Holy Moly! And Kinkentine

Oh my gods! You have GOT to see the end-of-day position for Tied to the Beat! They are fantastic. I have never had a book do so well and I am quivering with excitement.

Check it out!

Look at that! The Highland Wolves books are on the charts but we’re talking in the thousands. Thanks to all the Canucks who are supporting us! Now we just need to get those international numbers up (it’s not even on the charts in the UK! Get buying, my friends!).

All you have to do is change the numbers in the links you’re going to click from .ca to .com or .co.uk or whatever your dot may be. I’ll give you the links again:

WORTH THE RISK by (Crystal St Clair writing as) Crystal Lynn & Iain Shaw, Author vol1

BOUND BY YOU by Claudia Stevens vol2

SECOND CHANCE PERSUASION by Simone Evans, Author vol3

KEEPING HIS KITTEN by Rexi Lake vol4

TIED TO THE BEAT by Catherine Bowman vol5

JOIN THE LP GROUP: Leather Persuasion Series – Erotic Readers Book Club

Trust me, they’re worth the read! We aim to try to portray what BDSM is really like and have fun doing it.

Now, for Kinkentine! Today’s prompt: Simultaneous Orgasms | Forced orgasm | Dubious/Non-Consent

I think I may have rolled them all into one. Let’s find out! 😉 (Remember! It’s all first draft.)

Simultaneous Orgasms | Forced orgasm | Dubious/Non-Consent

He struggled in his bonds, wondering just how he got there in the first place. Was it the drink she’d brought him at the bar?  He hardly knew the woman.  Met her online, talked to her for almost three months. Some serious hot and heavy conversations; his cock twitched at the memories and he scowled. He’d agreed to meet because she’d promised him an hourglass figure, large breasts and an eager lover.

That wasn’t what he’d gotten.

Exactly…

She was an hourglass.  It was just one that held half a ton of sand.

He had nothing against larger people, he just preferred women who worked out and looked like it.

His cock, which had been half hard at the thought of this woman, this Sasha, deflated immediately. She’d had lipstick on her front tooth, for God’s sake. He’d only stayed for a drink because it was polite.

Now… Now he was in a darkened room, on his back with his arms tied spread out and anchored to a headboard. His legs were spread-eagled, too, and there was a large pillow under his hips, thrusting them into the air.

She was kneeling three fingers into his ass, massaging his prostate and she’d already wrung one orgasm out of him. It was a cold, sticky mess on his belly. He had to admit: her mouth, long cleaned of lipstick, was pretty talented.

Was she?  Oh fuck.  He can’t do it again. He’s too sensitive.

He bucks his hips as her mouth heads for his cock and earns a hard slap on his right nipple when his pelvic bone connects with her chin.  In the next moment, he’s cursing himself for saying, “I am not a bastard, thank you very much; my parents were happily married when I was born.”

A handprint blooms on his thigh.

His cock deflates.

Her hand grabs it and starts vigorously stroking as her fingers…diddle…(it’s the only word he can think of) his prostate. Soon he’s hard again, despite the sandpaper of her palms. Doesn’t she moisturize? I thought all women did. The random thought pops in and out of his head like a bubble appearing out of the dish soap when you set it down.

Grunts escape him against his will. He can feel another orgasm building. The first one had almost hurt but he figured that was because he’d never had anyone poking around in his ass before. This one was hot and heavy and winding him up pretty tight.  He could feel it building in his balls and his lower back as well as right where her fingers were.

An area he refused to acknowledge at the moment.

Sounds of pleasure escaped him and he thrashed. He was actually starting to genuinely enjoy it. Maybe she wasn’t a half a ton.  Just not anorexically skeletal like the girls he thought he liked. He lifted his head and looked at her.

“Pleasingly plump,” he whispered. I can get behind that. His cock hardened further as his brain twisted that thought into a pretzel.  Oh, I wonder if she’ll let me.

She was nude. Her breasts hung below her as she bobbed up and down on his cock and the large, turgid nipples, dark pink and looking like they ached with need – they certainly did in his imagination – made his mouth water.

“Let me taste you,” he rasped just before the orgasm hit him. He yelled, body in a tight arc off the bed as he came in her mouth this time. He pumped into her mouth, filling her throat with as much of him as he had left.

There was more to produce?

She took her damn time drawing her mouth off him, licking him clean and making him gasp and twitch.  She pulled her fingers out of him, leaving him feeling oddly bereft, and ripped off the glove he’d had no idea she was wearing.

Then, oh bliss, she plopped one of those lovely nipples of his mouth.  He latched on, drawing it deep into his mouth, worrying it with his teeth and lashing it with his tongue as he sucked. She hung on to the headboard and stared down at him.

He stared into her eyes. Remarkable. Are they green?  It’s so hard to tell.  But look at those lashes. The shape of her eyes. The arc of her brows.  She’s really pretty. 

I’m an asshole.

He laved her nipple lovingly by way of apology and she pulled it out, replaced it with the other and allowed him to do the same to it. 

Then she pulled away all together.

He was shocked when she made him promise to lie still and said she trusted him to keep his word.

Shocked more when she undid his restraints then crawled back on the bed. She crawled up to his side, stared at him for a moment again and almost moved away.

“Wait, why are you hesitating?”

He listened then smiled. “You’re beautiful.  I was an asshole. Do it.”

Then he was being smothered by the best part of a woman.  He eagerly set to very enjoyable work. He was pleased to find that she was clean. She tasted like strawberries and honey.  Never understood the jokes about fish tacos. Good women are clean and sweet.

He had to put his arms around her thighs as he brought her to her first orgasm.  His face wet, he gently pushed her away a bit so he could catch a good breath and wipe his face a little on his arm.

“You taste good, Honey.”

He dove in again. And brought her to another. And another, until she was a quivering mess that couldn’t hold her up. 

He was surprised to find himself hard again. “Let me have you. Be inside you.”

She was off him in a flash. On her knees and elbows and looking at him over her shoulder.

He sat up. “Are you sure?” Her ass wiggle was all the invitation he needed.

“I…A condom?” He looked around as she spoke. “Yes, we have talked before… If you’re sure…”

At her word, he knelt behind her and grabbed his bare cock in his hand. He looked down at it.  It was no longer than seven inches, but it was almost as thick around as a coke can and it had always served him well.  Thick ridges and a well-cut head caressed and pulled at a woman’s inner muscles and he knew how to move to hit the g-spot with whichever stroke he chose.

He proved it to her.

She showed him how much she enjoyed it with almost a dozen orgasms.  It was the last one that got him.  He was so close, thrusting deep and hard, fast. Pelvis slapping ass, his balls hitting her labia with every slam into her.  Her fists were curled into the bedding, hair stuck to her back and a tangled mess around her face, as she thrust back to meet him.

Then her vaginal walls tightened around him, nearly crushing him, as things got hotter and wetter.

Her orgasm exploded all around him – around his cock, into the air as she screamed – and dragged him with her. His orgasm was wrenched from him and he growled as it started, ending with a shout, fingers digging into her hips as he pulled her tight against him.

