Author of the Week - Deborah Coonts

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This week Deborah Coonts visits the blog. I met Deborah in person at an RWA meeting in Las Vegas in 2010 and I haven't laughed quite that hard in a writing meeting. This woman writes fantastic romantic suspense that takes place in Las Vegas, and she makes you laugh so hard, don't drink while reading. Deborah is so great to talk to with her dry, laid-back humor, although she'll tell you she's anything but laid-back. Today I asked her one question about what in her real life inspires hilarity in her books.

BBTF: Humor is a huge theme throughout your books along with the suspense. What is your funniest (recent) real life experience?

Deborah: The funniest thing that has happened to me lately?  Moving, but not quite in the way you might think. Moving is horrible, for sure. Each time I do it I swear the next time I’m just going to sell everything and start over in the new locale. Of course, I never do. So, like every move before I sold the old place, bought a new one. Moved the furniture. Relicensed the car as well as myself. After a few short but interminable weeks, the move was complete. Sort of. While it’s painful, changing one’s permanent address is relatively easy. Changing one’s perspective is not.

After so much time in Vegas, apparently I had absorbed its … sensibilities. Reentry into the real world came with some bumps and bruises. 

For instance, the other day I went to my new doctor for that whole annual thing we all so look forward to. The nurse practitioner came in the room to take my vitals and ask some questions. As she got settled, clipboard on her lap, I cut to the chase ticking off the questions I knew by rote from my time in Vegas on my fingers as I worked through them. “In the last year, I’ve not shared any needles with anyone. I’ve not taken any sort of mind-altering anything, unless you count riding on the Slingshot on the top of the Stratosphere—that gave me nightmares for months. Oh, and there was that night where I decided sampling all the inventory at that new whiskey bar was a good idea—all that alcohol probably killed any pesky germs I had floating around, right?” I paused for her nod then forged ahead completely missing the rising incredulity in her eyes. “I’ve slept with one man, zero women, zero transgenders, zero transsexuals, and zero gender non-specific.” Yes, the State of Nevada is very interested in its citizen’s sex lives.

When I finished the nurse was very quiet, her eyes as big as saucers. “I’m almost afraid to ask,” she finally said. “But gender non-specific?”

I shrugged as I felt the color rising in my cheeks. “I’m not really sure. My former doctor never specified. Best I can figure those would be men who are pussies.”

She rewarded me with a laugh.

“You don’t have any of those in Texas?”

She blew at a lock of hair across her forehead. “Honey, we got more of those here than we can say grace over.”

I’m not sure this is a good thing, but at least I’ll feel at home.

 LOL Uh, yeah, not sure about that designation, but I'd offer them blessings, too. You can find out more about Deborah Coonts's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week - Cat Johnson

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This week Cat Johnson visits the blog. I met Cat in person at Authors After Dark in 2012 and I fangirled all over her. This woman not only writes awesome military romantic suspense, but she also writes sexy bull riders, and in the land of Frontier Days, this is a great thing. Cat is a self-styled promo-whore, but she loves talking with readers and other authors even more. Today I asked her one question about what in her real life inspires the heroes she writes.

BBTF: You write both bull riders and military men. Has anything in real life inspired you to write these heroes?

Cat: Definitely! In the course of my writing I find I get to 'talk', either online or in real life, with a lot of real life heroes in the professions I'm researching and writing. Whether it's a soldier deployed to Afghanistan, or a bull rider who invited me behind the chutes for an event, this one-on-one time with these men is enough to make them and their stories very real to me. That inspires me to use all of my writing ability and any information and details I can to make them feel real to my readers, as well.

Can I say I'm envious, Cat? You can find out more about Cat Johnson's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Cheryl Dragon

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This week Cheryl Dragon visits the blog. I met Cheryl in person at Authors After Dark in 2014 and she won my heart when she gave me a stress moose and told me about her Men of Alaska series. Cheryl writes some wonderful paranormal and menage romance. She also wrote M/M. Today I asked her one question about what she likes best about menage romance.

BBTF: You write tales often filled with ménage. What attracts you about the multiple partners aspect of romance?

Cheryl: Mmmmmm….lots of hot guys making a woman happy! That’s the short answer J I love writing gay romances as well and two men who love each other and a woman in common is hot! I started writing M/M/F erotic romances back in 2007.

But what’s better than two men and a woman?

Well, three men who love each other and a woman!! Or 4 men.

Ménage was almost blasé after a while so big ménage became the hotter thing. I wasn’t sure I could pull that off. That’s a lot of arms, legs, and other appendages to keep track of. But I gave it a try and found it worked.

Some people think ménage is tricky to write and for some reason, it’s always felt natural. Wish I had three hot guy to juggle in bed for real! But that’d be a lot of laundry, cooking. But more guys to do chores.

I can never decide if I’d like ménage in real life but I definitely love writing it!

You can find out more about Cheryl Dragon's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week - Nicola Cameron

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This week Nicola Cameron visits the blog. I met Nicola on Mid Week Tease when she seduced me with her sexy M/M romance snippets. She's an Evernight author as well and writes some fantastic science fiction and paranormal M/M romance. Today I asked her one question about what finally gave her the push to publish.

BBTF: You started publishing in 2012. How long have you been writing and what inspired you to get your work out there?

Nicola: I’ve been writing since I was a kid, and I’ve been a professional science fiction writer since 1995. I’ve always loved exploring sex and romance in my work, but there were limits to just how explicit I could get in regular SF which was something of a downer. When ebooks and paranormal erotic romance took off in such a big way I knew I had to get in on it, so in 2012 I sent in “Tied With a Bow” to Evernight Publishing for their Christmas anthology call (“Tied” was also the first non-speculative fiction story I’d written in about 30 years). Much to my delight they bought it for A Vanilla-Free Christmas: Manlove Edition, and that was the start of my erotic romance career. My experience as an SF writer is also why my first erotic romance novel Storm Season has nanotech, bioengineering, battle scenes, and Alan Turing in it as well as a sizzling MMM ménage romance. What can I say — I like to mix and match genres.

You can find out more about Nicola Cameron's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!  

Author of the Week - Kris Norris

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This week Kris Norris visits the blog. I met Kris at Authors After Dark in NOLA in 2012 and immediately fell for her charms. Not only was she funny and smart, but she'd flown helicopters as a Canadian military pilot. My hero! :D I'd actually read her books before I met her and already loved her voice, but she says I shouldn't listen to her sing. Kris writes some magnificent science fiction, fantasy, and shifter romance. All of it is suffused with Kris's attention to the humorous absurd and action/adventure. Today I asked her one question about how much of her own experience goes into her books.

BBTF: You write a lot of action adventure romance, both in the present and in the future. How much of your own personal experiences have you put into your writing?

