Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Terrifying Tails From the EDJ

 
This weeks tail (HA HA) comes from my evil day job (EDJ). For reasons of my personal safety it must remain nameless. No I'm not a spy & I don't get to carry a gun. Though there are many times when I wish I had one. Including attacking wild turkeys, feral pigs & a mean tempered rooster.
(The actual events take place 10/10 in a place outside of Texas in a crappy motel driving a crappy rental car)
Life with EDJ is never dull, no more so than today. Picture this :) Not so chirpy me getting up at the butt crack of dawn to find my lovely hotel coffee pot doesn't work. Picking myself up off the floor I grab my handy dandy GPS, purse & EDJ crap bag and hit the road. Halfway to my destination my not so handy dandy GPS dies. It was sudden and no amount of medical effort ie: bashing, beating, throwing or cursing the thing would bring it back. I'm stuck on the 290 in the middle of rush hour, no clue where I'm going, no caffeine, no smoking and no sanity.  I get off someplace that seems familiar. Oh so wrong again. 

I ended up in a neighborhood crack whores are afraid to walk. Needless to say my semi-lilly white skin stood out like a yodeler at a rap concert. I smashed down on the gas and my little Kia rental putted away from there as fast it could...about 20MPH. Sometime later, I lost track of time and reality at this point, I spy the gates of heaven and they look exactly like Target. 
Oh there is life left in me as I stumble into the brightly lit store and beg for coffee. The girl behind the counter must have sensed my plight because she upgraded my cup with nary a word. I drank the whole thing down standing there, like a drunk off a three day sobriety run or my friend Bev after a long week :)
 
Knowing I have a chance to make it now that the god of caffeine is once more flowing through my veins, I shell out for another GPS, pull up my big big girl panties and hit the road once more. I won't bore anyone with the details of smells and scents for the first few stops. Even I don't want to remember them and I was there!
 
So by this time it's around noon or so and I'm feeling pretty good, almost cocky. Certain my day is only going to get better and I'm right until I cross paths with the white Koujo from hell. It attacks from out of nowhere. 

Bam, one minute I'm innocently walking through a fence and the next I'm wondering if a dog just gave me a Brazilian wax via teeth. The owner is screaming (at the dog or me, not sure), I'm running around in circles with said dog attached to said body, the husband is trying to calm both of us down and my EDJ bag-oh-crap nails Benji on head...crack, whap with the full size mag lite. The score is even: Allie-1, Kujo-1, but before we have a chance to rematch said owner jumps in to protect her baby, the dog not me. It was rigged I tell you! I had that dog in my sites. One good kick and they'd be driving across state lines to find that mutant canine.
 
The day moved on. I mainlined coffee and Diet Coke w/ vanilla, forgot to get my latest trophy looked at until I got back to the hotel around 8pm. When I finally looked in the hotel mirror I about spit pea soup. That sadistic frog in a dog's coat got way to personal without shelling out for dinner first.
So the lesson for the day, girls, is to always be aware of your surroundings and practice punting small dogs at every opportunity.

(No actual dogs were injured in the living or remembering of this story. However it's not for the lack of me trying. Seriously I love dogs. Have one myself what I dislike are owners who can't/won't train their pets!)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Multi-tasking FAILURE

For years I've read about writers who bounce back and forth between current works in progress. Never, never have I been able to figure out how that do it. I'm jealous, too! I would love to take a morning to work on a shifter and then switch gears to my hot, little cowboy story in the afternoon. You know, I figured I must be missing something or just flat not doing something right. So several weeks ago I tackled this. How hard could it be? Take a short break between the two stories and dig in. Riiiiight. That folk saying about teaching  old dogs new tricks definitely applies readily to ME. I just couldn't do it. Not exactly sure why but skipping between stories messes with my WAH, my ZEN, my HAPPY PLACE. Could NOT find my happy place while working on several things at once. It screws with my head and I've now decided I'm just not a multi tasker. I sooo envy women who do many things at once, do a perfect job at each and manage it with every hair in place and hell, they do it in heels.

Most of my friends know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love it because it's not about gifts. Just a great meal shared with family and loved ones. As I thought today about my super duper multi-tasking failure I wondered about my love of this holiday considering all that cooking. Yes, I do it all from planning the meal, grocery shopping and all preparations (not to mention fancifying everything). Had a conversation with my son the other day about my failure and he laughed...Mom, I can't do it either. I suck at it but hey, you do Thanksgiving, don't you? It's great every year and it's a lot of work.

Yes, son, it is.

 I've been thinking today that maybe I'm not so great at this holiday. I've been fooling myself since I'm not a multi-tasker. I do great until The Mothers show up. I work away, totally in control and in my element but then they arrive and all my calm and cool flies right out the window.

Mom: Honey, can I do something?
Me (putting together a last minute dish): No Mom. Thanks, just sit over there and look pretty.
Mom: Are you sure?
Me (looking up as sweat begins to bead on my forehead): Uh uh. Yeah. Uh. Yes. I'm good. You just sit.
MIL (who can't hear and talks very loudly...bless her heart): Honey, can I do something?
Me (shaking head, trying to smile): Nope. No, you just sit there and look pretty. Sit with Mom. You can look pretty together.
MIL (moving closer, very close, oh about three inches from my face): ARE YOU SURE? Can I set the table?
Me: okay. okay. Sure. (I begin to look frantically for an ingredient only to find it is right in front of me)
MIL: Where are the placemats? Oh can I pour tea?
Mom (jumping up and tired of looking pretty): I can do that. Oh, the tea needs sugar. Where's the sugar? Is it in here? (She then proceeds to open and shut every damn cabinet. In the background Mr. Reg is yelling from his post in front of the game...dinner almost ready? Do you need anything?)
Me (stirring, stirring, forgetting an ingredient, cussing a blue streak before remembering it's Thanksgiving and I'm supposed to be sweet and cheerful): No, not that one Mom. Here wait. It'll be easier if I get it.
Darling Husband (walking in, seeing me wilting and harried): Hey ladies! Lets watch the parade.
MIL and Mom: Ohhhh noooooo. She needs help.
Mom: Honey, you're sweating. Are you okay?
Daughter: (who is quietly watching the chaos) Here you go, Mom. (as she drops two tylenol into my hand)

In the end it all works out as it has for the past twenty-five years but each time, the conversations are the same. For me? Too much info to process coming straight at my head. So I figure I'm not as good at multitasking as I thought.

