More Shiny New Cover Art!

The blurb isn't quite ready to go yet, but here is the cover for the sequel to A Chip In His Shoulder, Something New Under the Sun:

Due out late January 2013. More info to come.

Six Sentence Sunday - Something New Under the Sun

More Six Sentence Sunday!

One more snippet of Something New Under the Sun, the cyberpunk/vampire sequel to A Chip In His Shoulder. Very brief one this time, as Liam and Daniel have a little conversation in the midst of making preparations to kick some ass and take some names:

"You don’t think I can handle breaking into this place after breaking into Cybernetix?”

“It’s not where we’re going, Daniel. It’s why. Are you sure you can do this?”

I swallowed. “I have to.”

Want to play along? It’s fun and easy!
1. pick a project – a current WIP, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2. pick six sentences
3. post ‘em on your blog or website on Sunday

Six Sentence Sunday - Something New Under the Sun

More Six Sentence Sunday!

One more snippet of Something New Under the Sun, the cyberpunk/vampire sequel to A Chip In His Shoulder, where we find Daniel and his father having a little heart to heart: (and Daniel is the one speaking; hard to make that 100% clear in six sentences)

"Pretty ballsy for a man whose entire empire could go down if I’m not alive to press a few buttons every day.”

Dad’s eyes narrowed, and his chin rose slightly as he stared me down. I knew that look as well as I knew Liam’s glares and smirks, and I saw right through the son of a bitch. He wanted to call my bluff, but I was alive, wasn’t I? His carefully orchestrated plan to kill me and pin it on Liam, taking out two of the biggest thorns in his side at once, had blown up in his face.

“So I have your attention now, right?” I asked.

Want to play along? It’s fun and easy!
1. pick a project – a current WIP, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2. pick six sentences
3. post ‘em on your blog or website on Sunday

Six Sentence Sunday - Something New Under the Sun

More Six Sentence Sunday!

The opening lines of the sequel to A Chip In His Shoulder, which is called Something New Under the Sun:

Less than twenty-four hours had passed since I’d been killing time and waiting to die in a glass-encased penthouse high above the glittering Sky. Surviving? That was unexpected. Waking up naked in a cramped Gutter apartment next to the ex-lover my father had paid to kill me? Yeah. That came out of the fucking blue.

Want to play along? It’s fun and easy!
1. pick a project – a current WIP, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2. pick six sentences
3. post ‘em on your blog or website on Sunday

Six Sentence Sunday - Something New Under The Sun

More Six Sentence Sunday!

I've been promising a sequel to A Chip In His Shoulder for a while now, and that sequel is finally happening. So, here is the first ever snippet of Liam and Daniel's return in Something New Under The Sun, as Daniel gets his first ever look at the Gutter:

Thick, low-hanging haze obscured upper floor windows and shrouded streetlamps in greenish-yellow halos. A heavy, cold downdraft from above blew down the back of my collar and kicked trash and debris around on the streets and sidewalks.

Though the streets were deserted, they were anything but quiet. From inside the towering factories made of brick and concrete, industrial machinery hummed and clanged, and loud music thumped from within the walls of ramshackle buildings covered in mismatched aluminum siding and half burned-out neon lights. Down an alley, a man with his pants around his ankles fucked a barely-dressed woman against the graffiti-covered bricks, burying his face against her neck and going at it in the hurried, animalistic fashion of a man trying to get off as quickly as possible. I couldn’t decide if she looked bored, wasted, or both.

Want to play along? It’s fun and easy!
1. pick a project – a current WIP, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2. pick six sentences
3. post ‘em on your blog or website on Sunday

Links N Things

Today is Six Sentence Sunday, of course, so if you want to check out a quick snippet of Where There's Smoke -- due out this Tuesday! -- click here or scroll down to the next post.

I'm over at Jessewave today discussing when cheating is -- and isn't -- cheating. I'm interested in your opinions, readers, so stop by and sound off on how you feel about cheating and all its gray areas.

And as long as I'm posting links, I completely neglected to post about a couple of guest blogs that came up in the last week or so. Over at Sara Brookes' blog, I'm talking about my first time submitting a manuscript. And over at Book Faery's blog, Liam from A Chip In His Shoulder discusses his fascination with the New Orleans funeral culture as part of an author spotlight for the upcoming Authors After Dark in NOLA.

Also, Circlet Press is conducting a poll to pick the best stories for an upcoming lesbian anthology. My good friend Kathleen Tudor's story, Navigator, is in the running, so I promised her I'd post the link here. Now go! Go and vote for your favorite!

Finally, Until It's Over is still available for a you're-practically-stealing-it price of $0.99 over on Amazon, and there's just a few hours left to enter to win a copy of Where There's Smoke from Stumbling Over Chaos. Hurry, folks! What are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go!

Phew. That's a lot of links.

Reviews, Updates, and an Excerpt

Time for one of my "none of this warrants a blog post of its own, so I'll put it all in one big one" updates! Lots going on, as always...

First, I'll actually be showing my face at some events this year. So far, I'm signed up, paid, confirmed, written in blood attending RT in Chicago in April and Authors After Dark in New Orleans in August. If you're at either of these events and see some girl in glasses looking incredibly lost, that's probably me.