Kris: Can I just say that I love this question? Mostly because it’s that moment when all that time I spend traipsing through the woods, up mountains and doing other, less typical sports, finally pays off. :)

So yes, there's a reason I love writing action-adventure books. And yes, it’s because I like to walk the walk, not just talk it. I suppose it started with the first book I wrote, which wasn’t the first one I published. Hard Target is actually the first book I ever wrote, though like many first books, it was also the one I revised the most. So it took a while before I actually put it out there.

But the heroine in that book, Taylor Austin, was based on a lot of things I was doing at the time. I was a commercial helicopter pilot, and I’d just climbed Mount Rainier with my brother and his partner, so I had a lot of ideas and energy just whirling around, wanting to escape. That’s when I realized I really wanted to try writing it all down and, well, Hard Target was the result.

I like to base my writing on experiences I’ve had because I feel it makes the writing more genuine and believable. Not that you get to try everything you every write down, but—I just think your scenes jump off the page more if you’ve actually had the opportunity to live what you’re relating. So, I try and experience a lot of the extreme sports if I can before I write about them. My second book published was Checkmate, and it’s about adventure racing. Well, seeing as I’d never done that before, I trained and entered a race once I’d decided it was going to be a central part of the story. And let’s just say I've run a dozen since then, including a seven-day mountain bike race through the Rocky Mountains a couple of years ago. I honestly never would have known about all the tiny ins and outs I got to put in the scenes if I hadn't actually done it. It's just the way I like to operate.

I also spent some time in the military, so yes, I've fired a gun and a rifle. I've been through basic training, done those stupid obstacle courses, had to survive maneuvers and being yelled at twenty-four seven. While it's not quite the same as being a federal agent or a marshal, per se, I do feel it at least gives me an insight to some of the inner workings of these careers—enough that I'm not completely pulling random stuff out of my…In addition, I ride horses and dirt bikes, have worked as a 911 operator and was even a boat captain once upon a time.

Okay, reading this it makes me sound very flighty. And while I do get easily distracted by shiny things—squirrel—I think it's just that before writing, I hadn't found that one career that satisfied me. I was always looking for the next, best thing. But being an author—it allows me to be a pilot and and cop. To climb mountains and kayak down rapids without having to change jobs. And I can go out and physically do these adventures, chalking them all up to research!

So, I think I've finally found my niche. I just hope others enjoy my books as much as I do writing them. Now if I could just find away to be a vampire and a shifter, preferably on another planet ruled by alpha men where it's like living in the old west, things would be perfect.

LOL okay, then, I'll put out the order today, Kris. :D You can find out more about Kris Norris's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Veronica Scott

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This week Veronica Scott visits the blog. I met Mardi online during Six Sentence Sunday that morphed into Weekend Writing Warriors. Veronica writes some magnificent science fiction and fantasy Egyptian romance. I truly appreciate that because I started out as a science fiction/fantasy reader and writer. Today I asked her one question about what grabs her most about ancient peoples.

BBTF: Many of your books contain ancient civilizations with a magical twist. What spurred you to write about these historical peoples?

Veronica: I grew up in a home with a huge library and parents who read all the time, which encouraged me to do the same. My Dad loved science fiction and my mother was into fiction and nonfiction about the ancient world, especially Egypt and Greece. So I grew up loving both genres but definitely leaning toward stories containing mysterious, mystical touches. I ate up the novels where cool things happened if the old gods – of Earth or out in the galaxy – got involved. I enjoy giving glimpses of mysteries that are so far in the past we can’t ever know anything for sure about them, even as my characters are affected for better or for worse, as in Escape From Zulaire. I love events that can’t be explained by any rational process because I believe they add spice to life. I always wanted to write romance novels about ancient Egypt, but couldn’t bring myself to do it without involving the gods as active participants. When I write my science fiction romances, I bring all the research I’ve done into Egypt’s past, and other ancient civilizations, plus that healthy imagination I developed as a kid, and I add touches of myth and mystery to the SF goings-on.

You can find out more about Veronica Scott's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week - Mardi Maxwell

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This week Mardi Maxwell visits the blog. I met Mardi online when she and connected about writing and promotional issues facing authors. She's a Siren author as well and writes cowboys and BDSM romance books. Today I asked her one question about what most inspires her writing.

BBTF: Writing is often a solitary exercise. What gets you most inspired to write?

Mardi: My books are standalone novels but my heroes are brothers so what gets me writing the next book in the series is the setup I do for it in the previous book. Knowing I’ve put in little tidbits of information here and there and now I have to explain their meaning gets me excited. Even when I’m writing one book my mind is on the next one in the series. I keep files of information on every character (their descriptions, habits, traits, etc), whether they were present during a scene or told about it later, what part they played, what they said, etc. I make notes next to the information concerning what their future part will be and how they will move the story forward in their book. Sometimes, well, okay most of the time my characters take over and tell their own story and they surprise even me. It’s amazing how the human brain works and how the research I’ve done will pop up out of the blue and connect the dots in ways that surprise even me. I love it when that happens and it’s those times that I find writing the most rewarding. I hope it’s those times that make you go “wow” and laugh or cry or feel happy you picked up one of my books.

You can find out more about Mardi Maxwell's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Donna Michaels

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This week Donna Michaels visits the blog. I met Donna in person after the RNConvention in Las Vegas in 2013. We discussed writing conferences and book promotion while recovering from the latest conference. They take a lot out of attendees, mostly from information overload. Donna writes contemporary romance featuring heroes who are both cowboys and military personnel. Today I asked her one question about what attracted her most about their qualities.

BBTF: Many of your heroes are both cowboy and military. What attracts you most about heroes with those qualities?

Donna: There are several things that attract me to military and cowboy heroes. They live by a code of honor, which is usually strict and unreasonable, and I love to have the heroine make the hero break his own rules :). My heroes also sacrifice for family/friends and country, and I truly love a tortured hero who lives hard and loves harder.

Those are definitely good qualities, Donna. And happy release day! You can find out more about Donna Michaels's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week - Hunter Frost

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This week Hunter Frost visits the blog. I met Hunter in #ThursThreads #flashfiction challenge when she came to write for a special Valentine's Month of Love event in February 2014. I was struck with Hunter's writing style and voice, and was thrilled to find out she lived in Las Vegas like me. Except I moved before we could connect in person. :( Hunter writes sexy M/M romance set in contemporary times. Today I asked her one question about why and how she chose her pen name.

BBTF: You write m/m romance. What first interested you in the genre and how did you get started?

Hunter: Since I love to read m/f romance, I often scour bookseller websites for new and interesting titles. During one of my searches I happened upon a historical western romance. Reading the blurb, I quickly found the story featured two men as the main couple. I was in shock. Not because gay romance novels existed, but that I had no idea they did and had never come across them in my twenty-five years of reading romance. I felt cheated and utterly naïve. A whole other beautiful, erotic, and deeply emotional world had been kept from me all those years. I was not about to be kept in the dark for long. That story led me to seek out a plethora of others. Soon I had completely immersed myself in the works of a healthy variety of m/m authors. I completely fell in love with the genre.

