So I've been Gone A While...

 

Eep!  The last time I blogged was in December?  REALLY?  Wow, Time flies when you're in the magical Writer's Cave. :/

And make no mistake, I've definitely been writing.  Want proof?  In the past six months I’ve been busily typing my fingers to the bone in order to produce four projects that… *drum roll* have gotten PUBLISHED by Harlequin’s digital-first imprint, CARINA PRESS!

The first project I’m unveiling today is also the first in a paranormal sensual romance series.  It's already through developmental edits, line and copy edits, and the ink is dry on the contract. :)  Ladies and gentlemen, may I present NOBODY’S ANGEL, a 33K novella and opening salvo in the EARTH ANGELS series, scheduled to be released in January, 2013!

UNOFFICIAL BLURB:

When investigative journalist Kendall Glynn moved to San Francisco’s top-rated local TV news station, she’d thought her new workplace was all about reporting the news, not making it. Then their anchorman signed off permanently, attempting a violent murder-suicide while the city watched in horror. The one thing Kendall couldn’t help but notice – aside from the pen sticking out of his jugular – was a cataract-like whiteness veiling his eyes. While no expert, she’d bet her one and only Louis Vuitton purse that he was a man possessed.

He cloaks himself in shadows, hiding his face behind a mask in the hope he’ll be shielded from the eyes of heaven itself. Born under the curse his family has endured for countless generations, he scours the city for the kind of trouble that could make him as dead as the souls he crosses into the next life.

Trouble finds him in the form of a murderous spirit that isn’t what it appears, and in a woman who’s brave enough to not mind the mask… in or out of bed. The question is, can he find the evil lurking behind the spirit before it – and heaven’s judgment – finds them?

*****

NOBODY'S ANGEL is the first in a 4-part series, with a fifth "satellite" book planned.  The second full-length novel, SAVAGE ANGEL, has also been accepted by Carina Press and just yesterday I sent back the the line edits for that project.  Andrea Kerr, editor for both Harlequin and CP, is the editor for this series, and she is EXTRAORDINARY.  I love how she "gets" the world I've created, and she's as much a stickler when it comes to following this world's rules as I am.  I was pretty proud of how these projects turned out before the editing process, but now that they've been in Andrea's magical hands, I can hardly believe the result.  I can't wait for 2013 to share this series!

*****

To learn more about Nobody's Angel and my other current projects, check out my storyboards on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/stacygailauthor/

Spotlight on PG Forte (and that Rhymes with Foreplay)!

Believe it or not, how to correctly say PG Forte's surname was my first official introduction to my antho sister.  The moment I popped over to her website, clicked on her blog and saw the "Rhymes with Foreplay" banner, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. :D



If you look at her Amazon Author's Page, you realize just how incredibly talented this woman is.  Steampunk, fantasy, paranormal, M/M, erotica, series romance... there's nothing she can't do!  My current main goal in life is to meet with PG in person so I can 1.) get her autograph, and 2.) buy her lunch and persuade her to let me pick her brain for a couple of hours.  I'm telling y'all, this woman might not know everything, but it's close enough for me. 

One last thing I love about PG... she's not.  PG, I mean.  As in, rated-PG.  She belongs to a group of outstanding, red-hot romance writers called The Nine Naughty Novelists.  PG doesn't know this (because I've never told her), but long before we both wound up working together on Carina's Press's A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS, I had stumbled my way onto the Nine Naughty Novelists' website (I mean, c'mon... with a name like that, you would have taken a peek too, right? :D).  At that time, the nine authors were having a ball posting round-robin chapters on a romance trope-filled spoof called THE ZILLIONAIRE VAMPIRE COWBOY'S SECRET WEREWOLF BABIES.  As I snort-laughed my way through it, I never imagined that I was destined to meet up with none other than one of those amazing authors. *fangirl sigh*



Okay, enough gushing, it's time to get to the good stuff!  And let me tell you, THIS WINTER HEART (available December 5th from Carina Press) is sooooooooo good.  Everyone has different tastes, of course, and I love all the novellas in A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS.  That being said, PG's novella is MY kind of romance.  Like all the others, I read it in one sitting.  Unlike all the others, I was cussing out the hero, Dario, right out of the gate.  Damn, that stubborn man pushed all my buttons from the get-go!  But that's okay, because in my opinion, that's the best possible sign there is.  Feeling passionate about characters means that this story will live on in my memory long after other, less weighty stories have faded away. 

THIS WINTER HEART
By PG Forte
Releases December 5th!

THIS WINTER HEART still hasn't faded for me, thanks to the sexy, stubborn Dario.  Without spoiling things too much, Dario is frozen emotionally at the beginning of the story, to the point where he seems almost inhuman to his estranged wife, Ophelia, and their son.  This apparent lack of human compassion Dario initially displays is the ingenious twist that PG pulls here, because... well, things aren't what they seem with Ophelia.  I'd love to talk more about what defines humanity and the soul's ability to love unconditionally, but then I'd be giving the game away.  Just do me a favor -- go read THIS WINTER HEART.  Then we'll talk about the brilliance of PG Forte, who turns established ideas of the human heart upside down, and proves beyond all doubt that love is the ultimate power when it comes to defining who we are.



Intrigued yet?  You should be, so read on!


Blurb:


Santa Fe, The Republic of New Texacali, 1870


Eight years ago, Ophelia Leonides's husband cast her off when he discovered she was not the woman he thought she was. Now destitute after the death of her father, Ophelia is forced to turn to Dario for help raising the child she never told him about.


Dario is furious that Ophelia has returned, and refuses to believe Arthur is his son—after all, he thought his wife was barren. But to avoid gossip, he agrees to let them spend the holidays at his villa. While he cannot resist the desire he still feels for Ophelia, Dario despises himself for being hopelessly in love with a woman who can never love him back.


But Dario is wrong: Ophelia's emotions are all too human, and she was brokenhearted when he rejected her. Unsure if she can trust the man she desperately loves, she fears for her life, her freedom and her son if anyone else learns of her true nature...


30,000 words

Available at:


Amazon: http://amzn.to/tKeB5W


Carina Press: http://bit.ly/tku1cn


Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/sOMdCJ


AReBooks: http://bit.ly/sjycT7

Tomorrow, I review the novella that took me TWO FREAKING DAYS to recover from -- JK Coi's FAR FROM BROKEN!

A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS
Releases December 5th!