I think they make a lovely couple! 
Thanks so much, Meg!
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First, here’s Clynax, bless her, in the store with The Flame and the Shadow. Geez-Louise, they look good together! :-) Note also that the book is in the SF and Fantasy section. That’s because Berkley published it in their Ace line. (Like they do with Charlaine Harris. heh heh) Mind you, I suspect there are a few SF/F fans out there in for a bit of a shock! Look, look, I’m right next to Tolkien on the next shelf. Poor old dear is probably spinning in the grave.
Next up is our good friend, Dani, who’s, um, camera shy. In this first pic, she used her camera-phone to immortalise The Flame and the Shadow in the bookstore. I think Cenda looks particularly elegant and beautiful in that company, don’t you?
And here we have The Flame and the Shadow where it belongs - on Dani’s bookshelf at home, keeping excellent company by the looks of it.
If there are more sightings, please, please send me any photos. It’s such a pleasure to see them - and you. *beams*
Want more? Read Chapter 1.
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I really appreciate hearing that bit about my covers. It’s what I strive for and it’s wonderful to hear !I do most my covers now on the computer and that’s been the case for about twelve years or so. Up until the big change, I did all my work in oils on canvas or wood panels, often shipping the paintings in specially made packing off to the publisher with the paint still wet! The process took about a month from the time I received a manuscript, sketched out some ideas, waited for approval, sketched some more, set up and did a photo shoot with models in New York, waited for the pictures to be processed, drew up the image on my board, painted it and sent it off. Changes to the painting were few, because the process of shipping the art back and forth took so much time and it was very hard to make major changes to the finished oil painting.
Since the computer crashed onto the scene, many of those processes have been eliminated. I frequently get assignments with a week to finish them in. No physical art gets sent back and forth, there’s no waiting for pictures to be processed, etc. But strangely, changes have become more frequent and more extensive.
So here’s how I go about creating a cover now.
After receiving the usual one paragraph concept with the hero’s and heroine’s hair colors, costumes and settings, I will do what I call a “shoot sketch”. It’s a rough representation of what the cover will look like with the figures roughed in. All around the border of the sketch I add notes about lighting, costume touches, mood and action notes for the models. A shoot is set up at my favorite studio, Shirley Green’s in New York and models are chosen. I usually do a costume sketch for my costumer, Sharon Spiak. The shoot usually takes an hour, unless there are several scenes, but in any case we have to work incredibly fast. This is one of my favorite parts of the process, directing the photo session and at its best it’s like directing a combination of modern dance and a silent movie.
It is almost impossible to get exactly what was in mind, when faced with the reality of being on the set. What I strive for is capture as close as possible to the spirit and look I’m after, being open to letting wonderful surprises happen. Sometimes I throw out my preconceived idea a just go with what’s happening, because it’s better!
Once I have the dvd full of pictures, I use all the skills I learned in painting, plus the computer techniques that have become my paintbox to turn it all into a finished cover. Starting with the photo, I re-sculpt the bodies and faces, sometimes taking parts from one shot and combining them with another, redrawing faces, bodies, hair and costumes, adjusting the colors to push the whole thing towards my vision of what it should be. Once It is all working together and I’m satisfied with the composition, then I “paint” all over it!
It’s not real paint of course, but digital paint. I use a pen tablet, which has a pressure sensitive tip and can be loaded with an infinite range of colors and textures, to do what I used to do with oils and play with the image. This is my other favorite part of the process and I can get really expressive.
With Denise’s cover, The Flame and the Shadow, this part of the painting became essential to bringing out the fiery eroticism in her story.
That’s Anya Bast, Lauren Dane and Megan Hart, BTW!
Talk about being totally confoosled! :oops: Weren’t we just talking about losing things in Safe Places? *sigh*
We’ll be chatting about those dark tortured heroes - you know, the
ones who are so angsty they’re totally adorable.
I’M GIVING AWAY BOOKS, including a signed Advance Review Copy of THE
FLAME AND THE SHADOW, my November release from Berkley Ace.
All you have to do is show up with Mr Dark ‘n’ Broody Eye Candy on
your arm and you’re in with a chance to win. *grin*
See ya there! Finally! Hah!
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It doesn’t really matter if you couldn’t care less about seeing your name on the cover of a book in Borders. Because everyone has something they want very, very badly, so much so that achieving it would fill them to the absolute brim (and over) with joy and delight. I bet you do!
