Tori Ross's Blog, page 12

Contact High First Two Episodes

My new project, Contact High, is on Kindle Vella. I’ve loaded 6 episodes and will continue loading through the spring. (Twice a week unless I’m traveling.) Don’t like Kindle Vella? It will be a book this summer.

Here’s the link to the Vella. The first three episodes are always free. Per terms of service, I can post a sample of up to 5k words, so I’m posting the first 2 episodes. (They’re free anyway and under 5k words.)

Blurb:

Weed is legal!

Lorelei Rogers has always excelled at baking, so business booms when she starts a marijuana edible food truck and takes it to concerts and private parties, serving brownies and fudge to the good patrons.

Liam Lane, a drug task force officer for the county, hates marijuana. He’s peeved that he can’t crack down on weed and sets out to make Lorelei’s life as miserable as possible, hoping she’ll quit the business.

Too bad he’s also falling for her like a baked college boy with the munchies.

TWs- cancer, drug use, spanking

Episode 1

Lorelei

“What’s in it?” the older woman at the window asks, pushing her glasses back onto her long nose and simultaneously looking at the brownie like it’s an insect to be squashed. She looks about sixty, and I bet she’s never purchased a weed brownie from a food truck before. She looks like she’s never had a weed brownie at all.

“The strain is called Indica, and it relaxes you. Mellows you out. Perfect for a jazz concert, wouldn’t you say?” I nod toward the gate entrance to the outdoor concert arena.

People have been covertly smoking joints in the lawn seats here for decades. They’ve used covert ways of getting past security, shoving joints into their shoes and blowing the smoke through blowtubes made of toilet paper rolls and dryer sheets.

But it’s legal now.

The good citizens of Missouri voted to legalize marijuana under three ounces and decriminalize possession charges last year. As soon as the permit process opened, I applied for my cultivation and seller permit. While other sellers flocked to the shop strategy at the borders of surrounding states, I went for something a little more niche. I now have my own food truck that specializes in edibles and caters to event goers, complete with my own patented cannabutter with a few secret infusion extras. Depending on what I’m baking with it, the butter can also have tea, coffee, cardamon, and cinnamon infused with it. Mostly cinnamon. In fact, my most popular cannabutter is simply butter, marijuana, and cinnamon. But people marvel at it like I invented the light bulb.

There are still rules, permits, red tape to jump over, and hoops to dodge, but it can be consumed on private property. Thankfully, the concert arena owner is weed friendly, and the land is privately owned. The owner, Buddy Wilkens, was more than happy to let me park my food truck, Bliss Baked Goods, on a small patch of grass between the entrance and parking lot.

“If this were a Metallica concert, there’d be Sativa in it. I have to know my customers.” I chuckle at my own joke and stiffen when the lady doesn’t.

I guess she’s that kind of customer. Too bad she can’t report me to the police any longer, and I smile with the knowledge. Then again, she’s probably here to hold up the line. I get those every now and then. People who hate marijuana and want to keep people from buying it any way they can.

“Can I help you?” I ask the next customer in line, a younger bald man with a pierced nose. My kind of person.

I finger my own nose stud, remembering the terrible infection I got. I thought it would make me look edgy for the customers when I started selling a few months back, even though you have to be close to see it since it’s so small. Kailee, my employee that helps on the weekends and substitute teaches during the day, did it herself.

Don’t let an untrained person pierce your nose. Lesson learned.

I catch a peek of Kailee out of the corner of my eye as she works at the back of the truck, stirring the fudge ingredients and donning an oven mitt before taking a tray of cookies from the truck oven.

“Yeah, I’ll take a brownie and one of the mint cupcakes,” the man says. “Do you have any vanilla cupcakes?”

Amateur. My shoulders slouch, disappointed that I still get asked about vanilla baked goods, but I still smile. I never miss an opportunity to educate about edibles. “Actually, there’s a reason that people bake marijuana into things like chocolate or brownies,” I say, shrugging as the older woman stomps off. The man steps closer, his eyebrows raised like we’re in a chemistry lab and I’m explaining something cool.

We kind of are. I mean, I always loved Breaking Bad, but making my own cannabutter for baked goods took some trial and error, and I ruined more than a couple slow cookers in the process. The recipes took months to be tweaked into something that tasted good and got people high.

