EXPLORING NEW WORLDS

It's my pleasure to again have Bestselling author, Terry Spear, visiting with the first book in her new series about Jaguars! Savage Hunger made me purr in contentment. I'm looking forward to book 2, Jaguar Fever.

Have you ever been somewhere really different that you couldn't see enough of because you just didn't have the time, but you would have liked to have just sat down and soaked up the essence of the place? Every sensory detail from the way it looked, to smelled, the feel of the place, the sounds there, even the way the air tastes?

I’m so excited to take you to the jungle, where I set this month’s release, Savage Hunger and some of the next story, Jaguar Fever (Aug 2013)!

I used to live across from one—not called a jungle on the map, but what do mapmakers know when you live across the street from one and can find all the neat jungle-like stuff right there!

The heat, the humidity, the giant mosquitoes, the poisonous snakes—water moccasins, rattlesnakes, alligators, no-see-ums, snapping turtles, feral pigs, tortoises, you name it, we had it. We explored the jungle-like swamps when I was a kid seeking adventure and making up worlds as I went.

I never imagined I’d write about the Amazon or the rainforest in Belize and draw on some of those “feelings” I’d experienced while living in Florida. I read where one visitor to the Amazon said he never saw as many venomous or harmless snakes in the Amazon as he did in Central Florida!

But no monkeys where I lived. Bears, yes. No cats, though in the Everglades, the panther roams the swamps.

Wilkimedia

My jungle was filled with the raucous sound of insects and of birds calling to one another, the same as in the jungle in South and Central America. One year, we had a flock of colorful parrots land in our tree! Just as though we were living in the South American jungle. They rested there for a few minutes, and then took off again on their migratory flight to somewhere else.

I've been to Busch Gardens in Florida. I've seen the parrot shows, which are remarkable, and floated down a river on a glass bottom boat filled with alligator, the boat moving under low hanging branches, one with a snake coiled around a sturdy limb. The boatman brought us close so we could see the massive snake. The branch was dripping with Spanish moss and I worried to death the snake would fall off into the boat and we’d all have to jump into the alligator-filled river. I made reference to such an idea when Kat, the heroine of Savage Hunger, was thinking about what would happen if she shifted into a jaguar on a river boat and all the people made a hasty retreat into the caiman-filled water. See where I get my ideas from? Real life!

It was NOT a Disney excursion either where the snakes, and alligators, and pirates are pretend.

Oh, sure, you say—but did you ever see a water moccasin or a rattlesnake where you lived? My father once pulled a minnow bucket from our canal, intending to go fishing with his buddies. No minnows were inside, but he did one cottonmouth with venomous fangs curled up inside the bucket. Cottonmouth is another name for water moccasin. And a rattlesnake? A couple of boys came pounding on our door, showed us the five-foot long rattlesnake they’d killed in our front yard and asked if they could keep it.

I guess they figured since it was on our property, it was ours. We figured they’d killed it, it was THEIRS, and by all means, take it AWAY!

Those are just a few experiences from my “jungle” growing up. 

• What about you? Are you prepared to take a wild trip to the jungle?

Thanks so much, Sia, for having me here today, and one lucky person that answers my question will have a chance to win a copy of Savage Hunger.US/Canada Addresses Only.

 

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, INDIBOUND

SAVAGE HUNGER 

As a jaguar he is graceful and gorgeous...

Speedy and stealthy...

Fierce, independent, and wild...

As a man he is passionate and powerful...

Willful and wonderful...

And he'll stop at nothing to protect what's his...

The Amazon jungle holds many dangers, as Kathleen McKnight well knows after her mission to bring down a drug cartel goes horribly wrong, leaving her the only survivor on her team. Determined to find the mysterious man who saved her, she returns to the jungle a year later only to find it holds more secrets than she could have ever imagined. 

Since saving Kathleen, jaguar shifter Connor Anderson hasn't been able to get her out of his mind. When she returns to the jungle to seek him out, he only knows one thing: that he must claim her for his own. 