Talk on the phone and drive? Not happening (nor should it). Walk and chew gum (doubtful). Write two books at once? Nope. Not ever.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Where Do YOU Draw The Line?


Before I begin today's post, I want to remind everyone that The Three Wicked Writers Plus Two have a Yahoo group and we chat there all day every day. It's a fun group to belong to and we invite you to join. 

Also, Regina Carlysle, Natalie Dae, and I share a newsletter group. No chatting. Just once a month news
from the three of us. So if you're interested in receiving a monthly update from us, please join the Risque 
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We draw imaginary lines in our personal lives all of the time. Simple things like what types of movies we watch or TV programs, what to wear and just how low cut. LOL All of this got me to thinking about just where we should draw the line in what we write overall within the erotic romance genre.

It would seem that more and more, certain subject matters are becoming less and less taboo. It wasn’t that long ago, maybe four, that M/M was considered to be a taboo genre. But look at it now! It has been well accepted within the almost all female erotic romance reading community.

There was a time in which BDSM was only whispered about. Now? Even I have a scene or two here and there with handcuffs and a spanking. LOL I even have one book in which I use wax play. It never ceases to amaze me just how sexy all of this comes across when I write it, too. If a guy had you tied up in bed and was coming at you with a candle and tilted it so the wax would drip on your nipple, would you think that was sexy? In my real life, I just can’t see that happening in any way that I would consider sexy. But when I see it all written down? WOW! Just WOW! Now I’ve had a paraffin bath for my hands and that feels pretty good. But the temperature is a certain level, etc., and I’m in control. And as we all know, it’s that lack of control that makes the difference. But still…my nipples? Hmmm…

Menage is all the rage. I’ve got one of those I’m working on—IF I can ever finish it. I have trouble writing ménage as strictly romance, however. I’m pretty vanilla—well, I like a little chocolate syrup and a few nuts, too—LOL—but I don’t see the romance in ménage at all. I’m more of a one-man-one-woman kind of gal. But I have read a ménage or two that came close to showing me a loving relationship. I think my friend Ava Rose Johnson did a good job with her books. For me, though, ménage fits much better in the paranormal realms, maybe sci-fi, too. But that’s just me.

Publishers usually list what they DON’T want to see in a submission. And I must say I agree with their list. However, there are publishers out there that will publish anything. We’ve all seen that. No bestiality has always been a rule with legitimate publishers, but lately I’m seeing publishers extending that warning to include no sex with a shifter while in shifted (animal) form. That leads me to believe that there are enough authors out there who are writing this that the warnings have started showing up. I love shifters. But to me sex with a shifted form would be a major ick factor.


Today that has me thinking about just where I believe the line is sometimes crossed and places we don’t need to go. I don’t like to see blood drawn in BDSM books. That bothers me. I don’t like to read erotic romance books in which children are introduced as characters. And I’m not talking about children being a part of the actual story line other than being someone’s children, but just being in the story. If a character has children, and the romance starts, I like to see the kids packed off to grandma’s. LOL A sexy relationship with kids underfoot just loses its sexual tension for me. Now that doesn’t mean it can’t be done or isn’t being done. Just means I haven’t read one in which it works and it’s not good for me. So personally I won’t write a book with children in it—unless it’s NOT erotic romance—and very probably not in mainstream romance either.

I also have a bit of a problem with polyamory. Or however that’s spelled, LOL. And it’s not the sex part of it all. Nope. It’s the way the relationship is presented. One man—two or three women. And these women get along???? No way. Two women in the same house???? There would be blood on the floor. Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that this does and has worked for a very long time in real life and we see these men and women on TV all of the time.

Yep, we do. And it’s usually when the FBI has gone in and rescued a bunch of them. OR it’s on a Lifetime movie. To me? That’s a “control” situation. A cult. Brainwashing. The women are born into a situation in which they had no choice or are lured into a situation where they had no real understanding of what they were getting into. And I have heard of polyamorous relationships that work just fine through a couple of blogs. But I do believe those are the exceptions and not the rule at all. So I don’t enjoy reading that particular subject matter.

What about the “ick” factors in acceptable scenes? Anal without lube? Anal and then vaginal sex with no clean up in between? Those are two of mine for sure. Authors AND EDITORS need to pay attention to specifics. What do you think of two brothers involved in a ménage? Or fisting? Tongues in places you generally wouldn’t think about putting them?  

Where do YOU draw the line? What’s your personal ICK factor? What sexual relationship or act do you feel is just not for you? Has anything in the erotic romance/erotica genre NOT been explored that you’d like to see written about? 

