Today, Steam Toys released from Aspen Mountain Press. I'm thrilled to bring you this steampunk novella which includes some gadgets and toys you may never forget!
With a new release today, I should've been working. Suffice it to say, when my son asked me to spend the day with him,I was torn. In the end, he won out. We went to meet his recruiter, spent two hours at the gym, and had lunch with the DH. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed his company.
Today marked a special day for my son as well. Matthew leaves in exactly a month and after boot camp, he’s off to spend a year in Groton, Connecticut. He’s considerably nervous about his first stop in Chicago but he scored extremely high on his ASVAB and thanks to that score, he’ll be on a submarine—which is where he wants to be.
So rather than promote my new release today, I spent the day with my son and we had a great time. I was able to do this because I had a little help from my friends.
I want to thank the following authors, bloggers, and friends who were kind enough to promote the release of STEAM TOYS today on their blogs. A huge thank you goes out to:
Tina Brunelle
Dawn from Dawn’s Reading Nook
Author Tracey Kitts
Author Cindy Jacks
Author K.A. M’Lady
Author Mahalia Levey
Author Sloane Taylor
Author Jude Mason
Author Raine Delight
Author Keta Diablo
***If I missed anyone, please email me because it wasn’t intentional***
And Bloggers! I have a special treat for you. Some of the authors listed above have some recent new releases or old favorites I wanted you to see so I've included those below. Mahalia Levey has promised to stop by soon and she has some news coming soon so make sure you keep up with Mahalia here:
www.mahalialevey.com
http://quackersandtease.blogspot.com/
http://novelsisterhood.blogspot.com/
In the meantime, drop by today and blog with us at Mahalia Levey's blog:
http://mahalia2010.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/author-destiny-blaine-is-pleased-to-announce-she-has-two-new-releases-for-her-readers-to-enjoy-this-january-2011/
As always, I'm thrilled to blog with Dawn at Dawn's Reading Nook. Dawn was kind enough to post about Steam Toys bright and early this morning. Stop by Dawn's and take a look around. See what you've missed and what's coming soon:
Dawn’s Reading Nook:
http://lovesbooksandmore.blogspot.com/?zx=a26d8c7373f3b29
Author Jude Mason was also nice enough to let us take over at her blog as well. I'm excited to learn more about Jett's Gift and below, Jude shares a sneak preview of this very special paranormal novella. Take a look:
Jett’s Gift
By Jude Mason
ISBN: 978-0-85715-462-0
Genre: Gay MM/ Vampire/ Contemporary
Publisher: Total E-Bound
Release date: Feb.7.2011
Purchase Link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1072
A six hundred year old vampire finds love, but will it, can it, last when AIDS pokes its ugly head up?
Jett is a creature of the night and he’s not happy. In fact, he’s heartbroken and in love. The man who’s torn his world apart has been diagnosed with AIDS.
Jett knows he can save Alex, the man who’s stolen his heart, but for some reason he’s been denied.
After weeks, months of frustrated discussions and fighting, Jett’s determined to give it one last try.
Excerpt
Three months later, they were exclusive to each other. Funny thing was, Alex never asked about being turned. He seemed happy enough to accept the time Jett gave him. Alex did extremely well as a model and was much in demand by some of the more prominent fashion houses. His tall slenderness, the washboard abs and that mop of unruly hair were always sought after. Jett had money enough to keep them both if that’s what he’d wanted, but Alex wanted to work. Secretly, Jett thought he revelled in the attention. Now he’d become more successful, the PR had ramped up and they partied and did the nightclub scene at least four or five nights a week.
For eight years, Alex had been his lover. For eight years, they’d worked hard to learn how to deal with Jett’s difference. Jett was a creature of the night—one of the undead, a vampire.
It all changed when Alex got sick. It wasn’t anything drastic or horrible, at first. He just had a cough that wouldn’t quit. Three weeks ago, after much urging and coaxing, he finally went to a doctor.
“Yes, I know you’re fine,” Jett had told him softly one evening, pushing a lock of blond hair out of Alex’s eyes.
“So what’s the rush? I’ve got one more shoot then I’ll be able to take a little time off.” Alex had turned his back and thrust his hands into the sink full of dirty dishes and hot, soapy water. He pressed his butt against Jett’s crotch, and began washing the dinner dishes.
A few minutes shy of midnight, Jett knew Alex was tired, while his own day was just beginning. “You’ve had this fucking cough for three months. That’s too long, and you know it.”
“Yeah, well, someone has to pay the rent.”
“Listen you stubborn son of a bitch,” Jett growled and took hold of Alex’s shoulders, spinning the man around to face him. “We both know I can buy this building ten times over, so there’s no ‘rent’ issue.”
“Yes, I know. You’re filthy rich. You can buy anything and anyone you want. So why are you bothering with a sicko queer model?” Alex countered.
“Because, I love you.”
There it was. He’d said it out loud and knew it was the truth.
