I received some nice reviews for HIDDEN HANDS (Ellora's Cave, April 2009)
Tina at Two Lips Review said: I loved the chemistry between David and Jeremy. I only wish this novel never had to end! Read the entire review 5 Star review here.
Elise at Ecataromance said: Hidden Hands is a captivating mix of emotions, heat and suspense, guaranteed to raise your own heat level while at the same time leaving our hearts satisfied. Read the entire 4.5 Star review here.
Sandra at Night Owl Romance said: Finally Jeremy Lawson from A Helping Hand and David March from Hidden Force get their story and what a story it is. You get lots of passion and angst. The sexy love scenes abound and create a fun and satisfying read. This is definitely a keeper. Read the entire 4.5 Star review here.
I'm still working on a WIP for Ellora's Cave. I'm almost finished. The story is a time travel to Ancient Greece. What's a guy to do when he gets stuck in Hades?
I joined the JulNoWriMo challenge. It's a take on NaNoWriMo except not as strict. I can work on more than one story to make up the 50k total. I'm woefully behind. I need to kick it in to gear. My plan is to finish the current WIP, write a submission for Samhain's Space Opera challenge and work on my scifi project from a couple of months ago!
Ideas for a non-romance gay book hit me last month. I have to put it behind all the projects listed above plus a ghost story idea. So many ideas so little time! Or sanity!
I revamped my website some. I put up an index for the different types of stories. You can choose from GLBT or Straight romance or Erotica. You can also pick Series & Related Books. I'd love some feedback if anyone has time!
Another site I'm working on setting up is at the GLBT Bookshelf. It's a wiki style site for GLBT books! I only have one page up. I haven't had time to play with it more. I plan to put up pages similar to the book pages on my website but with places readers can comment.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy July 4th holiday! I'll try to do better at blogging in the future! Have a wonderful weekend!
(Sometimes my online friends are more real than my real life friends! Then again, I do hear voices. *cackle*)
FIGHTING FOR ETERNITY, Eternity series book 4, releases today at Ellora's Cave! Woo hoo! I realized this morning that I'd never posted the cover for this one. I used it in a book trailer so I guess my brain registered it as done. My brain has a mind of its own. *cackle* Once again, Les Byerley worked is cover art magic! Thanks to Les for another great cover!
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-7278-fighti
The blurb:
Searching for a murderous rogue vampire, Watcher Estefan Garza’s life is turned upside down by tragic loss and a surprise from his past. His bone chilling loss is warmed by fires of passion reignited by vampire Karl Brandt.
On a quest to destroy a former friend, Karl is startled by Estefan and his mysterious companions. Karl can’t understand why Estefan hasn’t aged in seventy years. Unwilling to let him leave until Karl discovers the truth, he offers Estefan and his friends refuge and assistance for their common mission.
As a bloody battle for Memphis ensues, Karl and Estefan bond between danger and destruction until all that remains separating them is a fight for eternity.
Edited for buy link. The old Ellora's Cave website hasn't been updated but the new Jasemine Jade one has!
Time Raiders Book one
Silhouette Nocturne, August 2009
Lindsay McKenna, Cindy Dees, PC Cast, and Merline Lovelace are offering more than $1,000 in contest prizes to celebrate the launch of TIME RAIDERS, a series conceived by RomVets and published by Silhouette Nocturne.
Boogie on over to http://www.timeraiders
This series has a fantastic premise--a mix of scifi and fantasy with paranormal. Time travel to various ancient lands, exploring cultures. One of my fav time periods is covered! Book three was inspired by Queen Boudicca of the Iceni who fought the Romans in ancient Briton. Not many people even know who Boudicca was! But all of the books sound fabulous.
RomVets is a group of military women--former, active and retired--who write romance. I'm proud to be included in their number! For more about Romvets go to: http://www.romvets.com/.