This is how it feels. Live vicariously, my friends. *smile* You go, Tracey girl!
Well, what a roller coaster ride I have been on in the last couple of months! Mainly the downhill, adrenalin-pumping, hands in the air while you scream with giddy delight kind of ride.
First, my manuscript Night’s Cold Kiss made the finals in the paranormal category of the Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® contest. I’ve had contest finals in the past - but this was the big one. The one I wanted to final in most of all. And hopefully my last contest. [This is a Humongous Big Hairy Deal, okay? DR]
So already on a high from my final, I sold my very first piece of writing in June -a short story to Harlequin Spice Briefs that I wrote on a dare from my very good friend, Melissa Haack. It was dark, it was scary and it was sexy with a capital SEX. Too dark, too sexy for Harlequin I thought, but I got my agent, Jennifer Schober of Spencerhill Associates, to submit it anyway. What was they worst they could do - say no? Editor Susan Swinwood read it and LOVED it! She loved it so much she offered me a two Spice Brief deal.
[I’ve persuaded Tracey to give us a tiny taste. This is from Tonight My Love, out May 2009, from Harlequin Spice Briefs. Oooh… DR]
Whitechapel, London 1888
Her eyes closed and a moan escaped as she slid down the leather seat, forcing him deeper inside.“What did you say this place was called again?” she asked, her breath coming in pants.
“Whitechapel.” He worked two of his fingers in and out, varying the rhythm, playing her like a fine instrument.
“Such a pretty name for such a filthy place, don’t you think?” She screwed up her face and he couldn’t resist dropping a kiss on the tip of her button nose.
“But every now and then you can find a diamond in the dirt. Now choose, my love,” he said.
Isabelle leaned forward a little and sighed. The movement changed the angle of his penetration, trapping his fingers in her hot, wet quim. She pushed aside the red velvet curtains just enough to see while he bent to run his tongue over the swell of her breast before looking out the window himself. Outside the carriage mist swirled low to the ground, caressing the skirts of the whores peddling their bodies for a few meager pennies.
I will be publishing the Spice Briefs under the pseudonym of Tracie Sommers. [Watch for it - and them! DR] I’m saving my name for when I publish my single title novels.
Wow - my first sale! It was only a short story - but I sold it to Harlequin. BIG TIME!
They welcomed me into the fold like any other HM&B author. I got to go the Harlequin party in San Francisco [at the RWA Conference. DR] - my first published author event. It was fantastic and wild and lots of fun. In fact, fun was very much on the agenda in San Francisco. I met new people, met up with people I had known both on and offline line. For a week I got to bask in the golden glow with my fellow finalists - the Pixie Chicks of 2008.
[Here’s Tracey (right) with Cathleen Ross, another great Aussie author published with Spice Briefs (left). DR]
And I hugged. Romance writers are such huggers and I loved it. Everywhere I turned there was an Aussie or a Kiwi. It was fantastic. I even ran into our fabulous Ms Rossetti with her famous shoes a couple of times.
I didn’t take out the Golden Heart - but I was not in the least disappointed. The experience was beyond everything I had ever imagined. I got home feeling exhilarated, but only for a few days. When you are that high, you have to come down sometime. And I did - crashing to a real low about four days later, suffering from PCSD - Post Conference Stress Disorder.
[Tracey with her “Golden Boot” Certificate - for Golden Heart finalists who are no longer eligible for the unpublished contest, because they got The Call. Happens often! DR]
It lasted for about three days - then I had the Australian conference in Melbourne to look forward too. This one I would be able to share with the Go-go girls (my critique group).
But after my first Harlequin dinner in Australia I sat up late drinking champagne with friends, courtesy of Robyn Grady, and crawled into bed at one in the morning. At 6.30 am I woke up and was talking to my roommate, Jo, about what we would be doing that day, and I was checking my emails on my phone at the same time. There were a number of emails marked Urgent from my agent and one that simply had “OFFER!!!” in the subject line.
And boy, what an offer! A three book deal from Eos Books (Harper Collins).
I screamed (I think). I scared Jo (I think) because she asked me what was wrong. Then I told her “I think I’ve sold!” We both got excited. I couldn’t tell people until the next day.
It was so hard trying to keep quiet. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do - well maybe not - but you get the picture. I wanted to scream it from the rooftops but was reduced to random bursts of squeeeeing! when in private.