Today I'm sharing Tina Donahue's book trailer from her sinfully good IN HIS ARMS. The music, the imagery...everything is just so amazing. Make sure you stop by Tina's website and check out all her books. She's just too talented and you can't bypass her books for sure! http://tinadonahue.com 


Sunday, May 8, 2011

The Powerful Woman

Today we are so very lucky that the amazing R. Paul Sardanas has stopped in once again to share his thoughts on women with us. I've often said that he is THE most enlightened man I know. I'm sure you'll agree. He has brought along his writing partner, the very talented Tisha Garcia, to share their thoughts on their latest collaboration, Torera, and to discuss femininity through strength. I'm sure you'll all want to get in on this discussion.
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When we began work on our joint novel Torera, chronicling the life of a lady matador, there was no doubt that we would be writing about a powerful woman. Here is the quote that follows our dedications in the book:

"Her record stands as a rebuke to every man of us who has ever maintained that a woman must lose something of her femininity if she seeks to compete with men."
                                                                                                           —Orson Welles

Orson could easily have been referring to our Torera, Lucretia Maria Calderon, or for that matter to many other characters in our bibliographies, including R. Paul’s Siobhan Bishop in his Erotic Underworld books, or the wildly intense serial killer Emma in Tisha’s screenplay with writing partner David Strickler, Submission. Unquestionably the powerful woman has an indelible presence in our creative minds.

This springs from an absolute belief that a strong woman is feminine and sensual to the highest degree. One could hardly imagine a career more dominated by men than classical Spanish bullfighting—Hemingway’s book on the subject, Death in the Afternoon, is so dripping in machismo that it practically explodes with testosterone. And yet our fictional Lucretia has precedents in real history. Among the successful, fiery, and ferociously brave women who have stepped into a ring with toro bravos—fighting bulls—are Conchita Cintron and the American Patricia McCormick, both respected for their skill and power, and also their pride in their femininity.

Early in the book, our character explains a little of why she walked away from a career as a dancer, to feel alive and empowered in the arena:

The men in my family spend countless hours and days learning and practicing to be bullfighters. The more I watched and learned the more I desired to master the art. I like to think that my years of dance prepared me for being one of the best matadors in the ring. When you look at the positions matadors are assuming when twirling and luring the bull in with cape, it's almost art, like a ballet, but really in a woman these are more graceful, more feminine and more natural positions.

And here, a taste of the perceptions she must contend against, as she argues with her lover, also a matador:

Two weeks after signing with Diego’s manager, Lucretia had suffered an accident in the ring, being bumped so hard by a toro bravo that she had broken two ribs. Though the pain had been excruciating, she’d shrugged off the injury, binding her torso tight and refusing to skip even a single fight. Diego, instead of giving even grudging admiration to this level of determination, had berated her about it.
            “What is your problem, Diego?” She had finally confronted him. “No fighter with pride would go whining to bed with aching ribs. Would you?”
            “I’m a man, Lucretia. What are you?”
            “I’m woman enough for you in your bed, Diego the Master.”
            “Which is where you belong.”
            “Is it jealousy then, Diego? Must I always be one step below you in order for you to be content?”
            “Now you talk foolishness.”
            “Do I?”
            He looked at her very seriously. “You must never doubt that I respect you.”
            “Yes, with your constant talk of the kitchen and bedroom being the only place for a woman.”
            “Well, that’s true. And my respect for you is also true.” He raised his hands in a helpless gesture. “Even God could not sort that out, torera.”

God might not be able to sort out that kind of thinking, but we give it our best shot, making our lady bullfighter driven and sexual, but also at times introspective and vulnerable. She is not a woman encased in steel, despite being one who wields a sword in an arena of bloody grace. She faces derision and dismissal, alongside adulation from the crowds. The men in her life (like men everywhere in the world), have their issues with a woman of power, with responses that veer all over the emotional map, from scorn to adoration.

In a way, our collaboration in writing this novel also underscores the things a man and woman can achieve when respecting and encouraging one another as mutually powerful. We wrote together as equals, each of us creating scenes for both the male and female characters of the book, gaining insight into the different ways men and women perceive their lives and the world.

All of us step into an arena of sorts every day, and we can do so in a way that is vividly alive, actualized with our power as individuals, prepared and eager to be brilliant. Even everyday life gives us that opportunity, as much as it gave to a woman with a cape in one hand and a sword in the other. When we reach for that, and support one another in the reaching, we are unstoppable.


                                                              Portrait by David Cuccia

Torera, the Lady Matador, is available from Passion in Print Press: www.passioninprint.com

More of R. Paul Sardanas’ creations, including novels, art and poetry, can be found at: www.rpaulsardanas.com

The creative world of Tisha Garcia can be explored at her website:

Torera cover by Deana Jamroz, PIP Press
Lucretia Maria Calderon “La Encarnado Beso” portrait by David Cuccia  

Friday, May 6, 2011

Do you have a guilty pleasure?

I have a couple of them. I suppose some might say my second career as an erotic romance writer is something of a guilty pleasure in itself, as I have a pen name and only a couple of people in my regular life know about it. Even fewer know the content of what I write. To say some of my friends and co-workers would be shocked is an understatement, but as far as I'm concerned, that just goes to show you that you never really know anyone that well--or what they might do in their spare time. I think writing - and reading - romance is great. It's a healthy expression of what goes on in real life, no matter how shocked some people claim to be by it. But still, the naysayers prevail.

Besides my writing, I have another guilty pleasure, mainly because it seems like antithesis of my style. I write really contemporary stories and I've been told I have kind of an edgy voice. So why do I love, love, love historical romances? The lush usage of language, the clothing, an author's masterful way of sweeping me away to another time and place...historicals just enthrall me. I hope to write one of my own one day, even though it's at the absolute opposite end of the spectrum from my natural style. But I think it's good to try to stretch yourself from time to time. I'm doing that now with a m/m/f menage I'm writing. I've never worked with three POVs before, nor have I ever written any m/m scenes. It's been fun to try something different.

What about you? Do you have a guilty pleasure? Not that there's anything to feel guilty about with liking historicals, but I think it might surprise a few of my friends. Your guilty pleasure can be a certain genre of book you like, a favorite TV show you don't tell too many people you enjoy (Jersey Shore anyone?) or even some decadent high calorie treat you indulge in on special occasions. It can even be something a bit wilder. This is a judgment free zone. ;) So c'mon, spill!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Horny, Hard, and Hare-y is out!