USA Today bestselling author Terry Spear has captured hearts worldwide by wrapping the realities of nature into the glorious romance of the wild. Now, she turns her award—winning imagination from the sexy werewolf hunt to the intense sizzle of jaguar shape-shifters.

Terry Spear has written a couple of dozen paranormal romance novels and two medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance and continuing her new series about shapeshifting jaguars. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear .

DEER ME —WE INTERRUPT THE NORMALLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM

My apologies, Lori Foster was to be my guest Wednesday, with her fabulous book, Run The Risk, but due to circumstances beyond my control we will have that interview at a later date. 

This is not due to anything on Lori's part but mine. 

See, we had a bit of an accident...

We're entering the most dangerous month when it comes to deer-vehicle accidents due to deer migration along with mating season. 

Drivers usually have a very short span of time to react when a deer darts out in front of our car—as was the case with my husband at dusk Tuesday. He barely caught a flash of fur in his peripheral and although he reacted by braking and moving towards the shoulder of the road, the deer still hit the front left of the Jeep. The others in the herd missed him or he missed them. 

If he hadn't seen the flash the deer would have ended up on the hood and probably through the windshield and who knows where the Jeep would have ended up. 






He’s banged up, the deer walked/limped away with the rest of the group, and the Jeep? Well, it didn't fare as well. Front end doesn't look good, radiator’s shot, he lost two belts when the radiator caved, and the left front tire is damaged. 

Sigh.

And another car bites the dust.

Friday, my guest will be Terry Spear, with her new Jaguar series.

MONDAY MUSING: CATCHING THE EYE OF THE READER

How do you get new readers to not only discover you, but also plunk down their hard-earned money to read your stories?

You want to give them something provocative to keep them interested for longer than three seconds (according to marketing research) so they’ll consider buying the book.

I'm a very visual person. One of my pet peeves, as any who have known me the past five years will attest, is shoddy cover art. I feel strongly about it and have written articles about the importance of professional and competitive looking cover art—especially self published authors. You want your cover to catch the eye and induce the reader to pick up your book.  If one goes through all the time it takes to write a good story, have it properly edited both for story content and grammar/typos, WHY would they slap a crappy(and obvious) photoshop picture on the front and call it a cover? 

Earlier this month, Kat Sheridan shared an interview with L.B. Beckett, author of Guild of Spies. The cover art was imaginative and eye catching. It's beautiful. It doesn't scream *amateur* or self-published. Judi Fennell, Formatting 4 U, designed the cover and I asked her to share the process of such a project and the importance of cover art from a marketing standpoint. 

One of the biggest start-to-finish projects I've worked on recently was L.B. Beckett’s Guild of Spies. This story is an epic steampunk-speculative fiction-action/adventure-thriller with some romance. As you can see, it doesn't fall into any specific genre, so when it came to doing the cover, we were dealing with a wide-open frontier.

But this also allowed us to combine the genres. L.B. Beckett wanted to have an Asian influence, as that is prevalent in the story. Looking at the back cover copy, reading through some of the chapters, and my own knowledge of online marketing (finalist spots in 3 American Idol-like competitions based on vote-getting) and branding, I started looking around for a steampunk feel.

A lot of cover generation is hours of sifting through images. Now, I can do that for a client, but my time is money, or a client can do that for themselves (with direction from me toward a few websites I like to use) and save themselves some cash outlay, though giving up that much time isn't always what people want to do when they could be writing. Up to the client.

To add to the scope of this project, because the book is so long (184,000 words), the author wanted to offer the book as either a full-length novel at one price, or two shorter novels at a lower price. Oh, and we were doing a print book as well. That’s four different cover steps.

We had to look at it from both a branding viewpoint and a marketing one because we didn't want reader to feel that there were three different stories in this series. It’s one story, just delivered in different reading options. Therefore, we wanted continuity across the books, but with a noticeable difference.

I found three different backgrounds all in the same color scheme and feel, so that was one hurdle overcome. I utilized the title and author name graphics across all of the books, and took that Asian element—the phoenix—and kept it, but moved it around. We could also add the Book 1 and 2 titles in a consistent place so readers would be able to identify which book they’d already read.