For the first time in months, Arkansas hasn't had rain in four consecutive days! My yard is finally dried out. But the forecast says rain on Friday. So I have no choice. Yard work is in my plans for today. I have to squeeze it in between timed writing and American Idol.
I don't watch American Idol but one of the final two is from Arkansas. His hometown, Conway, is about 20 miles from where I live. So out of a sense of support for a fellow Arkansan, I'm suspending my rule about reality shows. In spite of the reality show craze over the last half dozen years or so, I don't watch them.
Or I should say, I didn't watch them until last year. I broke down and watched Top Chef on Bravo. I still blame someone (Melissa Francis) for that. Oh, and I did watch a few episodes of Dancing With the Stars when Cloris Leachman was on. She's an unpredictable old dame with a foul vocabulary I can relate to and I just wanted to see what she'd do.
But tonight, I'll be glued to the TV to see if Kris Allen will beat Adam what's-his-name. Everyone says Adam will win because he appeals to the little fan gurls and they'll text for him over and over. But I'll still show Kris support by watching the season finale.
But in the meantime, I have a couple of yards to mow and a lot of writing to do! I stalled on a story I was working on for Ellora's Cave so I started a new one. And the characters are both having a grand time with the sex, not necessarily with each other. Good thing Ellora's Cave has the Exotica line. I'm not sure I can rein in the boys to make a believable "happily ever after". LOL We'll see how it goes! I need to get this finished and submitted so I can get back to my scifi idea.
Oh, I went to San Antonio Romance Authors conference a few weeks ago. Talked to an editor there and promised a gay ghost story that's been rolling around in my head since the DSRA group went ghost hunting last year! So I have a bunch of writing to do. And a bunch of yard to mow.
Also, it's "tiara day" on Twitter. Go check out the profile pictures... http://twitter.com/ShaylaKersten You can click the profile picture for a bigger view.
This Nightline segment is just too cool! They did a feature on Harlequin Romance. And they had so many different people reading from some of the stories. It's both funny and informative. Check it out!
I actually made some progress on the new story for Ellora's Cave. Every book has a main character. Even if there are two main characters as in a romance, one character has more to lose or more to learn. This determines whose book it is! Simple, eh?
Not so. As in the case of my current work in progress. My story started out as Max's book. About 19k words in, I realized I was writing Troy's book. So now, for the first 19k words, I have to edit for continuity with Troy's journey rather than Max's. Sometimes this is harder than just starting a new book. But I like where it's going so I'm going to buckle down with the edits. Or I'm supposed to be. LOL This week has been a blur and I hadn't even opened the file. Today I not only opened it, I worked on it! Woo hoo, me!
I did spend part of the week being productive, just not at writing. The program chair of the Diamond State Romance Authors insisted someone teach a workshop on book trailers. Just because I'm computer savvy doesn't mean I can do trailers. She disagreed. And she can be persuasive. LOL So I started playing around with Windows Movie Maker. Since the class is in May, I did a trailer on my June Ellora's Cave release, Fighting For Eternity. The final result wasn't half bad, if I say so myself!
The cover hasn't been posted on my website yet so this is the premiere of the cover! Check it out.
Blurb:
Searching for a murderous rogue vampire, Watcher Estefan Garzas life is turned upside down by tragic loss and a surprise from his past. His bone-chilling loss is warmed by fires of passion reignited by vampire Karl Brandt.
On a quest to destroy a former friend, Karl is startled by Estefan and his mysterious companions. Karl can't understand why Estefan hasn't aged in seventy years. Unwilling to let him leave until Karl discovers the truth, he offers Estefan and his friends refuge and assistance for their common mission.
As a bloody battle for Memphis ensues, Karl and Estefan bond between danger and destruction until all that remains separating them is a fight for eternity.