I'm happy to announce that Horny, Hard, and Hare-y is available from Resplendence Publishing as of yesterday!



Blurb:
It's time for the annual race, and tortoise shifter, Duncan, is finally going to catch some tail—hare shifter tail, otherwise known as Charlie. With Gibbs, their owl shifter friend, keeping an eye out overhead, they're off and running. But Charlie is as spontaneously careless as the fairytale hare and finds himself caught by local DNR officer, Ben.

The full moon is rising, and if Charlie stays collared through the Hare Moon, he'll remain an animal forever. It's up to Duncan and Gibbs to free him before time is up. But in telling their secret, will they lose Ben forever? It's a foursome waiting to happen, where Ben reconnects with a mysterious lover, and the tortoise finally catches his hare.

Excerpt:

Charlie Cuelho glanced over his furry brown shoulder. His ears twitched, ruffling a little in the breeze as his constantly moving nose tried to find Duncan’s scent on the wind. Charlie had time, lots of time, so he stopped to run a soft paw behind his long ear and down his nose. He practically shivered at how awesome that felt, so he repeated the motion.
“You’re going to lose again.” A great horned owl settled onto a nearby branch.
“I’m fine, Gibbs. He’s nowhere in sight,” Charlie disregarded. Besides, having the tortoise in his sites as he won the race was exactly what he wanted. He just didn’t want to push it too close. The fact that he’d be able to laud the achievement over Duncan again and again, didn’t hurt either. There was nothing sexier than a pissed off tortoise shifter, who owed you a debt.
Since Charlie had yet to decide what that debt would be, it would only make the moment sweeter. Definitely something Duncan didn’t want to do, like kiss him whenever Charlie snapped his fingers. For an entire month. Yeah, that would be awesome.
“That’s what you said last time, and he won. You two are a cliché,” Gibson complained, tearing Charlie away from his thoughts.
“Fuck you,” Charlie barked.
He stood up on his hind legs, trying to make his exclamation sound more impressive. Which was difficult, considering he was a hare and too damn fluffy to be imposing.
“You mean, fuck like a bunny?” Gibbs made a sound like a sniff. Which wasn’t possible, technically, since he didn’t have a nose—in owl form. “I shouldn’t be warning you, but there’s a trap ahead.”
“I’ll jump it.” A movement caught Charlie’s eye, and the tell-tale scent of tortoise reached his sensitive, ever moving nose. “You know, most owls sleep in the daytime. You don’t make a very convincing shape shifter if you can’t keep the same habits.” He’d waited long enough. Duncan’s head poked from behind a bush, stretching for a better look. “Gotta go!” Charlie told the owl.
“Wait!” Gibbs called.
Charlie didn’t wait, he wouldn’t. It was just a ploy to get him to slow down enough so that the tortoise would win the race, a-damn-gain. Every year it was the same thing, laundry chores and dishes for six weeks. If Duncan had ever made him pay up creatively, Charlie might have lost on purpose. Stinky laundry and dishes weren’t creative.
Bathing Duncan for six weeks—with my tongue—now that would be hot.
Charlie raced forward, leaping over leaves and branches. His hips twisted in mid-air, knocking his long back paws together like he was clicking his heels, before they came down, dug in and pushed him off even faster.
No way was Duncan going to win another race. Not this time. No fucking way. He glanced back as he made another leap. Exultant that he didn’t see Duncan anywhere near him, he bounded happily onward. Twigs popped under his feet. Leaves rattled this way and that, with each successive jump forward. He had this race in the ba—.
His back left paw extended. Momentum carried him to a lurching stop and Charlie scrambled uncomprehendingly, when his left paw remained immobile, no matter how he shook it.
Overhead, Gibbs circled, screeching alarm. He’d be saying “I told you so”, unless the hunter was nearby to hear him.
Charlie’s heart hammered in rapid staccato beats. His keen eyes caught the flicker of movement even before he heard the crunch of boots. Charlie froze instinctively. He huddled making himself as small as possible, even though he knew it was already too late. He’d been seen, and trapped, just like Gibbs had warned.
Fuck!
“It’s okay, little guy. No one’s gonna hurt you,” the gentle voice of a man reached him. It sounded hypnotic and soothing. A voice like that could make a guy forget that he’d just been snared, and might end up as somebody’s stew meat.
Wouldn’t this dude be surprised when he tried to skin him and found a naked man instead? Charlie almost smirked. Except he couldn’t, because he was busy freaking out at the moment.

This is the second book I did for a five person, year long anthology. My first book, Unchaste, released in March. I loved this project! We had a very few rules: Word count, menage, shape shifters coinciding with the moon on the month of our release, and a happily ever after for everyone. Some of us wrote m/m, but there are several m/f books too. Check us out at ResplendencePublishing.com

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Behind the Door of a BDSM club Part II


 