We had a tag line, too, something that summed up the story:

In a country of secrets, even a spy has her limits…

I tried putting that on the cover, but with all the gears and gadgets and words, it was too much. This was a tough decision from a marketing standpoint because you want to give readers that hook. You want to give them something provocative to keep them interested for longer than three seconds so they’ll consider buying the book. At least, that’s the though process for traditional publishing. But we’re in a new business model and what’s worked in the past doesn't necessarily work now.

Branding was a bigger focus for this story. Keeping those books identifiable for the readers. So we put the tagline on the back. Now, on the digital versions you won’t see it. That is, you won’t see it on the cover. You will, however, see it in the interior. So we've got our hook and it’s included in the online description.

When it came to marketing, we made sure to include “Book 1 of 2” for the half books. We looked at price point—what would encourage a reader to buy a bigger book at a bigger price when they could “sample” the first part of the story for a lesser one? We also included excerpts to the other half of the story at the end and a link to find out where to buy that other half. So now, if a reader finishes Book 1, The Open Hand of Tem, he/she can read what happens in Book 2, The Hand of Tem Closes, and then have a link to buy the book. One stop shopping made simple.

As you can see, there’s a lot involved in getting a book to the readership. But you know what? It’s the same thing for a print book traditionally published. Discoverability has always been a hot button—how do you get new readers to not only discover you, but also plunk down their hard-earned money to read your stories? And how do you keep them coming back?

$2.99 is the price point at which authors will earn 70% royalties. A lot of authors are using that price point to start out to see what happens with sales; I’m going to ask you to consider price point carefully. If everyone is putting something up for $2.99, where’s the differentiation in the marketplace?

More and more I’m finding my clients raising their prices as a symbol of quality. I've experimented with pricing and I can honestly say that my sales have increased with the price point. 

Perception is nine/tenths of reality.

WEDNESDAY: REMEMBERING YOU

SiaMcKye

Did I Notice Your Book, Blogfest

http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com

http://www.ciaraknight.com/blog

Here I was, wandering around a quaint New England town looking for breakfast and a good cup of coffee (which is always a must for me), when I heard the voice of one of my favorite tenors singing NessunDorma. My ears fell in love with a place that unapologetically plays such music, my lips smiled as I heard a man singing bits of it as he worked. I breathed in the wonderful smells emanating from the diner. Yep, this is the place to stop for breakfast.

I hovered near the door listening to the murmur of voices, clink of tableware, and laughter from the good-natured insults, in Italian, and closed my eyes. It was just like coming home. I reached for the door and almost grabbed the police officer coming out with a bag and a tall coffee. Wow! Not a bad handle to grab. I heard voice in the background call him Petie.

As Petie ushered me through the door he assured me Uncle Sally did indeed have the best food in town. Who would know best than the town’s finest, right (and he truly was fine)?

This is not only the best town to visit but you’ll love the Gennovase family.

Remembering You 

Robyn Rand

When Genna goes home to Rhode Island to spend a long-awaited vacation, she finds that her family is falling apart and she has only twenty-one days to put them back together. 

Her new promotion as Executive Chef at the posh Littlefield Country Club in Delaware is a dream job. It’s more than the pay and benefits; she has the chance to achieve what she’s always wanted – her own kitchen – and Genna can’t wait to get started when she returns after the Fourth of July holiday.

However, her vacation is far from relaxing. Two men are vying for her attention – an ex-fiancé who wants to fix the mistakes of the past, and an old school chum who finds her irresistible, and inspires mutual feelings in Genna. Her aunt’s forgetfulness is also causing concern. However, the family is in denial; her cousins are unable to cope with their mother’s changing behavior and her beloved uncle, dealing with all the stress, has a heart attack. 

Genna steps in to keep his diner open and the family together while he recuperates, and she questions what’s more important – breaking the glass ceiling or remaining with her family. The clock runs out and Genna finds she is needed at her new job, needed by her family, and by lovers old and new. Now Genna must search her soul to find out what she needs.