Let me know what you think. Does the trailer evoke a sense of the book when paired with the blurb? I feel like the blurb is necessary somewhere with the video. Like an excerpt without a blurb, I feel like there's something left out. Doing the entire blurb in the video would make it longer. I like shorter. What do you like? I'd love some opinions on book trailers in general so I can work them into my workshop. Some people watch them, some don't like them and won't bother. Some authors think trailers boost sales, and some think it doesn't but it's part of branding. I love to hear more readers views on the subject!
Well, I'm starving so I'm off to fix food. I really wish I could afford a cook. And a maid. Definitely a maid because housework sucks. *cackle*
Every time I see this, it brings me to tears. A woman most people wouldn't look twice at, hit the British airways then through the internet has stormed the world. Her dream to be a professional singer was a long time coming but I have no doubt she will not fade back into the obscurity of her little village. Just goes to show you should never give up on a dream.
Speaking of dreams, my long time galpal Elle James reached the Walden Borders best seller list with her newest Harlequin Intrigue, Baby Bling! Pick up a copy today and keep her climbing the ranks to one of her dreams come true! I bought my copy yesterday! Elle said to not let the cover or title fool you. She said, "I blow up a ship, crash a helicopter, burn a house, and lots more fun stuff in it! ... so if you’re so inclined toward action-adventure-And a couple more dreams come true! Running Press rel
eased two new historical romances this week. Transgressions by Erastes and False Colors by Alex Beecroft are being shelved in the regular romance sections of major bookstores. Why the big deal? Both novels are gay romances! Instead of relegating them to the GLBT section of the bookstore to be mixed in with fiction and non-fiction of all types, Transgressions and False Colors are out there in the romance section! And I have proof! In Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Barnes & Noble on Financial Parkway, I found the books and took pictures! Then bought a copy of each. My book bill was a little high yesterday! *cackle*
Click on the pictures for a larger view! I love seeing a gay romance sitting next to Janet Evanovich and Shayla Black! It's a fabulous step forward for the genre and these two wonderful authors. And the good news is, there will be more! The back inside cover of both books announced the fall releases of Tangled Web by Lee Rowen and Lovers' Knot by Donald L Hardy.
Pick up both books at your local bookstore today! Snap a picture for Erastes' contest (http://erastes.livejournal.com/375556.ht
I also drove the poor folks at B&N a little crazy yesterday. Part of my shopping list--besides the three books above--was Beyo
nd Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels. Sarah Wendall and Candy Tan of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books have taken their collective knowledge and formed the ultimate guide to romance novels! With chapters names like Cleavage, Petticoat, Corset and Codpiece, you know their wonderfully irreverent humor marks this book as a must have for anyone who loves romance enough to laugh at the stereotyping surrounding the genre! I didn't get a picture on the shelf because this wonderful guide released yesterday and the poor folks at B&N hadn't gotten the new releases shelved. The poor gentleman who first assisted me didn't seem to understand what I was saying and kept asking me to spell "bosoms". I would say he was an older man but he was probably my age and I don't like to call myself old. The younger man--whose name I should know since I've talked to him a dozen times at least--was able to find the book on the carts in the back waiting to be shelved. Then I made him crazy looking for one more book. Mine!
Or the one with one of my short stories, The Shopping List! The Black Lace anthology, Seduction, released yesterday! I had given away my only author's copy for a Roses Colored Glasses basket to be raffled at the Merritt conference in San Antonio, Texas. (I'll be there May 2nd!) I wanted to pick up another copy but once again, the book wasn't on the shelf. While the computer said it was there, the poor customer service dude couldn't find it anywhere. I told him I'd be back on Saturday so maybe I could pick it up then. He promised to figure out where it was shelved by then. *cackle* Poor dude.
Writing for Black Lace has been a dream of mine for several years. Even if it's only a short story, it's a start. Pick up Seduction at your local bookstore and check out The Shopping List along with a dozen other stories by fabulous erotica authors like Shada Royce, Katrina Wright and Portia Da Costa.
