Red Sage news, + what else is happening with me

The official announcement has been made at the Romantic Times Convention so I can now share the latest Red Sage Publishing news. We're turning Japanese! Publisher, Alexandria Kendall, has secured a Japanese language rights deal through English Agency Japan (EAJ) with SoftBank Creative, a Japanese publishing company located in Tokyo. They are already translating some of the stories. The translations deal is excellent news for a small press! Can’t wait to see some of the Japanese SECRETS covers. :)

In other news, rights to my Juno fantasy romance novels have now returned and the books are no longer available through Fictionwise. There are a few print copies left at Amazon, Amazon UK, and various other outlets, but after that they will be out of print.

It feels like the end of an era and I'm sad my time with Juno is over. I learnt so much from the talented editor, Paula Guran, and had the chance to stetch my wings in fantasy a little bit, which has really helped me grow as a writer. I’m hoping to re-release these two novels, (for which I received some of my best reviews ever,) but obviously I have an idea when that might be. So.. if you want to read one, grab a copy now.

So, what am I working on now? I’m currently writing INESCAPABLE, a contemporary suspense novel. (I’m also writing a short story that is due very soon, eek!) INESCAPABLE is a ménage a trois story set in London and North Wales. When I’m working on this one I totally loose track of time! The characters and their situation have me enthralled. I hope to have publication news for that one before the summer is out, and I’ll post a blurb and an excerpt on the site soon.

I’m also planning a couple of contests/book giveaways for the blog, because I haven’t run one in a while. This time I'd like to do something different. I’m going to try to introduce my e-book readers to my print books, and vice versa. I’ll get those up in the next few days, so call back if you think you might like to enter!

On the reading front, I’m currently reading Kresley Cole’s NO REST FOR THE WICKED, book 2 in the series, but my 3rd read (I’m out of order ;) and enjoying it immensely. The first two chapters once again had me floored at KC’s talent, and her ability to plot conflicting characters and spellbinding openings. What a writer!

Okay, that’s where I’m at. Hope things are good with you.
Contests coming soon!

St George's Day!

Happy St George's Day!

Now in print: COMING TOGETHER: AT LAST

COMING TOGETHER: AT LAST volumes 1 &2 are now available in print through Amazon. The collection features interracial erotic fiction and celebrates the diversity of desire, with proceeds going to Amnesty International. These are quality books, and I'm very proud that my story "Matilda's Touch " appears in volume one of the collection. Check it out!



Volume 1 at Amazon.com
Volume 1 at Amazon UK
Volume 2 at Amazon com
Volume 2 at Amazon UK

Introducing THE HARLOT

Who remembers the Man from Del Monte adverts? :) “The man from Del Monte, he says YES!” Well that’s what the mood has been like around here these past couple of days. “The editor from Spice, she says YES!” :o) Anyone too young to know what I am on about can see evidence here.

Ahem, as I’ve mentioned here and on Twitter, my second Harlequin Spice title will be THE HARLOT: a tale of lust, revenge, and forbidden magic, set in mid 18th-century Scotland. It’s scheduled for release in June 2011, and I’m thrilled to bits to be writing this story for publication!

The story is loosely linked to the back-story of RAMPANT, my first Spice title, due to hit shelves in April 2010. For background, RAMPANT is a contemporary paranormal set in the Kingdom of Fife on the east coast of Scotland. This is an area we know and love, and it was while we were staying at an old fishermen’s cottage on the coast that the inspiration for RAMPANT came to me. (If you'd like to read a little more about RAMPANT you can do so here, on my website.) The story draws on the folklore surrounding witches and ghosts in the area. The back-story for RAMPANT is set in the early 1700’s with around 15% of the MS told as flashbacks/visions into that period, a time when suspected witches were persecuted and condemned. THE HARLOT will be set completely in that historical world.