I knew I wanted to write stories like these, but where did I start? Well, I read everything I could find on the craft of m/m romance - mostly blogs and articles written by authors I already had the pleasure of reading. Honestly, m/m writing isn’t much different than m/f writing - the mechanics and structure remain the same - but there are minor issues that require research and experts. Somehow I got the courage to contact my favorite authors in the genre and ask them for advice. I was astounded by their responses and their generosity. The m/m romance community is filled with some of the kindest people I know, and I credit my first publication to their support. From there, I keep looking forward and meeting new people who write romance of all kinds and I’m proud to be able to participate in such a diverse community. Thank you, Siobhan, for allowing me the opportunity to share part of my experience with your readers.

Diversity is the spice of life, I agree. Great choice, Hunter. :) You can find out more about Hunter Frost's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Karen Mercury

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This week Karen Mercury visits the blog. I met Karen in person at a get together for Siren authors in Las Vegas in 2013. Karen and I talked dogs, writing, and number of books per year over dinner, and had a nice time. Karen writes hot menage for Siren, but she has also started writing some hot biker romance under another pen name. Today I asked her one question about why and how she chose her pen name.

BBTF: You have two author names. What made you choose another pen name and what genre(s) do you write with it?

Karen: When it was time to choose a pen name for my new motorcycle romance series THE BARE BONES, it suddenly hit me. I wanted to go with Layla Wolfe. As teens, my sister and I would hang in her bedroom smoking weed and taking turns writing “books.” These books were thinly-disguised versions of our real life. In other words, turmoil, drugs, drama, violence, illegal stuff, motorcycles, muscle cars, and more drugs.

My sister’s fake name was Layla Wolfe. I was Shelda Minor. Layla and Shelda would “jam it down the highway” in their Chevelles, Harleys, and SuperSports while outrunning the cops. They jammed it over the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, into the slums of Oakland and Richmond, selling drugs, getting busted, and rumbling, while being super-cool hard chicks, of course.

Layla Wolfe sounded cooler than Shelda Minor, so I went with that. ;)
 
You're right, Layla Wolfe does sound cooler than Shelda. Great choice. :) You can find out more about Layla Wolfe's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week - Andrew Grey

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This week Andrew Grey visits the blog. I met Andrew in person at Authors After Dark in New Orleans in 2012, and connected with his compassionate and down-to-earth personality. Andrew writes just about everything M/M, but he has a gift for heart-felt, sexy and sensual romance with dramatic background stories. Today I asked him one question about how he got started writing romance.

BBTF: The romance genre is often dominated by female authors. What got you into writing the genre?

Andrew: My mother read them all the while I was growing up and I have to admit I sort of made fun of it until I started reading gay romance when I was trying to get into shape a number of years ago. I wanted something light and sexy to read on the treadmill. They were fun, light, hot, and gave me something in gay stories that I had rarely seen before. A happy ending. The gay stories I grew up with were either satirical and stereotypical or simple tragic. After reading them for a while, I got an idea and decided to try writing one. I actually accomplished my first manuscript in about two months and told no one until it was half way completed. I firmly believe that everyone should see themselves in a story and I think writing romance is my way of showing that people like me can find love.

I think you're right, Andrew. You can find out more about Andrew Grey's books on his website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Ann Mayburn

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This week Ann Mayburn visits the blog. I met Ann in person at Authors After Dark in New Orleans in 2012, and fell in love with her forthright, no-nonsense humor immediately. Ann writes just about everything, but she has a gift for BDSM romance in both contemporary and paranormal settings. Today I asked her one question about how she budgets her time with family.

BBTF: You put out a great deal of work each year. How do you balance your writing time with your family time?

Ann: Not easily. Either the house is dirty and the book gets worked on, or the house is clean yet I got 0 word count in. :P I've found the best I can do is balance between the two, clean when my muse is on strike, write when she won't shut the hell up. There is constant clutter, something always needs to be cleaned, but I manage to play in my worlds and throw video games at my kids so it all works out. ;)

Somehow that sounds a lot like my house, Ann. :D You can find out more about Ann Mayburn's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Draven St. James

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This week Draven St. James visits the blog. I met almost met on Facebook and we share a love (and origin) in the Pacific Northwest. Draven writes erotic male/male romance in both contemporary and paranormal settings. Today I asked her one question about how she .

BBTF: You write M/M romance. What's your favorite subgenre and what techniques do you use to get into the best place where your stories flow?

Draven: My personal favorite for a genre within m/m romance would be contemporary with paranormal as a close second. Generally to get into the mood to write I listen to music. It helps that I can pick songs to go with the mood of the scene I'm working on. At the end being able to read the scene and feel those emotions reflected in the same way they are in music is fantastic. I think the stories overall flow just develops because I let the characters lead the way. I start a book with a rough outline from beginning to end and then let myself go. With every book I've written, as the characters have moved through the scenes, the book and how it gets from A to Z always changes.

You can find out more about Draven St. James's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Lila Shaw

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This week Lila Shaw visits the blog. I met almost met in person in Las Vegas when she'd come into town for a work conference. Unfortunately, she wasn't staying long enough for me to come and see her. But we've visited a lot online and we share a love of hairy me (Teddy Bear Thursdays are our favorites). Lila has a couple of pen names, but she writes contemporary and paranormal romances laced with humor. Today I asked her one question about where she gets her inspiration.

BBTF: Many of your books have a deep thread of humor through them. Where do you find the inspiration for those scenes?

Lila: Where do I find inspiration for humor? I feel like I should answer this question with a joke. So, let's start there.

First of all, I don't go looking for Humor, because if I look for it, I never find it. I don't know where it lives or what its favorite color is. I don't know if it loves, has a family or any friends.

Truth is, it finds me, and not always at the best times or places. It waits for me after school on the playground in torn jeans and a tshirt bearing an inappropriate saying. It wears too much eyeliner and garish red lipstick and doesn't care if its bra strap hangs out the sleeve. It has no discipline, no goals or ambitions. It's the sexy siren from the wrong side of the tracks a man will happily get horizontal with but will never marry.

Because marrying Humor means welcoming her family into the mix, inviting the pain, humiliation, impotence and suppressed aggression that birthed her. Humor is a cowardly prostitute. Rather than saying, "Hey! Look at me! I'm [angry] [sad] [depressed] [frustrated] [embarrassed] and I need your attention, your love," she offers you a joke for a laugh, a chuckle, a smile.

Now, I'll answer more seriously or less seriously, depending on your perspective. Where do I find inspiration for humor?