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-7115-hidden-h
Detective Jeremy Lawson doesn’t expect anything from his one night stand except sex. What he gets is a shooting, a mystery plus some of the best sex he’s had in a long time. Somewhere along the way, he also finds some tenderness for a lost soul in need of rescuing.
David March has let his troubled past blind him to any kind of happy future. But when a one night stand turns out to be a cop in shining armor, David begins to think differently about his life. As in, he wants one. But to have one, he has to stay alive.
Note: For maximum reader enjoyment, we suggest reading Hidden Force (David) and A Helping Hand (Jeremy) where our two heroes were secondary characters.
Mini-Blurbage: Miriam’s new neighbor, George, is beyond hot. Just watching him sets Miriam’s libido on high. Unfortunately, because of George’s hate/hate relationship with her cat, Miriam doubts she’ll ever get the chance to check out the promise of George’s hard body. When her cat ends up stuck on George’s balcony, Miriam’s rescue plans goes awry. Her punishment leads to a delicious ménage as Miriam gives into the heat of her passions.
I also finished edits for book four in the Eternity series at Ellora's Cave. The release date for FIGHTING FOR ETERNITY is June 3rd! Another woo hoo! *cackle*
More blurbage: Searching for a murderous rogue vampire, Watcher Estefan Garza’s life is turned upside down by tragic loss and a surprise from his past. His bone-chilling loss is warmed by fires of passion reignited by vampire Karl Brandt.
On a quest to destroy a former friend, Karl is startled by Estefan and his mysterious companions. Karl can’t understand why Estefan hasn’t aged in seventy years. Unwilling to let him leave until Karl discovers the truth, he offers Estefan and his friends refuge and assistance for their common mission.
As a bloody battle for Memphis ensues, Karl and Estefan bond between danger and destruction until all that remains separating them is a fight for eternity.
Note: While a stand-alone, it is recommended the novels be read in order for maximum reading pleasure.
I had a wonderful time at the Northern Louisiana RWA Chapter's conference last weekend. Roomed with my galpals Myla Jackson and Delilah Devlin, which is always a blast. I met with a couple of agents who are interested in the scifi book. I need to finish it first as they want to see a full manuscript. I'm a few chapters in on it. I wanted it closer to completion before the conference but life didn't want to work out that way!
When I returned home, I found a request for a three chapter partial from another publisher for a different erotic romance project. So I've been a busy little bee getting the chapters ready to mail!
I'm going crazy but it's a good crazy! Between the scifi, the partial and another gay romance almost done, I've got plenty to work on. Just not enough hours in the day to do it! But I'm not complaining! I'm loving every minute of it!
Hidden Hands
Coming to Ellora's Cave on April 3rd!
Detective Jeremy Lawson doesn't expect anything from his one night stand except sex. What he gets is a shooting, a mystery plus some of the best sex he's had in a long time. Somewhere along the way, he also finds some tenderness for a lost soul in need of rescuing.
David March has let his troubled past blind him to any kind of happy future. But when a one night stand turns out to be a cop in shining armor, David begins to think differently about his life. As in, he wants one. But to have one, he has to stay alive.
Note: For maximum reader enjoyment, we suggest reading Hidden Force (David) and A Helping Hand (Jeremy) where our two heros were secondary characters.
Click here for larger version
Positive Possibilities
Ellora's Cave
Chicago attorney Gabe Layton’s life has just turned upside down. His lover of six years is cheating and his supposedly straight best friend of twenty-something years claims to be in love with him. Throw that his cheating ex has possibly exposed him to HIV, Gabe’s world is a confusing place.
Paramedic Dean Bannon has always been attracted to both sexes but after seeing his lifelong friend Gabe deal with prejudice and hate, staying on the straight and narrow seemed an easier path. But his deepening feelings for Gabe push him to reveal his hidden side. Now to convince Gabe of the positive possibilities of taking their friendship to another level.
