Vote for Tea for Three

Ciar Cullen's doing her Review contest again. This time for your favourite Spring release, and lookie there, Tea for Three made it to her list, and I didn't submit it (which means someone read it and really liked it!)

So go vote ... (by that, I mean for me! ROFL! Hey, I'm nothing if not forthright)

T43 Reader Competition

I'm running a little bit late - blame it on my iron! (no not the 9iron, the old fashioned get the wrinkles out of my clothes one)

So here it is, the prize:

(you can see more pictures here )

How to be in to win:

1. Name three (3) towns or cities mentioned in T43
2. What was the name of the ice cream shop in Mission Bay?
3. How was Wren injured?

Email your answers to annedouglaseroticrom@gmail.com before Friday the 15th of June 2007 to be in for a chance to win.

Counting down, and a giveway. . .

Final proofreader edits went back early this morning (in ePublishing deadlines tend to be a lot closer to publication than in print), so I can put the cap back on the Tums and party like it's my Birthday ... oh, wait! It is! Well, on Friday that is. I'll be the ripe old age of 34.

So in honor of my birthday I'm giving away Tea for Three mouse pad and some goodies of the chocolaty persuasion. Perfect for sitting down and reading your favorite eBooks with!

Email me, using the address in my profile, with the names of the names of the three lead characters of Tea for Three (hint: you don't have to look far, or hit my main website) by Sunday 27th May, midday, and my 7yr old will scientifically choose a winner from the entrants.

Oh YUM!

How's this for a yum, yum, bubble gum cover!

Dark haired Wren, the well cut outdoors man Jack, and the nicely built, but a little more fleshy Craig in the foreground...mmm mm m!

Frauke of Croco Designs is the party responsible for this eye candy - she even used a New Zealand pastoral scene! (The book is set in Auckland, NZ)

EDIT: I was asked about release date - last week in May is the current plan, so not that far off!

The last 13 eBooks I've read

1. Jock Dorm: Vince and Drew
2. Kyriakis Curse
3. Go Fetch
4. Haleys Cabin
5. In a Heartbeat
6. King of Dragons, King of Men
7. Some Rough Edge Smoothing
8. Missing in Action
9. Nothing Personal
10. Vampire Vintage
11. Colorado Gold
12. Wolverine and the Rose
13. Acting like Family

From yesterdays 13...

Here are the front runners:

Chrysalis take the top spot with 11 votes
Just Breathe, 2nd with 9
To Spite the Past, Bruised Pasts, Broken Pasts, 3rd with 4 each
Despite the Past, Telling Truths and Future Song with 2
Learning to Breathe with 1

And last, a suggestion of Bruised Truths, which is a title I rather like! I also have an addition for the list - Jaded Pasts.

So, I know I asked everyones opinion yesterday, but here's the short list:

1. Chrysalis
2. Just Breathe
3. Bruised Truths
4. Jaded Pasts

You know what to do, leave an opinion in the box!

The art work's in!

Check out the coming soon pages for other shorts from your favourite stories.

Updated the Read in 2007 Log

Oh. My. God. It's getting scary!

I'm up to 72! And I have one Blaze serial to put on there yet, and 2 other new eBooks.

No wonder my eyes feel like cocktail onions on a toothpick some days. I really need to loose this compulsion to read, it's bankrupting me!

Romantic Times Review

Here's the review:

The McCabes:Persuading Jo
Anne Douglas
3 Stars

Three best friends come to terms with changes in their relationship. Character development is limited by the short word count, and there are same-sex encounters, menage-a-trois and anal sex elements. This is definitely not a story for the faint at heart.

---

Summary: Jo has been jealous of the close relationship her friends Matt and Brian enjoy. She knows they’re lovers, yet she can’t help but wish she was part of their loving circle. When the rules change and they begin to pursue her, will she give in to the passion and attraction that has ruled her life for so long, or will she walk away?

Reviewer: Kristi Ahlers

I'm happy to get a review, don't get me wrong, because I thought that I might not, but surely the reviewer could have done more than just make a list of the sex scenes?

Most other reviews have at least another cm of column space, was the story that lacking that there was nothing the reviewer could find to say about it? I really don't mind the criticism - I know you might think that odd, but at this point, I don't feel I have earned enough experienced writer points to feel offended, I need criticism to learn to write better - but surely there was something else the reviewer could point out? Maybe that the heroine was plus-sized? Or maybe how the characters interacted? (though maybe that falls under the limited character development).