“Holy shit,” he said as he pulled himself from her then looked for a towel to clean her up with. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

It was a lot of run to write. Especially to write the guy in the position of submission; I don’t usually do that. The next couple of days are interesting, too:

• Lingerie | Collaring | Mind Control
• Hatefucking/Angry Sex | Orgasm denial or edging | Nonhuman

They should be fun.

Have a great night. Love you all!

Muah!

ONLY TWO HOURS LEFT!

THERE ARE TWO HOURS LEFT TO PRE-ORDER THE LEATHER PERSUASION SERIES!

Get them while they’re only $0.99 (USD).

WORTH THE RISK by (Crystal St Clair writing as) Crystal Lynn & Iain Shaw, Author vol1

BOUND BY YOU by Claudia Stevens vol2

SECOND CHANCE PERSUASION by Simone Evans, Author vol3

KEEPING HIS KITTEN by Rexi Lake vol4

TIED TO THE BEAT by Catherine Bowman vol5

JOIN THE LP GROUP: Leather Persuasion Series – Erotic Readers Book Club

You’ll love it.

Trust me.

Muah.

Kinkentine & LP!

PRE-ODER TODAY – LIMITED TIME! YOU HAVE FOUR DAYS LEFT! (Including Today)

This Valentine’s Day the Leather Persuasion Resort, on a secluded island of Trunk Bay, is the exotic obsession among singles and couples of the BDSM lifestyle. Take the questionnaire and meet your guide, Lance Pierce, at the pier where you will experience the vacation of a lifetime. Meet your special someone or casual play partner!

At the Leather Persuasion Resort, anything is possible.

Collect all 5 erotic stories in this brand new kink series of varying degrees of erotic romantic heat. Dip your toes into the sand with the characters, experiencing the exclusive erotic adventures that will forever be memorable.

WORTH THE RISK by (Crystal St Clair writing as) Crystal Lynn & Iain Shaw, Author vol1

BOUND BY YOU by Claudia Stevens vol2

SECOND CHANCE PERSUASION by Simone Evans, Author vol3

KEEPING HIS KITTEN by Rexi Lake vol4

TIED TO THE BEAT by Catherine Bowman vol5

JOIN THE LP GROUP: Leather Persuasion Series – Erotic Readers Book Club

I am so excited! Valentine’s Day will bring so much good reading for me and for all of you! I have purchased all the books in the series and had the pleasure to edit Worth the Risk by Crystal and Iain. I quite enjoyed the book and I’m sure the others are just as much fun.

Don’t forget to pre-order Tied to the Beat! The paperback will be out on the 15th!

Kintober!

I haven’t quite been keeping up but I do have one more to share with you. Maybe two if my brain will spit out today’s prompt. Remember that they’re all first drafts! Raw and unedited.

First up is the prompt from the 4th: Shower/Bath.

Water, hot and pulsating, flows up from the showerhead.

It thump-thump-thumps against a tiny nub of gathered nerves.

A gasp echoes through the marbled chamber. Water is pushed away in protest.

It’s shoved back into place, held there.

The gasp turns into harsh breathing, constant sounds of pleasure.

There’s a growl of frustration as the water is moved and the peak is denied.

When breathing settles, water is moved back into place.

Water creates fire and lightning.

Muscles twitch. 

Gasping, panting, moaning.

A large hand covers the smaller one, holding the water in place.

A scream pierces the air.

Orgasm

It got called an “overly long orgasm haiku” on my writing group. laughs

Today’s writing prompt is Cunnilingus/Clothing (suits/costumes/etc)/Porn Stash. To do this one, I think I’m going to choose Clothing. It’ll be short and sweet.

Sarah stared at the big white box on the bed. It was intriguing. Wide, red satin ribbon held it shut and the store logo was covered by a large, blood red envelope.

Her name was written in calligraphy on the front in large letters. Below them, it said, “Open immediately.” It was a command she could not ignore. Trembling fingers reached for the ribbon and pulled the bow apart before they reached into the envelope and pulled out a note.

It said: Be ready at 8, my girl. Hair down, dark makeup.

Sarah shivered. They were going to the Club. She wondered why; it wasn’t their usual night. And this…this box. It wasn’t a day for gifts. She stared for another moment then grinned. “Oh, whatever,” she says with a dreamy little sigh. “This will be a good night.”

Finally, she opens the box. At first, all she sees is a confusing pile of red leather, the same red as the envelope on the front. Idly, for a brief second, she wondered which came first: the dress or the envelope. Was he inspired by the envelope to get a dress that colour?

“Whatever!” she says again as she gives her head a shake. “What’s with the tangents?” Carefully, oh, so carefully, she lifted the dress from the box.

As soon as she had it all unfolded and hanging from her hands, full length, she gasped in shock. “It’s a Northbound Leather dress! It’s THE Northbound Leather dress!” She let out a loud squee and ran for the full length mirror.

“OH MY GAWD!” She shouted. Immediately, she lowered her voice with reverance. “It’s stunning. I have to put it on. I have to wear it. I have to put it on.”

Sarah whirled around and ran to put it on the bed. “Clean. I need to be clean.”

She ran for the shower and cleaned herself thoroughly, shaving everything below the chin. She scrubbed and primped and washed and dried her hair, leaving it down as ordered.

“Okay, slut,” she said to herself, “now it’s time for the dress.”

It was ridiculous, but she had moisture on her inner thighs because the mere thought of wearing the dress excited her almost to the point of orgasm. She was hot, swollen and wet between her thighs. Her nipples her tight and her breasts heavy. She was panting and quivering as she slowly slid the zipper down on the back of the dress and unsnapping the collar of the halter.

She sat down in her Master’s armchair, the one in the corner of the room, placed where he could best watch her masturbate, so that she could pick up both feet, already clad in black stilettos with ankle straps and closed toes, and slide them into the dress and through the skirt at the same time. The smell and feel of the leather was almost too much to bear already.

Sarah shuddered with pleasure and more moisture pooled in her core.

“Oh shit!” She jumped up, hopping in a circle as she held onto the dress. “Please tell me I didn’t get his chair dirty!” She leaned over and examined it carefully. Finding nothing, she sagged in relief. “Thank God. He’d have locked me in the cage.”

Straightening up, she resumed tugging the dress up over her hips. Little sounds of pleasure were escaping her as the dress slid over the curve of her ass then wrapped around her ribs. She tugged the halter up and tucked her D-cups into place. She was lucky that gravity hadn’t started to get a good grip on them yet so she could stuff the perky-ish, pink tipped, pleasure globes into place.

Then she wrapped the halter collar around her neck with a moan. It was tight enough she could feel herself swallow, with just enough give that she could breathe easily.

Lastly, she pulled up the zipper. It came up to mid-back but once it was done up, the dress was tight. It wrapped around her like a coccoon and the boning hidden in the seams forced her into an upright, proper posture. The skirt stopped at mid-calf and kept her from taking a full and proper step.

“Oh, oh,” she rubbed her hands all over herself as she moaned. “Oh my yes. Yes!” She took a few small steps to the mirror and looked at herself. “Oh god. Look at me. I’m in bondage and I’m going out in public.” She panted more, head thrown back, hands on her breasts as she slid them over the leather, her orgasm about to crash over the peak.

