TOO SPICY TO BE SWEET -- Yup, that's Best Man, Worst Man

Guess what?  BEST MAN, WORST MAN from SamhainPublishing has been reviewed.  Guess what again?  People LIKE it! *faints*

*revives*

 

Confession time—I’ll admit I was concerned about how this project was going to be received, since the powers-that-be at Samhain decided to market this fun little project as a “contemporary” romance, rather than a “sweet” romance.  What’s the difference?  As I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, a sweet romance is one without sex–the story focuses on the true romance of romance, rather than, erm, getting busy in the bedroom.  Or shower.  Or trampoline.  Whatever.

A contemporary romance, though, definitely lets the inhibitions drop, right along with the panties.  So when they labeled BEST MAN, WORST MAN as a contemporary romance, I was a tad worried.  Would people get it, even if the main characters weren’t, y’know, getting any?

This is was what Library Journal had to say:

Claire Pomeroy is a highly sought-after wedding planner with a reputation for professionalism and going above and beyond the call of duty. She is well on the way to sending her latest couple on to wedded bliss when a blip in the form of a best man comes onto her radar. Ryder Price is dead set on stopping his best friend from walking down the aisle, and a wedding planner is not about to mess up his plan-no matter how perfect she appears. Claire must convince Ryder that a lifetime of happiness is possible in order to keep the wedding on and her heart intact.

Verdict Gail's (Zero Factor) latest novella moves quickly, with only a few uneven parts, and is a fun, sexy read. Although the action never moves beyond some ultra-heavy petting, romance is everywhere as wedding planning abounds. Fans of Nora Roberts's "Bride Quartet" will find alluring the blending of intense passion with detailed discussions of wedded bliss.—Kellie Tilton, Univ. of Alaska–Fairbanks Lib.

So… YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!  I. Am. SO. Happy!  My ultimate goal for BEST MAN, WORST MAN was to focus on the purest form of romance—the magic of falling in love.  This story is a bit too passionate to be labeled as “sweet”, but what can I say?  Even when it comes to the sweetness of romance, I do like things spicy. *wink*

Where to buy BEST MAN, WORST MAN: Samhain,  Amazon,  Barnes and Noble

In Other News...

Harlequin Books gave the authors of "A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS" a wonderful surprise the week of New York ComicCon (which is what next week's blog is all about).  From @HarlequinBooks on Twitter:

In honor of #NYCC, we've put @CarinaPress's Steampunk holiday anthology A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS is on @NetGalley early! http://bit.ly/pLfLtA

That's right, folks!  CRIME WAVE IN A CORSET, my holiday steampunk sensual romance for Carina Press's A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS is now available for review on NetGalley.  So if you're a reviewer, please consider giving it a look -- thanks!

Take A Peek At BEST MAN, WORST MAN, Coming October 25th!

My Chocolate-Covered Cover! <3

It's getting to be that time again -- release day for BEST MAN, WORST MAN is almost here!


Oh, what to say about this fun little project...  BEST MAN, WORST MAN was the first project to be published, despite the fact that it is now my second release from Samhain.  (Confused yet?:) ) BEST MAN, WORST MAN was pushed back thanks to my publisher's release schedule of the cyberpunk anthology, of which my novella ZERO FACTOR was a part.

Is this too sexy to be sweet? Hmmm.

I wrote BEST MAN, WORST MAN for one of Samhain's anthology calls.  This particular call was for a contemporary "sweet" romance -- focusing on the falling-in-love magic of romance without actual sex scenes.  Since I grew up reading this type of romance, I thought this sounded like a great opportunity to get my foot in the door.  BEST MAN, WORST MAN took less than a month to write, almost like my brain had just been waiting for me to tell Ryder and Claire's story.  Eighteen days after sending it in, I received an email from Imogen Howson, the editor in charge of the sweet romance anthology call, and informed me that while my project wasn't being accepted for the anthology, they were interested in publishing it as a stand-alone book. YAY!  (Only much later I found out that despite my characters not having sex, my work was way too hot for it to be categorized as a "sweet" romance.  Apparently I don't know how to write those *is baffled but happy*)



So, without further ado, here's the blurb for BEST MAN, WORST MAN, the steamiest-but-no-sex-scenes novella around!

*     *     *

He’s the one problem she can’t solve.