My Review 

This is a book I feel should have more attention than it's received, because it really is a good story! I really enjoyed Remember You, check it out.

###

Here’s a couple of pictures I took yesterday around the ranch. Our trees are at their peak and I’m sure going to miss these bright yellows when they fall. L

Sia's Field of Gold

Walking Companions--the dog was at my side.

The back pasture

 

MONDAY MUSINGS: REACTIVE VS PROACTIVE

By Moniqe

The leaves may be falling all around us but anti-trust suits seem to be blooming. Perhaps it’s because of the economic environment with more companies looking to consolidate and protect their profit platforms. Computer technology has changed the way companies do business. Of course, for last twenty plus years, cyber market and digital content have become an increasing chunk of the profit pie—especially with digital technology. There has been a lot of modernization in the publishing field as a result. 

I've been watching, with interest, the whole debacle over e-book price fixing. The publishing giants were slow to move on this new technology, but less narrow-minded entrepreneurs saw the possibilities almost from the inception and set about developing and adapting the technology for their own profit. That’s not to say the giants didn't move toward it, they did, but more as an afterthought than with the focus of utilizing it proficiently for future profits.

Reactive versus proactive.

wikimedia commons

The problem with reactive is you’re already behind by the time you realize what’s going on. You’re playing catch up while those who watch the trends in technology were already reaping the profits of their hard work and long vision. If you’re accustomed to being a leader of the pack, your short sighted decisions have left you with bits of fur and stringy meat on left over bones and envious of those who have the juicy fat haunch of the profits to feast on. You’re used to being in the alpha position and to carry the analogy further, you resort to cunning to get the choice bits. Chancy decision because the new alphas might not be as experienced in this particular hunting ground but they didn't get the position by being stupid. They’re lean and mean and intend to keep their juicy bits. Being reactive can get you hamstrung or dead.     

It looks like Hachette, Harper Collins, and Simon & Schuster have settled an antitrust lawsuit about e-book prices. A U.S. court approved the settlement on Sept. 6, which has allowed Amazon to start discounting some of those companies' titles. Amazon has already sent out letters of notification of funds for a credit, pending court approval of the settlement in February 2013. The Attorney General estimates a credit of between 30¢ to $1.32 on eligible e-books purchased between April 2010 and May 2012—unless you are a Minnesota resident. The Attorney General of Minnesota chose not to participate in the settlements. 

The above mentioned companies have agreed to pay $69 million in restitution to e-book consumers to settle U.S. litigation. 

That's a lot of dollars, ladies and gents.

I'm curious what Apple will be offering here in the United States. The last I heard, Apple and Macmillan refused to talk settlement with the Justice Department, opting for their day in court. Penguin is still trying to sit on the sidelines while polishing the dents and mud off their halos and look innocent of any wrongdoing. The trial is scheduled to begin in New York Federal court June 2013. So, they have offered to settle with the European Union but are gearing up to fight a court battle here in the United States. A lot can happen in eight months, including a similar settlement, now that the precedent has been set in Europe.

Apple and Macmillan have formally have offered to settle with the European Union. The offer under consideration, according to the European Union, for the four publishers--CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster, News Corp unit Harper Collins  French group Lagardere SCA's Hachette Livre, and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, which owns Macmillan in Germany, is as follows:

"For a period of two years, the four publishers will not restrict, limit or impede e-book retailers' ability to set, alter or reduce retail prices for e-books and/or to offer discounts or promotions."

They also will suspend, for five years, contracts that effectively barred publishers from selling e-books at prices lower than Apple's. A side note to this—the discounts allowed by Macmillan is only for European retailers and not for the US vendors.

Some grievous wounds indeed in the battle for the proprietorial alpha positions.

The anti-trust suits have caused others to cast a speculative look around for a target. There are several contenders out there. Google is one of them. So far, nothing has come of it, but you can bet Google isn't being shortsighted but taking a real close look at eliminating any vulnerability in their proprietorial alpha position.

Yet another side to proactive vs. reactive. 