Suddenly a deep voice breaks into her self-admiration. “Don’t you dare cum, slut. Not until I have allowed it.”

Sarah’s moan catches in her throat and she slowly comes back to herself. She turns and looks at him, eyes heavy and dark. “As you wish, Master.”

“Good girl. Let’s go.” He heads out the door and he’s halfway down the stairs before she realizes he’s in a tux.

“Not the club?” she asks herself. “Who cares! Public bondage! Yay!” She runs after him with tiny mincing steps, a grin on her face.

Well, time for me to go! I want to talk briefly about my goals for the next six months. I have a few, some personal, some writing.

• applying myself to re-learning the flute. I have it. Use it.
• I have two languages I’m learning on Duolingo: Scots Gaelic and german.
• I’d like to write HW4. The series deserves to be completed.
• I need to start Whisky Cats.
• There’s a writing competition I just got introduced to that I am considering. It’s deadline is …well, shit, it’s the end of the month. Better consider it fast, eh?
• We are doing the MS Ride again. You can donate to me here http://mssoc.convio.net/goto/LongshotRiderJ
• I want to lose 30 pounds. Training for the ride will certainly help that.

I think that’s good for six months. We’ll see where I am then.

For now, it’s way past dinner time, I need pain meds, and the dog is getting impatient, too. Don’t forget to pre-order Tied to the Beat!

Muah!

Kinktober in February!

Does that make it KinkinValentine? (Edit: After publishing the blog, I went back to share the link and guess what? It’s called Kinkentine! I’m oblivious, don’t mind me.)

Oh, hell no. That’s way too awkward. laughs

Hi! How are you?

I am just finishing up Tied to the Beat. It is almost ready for publishing – which is good, given that the deadline is the tenth.  😬 While I am doing that, I also signed up with my newest writing friends on Discord to participate in a writing prompt challenge and I decided to share them with you. (All. First. Drafts. Remember that, yeah? Be kind!)

This is yesterday’s prompt: Naught Teacher/Professor. I put my own interpretation on that.

Obviously. 😀

I’d have published it yesterday but I had shots AND a migraine. Every intention I had of completing anything disappeared because I passed out when I got home yesterday afternoon.

I will write more on Leather Persuasion tomorrow. For now, enjoy!

Title-less

Rowena wakes up groggy and cold with the sound of weird music in her ears. She reaches for her blanket and rolls over whilst she shouts at her roommate to turn the damn music off.

Except…

“Wait…” she croaks to herself in the same hoarse voice the shout to her roommate came out in. She tries to lift her wrist again and finds it still beside her head. She slowly opens her eyes and frowns in confusion. She doesn’t see the pale lavender ceiling of her bedroom; nor does she see her nightlight shining stars on her ceiling by her bathroom door. She sees stalagmites…stalagtites? Pointy rock thingies. She’s too tired to remember.

They’re hanging from a huge vaulted stone ceiling that sparkles like Rowena’s inside a geode of ruby. For a moment, she lays there in awe. Then she remembers that her wrist is too heavy and it won’t move. She turns her head to look at the traitorous thing and finds it surrounded by an iron shackle. “Is it..?” She rolls her eyes. “Yup, it’s attached to a chain,” she mutters to herself.

Rowena’s peripheral vision shows her something else, too:

Her bed is suddenly the same glittery red as the ceiling.

“What the fucoxanthin?” She scowls as she notices that it’s kind of prickly and itchy against her back. “What the fuchsine is going on?” The whisper is hoarse still but now it’s wavery, too. She lifts her head to look down her body, squinting as her eyes strain to focus.

“I do not sleep nude!” She blushes from her toes to her nose.

The music around her gets louder and changes tone.  Some of the words seem to change, too. Vaguely alarmed by now – but more and more convinced she’s dreaming – Rowena expands her perspective and squints harder.

“They were rather cute pyjamas,” says a warm, friendly voice by her side. “I’m partial to kitty cats, though.”

Her head whips around and she looks up. “Professor Roger?” She peers up at her fashion design TA. “What are you doing in my dream?”

“Dream?” Roger offers a gawky, if sweet, smile. “This is no dream. Here, let me prove it.” He lifts a large and really alarmingly, she thought, sharp knife. He lowers it towards her and flicks it at her arm.

“I didn’t feel anything.’

“Just watch,” he says with a small gesture at her arm.

Rowena watches, wide-eyed, as the flesh on her arm parts and blood begins to bead, well up, then run around the curve of her arm to drip on the rock bed. When the third drop of blood hits the bed, the pain hits her brain. “Owww!” she screams.

“That hurt, didn’t it. I am sorry,” Roger says soothingly, as he pats her chest, making her right tit jiggle. “We had to be sure you understood it’s not a dream.”

“…We?”

“Yup. The other profs and I.” He gestures around him. “We’re all here. We need you to be the good little student you are.” He leans down and whispers, “You are a virgin, yes?”  At her shaky nod, he continues, “Good,” he says as he nods and gives someone a thumbs up.

Roger smiles brightly. “Let’s get on with things!” He idly slides the side of the knife up and down her body as he talks. “Look, I don’t want you to die, should you die, in ignorance and fear, so this is what’s going on. We are summoning a demon to do our bidding but he needs to be kept happy. That,” he taps her on the pussy with the flat of the blade, “my young friend, is your job. We need a little more blood to get his attention then you keep him happy with your tight, unused little cunt and we get what we want.”

Rowena is dumbfounded. Demons? Actual virgin sacrifice? “It must be a dream. Sure, Roger, whatever.”

Looking delighted, Roger gives her an approving pat on the breast. “Excellent. Now, like I said, we just need a little more blood. You know how sharp the knife is; you won’t feel a thing… at first.” He moves around what she realizes now is an altar and the knife flashes in the strange light. 

He was right, she muses, she didn’t feel anything. Not at first. Nothing but the warm flow of her blood. Then the burn of her blood.

“There we go!” Roger comes over and looks down at her. “He’ll be along any moment. He’s going to look a little terrifying but don’t let that be off-putting, I hear that he’s got a lovely cock. You’re going to enjoy it.”

“Sh-sh-sure…” Rowena stutters as blackness crowds around the edges of her vision.

Roger disappears.

Seconds later, there’s a loud clap of noise like the boom of thunder directly overhead. Several people scream, in spite of themselves.

There’s a lot of smoke that smells like brimstone and lavender.

“Lavender?” gets muttered a lot. In confusion, mostly. There are a couple of women who appreciate it, especially when they see what steps out of the smoke.

It’s Adonis, but eight feet tall. Broad shoulders, narrow hips. Biceps the size of watermelons. An ass you want to make a meal out of. Forget six-pack, this guy had a twelve-pack. He was enormous. And he was so handsome with his shoulder-length, layered, wavy chestnut hair, chiseled jawline, sharp cheekbones and never-been-broken nose, that you didn’t really see the horns curving out of that hair. Nor did you happen to notice that his skin was red.