From hysterical bridezillas to grooms with sub-zero feet, renowned wedding planner Claire Pomeroy has never met a disaster she couldn’t handle. Then she runs afoul of her client’s not-so-best man, a devilishly flirtatious rogue with a killer smile and a chest as solid as a concrete roadblock. Yet their sparks of attraction only highlight his obvious quest—to make sure this wedding knot never gets tied.

Confirmed bachelor Ryder Price knows one unshakable truth: marriage is nothing but a fairy tale. No way is he going to stand idly by while his wingman face-plants into the dreaded marital trap. But there’s a problem. A dark-eyed, dangerously curvaceous problem who’s bound and determined to pull this wedding off.

As her suddenly skittish clients teeter on the edge of cancellation, Claire challenges her nemesis to imagine long-term as something more than a quickie and a vague promise to call. Ryder counters with a challenge of his own. Let him give her a taste of just how fulfilling a little no-strings-attached passion can be.





And hey, since we're at it, why not a teeny excerpt of when Claire and Ryder meet? :)

EXCERPT:

Claire sighed and followed Rachel into the living room, only to have her vision filled with Rachel’s houseguest sitting on a sofa, coffee mug in hand as he chatted with Matt. He was impossible to miss. Even though he was seated it was obvious the man was built like a warrior of old, with wide shoulders and a chest you could play handball on, narrow hips and long legs that filled out his jeans in all the right places. His dark hair was as black as a raven’s wing, and the sweep of his shoulders was so breathtaking she couldn’t help but suffer the innately feminine desire to explore the muscular terrain with curious, wanting-to-squeeze fingers. The smile he gave Matt was a devilish white slash against bronzed, sun-kissed skin, made that much darker with a hint of a five-o’clock shadow. Then he looked up at their approach, and Claire found herself freezing solid, from the tips of her toes all the way to the orderly movement of her lungs.

He had silver eyes. God help her, silver eyes.

Wow.

“Ryder, I’d like you to meet wedding planner extraordinaire, Claire Pomeroy. Claire, this is Matt’s best friend, Ryder Price. Since he and Matt are settled in so nicely here, why don’t you and I have our consult in the kitchen while the boys do whatever it is they do?”

Matt shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

“Absolutely not.” To Claire’s surprise, the man named Ryder pushed to his feet and crossed to them, and for no fathomable reason Claire’s heart decided to do its best impersonation of an 808 drum machine. “Please Rachel, I insist you go about your usual routine and just pretend I’m not even here. Remember, you swore I wouldn’t be a bother, so don’t let me get in your way now.”

“My goodness,” Rachel said through a tight smile that made her look like she wanted to bite something. “How considerate of you, Ryder.”

“And I wouldn’t want to inconvenience your wedding planner.” Ryder turned the full brunt of his smile on Claire as he took her hand in his. “Claire, is it?”

It took most of her strength to get her tongue unglued from the roof of her mouth, mainly because the heat of his hand was branding her nerve endings with the glorious feel of him. “That’s correct.” What wasn’t correct was how her brain slipped its gears to plunge her into the heart of fantasyland the moment he touched her. With shocking ease she imagined how the glide of his hands, as big as baseball mitts, might feel against other, more intimate parts of her body. With one glance at his made-for-sin lips, she could almost feel them molding against hers, seducing her with the promise of dark pleasures. She had no doubt he would be a reckless lover. This modern-day gladiator looked as though he lived to conquer his intended target inch by tantalizing inch, unveiling her as he would a piece of fine art to revel in a slow, sensual exploration first by his gaze, then his hands, then his mouth…

A flush of heat rolled through Claire until she thought she glowed with it, and to her dismay sensual warmth bloomed between her thighs. Way to be professional, she thought, horrified. Apparently her little voice of reason was suffering an epic case of laryngitis. And the worst part of it—all he’d done was touch her hand.

---



Ummm, There Are PEOPLE Reading My Books

Opening up an epic can of "Duh!"

You know what's funny?  A writer who never considered the realities of getting their work published.  


Seriously, you'd think it would have occurred to me at some point that people would be reading my work, right?  But no.  Never once did that thought seriously cross my mind.  I was so busy studying the craft of HOW to write, which publishing company I should send my stuff to, and learning the basic ropes of the publishing world, that I forgot to imagine what it'd be like once I GOT there.



