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 - 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 - 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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

Welcome back to Buy a Book, Tell a Friend!

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

Something a Little Different - Sommer Marsden

Today I wanted to spotlight another author who is having difficulty. Sommer Marsden is facing some big medical bills, so several of us authors have gotten together in a fundraiser for all the proceeds to benefit Sommer.

This is exactly what Buy a Book, Tell a Friend blog is about. So I'm passing on the information. There is an information website which talks about the fundraiser and the where's and why's of the event. You can find it HERE.

In addition, Bronwyn Green, a fabulous person and event coordinator, has put up the list of items you can "donate" for on her site. Just click HERE to see all the fabulous things for sale. Each item is offered as incentives for a specific monetary amount.

For instance, I'm offering some handmade baby blankets for a donation of $20 each. When the donation comes in, I'll send the blankets off to the person/people who donated. All the proceeds go to Sommer to help her out.

In addition, I've posted her books on the right hand sidebar and you're welcome to buy a book, which will also help her out. Please take a moment to peruse the items for donation on Bronwyn's site and hopefully we can all win. Do you think you could donate or share this information?

Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! :)

Author of the Week: Tara Rose

Good morning, all!

I hope this Tuesday finds you in good spirits. Today I'm highlighting author Tara Rose, a contemporary menage a'trois author. Tara has been experiencing some personal issues that would scare any of us, an unsettling shift in the normal routine of things. We can all relate to that.

I'm reminded of the lyrics from Baz Luhrmann's "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)":
"The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday."

Going with the idea that on some idle Tuesday, long before 4 PM, we can head off some of those troubles, please check out Tara's books on the right sidebar. You can find all her books at Bookstrand.com, which has all the digital formats, but they are also on Amazon. Thanks so much for taking the time to buy a book and tell a friend. :)

Siobhan

Author of the Week: Hennessee Andrews

This week, the author I'm highlighting is Hennessee Andrews.

Hennessee writes a variety of romance from menage a'trois, M/F romance, and M/M romance. She writes different heat levels, but all of her books have a sweetness in them that speaks of her heart. Right now Hennessee is experiencing some family issues and could use any help you're willing to offer. Send her some book love. Some of her books are listed in the sidebar to the right, but more can be found on her website.

Thank you for taking the time to buy a book, and tell a friend. :)