MY AMBITION TO WRITE—THE RUNAWAY TRAIN TO PUBLICATION

My guest is best selling author, Julie Ann Walker. She looks more like one of those beautiful women who grace the cover of a book rather than the one who wrote it. Julie's degrees are in mathematics, and while I'm sure she's excellent with numbers, it's her flair with words and dialog that grabbed this reader. I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh perspective Julie brings to special ops fiction and a tough group of former military guys, Black Knights Inc, who ride Harleys and get the bad guys. Love these guys! 

Julie talks about her road to publication and the concept of the 10,000 hour rule.

I'm the world's worst when it comes to a touching story involving my journey to publication... 

I hear so many authors speak of their struggles, their setbacks and heartaches, which then makes the tales of their eventual victories so sweet I often find myself sitting on my hands for fear of shooting a crudely impulsive fist in the air.  "Huzzah!  After eight years and ten manuscripts, she finally sold!"  I LOVE those stories.  Everybody does.  Because there's nothing more satisfying than knowing through struggle, dedication, and perseverance, dreams do come true.

But for me, my writing career didn't come upon me after the requisite slog.  Quite the contrary, it was a freight train, barreling down the tracks under its own steam, with me just along for the ride.  Now, I must set you straight if you're getting the impression I'm some sort of prodigy.  For the record... I. Am. Most. Definitely. Not.  It may seem that way when you learn I won contests with the first manuscript I ever seriously submitted, I snagged an agent within two weeks of sending out query letters, and I signed a three-book deal within eight weeks of securing an agent.  But the truth of the matter is, I've written all my life.  Journaling.  Blogging.  I was the senior editor of my school newspaper.  I've been a dedicated pen pal, an amateur poet, and travel writer for my family vacations since I could put pen to paper.   In short, if I could string all those sentences and poems, ruminations and letters together, I'd probably have a catalog of over hundred books. 

So, though it may be true, I didn't suffer through the rejection letters and slush piles.  It's my contention the only reason that's the case is simply because I didn't attempt to publish until I already had hundreds of thousands of words under my belt.  In Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, he discusses at length the concept of the 10,000 Hours Rule.  Put simply, the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.  And I'm here to tell you, if I haven't written a total of 10,000 hours in my life, I'm pretty darned close. 

Well, then the question becomes, how did I know I was ready for publication?  How did I know I'd practiced enough?  And the answer, as uninspiring and trite as it may sound, is that I didn't.  You see, all my life I considered my writing to be a hobby.  Something I did for my own pleasure and the pleasure of close friends and family.  My degrees are in mathematics, and I was very certain I would spend the rest of my days in the classroom, teaching fresh, young minds the wonders of Algebra and Calculus, the beauty of numbers and patterns and symmetry.  Then the unthinkable happened.  My husband lost his job and we were required to move across the country.  Teaching positions were scarce, and I found myself at loose ends. 

For entertainment, I sat down at my computer and decided to write down the first in a series of stories that'd been banging around in my head for years.  On a whim, I entered that story in a contest and you know the rest...

So, for those of you who dream of being a writer, I have one simple piece of advice.  Write.  Then write some more.  And after that, write some more.  And when you think you've been writing for about 10,000 hours, submit your work to the world.  According to my experience and according to Malcolm Gladwell, by then you should be ready.  See, it's just that simple.  Hahaha!

Thanks to Sia McKye for having me on today.  It was lovely.  Cheers, happy writing,  and happy reading!  

And before I leave you, I have a question... For those of you who love to read books, have you ever considered writing one?        

REV IT UP   BY JULIE ANN WALKER 

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND

He Never Misses a Target…

Jake "the Snake" Sommers earned his SEAL codename by striking quickly and quietly - and with lethal force.  That's how he broke Michelle Carter's heart.  It was the only way to keep her safe - from himself.  Four long years later, Jake is determined to get a second chance.  But to steal back into Michelle's loving arms, Jake is going to have to prove he can take things slow.  Real slow...