Then ZERO FACTOR came out, and a funny thing happened.  I began running into people who'd read it, and that's when it hit me like a bowling ball between the eyes -- I was unprepared.



Example:  The first-ever encounter of someone who read my work (who wasn't a relative:P) was a lovely woman whom I've known my entire adult life.  She's fifty-something and a lady in every sense of the word, so imagine my slack-jawed surprise when she let me know right off the bat that ZF had gotten her "motor going" in a way that it hadn't "in years."  My face got hot in what I fear was a mortified blush, but I laughed, told her how pleased I was to hear it, and how glad I was that she enjoyed it.



Though honestly, I'm still unsure if she ENJOYED it.  I hope she did.




Then came the inevitable questions.  How did I know so much (about sex)?  How did I do my research (about sex)?  Where did my ideas (about sex) come from?  Eep.  Overnight I went from mild-mannered skater-gurl to hyper nymphomaniac.  It's kind of eyeroll-worthy, but mainly it's just hilarious.  Yup, there's definitely sex in most of my works, but then there's also psychometry, airship-building and in one of the latest works I just completed, flying (like, with wings ^_^).  Does this mean I've done all these things and am now an expert?  Heh.  Only in my mind, folks.  Only in my mind.





I'm prepared now.  My next release, BEST MAN, WORST MAN, from Samhain Publishing is coming out next month.  Yay!  This particular novella has no actual sex in it, since it was written for a "sweet" anthology ("sweet" being a romance work without graphic sex or language).  Long story short, I didn't make the anthology.  Come to find out, it was way too hot to be categorized as "sweet".  But it was good enough to be offered a stand-alone contract.  And when it comes out, I'll gladly welcome the inevitable questions with now-standard answers, like:



1.  Where do you get your ideas?/Oh, here and there.
2.  How do you do your research?/The same way everyone does it.
3.  Why don't you write about me?/It might be a good idea for you to write your story yourself.  You could be a writer and not even know it. :)


Ultimately, if you're a writer who's either trying to get published or your first work is about to debut -- GET READY.  There are people out there who are about to read your work.  That is a wonderful and glorious thing, so be grateful for any interest they show in what you do.  Hopefully you'll be smarter than me, and have those answers ready to go, without suffering from a nuclear blush and a bad case of the stutters.

My First Release Day Ever -- Introducing ZERO FACTOR!

Locke is just so yummy <3

Wow.  August 30th finally came.  From the time I received an acceptance email from Sasha Knight at Samhain Publishing, Ltd. waaaaaaaay back in late February, I've been looking forward to this day.  My first-ever release day.


I've had YEARS to think about how I'd celebrate this event.  Since scantily clad, frolicking cabana boys are expensive, I decided I'd better go the practical route -- if only for this time around -- and focus my attention on promoting the book (see, if I can make enough on ZERO FACTOR, I can afford to get the frolicking cabana boys later). 


I did TONS of blog-hopping, tweeting, Facebooking and chat-rooming.  I met a ton of wonderful, supportive people, and I introduced the exciting subgenre of cyberpunk romance to the lexicon of everyone I met.  I was surprised that many people didn't know what it was, so when I explained that cyberpunk (for me, at least) is an urban, gritty glimpse of a possible dystopian future -- sci-fi without going off-world -- most people seemed to get it.  And if they didn't, I tried to cajole them into picking up ZERO FACTOR to get a clearer picture.  I hope they did. :)

Uh, I have NO tolerance for this stuff. Sad, but true.

But as for the actual CELEBRATING part...  As of August 30th, I kicked off several new traditions.  As soon as the clock struck midnight on the East Coast (eleven o'clock for me), I was on the phone with my sister, and together we watched Samhain's website page for ZERO FACTOR click over from "Pre-Order" to "Add To Cart".  She and I whooped and cried and babbled for what seemed like forever.  Then it was time for the champagne and caviar with my family, until it was time to tipsily head to bed. 


As I said, throughout the day I introduced my novella to everyone I could think of, but I did take enough time to order a charm to commemorate the release of this book.  Since it's a cyberpunk story, the charm is a little computer with keyboard.  With every new release, I'm going to get a charm depicting something about that particular book.  Since I'm rabid for jewelry, this is an excellent motivator to get more books out to share with the rest of the world. =D

See the #72 & #82? Those are sub-category lists - cool!