Everywhere.

I grew up silly. I have a silly mother, sister, cousins and husband. I like to hang around silly people. I love the ridiculous and thrive on innuendo. When I was young my cousins and I would covertly pull down the underpants on male underwear mannequins and then run and hide. We drew faces on watermelons in supermarkets.  We threw chicken skins on passing cars at night. I hid SOS messages in the mouths of the dissection-destined frogs in biology. I sweet-talked my male college friends into being my makeup models. (Why they let me remains a mystery.) My mother and I defaced more Sears catalogs than we used for placing orders. I do voiceovers for my dog, trying my darndest to make my husband laugh at "her" wit. I text my son funny selfies when he's been out too long with his friends. He shares them, which gives me hope that one day he'll be just as silly as his mom.

Truth is, I may be growing older--putting my kids through college while biting my nails that I don't lose my job before I can retire--but I refuse to grow up. The world can be a pretty shitty place, but as long as there is something to laugh about, it's not only bearable, but enjoyable.

I don't know about you, but I prefer laughter over tears, though if I have to cry, let the tears be ones of uncontrollable mirth. I'd rather write stories that make readers laugh than cry. I doubt I'll ever write anything like The Fault in Our Stars. Why the hell would I? I'd surely screw it up by having the nurse fart during a chemo session, anything to break up the tension, but in doing so, I'd surely ruin the book.

But real life is a book begging to be "ruined" with laughter, don't you think?

I do.

I do, too, Lila. :) You can find out more about Lila Shaw's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week: J.T. Schultz

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This week JT Schultz visits the blog. I met JT in person at the Golden Nugget Casino in 2013 and we talked about Hollywood, movie rights, and romance conferences. Since then, I've visited with her online and she recently moved to Las Vegas to be closer to other authors and the growing book scene. JT writes cowboy and contemporary romances. Today I asked her one question about how being in the movie business has influenced her writing.

BBTF: You have a connection to the movie studios. How has that influenced your writing and promotion?

JT: I don't have connections to the studios as per-say, currently, I am wrapping up a deal, where a movie slate of movies is getting financed. As far as the influence on my writing and promotion, interestingly enough the movies involved in the slate are based on a couple of my books that will be out in the coming months.

I can definitely say, writing is a business, and for success it needs to be treated like a job (even though I love it) it requires effort and dedication. Another influence on my writing is I can't see me doing a book on Hollywood anytime soon. I know a lot of people in the industry...the last thing I would need is for them to think the book was about them or someone they know.

I'd say that's a wise choice, JT. :) You can find out more about JT Schultz's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week: Marla Monroe

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This week Marla Monroe visits the blog. I met Marla in person at Hot Mojave Knights 2013 and had a marvelous time talking to her. Since then, I've visited with her online as we're both authors with Siren Publishing, and I met with her last month for a writing retreat. I think we did more talking than writing, but she's so personable and down-to-earth, she's easy to talk to. Marla writes paranormal and contemporary romance often with menage and BDSM themes. Today I asked her one question about how she balances writing and family.

BBTF: You write a lot of books with BDSM qualities to them. What attracted you to the lifestyle enough to put it into writing?

Marla: I wanted to get across the emphasis on safety and the basic facts and reasoning behind the lifestyle. There are varying degrees of BDSM from teasing bedroom play to a serious, contracted 24/7 relationship defined and agreed on by two or more people. The one thing that most people get wrong about all of it is that the Dom or top doesn’t control the sub, bottom, or slave. It’s a power exchange or it is abuse. The sub, bottom, or slave has to allow the Dom or top the power over them. They put their pleasure, pain, control, and trust in their partner.

Another thing that I wanted to get across is that it’s not all about the Dom exerting control either. It’s about his ability to sense and understand what his partner needs and providing it. He/She will push the boundaries without ever crossing them. They strive to provide the best experience possible and have to be experts on body language and control.

That is something very few people realize, too. If they can’t discipline themselves to be able to go only so far and adhere to the agreed boundaries, then they are not trained or safe to work with. They have to be able to know when the sub/bottom is in trouble. They have to watch for all signs that something might not be quite right. They are vigilant in making sure the person they are responsible for is safe and not so caught up in everything as to not be able to make a safe decision or able to use their safe word or safe gesture.

I wanted to be sure my readers knew the difference between a Dom and an asshole, the difference between safe play and abuse and what to watch out for. It’s dangerous to play around with this and I’m afraid that there are a lot of people out there without a clue are making dangerous decisions. In my own way, I want to help them think and at the same time, provide the knowledge that it’s not all bad. In fact, it can be damn good with the right partner!

You can find out more about Marla Monroe's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week: Doris O'Connor

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This week Doris O'Connor visits the blog. I met Doris online at Evernight and Siren Publishing, and she has visited my #ThursThreads #flashfiction challenge several times. Doris writes everything from contemporary romance to science fiction fantasy romance and usually with a fair amount of sexy action. Today I asked her one question about how she balances writing and family.

BBTF: You write several books a year. How do you find time for writing and still keep up with your large family?

Doris: Ah, you know that old saying… want something done; give it to a busy person to do? Yeah, that kinda applies to me. It also helps that I’ve become an expert at multitasking over the years, and that I have a very understanding and supportive husband. After nine babies I can also survive on very little sleep.

The bulk of my writing gets done when the kids are asleep, late at night, during the toddler’s nap, and at the weekend. Hubby fields the kids, so that I can get some uninterrupted writing time. I set myself a minimum word count goal of 2K a day when I’m writing a story. Invariably I’ll exceed that, because I only write when my characters are screaming at me, and then my fingers fly, and I cannot stop writing.

Those are the days I’m tapping away while cooking the dinner for my brood, and write sex scenes while sorting out sibling squabbles, lol.

On the whole I prefer peace and quiet when writing, though. Hence the late nights and lack of sleep, because, let’s face it. Only time they’re quiet is when they’re asleep, and then they snore, sleep walk, talk in their sleep, or the teens come in to have a 2.00 am feast.

You get the idea ;-)

Somehow it works. I try not to overthink it, and just listen to my characters. All I do know is that I get decidedly grumpy, when I haven’t managed to write for a few days… Hmm, maybe that’s why hubby tells me go off and write, huh. Well, that and the research he likes to help with. *sniggers*

Thanks for having me on your blog today!

You can find out more about Doris O'Connor's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week: Clair de Lune

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This week Clair de Lune visits the blog. I met Clair online when she contacted me through Siren Publishing to find out some promotional tricks. Clair has since written many books with the paranormal and BDSM flavors. Today I asked her one question about the art form of Kinbaku and how it came into her writing.

BBTF: You often post images of rope work in your FB page. How has that art form found its way into your writing?