Moving right along. To whet everyone's appetite, I've put up an excerpt of Where There's Smoke, which will be out February 21st from Loose Id, LLC.
And speaking of new releases, there are a couple of new release dates to add to the lineup for 2012:

• The Healing & The Dying, Samhain Publishing, July 17
• For The Living, Amber Quill Press, April 1

These are both L. A. Witt titles, but rest assured, there are some Lauren Gallagher books in the works, so expect news on those fairly soon.

And finally, a couple of lovely reviews for A Chip In His Shoulder. BookAddict at The Romance Reviews gave it 4 out of 5 stars:

"I recommend this book to fellow cyberpunk lovers who enjoy a hot m/m love/hate relationship." (review)

And Lasha over at Jessewave gave it 5 out of 5 stars:

"LA Witt takes the vampire genre into the future with an unique twist that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout!" (review)

That's all for now -- stay tuned for more updates!

Some Awards, Some News, and Some Updates

First, the Cock & Bull Blog Tour is still going -- click here for a full list of the daily blog stops, and comment to win a chance at a $150 Amazon gift card!Second, I'd like to announce that my first lesbian short story, What This Woman Wants, is due out in early April from Carnal Passions. Just a short little F/F erotica story for those who enjoy some fun with the ladies.

And I'd like to thank the M/M Romance group on Goodreads (join if you haven't already!) for voting three of my books into the 2011 Readers' Choice Awards!

Out of Focus -- 1st, Hottest M/M/M

Static -- 2nd, Most Surprising/Unique Plot Device
A Chip In His Shoulder -- 3rd, Hottest Vampire

Huge thank you to the readers who voted, and congrats to the authors who also won, including Marie Sexton, Amy Lane, Heidi Cullinan, TJ Klune, Damon Suede, and Josh Lanyon. It blows my mind to be in the company of names like those!

Reviews, Interviews, and Giveaways

All this "moving to Nebraska" nonsense has put me a little behind on updating my blog, but hopefully that will all be over very soon. My husband left this morning for Omaha, which means I'll be following within the next 10-14 days. By January, I expect to be back to my usual writing all day/blogging all the time schedule. Soon!!

In the meantime...

I've been interviewed over at Fallen Angel Reviews as well as Joyfully Jay Reviews. Comment on the latter to win your choice of books off my backlist!

And speaking of Joyfully Jay, they've reviewed A Chip In His Shoulder and given it 4.75 stars:

"First off, let me say this book kept me on the edge of my seat. The action starts almost right away and keeps going throughout the book. Not just physical action, but also the tension between Daniel and Liam as they confront each other for the first time in five years. The story was quite exciting and kept me frantically flipping pages." (Review)

That's all for now, but there should be more updates soon, especially now that I'm getting close to the last leg of this move. Omaha, here I come!

Additional Links - A Chip In His Shoulder

Just a quick note to let everyone know A Chip In His Shoulder is now on a few of the third party sites. More links to come, but the following are active:

AllRomance Ebooks
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Also, don't forget you can still pre-order The Closer You Get and get a discount off the cover price! The official release is November 15th.

NOW AVAILABLE: A Chip In His Shoulder

A Chip In His Shoulder is now available from Riptide Publishing! Additional links to follow here and on my website as soon as they're available:

“Contract killer” is a fitting job for a vampire, and it suits Liam just fine. Cast down from the wealth and status of the Sky for taking a human lover, Liam lurks in the poor and pollution-choked Gutter, killing to survive. Between his natural strengths and his Cybernetix mods, no mark has ever escaped him.

Liam’s ex-lover Daniel is the heir to Cybernetix—and its greatest threat. Horrified by people less man than machine and the exploitation of Gutter factory workers, he’d rather destroy Cybernetix than inherit it . . . if his father doesn’t destroy him first.

Years of anger and a heap of mods have kept Daniel and Liam apart. When Liam is hired to slaughter a man in his glass Sky tower, he walks right into a Daniel-shaped trap. Daniel’s father has betrayed them both, and only by working together can Daniel and Liam survive the coming day. They have no reason to trust each other, but as the dawn looms, a bargain that began with the simple urge to live soon reminds them of the love they once shared. Can they find each other again, or will the Cybernetix assassins find them first?

UPDATE: A Chip In His Shoulder

So a lot of readers have commented they can't wait to read A Chip In His Shoulder (thank you all -- I'm so glad people are excited about this one!)

Guess what?

You don't have to wait!

Well, you don't have to wait as long, anyway. The official release date has moved up to November 7th.

The book is already available for pre-order from Riptide, and I'll post additional links as they're available.

Six Sentence Sunday - A Chip In His Shoulder

More Six Sentence Sunday!

Today, a nibble from my upcoming cyberpunk release, A Chip In His Shoulder:

All at once, every light in the penthouse flared to life, overwhelming my eyes for that instant before my ocular mod adapted.

“Well.” Daniel’s voice spun me around, and even as I leveled my gun at him, he eyed me casually, leaning against a support pillar with his arms folded across his chest. “Liam. This is a surprise.”

