Monday, January 28, 2013

Enbrel, Or My Disappearing Mondays

Don't be too surprised if I disappear on Mondays.

Enbrel, the TNF blocker that I take to try and manage my anklyosing spondylitis (or AS) makes me sleepy. So sleepy, in fact, that I wind up nodding off within two hours of giving myself the injection. And I'm pretty much out of it for the rest of the day, no matter what my plans might have been. I'm on my eighth injection as of today, and without fail Monday has become Napday.



(Don't you wish your Monday was Napday?)

So if you see me online on Mondays bright and early, and I'm chipper and talkative, and then I just... disappear, this is why. I'm currently covered in small, fuzzy animals while the Murder-Death-Kill channel plays in the background. (And don't think Dusty hasn't muttered about subliminal messages while I nap to things like Wives with Knives, Fatal Vows or Deadly Affairs. He'd like it much better if I put on... well, use your imagination, because my blog is PG-13 and his preference is not.)

So it's off to do my Napday injection, then fight with the dog over which of us gets the sofa.

See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

NEW RELEASE: The Hob, The Gray Court Book 4!

Robin's here! Robin's HERE!


The Gray Court Book 4
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
ISBN: 978-1-61921-381-4

Robin Goodfellow has met his match.

When the Black Queen kidnaps one of the White Queen's nephews, Robin Goodfellow is sent to ensure that the young prince safely returns to the bosom of his family. True to his role as Oberon’s Hobgoblin, he is ready for anything…except meeting his truebond, the very delicious, very human Michaela Exton.

Michaela has dreamed about a flame-haired rogue named Robin Goodfellow since she was a little girl, but everyone knows Puck doesn’t really exist. In real life, it’s a dark-eyed man named Ringo who makes her heart beat faster.

She is closer to her dream man than she thinks, and nobody knows it better than Robin, who wears the guise of Ringo. But there’s competition for her love in the form of Lord Raven, who holds a secret that will rock the foundation of Robin’s world. As a Black Court delegate does the unthinkable, leaving an enraged, grief-stricken Robin hanging onto his humanity by a thread, only Michaela has the power to bring him back from the killing edge—if she survives.


Warning: This book contains explicit sex, graphic language, Robin Goodfellow and... Really. Do I need to say any more?


Purchase links can be found on my website!

Monday, January 21, 2013

WINNER

And the winner of the contest for an ARC of The Hob is....



Nicolette McCormick!

Congratulations, and enjoy your book!

The next ARC contest will be for Hecate's Own, starting in early March.


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Cons, Contests and WIPs

I'm finalizing my 2013 convention schedule (and my family vacation schedule) this month, and my late Spring is looking pretty swamped. I'm signed up for the Romantic Times convention in May, the Frederick Book Fair (also in May), and Lora Leigh's RAW in September. I'm planning on attending Lori Foster's Reader Author Get-Together in June, but since registration doesn't open until March I can't definitively say I'll be there until I'm officially signed up.

Whew. I'm getting tired just thinking about all that.

I will have posters for all of the cons, especially Lori's where they were extremely popular. I can't wait to order The Hob in poster format. I'm so hanging Robin, Bunny and Julian in my office.

If there's any particular type of promo you like to collect from an author, let me know and I'll look into it.


So long as I can close my suitcase, that is.

Speaking of The Hob, there's only one week left until it's release. And there's less than one week left to enter the contest to win an ARC.

How can you resist those eyes?

Anyway, the contest is still open. If you haven't entered, now is your chance!

As for my work in progress, it's going slowly but steadily. The head cold I developed slowed down my work on The Fire Within, so I'll probably not have it done and off to the betas until the end of the month. I've also gotten the second round of edits for Throne of Oak, the second Maggie's Grove novel, and that will be turned in any day now. I'll be starting Stripped Bear the beginning of February, two weeks past when I'd hoped to.

Poo.

So now it's time to play catch-up and see if I can shave some of that time off, but only after I get the edits done and turned in.

Then again, maybe not.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The Cruds

Oh, joy.


Whatever flavor of crud is going around this year has finally caught up with me. My head hurts, yesterday I was nauseous and could barely eat, and today my throat is starting to hurt.

Blech.

So I managed to get a little work done today, but I'm going to be pretty much off-line until I kick this crud in the nads and send it crying back to its Mama. In the meantime, since I'm pretty sure I'll be off FB and Twitter for at least another day or two, how about an impromptu excerpt from The Hob?

There. That made you feel better, didn't it?


The Gray Court Book 4
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: January 22, 2013

Robin Goodfellow has met his match.

When the Black Queen kidnaps one of the White Queen's nephews, Robin Goodfellow is sent to ensure that the young prince safely returns to the bosom of his family. True to his role as Oberon’s Hobgoblin, he is ready for anything…except meeting his truebond, the very delicious, very human Michaela Exton.

Michaela has dreamed about a flame-haired rogue named Robin Goodfellow since she was a little girl, but everyone knows Puck doesn’t really exist. In real life, it’s a dark-eyed man named Ringo who makes her heart beat faster.