I also took screenshots throughout the day of my numbers on Amazon slowly changing, until I was below 4,000 on the Amazon booklist.  Since I had been used to seeing ZERO FACTOR at around 150,000, I was pretty excited.  At one point, I was ranked on a couple "Top 100" sub-category lists, above the likes of Gena Showalter and Nora Roberts (they're still there though, while I've already vanished :P). 

 In the sub-catagory of sci-fi/fantasy/ghost romance, I was #84

I even got my first 5-star rating on Amazon, a moment I will NEVER forget.  The most unbelievable thing that happened that first twenty-four hours, though, was seeing ZERO FACTOR climb its way onto Samhain's Best-Seller list.  This finally convinced me that it wasn't just my family buying my book.  Erm, at least, I THINK that's what it means. :D


I'm so grateful to everyone who's put up with me this week.  Thanks to everyone who let me visit their blogs and chatrooms (Hart Johnson, The Galaxy Express, Samhain Cafe), and thanks to everyone who gave me so many fabulous ideas on how to commemorate the release of my first book, ZERO FACTOR.  And, just in case you didn't hear me the first time...

ZERO FACTOR -- IT'S OUT, IT'S OUT, IT'S OUT!!! :D

There I am -- 10th on the Best Sellers list @ Samhain!
(I'm currently 6th. Heh.)

I'm A Best-Seller! Sort of

Recently the fine folks at Samhain Publishing pointed out to their authors and readers that they've installed catagories for their novels so people can find them more easily, just by typing in a specific about that book.  Interested in paranormal?  Type that in.  Like shape-shifters?  That too.  Contemporary?  Absolutely.  It's such an easy, streamlined website to use... and what's GREAT, is that it has a side benefit.



You can be first on a best-seller's list. :)



ZERO FACTOR, the action-packed romance novella that got chosen for Samhain's CYBERSHOCK cyberpunk anthology will be coming out this week (August 30th, whee!), but already pre-orders have put my debut project on the map.  Since it's listed under Anthologies, Science Fiction, Men In Uniform, Post-Apocalyptic and Cyberpunk, it's already sold enough to wind up on all these lists (at least for now).  Though I know it doesn't mean much, I have to admit this made me squee out loud.  You wanna squee with me?  Here we go!

Yay!  Though there aren't that many in this catagory. :P

Yay again! The AMAZING Nathalie Gray (Gridlock author) also did the covers.

*squints* It looks like I'm 9th on this one. Cool!

And I'm 7th here in Sci-Fi.  Woo!

Extreme close-up :)

So there ya go.  I'm having a dream come true, 'cause I'm on a best-seller's list!  At least for the next hour. =D

New Excerpt From ZERO FACTOR!

Wheeeee, just a little over a week away from unveiling ZERO FACTOR, my very first release from the magnificent Samhain Publishing!

To celebrate, I've got another bit of excerpty goodness on tap -- Via and Locke's first kiss (which had absolutely nothing to do with love, and everything to do with staying alive).  Enjoy!

Via knew her life was over. If she were honest with herself, part of her had known it the moment she had left the safety of the agridome. People like her could never put themselves in a position where they would be within spitting distance of the militia, much less work hand in hand with them. To do so was akin to bathing in jet fuel, then playing with a lighter.

And yet she had gone. Like a lamb to slaughter, she had gone.

It was okay, though. As long as she could save the others, she could be at peace with what had to be done now. Not that she was some kind of freaky saint or anything. It was just that as she’d sat in the transport drowning in images of what was to come, she had reached a very basic conclusion—she would rather die than live with the knowledge that she could have done something, but didn’t.

So she wasn’t a saint, and she sure as hell wasn’t even nodding acquaintances with that thing called bravery. If anything, she was too much of a coward to live with the guilt of surviving while everyone else got blown into unrecognizable bits.

“Via? What the hell—?”

She heard Weddo’s shocked voice, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was focusing on what she knew, what she saw, and pushing it with all her might into Locke. She wasn’t sure if she was doing it right. Hell, she didn’t even know if she was doing anything more than simply kissing a stranger and making a ginormous ass of herself. She had only done this sort of thing once before when she was fifteen, and it had been a total accident back then.