The music continues to pump out, loud but not so loud I can’t hear the murmur of conversation around me. I stand there, trying to look like I know what I’m doing when out of nowhere I feel a hand wrap around my arm and tug me backwards. Back into a dark corner I didn’t see and where I’m not sure I should be going.
Then I’m pulled back into the dark and pushed into a lush leather chair with Samantha Cayto’s confused face looking down at me.
“Everything okay?” The hussy had the nerve to ask me.
Remember NO voice.
I gave her the evil frog eye death glare, which she promptly shrugged off and turned her back to me. Scanky bitch (now said with love) I thought, but took the illusion of safety to finally look around me.
This is where I found the screams, moans, leather, bondage and everything I expected and a hell of a lot more.
Desiree Holt, looking way too interested for my sanity, sat directly to my right her eyes glued to the center platform of the club. The wooden floor covered a roughly ten by twelve area and was so currently occupied.
Two women, one in nothing but her underwear lay on a flat table, arms above her head, legs straight down. The other woman, older with her hair in a high ponytail, played a flogger with such expertise I knew years of practice had gone into it. She wielded the flogger, whips, feathers you name it with skill. Sometimes she managed two whips at the same time, each flying through the air so fast you could hear the leather sing through the air, above the erotic rhythm of the music. 
The sub only moaned when the tools were applied to her skin. No skin broke under this mistress hand, only the blush of heated skin appeared wherever the leather landed. What surprised me the most in this D/s interaction were the touches of the Mistress. The ponytailed Dom frequently ran a gentle hand along her sub’s back, shoulders and would lean down to whisper something in the other woman’s ear. Sometimes they’d share a laugh or look, but you could tell there was a connection between them that went beyond the games played in the room.
A man’s loud scream broke my concentration away from the duo in the middle. Looking to the left of me I saw an older man, naked, manacled by his wrist and being flogged by a woman dressed in a black leather cat-suit. This wasn’t the same give and take of the last couple. What I was looking at boggled my mind. The Mistress was waylaying on this guy’s ass…well not just his ass but you get my meaning. The harder she hit him the more he screamed and the more anxious he was to get closer to her.
            As I said before I’m all for whatever floats your boat, but OUCH. Not so much for me. If I’m getting spanked it better be because I’m losing a game, not having a four inch paddle taken to my bare ass. Hell I even glare at my doctor when he sticks a needle in my booty. Me and my ass say thanks, but I’ll pass on that experience. 
            Determined not to look, but like a train accident, my eyes keep drifting back there I see one last thing that I’m determined to never see again.
            A big ass knife. The kind you always picture being mugged with is now in the Dom’s hand. Granted I knew knife play sometimes came into the picture, but never in a million drugged out fantasies would I have come up with this.
            BAK (Big ass knife) held in the, please dear God, steady head of the female Dom stroked down this man’s very happy penis. It trailed down over every rigid vein until it stopped at his happy tip. Then then….oh my eyes…
            She put the BAK right into the happy hole & PUSHED! Hell yes you read right. The sub let his Mistress put the sharp blade into his only hope for urinating naturally for the rest of his life. And that was it for me and the happy scary couple from hell.
            Time to focus on action closer & less scary with no knives. And what do you know I found our own Lynne Connely into the middle of a ménage.
            Brief overview so you can get the picture. I’m tucked in the corner chair with Sam sitting in front of me, a wall behind me & to my right, Desiree Holt directly on my left and Lynne right next to her on her left. These are big comfy chairs we’re sitting in. The kind you can curl up and sleep in on a rainy afternoon. It never, not once, dawns on me why these chairs are so plush or so big. (Told you I had my last smart thought of the night.) Until I see what’s going on over at my partner in crimes corner.
            To Lynne’s left a woman in more black leather, bustier & short short short skirt with thigh highs. She’s got one man on a leash & another in her lap. Much kissing, touching and groping are going on. Fine by me, my retina’s are stilling burning from the whole knife issue. OUCH!
            Anyway I’m looking at Lynne, Lynne is looking anywhere, but at the threesome next to her. Me, I love to stir things up J So when I happen to catch the eye of one of the Gropey McGrope, I give ‘em a wink and tilt my head Lynne’s way.
            LMAO…Hey they left me. It’s only right I get a little vindication out of all this. Yes, I am that kind of girl.
            The next thing I know the two men have spread the Dom’s thighs WIDE open, her skirt rides way too high and their heads are buried in her lush woman’s heat (snicker). Remember the legs wide open part? Yeah, one leg is now over Lynne’s chair pretty much in her lap. The longer this goes on, the more excited the Dom gets, the more action her leg give Lynne. It’s tossing, turning, flapping and generally all over the place.
            What does the plucky Brit do now, you ask? Simple she ignores it. Meanwhile I’m snickering behind my water bottle and mentally rubbing my hands in glee. Paybacks are such a bitch.
            And so is karma because the next instant Sam looks back and me then motions for me to follow her. Umm okay, didn’t we just do this and I got in trouble. Yes, we did, but since I’m a window licker I follow her.
            Seriously folks, I’m not stupid. My parents had my iq tested as child just to make sure. Apparently I’m just one of those people that’s so smart their a dumbass. Either that or the incense was getting me high.
            Sam led the way through the big playroom. Sounds of moans, screams, groans and wet sucky noises I refuse to identify follow us. We wind our way through various couples engaged in D/s play. Some tied up, some leaning against walls, others bound with cuffs, rope or chains.
            Once we make it to the other side of the room there are only two seats left. We grab them, sit down and take in the new action going around. Too bad I didn’t know the action would happen right next to me.
            The middle floor had cleared of the two females, now more props were being brought in. A very large man with a beard and ponytail took various whips, floggers, chains and other things I’ll never be able to pick out in a police line up, out of his personal case. He hung them on a rack, stroking them with gentle caresses that made me cringe. Something about it had me thinking I’d be safer outside, mute with the porno flick playing across my forehead.
            A table was set up in the middle but to the right of the beard man. A curvy woman walked up to it and sat down. A nice looking guy, older than me, maybe his early forties, followed. Next thing I know her clothes are coming off and he’s locking her down. This guy’s kit looks like a fishman’s tackle box on crack. The thing is huge. A few minutes later I found out why and my poor little brain went SPLAT all over again.
