Saskia Walker's Blog, page 140

A taster from THE LIBERTINE...

I'm gradually crawling back to the real world, with the jet lag on the run. I've almost got the upper hand on the post-convention-lurgi too. The jet lag was particularly tenacious this time around. It took me all 6 days to pull myself anywhere near Central Standard Time in the US. Then I came home... It took over a week to reverse the process and make up for the entire missed night sleep on the return journey. What can I say, my body likes routine.

So I'm not coughing as much and I was finally able to work again today. I'm making slow progress, but it's great to be back working on THE JEZEBEL.

When I visited Good Reads I noticed that a few readers have already marked THE LIBERTINE to read and that made my day! That book is with my editor now, and I should have her feedback any day. Meanwhile I've put the (unedited) opening scene up on Good Reads to give a taster of what is to come from book two, Lennox Taskill's story.

If you'd like to take a look, go here!

Reading recs

*Cough* Still sick here, alas. :( Poking my head up to share the awesome books that are keeping me from going completely insane at the mo. (I *so* do not want to be ill right now, it's driving me up the wall!) Thank goodness for great reading, and these two are riveting. Check 'em out, these are red hot reads that you won't want to put down!

ANYTHING BUT VANILLA by Madelynne Ellis

One Girl, Two Guys, No Strings

Kara North is on the run. Fleeing from her controlling fiancé and a wedding she never wanted, she accepts the chance offer of refuge on wild, rocky Liddell Island, where she soon catches the eye of the island’s owner, erotic photographer Ric Liddell. Wickedly sexy by day and just plain wicked by night, Ric rules his domain like a feudal lord. But pleasure comes in more than one flavour when Zachary Blackwater, the charming ice-cream vendor also takes an interest, and wants more than just a tumble in the surf. Zach offers her warmth that she never felt from her ex, and soon it’s not just the ice cream that’s melting. When Kara learns that the two men have been unlikely lovers for years, she becomes obsessed with the idea of a threesome. Zach is reluctant, until he sees the dynamic effect Kara has on Ric’s emotions. She might be the key to finally capturing Ric’s heart. Read more here.

BARED TO YOU by Sylvia Day

Our journey began in fire...


Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness—beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily...

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds... and desires.

The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...Read more here

RT Booklovers Convention 2012

Here are some of my photos from the RT convention. The event was so hectic that I often forgot to take pictures, but these will give you a little flavour of the event and the venue. I also want to blog about two of the panels I attended that were a huge inspiration, WRITING STEAMPUNK, and URBAN FANTASY: KICK ASS HEROINES. It'll be a few days before I get to those as I'm still in recovery here, but I will get to them within a week or so. Meanwhile, some piccies!

First up, the card key for the rooms, sponsored by Sabrina Jeffries. Such a great idea, and we got to keep them as a souvenir.


My room at Hyatt O' Hare. A real sanctuary I have to say.


With a place to work too.


This amused me no end, TV screens embedded in the mirrors of the ladies.


All registered!


And ready for business.


With long time online pal, talented superstar Sylvia Day, at the Kensington Mixer.


With the lovely and prolific Cynthia Eden, who I've known since we were published at Red Sage together.


Here I am on the Total-E-Bound stand with publisher Claire Siemaszkiewicz.


With Claire and Heidi from Total-E-Bound.


All ready to go to the Total-E-Bound dinner party.


These are the author gifts we got to take home from the TEB dinner party. I forgot my camera but lots of photos were taken at this event by other people.


And talking of bags.. here is the convention bag (sponsored by Sylvia Day and Shayla Black) and my goth corset bag, which was much admired and asked about during the event. (In fact if I was as popular as my bag, I'd be a bestseller. ;o)


Here I am all ready for the Flapper party, wearing the lovely headress my buddy Portia Da Costa got me to take to the convention.


The Steampunk gaslight gathering was one of the best dressed events!


Loved every moment of this event.


We were even treated to mancandy of the steampunk variety. :)


And I won a prize! A beautiful hair slide, hand made and donated by author Deborah Schneider, along with two of her books. Such a treat!


This is Mindy, who won the Steampunk costume prize. Fabulous outfit, and such attention to detail!


And here I am, all steampunked. Heehee!


One of my highlights was attending a panel that included Charlaine Harris. Total fangirl moment! Here she is seated behind the table, chatting with fans and other panel members.


At my table for the ebook expo signing event. Got to meet so many readers at this event, it was amazing!


With table buddy and long time online pal, the awesome Shiloh Walker.


This is taken at the big Harlequin party on my last night.


The rose centerpieces at the Harlequin party.


And no trip to Chicago would be complete without a photo of the infamous automatic seat covers at the airport loos. We're in the future already!

Hi honeys, I'm home.

I'm back from the RT Booklovers Convention and I'm currently in recovery. :) Between jet lag and laryngitis and general exhaustion after such a hectic few days, it's going to take me a wee while to pull back to normal. I'll get my photos and notes up as soon as possible!

Kindle freebie: FORBIDDEN

While I'm away at the RT Booklovers convention FORBIDDEN will be available as a free download for Kindle readers, so if you haven't already read this one now's your chance to do so!

Emmanuelle Forsythe is the daughter of a lord, but she's embarking on a secret, forbidden affair with her father's estate manager, Jacob Finch. Jacob is as much a slave to their mutual desire as she is, even though he has been warned off.