She is closer to her dream man than she thinks, and nobody knows it better than Robin, who wears the guise of Ringo. But there’s competition for her love in the form of Lord Raven, who holds a secret that will rock the foundation of Robin’s world. As a Black Court delegate does the unthinkable, leaving an enraged, grief-stricken Robin hanging onto his humanity by a thread, only Michaela has the power to bring him back from the killing edge—if she survives.


Warning: This book contains explicit sex, graphic language, Robin Goodfellow and... Really. Do I need to say any more?


“What the fuck is this?” Robin stared at the entrance to the Marriott. He turned and looked at Kael in disbelief as people, huge masses of people, streamed in and out of the building. A woman in nothing more than a bikini made out of leaves walked past him, distracting him.

Kael cocked one pale brow.

“What? She has nice eyes.” There was no reason for the sudden guilt Robin felt. He’d barely met his bondmate, after all, and hadn’t yet mated with her.

Still, from now on he would keep his gaze to himself. Robin rarely felt guilty about anything, and the sensation took him by surprise. It was unexpected, and unpleasant.

Kael grunted, whether in agreement or not Robin couldn’t say. “I think it’s a fairy convention.”

Robin turned to where Kael casually pointed at a rather large, florally decorated sign situated right outside the front doors. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He could think of only one person who would’ve chosen this is as the place to negotiate her nephew’s release. Laughter bubbled up inside him, seeking release. It was a truly evil mind that had thought up this as a neutral location. “Gloriana’s idea?”

“Who else? Ugh. Fairies.”

The utter disgust in Kael’s voice was his undoing. Robin threw his head back and howled. Truly, Gloriana could not have picked a better venue. The Black Court delegation would be climbing the walls within seconds. The laughter was welcome after his aborted dream last night.

Just a few moments more, and he’d have had her. But something had interrupted his dream, waking him abruptly. He’d been in a foul mood ever since.

Trust humanity to find a way to amuse the Hob.

Kael glared at Robin. “I see nothing funny in this.”

Robin snorted, his shoulders shaking.

“How are we supposed to hide in a group of humans this big?”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Robin snorted, still laughing. The two of them were masters at hiding in plain sight. And here, even if Kael dropped his Seeming, he’d fit right in.

Robin, not so much.

“Did you see those idiots with the strap-on fairy wings? I mean, really. Butterfly wings? A real fairy wouldn’t be caught dead with wings like that.” He completely ignored the woman with the purple monarch butterfly wings glaring at him.

The laughter was turning into outright guffaws at Kael’s continued disgust. The man was entertaining as hell.

“It isn’t funny.”

Oh, yes it was. Robin bent double, clutching his knees to hold himself upright. He could just picture some Black Court Sidhe prancing amongst mortals in strap-on wings. He’d have to videotape it just so Oberon could also watch the fun. Perhaps Gloriana was finally developing a sense of humor.

“Don’t even think you’re strapping fake wings on my ass. And don’t even think about solid-gold Lycra boy over there.” Kael pointed to a man in a skintight gold bodysuit, his face, hands and hair spray painted gold to match.

“I think you’d look stunning.”

Kael snarled. “I’m not the one who’s willing to grow a vagina. You wear it if you like it so much.”

Robin laughed so hard he nearly stopped breathing. He was definitely recruiting Lord Kael for the Blades, if only for his entertainment value.

Kael sighed, grabbed Robin’s arm and turned him around, navigating around a slightly pudgy faux fairy in iridescent dragonfly wings to enter the hotel. The fact that Kael felt comfortable enough with Robin to manhandle him nearly stopped his laughter.

Unfortunately, some human male in far too much body glitter and far too little clothing chose that moment to walk by. His companion, a burly man dressed as, of all things, a large furry pooka, had Kael literally growling, setting Robin off once more.

Kael sighed. “C’mon. I don’t know about you, but I need some caffeine. I can’t deal with this shit before coffee.”

Kael managed to keep Robin upright until the last of the laughter worked its way out of his system.

This assignment had a great deal more potential for fun than he’d first thought...


Favorite Quotes

"I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability." Ron White

"So let me get this straight. You want me to kill the little guys, kill the big guys, crowd control those I can't, buff the team, debuff the boss, keep myself alive, AND keep you alive, all while waving a stick and dressed in a towel?" - Anonymous Role Playing Gamer

"I think that statue over there is a statement on modern life. The statement is, "Well, shit." - Varric, Dragon Age II

"Why is it all claws and guns? Can't we piss off a fuzzy planet? Still dangerous, but hey. Bunnies." - Joker, Mass Effect

"Last night, I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and thought to myself, "Where the heck is the ceiling?" - Dilbert


"Aim at the high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, not the second time and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting for only practice will make you perfect. Finally you'll hit the bull's-eye of success." - Annie Oakley

"It is only when you fall that you learn whether you can fly." - Flemeth, aka The Witch of the Wilds, Dragon Age 2

"The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.'” - George Carlin

"I hear there's a wild bridge tournament down the street. And you know Bridge. It's a lot like sex. If you don't have a great partner, you'd better have a good hand." Barry Weiss, Storage Wars

"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." - Marcus Cole, Babylon 5, "A Late Delivery From Avalon"

"I aim to misbehave." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein

“If you think you can or think you cannot, you are correct.” - Henry Ford
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