At least that part of Hellboy is right, Rowena thinks to herself with a giggle right before her eye (and the eyes of every woman and all the gay men) is drawn to the loincloth he wears.

The demon strides up to the altar, ignoring Roger, who is trying to talk to him, and looks down at Rowena. His eyes narrow and he shakes his head just before he puts his hands on the cuts on her ankles. The split flesh closes and knits back together.

Not a pleasant experience for Rowena and she lets him know it but cussing at him in at least 2 of the languages she knows.

He just smiles and moves to the head of the altar to lay hands on the wounds on her wrists. She curses again, he smiles again.

“Come now, Rowena, you’ve never complained so loudly before.” He undoes her shackles.

The professors get quiet.

“It’s never been quite so deep before. That bloody knife (see what I did there? Huh?),” she grins in the middle of her complaint as she points out the wordplay, “is damn sharp and he’s a moron.”

Roger immediately drops the knife.

“Anyway,” Rowena says as she looks up at the demon. “It’s lovely to see you, Jerry, love.”

“A pleasure to see you, baby. It’s been too long.” Jerry the Demon scoops up Rowena and kisses her stupid.

Several professors, having caught on that this is not going their way, try running for the door. 

Rowena flings out a hand and lightning crackles from the ceiling. It zaps not only the fleeing profs but the door, melting it into an amorphous, immovable blob that seals them into the chamber.

She breaks the kiss and looks at Jerry.  “They thought I was a virgin.”

He chuckles. “Well, you kind of are. This form you’ve taken on hasn’t had sex.”

Giggling, Rowena indicates  that she wants down. Once she’s on the ground she rolls her shoulders and cracks her knuckles. “What should we do with them?”

“What did they want?”

Rowena looks at Roger. “What did you want from Jerry?”

“M-m-money. S-s-some w-w-want fame thr-through p-p-publishing.”

“Greed.” Rowena states.

Jerry nods. “Into the pit with them.”

“Let’s have a little fun first,” Rowena pleads.  “They left me for you to rape.” She starts removing her hair like it’s a wig, then peels her face off. As she does, the rest of her skin follows and she  grows until she’s a few inches shorter than Jerry, stacked like the most typical male wet dream, with pale blonde hair. “Shall we start with Roger?”

Jerry grins. “Let’s roger Roger!” He points at the others, now huddled by the ruined door. “Let’s put them in some semblance of order though, shall we?  Make this a spectator sport.”

Rowena claps with glee and then zaps orders all the other professors into a row sitting on the edge of the open pit. She turns to Roger. “Professor Wannabe, or is it Wannabe Professor? Either way, off with your clothes!”

“I..I.. uh..I..” Roger doesn’t know what to do. He is terrified and yet… she smells like sex and his cock is raging, desperate for contact.

Jerry rolls his eyes, walks over to Roger, grabs the front of his robe in one hand, the back in the other and simply tears it asunder.

Rowena and Jerry start laughing. “That is what you’ve been trying to stick into all us girls?” Rowena gasps out through the laughter.

Roger looks down. Seven inches but barely an inch across. At it’s hardest. He sighs, tears in his eyes.

“Oh well, I guess we’ll make do. It’ll be good for opening his ass up with.”

“I agree. You have a monster there; his will be a nice little start.”

Roger blinks as the exchange filters through his brain and he starts to figure out what they meant. He backed up, hands over his groin. “No! No no no!”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Rowena says soothingly as she approaches him as you would a scared animal, “we won’t let you bleed to death.” She pumps out the pheromones until he’s swaying.

She reaches him and turns him around, locks him into place against her. “Go ahead, Jerry. Rip it off.”

Of the Leather Persuasion

Good morning, everyone!

I know, it’s a terrible shock to see me pop up in your email. “Catherine actually wrote a blog? What the f…?” I know, I get it; it’s been thirteen months since I’ve written one.

In those thirteen months, though, life has been busy.

I have to say, I’ve lost my hermit status. There are actually new people in my life! We have a new friend name Paul. He’s a Witch, he’s gay, he’s a Drag Queen, he’s brilliant at throwing shade (he’s fierce!) and he is

There is also G, M’s best friend, who is becoming my best male friend, outside of M. He is a Dom, a wonderful man, and brilliant.

My son got engaged!

This is my favourite photo from that day.

My daughter got accepted to her exchange program and is spending this school year in England. She’s thrilled. I’m thrilled. I miss her. She comes home for the holidays in a few days.

They all do. I’m looking forward to it. Boykid has been in Australia this past month. I know Girl-in-law has missed him fiercely.

What else has happened… hmm… OH! I did the MS Ride! I did the entire first day, which ended up being around 85km. I cried, I quit, I got back on, and we were the last team in. Just dead last.

That night I had a fever of 102*F, way out of it with fever and pain. The next morning, I had a fever, still, a degree or so lower. M & G insisted I get on the shuttle to go two stops up and avoid the hills so I went to the shuttle stop (M dropped me off with my bike) and everyone there was like, “A fever? No, no no, you need to go to the third stop. Besides, there’s only one hill from there.” So I did 25km from there.

It wasn’t the full ride but I crossed the finish line and did what I said I was going to do.

This year, I have Zwift and will be doing better indoor training (ankle damage notwithstanding) and I will do more next year. Maybe the whole ride. It’s just that the second day starts on hills like this:

Super steep in the middle of the city, not the country.

I’m working on it, though.

Has anything else happened? M’s divorce is final! I don’t remember anything else offhand, but that’s because I’m tired and achy. My ankle is in an Aircast boot right now because there is tendon damage.

I am back today because I am part of a new series! Of the Leather Persuasuion is a series dedicated to trying to promote a healthy view of BDSM.

Here is the series blurb:

This Valentine’s Day the Leather Persuasion Resort is the exotic obsession among singles or couples of the BDSM lifestyle on a secluded island of Trunk Bay. Take the questionnaire and follow your guide, Lance Pierce, at the pier where you will experience the vacation of a lifetime. Meet your special someone or casual play partner! At the Leather Persuasion Resort, anything is possible.

Collect all 5 erotic stories in this brand new kink series of varying degrees of erotic romantic heat. Dip your toes into the sand with the characters, experiencing the exclusive erotic adventures that will forever be memorable.

It should be a lot of fun! We have Crystal Lynn and Edward Blackwood collaborating on Worth the Risk for Book 1. You can pre-order here

Book Two by Claudia Steven

Alivia Grant is finally getting a break from her stressful job and bound for a girl’s getaway with Penelope Vasquez, her best friend. Penelope has promised Alivia lots of fun, relaxation, and lots of hotties at the resort where they will be staying. Without another thought, Alivia packs her bags and boards a plane bound for an island retreat.

There’s only one thing that could ruin Alivia’s vacation. Penelope has kept a very big secret from Alivia about the resort. This luxurious resort isn’t something you see on t.v. This is the one of a kind Leather Persuasion Resort — a BDSM resort. Alivia has always wanted to explore the lifestyle of BDSM but has always been too scared to dive into it on her own.

Will this vacation be the push that Alivia needs to get out of her comfort zone and experience the world she has always dreamed of? Or will she be homebound before the vacation ever begins?

