I love this photo with the golf club and ball!!! Big thank you to Cathryn Brunet for taking it for me!!
If you fancy a giggle, hop on over to Seductive Musings where there is a fun post about a UK outfit called Butlers in the Buff, and yes it's exactly as it sounds :-) There is a very nice bottom on display as well.
The Romance Reviews have an exclusive excerpt posted from Forbidden - and they're also holding a fabbo contest with heaps of books to be won. All you need to do is become a follower of their blog!
And for another chance to win a copy of Forbidden, today I'm over at Tawny Weber answering her Quick Six! And *drum roll* can you believe I managed to bring both Clive Owen and Gerard Butler into the conversation?!?
Erica is at AussieCon this week, but as soon as I hear back from her I'll announce the winner of her fabulous Poison Kissed so stay tuned!!!
The winner of a download of Cathryn Brunet's sizzling Three Over Par is strange candy reviews! Please contact Cathryn at cathrynbrunet @ gmail dot com (no spaces) with your details. melteshco@yahoo.com.au The winner of a download of one of Mel Teshco's backlist is Tamsyn! Tamsyn, please contact Mel at melteshco @ yahoo dot com (no spaces) with your choice of book and details!
And there's still time to comment on Kandy, Fiona, Pat, Emily and Shelley's posts to be in with a chance of winning fantastic books! melteshco@yahoo.com.au
My second guest for day four is Cathryn Brunet, who writes scorching hot books for Samhain and Carina Press! It was a very cold night when I read Cathryn's stunning debut, Ritual Passion, and let me tell you it wasn't long before I'd switched the heating onto air con!!! After being online friends for a year or so, we finally met up at the Sydney conference and it was awesome - although a little bit fleeting!!!
And now here's Cathryn with some breathtaking photos that make me green with envy!!!
First off, I have to say congratulations, Christina, on the release of FORBIDDEN. I know you've worked very hard to reach this point and I wish you great success.
I was delighted when you invited me to post in celebration of FORBIDDEN's release because I adore Roman history. This will show my age, but I can still remember being captivated by the BBC series I, Claudius as a child. While it's easy to kid myself I was held in thrall by the political machinations and skulduggery, it's more likely I was simply dazzled by all those men in white togas. Whichever the reason, the show must have had an impact because I've been fascinated by Roman history ever since.
Over the years, I've devoured many books – fiction and non-fiction - on the era. Without doubt, my favourite is Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series but, among others, I also loved Robert Harris's and Allan Massie's Roman novels. However, my love affair with these intriguing people really cranked into overdrive when my husband and I were fortunate enough to live in Provence for an extended period. This area of France is rich with Roman history and ruins and I couldn't soak it up enough. We spent countless weekends touring the region, taking in all the sights, gazing in wonder at temples, arenas, triumphal arches, statues, monuments, and the many, many engineering marvels these infinitely clever people left behind.
One of our favourite treats for visitors was to drive them up the road to the Pont du Gard, a 2,000 year old aqueduct built between AD40 and 60 that took 15 years to construct. It was designed to carry water 50km from the springs at Uzès to the castellum in Nîmes, and at just short of 49 metres high, was the highest bridge the Romans built and a brilliant piece of engineering. The drop from one end to the other – a length of 350 metres – is a mere 10cm. In fact, over the aqueduct's entire 50km journey, the fall is an astonishing 25cm/km.
If visitors weren't impressed by that, then the amphitheatre at Nîmes usually did the trick. There's nothing quite like seeing this arena for the first time. It's so magnificent your mouth drops open in awe. Built at the end of the first century AD, it's described as the best preserved Roman arena in the world and is so atmospheric, when you walk the terraces, galleries and vomitoria (a wonderful term for the exit passages which people "vomit" out of) it's almost as though you can still hear the roar of the 24,000-strong crowds. Even more amazing, it's still in use, which just goes to demonstrate the skill of the Romans.
There were plenty of other sights nearby – the theatre at Orange, the arena at Arles, the amazing ruins at Vaison-la-Romaine, La Trophée des Alpes which marked the border of Italy and France and honoured Augustus's conquests, just to name a few. These, and all the other amazing sites I experienced of Rome's once massive empire, enhanced my admiration for the Romans no end. And it's a love I'll nurture forever.
To help celebrate Christina's release of Forbidden, I have a digital copy of my erotic romance Three Over Par up for grabs. Simply answer the question below and I'll put you in the draw.
What is Lucy's nickname for Robbie, her golf instructor?
Hint: You'll find the answer in the Three Over Par extract posted on my website. Click here for the link.
Thanks again, Christina, for letting me be a part of your FORBIDDEN celebrations.