Clair: When I first became interested in writing BDSM I listened to Gray Dancer's Ropecasts. On a few of them Master "K" spoke about Kinbaku and his books "The Art of Kinbaku." The interviews were very interesting and his voice was very easy to listen to. I bought his book and loved it.

By this time I was beginning to write "Catriona's Golden Angel," and I needed some information, in order to get the Kinbaku scenes right, so I emailed Master "K." He replied at once with all the information I needed. Since then we have become friends and he's kind enough not only to answer any questions I had but also to proof read my Kinbaku scenes.

His book was translated into Japanese, a singular, and well-deserved honour for a Westerner writing about such a very Japanese subject. He went to Japan for the book launch and was kind enough to write an article for my website on his return. You can find it on www.clairdelunebooks.co.uk. You are very welcome to leave comments.

That is a great honor, Clair! Congratulations.

You can find out more about Clair de Lune's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week: Erzabet Bishop

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This week Ezabet Bishop visits the blog. I met Ezabet online when we both realized we each had a book about Beltane published. Erzabet is far more diverse in her writing than I am and it shows in all the many genres where she finds stories. Today I asked her one question about which one is her favorite.

BBTF: You write in multiple genres and formats. What is your current favorite genre and format (short story, novel, CYOA, screenplay)?

Erzabet: Thanks for having me. That’s a tough one. Under my pen name (Erzabet) I write erotica and under my other nom de plume I write young adult, children’s literature and horror.

I can’t really list a favorite genre. They are all a part of me as a writer. The erotica side does give me a lot of freedom to explore things I wouldn’t normally get experience in my day to day world, so that is a lot of fun for me.

Young adult is something I have loved for years and am in the middle of two novels. Only recently have they begun to gel into something that is going to come to fruition. When I first started them ten years ago, I jumped into the act of novel writing completely blind and didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I got lost in the forest and couldn’t see the trees. Now after working on several shorter works of fiction, the process is less frightening and a lot more rewarding.

For children’s works, I have recently completed a CYOA for the Ghostsniffers group. They are run by Angels of Anarchy, who is the publisher of the series I write for. I really like the entire concept. Ghostsniffers takes kids with disabilities and makes them action heroes. They really are and getting the chance to take on the role for the CYOA novel was one I really enjoyed.

For the adult side of the house, I am working in several formats.

*Choose your own erotic adventure-Silkwords has a unique website where you can join and read all the stories you want. There’s a new one out every week and every one of them is a CYOA. Mine tend to be a little more on the erotic side and I just signed a contract for a new vacation style adventure that is sure to curl some toes.

*Serial fiction-Club Rook is a new series by Angels of Anarchy. It is centered on a lesbian night club with some paranormal influences. Think Buffy meets Lost Girl and you have it. I play two characters-Shanti (a witch) and Heather (dominatrix, musician). Every week for twelve weeks there is a new episode. The series is hot and full of intrigue and lots of witchery. Oh…and let’s not forget how hot it is. Just sayin. A new episode goes live with a video and MP3 every Monday.

*Novella-My new novella Sigil Fire will be out from Ylva on June 11. This story originally began as an entry for the Halloween anthology last year and has morphed into a much larger project. It will be a series and I am already at work on the next one. It features a succubus and a blood witch turned vampire fighting against an enemy as old as time. It is a sexy urban fantasy with cover art that will knock your socks off.

*Short fiction-This year finds me in several Cleis and Ladylit anthologies. I love short fiction for the burst of passion and opportunity to give a window into the lives of some pretty steamy characters. Slave Girls in particular has done very well so far. Bossy has just been released and with more to come in the summer months. Many of these feature BDSM style elements and a good many are f/f or m/f pairings depending on the theme of the anthology. I am also writing for the Unbound website and you can find some free m/f pairings that are sure to heat up your reading time.

*Self-publishing-I have begun a series with the authors of Rhavensfyre. It is called Elemental Passions and features a host of Goddess energy and mythology. The first book features two stories, one from each of us. Mine is called Pomegranate and will be the first in a grouping with twisted myths and a war with the Fae. They are both wonderful stories. Rhavensfyre has a knack for digging out deep emotional scenes and making you linger there. Mine are a little more on the sexy side and this one sort of morphed into an epic fantasy with a life of its own. Stay tuned for more in this line.

You can find out more about Erzabet Bishop's multitude of projects and genres on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Something for everyone here. Happy reading!

Author of the Week: Dianne Hartsock

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This week Dianne Hartsock visits the blog. I met Dianne online at Six Sentence Sunday and found her writing to be heartfelt (makes sense, doesn't it?) and endearing. I wanted to know more about the characters, what they did to succeed in their love, and where she would take them. Today I asked her one question about how her muse became in engaged in her genre.

BBTF: You write heartfelt M/M romance in different genres. What about M/M romance captured your heart and your muse?

Dianne: I read my first m/m erotic romance about four years ago, and oh my! I was enchanted. I read pretty much every genre under the sun, but there's just something about two men falling into each other's arms and hearts that fascinates me, makes my pulse pound in my veins.

But I never thought to write an erotic romance story of my own until I attended an online conference for writers several years ago hosted by Muse it Up Publishing. One of the writers there, Jamieson Wolf, held a series of lectures called 'Riding the Lightning'. Did I say lectures? Definitely not! More like a slow seduction, coaxing and teasing us with the delights of writing male on male love.

More than this, Jamieson literally challenged us to write an m/m romance. And a tiny voice inside me whispered, why not? Go ahead. Imagine that strong body shiver under your hand. Feel the texture of his skin, the contours of hard muscles. Write that down.

Now go that one step further, add that bit of naughtiness by having it be two men in this room. See! For whatever reason, this image makes my heart jump and race. Go on, says the impish voice in my head, slide your hand down that sexy body. And if you write it as if your character is another male doing this, wouldn't you feel that slide as if it were on your own body? You would know the delicious pleasure of being rubbed and squeezed, the slow lick of a tongue. You'd want to give that pleasure to your lover. Write that down.

And this is why I write m/m romance! I start with my two men undressing and touching and kissing, one thing leading to another in a hot sensual dance, leading to climax. I love stretching my writing skills, imagining their movements and capturing every touch and emotion and position on the page. Love is Love! And I love writing about it.

Thank you so much for having me as your guest today Siobhan!

Oh, you write so delicious, Dianne! :D

You can find out more about Dianne Hartsock's sexy, seductive, and very male characters on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week: Moira Keith

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This week Moira Keith visits the blog. I met Moira at my kids' school while she read something on a Kindle. When I asked her what she was reading (hoping to find a new fan), she said she was reading her own work, looking for formatting errors and typos. It was such a delight to find another romance author in town. Today I asked her one question about art and writing.

BBTF: In your bio it says you enjoy drawing. How has art influenced your writing?