You can find her pre-order link here.

Book three brings us Simone Evans with Second Chance Persuasion.

You can pre-order here.

Jannah and Nikolas Allen have been married for five years and trying for a baby for eight months, and in all that time, Jannah hadn’t shared one important fact about herself — she’d been a domme before meeting Nikolas on her first day at Lazarus Industries as a technical writer. Afraid to share her need for dominance with the straight-laced computer programmer, she pushed it deep down in favor of love.

But, now, Jannah is realizing something is missing in her marriage so she decided to take a trip to get her past desires out of her system once and for all. Her and Nikolas agreed to take separate ‘friends only’ vacations — giving them time apart, away from the stress of making a baby — the two separated at the airport uncertain about what their future will hold.

Will Jannah accept her true self and find the courage to tell her husband about herself when she returns from the Leather Persuasion Resort on Trunk Bay? Or, will her mysterious submissive throw a wrench in her plans?

Next up is Rexi Lake with book 4, Keeping His Kitten.

Her pre-order link is here.

The Kitten

Kelli has always been an explorer. Of marine life. As half owner of a wildlife rescue, she has spent a lot of time in the waters off Jubilee Harbor, Connecticut. An unexpected gift to visit the island of St. John gives her an opportunity to explore the reefs in the warmer waters of the Caribbean. What she doesn’t realize until she’s on her way is that the resort she’s been gifted an all-expenses-paid trip to isn’t just any resort. It’s a BDSM resort that caters to any kink imaginable. She’s had her fantasies, but she’s never acted on them. She thinks she can get away with simply booking some reef tours and snorkeling adventures, but the resort director sends her to Jake, a local bar owner and a VIP member of the resort.

The Master

Jake grew up on St. John’s Island and his bar Saints has thrived with the resort located on the next bay. As a member of Leather Persuasions and a St. John’s native, he gets the business when someone wants an excursion outside the resort. When he gets a call from a woman requesting a tour of the reefs, he never expects to discover someone whose unexplored curiosities are a perfect match to his own kinks. He’s played with guests before, but no one has ever sparked that need for more in him.

Will Kelli be the one to turn the tide? Can Jake convince her to enjoy a little playtime? Does he have what it takes to keep this kitten?

And then there’s mine:

Oh, wait, that’s right, you have to wait until the reveal this afternoon before you can find out what it is. 😉

I am doing a takeover of the Leather Persuasion Series – Erotic Readers Book Club on Facebook this afternoon starting at 2pm EST. (That’s Toronto, Canada time, -5hrs, GMT) While I’m there, I will be doing a Facebook Live chat about BDSM, namely SSC and RACK.

Those are Safe, Sane and Consensual and Risk Aware Consensual Kink. They are the way people should be behaving in the BDSM world and we’ll talk about what they are and why they’re important, plus any other topics that come up.

I will post again once my pre-order links are active and my book cover has been revealed. Have a wonderful day and I hope we see you at today’s takeover.

Muah!

NaNo and a book release

Gooooooooooood morning, everyone!

It’s snowing here, which is triggering all kinds of nasty things for me (although that’s partly the return to yoga as well), but I have some great news to share so I don’t care about either.

I’ll get right to it:

NaNo was sucking hairy donkey balls. I liked the idea of the story I started out with but when it came to writing it, I just wasn’t… Well, I just wasn’t feeling it.  So I dropped it and started again  with something new. It’s more my style: violence and sex. 😉

I think this is a much better start than the one I had (which was a couple of women bickering):

Booze. Chocolate. And… Alexa Brenner let her eyes cruise the bar and spotted a few prospects. There was a table of some very muscle-bound men.  If she squinted – and she did – she could just make out some ink on the forearm of one of them. Interesting, she thought, nice ink. Looks like Charon in his boat. I like it. Definitely a prospect to complete the trifecta: Booze. Chocolate. Sex. It’s going to be a very good night.

She could use a good night. As Avatar for Isis, she rarely got a night off. She traveled from realm to realm, slipping through portals to carry out the whims and enforce the laws of her Goddess. Thank the Gods for an assignment in the monotheistic, non-magic Realm, the first in almost a decade, that allowed her a night off. It was the most boring Realm, as far as she was concerned, but it did cause her the most grief sometimes. Six billion people on the planet, three billion believed in this one God and that the planet was only six thousand years old, the other three billion believed in a multi-armed God and his family.

Why they couldn’t be more like the other eight Realms she helped police was beyond her. Five other Realms with non-shifters in them and they all accepted the fact that there was more than one God: Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Druid and that one with all the lizards they called dragons. She snickered because it still bugged the Dragon shifters in the Seventh Realm that the humans called those animals dragons. Alexa took every opportunity possible to point out that they looked almost exactly the same. Then there were the Elf and Fairy Realms, they had their own Gods. It made Empyrean, the home of all the Gods and said to be the hidden place of the purest fire, a little crowded sometimes.

And yet, she mused as she kept an eye on the tattooed muscle man with her peripheral vision, the Gods insist on calling this place a single God Realm. There are two, and subs, if you ask me. She shrugged to herself. It didn’t matter. The Dark Elves who had tried to take refuge here and spread word that magic existed no longer existed in any Realm and she had a night off. In one hundred and twenty-eight years of fighting for Isis, beginning when she was thirteen, Alexa’d managed to have a total of six nights off and a beautiful five out of six of them had been filled with debauchery. No one said men had the sole right to debauchery. A grin stretched her face.

Alexa leaned back in her chair and shifted her long, slim legs out in front of her, crossing them at the leather clad ankles. It displayed a lot of muscle and played peek-a-boo with a good amount of flesh. Her jeans were torn in numerous places, she’d managed to clean the ash off but there was little she could do about the rips, and lots of golden skin shone through. Damn the fact that Dark Elves fought with claws and then turned to dust when they died, anyway, she thought as she picked at a loose thread. The move also lengthened her torso and she impulsively stretched her arms above her head. Her leather jacket fell open and her breasts lifted along her ribcage, pulling her shirt up to display strong, toned abs. 

Pure feminine pleasure filled her as one of his buddies pointed her out and Muscle Man turned to look at her. She caught his eyes and they stared at one another for a moment.  It frustrated her that his face was shadowed and his eyes were hooded so that she, with her enhanced vision still couldn’t see well enough in this darkened bar, to tell whether he appreciated what he saw. Ah well, if he didn’t, the other sure did. She kept her eyes on him but offered the table at large a jaunty grin and a saucy wink before she gave him the once over. Her lips parted on a gasp of appreciation.

Irenaus Weber grunted. “So, it is another pretty girl.”

“You’re daft.” His second-in-command, a Dragon by the name of Damir Belakova, said. “Her skin is nearly glowing it’s so richly golden.”

“Yes,” said his Light Elf Master-at-Arms Zathlen Liondale, “she does glow. It’s almost magical.” He frowned as he read the woman’s t-shirt. “I am a little put out by her choice of top, though.” The shirt said “Dark Elves Do It Hot but I Do It Better” in bright pink sparkles on a black background.  “Perhaps she could do up that long jacket she wears; the denim would stretch nicely across her breasts.”