She Aims to Make Him Beg…

Michelle Carter has never forgiven Jake for being so cliché as to "love her and leave her."  But when her brother, head of the Black Knights elite ops agency, ticks off the wrong mobster, she must do the unimaginable: place her life in Jake's hands.  No matter what they call him, this man is far from cold-blooded.  And once he's wrapped around her heart, he'll never let her go...

Julie Ann Walker is the USA Today and New York Times Bestselling Author of the Black Knights Inc. romantic suspense series. She is prone to spouting movie quotes and song lyrics. She'll never say no to sharing a glass of wine or going for a long walk. She prefers impromptu travel over the scheduled kind, and she takes her coffee with milk. You can find her on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission. Look for the first two books in her fast-paced series: Hell On Wheels (August 2012) and In Rides Trouble (September 2012). 

For more information, please visit www.julieannwalker.com or follow her on Facebook  and/or Twitter. 

     

BENJAMIN BERKLEY—BRIDGING THE PAST TO THE PRESENT

My guest is contemporary fiction author, Benjamin Berkley. Ben has written several legal non-fiction books but this is his fiction debut. He talks a bit about finding inspiration and weaving a story around factual happenings and fiction.

As for any novel, you need inspiration.  And that inspiration came many years ago when a beautiful, white haired older lady came into my office. Her name was Irene Opdyke and she had a story to tell. But as she spoke, I was mesmerized by her voice, her hand gestures and her eyes. She spoke so softly and calmly though I could feel the torture that she endured.

My Rabbi thought that I could assist Irene in negotiating a contract for her story about how she saved the lives of Jews while working as a housekeeper for a German commandant. Well, after a lot of legal wrangling, her book was published and the ABC show, 20/20 eventually did a story on Irene. And as a result of her story going public, Yard Vashem recognized her as a Righteous Gentile.   Several years ago, Irene passed away.  But her story survived.

  

And in 2010, shortly after the release of my last book, and wanting to transition from writing self-books to a novel, I began thinking about Irene.  Irene would be a character in my book and it would be her wisdom as one of the themes.

But I didn't want my book to be strictly historical.  I needed to make my story modern and contrast what happened in the concentration camps with a young person today who was going through her own struggles to survive.  And a few morning jogs later, the character of Danielle was born.

I love Danielle.  She is not based on anyone I know but I know her very well.  In my book, Danielle is raised by her grandmother and her Dad as her mother passed away when she was only three.  She is bright and opinionated and motivated to succeed.  But she always has to choose between herself and pleasing her father.

 

So now I had Irene whose story is told in the first person by her journal entries that she composed in the hospital where she convalesced after she was liberated from the Mauthausen Concentration Camp.  And Danielle is the young woman; closely approaching 30 and who has more bridesmaids dresses in her closet than diplomas on her wall.

 

But I needed a bridge.  A bridge between the past and the present.  And that character was Rose, Danielle’s maternal grandmother.  Rose lived around the corner from Danielle in a very similar looking apartment building in Jackson Heights, NY.  And when Danielle’s mother died, Rose was there to help her son in law raise Danielle.  As a result, a very special bond developed between Danielle and her Nana as Nana was always there.  And as a young girl, Danielle often turned to her Nana for comfort when she was scared.

 

So now you have the three main characters but I needed to weave a story, which took me about a year to research and write.  

 

My story is of survival, self-discovery, justice, and ultimately about love.

AGAINST MY WILL

Benjamin Berkley

Danielle Landau knows she should feel lucky, but she can't feel anything but dread. Not only did she pass the New York Bar, but she married the man her father says is just right for her and lives in a fashionable new loft in Queens. But the man who seems like the perfect catch is a perfect nightmare at home. Jacob tries to control her career, her daily routine, and even what she eats. He ignores her desires and belittles her every chance he gets. Soon, Danielle doesn't recognize her husband or herself, and she struggles to find a way out.

As we follow Danielle on her journey of terror and recovery, we see her story intersect with the diary entries of a young girl from more than fifty years ago, and the full weight of the family's secrets becomes clear. This is a story of survival, self-discovery, justice, and ultimately about love.