He sounded anything but surprised.

A Chip In His Shoulder is NOW AVAILABLE for Pre-Order from Riptide Publishing, and will be out November 14th!


Want to play along? It’s fun and easy!
1. pick a project – a current WIP, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2. pick six sentences
3. post ‘em on Sunday

REVIEW: The Distance Between Us and some updates

The move from Japan is coming along swimmingly, if a bit chaotically. Expect updates to be a little sparse and probably not incredibly long, but I'm trying to keep up on both my blogs as much as I can.

Some quick updates...

Nine-tenths of the Law is still available FREE from Amazon until October 28, so hurry and pick up a copy!

A Chip In His Shoulder and The Closer You Get are both available for pre-order from their respective publishers, plus the latter is on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I'm interviewed over on Leontine's Book Realm, and over at Tracy's Place, I interview Liam, the main character of A Chip In His Shoulder.

And finally, Joyfully Jay Reviews gave The Distance Between Us 4.75 stars:

I really enjoyed this book and found the way Kieran's presence affected the dynamic between them so interesting and deliciously complex. (Review)

More updates and such to come soon, plus a couple of reviews on the horizon!

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER: A Chip In His Shoulder

A Chip In His Shoulder is now available for pre-order from Riptide Publishing, along with several other awesome titles from some kickass authors. The book will be released November 14th.

“Contract killer” is a fitting job for a vampire, and it suits Liam just fine. Cast down from the wealth and status of the Sky for taking a human lover, Liam lurks in the poor and pollution-choked Gutter, killing to survive. Between his natural strengths and his Cybernetix mods, no mark has ever escaped him.

Liam’s ex-lover Daniel is the heir to Cybernetix—and its greatest threat. Horrified by people less man than machine and the exploitation of Gutter factory workers, he’d rather destroy Cybernetix than inherit it . . . if his father doesn’t destroy him first.

Years of anger and a heap of mods have kept Daniel and Liam apart. When Liam is hired to slaughter a man in his glass Sky tower, he walks right into a Daniel-shaped trap. Daniel’s father has betrayed them both, and only by working together can Daniel and Liam survive the coming day. They have no reason to trust each other, but as the dawn looms, a bargain that began with the simple urge to live soon reminds them of the love they once shared. Can they find each other again, or will the Cybernetix assassins find them first?

Cover Arse-- er, ART: A Chip In His Shoulder

Some call it shoulder porn. Some call it cover arse.

I call it the smextacular cover of A Chip In His Shoulder, my first novella with brand spanking (so to speak) new publisher Riptide Publishing:
A Chip In His Shoulder is a vampire/cyberpunk story, and will be out in mid-November. More details to come!

Graphics and Stuff

You may have noticed that the banner on top of this blog keeps changing. I'm rather enjoying my new little catchphrase, "Abnormal Romance Author", and in between working on various projects, I've been playing with new banners. (Graphic design relaxes me, and I have needed it lately like you wouldn't believe) So, expect to see the banner changing fairly frequently until I finally settle on one I like.

Anyway, in between changing banners like they're Kleenex, I'm hard at work on a few upcoming projects. I should have some announcements fairly soon about some releases.

And speaking of releases, Disengaged and Ex Equals will both be out in September, along with Changing Plans (the combined paperback of Getting off the Ground, Infinity Pools, and On The List), so expect some contests and giveaways soon.

Also, the official release date for A Chip In His Shoulder is November 14th. Since The Closer You Get comes out the next day, I'm plotting and scheming some sort of contest/giveaway around that date. Keep an eye on this blog for more info!

Now back to trying to make a banner that works in between outlining my next story...

Just a few quick updates and some reviews.

I've added excerpts to my website for three upcoming releases:

Disengaged
On the List
The Closer You Get

Stay tuned for an excerpt from Ex Equals.

Also, I'm pleased to announce that I have signed with the newest M/M publisher, Riptide Publishing. My first title with Riptide will be my vampire/cyberpunk novella, A Chip In His Shoulder, and is expected to be out in late October. Details to come as they're available.

Damaged Goods is now available on several third party sites: Sony, Fictionwise, AllRomance, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and ereader.com. And, of course, it's still available directly from Loose Id, LLC.

Finally, some reviews:

Michele at The Romance Studio has given Light Switch 5 out of 5 hearts, and I think this may be my favorite comment about this book ever lol:

"Light Switch is a great book about Kristen's exodus from plain dry toast sex to drippy, gooey syrup coated French toast sex."

Feliz at Jessewave Reviews has given Cover Me 4.5 out of 5 stars:

This is a strong story, with very real and believable conflicts. As far as I can judge, the medical details are absolutely correct, and the job – related background regarding paramedics felt well-researched and authentic. [...] this was a great, skillfully written read with a realistic, gripping plot and well – wrought, well-developed characters. Highly recommended.

And Stephantois at Whipped Cream Erotic Romance Reviews has given Damaged Goods 4.5 out of 5 cherries:

"If you’re looking for an erotic romance that’s a little different, I’d say check this title out."

That's all for now -- plenty more in the offing, so check back often!