Seems I haven't posted in a while. AGAIN! I don't know how I get so far behind. I try to read blogs every day but I can't seem to write my own! LOL
So, this week went by in a flash and a half! The weather was a biyotch for part of the week. We had ice on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday afternoon started warming. Today, I think we hit 70 degrees. Arkansas weather is a total pain.
This week I worked on a query and synopsis for Harlequin Blaze. I mailed it Saturday. *crosses fingers* I've been rejected by Harlequin twice already--once by Romantic Suspense and once by Spice. Let's see if third time's a charm!
Today, I've concentrated on a concept, world building and synopsis for a scifi series. This series will not be erotic, nor gay. Not to say there won't be sex scenes or gay characters. Scifi has always more explicit sex than mainstream novels. Plus gay characters aren't unusual in scifi. But I want to do something with more mainstream appeal. I probably won't use my Shayla name but I don't think I'll be keeping the new name a secret.
The big plan is to polish this sucker to death then work on getting an agent. We'll see. I have an appointment with an agent at a conference the first weekend in March. By then I want the premise (blurb), synopsis and about 25k words of book one done. Plus, I'd like a premise for at least book two and three. In my head, I have ideas for the second book. Just need to think that one through so I can come up with book three. The characters in book one will probably show up in book three. I also need a snazzy name for the series. So confused! LOL And I've left myself very little time for all of it.
Of course, if I wasn't committed to working for the old day job all this week, I'd have a better chance of getting everything done. Plus I'll be working odd days through February because the audit starts this month.
I'll just have to work harder to get everything done. I have a rough premise and I'm about two chapters into the synopsis now. I plan to do a complete detailed synopsis--nothing I'd send to an editor or agent--like a map of the book for me. Hopefully, I can finish the synopsis this week at night. Writing a synopsis is a lot of "telling" words. Writing the actual book needs "showing" words. Much harder to come up with. Plus I don't need to worry about all the details. If I can finish the synopsis, I can start the book next week when I don't have the day job to deal with.
Oh, and I had a new sale! Ellora's Cave offered for the fourth book in my Eternity series, Fighting for Eternity! We haven't started editing yet so I don't have a release date or anything. Here's the blurb (also unedited):
Searching for a murderous rogue vampire, Watcher Estefan Garza’s life is turned upside down by tragic loss and a surprise from his past. His bone chilling loss is warmed by fires of passion reignited by vampire Karl Brandt.
On a quest to destroy a former friend, Karl is startled by Estefan and his mysterious companions. Karl can’t understand why Estefan hasn’t aged in seventy years. Unwilling to let him leave until Karl discovers the truth, he offers Estefan and his friends refuge and assistance for their common mission.
As a bloody battle for Memphis ensues, Karl and Estefan bond between danger and destruction until all that remains separating them is a fight for eternity.
So there you have it. A short summary of my life. Back to work now! I need a little more to finish the second chapter synopsis!
My editor requested some changes on a recent submission. I just finished the changes and shipped out the story! *le big sigh* I celebrated with a piece of chocolate cake and some yummy vanilla ice cream! Of course, now I'm freezing. *cackle*
The evil day job that won't go away (EDJTWGA) needs me for three days next week and probably five for the week after. Plus the CFO of the divisions we sold last year has contracted me for some help tomorrow. Some serious cutting into writing time. But the money will be most welcome.
My dryer died the other day. I tossed some heavy shirts and a pair of jeans in the dryer on Monday and ceased to pay attention until I noticed the dryer was silent. Didn't remember the buzzer going off but that wouldn't be unusual. I get into a story and I might not hear an explosion outside my window. So I grabbed some hangers and ran to get the clothes out before they wrinkled. (My momma says that long funny shaped table and the bookend with an eletrical cord will get rid of the wrinkles but I'm not sure I believe her.)