Thanks Cathryn, for sharing these wonderful memories and I am still an unflattering shade of green here!! So to be in the running to win a copy of Cathryn's sizzling hot Three Over Par, what is Lucy's nickname for her golf instructor, Robbie? And what's the funniest/weirdest nickname you've ever had or given someone?
Here I am with the gorgeous Erica Hayes (who writes the darkly erotic Shadowfae series). Erica brought me back a copy of the Romantic Times BOOK Reviews magazine from Orlando so I could see the write-up for Forbidden myself!!!
The lovely Tracey O'Hara won the R*BY Award for her awesome debut novel, Night's Cold Kiss. Here we are at the Friday night cocktail party. She also gave me a promo pep-talk which I will do my best to follow :-)
On Saturday night before we went down to the Awards dinner, we had drinks in our room. Here I am with the completely amazing Silhouette Desire author, Rachel Bailey. It was so nice to meet up again after three years!
I was so excited to meet up with Samhain and Carina Press author Cathryn Brunet! It was only brief, unfortunately, but we'll make up for it next year in Melbourne!!!
Here's the wonderful Robyn Grady, Silhouette Desire and Modern Heat author extraordinaire! We've known each other for sooo long, but this was the first time we'd ever met face-to face, so that was pretty special!
I'm not sure what happened to the camera here (I blame the photographer who'd indulged in a few too many wines!!!) (nothing to do with me, of course!!!) But here is the lovely Anna Campbell, who writes dark Regency noir for Avon! It must be six years since we'd last met back in the UK at their Romantic Novelists Association conference. How time flies!!!
Late Sunday afternoon we wandered down to the fabulous beach. And here, as you can see, are my two sedate CPs, Puffin author Amanda Ashby and Flux author Sara Hantz.
If the weekend wasn't exciting enough, this afternoon I had my very first FedEx delivery of an early copy of my new baby!!! OMG. It's so shiny and pretty, and the font has been changed for my name and looks completely awesome!!! And my husband is actaully reading the book!!!
I'll post some photos of the cocktail party in another post. Seriously, the fancy dress was amazing!!!
Big shout out to Cathryn Brunet, whose steamy novella, Three Over Par, hits the shelves today with Carina Press! Congratulations, Cathryn. And when I say steamy, I mean it - read the first chapter here (and according to Cathryn, she was only just warming up in Chapter One!)
Here's the blurb:
Wild, hot, addictive sex…
After seeing one too many patients die regretting the things they haven't done, nurse Lucy Seymour realizes she's been making the same mistake. So when Robbie, the sexy golf instructor, makes his move, she responds with uninhibited passion, telling him there's nothing she won't try. Long sessions of foreplay lead to thrills and fantasy fulfillment…until Lucy sees Daniel, the greenkeeper, watching them. Watching her. And then Daniel does more than just watch…he joins them.
Can it lead to love?
Lucy might be exploring all of her secret fantasies, but her reality is that she's a one-man woman…and for her, that man is Daniel. But what does Daniel really want? Lucy or the fantasy?
I have several writer friends who have been contracted by Carina Press, and another book I can't wait to get my hands on is by my friend Shelley Munro. Her historical, Gothic mystery, The Spurned Viscountess, is due for release from Carina Press on 20th September. I love Gothics!
It's been a while since I've done a Delicious! So here are another couple of debut books I read earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed.
First up is Erica Hayes's Shadowfae, the first book in her Shadowfae Chronicles.
Imagine a secret world veiled in fairy glamour and brimming with unearthly delights. A city swarming with half-mad fairies, where thieving spriggans rob you blind, beautiful banshees mesmerize you with their song, and big green trolls bust heads at nightclubs. And once you’re in, there’s no escape…
Enslaved by a demon lord, Jade is forced to spend her nights seducing vampire gangsters and shapeshifting thugs. After two hundred years as a succubus, she burns for freedom and longs to escape her brutal life as a trophy girl for hell’s minions. Then she meets Rajah, an incubus who touches her heart and intoxicates her senses. Rajah shares the same bleak fate as she, and yearns just as desperately for freedom. But the only way for Jade to break her bonds is to betray Rajah—and doom the only man she’s ever loved to a lifetime in hell.
This book is blazing h-o-t! With fairies as you've never seen them before (roll over Tinkerbell!) and a heroine who has no choice but to have sex with whoever her demon lord demands (yes Kane, I'm looking at you!) I was hooked. And cheering Jade on to reach her very own HEA... and you'll have to read the book to discover how she achieves that!!!
Ritual Passion is an erotic fantasy romance containing jungle-hardened warriors, a capricious goddess, corrupt priests and some seriously hot sex.