I do notice though that this listing of the sexual elements is typical of all that particular reviewer's reviews, so maybe its more that short and sharp is her style rather than she dislikes everything she reviews. I do like the short blurb, though, it's succinct and to the point.

Though I'm happy to see my name in lights, so to speak, I'm a little disappointed; proud as punch to see my first print ad and review (and that it received 3 stars), but a little disappointed, nonetheless.

I'm still cutting them out and framing them though.

A new week

I was hoping that the renovations on the bathrooms would be finished last week, but it looks like (since they have been gone half the day) there will be no end in sight till at least Wednesday.

Sigh.

I had really been hoping to be getting my life back today. Instead kiddo is home sick, the contractor has been, but gone again, and I haven't written a word on McCabes 2 today. I did manage around 4k at the end of last week, and I'm working on getting to a point where the new content merges back into part of the old. Once I'm finished I think I'll be looking at approx 40k, not to shabby all things considered, it might be more depending on where the story takes me. I also managed about 1k of the start of McCabes 3.

I'm glad I got a chance to write a short story based on Matt, Brian and Jo from Persuading Jo, it whet my appetite for knuckling down and getting the McCabe stories done.

Now if only I had a nice, new, finished bathroom to write them in!

It's only Tuesday? sigh...

It's been along week already. Kids do that to you when you are left in limbo worrying about them. But, at least we have some diagnosis', now we can get help. It sucks being a writer and voracious reader with a kid who has troubles reading.

On a totally different note, did you notice Denise Rossetti popped in in the post about Tailspin? Gimme a fangurl squee everybody!! Seriously, I don't recommend books to people because I always end up disappointing them (blame it on too many art house movie appreciation classes, I just get stuff others necessarily don't), so for me to wax lyrical it's got to be good.

Plus us Southern Hemisphere chicks need to stick together! Well as long as there is no Rugby, Sailing, Netball or Cricket involved.

Tailspin

I'm not usually one to wax lyrical over authors and their books, mainly because I read so many. I have read many that touched me, made me laugh or cry, and of course many that were in between. Many memorable, and a lot of them not - although they were a satisfactory read at the time.

I picked up a few new ebooks yesterday. Read the whole damn lot of them to - my eyes feel like someone stabbed them with a fork - and have finally found an eBook that I can safely say I will read again by the end of the month.

Denise Rossetti's Tailspin.

I read the first book of this series, Gift of the Goddess and it, too, was a wonderful read, but Tailspin, Oh my Lord! This chick gets her tongue around some vivid, vivid imagery - and I'm not talking about kinky sex here. Although the sex is hot, I won't deny it - I'm about to run off for a cold shower, wishing I had a spare tail hanging around.

There is no way you could ever call this a bare bones, leave you lots of space to fill in your own details, kind of book. No way, just none. You understand every sense, every touch - Jesus, I can feel how Mirry and Jan's feathers would feel beneath my hands as I oiled them down! And this is with me reading 1/3 of the book close to stoned needing sleep, but not being able to move from the computer screen because it was too good! See why I need to re-read this?

I am all about being able to see the images the words make in my head; experience them - hopefully I reverse that loop when I write, I'm not sure I always succeed, and it's probably at a detriment to dialogue as so much happens in my Characters heads - in Tailspin I can see, hear and almost taste Ms Rossetti story. The deep black of Jan's feathers glistening with swirls of abalone, Mirry's old gold and copper burnish...mmm mm m!

Read the Gift of the Goddess first, it will help with a few of those pesky world building things, and explain a reference or two - that's not to say that you just get dumped in the middle of somewhere with no information, just that you deserve to go from really good, to even better!

Menage lover (which you can tell I am by my writing) or not, you can't miss these books. I have had a few hit and misses from EC lately, one short so horrible I can't and don't want to remember the name of; but this, oh yes, quake in your books top selling print authors, there is a new girl in town and if she doesn't get snaffled up in a New York minute by a major house I'll bury all the batteries so my Rabbit never works again!

Reading in 2007

Lots of people have a TBR pile (To be read - for the acronym deprived). To be different I have a HBR pile. I read too much, too fast to worry about having a TBR - you could say the library is my TBR.