Finally, the next day my agent said I could tell people. She’d accepted the offer on my behalf and I could tell whoever I wanted. Anne Gracie (President of RWAustralia) announced it with the other first sales on the Saturday morning and I was able to go up to collect my first sale ribbon along with the rest of the girls. I was extremely happy to have been able to share it with all my writing friends. It really was the best place ever to receive The Call.
And now I get to publish under my own name.
Thanks, Tracey. So now you all know how it feels, huh? *grin*
Tracey writes dark, sensual paranormals - her books are shudderingly wonderful. You can keep up with all her doings on her website and blog.
Join with me in congratulating Tracey on achieving her heart’s desire, and in asking all sorts of nosy questions. For example, I’d like to know what Tracey did for her own private celebration… *smirk* Oh, and ask her to tell you about her gorgeous tattoo. Perhaps she’ll even let slip a little more about Night’s Cold Kiss, the first in her three book series for Eos Books.
Subscribe in a reader or Subscribe by EmailIntroducing the Passionate Ink Cyber Circuit: We’re a group of writers who belong to the Passionate Ink chapter of Romance Writers of America and write erotic romance. (See the links in the sidebar.) Once or twice a month our members will tour a recent release, so you get to find fabulous new authors for your TBR pile!
It’s my pleasure to introduce our next author out on tour - Alexis Fleming
The love doctor is in…but can he take a dose of his own medicine?
Pan, the Arcadian god of lust and magic, has had enough of his restricted existence hidden away on Arcadia. When Cupid, the Greek god of love, suggests he live on Earth, Pan decides to give it a go.
Pan establishes himself as the luuuuuv doctor and announcer for a nighttime romantic music slot with a local radio station. He plays his pan-pipes, enthralling all who listen. Cupid warns Pan that his days of playing fast and loose with women’s emotions are numbered. Sure enough, Pan meets Kris, the woman who takes him to task. The leather-wearing, Harley-riding, hard-ass psychologist has her own agenda, and it doesn’t include him. Before he knows what’s happening, she has turned the table on the god, and he’s smitten.
Kris is exactly the right medication, the perfect dose for the nomadic God of Lust, who has finally found a love of his own.
Who says Cupid has to confine himself to one day of the year?
PANDEMONIUM, co-authored with Lyn Cash, is the second story in the Sexy Mythconception series from Total-e-bound Publishing.
Click the cover to buy. Click here for an excerpt.
Alexis Fleming is one of those strange people who live inside their mind. No, she doesn’t hear little voices… Well, she does, just not the type you’re thinking of. Alexis’ world is peopled with interesting characters and exciting possibilities that come to life in each and every book she writes. Her first love has always been romance, whether on this world or the next. Hot, sizzling relationships with a dash of comedy and a few trials and tribulations thrown in to test her characters.
When she’s not tied to her computer creating sizzling stories to tempt her readers, she helps run a busy motel set on the edge of a national marine park in Australia. What better place to get inspiration for the tales she turns out? A glorious sunset over the ocean, dolphins playing almost in her front yard, suntanned bodies lazing on the sand… How could she not get caught up in the eroticism of that?
This is the bit where I get to ask all those cheeky questions. Nosy? Moi?
In which of your books is the heroine most like yourself?
I hate to admit it but I think there’s a little bit of me in every book I write. I guess it comes back to that ‘write what you know’ thing. I pull on situations I’ve been in or emotions I’ve experienced to flesh out my characters. Not consciously, but when I read over what I’ve written, I’m able to track it back to something that has happened in my life.
Then there’s the fact that most of my heroines are quirky, weird, irreverent, sassy-mouthed, fiercely loyal, and just plain crazy at times. Lol Guess you could say that’s me to a large degree. Continue reading »
Introducing the Passionate Ink Cyber Circuit: We’re a group of writers who belong to the Passionate Ink chapter of Romance Writers of America and write erotic romance. (See the links in the sidebar.) Once or twice a month our members will tour a recent release, so you get to find fabulous new authors for your TBR pile!
It’s my pleasure to introduce our next author out on tour - Shelley Munro
Here’s what Shelley has to say about Lovers at Last ~
Friends to lovers-it’s one of my favorite plot devices. I like reading Friends to Lovers stories and enjoy writing them. I love being able to jump straight into an intimate situation in the first few pages of a book. The characters are familiar with each other and have a history together. They might not realize they’re even attracted to each other until one pivotal moment that changes everything, or one of them might have developed feelings for the other over a period of time, agonizing about acting on them.