RITUAL PASSION
A passion to appease the gods…or call down their vengeance.
The jungle-wrapped city of Challas is dying, crumbling under the weight of its corrupt priesthood and degenerate new gods. But an even greater threat looms on the horizon. Outside the city walls, a pestilence breeds. Unless stopped, it will crawl through the city’s decaying streets and destroy everyone.
Phalandria wants to see her magnificent city reborn and freed from the perversion of the priests who murdered her father. And she wants Massilis, the man who has stood by her side since childhood. The man who’s developed into a magnificent, jungle-hardened warrior…and ignites her unquenchable desire. Although Massilis has always protected her, only once has he allowed his hunger for her to show.
Now the water oracle has called for Phalandria and Massilis to perform the Concubitia, a sexual rite to propitiate the gods. But the priests suspect a conspiracy and will do anything to protect themselves. And Phalandria realizes that the priests are not the only ones sabotaging the ritual.
The man she loves has an agenda of his own.
This is another scorching read! The steamy heat of the jungle is the perfect backdrop to this sensually charged story. I love how Cathryn entwines the past and the present until the final erotic showdown when, quite literally, I needed to put the air conditioning on to cool down!!
Please welcome my special guest today, the lovely Cathryn Brunet, whose debut erotic fantasy romance Ritual Passion is released today by Samhain Publishing - just in time for a happy hot Christmas!!
Cathryn, thanks for stopping by! Can you tell us a little about your book?
Ritual Passion is an erotic fantasy romance containing jungle-hardened warriors, a capricious goddess, corrupt priests and some seriously hot sex.
RITUAL PASSION
A passion to appease the gods…or call down their vengeance.
The jungle-wrapped city of Challas is dying, crumbling under the weight of its corrupt priesthood and degenerate new gods. But an even greater threat looms on the horizon. Outside the city walls, a pestilence breeds. Unless stopped, it will crawl through the city’s decaying streets and destroy everyone.
Phalandria wants to see her magnificent city reborn and freed from the perversion of the priests who murdered her father. And she wants Massilis, the man who has stood by her side since childhood. The man who’s developed into a magnificent, jungle-hardened warrior…and ignites her unquenchable desire. Although Massilis has always protected her, only once has he allowed his hunger for her to show.
Now the water oracle has called for Phalandria and Massilis to perform the Concubitia, a sexual rite to propitiate the gods. But the priests suspect a conspiracy and will do anything to protect themselves. And Phalandria realizes that the priests are not the only ones sabotaging the ritual.
The man she loves has an agenda of his own.
Degenerate gods, corrupt priests and a jungle hardened warrior! *Christina fans self* I can't wait to read this book! How did the idea for the plot come about?
Ritual Passion started out as a combination of writing exercise and a half-hearted attempt to write a Spice Brief. As an experiment, I decided to write in first person. Suddenly I discovered this new voice coming through. A voice I liked. A lot.
I know it might sound strange but I had no idea of the plot. I simply wrote the first line and from there the words flowed as though I’d been thinking about the story for months. It was if the city of Challas, sexy narrator Phalandria and gorgeous, muscled warrior Massilis already existed and I was just a conduit for their story.
I’d never free-written to that extent before. But since then I’ve used the method on another erotica and I plan to try it again in the future. Though, given I have the next three writing projects already decided, that won't be for a while.
I love sale stories (ok I am just nosy!!) so can you tell us about your road to publication - and your call story?
The first version of Ritual Passion was just over 15,000 words. After sending it off to some readers (who universally loved it) I submitted it to Spice Briefs and promptly forgot about it while I worked on a single title. Six months later I received a rejection. I wasn’t surprised. Having read several Spice Briefs I didn’t really think it would fit the line, but I loved the story and thought it was worth a try.
I’ve had a great interest in e-publishing for a while now and Samhain always struck me as a serious player in the industry with an excellent reputation. So, on the 15th December 2008, I sent Ritual Passion to them. On January 6th, I received a rewrite and resubmit. The editor, Deborah Nemeth, loved my voice and the setting but wanted some changes. Quite extensive ones, it turned out, and I admit they damn near did my head in.
I wasn’t confident I could nail the rewrite but decided to persevere because 1/. I absolutely loathe not completing things and if I dropped it, Ritual Passion would forever remain unfinished business, a sort of “what if” hanging over my head. And 2/. If, in the end, nothing came of it, the experience of working with an editor would still be invaluable.
It took me until April to complete the rewrite, partly because I had other things on the go and partly because I found it so hard. By then, Ritual Passion had doubled in size with a lot more focus on the characters’ relationship and an expansion of the overall plot.