Moira: I find myself giving my heroines a hobby that allows me to incorporate art. For example in Blood and Moonlight, me heroine, Kiara, draws it helps her focus her mind while she puzzles out problems, but she also paints, and owns an arts and antiquities business. In Anything but Safe, my heroine, Cheyenne, loved photography and painting until she let the ugliness she'd suffered in her life bleed out onto the canvas. I like being able to take something that I love and apply it to my characters in some way. It helps me feel more connected to them on some level.

You can find out more about Moira Keith's sexy and artsy characters on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan 

Author of the Week: Nara Malone

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This week Nara Malone visits the blog. I met Nara when I read her BDSM tale The Dungeon Gourmet and messaged her on Facebook to find out if there was another one coming. Mr. SM and I also tried out her Baked Peach Ice Cream recipe and it was divine. Nara eventually invited me to join her in her online community in OpenSim. Today I asked her one question about virtual worlds and writing.

BBTF: You have a strong connection to the virtual reality community. What is it about virtual worlds that appeals to you and how does that translate into your writing?

Nara: Virtual reality is fiction and nonfiction in three dimensions. It is a simulation. It can simulate a laboratory where theories and prototypes can be tested. It can simulate a work environment where participants scattered around the globe can come together and work on projects. But mostly it is a place where artists, musicians, writers, engineers, builders, programmers come to create what has never been created. I think a virtual community is a good look at the personalities you would find in an early colony--the explorers, rugged individualists, adventurers, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, and storytellers. These are the folks who always push boundaries and explore new frontiers. They were the ones that explored earth's continents, expanding the boundaries of civilization. They are the ones who launched the digital age and have started the colonization of inner space. They are the ones who'll be populating the first space colonies.

As an author, this is a crowd I love to hang with--they inspire a million ideas. As a lover of fiction, how can I resist exploring the fantastic simulations they build of fictional and real world settings?  Virtuality encourages you to be more and then gives you the tools to do it. And just like reading a book, I walk away from that experience a different person from the one who walked into it.

The best way to make a decision about the value of a new frontier is to go exploring. You can find instructions to get into the colony I've been building with authors, artists, and musicians here.

[Link for colony instructions]

If you'd rather do that through a book first, you might like to read Snatch Me, a story about a virtual world romance. My newest release, Make Me Wet is not about a virtual world but I built the setting from the story on my virtual world of Nara’s Nook and wrote the book while I sat at my virtual desk and typed at on a pixel computer. I loved the idea that I could sit down to work in a virtual world and make something real.

You can find out more about Nara Malone's magical and virtual worlds on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan

Author of the Week: Nichole Severn

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This week Nichole Severn visits the blog. I met Nichole in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Romance Writers. She and I were the youngest members at the meeting and we started talking writing, family, and movies. We became friends over the years we attended the monthly meetings and now she's one of my best critique partners. Today I asked her one question about her choice of heroes in her tales.

BBTF: You often write unusual heroes and heroines, even serial killers and demons. What truly brings them to life in your imagination and makes them loveable for you?

Nichole: I have a soft spot for bad guys. Always have, even as a child watching Disney movies. Maybe it's because I feel bad for them and want to understand what they're going through to make them hate the world so much. I'm always trying to imagine what brought my serial killer or demon to that point in their life, what heartbreaking choices they had to make. Sometimes it's psychological trauma like in Let Me Out, or a choice to give up their future for the greater good to end up as a demon like in my current work in progress. Either way, their stories are often untold and I'm trying to change that.

Janet Reid from Fineprint Literary Management said it best, "Your antagonist has to think he's the hero of the story or your story is boring." I take this to a new level by actually putting what other authors would consider antagonists as heroes in my stories. I realized a long time ago not everything in romance has to be a fairy tale. People have flaws. They make mistakes and sometimes, they even do it for the right reasons. That's what makes my characters loveable for me, the reasons behind their choices, and with that I believe I'm giving readers something new.

You can find out more about Nichole Severn's flawed and original characters on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan

Author of the Week: Bronwyn Green

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This week Bronwyn Green visits the blog. I met Bronwyn in New Orleans at Authors After Dark when Kris Norris invited me to go to dinner with her and some friends. Bronwyn is one of the most generous and kind women I've ever met. She is so kind she made me some hand warmers when my fingers got cold in the (mild) Las Vegas winter. Today I asked her one question about her favorite aspects of paranormal romance.

BBTF: What is your favorite aspects of the paranormal genre and how do you incorporate them into your writing?

Bronwyn: My favorite aspects of writing paranormal fiction isn't necessarily a particular kind of creatures or even sub-genres. What I love best is when the magical crashes headlong into the mundane. I try very hard to blend the supernatural with every day life. When readers finish a book, I want them to look side-eyed at an abandoned school house and wonder if there are ghosts inside. I want them to notice a particularly beautiful grove of trees and imagine just for a moment that there are faeries lurking within -- or notice a super hot guy and wonder if he might be a shifter or a god in human form. That's what I like best. And when readers tell me about these moments, it makes me really happy. But if pressed, I'd have to say that my favorite elements are witches/magic users, faeries and shifters.

You can find out more about Bronwyn Green's magical paranormal romance on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan

Author of the Week: Gem Sivad

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This week Gem Sivad visits. I met Gem online after she teased me with her Six Sentence Sunday snippets of one of her western books, River's Edge. Her writing style sucks you in and paints an amazing panorama of the historical western world without taking you out of your chair. Today I asked her one question about historical romance and why attracted her.

BBTF: Western Romance has been known as a field of "bodice rippers". What attracted you to writing in the genre and what makes yours different from the usual corral-stroll?

Gem: Uhh…I don’t know how I measure up next to other western romance authors. :) My “cowboy” titles are American Historical novels, set in the time period between 1860 and 1897. Research for this era is pretty interesting since I spend a lot of time reading about rigid social rules and interesting sexual mores.

For example, during the second half of the nineteenth century, although war, banking scandals, depression, and fraud precipitated social migration from the eastern half of the country to the western, nothing caused more social upheaval than the invention of the rubber condom.

The readily available, mass produced sheath, allowed families the freedom to control the number of children they’d have. Condoms prevented disease, pregnancy, and by extension, fewer women dying in childbirth.What’s not to like about that? Evidently, plenty.

To quell these insidious ideas, the United States government passed The Comstock Act in 1873, labeling contraceptive devices and educational health-related materials to be pornographic.  Of course, condoms didn’t fall out of use. Instead, French Letters, as they were named, were avidly traded and sold illegally. Okay, okay, I’ll stop with the history lesson. ;)

My stories are steamy, often erotic, adventures where my heroines live in the moment, survive by their wits, and do (occasionally) engage in some corral strolling. I can confirm that more than a few bodices (and pantalettes) have been removed, but not ripped because cloth material in the 19^th century was too expensive to be destroyed. ;)

I’ve listed my western romance titles with each central conflict identified.