“Dayum!” Alex whispered and bent forward, wet hands slipping along Jett’s forearms. “Okay, I’ll do the damn tests the doctor ordered.”
Jett leaned down and pressed his lips against Alex’s cheek. “Thank you,” he murmured.
Nothing showed on the test results, at first. It was a cold. Then it was bronchitis. Pneumonia. Coughing non-stop scarred his lungs. His eyes sunk from lack of sleep. The specialist he’d begun seeing ordered more tests. He got some results.
For such a small word, AIDS took such an enormous toll on people’s lives.
We're blogging with Jude tonight so stop by: http://jude-mason.blogspot.com
Author K.A. M'Lady always amazes me by her talent. Today, she shared her latest book of poems and you're sure to be as impressed as I was:
Look for K.A.'s latest--Ramshackle Castle by following the links below:
http://www.mojocastle.com/RamshackleCastle.html
Ramshackle Castle - Bent Poetry & Other Altered Verse
Humor, Paranormal, Poetry
Ramshackle Castle
K. A. M'Lady
Rated: The Curtain Wall
Length: Sigil
Price: $1.99
ISBN: 1-60180-RCC
Come, walk the night road through your memory of childhood fairy tales, limericks, ghostly apparitions and the lingering breath of classic poetry gone awry. At the Castle, magick and mayhem are a lyrical delight spun with fairy dust. It may at times be dark, dusty and a bit bent but every word is a glamorous enchantment.
Ramshackle Castle Bent Poetry & Other Altered Verse
By
K.A. M’Lady
Excerpts:
Tread Lightly
The road less traveled. Whoever told me to take that damn road was an idiot! Yellow woods indeed. Maybe from the field full of fairies -- no doubt. Crazy bitches with wings!
Dead Birds & The Ghosts of Psycho Ex-Girlfriends
One would think that a mind numbing midnight drunk would still the incessant tapping; hammering its way inside my lonely chamber. I groaned, “Be gone, I’m napping.” Only this and the tome I chucked at said wavering chamber door. Only this and nothing more.
What becomes of falling snow
the dwarves never understood the longing
and after months in a hovel cleaning
what should have been diamonds
but remained only dust; coal black
and caking on the threshold of a place
now known as home, even doc couldn’t
cure the insatiable need for belonging,
and love, ah that sweet poison,
piercing my heart from a childhood
haunted by shadows and lonely dreams,
I still long for a woodland filled with hope
where the wind, subtly cresting in the night,
sometimes whispers -- maybe,
someday,
maybe…
The ugly side of trolls
the night wrangles on amidst long intervals
of heavy pacing and endless moments
of deep introspection, for there is much to consider
beneath the dim light of plank-board
and the dark cool stench of wet, root filled earth --
for even bridge trolls get bored
The sorrows of an ugly step-sister
you, Cinderella with your flaxen waves
and sparkling eyes, know not what it is
to be cast in the shadows -- the second born,
a grey goose of waddling travels mucking about
in a truly murky lake, suffering
an unsavory flair as a true second class citizen
K.A. M’Lady Copyright 2010
All Rights Reserved
K.A. M'Lady
www.kamlady.net
www.myspace.com/kamlady
We're also blogging with Tracey Kitts! Stop by Tracey's and be sure to check out Wicked City as well as this hot new favorite--SEX SYMBOL: http://traceyhkitts.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-blogger-destiny-blaine.html
Author Tracey Kitts blogged
http://traceyhkitts.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-blogger-destiny-blaine.html
Sex Symbol is the story of Lucy Harper, an ordinary woman who suddenly finds herself in extraordinary circumstances. Not only is her new boyfriend a werewolf, but her new tattoo might be more than a picture of her favorite flower. According to the local werewolf pack, it’s a “sex symbol.”
Excerpt:
The room was lit by candles. There was one small table and a few shelves in one corner of the room. A shelf of some sort blocked my view, but when I stepped around it I saw where the sound had come from. Eramus was chained to the wall. One arm was locked above his head and his feet were shackled where he stood. I ran to him.
“Eramus, who did this to you?”
I started to look around for a key, but he stopped me, putting his free hand on my shoulder.
“I did.”
I stood there for a moment and just stared at him.
“I don’t understand. Why would you do this to yourself? How do you expect to ever get free?”
“The shackles are controlled by a machine. In twelve hours, it will release me.”
“Why? What happens for the next twelve hours?”
The look on his face was pained and though I made a move toward him he turned his face away, stopping me once again.
“The full moon,” he answered.
It took me a minute to find my voice. “Eramus, a wolf chased me he—”
“I don’t know who’s doing this,” he said. “But if I am to have the strength to fight him, I have to stop suppressing what I have become. I thought that I could pretend to be a man in order to…in order to love you.”
Tears stung my eyes, but I ignored them. “If you’re not a man, then what are you?”
“A beast.”
The pain in his voice was like nothing I had ever heard. And all the sadness in the world was in the eyes that looked back at me as they slowly turned to amber. I understood what he was trying to say and it made no difference to me. I touched his face and as his fangs grew he started to cry.