THE HARLOT was one of several ideas discussed with my editor. She absolutely loved this one, and so do I, which led to much celebration and relief. :) It’s the first time I’ve been in this position – i.e. a two-book deal with an unnamed second book. It’s been a real learning process working with the editor to find the best second book for the line, and I'm not going to pretend it was easy. I felt heaps more pressure than I did when submitting un-contracted proposals to an editor. The expectations were high, and I wanted to step up the mark. (That’s why things have been a bit quiet around here these past couple of weeks!)

After working through the ideas with my editor and my agent, I now see what the editor was attracted to in my voice and my ideas, and what she wants me to focus on for the line (and that will be really helpful if I get the chance to present more work in the future - which of course is a very big *IF*, in this business...) In a nutshell, soft paranormal erotica.

By soft paranormal we mean that the paranormal elements are not blatant. In both of my Spice books there is witchcraft, but it is secret, hidden, and in the case of the second book – forbidden. On the surface, the character's lives appear normal to their time and setting. This is the way I approached the magic and the world building in both my Juno titles, and in my Red Sage novella, WHAT YOU WISH FOR. You’ll find no machete wielding vampire slayers here, sorry UF lovers. ;)

It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to develop that approach with Spice. For me, these two novels feel like a coming together of all the different things that I dreamed of writing when I started out: stories with elements of erotica, romance, adventure, paranormal, fantasy, history and folklore. Yes, I am pinching myself. It hasn’t quite sunk in.

Now that it’s confirmed, what does my schedule look like? I won’t be starting the actual writing on THE HARLOT just yet. I’m expecting revisions and edits for RAMPANT at some point soon, and I have a contemporary erotic novel in the works, INESCAPABLE. I’ll be finishing that title and several short stories first. I’ll likely be doing my research and making notes for THE HARLOT all the time, because that’s how things work for me. I picture my writing mind like a stovetop with one pan boiling vigorously at the front, while several others simmer away on the other burners. I plan to begin the actual writing on the 1st of August and I’m looking forward to it immensely. I’ll post more about the plot another time. THE HARLOT will be bawdy, blatant, and bursting with passion! I can’t wait to get stuck in!

Exciting news, RECKLESS is a finalist in the Passionate Plume awards!

I’m thrilled to be able to announce that my 2008 novel, RECKLESS, is one of the finalists in the 4th Annual Passionate Plume contest!

I’m totally bowled over by this news. There were so many great contemporary erotic romances published in 2008, it’s a real honour, and it means the world to me to see my title listed as a finalist.


In other good news, I can now confirm that my second Harlequin Spice title (June 2011) is going to be THE HARLOT: a tale of lust, revenge, and forbidden magic, set in mid-eighteenth century Scotland. More details about that tomorrow! Meanwhile, you know what good news means around here, don't you... yup, PARTEEEE! :)

Erotic art: Frank Stockton illustrates my short fiction!

Last summer, one of my erotic short stories was featured in Penthouse Magazine (US). The story was “Live Tonight,” which originally appeared in DIRTY GIRLS, an anthology edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. The story is about a woman with a live music fetish, and it’s one of my favourite stories. I was very proud that it got into the anthology and even more so that it got a major magazine reprint almost immediately!

The most exciting part of all this was that Penthouse commissioned illustrations for the story. Rachel kindly sent me a copy of the magazine, and I was amazed, stunned, and delighted when I saw the illustrations. Frank Stockton is an extremely successful Illustrator, and very much in demand. His work appears in The New Yorker, GQ, Men’s Health, PC World, Forbes Magazine, and many, many more. The three images he created to illustrate my fiction took my breath away. Not only are they beautiful, sexy, and evocative, but they captured the mood and setting of the story just as I had envisaged it: vibrant, fluid, rhythmic. I was totally blown away. Just take a look at them!





On his blog, Frank talks about the commission and how he went about creating the works. He also talks about the influence of Mario Tauzin's work. The best news of all is that Nucleus Gallery in Alhambra California has a limited edition of prints of the three works to buy, signed by Frank himself. Now this is erotic art I want to live with. Check it out!