The fourth and final member of their team, the coms and tech expert, a Fairy named Florian Rosevine, laughed and slapped the Elf on the back. “Of course, you’re put out; she’s bragging on those assholes, your Dark side. And you’re right, her breasts would look lovely covered in denim.”

Irenaus rolled his eyes as he turned back around. “Knock it off, jackasses. She just flirted with everyone at this table. Clearly, she doesn’t discriminate. I am not interested in a woman like that.”

Damir scoffed. “She did not, boy. She only had eyes for you. What she did was show that she knew we were watching. Everything she’s done so far is for you. Go buy her a drink. It’s been a century since you’ve been laid.”

“A millennium is more like it,” Florian muttered into his ale as he leaned on the two back legs of the chair.

~~~

See? It has promise.

I’m still not entirely sure about the plot but I’ve managed to write close to 6k words in the last few days, (which has impressed Mike), so I’m happy.  

In other, more important news:

CREATESPACE FINALLY ACCEPTED GHOSTS AFIRE! 

I’ve been arguing with their file inspection process for weeks over the formatting. I used one of their damn templates and still had 4 formatting issues come up repeatedly:

1. Orientation.  It kept telling me that I had some pages at portrait orientation (as they should be) and some at landscape! I was like “what the fuck, buttercup?? That’s so obviously not true.”  I went through the book three times, one page at a time, checking the orientation.  Then I highlighted the entire document and set the thing to portrait. I noticed that the first 4 or 5 pages were the wrong size and fixed that. And yet… “Your document has two different orientations.”  *tears hair out*
2. The gutter was too small.  Okay, so the gutter, I learned, is the part of the page that dips down into the fold/binding of the book.  It’s kind of important that you don’t have your words extend into that because then your readers can’t get read the end of each line easily and it pisses them off.  And what pissed off reader wants to read your book again?  The parameters stated that for every book 301-500 pages the gutter had to be 0.625″. So I made it 0.625″.  Word kept rounding it to 0.63 for some reason.  Eventually, after submitting for the 6th time, I simply dragged the margin tab back toward the middle a bit.  STILL wrong.
3. Content extends into the gutter.  Which makes absolute sense if the gutter was too small.  Except it was exactly the size they told  me to make it. 
4. And the fonts weren’t embedded – “But we embedded them for you.”  Clearly they did not because that kept coming up again and again.   …….And I just realized that they would have had to do it for every new file I uploaded. Yes, I see that. However, I read their little how-to on embedding fonts, and I read Word’s how-to, and so I embedded the fonts and LO! the next time I uploaded a changed file I got “The fonts were not embedded properly so we embedded them for you.”  

After all the attempts I finally said “fuck it, it’s close enough” (because it’s readable) and hit “Ignore and save.”  So now it’s heading towards my KDP bookshelf to publish on Kindle, too. 

So it looks like HW3: Ghosts Afire will be published by the end of the weekend!  

Can I get a “woop woop”?? 😉

I have to go now. I need to write today but firs tI have to take care of this vicious migraine that’s made sure it’s made me take three hours to write this blog. 

Muah!

 

NaNo and Costumes and Shifters, Oh my!

Good morning!

It is November first and you know what that means!  

It’s NaNoWriMo time!

I will be giving it a go again this year.  I have the time and the support and I think I have the health (although the sleeping thing is still an issue), so completion shouldn’t be a problem.  

I have decided to retell something by Shakespeare: As You Like It.  

I am doing a modern twist, I am also taking it from brothers to sisters and setting it in Canada. This is the tentative plot so far:

Two Sisters, the younger takes over the other’s place in a large corporation(? A baking company maybe? Gourmet cupcakes with bakeries in cities all over the country) by cheating her sister out of her place

The older starts her own business in another country, taking with her loyal employees, leaving behind her son who is attached to the company he helped his mom and aunt build after they took it (a single bakery) over from his mother’s mother.

To the younger’s company comes two more sisters – one super bitchy, a cheater, mistreats her sister, uses her sister as a slave, takes all the credit; the other is super sweet, incredibly talented, knows exactly what her sister is, loves her anyway.

Both seem to be really capable of filling the position, the son holds a knock out competition between the two sisters, and another, and discovers that the younger is much talented. After the elder is taken out when her cupcakes flop early, she tells the remaining competition to do “whatever” it takes to take her sister down.

Son falls for youngest sister when she wins. Older sister ingratiates herself with his aunt.

Aunt gives him an ultimatum – get rid of the girl or get banished.  When he refuses, she sends him to his mother.

Younger sister is fired b/c of older sister, leaves with small severance b/c son makes his aunt do it, wins a lottery on the same day, changes her appearance and her name, and moves to another city  in the country over to open up a bakery, doing full sized cakes & wedding cakes but non-traditional (carved, shaped, creative), hires 3 people (all female, one of whom is gay) to help her with the shop  Keeps seeing her name on flyers, hearing bits of song lyrics on the radio in commercial with her name in it.

Finally, reads one of the flyers closely, discovers it’s a band with the son as lead singer, realizes she’d inadvertently moved to same city.  Disguises self, takes three employees, who have become closest friends with all the long hours they work, to see the band play.  Manages to become friends with the band, intending to get son to talk about how he feels about her. 

Decides to set band members up with her employees, esp lead guitarist with gay woman. Guitarist falls for her instead.

Older sister shows up in town looking for her. They reconcile when elder reveals that she’s had a change in attitude when a brush with cancer made her realize what a cunt she’s been. Younger takes her to see band. Elder immediately falls for drummer. Love at first sight. 

Pushes youngest to reveal herself to son after his mother is at one of the shows and sits at the table talking to them and reveals his feelings for her. Mother says “I got ordained to marry my two best friends together. I’d marry Son and Younger tomorrow if only he could find her and she felt the same way he does.”

Younger makes gay guitarist promise to date gay employee if she can’t have her alternate persona then reveals herself to son. They are happily reunited and only wait enough time for a cake to be made before getting married.

Son’s aunt gives back the business after getting into Scientology and everyone moves back to the old city to resume the company, leaving youngest’s bakery in the hands of her employees as part of the larger company

It’s one of The Bard’s comedies, so we’ll have to see how funny I can make it.  

We have the following characters:

Characters Involved                                                                                  Settings

Sister One – generation one                                                   Two cities

Sister Two – generation one Cicely                                      Two companies

Son of sister two  Eastyn                                                        Bar with live band

Sister One – generation two –  Honor

Sister Two – generation two (Sprinkles Cupcakes) Temperance

Competition

Three bakery people (one gay, all female)

Three band members

Only two of whom are developed. 