A relationship like this comes with problems: does the couple want this to be a one-time thing or do they want to play for keeps? What happens if the sex between them is so bad they destroy their friendship forever? Or what if one of the pair doesn’t feel the same way?
Yes, moving from friends to lovers is fraught with dilemmas for both parties.
In Lovers at Last Pearl and Justin are best friends. When Pearl’s current relationship fails, she seeks out Justin for comfort. Justin, who has wanted Pearl for a long time, decides it’s time to stake his claim.
Pearl’s master plan to catch a rich husband - results so far…A for effort, F for success.
Justin Collet wants way more than friendship from Pearl. He craves love, laughter and hot, down-and-dirty passion. A life partner. All he needs to do is convince Pearl.
A broken relationship, a few drinks and a string of pearls. Comforting Pearl takes a turn into carnal territory. Heat blossoms between them, fiery and consuming. Sweet kisses inflame and erotic whispers tempt. It’s all or nothing for Justin as he seduces Pearl into agreeing they’re lovers at last.
Click the cover for an excerpt, visit Ellora’s Cave to buy Shelley’s books!
This is the bit where I get to ask all those cheeky questions. Nosy? Moi?
Where do you get the inspiration for your stories?
I’d like to be a smartass and say I buy my story ideas at Walmart, but the truth is that I find inspiration everywhere. A story idea can spring from a television show I’ve watched, a newspaper article I’ve read or a book written by another author might spark a series of ideas. I’m lucky enough to do quite a bit of travel and find this a great source of ideas, especially for settings. Maybe I have a fertile imagination, but I have a continual stream of ideas and add a few brief details to an ideas folder so I can save them for when I need them. Continue reading »
Introducing the Passionate Ink Cyber Circuit: We’re a group of writers who belong to the Passionate Ink chapter of Romance Writers of America and write erotic romance. (See the links in the sidebar.) Once or twice a month our members will tour a recent release, so you get to find fabulous new authors for your TBR pile!
It’s my pleasure to introduce our next author out on tour - Sharona Nelson aka Barrie Abalard.
The story of a single mom, a single man, and a health insurance plan…
Single mom Sunny Montgomery survived a lousy childhood with hippie parents as well as a terrible marriage with the cheating Kirk Stanley (AKA Kirk the Jerk), so she figured she could deal with whatever life threw at her. In short order, however, Sunny loses her job, car, health insurance, and life’s savings.
What’s a single mother to do? Get married, of course-though not for love.
Sunny accepts a marriage-of-convenience offer from her landlord, Ben Hart, so that she and Libbie, her asthmatic daughter, will have health insurance. The only problem is, she’s falling in love with him-despite the fact she thinks he’s gay. And, while she sometimes craves more distance from the temptation known as Ben, heaven knows that good, affordable apartments in Boston are as rare as winters without snow.
Through it all, Sunny perseveres. Whether beset by estranged hippie parents, money troubles, a creepy new boss, an is-he-or-isn’t-he faux husband, or the Boston mob, Sunny sustains herself with her inner strength, her best friend Dulcie, odd-duck neighbor Ray, and lots of mac-and-cheese, hot dogs, and ice cream. Oddly enough, what Sunny’s daughter, Libbie, wants-comfort food and plenty of SpongeBob SquarePants on the tube-aren’t fundamentally different from what Sunny wants-happiness and love.
Sunny’s struggles teach us that making lemonade from life’s abundant supply of lemons isn’t too difficult, as long as we follow our hearts…
Read an excerpt. Click the cover to buy!
I spent most of my adult life in the Boston area. (I miss the city, but not the winters. Heaven is eighty degrees and blue skies.) While in Boston, I was a jack-of-all-trades, mastering two: radio personality and technical writer/online help designer. I also worked as a taxi driver, clerical chartist for the Federal Reserve Bank, and temporary office worker for half a dozen companies. However, fiction writing is my first and longest-lived love.
Modern romantic comedy with attitude-because you don’t want to read your mother’s romances!
This is the bit where I get to ask all those cheeky questions. Nosy? Moi?
With which character do you identify most closely?
I partially identify with the heroine, Sunny, but also equally identify with her nutty hippie mother, Daphne (”Daffy”). Because both characters have elements of me in them, COVER ME was a pure hoot to write. I was very much a hippie chick for many, many years, and still hold a lot of the same political values. I also have a grown daughter, so I know how the mother would feel about the estrangement with her daughter. But, because I’ve also dealt with difficult parental relationships in my own life, I perfectly understand why Sunny might want to keep her mother and father at arms’ length, and why she might feel pissed off at them.