In June, Deborah came back to me with another rewrite and resubmit, and I gave serious consideration as to whether I would keep at it. I’d already spent an inordinate amount of time on the project - I could have written, at minimum, another 90,000 word single title in the time – and there was no guarantee I would be offered a contract at the end of the second rewrite.
But then I thought, “Don’t be an idiot!!!!”
So I worked my bum off again and sent the revised manuscript off on June 30. One month later, more than seven months after that first submission, Deborah offered publication.
And then the editing process started!
What a fantastic sale story, Cathryn. Do you write every day?
The short answer is, bar weekends, yes. I’ve always treated my writing as a business that’s open Monday to Friday. I sit down at the computer sometime between 6-30 and 7am and work through until approximately 3pm at which time I wander out for a couple of hour’s walk (I find walking fantastic for plotting and sorting out characterisations etc), a bike ride or, if I’m really lucky, golf. Anything that takes me out of the house and away from the computer.
Do you give yourself daily/weekly goals?
Sometimes but not often. My goals are more of the “just finish the book” type. I do, however, really enjoy writers’ groups where you post your daily totals. I find them an excellent motivator. The Romance Writers of New Zealand run a great loop called Book In 50 Days and even though my goal isn’t to write a book in that time period, I love posting my total to it. It’s a wonderfully supportive group.
LOL, yes I constantly tell myself to just finish the book! So would you call yourself a panster or plotter?
Umm....sometimes a panster, sometimes a plotter.
The first 4 or so books I wrote I pansted, although I did have a solid idea of what the stories were about, where they were going, and the main characters. I simply started with the idea in my head and sat down and wrote.
But then I tried plotting, and did that for the next two single titles. Ritual Passion I completely pansted, same as the manuscript I’ve just handed in to my editor. With my current work in progress, Pureheart, I’ve had to plot because it’s a complicated fantasy. And I’ve already plotted my next project, although only quite broadly.
I prefer pansting because it’s exciting. You never know where your characters will lead you, which means if you want to discover what happens next, you have to keep writing!
Yes, that's what I love about pansting, although sometimes it would be good to know what was supposed to happen next! What keeps you motivated when the writing gets tough?
As I said, I adore writers’ groups like the RWNZ's Book In 50 Days and, of course, I have my brilliant critique partners, but mostly I rely on sheer determination. Plus I loathe not finishing things. Half done projects, whether it’s housework, crossword puzzles or anything, make me twitchy. I’m disturbingly anal like that.
I'm with you on hating to leave things half finished. Except the housework, I don't mind about that!! Is there any advice or light bulb moment you'd like to share about getting/being published?
Find yourself some good critique partners. That's an absolute must, in my opinion.
Never give up. Believe in yourself and your writing. And never be afraid to try something new. Who knows where it could lead!
Great advice. Do you have critique partners (CPs)? If so can you tell us how you met up and your process?
I have some wonderful and extremely talented ladies as CP’s. Our initial group was formed three years ago after we hooked up on the Romance Writers of Australia loop. We all write in different genres and with different styles so we receive an excellent cross-section of opinions.
At the start, we all sent out one chapter a month for critique and did line edits on those. That didn’t quite work out, so now we send out 3 chapters or around 50 pages and rather than line edits we look at big picture type stuff – plots, characterisations, motivations etc.
Sadly, a couple of the original members have left but we still keep in touch to share triumphs and tribulations. Earlier this year we welcomed a new member and we’re on the hunt for one or two more.
If anyone's in need of a good inspirational talk, then hop on over to the fabulous Jenny Crusie's blog where she's listed Ten Tips for Writers. Awesome. I love it, it certainly perked me up! I was lucky enough to attend the RWNZ conference a couple of years ago when Jenny was keynote speaker, and again with the awesomeness!!
And because I like passing on good things, here's the scoop from UF author Erica Hayes's blog:
"Each day up until Christmas (starting today, that's Sunday for all you weekend blogreaders), I'm giving awaya signed copy of SHADOWFAE to one lucky person who drops by.
And (yes! but wait, there's more) on the last day, the winner will also receive my very first SHADOWGLASS ARC! Be the first person in the WORLD to read my smokin' hot March 2010 release... well, except for my agent. And my editor. And my cat (he loved it, of course). And possibly a pile of reviewers... But you can be the first REAL person to read it. You know what I mean."
Pop over to Erica's LJ to enter this fab contest!
And on Wednesday (although if the links go live I'll post it up late my Tuesday!) I'm interviewing the very lovely Cathryn Brunet, whose debut erotic romance Ritual Passion is being released by Samhain. Now that would make a scorching hot Christmas pressie!!