BUY: AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

Growing up in Long Beach, NY, young Ben Berkley was fascinated by daily black-and-white re-runs of the TV lawyer show Perry Mason. After getting a B.A. in Speech and Hearing from Adelphi University in Garden City, NY, Berkley earned his law degree from Western State University in Fullerton, CA.

Against My Will is Ben Berkley’s fifth book and debut novel. He is also the author of four self-help books: “My Wishes, Your Plan for Organizing Your Family’s Needs” (Sourcebooks, June, 2006) “The Complete Executor’s Guide” (Sourcebooks, June 2007) “Winning Your Social Security Disability Case” (Sourcebooks, February, 2008) and “Before You Say I Do Again, A Buyer’s Beware Guide to Remarriage.” (Frederick Fell Publishers, September 2009).

Berkley lives in southern California with his wife Phyllis and their cat Riley. He has two grown children and is always bragging about his most beautiful grandson and granddaughter. 

You find Ben on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Website.

MONDAY MUSINGS—SEASONS CHANGE

Some dreams are in the nighttime  

And some feel like yesterday

But leaves turn brown and fade 

You long to say a thousand words

But seasons change… 

You dream again and scenes remain 
But seasons change…

People change...

The seasons are changing around us and we change with the seasons. Each season has it's beauty, if we but look. Even the stark landscape of winter, still...  

As brutal as summer was, I’m not really looking forward to winter and snow. I know we need it, but still, snow? Ice? Freezing temperatures? Breaking ice in the water troughs? Ugh.

I have SAM, a seasonally affected muse. She loves the changing of the seasons—especially fall and winter. She’s not too jazzed by summer unless it’s an early misty morn and sometimes when the full moon colors the landscape in silver and shadows. She loves rainy days and when the snow is falling and it’s cold my muse loves to come out and play.

We had our first light frost last night and had to turn on the heat for the first time. The muse is rubbing her hands in delight. I took a walk in the gorgeous sunshine and everywhere I looked autumn color was beginning to show. 

I thought I’d share some pictures (you can click on the pictures to enlarge) of the beauty that surrounds me as I walk the property.

This is a walk just down from my house.

There is still more green than fall colors but I can’t look anywhere on the ranch without seeing evidence that autumn is definitely here.
  

This is one of the barns.This one is beyond my back yard. We have a lot of oak and they turn late, so colors of 
other trees are just beginning to show back here. 

In my front yard the oak on the left is just beginning to color. At the end of my driveway you can see another one of our pastures and there are lots of walnut, dogwood, and other trees which tend to turn faster than the oaks.

I ran across a waterfall of red. The color was gorgeous. I like to walk here every fall just to see how it looks. Some years it has more yellow to the underside of the leaves other years it's a deep red, almost burgundy. It never fails to elicit a moment of awe as I see creation's splendor. A feast for the eyes and for the creative spirit within us.

In your writing, do the seasons effect what you write? Are there seasons that seem to create thousands of words? Or do the words wither up and blow away with brown leaves before the cold winter winds?

• Do you have a SAM? A Seasonally Affected Muse?

RAVEN MORRIS--TIED WITH A BOW

For those who like short stories that are sexy and hot, I thought I’d introduce a friend of mine, Raven Morris, who writes some very hot stories indeed. In fact the stories are hot enough to keep my entire coffee bar area steaming. J 

What I like is the fact that Raven shows how a story doesn't have to be long and complicated to be enjoyed. She opens a small window in a character's life and shows it to the reader. In these stories, she written a fantasy around a special occasion. Simple. Fun. Sexy.

Hi Sia and thanks for having me here to talk about my erotic romance series, Tied with a Bow.

These are short stories about that special day in someone’s life, a day that really should be all about you. I mean, come on, if the day you came into this world isn't all about you, then you need to boot that so-called special someone out of your life and find someone who will celebrate the wonderfulness of you.

I love celebrating my birthday. And it’s not the presents or the cake (but, okay, sure, why not?), and it’s not the fact that everyone calls me all day or messages me wishing me a happy one. It’s actually a day to be thankful to my parents for deciding to have me, and then for making that happen ;}. It’s the starting day of who I am and a good time to reflect on who I've become over the previous year. It’s my special day, even if I share it with thousands of other people. It’s my day.