Where did you get the idea for your latest book?
A long time ago, I was living with the man who’s now my husband. We’d never felt any special impulse to tie the knot, but when my ex said he planned to remarry, that meant I’d lose my health insurance. So, my live-in of nearly ten years and I got married. Though we do love each other, we had some fun with the wedding, including putting the initials of the health plan on the arch over the bride and groom atop the ice cream cake (ice cream cake because my daughter doesn’t like regular cake.)
I told the complete story of my wedding to someone once, and they said, “You should write a story about someone who gets married for health insurance.” The idea appealed to me, and the inspiration for COVER ME was born.
I spent most of my adult life in the Boston area, so setting the story there was a no-brainer. By the way, the information about health insurance options for the unemployed was accurate when the book went to press. But now Massachusetts has a completely different system. (Just wanted Massachusetts readers to know that yes, I do the research, but the Commonwealth changed the game on me when it was too late to revise the manuscript!) Continue reading »
Introducing the Passionate Ink Cyber Circuit: We’re a group of writers who belong to the Passionate Ink chapter of Romance Writers of America and write erotic romance. (See the links in the sidebar.) Once or twice a month our members will tour a recent release, so you get to find fabulous new authors for your TBR pile!
It’s my pleasure to introduce our next author out on tour - Lyn Cash
RC Jones poses a problem for his sibling, who wants RC out of the way before their grandfather’s upcoming birthday. Shanghaied, inebriated, and tossed onto a cruise ship for the kinky, only to wake up with a leather-clad dominatrix standing over him-just what every alpha male needs!
April is a psychology major who earns extra money during the summer by working as a dominatrix on a cruise ship.
When RC gets shanghaied, April thinks he’s her next submissive. But a challenge is issued-if she falls for him during his ‘vacation’, she becomes his submissive for two weeks.
What’s a woman to do?
Click the cover for an excerpt and to buy!
Lyn Cash is the multi-published author of over fifty short stories and confessions, a couple of non-fiction books, and over a dozen novellas and novels. Her mainstream fiction is written under Bobbie Cole, her erotic fiction under the pen names of Lyn Cash and Cash Cole.
This is the bit where I get to ask all those cheeky questions. Nosy? Moi?
What do you like best about romantic suspense ?
The Great Unknown. Edge of the seat situations, wondering what makes people tick, trying to find their Achilles heel, their hot buttons, what turns them on or how they’ll react in any given situation.
What makes a hero for you? Do you see them on the street, or are they simply in your head?
They’re in my life, all the time! I see courage and determination, the will to overcome the negative and stress the positive, I witness the traits I admire best in the people I love. Continue reading »
Introducing the Passionate Ink Cyber Circuit: We’re a group of writers who belong to the Passionate Ink chapter of Romance Writers of America and write erotic romance. (See the links in the sidebar.) Once or twice a month our members will tour a recent release, so you get to find fabulous new authors for your TBR pile!
It’s my pleasure to introduce our next author out on tour - Barrie Abalard
Exes Patti North and Dylan Decker adore each other. Her problem? He cheated. His problem? Her temper. Fixing things will take more than spankings and hot sex, though that’s a good start.
HOT TO TROT, set in the often funny-weird worlds of Boston high-tech and equestrian hobbyists, tells the story of two exes who still adore each other - and still annoy each other-more than any other twosome on the planet.
This is the bit where I get to ask all those cheeky questions. Nosy? Moi?
Tell us about your hero and give us five descriptions of his personality.
Dylan Decker is complicated, arrogant (but in a good way), funny, iconoclastic, and sweet.
The odd thing about Dylan is that I had absolutely no one in mind when I first imagined him. Usually some small aspect of someone I know will inspire a character, but Dylan sprang fully-formed from the place my muses live. (Barbara Samuel calls them “the girls in the basement”, and that’s how I think of them, too.)
Dylan has a brilliant mind for software, is tall, dark and handsome, has a great sense of humor, and also has the amount of ego necessary to found a company and be one of its officers - in other words, a lot of ego. I spent many years in high tech as a technical writer, but I never met anyone quite like Dylan.
However, he has a sensitive side - he likes to wear silk undies, he adores horses, and he’s emotionally a very complicated man. That last personality aspect was borrowed from my husband. I rather like complicated men. Continue reading »