            When the sub on the leather table had no clothes left to take off, the Master open his case, pulled out a bottle of clear substance and rubbed or squirted it on the sub. The next thing I know the woman’s boob is on fire and her Dom wipes it out with a stroke of his hand. The sub jolts off the table as much as her restraints allow while the Dom soothes her with gentle strokes and some whispered words. Oh but hell no, if I want to set myself on fire I can think of easier ways to do it that with a mini blowtorch while naked. And I sure as hell would start with my breasts. Umm OUCH!
            The fire play continued and without being able to stop myself I kept watching. The thing of it is the sub never got burned. From what I understand NOW she could feel the heat of the fire, but whatever substance her Dom used prevented any damage to her skin. Later I was told this takes a lot of trust between a Dom and his submissive because face it one wrong move and say goodbye to any body hair and I do mean any ‘cause he didn’t stop with just her chest. The fire, literally, went lower.
            Next up for my education two woman walked past me. One could have been a model so I naturally hated her on site. The other was an older woman dressed in a nice business suit. No clue what the hell these two were going to do so naturally I had to watch them.
            Lucky or unlucky me the set up shop two chairs down from me. The model’s hands were bound and looped through a steel hook coming down from the ceiling. Once the sub was in place the older woman stroked her sub’s skin in such gentle motions I wondered what the hell these two were doing here. Two seconds later I knew. SMACK, SMACK, SMACK the Dom proceeded to open palm slap her sub’s body. Breasts, thighs, ass, stomach the Dom hit them all and her sub moaned in pleasure with every strike. The sound of flesh hitting flesh was louder than any of the whips, floggers or chains. It sounds weird I know, but very very true.
            Remember when I said karma would get me. Well, she did in the form of the couple who sat right next to me. The man wore a kilt and made his sub sit at his feet. No biggie I thought. I have a friend that loves anything in a kilt. She would have loved this because I can now officially say from personal experience I know exactly what is worn underneath a man’s kilt.
            NOTHING.
Oh and he was circumcised. Yep, I was that close and he was that happy. How do I know this because he fisted his hand in the woman’s hair and shoved her face in his crotch? Oral fixation abounds in this place. Someone always had his or her head in someone else’s business all the time. I pulled a Lynne and desperately tried not to look, but hey a guy’s getting head right next to me, sometimes you can’t help but give it a quick glance over.
When I did he made eye contact with me and sent me this slow sexy wink. OMG, this is THE guy from outside. The one who asked if I played and the one I made an ass out of myself with. And the window licker that I am didn’t realize it until that wink. Aughhh! He tilted his head to his lap, asking if I wanted to join the love fest going on between his legs. Ummm, that would be no. You know thanks for the offer, but nope not going to happen.
I now know he grunts when he comes then hisses out a long loud breath all the while able to keep his eyes wide open & staring at me. My education is growing by leaps and bounds.
Where is Sam Cayto in my time of distress (again) you ask? I’ll tell you. She wandered off to go look at another man being dominated with a very thick looking leather whip.
I have got to get friends with better Allie attention-spans. Left to my own devices I’d be strapped down, ball gagged and set on fire and not as a compliant sub. Mostly because my smart mouth wouldn’t know how to stay shut.
The happy couple next to me started getting louder, the spanky couple next to them kicked their Smacks and moans into high gear then we had the knife couple really screaming out across the room.
In the very corner almost to a point where I couldn’t see, but of course, being me, I strained to look. I heard a woman’s voice crying out and not in a good way. When I looked beyond kilt man and his one-woman suction machine my jaw literally dropped. I closed it just as fast not wanting to give the winker any ideas about what I was offering.
A tall thickly built man hovered in the shadows with a woman on her knees naked before him. He had lengths of rope in his hand. My first thought, what a weenie that woman is. The rope isn’t barbed, knotted or bladed. What the hell is she making all that noise for?
I should have stuck to kilt-man and the Hoover.
Rope, I know now, leads to binding. Binding leads to pain. Pain leads to well…pain. At least to me because remember I’m seeing all this for the first time as an outsider, graciously let into a private world most people will never see. Personally for me pain, burning, whipping, smacking, flogging, gagging don’t flip any switch I have. However, to some there is a certain security to handing over all control to another person.
I’ve been told the rope binding is the most technical and difficult ability among Doms. It takes years and years of practice, not to mention butt-full of trust from your submissive. You are restrained in such a way that there is no free movement for any part of your body. You are bound, not just hands and feet, but pretty much everything in between. It’s such an emotional as well as physical experience that when it was over and the Dom removed the bindings he had to secure his female in a cage to recover.
I watched to see her reaction once the male left her. She never moved. Not a twitch, foot tap, nose pick, not anything. She lay there so relaxed as if no one else existed in the room with her. It truly blew my mind. How do you get into such a headspace? Why do you want it or need it, as sometime is the case?
I’ll never know because that’s not the type of person I am, but it doesn’t stop me from wondering.
Pretty soon I was told it was time to go. When I looked at my watch I couldn’t believe how much time had gone by. The dungeon seduced a person with the sheer eroticism of passion and raw alpha power flowing through the air.
The four of us ended up outside by the fire while we waited for a loyal taxi driver to show up again. This time the owner came over to talk with me. Don’t ask! I’ve given up trying to understand why these things always happen to me.
She asked me not to leave. Her Beta Master was on his way. She wanted to me to see his style and mastery. Only ten minutes until he arrived so couldn’t I hold off until then? He was complete alpha and she’d love to introduce us before they started their play.
Honestly and politely I said I had to go. I came with my uh…cough…cough friends so I needed to leave with them as well. She gave me her card and told me we’d always be welcome if we were ever back in LA.
Thankfully Sam showed back up. She’d been searching the kitchen for homemade cookies the owner makes. Once Sam said her thanks and goodbyes we left their world and walked back into the reality of Los Angeles.
The moral of this story, girls and boys, is to never drink before going to a BDSM club, never lose your voice and most of all use a buddy system. Or else bring better friends than I did!
Those hussies thought I was off  ‘playing’ or being played. Oh well I’d probably have left their asses too if they were dumb enough to wander off in a strange place.
So there ends the tale of a nice Texas girl in a BDSM club in North Hollywood. I didn’t even get a t-shirt. But I’ll always remember my time there, not to mention the tendency to blush anytime I see a man in a kilt.
Maybe next week I’ll fill you in on my taxi chasing escapade….