Basically, this is nearly a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writing job.  Should be fun!  I hope y’all are looking forward to it.  I may post the daily pages in my blog this year.  Maybe not.  If you are interested in being put on the mailing list for it, leave me your email in the comments section.  It will come from my yahoo email.  

 

I also wanted to talk about the MS Bike fundraiser.  TODAY IS THE DAY!  Today official fundraising begins!  And you can help us out by searching for us on our teampage (and yes, I need to update our little blog) http://mssoc.convio.net/goto/thelongshotriders and clicking on one of our names to donate, or you can just click on our personal pages here:  http://mssoc.convio.net/goto/longshotriderJenn and http://mssoc.convio.net/site/TR/BikeTour/OntarioDivision?px=2927321&pg=personal&fr_id=6523  (hmmm… I need to get him to personalize his page a bit, eh?).

Thank you in advance of any help you find it in your hearts to give us, and a warning:  This is not the only request I will make! At some point, I will be finding out the legalities of offering prizes for the highest donations.  We are looking to raise $3000 together.  It’s not a lot, in the grand scheme of things, but it is a pile for two people to try to gather on their own.  So far, we have  about $115.  I have $65 in cash on my desk, waiting for me to be able to continue personal donations so I can put it up (sales from A Year in the Life of S. Claus).  And I will be donating $250 more of my own money, in bits and pieces.  

 

Two more bits of business:  First, the costumes, second, the Scaredy Cat anthology.

This past weekend was the London Comic Con.  And we had a lot of fun.  

We only managed to get there on Sunday this year but we spent the entire day there. We saw a lot of costumes, and a lot of vendors. The best cosplay we saw were these guys:

They had it down perfectly, from the Yip yip yip to the phone ringing and the movements.

Mike (on the far right) tried to get them to break character but they refused.  They were absolutely perfect.  

As you can see, Mike was dressed as a Templar knight.  

He is wearing chainmail.  You can see the sleeve of it on his sword arm.  He made it of tempered steel, though the shirt has a copper body, in part. 

People, when you see a Templar Knight, don’t assume he’s a Monty Python character.  We must have been asked that more than a dozen times.  

The funniest questions came when I had to pee, though.  

Outside the bathroom doors, there was a standing of red and white fabric, hiding the washrooms from the  vendors next to them.  Mike took up a stance next to the fabric then just stood there, very still.    People started questioning whether he was part of the display, a statue put there.  So Girlkid, being who she is, started taking selfies with him…

Which was just funny as hell.  

One guy decided to come up and exam Mike, got in his face looking him all over.  Mike didn’t move.  He said later that he really wanted to start following him around though.  

Girlkid was a character from Supernatural, sorry, but I can’t remember which one.  She was just a little disappointed in herself because she couldn’t do the heavy eye makeup the character does because she was having a problem with her eyes and makeup would have been counter-productive.  

I think we both looked pretty good.

And I was Mina Harker, from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.   I wanted to go as someone recognizable this year and I managed it.  I was recognized several times, even if you could see it as “oh, she’s that character from that movie with Sean Connery. What was it called…?” lol  

Someone did call me out by name, startled me badly since he did it from just behind me. *laughs*  I was pleased though.  And I found out where to get the comics the movie was bas on, too.

Mike got his picture taken several times and asked dozens of questions about his chainmail and the sword he was carrying (a hand-and-a-half polypropylene one by Cold Steel. I have  single hand one by them). 

Then he was invited to walk in the Oxford Ren Fair’s Christmas Parade and we were invited to attend their Elizabethan masquerade ball.  That’s pretty cool, eh?

The other outstanding thing that happened was this:

That’s right!  Girlkid met Julian Richings! He plays Death in Supernatural and he’s been in Man of STeel, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Urban Legend. X-Men: The Last Stand, Orphan Black, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil: The End of the End, just to name a few. 

Mr. Richings is a grand fellow.  What a lovely man. We had a wonderful time talking to him.  He made his Q&A personal and cozy. 

It was a really good day, overall.  

Looking forward to New Year’s Eve.  

 

Now, the Scaredy Cat Anthology and then I need to get some writing done. 

The entire book, all ten stories by nine fabulous authors is now on EBOOK FOR JUST NINETY-NINE CENTS!  ($1.30 in Canada)

That’s write…er…right… you can get all of the cat shifter stories, from the likes of Josette Reuel, S.E. Isaac, Me, Romarin Demetri, Crystal St Clair, A.M. Cosgrove, Adalaine Rose, Edward Blackwood, and Laura Stapleton.

One hundred per cent of each sale is going to Wounded Warrrior Project.

You can get it here:

Amazon Global link: https://getBook.at/AG2-CaSCAntho

If you still prefer it in print, you can get it here: Amazon US Print: http://a.co/5npm9pV

That’s it from me today, folks, have a great day!  I’m going to take the dog out, feed her, then get to starting As You Ice It.  

 

Yeah…that’s a bad title…

😉

Muah!

 

Definitions and an Update

Hello!

It’s taken me over a week to get this blog out and for that I must apologize.

IYSAE wiped me out.  It left me far more exhausted than I thought.  I’ve been passing out at least twice a day this week, despite getting an appropriate number of hours a night and taking my B12.  It took me four days of sittings to get all the definitions {from the magnet words} together for you all.

And in the process, I discovered, to my dismay(!) that there are only 23 when there should be 26 words. I missed B, J & N.  No idea how.  I thought I got all the words.

Oh well, it’s done, right? The magnets and bookmarks both look fantastic and the people who took them loved them.

Okay, once more, here’s the magnet:

Pretty, pretty.

Now, the definitions:

ANODYNE: an adjective that means something unlikely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so. Or a noun as a painkilling drug or medicine. “Morphine is the most anodyne pain medicine we’ve ever seen.”

CYCLOPEAN: 1. denoting a type of ancient masonry made with massive irregular blocks. “that building has ridiculous cyclopean stone walls. Why would they do that?” 2. Of or resembling a Cyclops. “a cyclopean eye”

DASTARDLY: wicked and cruel; having or showing a lack of courage “It’s the story of a woman who plots a dastardly revenge on her unfaithful lover.”

EPISTEMIC: relating to knowledge or the degree of its validation “As human beings, it is very important to be aware of our epistemic limitations.”

FENESTRATED: adjective:  provided with a window or windows; (anatomy) having perforations apertures, or transparent areas “The capillaries have a fenestrated epithelium.”

GARBIST: noun, one who is adept at engaging in polite behaviour; an expert in etiquette “The golden rule of good manners for the garbist is to think of others before himself or herself.”

HONEYFUGGLE: To entice or deceive by flattery or sweet talk “Don’t think that I am unaware of your attempts to honeyfuggle me.”

IRASCIBLE: having or showing a tendency to be easily angered. “The older we get, the more irascible we get.”

KYPHOSIS: excessive outward curvature of the spine, causing hunching of the back. “If you wanted to get technical, The Hunchback of Notre Dame should probably be The Poor Sap with Kyphosis of Notre Dame.”

LAEOTROPIC: turning to the left: SINISTRAL (which means inclined to turn left or left-handed), used in particular to describe various shells, spiral shell cleavage patterns or the movement of volvox colonies (volvox is a polyphyletic genus of chlorophyte green algae

