An Excerpt and some EPIC Finalists!

So I'm still recovering from GRL, which was a total blast, but had a few quick news updates. I'll be facedown in some edits for a few days, plus catching up on some various books I need to finish, but I'm trying to update my blog more regularly. Being busy is good, but man, it really makes blogging fall by the wayside!

Anyway. I've just posted an excerpt from The Left Hand of Calvus, my ancient Roman historical due out November 5th from Riptide Publishing.

This book is part of the 4-book Warriors of Rome collection, which includes titles by Lisa Henry, Sam Starbuck, Violetta Vane, and Heidi Belleau. The collection is currently available for pre-order as a group or individually (The City War by Sam Starbuck, He Is Worthy by Lisa Henry, Mark of the Gladiator by Heidi Belleau & Violetta Vane, and The Left Hand of Calvus).

Moving right along, four of my books made it into the EPIC Award finals!  Damaged Goods in the Erotica category, The Given & The Taken in Paranormal Romance, Static in Sci Fi Romance, and Noble Metals in Fantasy Romance. So now I get to gnaw my nails until March when the awards are announced! :D

Okay, back to editing with me. Lots of stuff in the offing, so check back!

NOW AVAILABLE: The Healing & The Dying

Book 2 in the Tooth & Claw series, The Healing & The Dying, is Now Available on Samhain, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Additional links will be listed here as they are available.

(And don't miss Book 1, The Given & The Taken!)

Doing the right thing could destroy everything…

 Levi, Ian, and Darius escaped death-by-wolf-pack by the skin of their teeth, but they’re not out of the woods. The wolves are relentless. Help from humans? Not likely. Their only hope is a vampire commune in remote western Canada—if they make it in one piece. Even then, there’s no guarantee they’ll be offered sanctuary. 

First challenge is to get there. Sunlight is deadly. Money is dwindling. Police and wolves alike are on the hunt. 

 Worse, Levi hasn't recovered physically or emotionally from the accident that broke several of his bones and killed his best friend. He desperately wants Ian or Darius to turn him, which would heal his wounds, speed their escape, and sever his last tie to the wolves that made his life hell. 

 Yet Darius hesitates, caught between his desire to help his lover, and fear that once this is all over, Levi and Ian will have no use—or desire—to keep him in the picture. And that’s assuming they all make it to the end of this alive… 

 Warning: Contains two vampires and a werewolf who would really like to just sit down somewhere and lick their wounds, but are too damned busy stealing cars, avoiding sunlight, eluding police, arguing, jumping off roofs, and plotting new and innovative ways to weasel past customs. Oh, and plenty of scorching hot sex between three very, very dirty boys.

Six Sentence Sunday - The Healing and The Dying

Soooo, who wants a little nibble of the sequel to The Given & The Taken?

Here it is, the first snippet of The Healing & The Dying, wherein we join Ian and Darius during some much needed downtime. Ian is still new to being a vampire, and hasn't quite gotten to the point of being able to feed without gagging:

“You’ll get used to it.”

“Ever learn to like it?”

“Well, I don’t know that anyone ever gets to the point of being a connoisseur, but…”

Ian snorted. “Oh, wouldn’t that be a sight?” Adopting a snobby tone, he said, “This Type A is ambitious and has a lovely bouquet, but the aftertaste suggests it was donated on someone’s lunch break with a rusty used needle and a cholesterol-filled tube.”

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

Cock and Bull Tour -- Come Join Me!

Freddy MacKay will be here tomorrow, but today I'm over at Julia Knight's blog talking about how The Given & The Taken came to be. Stop by and check it out, plus you have a chance to win a $150 Amazon Gift Card!

For info on the entire tour, click here.

NOW AVAILABLE: The Given and The Taken

The Given & The Taken is now available from Samhain Publishing! It's also on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and additional links will be added to my website as they're available.

Their bond could be the death of them all.

After pleading his case to his wolf clan’s Elders, Levi is granted the right to bond with Ian, his male human lover, on one condition: they must spend one year apart. Then Ian must use only their spiritual connection to find Levi, or the deal is off.

Tracking down his lover is easy for Ian, but Levi isn’t prepared for the changed man who finds him.

The agony of separation was too much for Ian. In a moment of weakness, he reached out—to a vampire. Now he’s a vampire himself, and Levi’s devastation—and rejection—is like a stake to his heart. But it’s nothing compared to the fury of the clan that wants Ian brought to justice for desecrating their most sacred ritual.

Afraid for Ian’s safety, Levi puts the pain aside and races to get to Ian first, but he faces unexpected competition: Darius, Ian’s maker. When they come together, all hell breaks loose, Ian is on the run…and the only way Levi and Darius can save the man they love is to work together.

If they don’t kill each other first.

Warning: Contains two vampires and a werewolf who really, really, really want to hate each other. Except when they want each other. And have violent, sweaty, angry sex with each other. But they still hate each other. Mostly.

Six Sentence Sunday - The Given and The Taken

Now that I'm settled into Nebraska, it's time to bring back some Six Sentence Sunday action!