First sign something was wrong. The light in the dryer was out. Oh, and the clothes weren't really dry. My mind was still in my story so I kind of skimmed over the light thing and tried to turn the dryer back on. That's when I noticed how hot the top of the dryer was. Still, I checked the fuse box to make sure that wasn't the problem. It wasn't. So I wrestled the dryer out of it's tight spot and unplugged it. I think it missed the old washer. It died in the fall. Well, as soon as I get a check from somebody--anybody--I have to buy a dryer. Bummer...
Oh, and an update on my wayward cat, Princess. Remember, she found another family who evidently feeds her better? Well after passing the holidays with me--still convinced the other family was out of town--she comes home once in a while. She spent a weekend here a couple of weeks ago. But the other day was just hysterical! Because of her jaw injury, she gets wet food every day. Because I can't afford enough wet food to feed everyone, Princess was fed in the bathroom behind closed doors. She showed up out of nowhere, wasn't even crying for food, just sitting on the bathroom vanity. I petted her some then fed her. As soon as she finished, she jumped down and wanted out of the bathroom. I opened the door and she ran straight for the cat door then scampered back over to her other family's house. I tell, I felt so used! *cackle* Stupid cat.
Well, I'm going to enjoy USA channel's repeats of NCIS. Mark Harmon is such a fox with that silver hair!
I spent most of Saturday working on edits for HIDDEN HANDS. Finished the edits and sent them off then frantically got ready to go out. Author Shada Royce had her 30th birthday party Saturday night. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some of her friends and family. Her mother is a hoot and now I know where Shada gets her sense of humor from! *cackle*
I wasn't exactly sure where the club was since I'm not real familar with North Little Rock. I left the house with an hour and forty-five minutes to get there. Google Maps worked like a dream and I was there a half hour early. And right next door was a Books-A-Million! I LOVE that store! The one in Little Rock closed years ago. NLR is a little out of the way when there's a Barnes & Noble in west Little Rock so I never went over the river to check it out! ("Over the river"-- the Arkansas River separated LR from NLR) With a half hour to kill, you know I headed straight for the BAM! And of course, I started out looking for MASTERS OF DESIRE! They had a nice sized stack! I asked about signing stock and the staff were so nice! One of them, Chris, came over and talked to me for a long time. He's a Little Rock firefighter who works part time at BAM. He loves talking to authors. Check out his picture from his MySpace page! Gotta love a man in uniform!
Chris took my picture with MASTERS OF DESIRE for the BAM MySpace page. (And I remembered why I hate getting my picture taken! Unless I'm grinning like an idiot, I look like I'm angry! *cackle* My smile just isn't there!) And no, I'm not posting it here. If you want to see, go look for it on Chris' sites! LOL
We were talking about authors and I mentioned Delilah Devlin. He remembered her from years ago when he was working at the Bentano's. He said she had a sister who wrote too. Yep, that would be Myla Jackson--one of the authors in the anthology MASTERS OF DESIRE!
I chatted with Delilah and Myla today and they remembered Chris! It's such a small, small world!
So while the week was nothing to write home about, my Saturday night rocked! Getting to meet Chris and sign stock, then Shada's party with her crazy clan made for a great night!
Plus, today, my creative side woke up from its catatonic state and threw the most interesting curve in my current WIP. I'm off to Google erotic asphyxiation! *cackle*
Chris friended me from both his MySpace page and the NLR BAM MySpace! Go check them out!
As I took the shot, a couple of kids started to walk in front of me but stopped as the flash went off. I laughed and said something like "I know, strange to take a picture of a book but it's my book!" The teenagers thought that was cool and they moved on. Then a woman in the same aisle walked over, said she'd overheard me say that was my book and asked which one.
I pointed out Masters of Desire like a crazed proud mother.
She picked it up and read the blurbs and said she'd buy it. Since it was my book.
I managed to contain my squeal of delight--just barely--and offered to sign it for her. She said sure!
So Joanne, wherever you are, you made my day! Thank you!
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shiawmeimei- Shayla Kersten
- Erotic Romance by Shayla Kersten
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