Marriage–Perfect Strangers

Divorce—Pinch of Naughty

Career Dilemma—Trouble in Disguise

Interracial Love—Wolf’s Tender

Surviving Domestic Abuse—Breed True

Second Chances—Five Card Stud

Courtship—River’s Edge

Inheritance Issues—Outrageous Pride

The Independent Woman—Cerise Amour

Comparing the above conflicts with present day social concerns, the truth of French novelist, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s epigram is clear—"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose —the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Thanks for letting me share a little whimsy with you today! My newest title, Cerise Amour will be available April 10^th. Until then, I hope you’ll visit my website and check out the rest of my books. Or stop by my blog on Sundays to say hello and sample a snippet from my current work.

Much thanks to the creative geniuses of Buy a Book Tell a Friend for inviting me today. And I’d also like to say to readers who might be stopping by, ‘Nice meeting you and thank you for all your support.’

Thanks so much for stopping buy. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week: Kathryn Le Veque

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This week Kathryn Le Veque visits. I met the Kathryn at Hot Mojave Knights Romance Reader event in 2013, and was struck by both her delightful smile and her confident presence. Kathryn writes sexy, powerful, and sultry Medieval romance. Today I asked her one question about what made choose to write in that time period.

BBTF: What about the medieval period attracted you the most to put it into romantic stories?

Kathryn: The Medieval period has always been such a fascinating time to me because it was when Mankind was emerging from the Dark Ages and trying to organize a ‘civilized’ society. It was hit and miss, to be sure, and I think it’s also fascinating because there was such a brutality and edginess to it – case and point – knights and their role in society. They were the rock stars of their era, men who had gone through very rigorous training in order to achieve their posts. They were the cops, the judge, and sometimes the jury in situations of law and order. They were the executioners. Sometimes they were also the bankers – dispensing loans, transporting money, collecting debts, that kind of thing. They were teachers and priests... and, oh yeah, they fought on the field of battle under conditions that were brutal even by today's standards. I don’t think there was ever a point in our history where one man, one station/title, did so much. Chivalry and courtly love were only a very, very small part of what knights represented, so it’s into this chasm of society that I center my novels. Knights, and consequently the Medieval period, were pretty interesting!

You can find out more about Kathryn Le Veque's sultry Medieval romance on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan 

Author of the Week: Sage Marlowe

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This week Sage Marlowe visits. I met the Sage online at Siren Publishing and Facebook, and had him visit my blog. Turns out Sage and I started publishing about the same time, though he seemed much more confident and accomplished than me, and we were both stay-at-home parents pulling double duty as writers. Sage writes sexy and eloquent paranormal M/M romance. Today I asked him one question about what made him take the next step in being a full time author.

BBTF: Most people get hired for jobs on the premise that they'll produce something. Writing is one of the few careers where you must produce something before you get hired. What gave you the courage to start writing full time?

Sage: What gave me the courage to start writing full time were, in short, the wonderful people who buy my books. After almost two years as a published author, I am now in the very fortunate position to make a living with my writing and translations.

The decision to start writing full time as such was almost accidental. I started writing just for fun four years ago but it wasn’t until I became a stay-at-home parent that I thought I’d give publishing a try. For the past two years, writing has been my only source of income and there have been tough times because my family depends on the money I make. Last month I had to decide whether to go back to my old employer where I would have had to do a different job than the one I used to do—or to stay at home as a self-employed author / translator / editor.

This has been my dream job for as long as I can think and I’m incredibly grateful that this dream has finally come true.

You can find out more about Sage Marlowe's erotic, paranormal, M/M romance on his website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan 

Author(s) of the Week: Adriana Kraft

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This week Adriana Kraft visits. I met the writing team of Adriana Kraft in 2013 at the Hot Mojave Knights Romance Reader Event here in Vegas and had such a wonderful time having frank discussions about life, romance, and the balance of writing with a husband and wife team. They write erotic romance set in the real world. Today I asked them one question about how writing has affected their own relationship.

BBTF: As a husband-and-wife writing team, how has writing together strengthened your connection as spouses?

You’ll notice there’s an assumption embedded in the question – Siobhan assumes the impact of our joint writing efforts has improved our relationship rather than stirred up troubled waters…

In the beginning, it was not so! Any partners who want to stay together over the long haul have to learn how they’re going to handle conflict productively: which things to go to battle over, how to broach the subject when differences are tender, when to recognize the deep tendrils of issues buried in past history and let something go, how to reconnect when feelings are raw and wounded.

We’ve been married thirty-four years, and we’ve been writing together (or trying to) for nearly half that time. Getting started wasn’t pretty. I had a long standing pattern of doing pretty much anything to avoid conflict, and hubs – well, he’d learned to shut things down and tough it out in order to survive. I think we both agonized over how to give each other useful feedback and how to receive it. I know in the beginning, I wasn’t very constructive (destructive, more accurately), and it took a while for both of us to dare start over. It would have been easy to derail our entire fiction writing enterprise before it even began, and we came pretty close.

What’s interesting is that at that stage, what helps writers helped us: research, workshops, beta readers, and critique groups. It was easier, in the beginning, for both of us to receive feedback from outsiders. We read some marvelous books (Michael Seidman’s The Complete Guide to Edition your Fiction and William Noble’s Shut Up, He Explained), joined RWA, took excellent workshops (Pat Schneider, Jennifer Crusie), and learned from others what we needed to do to improve our fiction.

I’m a family therapist (in another lifetime), and systems theory tells us any living system will die if it shuts itself down from outside input. Remaining open was our lifeline during that phase. It certainly gave us language and perspective for tackling disagreements (over fiction, or over anything else, actually).

What we finally learned, about the time our work started getting published, was that those “disagreements” often rose out of problems our characters were having. We’re quite convinced our characters have a life on the other side of some veil we can’t see through – they challenge us when we’ve misunderstood them, and the trouble manifests in our relationship. We have to stop and connect with the characters to sort it out. We think that deepens our story lines and helps readers bond with our characters, so it’s all good: what helps the characters and the stories helps us. At this point, sometimes, it’s hard to know the difference!

One more thing… Siobhan knows we primarily write erotic romance. Do you suppose that’s the angle she wanted us to talk about? I’m not going to share any great personal details here, but I’ll just say that the enterprise of creating story arcs with lots of hot sex scenes and crafting the characters who populate them has definitely kept us invested in learning about sex, talking about things sexual, and keeping the libido going. It’s a win-win, and we write an occasional blog column called Stay Sexy to share some of what we learn.

So, um, yeah – writing romantic suspense and erotic romance together is a big positive at our house-on-wheels. I love my life.