So as I said in a post a couple of weeks ago, I am going to be keeping a log of books I have read in 2007. I am missing quite a few off the list so far, but I'm aiming to add a book as soon as I finish it, so I won't miss any.

EBooks are the worst, as once I finish them I put them in my read folder, and with the 100's of files in there already I get a bit lost.

Anyway, here is the start: Read in 2007

FYI, this is going to be really scarey at the end of the year - hell it's going to be scarey at the end of the month!!

Position Vacant isn't the redheaded stepchild...

The reviewers tell me so!

Check them out at my main site www.annedouglas.com

Books, glorious books!

I having been browsing blogs (got to love feedburner!) and spied a little section on Racy Li's blog about planning to keep a track of what she has read this year, and I thought to myself that might just be an interesting idea.

So Racy, I am shamelessly stealing your little idea, with a few twists. I enjoy a few snark blogs, and although I think I could snark with the best of them, I would rather spend my time creating manuscripts for others to snark. So I am going to simplify my snark.

There will be three lists: Books I have finished, Books I read half way through, then skipped to the last two chapters, and finally Books that were such a trainwreck that I probably finished them and wish I hadn't, and now want my money back.

Now, I'm not an author snob, you might find an author in all three piles. I will generally give a well published author a second try, although I have encountered a few I won't touch again with a barge poll.

The sad thing? This will be the first time I have actually kept a tally of books and I am really not looking forward to seeing how much a really do read.

A new review for PJ

Yay! A new review for Persuading Jo, and its a good'un and all!

Joyfully reviewed

Anne always does a great job of portraying the emotional aspects of a story, but I was still surprised by the intensity of the emotions in this story on all sides. The sex was hot and extremely well-written, but above all, Persuading Jo is a reminder that love takes many forms and not always what you expect.

Oooh, a second, smaller Merry Christmas to me!

Loose Id has been running Kissmas excerpts along with its Kiss promotions, and we authors were asked to send in a hot kiss excerpt for a chance to be in the promotion. Never hearing anything back from the Quad, I figure not this year, maybe next year...until getting my Idbits Digest this morning.

Woohoo! My Persuading Jo excerpt made the cut after all!

Remember to join IdBits is free, and it is purely LI information only not daily chat or spam. SO join today and have a little hot Kissmas read.

Having you been keeping up with Kissmas?

Loose Id has been running a twelve days of Kissmas promotion that you can catch up on at my main website www.annedouglas.com.

There are lots of goodies, like discounts on LGBT and Polyamorous romances (If you wanted a discount on a copy of Persuading Jo, here you go!), and you get a link for free amorous art by some of the great LI cover artists!

Print books are on sale as well, along with a discounted rate for next years VIP Club. If you purchase a lot of ebooks, and a number of them from LI, this is well worth it! I can save 25-50c/book!

LI also have some short story stocking stuffers for you from some wonderful LI authors. And if you join the IdBits newsletter you can also get a daily Kiss from Loowis!

How's this for a nice Xmas Pressie?

A Contract for Tea for Three!

Yup, hopefully in the earlier half of 2007 you will be seeing my new menage story, set in NZ available at Loose Id.

Wren, Jack, and Craig have been alot of fun to write, hopefully ya'll are going to find them as interesting to read.

Hers a little excerpt of the first time all three of them meet. This is unedited so may differ than the final product, and please forgive typos and grammar mistakes:

Agh! How did she let herself be convinced to go to these things?
Wren watched as her girlfriends gyrated on the postage stamp sized dance floor, with a group of men more likely to puke on their expensive high heels than be able to solve world peace -- let alone manage to get themselves into a cab at the end of the night.
Yet again she was left watching the party, not joining in. All things considered, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing -- how reliable could it be to meet a drunk guy in a bar? It’s not as if they are trying to find Miss Right to settle down with, more like Miss Are You Multi-orgasmic because you may as well enjoy it while I fuck myself senseless then skip out at the crack of dawn.
Not that she was bitter or anything. But it would be nice to be asked to dance just once, even if she had to turn the invitation down.
She swirled the straw in the lemon, lime and bitters that rested on the bar in front of her -- at least she had graduated from peeling the labels off of beer bottles in college. Now she just watched the ice-cubes clank against each other.
“Can I buy you another?” Wren looked up, surprised by the warm, smooth voice that sounded in her ear. Deep in her musings she hadn’t noticed the empty bar stool beside her had been filled by a rather attractive, stocky, dark-haired man with warm, dark Godiva chocolate eyes that matched his deep voice.
“It’s okay; you don’t need to do that. I was just heading home anyway.” Putting down the glass she had been idly twisting in her hand, she made a move to push her stool away from the bar when a large warm hand over her own stopped her.
“Please don’t rush away, I’d really like some company for a while. I’ve been entertaining out of town clients all night, and I would love to spend a little time chatting with someone a lot more interesting than they are.” Catching the bartender’s eye he indicated to refill their glasses. “Let me get another drink for both of us.”
Wow. Talk about smooth. While asserting control over the situation, he indicated he was no threat, asked her to take pity on him, and then just plain negated her plans with his own. Wren didn’t know if she should feel offended for being walked over, or if she kind of liked his brand of charm.
It wouldn’t hurt to spend a few minutes chatting before heading home. After all there wasn’t anything urgent to rush away for, now was there?
Letting a smile bloom she held out her hand. “I’m Wren.” He returned her smile and grasped her hand firmly, but delicately, treating her equally, but also respectfully. His mum had obviously taught him well.
“My name’s Craig. Craig Hunter.” Indicating over his shoulder, he gestured towards the dance floor. “And I’ve been officially dumped for the unofficial portion of the evening.” Looking over his shoulder, Wren realized he was gesturing at the gaggle of men around her girlfriends.
“Ahhh...the catch of the evening.” Craig looked back, eyebrows raised quizzically. “I came with my girlfriends -- the ones in the middle of your pack of piranhas.”
“Poor men, if only they knew.” She shook her head in pity. “Those girls are sharks -- they will eat them up as a snack and go looking for more.”
Craig looked back over his shoulder again, and laughed.

Looking back to the woman beside him Craig decided she looked prettier close up; she was quick and witty, too. He had been watching her from across the room for about an hour -- she had been sitting at the bar the whole time, nursing her drink. He thought she looked...appealing, possibly someone with an intriguing story to tell. Someone, that he thought might be interesting to get to know further, more than just a chat, at a bar, in a crowded pub. Jack would like this straight forward woman too; he just had to figure out how to ask her out -- without making it look as if he was hitting on her.
They chatted about nothing much for about ten minutes, until the barman remembered to serve their drinks. He laid down a twenty to pay for them, halting her movement towards her wallet.
“Thanks.” She smiled shyly as she picked up her glass; almost like this was the first time someone else had ever brought her a drink. Surely not? Swallowing, she gulped down a good quarter of the glass in one hit.

“Whoa, go slow there Wren. There’s no hurry, it’ll go to your head.” Wren looked at him oddly and shrugged.
“The most it will do will give me the hiccups. There’s no alcohol in it.”
“Oh.” Craig had the grace to look chagrined at having lectured her.
“I don’t drink when I am out... alcohol that is, unless it’s used in cooking.” She could tell he was curious as to why she was sitting in a bar not drinking, but was being polite too polite to ask.
“The girls drag me out every now and then; they think I’m missing out on something by not hitting the pubs and bars three nights a week.” Answering Craig’s unasked question.
“They drag you out to leave you sitting alone --” The rest of his sentence was cut off as a man, whose hair was blond like a ray of sunshine and reeked of the outdoors, stepped in between them, his back to Wren, firmly interrupting their conversation.
The newcomer put a hand on the bar to brace himself as he leaned in and kissed Craig heartily on the lips. “Evening, lover. How is the schmoozing going?”
Oh, well then. That explains it -- He’s gay. Figures. At least Craig had livened her evening up some with good conversation. All the good ones are taken or gay. She sighed silently, and gathered up her things -- time to leave the partying to those with someone to party with.

Give me some ideas

I was checking out publisher submission requests this morning (I have been caught up with these house renovations and haven't done so for a while), and spied the Midsummer Night's Steam submission requests -

They want Red Hot, steamy, sexy, erotic, girls , boys (and any combo thereof), sun sand, surf...sex.

What would you like to see in a short story read thats summer themed?