KB Alan

The last book in the Wasteland series is out. I am so loving this series.

Wasteland: The Priestess
RG Alexander

Damn the rules, damn the gods…even if he has to share her, she belongs to him.

High Priestess Xian has followed the Path of the Peaceful Sun since she was chosen at birth. Yet the joy she receives from helping others is overshadowed by her growing belief that the world they live in is…wrong.

At a crossroads, unsure of her ability to do her job—unsure of anything—she journeys to the ruins of the old city, hoping to uncover secrets that will give her clarity. Instead she finds the path to her goal clouded by an unexpected desire for her handsome guard, Hel, and for the battered stranger they find along the way.

Hel can’t prevent Xian from reaching out to the mysterious Siraj, but there is danger in allowing him to stay. Siraj belongs to no caste, follows no rules but his own. And Xian’s fascination with him makes Hel’s blood boil. No one can know that Hel has always loved her, or the secret he’s kept hidden for years. But Siraj’s advances and Xian’s curiosity force Hel to cross lines he never before dared…

Fellow EC writer Nicole Austin’s Kenna’s Cowboy is out. Doesn’t it look yummy?
Kenna’s Cowboy
Nicole Austin

Hearts of Fire, Book Four

Cursed with unusual abilities, orphan McKenna Fulton has always been different, an outcast. But she’s been Chosen. More accurately, she is one of the Chosen. Eight individuals—four women and four men—selected at birth to guard slices of crystal. The Heart of Fire.

The whole thing is more than a little farfetched. Kenna can handle the part of getting down and dirty with the bad dude. She’s even okay with guarding a crystal. But losing her free will and being stuck with some guy, her destined mate, uh-uh. Not happening.

Local mechanic Ryker Thomas is more than he appears and has his own set of abilities. Kenna wants nothing to do with the Southern charmer. So what if he has a matching crystal and the damn thing hums and vibrates whenever they’re close together. That doesn’t mean she’ll toe the line.

He can’t be the one she’s supposed to be with. Fate wouldn’t be so cruel as to send her a cowboy when what she wants is a bad boy.

The third book in the Wasteland series is out:

Wasteland: The Breeder
Eden Bradley

Destined to serve the desires of an entire city, all she wants is one man. Or maybe two…

Born to the Temple, Nitara knows the Great Goddess’s plan for her: to bring life into what is left of an arid and wasted Earth. Since puberty she has been trained to arouse and titillate, to ensure the continuation of the human race.
As is the custom, the man captured for her is strong of blood, though considered little more than a wild animal. Yet when she looks into his eyes, she sees no primitive creature, but the man whose face and hands haunt her sensual dreams.
For Akaash, a hunter and warrior, it’s his shame that he will be sacrificed to a goddess he doesn’t believe in, for a people who are not his own, leaving behind his Wanderer clan—and his bonded lover, Dhatri. Locked in the bowels of the Temple, he has a month to ponder his fate, all while falling helplessly under the spell of the virgin temptress who will soon take his life.
With each tortuously erotic encounter, however, Akaash realizes that Nitara is as much a prisoner as he. If he can just get a message out to Dhatri, there may be a slim chance both of them can escape…
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The second book in the Wasteland series is ready. I loved the first, can’t wait to read this one!
Wasteland: The Whore
Lilli Feisty

Bryn is a “Rose”, but her life is no garden. A stolen child, prostitution is the only life she’s ever known—except on the nights she sneaks out in stolen men’s clothing to explore the city. A tiny taste of freedom that makes her long for a life outside sexual servitude, at the mercy of any man who can pay.

Xander remembers no other home except his pirate ship, smuggling weapons or anything else for a fee. He’s been happy with his life and his lover, Hawke…until he rescues who he thinks is a young man from robbers.

Figuring she can blend in with the crew, Bryn jumps at the chance to escape the Brothel. Then she discovers Xander and Hawke have a taste for pretty boys—and that she has a taste for them. In their arms, she embraces their incredible gift: control of her own sexuality.

Though women are considered bad luck at sea, Xander isn’t of a mind to give her up. Yet the time is drawing near when the ship must return to Wasteland to resupply. And what awaits them there is a danger that could tear them apart.

Today’s the day! I’m so excited (can you tell? lol). I loved writing this book. It came to me and wouldn’t let go, which was exactly what I needed at the time. I’d been working on Keeping Claire but had trouble with the direction I wanted to go in. Or rather, Claire wanted to go in. I stopped and started and restarted just short of a million times. Also, I was driving myself crazy with trying to do things the way I thought they should be done. Not that anyone was telling me that, just that I was trying to be more organized and do everything the smart way. I finally told myself to shut it, but it took a while for me to listen. See, Mom, I don’t listen to myself any better than I listen to you! Actually, at this age, I probably listen better to you than to myself.