“The key is saturated butter,” I say, grabbing a stick of the butter from the mini fridge next to the register. “Cannabutter. You can’t just sprinkle weed into a batter. You have to infuse the butter by melting it with leaves, removing the leaves, and letting the butter solidify again. When the butter is infused, it’s greenish, sometimes darker green. It really doesn’t work well in white baked goods. I mean, you can have it in vanilla, and it tastes good. People just don’t like eating green-tinged baked goods,” I explain, waffling my head side-to-side. “Well, unless it’s St. Patrick’s Day.”

“Whoa. So cool. Did you figure that out yourself?”

I chuckle. “No. Some dude taught me how to do it in college. This is how it’s been done for decades, my friend. I grow my own plants and infuse my own butter that I use in the truck. You can go to my website and buy your own to use at home.”

He gets his phone out and takes a picture of the side of my truck with my website information under the truck name, and I hand him an environmentally friendly paper bag with his pastries, wrapped in their wrappers to show what strain it is as required by law. “Enjoy the show.”

He waves, and the next person approaches. A fifty-something woman with purple hair adjusts noise-canceling headphones over her ears and stands on her tiptoes to look at my menu. “So fucking cool,” she mumbles. “Do you only do this for concerts?” she asks, her eyes moving to the case containing the wrapped peanut butter fudge and the case of chocolate chunk cookies.

“I do birthday parties.” I lean over the ledge and hand her my business card.

“Shut the front fucking door,” she says, looking at it.

“The only rule is that the birthday has to be on private property. It can’t be a park or something. I usually back the truck into a driveway.”

“Awesome. I’ll take two,” she says, nodding to the case with the fudge squares.

Customers come and go over the next hour as they purchase their edibles before the show starts. I run out of business cards and make a mental note to order more. Even better, I run out of most pastries. Kailee checks the fridge and tsks. “We’re out of everything except for three mint chocolate cupcakes. Want to have a good time?” she asks, waggling your eyebrows. We’re not above eating a leftover pastry at the end of the night.

“That still leaves one.”

“I’ll take it,” a voice says from the window.

Episode 2

Lorelei

Turning around, my insides freeze. I usually can’t see people if I’m not right at the window, but I can see his head and shoulders. Either he’s incredibly tall, or he’s on a step stool. He’s wearing aviators like he’s a pilot. No, police officer. He reeks of cop, but fuck me, he’s hot as hell.

“Can I help you?” I smile, sauntering to the window.

He returns the smile, but I can spot a fake smile a mile away. “What do we have here?” he asks, nodding to the lone cupcake I’m holding in my hand. “I couldn’t help but overhear you wanting to have some leftovers. It’s illegal to imbibe in marijuana and drive.”

“We usually wait until we get home before we eat the leftovers, mister…”

“Lane. Officer Lane. Drug task force.” His smile disappears from his face, and I miss it.

His full, bowed lips settle into a straight line that doesn’t suit him. He runs his hands over the stubble coating his cheeks, but he doesn’t touch the wavy hair on his head. Aren’t cops supposed to have buzz cuts? His dark brown hair curls at the ends just over his ears, and I lament that he doesn’t touch it. I’d like to know how it waves when he’s frustrated.

“Would you like the last one, Officer Lane?” I say, holding up the cupcake inside its plastic container with the indica sticker on it and the date it was made. “If it’s your birthday, I can put a candle on it.”

Shit. Did I just bat my eyelashes when I said that? I blink again, hoping to pass off that I have something stuck in my long, fake eyelashes so he won’t know I’m thinking about how I’d like to undo his pants and check out his night stick.

I lean against the metal window frame and look down. Yep, totally sexy. Tight-fitting dark jeans and a simple black t-shirt that stretches across those sexy shoulders. His badge sits in his waistband, and he pushes his sunglasses up his nose with his middle finger.

I sigh and hold out the decorative paper plate holding the cupcake and smile. “Be cool. Live a little,” I whisper, mentally acknowledging that I sound like the stereotypical drug pusher that jumps out at middle schoolers from behind a tree.