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Gifts that Keep on Giving...

There's just something about a series. It's the gift that keeps on giving. I mean, let's face it, another new book in a continuing saga keeps readers coming back for more. But why do we love them so much? That's easy. In book one we fall in love with the hero and heroine and want more of them, even if it's just an eensy taste. We want to know if they got married, had kids, and if they are still saying 'I Love You' as subsequent stories unfold. It's hard to give them up. Nothing keeps an avid reader on the edge of her seat more than the anticipation of the arrival of another installment in a favored series. I got hooked on them years ago when I began reading Nora Roberts. I loved how she would introduce three characters and make us anticipate that next installment, weaving in everyone from prior books. JR Ward has done it quite successfully with her Black Dagger Brotherhood series as has Christine Feehan with several of her series.

You know how you'll read a book and see it become a movie? Often we are disappointed in those because two hours usually just isn't long enough to capture all the details that made the book so delicious. I suspect this is why the longer television series are a perfect medium for the telling of the book. We want more time with the main characters (and often want more time with the secondary characters as well). Would the Charlaine Harris stories that are the basis of the hit HBO series True Blood, have worked better as a movie? I don't think so. We want a rich...not a rushed...telling of our favorite stories.

For an author, writing series simply gives us more time and more opportunity to enrich our characters, giving them layer and depth that would be much harder to achieve with a single novel. Personally, I love writing them. There is something definitely satisfying about the inclusion of past characters mixing in with the new folks who populate the storyline. My first series for Ellora's Cave was the High Plains Shifters series about a small Texas town entirely populated by wolf shifters. It is a challenging project no doubt about it. Building a whole new world and filling it with interesting characters is a fulfilling as an author and keeps my creative energy high. Nothing like it.  

Tomorrow the fifth book of the High Plains Shifters series debuts at Ellora's Cave. Lawman was a bit long in coming but I hope fans of the series believe it to be worth the wait!




COMING SOON - May 4


Book 5 in the High Plains Shifters series.



In the deep of night she longs for him. Mate, lycan, lover. Her lawman. As Katalin Petrova struggles to control her wild and untamed “gift”, she yearns for the only man who can make her whole. His every touch burns, searing her with unimaginable pleasure. Only her strong, protective lover can tame the wild yearnings of her body and help her claim the power of her ancestors.


While Gabriel Dunham, lycan lieutenant of the Wolf Creek Pack, watches over his intended mate, his patience to claim her nears an end as savage need burns his body. Consumed by unbridled lust, he claims her, takes her, hoping it will be enough to protect Katalin from unseen forces determined to rip her from his arms

An Excerpt From: LAWMAN

Copyright © REGINA CARLYSLE, 2011

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

Chapter One



Though it was midafternoon, weariness settled over Sheriff Gabriel Dunham like a shroud and he had only a serious lack of sleep to blame. Nights spent in his truck while watching over Katalin, his intended mate, had taken their toll on him. Every night, he stared toward her small, secluded house where a warm bed and a beautiful woman waited for him. But he was no fool. He didn’t dare go inside. Taking her now, making her his wasn’t an option at the moment.

She was too fragile, much too delicate and Gabe simply wasn’t strong enough to hold back from his determined need to stake his claim on her.

Kat needed more from him now than hot, frantic sex.

After all she’d been through, Katalin needed safety and he wasn’t quite sure that he could deliver considering the raw, savage need that clawed through his belly. It was like a prairie fire gone wild, alarming in its intensity.

Protecting others was in his nature and he’d face death rather than hurt her.

A lawman who’d lived more than two hundred years on this earth, he’d worked the docks in the great ports of St. Louis during American expansion to the West and then later, he’d followed covered wagons filled with hopeful adventurers. In those days, he’d been a lycan in search of a pack, a place and a people to call his own. He’d settled in rough, rowdy towns throughout the savage West selling his skills with a gun, sometimes in the name of law and order and sometimes not. Many had been the time Gabriel Dunham had accepted the job as “protector”, a bodyguard to the rich and powerful. That he was a giant of a man who stood well over six foot seven and appeared as intimidating as hell had kept him employed throughout the West during the many years of his life.

Gabe leaned back in the chair at his scarred desk and propped his booted feet atop it, crossing them at the ankle. His eyes burned like hellfire and he needed sleep in the worst way. Burning the candle at both ends wore at him.

As always, in quiet moments, he thought of Katalin Petrova.

Through the past centuries, he’d hoped and prayed for a mate, the woman destined to belong to him alone and he’d pretty much given up on ever finding her. But now, through an act of fate, she was here, a beautiful female who was too damn delicate to touch.

Breakable.

She’d just taken a job at the library at Cloverfield High School. The school year was brand new and suddenly the local streets were quiet since every teen lycan in town was currently parked at the school instead of dragging Main Street or partying out by the lake as kids were known to do. He knew that after her ordeal over the summer she was making baby steps toward re-entering society. Dr. Santos, a lycan psychiatrist from Dallas, had suggested this job would be a good thing for her so Katalin had bravely forged ahead with things.

Was she thinking of him as he thought of her, a quiet obsession born of desperation burning just below the surface of her skin? Scrubbing his palms over his face, Gabe finally closed his eyes and let her image swim to the surface of his mind. Damn but his mate was a pretty woman. The ache of his need wasn’t a sudden thing but a perpetual burning in his gut, a need to claim her, fuck her, and make her his.

For life.

Sighing deeply, the sound of the air conditioner a low hum in the room, he let himself drift off as memories of his first moments with her sifted through his brain and sleep took him away.