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, poor Claire. Anyway, I got the idea for a woman who sneaks into a Dom’s room, wearing her pajamas. Don’t ask me why, this is how my brain works. I had to figure out why. Turns out, she had a pretty good reason. So Kyriana came into being, but she needed just the right guy. Luckily for me, er, I mean her, Connul is the kind of Dom who knows exactly how to take care of a woman, and once she becomes his woman, stand back!

The book is set in a world exactly like ours, except that magic exists. Mages are not terribly common, but neither are they a secret. Like anyone else, they come in all shapes and sizes, and fill the spectrum between good and evil. I tried to come up with some names that would show the slight otherness of the world, without being too wacky. Kyriana’s name actually came from a character in my very brief college foray into roll-playing games. I think the original Kyr was an elf, but this one is just a human caught up in a situation that she has no weapons to fight against. Until she finds Connul. Connul’s brother Dain, and sister Sasha, make an appearance, and I might as well tell you now that I liked them a lot so I wouldn’t be too surprised if they start clamoring for their own stories soon. We’ll see how that goes!

So, I’m going to shut up now, and go buy a copy of Bound by Sunlight, because I’m just dorky enough to do that. I can’t help myself, I’ve loved buying books at Ellora’s Cave for a long time now, and this one has my name on the cover! That just never gets old.

Don’t forget that I’m giving away a copy at both Christine D’Abo’s blog and The Blackraven’s Erotic Cafe!

So close! Bound by Sunlight will be out tomorrow, and I’m so excited to share it with you. But more on that tomorrow. Today, I have a contest link. Fellow Ellora’s Cave author Christine D’Abo is celebrating her tenth EC release on May 21st, by inviting 10 EC authors (+1 to grow on! ) to share their stories and give away lots of prizes, on her blog. She was kind enough to put me down for tomorrow, so I’ll be giving away a copy of Bound by Sunlight on release day. Be sure to check that out tomorrow, but don’t forget to head over today, and the next ten days for lots more great stories and prizes.

Here’s the schedule:

May 11 – Jennifer Leeland

May 12 – KB Alan

May 13 – Amy Ruttan

May 14 – Aileen Fish

May 15 – JK Coi

May 16 – Rhian Cahill

May 17 – Emma Petersen

May 18 – Nina Pierce

May 19 – Lissa Matthews

May 20 – Tory Richards

May 21 – Christine d’Abo

Good luck!

UPDATED: The Blackraven’s Erotic Cafe has an interview with me up, and they’ll be giving away a copy of Bound by Sunlight.

A new series that I’m excited about debuts today, so I’m pulling out my pimp hat (and not just because it’s by The Smutketeers, who took such good care of me at RT). Doesn’t it look fabulous? Plus, another Diva’s release because I’m into the faeries right now (can’t wait to introduce you to Ryan!).

The Smutketeers have written a four part post-apocolyptic series that looks awesome. They’re releasing one book a week for the month of May, and here’s the first.

Wasteland: The Wanderer
Crystal Jordan

Love is the most dangerous experiment of all.

There is only one rule in the Wasteland: survive.

The few remaining women are as reviled as they are worshipped, a commodity any man must pay to touch. And to touch a Wanderer, he may pay with his life.

For Ezra, the risk is worth the reward. People speak his name with the same reverent terror reserved for ancient wrathful gods, but he must always be ready to fend off those who would take what’s his. And what he wants to be his is Kadira.

Kadira, adopted after she witnessed the slaughter of her devoted parents, has vowed never to love or need anyone. It seems only fitting that she, an outsider, accept Ezra’s demand in trade for the fuel technology her clan needs—but her deep, unexpected need for him is the torture she’s fought all her life to avoid. Worse, the greater her wrath, the more he seems to like it.

Ezra’s mercenary half delights at having the warrior woman in his arms. His scientist half can’t resist the urge to see what makes her react—and what makes her explode.

The real experiment: if the bond they forge is strong enough to make her want to stay.

Warning: Threesomes, foursomes, boy on boy, girl on girl, boy on boy on girl, voyeurism, exhibitionism, sex at knifepoint, anal sex, ritual orgies, and, well…it’s just a really dirty book.

Soul Fire
R. F. Long

Iron born and iron bred.
Trust not iron, it will see you dead.