The presents are just a bonus.

And what a bonus these ladies get…

And as a bonus for you, JACKED is free now on all the e-retailer sites. Here’s what you can expect:

Debra, Nicole, Heather, Maddie, and Melody have all found their special someones. Kiley has too, but we’re still working on how that’s all going to pan out, but for now, here are the stories that are available:

JACKED: Debra’s husband, Jack, is a three-piece-suit, straight-laced attorney during working hours, but before and after? Jack’s a very fun boy. He’s into some light bondage and, oh yeah, a threesome. Debra’s never done anything like that before, but when Jack brings an old buddy of his, all wrapped up in a bow tie and nothing else, to their bed, she’s more than willing to accept this gift.
 He’s definitely not about all work and no play during office hour because that would make Jack a dull boy… 

MAXED: Max is a successful L.A. agent who knows how to handle his clients’ needs. Especially birthday girl, author Nicole Gennessey. Tonight is the premier of the movie made from her book and he wants to make it a night she’ll never forget—starting backstage where no one can see them.
 Or can someone? Does someone know what they’re doing in the wings? Is someone watching?
 Nicole doesn’t care; tonight’s all about getting MAXED out.

ROCKED: Rock is the temporary housemate/boy-next-door younger brother of Heather’s best friend. They’ve known each other their whole lives—and Rock’s had a thing for her the entire time.

Imagine Heather’s surprise when she comes downstairs on her milestone birthday to find Rock enjoying himself on her sofa—all because he’d been sorely tempted to join her in her shower. She’s sorely tempted to let him. Which she does. Later. First though, Rock’s got a tour planned for her birthday. From the restaurant, to the park bench, to the zip line (that harness has all sorts of possibilities), to the erotic rides on his motorcycle, neither of them will ever forget the day they let their world get ROCKED. 

MARKED: Small-town Maddie has moved on up to the big time and big is what she gets at the welcome-to-the-neighborhood party that just so happens on her twenty-ninth birthday, and Maddie is more than willing to meet Mark. In any aspect he wants.
 And Mark wants a lot. Actually, everyone at the party does. Especially each other. Numerous each others. There’s more sex happening around her than Maddie has ever imagined. Is she willing to participate? Can she shed her small-town girl shyness to play with the big boys? With Mark willing to show her the way, she’s most definitely willing to be MARKED for life by him. 

DICKED: Then there’s Rich—and all his bachelor-party buddies out for a good time in New Orleans. Melody sure could use one of those. Life and her ex haven’t been the best lately lately, so when she sees one of Rich’s friends naked in the room across the courtyard, she’s hoping things are starting to look up.
 Rich and his friends are definitely up for that. It’s one hell of a hot time in New Orleans, and the weather’s only part of it as Melody gets DICKED. 

TYED: Ty made Kiley’s 22nd birthday memorable in the most erotic way and she’s never lost the torch she’s been carrying for him ever since. So when she has the chance to interview him for her job, Kiley’s not about to let him slip through her fingers.
 And when Ty gives her a glimpse of his world—in the most erotic way possible once again—she menas that in every sense of the word, because Kylie is all tied up in Ty. 

And, it turns out that Debra and Jack are going to get yet another story. This time, they’re celebrating Christmas. Look for A Very Naughty XXXmas soon, featuring me and authors Olivia Cunning, Cari Quinn, Stephanie Julian, and Cherrie Lynn. If you think Debra’s birthday gift was hot, wait ’til you see what they get each other…

You can read Raven's stories individually, or get the Tied with a Bow anthology Volume 1 and 2:

 

• So… your best birthday present ever?

Raven Morris loves celebrating birthdays. Has she ever received a present like these? Ah, that's for this fiction writer to know and you to wonder... But instead of wondering about her love life, set your imagination to work on your own. And if her books can help those fantasies along, well, everyone has a birthday. 

You can put all her books on your wish list. Find them at:

 http://www.RavenMorris.wordpress.com