You can find out more about Adriana Krafts's hot, erotic contemporary romance on their website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan

Author of the Week: Maureen O. Betita

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This week Maureen O. Betita visits. I met Maureen in 2011 at the Erotic Authors Association conference here in Vegas and I loved the idea of a magical world with pirates without the scurvy. She writes fun and tongue-in-cheek sci-fi/fantasy romance and action/adventure. Today I asked her one question about blending fantasy with reality.

BBTF: Many people have a pirate fantasy, but real pirates aren't the ideal. Where do you think the fantasy comes from and how do you make your pirates the ideal?

Where does this fantasy come from? The same place the idea that everyone in a medieval castle is warm, that a highland hut would be vermin free, that a homestead in the wild, wild west could be kept clean of dust... Hollywood. And, to a certain extent, writers. Legends and folk tales never mentioned stink, dirt, vermin, starving, teeth falling out... And then Hollywood came along and continued the tradition.

In other words, it's not my fault.

How do I make my pirates the ideal? Well, I cheat. I follow what I consider the pirate code and I cheat. I don't write historically accurate pirate stories. In my series, The Kraken's Caribbean, there are modern conveniences in the Caribbean, despite it being the late 1690s, because travelers from the future have brought things that help. Like...ice machines. A substance tossed into the privy which eats human waste. A thread woven into every banner and sail and line called solar thread...which powers all the toys that fell through time. Like Ipods, blenders and speakers for when the band plays at the bar.

In my BIG series (30 books/1 couple), now known as Forever A Pirate, one of two main characters is a witch with several nice spells. The vermin free spell is a favorite. She also has a bag of healing spells she uses and, to be quite frank, her Caribbean is simply more aware of things like sweat and stink and...they wash more! I also made the Caribbean much more fruitful...more produce available and fresh water wells everywhere.

It's all fantasy, because let's face it, no one wants to imagine living with vermin, starving to death, teeth falling out...etc. Where does it come from? We all want freedom, we want to run away to someplace less complicated, full of color and fresh air and hot men... It's there because it's what they want. The readers want fantasy, not reality. I try to deliver what they want. And what I want, because I am my favorite reader. If I don't love what I write, why would anyone else?

So, for vermin free pirate ships, all the fresh water you want, feasts on the beach, dancing on the deck, hot men and women...visit my worlds.

You can find out more about Maureen's hot, sexy fantasy pirates on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan 

Author of the Week: Karla Doyle

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This week Karla Doyle visits. I met Karla on Six Sentence Sunday when she offered snippets of her book More Than Words. Oh my glory, I howled with laughter at the witty and humorous dialog, and fanned myself in her hot sex scenes. Karla writes hot, sexy contemporary romance and has won me over every time. Today I asked her one question about reading and writing.

BBTF: What do you like most about reading and how does it affect your writing?

Karla: My favorite thing about reading is becoming immersed in a world I didn't create, and therefore, can't control. I love the suspense of not knowing what will happen from one scene to the next. I love going on the ride with the characters.

When I'm writing, I try to give my readers those same thrills. I hope that they'll enjoy the quirky situations my characters sometimes find themselves in, or the super-sexy interludes, or even the sad moments. When I read, I am IN that world for a few hours. My objective when telling a story is to provide that same experience.

Thanks so much for inviting me this week!

You can find out more about Karla's sexy, hilarious contemporary romance on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan

Author of the Week: Mellanie Szereto

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This week Mellanie Szereto visits. Mellanie writes contemporary erotic romance, and I first met her on Facebook when I recognized her name as being Hungarian. Mr. SM is Hungarian and we immediately started talking about recipes we loved to make and eat. Today I asked her one question about researching for the stories she writes.

BBTF: Your most recent release is a cooking romance. What's your favorite part of researching your stories?

Mellanie: I love experimenting with new recipes--or creating my own--to use in my stories. I always get interesting ideas for tormenting my characters when I'm cooking, and my family is now used to hearing they get to be my test subjects! They usually enjoy the results too!

You can find out more about Mellanie's sexy, fun contemporary romance on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan

Author of the Week: Anastasia Vitsky

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This week Anastasia Vitsky visits. Anastasia writes sweet (with a hint of spice) female/female fiction, and I first read her snippets on #SnippetSunday, a group that shows of little bits of their writing to anyone visiting their blogs. Anastasia's tales sucked me in from the moment I read them and I wanted to know more. I asked her one question about the genre she's chosen.

BBTF: Female/Female romance seems to be the least well known of the romance genres. What appeals to you most about this genre that you write?

Anastasia: When I was old enough to write a letter to my grandmother, my mother taught me the correct way to address the envelope: Mrs. (Husband's first name) (Husband's last name).

I couldn't understand why an adult woman had to receive mail in her husband's name. I told my mother as much, but she dismissed my protests. "This is the correct way," she said.

Years later, however, my mother ordered her own set of return addresses labels. No "Mrs.," no husband's first name, just her own first and last name.

From the time I was a small child, I wanted stories about women. We deserve mailing addresses in our own name, mail addressed in our name, and stories written for and about us. I don't want to read about women whose lives are incomplete until a man rescues and fulfills her. I want to read about strong, smart, capable women who can be all that and feminine. Sexy. Attractive.

Many people think I write F/F based on sexuality. I'm thrilled to be embraced by LGBT readers, but for me the motivation lies deeper. I want to write about women who love women, yes, but it's very simple:
I want to read stories about women. And so I write them.

You can find out more about Anastasia's sexy, feminine women on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan

Author of the Week: Cara Michaels

Welcome back to Buy a Book, Tell a Friend!

This week Cara Michaels has dropped by. Cara writes heroic science-fiction and paranormal fantasy, and is a #flashfiction host of #RacetheDate flash challenge. No matter the genre, Cara writes a darn good story. I asked Cara one question about world building.

BBTF: What is your favorite thing about building new worlds?

Cara: World building is far tougher than character building. Worlds are all about rules, and breaking those rules breaks faith with readers. It's up to the author to make sure the rules stay constant. I suppose I find research to be the best part of world building. In attempting to create a believable environment, I study and research all sorts of wild things to establish rules that make a crazy sort of sense.

You can find Cara's worlds and her new worlds at her website. And be sure to pick up a book and tell a friend.

Happy reading!

Siobhan

Happy New Year Book Gratitude!

Happy New Year 2014 and thanks so much for all your help in 2013. Do you know Sommer Marsden reached the goal through your help? It was such a relief to her.

Thank you to all of you who stopped by and made a difference by buying a book, telling a friend, and visiting the auction.

This year, there will be other authors you can help by buying one book and telling your friends. This is a way to get their name out to readers. Just a little bit goes a long way, and gives them the wherewithal to write more. So, what books are you reading right now? Tell me, and tell your friends. :)

Siobhan