MARPLOT: An officious meddler whose interference compromises the success of an undertaking.

OBLIVESCENCE: the act or process of forgetting  “Our memory, and what is often equally important, our oblivescence, is what helps is become the  person we are; we just need to learn to use both wisely.”

PURLOIN: to steal something  “Judging by the look of satisfaction on the dog’s face, it was she who managed to purloin the last of the turkey off the table.”

RAMFEEZLED: Scottish word meaning worn out, exhausted. “After the book signing this weekend, I’m flat out ramfeezled.”

SUDORIFEROUS: adjective, bearing or secreting sweating “That burly guy was gross! I don’t care that it’s 150 degrees out, he should have done something about being so sudoriferous.”

TRISKELION: A Celtic symbol consisting of three legs or lines radiating from a center, usually in a triple spiral in rotational symmetry. “In Celtic lore, the Triskelion is associated with the connection of mind, body and spirit, as well as striving toward personal growth.”

ULTRADIAN: a recurring chronobiological cycle longer than an hour but shorter than a day, “Unlike the Circadian rhythm, which completes one cycle a day, the Ultradian rhythm repeats in a 24 hour time period.”

VITIATE: to spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of, corrupt “When peers and bullies apply pressure, it can vitiate the moral character of young people and lead them down the wrong path.”

WELKIN: the sky   or heaven (archaic English)  The welkin contains many stars, planets and heavenly bodies that are invisible to the naked eye.

XENIUM: a gift given among ancient Greeks and Romans to a guest or stranger, especially a foreign ambassador  “The xenium given to Maximus by the Emperor included a new blade, impractically imbedded with jewels in the hilt, a small sack with enough gold to make Maximus’s aide stagger to the side a little, and a dark haired, dark eyed girl who said her name was Aurelia.”

YGGDRASIL: From Old Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the immense tree that connects the Nine Worlds together. It is the center of the cosmos and considered very holy.

ZOIATRICS: the science of veterinary surgery “Thank the gods the woman who operated on Micky was extremely adept at zoiatrics.”

What’s your favourite word? What word rolls off your tongue the best?  What word did you like the definition of the best?  My answers are  Ramfeezeled and Honeyfuggle.

Ignite Your Soul was slower this year than the other years I’ve been to it as a reader.  That was okay, it made my first time there as a writer easier. I sold some books – a few copies of A Year in the Life of S. Claus  and at least one full set of the Highland Wolves books.  The bake sale didn’t go as well as I’d hoped but we did raise a little money for the MS Bike ride, about $50.

Every little bit helps, right?

It’s taken me almost two weeks to write this – or remember that I was writing this *laughs* – and yet another Friday has rolled around again.  This week I found out why you cannot search for us in order to donate to our fundraiser:

The 2019 fundraising season starts November 1st.  After that you’ll be able to find me under my actual name, Jenn Van Massenhoven, or the team, The Longshot Riders, to donate. 

Don’t worry, I’ll remind you. 😉

I hope to see those of you I saw this year plue many more next year at IYSAE! 

One last thing!   Ghosts AFire: Highland Wolves 3 will be released in the next few days!

Muah!

 

It’s FIVE Days to IYSAE!

And I am petrified, anxious and excited all at the same time!  I’ve been working on books, on swag, and on deciding what to bake for the MS Ride fundraiser.  

I have the books at the printer AND I put HW3 in to the reviewers at Createspace, which means it will be released soon! 

Wanna see it?

It’s my favourite!

It’s stunning, isn’t it?  The background photo is of Glen Coe in Scotland. 

All three covers have things in common: the layouts – positioning of my picture, texts, titles and my name – as well as the colours of the title and author name.  The subtitle colour reflects the content of the book. (Anna does a lot with fire in this book.)

I’m so excited about some of the swag we’ve prepared!  We have a magnet and a bookmark I just love. And my banner, to go on the table and let everyone know who I am, is gorgeous and sexy.  Check them out.

The magnet.

The bookmark.

And the banner.

Aren’t they just frakin’ amazing?  

I will be publishing the meanings to all the words the day after IYSAE.  They’re almost all words that have disappeared from use.  For instance, honeyfuggle means to deceive by flattery or sweet talk, to swindle or cheat. 

And that banner. *whistles*  It’s sexy, no?  It’s not going to be missed, is it?  I’m hoping it draws people in like bees to a flower.  

I have to go but I leave you with three more things:

Ghosts Afire will be live by Wednesday and, as usual, as soon as the Kindle version is live, it will be free for three days.  I may make all three books available so you can get the entire series.  Or I’ll make a buck-a-book promo.  

IYSAE is at the Double Tree by Hilton in London from 10 am to 3 pm (… wait, *double checks*).  VIP ticket holders get in at 10, Gen Admin at 11.  Tickets are $20 at the door. Signing ends at 2, not 3.  

I will be taking my Chocolate Heavens cookies and my Orange Creamsicle cupcakes to help with our MS Ride fundraiser.  You can check us out here http://mssoc.convio.net/goto/thelongshotriders  to donate, if you want to donate directly. (Please do!) All proceeds from Saturday’s sale of A Year in the Life of S. Claus, the cupcakes and the cookies will be going into the fundraising pot.  Along with any other donations people choose to make.  

Have a great week!

Muah!

Micky & I just love the UPS Guy

He brings nice things.

Like this:

Isn’t it gorgeous??

 

It’s a slightly blurry picture, I know, but I was taking the picture to show Mike and I was excited. 

The inside looks great but the cover is slightly off. I’m not sure if it’s them or me since the two books are different in that way.  I think it’s me, personally, but Mike thinks it’s them because it looks perfect in the digital proofer. 

It’s a pretty, pretty book. With an exciting concept.

Blurb:

What if Santa wasn’t a small, fat man in a bright red suit?

What if he were really a magic man, a savvy businessman, a car enthusiast and some time vigilante?

Santa’s real name is Ari Lykke and he is a Norwegian given the job of Santa Claus by the Gods many centuries ago. Since then, he’s built the business into a worldwide conglomerate, helped thousands achieve their dreams, and rescued millions from the clutches of Darkness. Now, he has a murder to solve, corporate espionage to prevent and one tiny old woman to save.

And you can get it for free through tomorrow as an ebook at the following sites:

Ebook:

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Year-Life-S-Claus-ebook/dp/B07GLVZH8C/

US: https://www.amazon.com/Year-Life-S-Claus-ebook/dp/B07GLVZH8C/

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Year-Life-S-Claus-ebook/dp/B07GLVZH8C/

And here as a paperback:

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Year-Life-S-Claus/dp/1725681218

US: https://www.amazon.com/Year-Life-S-Claus/dp/1725681218

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Year-Life-S-Claus/dp/1725681218

I know that the books seem kind of expensive but the proceeds are going to our MS Ride: http://mssoc.convio.net/goto/thelongshotriders .

We are riding for a couple reasons.  Mike’s aunt died of MS several years ago. MS is, as far as I can tell with the research I’ve done, as close as any other disease gets, to FMS as anything else. That means the research is potentially helpful to finding resolutions to FMS as well. I’ve wanted to do this ride for many years and finally, in Mike, I have the support I need to get it done. 

With your help, we can raise the money we are looking for to contribute.  We will have a bonus for the top three largest contributers. 

Have a good evening!

Muah!