By degrees, the frenzied panic boiling through her blood eased like a tight fist unfurling, and new, thoroughly unexpected sensations began to seep in through the smothering veil of fear. For just a heartbeat the universe seemed to pause, a collective holding of breath while even the sound of the bustling city’s daily life came to a gentle stop. For Via, there was only this fragile moment as her mouth molded to his, and a shocking thrill of pleasure bloomed like fireworks in her brain when his lips softened and returned the pressure with interest. Her booted feet barely touched the ground as she kept her arms wrapped tightly around his strong neck, and delight mingled with relief when his free arm curled about her waist to bring her fully against the rock-solid length of his battle-hardened warrior’s body. His breath was warm, his taste tantalizing. The seductive nuzzling of his silk-over-steel lips against hers invited her untutored mouth to explore deeper, and she saw no reason why she should resist when she knew they were living on borrowed time.

A tremulous note of discord whispered from her psyche into his, a never-ending ricochet rippling noiselessly between them. The pleasure bounced back and forth as well, doubling and trebling as it went, but threaded through it was what the vision had shown her. But that was okay too. If this was to be her last moment of life, she was determined to pour every ounce of joy, vitality and pleasure she could into this kiss. If anything, she was happy for this final opportunity to go out with a bang.

“Lieutenant Locke, attention!”

It was the strangest thing, was all Via could think while her pulse pounded in her ears and in the lips that had become the most sensitive part of her body. It was as though she and this man—a militia man, for God’s sake—had discovered that with a kiss, they could create a magical little sphere where only they existed, and nothing of the gritty, desperate, dangerous place that was their world could encroach on their private slice of perfection. Then her lips drifted like a dream away from his, and the restless throb of the ever-bustling city once again filled her ears. But nothing felt the same. She wasn’t the same. As mad as it sounded, she felt changed from the inside out.

Were kisses supposed to change the world?

Via opened eyes she couldn’t remember closing, and gazed up in dazed confusion at the man she held with all the passionate fervor of a long-time lover. Where was the explosion? Had she interrupted the sequence of events? Was everyone safe?

Everyone except her, of course. Her safe life was officially over now that she had revealed to a gun-toting jarhead member of the militia that she was a psionic.

Dayum.

Kindlegraph -- My New Love

When I was a kid and dreamed of being a published author, I would practice my signature (mainly because I have REALLY bad left-handed handwriting and no one can read it), and try to come up with an appropriate message of gratitude for anyone who bought my book.  Yeah, I know it's corny, but I really did dream of signing autographs. :P

Then I got published by Samhain, an amazing digital-first publisher, and I just assumed doing the whole autograph thing could never happen on their ebooks. 

Oh, ye of little faith, Stacy.

The equake of 2010, also known as the ebook revolution, hit the publishing world sideways, with the sales of Kindle, Nook, and other ereaders going through the roof for Christmas of 2010.  Naturally, a galvanic shift occurred in the reading public's buying habits, which leads us to where we are now -- 8 months later, with book publishers still reeling, and everyone in the pub business trying to catch up and/or be a trailblazer (one thing I DO know is that annual ebook sales are UP over 160% for this year, whereas annual paperback and hardcover book sales were down 17% and 23%, respectively, and that's a big deal for all the publishing houses).

When this shift toward ebooks happened, some bright bulb realized autographs were suddenly on the endangered species list.  Not that there would be a lack of requests for them – that wasn’t the case at all.  But how the heck can an author PERSONALLY SIGN an ebook for his or her reader?

Enter Kindlegraph.

I encourage ANYONE who’s interested in getting their ebooks personally autographed to watch the video in the link above, because it’ll explain it WAY better than I will.  I can tell you that anyone who’s bought an ebook, and finds it listed on Kindlegraph’s website, can get an autograph for their book, totally for free.  And you don’t have to have a Kindle specifically – it’s for every ereader out there.  How cool is that?

The publishing world is changing hour by hour, and I welcome it with open arms.  That's why I put my books, ZERO FACTOR and BEST MAN, WORST MAN on Kindlegraph today.  If you've bought either of these fab little romances, go ahead and find me on my new Author Page on Kindlegraph.  Trust me, I've been practicing for this for a long time. ;)

Zero Factor Release Aug. 30th
Pre-Order @ Samhain, Amazon, B&N

Best Man, Worst Man Release Oct. 25th
Pre-Order @ Samhain, Amazon, B&N