pieces of paper are also everywhere, and multiplying. The man in my life knows how much these scraps of gobbledygook are worth to me. He diligently collects them together and occasionally draws my attention to them with a bemused expression on his face. Sometimes he even holds my precious scraps to ransom, for a forfeit, but that’s another story…

Okay that’s enough from me for now. If you want to add more tips from your own experience, please post them in the comments. Let’s make 2010 a productive writing year and tell the world lots of great stories!

Saskia
UNLEASHED. A reviewer top pick at Night Owl Romance! Out now from eXcessica
www.saskiawalker.co.uk

Well, this is it. 2009 has smoothly transitioned into 2010. This is the time of year when we all ask ourselves, “Exactly what have I accomplished over the past 365 days? Have I made a difference? Have I been the change I wish to see in the world?”

Sometimes, we answer, “No.”

We realize we got caught up in the details of life, in the minutia. We didn’t always act the way we meant to act, or give what we could have given.

There is yet chance for conversion. Anne Frank wrote, “No one has ever become poor by giving.” So let’s give.

For years now, I’ve been in love with an American organization called Global Giving (which kinda sucks for me, as a Canadian, since I don’t get tax credits). If you haven’t heard of Global Giving, it’s an NFP that allows you to give money directly to worldwide projects doing things you care about. You know exactly where your dollars are going.

Here are a few examples of projects you could support:

Give Trafficked Girls a New Future in Cambodia

The Transitional Living Center (TLC) is a quality aftercare program for about 20 girls each year that have been rescued from situations of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Free and Educate 300 Bonded Nepali Girls
This project rescues 300 young Nepali girls from bonded servitude and provides them with six years of education, which will enable them to graduate from high school.

Survivors of Genocide: Cambodia, Rwanda, Tibet
There are survivors of genocide and crimes against humanity with the courage and the need to tell their stories. We work to make this possible, sharing their stories with compassion and respect.

Trust me, you could spend hours reading about all the ongoing humanitarian projects on the Global Giving website. And, as you read, I’m sure you’ll want to give what you can.

Just a New Year’s thought.

Bright Blessings for a Happy New Year,
Giselle Renarde