“Get out of here,” he said.
“I’m staying.”
He was still human to all appearances except for the short fangs and amber eyes. He looked like something wild and a passion stirred in me such as I have never felt before. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and when I placed my hand against his chest it seemed to me that his flesh burned.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he pleaded.
“Then don’t.”
When he looked at me I felt a flame ignite in my soul like hellfire. Anything I felt before was in comparison to a match. The tortured look in his eyes broke my heart in two. I didn’t think it could ever be repaired, but he was surely welcome to both pieces.
I kissed him and my heart leapt. It danced against my ribs to a beat all its own and Eramus trembled at my touch. Sweat shown on his forehead like a fine mist and as I trailed my hand down his face I could feel his stubble already starting to grow.
A low growl escaped his throat as he said, “You should be running.”
“Didn’t you know? Beauty is incomplete without the Beast.”
I didn’t call myself beautiful because of my own opinion, but because he always said that I was. It may seem ridiculous, but I was not afraid. Not just because he was chained, but because whatever he became, he was still my Eramus underneath. And I was completely and irreversibly in love with him.
Sex Symbol can be found at www.traceyhkitts.com
Author Cindy Jacks told her friends about Steam Toys, too, blogging today at Bad Girl (And Bad Boy) Writer’s Block
http://cindyjacks.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-author-destiny-blaine.html?zx=7cd871cfb7eb8aed. Cindy has a hot new release that just made its debut at Ellora's Cave:
Buy-it-now: http://www.jasminejade.com/m-683-cindy-jacks.aspx
Website: http://cindyjacks.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.cindy.jacks
http://cindyjacks.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-author-destiny-blaine.html
Cindy Jacks
Fiction for the bad girl in every woman
http://cindyjacks.com
GET IT HERE: http://www.jasminejade.com/pm-8987-683-love-game.aspx
Battling housework, Sandi wonders if the spark in her marriage has disappeared. When her husband interrupts their hot-shower lovin’ to take a call from work, she’s positive the magic is gone.
In an attempt to spice things up, she gets a makeover and sets a date with her hubby for a night of passion and romance. There’s only one problem—Roberto doesn’t show. But all is not lost. Alejandro, a silver-tongued Latin loverboy wrapped in an expensive suit, volunteers to keep her company for the evening. He says all the right—and deliciously wrong—things, leaving Sandi no choice but to see him again…and again and again.
One by one, Alejandro strips away her inhibitions, pushing her to act out her darkest fantasies, desires so private she’s never mentioned them to anyone, not even her husband. Blindfolds, bondage with silk ropes, sex on the roof—nothing is off limits. But everything is not as it seems. The game’s afoot—a love game—rekindling the scorching-hot passion in Sandi and Roberto’s marriage.
Line: Branded
Series: None
Book Length: Short Novel
Book Type: eBook
Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publishing
ISBN: 9781419930829
MSRP/List Price: $10.40
Our Cover Price: $5.20
Sloane Taylor is another author friend who really gets things done. She'll be here on Monday to talk about what's new with her but in the meantime, I'm sharing one of my Sloane Taylor favorites:
Synopsis:
Determined to prove herself and shed her party girl image, Donatienne Dubois pins her hopes on the exclusive cooking school in Nice, France. One by one her expectations are shattered by a foul-mouthed parrot, a bogus Michelin chef, and a headmistress with a heart of tungsten steel. Her lifesaver is a bad boy hunk too hot not to handle.
Sebastien Reinard is incognito, hating every minute. To pose as a student while protecting a rich wild child is his version of hell, until he partners with the slice of Crème Brule good enough to eat.
Class takes on a whole new meaning as Doni and Sebastien heat up the kitchen when they discover honey has better uses than sweetening tea.
Read an excerpt of French Tart here: www.aspenmountainpress.com
Speaking of favorites, Keta Diablo's Where the Rain is Made is gaining a lot of attention. I wanted to post something for Keta as well since she was kind enough to post about Steam Toys over at: http://quackersandtease.blogspot.com.
A decadent-looking savage has captured Francesca DuVall and her brother, Marsh. Now she must spend every waking moment planning an escape from the camp of the brutal savages. What she doesn't count on is the powerful draw of desire interfering with her scheme.
Ethan Gray is a curator at a national museum in Washington, D.C. . . . most of the time. But when he travels through time to help his beloved People, he becomes Meko, leader of the most revered and feared tribe of the plains, the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers.
Their worlds are decades apart, yet Meko can’t resist the dark beauty he kidnapped during a raid. He has many battles to fight, but none more crucial than capturing Cesca’s heart forever.
Genre: Native American romance, Shapeshifter, Time travel, Historical
Thanks again to those of you who blogged with me today. Be sure to visit the blogs above and leave a comment. Also, for those of you who haven't received your prizes yet from our Christmas blog tour and chats, the prizes are on the way. If you contacted me after December 24th, delivery was delayed. Your gifts are on the way!
Love and hugs,
Destiny Blaine