On the night of her twenty-first birthday party, while the banker who her parents want her to marry is ensconced with her father, Emmanuelle defies her family's expectations by escaping to make love with Jacob in the gardens. Her behavior is decadent and passionate, a brief taste of something magical that she believes she can never truly own. But Jacob wants more than one night and asks her to keep seeing him, whatever the consequences.

13,000 words in length, contemporary erotic romance.

Please note: this short story contains frank language and graphic m/f sex scenes.

Available for 5 days from 11th April. Enjoy!
Kindle US
Kindle UK

RT Magazine Booklovers Convention in Chicago, here I come!

Right folks, it's almost time for the RT Magazine Booklovers Convention. I'm off on my big adventure! I'll be staying at Manchester airport overnight tonight and flying out to Chicago on Monday.

I'll try to tweet as much as possible while I'm at the convention, and if there's time I'll upload photos here, even if I have to annotate them after the event. I'll do a big recap of my adventure when I get home.

If you're going to be at the event please come over and say hi! This event is all about me meeting as many fellow authors and booklovers as I can manage (breaking with the lone writer day-to-day scenario. ;-)

Specific places and times to find me:

WEDNESDAY: (April 11th, between 4.30 and 5.15 pm ish) I'll be on the Total-E-Bound stand at Club RT. I'll have a bag of freebies to give away, so please come by and meet me.

THURSDAY: E-Expo And Graphic Novel Book Fair. (April 12th from 4 - 6 pm) Meet more than 125 e-book authors and dozens of graphic novel authors. Get autographs, chat with some of your favorite writers and graphic novel illustrators and more.Call by and say hi!

SATURDAY: Harlequin's Night of the Stars (April 14th 9-Midnight) Harlequin invites you to join the stars of romance for an evening of glamour at the 2012 RT Booklovers Convention.

I'm also attending various other parties, panels, and events.

Safe journey to all those traveling to the event!

Lovely review for FAYE'S SPIRIT

The first review for FAYE'S SPIRIT is in and it's a lovely one. Yay, and phew! :-) Lucy Felthouse reviewed it for Blog Critics. Here's what she had to say:

This was another absolute gem from Saskia Walker. From the very beginning I found it engaging, and was just as interested in the storyline as the sex (and boy is it hot!). I enjoyed the interaction between the characters and found it believable and fun, and incredibly erotic. Ms. Walker has created a brilliant story; well-written, interesting, emotional at times, and a real page-turner. You don't necessarily need to have read the other two titles (Monica's Secret and Holly's Intuition) to read this book, but I'd heartily recommend all three, with this saucy little number being my particular favourite. Faye is a lucky, lucky girl... Read full review here.

Check out IN THE FLESH

My good friend, Portia da Costa, has a big, juicy, erotic historical novel length book out now for your reading delectation! This one is a real treat. Check out the details:

"Society already believes she's a scarlet woman... why not become one?"

Posing nude to please her now ex-fiancé perhaps wasn't the most prudent idea Beatrice Weatherly has ever had. With the photographs scrutinized up and down society and her brother running them into debt, Beatrice's hopes of ever making a respectable marriage are dashed.

After one glance at Beatrice's infamous racy cabinet cards, wealthy, powerful Edmund Ellsworth Ritchie is soon obsessed with Beatrice's beautiful face and body. His indecent proposal--one month of hedonistic servitude in exchange for enough money to pay her brother's debts--is one she can hardly refuse.

Determined not to let the rogue best her, Beatrice sets out for the infamous House of Madame Chamfleur to learn how to appease Ritchie's well-known sensual appetite. Soon the couple is playing out exquisite fantasies...and feeling emotion that goes deeper than flesh. But Ritchie harbors a shocking secret, and Beatrice must decide if she's prepared to give up everything for a man who can offer her nothing, but who's come to mean the very world to her.

Read an excerpt and find buy links here.

Now available in print: FAYE'S SPIRIT

Today is print publication day for FAYE'S SPIRIT! This book is now available through Total-E-Bound and will soon be listed on Amazon.com and Amazon UK.

Book three in the Erogenous Zones Series

One outrageous weekend with two men, that's what Faye Evans dreams of, but when she meets Jai and Garth-and their live-in ghost-she gets much more than she bargained for.

Faye Evans is a woman on a mission. Both her older sisters have had ménage à trois relationships and now Faye too harbours a desire to sample the pleasures of two men, if only for a single wild weekend. The opportunity arises when architect Garth Connor calls her in to investigate the ghostly presence in his business premises. Both Garth and his business partner, Jai Nilson, are gorgeous hunks, and Faye can't help being attracted to them.

Garth and Jai are friends and colleagues but their relationship is competitive. When the mischievous ghost medium walks into their life and shows interests in them both, the edge between them sharpens. While Jai often walks on the wild side, Garth has never shared a woman before, but his desire for Faye makes him rise to the challenge. Especially when Jai quickly picks up on Faye's secret wishes and pushes things along, orchestrating their interactions until the simmering eroticism between them demands hardcore action.

But Faye's fling isn't as straightforward as she'd anticipated. She soon worries that she's endangered Garth and Jai's friendship by getting involved, and even more so when the shadow of a secret, long held grudge between the two men falls over their threesome and their growing affection. To top it all, dealing with the resident ghost only adds to the emotional entanglement, making Faye feel she wants to end it and run. But are Garth and Jai about to let her get away?

Call for short stories

Editor Kristina Wright has a new call out for short stories. If you're an erotic romance writer, check it out!

Call for submissions.