Today, a little piece of my first 2012 release, The Given & The Taken:

Levi and I had had the kind of solid, intimate relationship I’d always dreamed of, but that ritual changed us. Suddenly he was my lifeline, something to which I was inextricably bound. I’d needed him like I needed air and, these days, blood. It didn’t matter that I’d known then that he’d come back. Tell a jonesing crack addict he can have a hit in a few hours, and it won’t do him a damned bit of good. Knowing Levi would come back didn’t ease the pain.

The Given & The Taken, book 1 in the Tooth & Claw series, will be available January 3rd from Samhain Publishing, and is currently available for pre-order!

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

Cover Art: The Given & The Taken

Just received cover art for book #1 of the Tooth & Claw series, The Given & The Taken:

Their bond could be the death of them all.

After pleading his case to his wolf clan’s Elders, Levi is granted the right to bond with Ian, his male human lover, on one condition: they must spend one year apart. Then Ian must use only their spiritual connection to find Levi, or the deal is off.

Tracking down his lover is easy for Ian, but Levi isn’t prepared for the changed man who finds him.

The agony of separation was too much for Ian. In a moment of weakness, he reached out—to a vampire. Now he’s a vampire himself, and Levi’s devastation—and rejection—is like a stake to his heart. But it’s nothing compared to the fury of the clan that wants Ian brought to justice for desecrating their most sacred ritual.

Afraid for Ian’s safety, Levi puts the pain aside and races to get to Ian first, but he faces unexpected competition: Darius, Ian’s maker. When they come together, all hell breaks loose, Ian is on the run…and the only way Levi and Darius can save the man they love is to work together.

If they don’t kill each other first.

Warning: Contains two vampires and a werewolf who really, really, really want to hate each other. Except when they want each other. And have violent, sweaty, angry sex with each other. But they still hate each other. Mostly.

The Given & The Taken will be available from Samhain Publishing on January 3, 2012.

Some Announcements - and a contest.

First, Stumbling Over Chaos is giving away a copy of my soon-to-be-released novella, A.J.'s Angel. If you want to win, click here and leave a comment. The book will be available from Samhain Publishing on May 31.
And while we're all thinking about yummy cover art, I have received the final cover for Out of Focus, and OMG, it is made of gorgeous. I can't show it yet, but keep an eye on this blog, because the minute I can post it, I will.

Finally, two new books have been added to the Coming Soon list:

Ex Equals, a M/M novella, has been signed to Amber Allure, and I should have release info soon.

The Given & The Taken, a M/M/M vampire/werewolf novel, has been signed to Samhain Publishing, and is due out in January 2012. This will be book 1 of a series, The Ties That Bind, so stay tuned for information on subsequent titles.

And since we're almost to June, here's what's coming out next month:

• The Distance Between Us (paperback), June 7th from Samhain Publishing
  
• Damaged Goods, June 14th from Loose Id, LLC
• Static, June 26th from Amber Allure

That's all for now - stick around, because the next few months are going to be busy!

Six Sentence Sunday

Another contribution to the Six Sentence Sunday shenanigans...

Just like last week, I'm contributing two snippets, one from each of my pseudonyms. For those not familiar with me, I write hetero erotic romance as Lauren Gallagher and M/M erotic romance as L. A. Witt.

And today, it's all about the vampires...

From Lauren Gallagher, a snippet from The Enemy of My Enemy, a vampire/zombie WIP:

He halted a few steps from the couple, the ends of his coat billowing around his legs like followers scurrying to kneel at his feet. The unforgiving overhead light picked out the lines in his face and dusting of grey at his temples, and his face raised goose bumps along the length of my spine.

His face was chiseled from pure fury. Sharp, angular jaw and cheekbones. Dark, brooding eyes. Lips ready to curl into a snarl or a blistering tirade, and shoulders set back with blows just waiting to be delivered.

And from L. A. Witt, another little sneaky peeky at The Given & The Taken, my recently completed vampire/werewolf novel:

Ian paced across the vomit-colored carpet of our hotel room, alternately folding his arms and slipping his hands into his pockets.

I felt for him. The entire crazy world of vampires and werewolves was still so new to him. Something he’d seen from the outside, heard about on the news whenever the two sides clashed, but never had to deal with head-on. I didn’t blame him for being at a loss for what to do and for being scared out of his mind. Especially in this unsettling situation, waiting in our second-floor hotel room like a couple of caged animals while Levi came closer, closer, closer.

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

Six Sentence Sunday

Okay, joining in the Six Sentence Sunday shenanigans...

My contribution comes from The Given & The Taken, my vampire/werewolf WIP:

It was less painful if I bit in quickly, but it was easy to cause more injury than necessary. He’d feel more pain in the short term, but wouldn’t suffer any long term issues from damaged tendons or tissue. We’d done this enough times, Ian knew what to expect, but I still felt sorry for him every time he gave that initial flinch.

This time, when I bit through his skin, the flinch didn’t come. My teeth slid through the layers of flesh, between the tendons, and into his radial artery.

In a heartbeat, it all went wrong.

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