Rowan Blake could really use a magic wand to keep her struggling art gallery afloat. But the faerie key she stumbles across is far from a lucky charm. It’s a magnet for danger, and by touching it she’s unwittingly put herself in the middle of a war between the forces of light and dark. And in the arms of its rightful owner, Prince Daire.

While searching for his brother, Daire finds himself trapped in the Iron World with a mere mortal woman who ignites his passion like no other. Each stolen kiss deepens their attraction and sends him spiraling closer and closer to the edge of his inherent dark desires. Desires that act as a homing beacon for the Dark Sidhe, who are intent on forcing him to fight on their side.

The longer he lingers in her arms—and in her bed—the closer his enemies get to her door. And the greater the risk that the gateway to the Faerie Realm will shift, destroying not only his power to protect her, but his very life.

Warning: Contains enchantments, danger, some very scary monsters, a trip to the dark side and hot, soul-transforming sex with an immortal prince.

This past week I’ve been attending the 2010 RT Booklover’s Convention. It was my first writing related convention, and I had a blast. I don’t think we got to bed before 2am a single night, and we had to be up early every day, so I’m sort of brain dead right now, but it was very interesting work-wise and very fun networking-wise.

There was a PBS reporter who came to dinner with us and ended up coming to our hotel room to see what happens when three romance writers pack for a convention with a lot of costume parties. Plus, my roommates were Eden Bradley and Lilli Feisty, two of the Smutketeers, so they had a bunch of steampunk costumes. We had seven suitcases and thirty-two pairs of shoes between the three of us. I must admit, I have not had much occasion to wear costumes in the past twenty years, so that was a bit of a challenge for me, but I think it turned out well. Of course, I had Eden and Feisty helping, so I couldn’t go too wrong.

Mostly, since it was my first conference, I absorbed information and experiences during the day, and had fun talking to people and dancing at night. There were four dance parties, the Ellora’s Cave Paint the Town Red night, Fairy Ball, Vampire Ball and Dorchester’s Prom Night. By Saturday night, we were exhausted and ended up not going to the Prom Night party. After the dancing we went to the hotel bar, where I chatted up the Funeral Home convention attendees. That made for some fascinating conversations, I promise you! Also, those guys are good for a girls ego

I’ll stop babbling now and go with pictures.

Eden and I were able to travel together, and we started the trip off right with a small welcoming committee. When we landed in Ohio, I noticed activity outside my window and looked down. Turned out I was directly over the compartment that the baggage handlers had hooked their ramp up to. We started watching the bags, to make sure ours were there, when the guys noticed us. They hammed it up for us and even managed to jump up and smack my window, then posed when I got the camera out. It was a very warm welcome

Columbus, OH Baggage Handlers

Starting Day One with my roommate, Eden Bradley (left)

The EC dancers escorted the authors across the stage as we were introduced

RG Alexander, me, Eden Bradley

RG Alexander and Eden Bradley getting ready for the Fairy Ball

Lilli Feisty and Me, ready for the Fairy Ball

Eden Bradley at the Fairy Ball

RG Alexander and Crystal Jordan at the Fairy Ball

Me and Eden Bradley at the Fairy Ball

My very first signing

Being attacked by a zombie at the Vampire Ball

Me, Eden Bradley and Lilli Feisty at the Vampire Ball

I think this is my attempt at looking fierce. Not entirely sure

Slightly after the moment that I decided I wasn't going to wear high heels again for at least nine months

And that was the last night. I wore more makeup, dresses and shoes than I normally do in six months, and I met some amazingly kind and wonderful people. And I signed a couple of autographs, lol. Overall, a great experience. I’m excited that RT is in Los Angeles next year, so I can do it again without having to lose two days to travel time.

I am exhausted from a wonderful week at my first Romantic Times Convention. I’m working on uploading some pics, but in the meantime, I saw one that has my roommates and I going into the Vampire Ball on Barbara Vey’s Publishers Weekly blog. The pic labled Vampire Ball shows me, Lilli Feisty, and Eden Bradley (left to right). It’s not the greatest pic of me ever, and I swear, the horns growing out of my forehead were removable!

I think I’m going to take a nap now, while the pics finish uploading, but in the meantime, here’s a book I’m planning on reading, as soon as I can figure out how to get it downloaded.

Night Moves

Eden Bradley

Something about trains had always brought out Kate’s wild side. So far it had been her own dirty little secret—until a sexy stranger catches her sneaking into his compartment looking to indulge her fantasy. But instead of throwing her out, Ian is turned on…and he’s ready to give Kate the ride of her life!