“I’ve got you now, Katalin. You’re safe.” Sitting at the side of her bed as shadows surrounded them, Gabe reached out his hand to brush back a pale reddish curl from her forehead. Someone had once told him this particular color was strawberry blonde but it sure looked like a Texas sunset to him. Katalin Petrova’s exotically tilted blue eyes looked back vacantly but he sensed the current of emotion that raced through her veins. Letting his mind meld with hers, he absorbed her desolation into his pores. A vast emptiness, fear, rage, guilt.

Guilt?

What the fuck? Why?

That he felt her emotions, even buried as deeply as they were, was no surprise to him. This was the way of mated couples. Instant recognition had swept him from the first moment he’d clapped eyes on her. “You don’t have to worry about anything now. Not even talking, honey. I know you can’t right now but that’s all right. Do you hear me? You are going to be fine and nothing is gonna pry my ass from your side. Do you believe me?”

Katalin blinked.

Monday, May 2, 2011

What Does It Mean To Us?

http://www.gonzotimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/bin-laden-300x278.jpg


So Osama bin Laden is dead. I was in bed, almost asleep, when my oldest got the alert on her phone and started yelling. I jumped up and sat down at my computer. This was big. Really big.

My mind raced with all kinds of thoughts. Mostly I wondered how this would affect the war on terrorism. I listened to some of what President Obama said and went back to bed but couldn’t sleep for thinking about all of this.

The first thing I’m shaking my head about this morning is bin Laden’s burial at sea. Honestly, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. However, I do know that government and politicians in general sometimes bring on the disbelief of the public at large by their actions. So get ready. There is going to be a segment of the population that does not believe bin Laden is dead—with or without pictures, with or without DNA. It’s already started. My kid is reading Facebook messages to me about him not really being dead as I write this.

While I realize the importance of honoring Muslim burial customs, I don’t think it was the right decision to make. I think it was more important to preserve that body. And? Well, if I have to be so blunt, sound so cruel, where bin Laden is concerned, I’m not really concerned about whether proper custom was followed. News reports say that the U.S. government offered to give custody of the body to the Saudi government but the Saudis refused.

It’s being said that the U.S. decided on burial at sea to make sure that his grave site could not be used as a shrine or be vandalized. And his grave site WOULD become a shrine. Regardless of where his body is now, he is considered a martyr by those who followed him. And just for the record, Muslim burial custom dictates that if it is deemed that an enemy of the dead can dig up or otherwise desecrate the burial site, then you can basically do something else with the body. In order to follow custom as closely as possible—bury him the same day he died—burial at sea was probably the best option.

I saw some very grisly photos of his body and when I looked at his face, I didn’t see the face of a killer. He didn’t look rich. He didn’t look religious. He just looked like a man who had been destroyed by the hatred of war—the hatred he carried in his heart. And then I found out the photo wasn’t even real. Someone revealed two photos used to make the image look that way. More conspiracy theorists. There’s no telling what we’re going to hear in the weeks to come.

So what does his death mean to us? Well, the price of crude oil dropped a couple of bucks. But it won’t stay that way. The market can sometimes be very fickle and go up and down with mood—particularly the mood of westerners. So look for it to go back up again.

And by killing Osama bin Laden is the war on terrorism over? Not by a long shot. There will be retaliations for his death. Terror cells are going to dig in even deeper. I also worry that with no one poised to take over the leadership of al Qaeda, it is going to splinter off into several different groups—all led by hatred-driven hearts and minds. That means that we would have to track all of those differing groups instead of focusing on one. Maybe it’s all the same. How would I know? I’m just Citizen Jane Doe thinking about all of this and worrying. Maybe tracking a dozen mini-al Qaedas is just as easy as tracking one.

What I found really interesting about the operation carried out on the compound in Abbottabad is that the place he was living in is described as a mansion. For years estimates of bin Laden’s worth has ranged from mere millions to tens of millions. Sounds like ten years of spending on weapons and operations designed to kill innocent people hadn’t depleted his fortune. So I guess it’s safe to say tens of millions. Where is his money? Where will it go now? It’s being reported that an adult son was killed in the attack and that his wife and daughters have been taken into custody? They were also supposedly at the compound. Damn, he must have felt really safe where he was—in the city, relatively safe from U.S. airstrikes. Not living in a cave like a grunt and dealing with war but enjoying luxury. And you can’t tell me that the Pakistani government didn’t know exactly where he was either.

But I guess bin Laden didn’t count on the dogged persistence of our intelligence agencies. For the past two years, a trusted courier of bin Laden’s had been followed and watched closely. Finally, word came that bin Laden was in that compound. Navy Seals carried out a presidential order to take him out.

I sit here feeling very grateful that there are those in this world who can do things I can’t. Regardless of how anyone feels about the war, what we think of war in general or the spending and most certainly loss of life, there was a brave and honorable group of men who got the job done for our nation and the families of those who died by the hand of this terrorist. I thank God none of them were injured and so wish I could see their faces. But they will vanish back into the world of black ops, their identities never revealed—and continue to do their job. It takes a special kind of person to live this kind of life. I can’t imagine a higher level of commitment to any cause. I say thank you to them.

My heart is also heavy, yet jubilant, for the families of those whose loved ones were lost in the senseless bombing of the World Trade Center, the families of those who perished in Flight 93, those who lost family in the attack on the USS Cole, and those who lost loved ones in the embassy bombings in Africa. There were countless operations carried out at the behest of bin Laden. I can only hope that bin Laden’s death gives the families some small measure of closure and peace.

The head of the most venomous snake in the world has been severed. We can only pray that its body continues to die.  
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Today I am showcasing the fabulous Desiree Holt's book trailer for DOWNSTROKE! Available at Ellora's Cave. This is Desiree's 100th release from EC. http://jasminejade.com What a milestone! Whoaaaa...I am so lovin' the music for this one. I'm jamming out right here at the comp! You gotta watch this one, folks! Desiree has got it going on and so does Tina with Topaz Promos. Get in touch with Tina if you're looking for a book trailer. She's good! http://topazpromos.com