“I prefer not to. I just saw this while I was driving by and had to give it a look. I assume you have all the proper permits and licenses?” he asks, patting the side of the truck like he’s taking it for a test drive.

“Of course.”

Kailee slides up to my side and looks down at him. “Damn,” she whispers under her breath. “Is he going to handcuff you? If not, can he cuff me?” I step on her foot, and she grunts. “I’m just saying,” she whispers before walking away.

“That’s disgusting,” he says, ignoring Kailee and nodding at the gorgeous cupcake in front of him.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s drugs. I hate drugs. I hate people that push drugs.”

My face reddens, and my nostrils flare. “Officer Lane, do you drink beer?”

He scoffs and puts his hands on his hips. “Sure.”

“Technically, alcohol is a drug. So is a bottle of cold medicine. It’s in the usage.” I tilt my head and put on my most condescending snarl. “Whether you like it or not, the voters of this state legalized marijuana for recreational use on private property and with the proper packaging. I park on private property and have all appropriate seller licenses. I’ve paid my fees to the state, I don’t drive while eating my own product, sell only to people before the show, check ID, and always have under three ounces on the truck. I even have a transportation license,” I say, tapping the framed piece of paper behind my Square reader. “Regarding the three ounces, in case you didn’t know, three ounces is actually a fuck ton of weed and even less when we’re talking cannabutter. If you have a problem with any of this, you can take it up with all 1,089,326 citizens that voted to legitimize this business.”

He backs away from the order area and looks at the side of my truck, then back to me. Fuck, I’d love to see what color his eyes are under those aviators. I bet they’re blue. No. Probably green. To keep from thinking about his eyes, I push the cupcake to him. “Here. On the house.”

“I’m going to take this to the office and make sure it’s just THC in there. Are you adding any other drugs to it?”

Laughter bubbles from chest. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

“I’m an officer of the law, ma’am. I expect you to be respectful when you answer my questions.”

“Well, Officer Lane, if I’m being questioned about illegal activity, I’d be happy to answer your questions with an attorney present. As I am operating on private property in a perfectly legal capacity, I’ll answer any harassing questions the way I please.”

He pulls his phone out and takes a picture of the truck, including my website information. Normally, I’d be happy someone was interested, but my gut tells me I haven’t heard the last of him.

“I’ll be watching you,” he says, pointing his finger at me. “This is wrong, immoral, and I’ll make sure you toe the law.”

He turns and walks away, my cupcake in his hand like it’s a dead animal he’s trying not to touch. He takes long strides away from the truck, and I watch his chiseled ass muscles clench as he walks. My mouth feels like cotton, but I clear my throat and try to think of something witty to put him in his place.

“I do birthday parties!”

January News and Updates

I hope everyone is having a lovely start to the new year. Anyone doing the 2023 Goodreads challenge? I originally set mine for 70 and then changed it to 100. That may be pushing it, but I like poetry and erotic shorts, so those may get me there. Comment below if you’re doing the challenge and what number you chose.

What’s going on?

The Cuffing Season Contract is available TODAY! Click on the picture below to grab it. It’s available with your Kindle Unlimited subscription and will be the pre-order price for a week. After that, it’ll be regular price, so grab it for 99 cents while you can!

Want to win a copy on Goodreads? Click here to be taken to the Goodreads giveaway for this book. It runs until 1/31.

Pre-order Available:

Click on the pic below to order The Flower Festival Fling. It’s been done since summer, so I can’t wait for you to read it! I almost released this early because I just couldn’t wait to get it into the world. It’s also 99 in pre-order and will be in Kindle Unlimited. It’s such a cute read for spring/Easter, and I enjoyed writing every word of it.

What I’ve been reading:

ARCS. Tons of ARCS. (Advanced Reader Copies) Here are a few of the ones I’ve enjoyed the most. Click on the pics below to be taken to their Amazon pages.

Always five stars for Evie, but Musical Games was absolutely captivating. I loved every second of reading it, and it’s a wonderful capstone to the series. If you haven’t read the series, I highly suggest it. Or, if you’re one of those people that waits to read a series until it’s done…it’s done. Click on the picture below or click here to pre-order.

I’ve been asked to read and review erotica for the last few months and have been putting it off because…well, I get tired of erotica since I write it under a pen name. Sometimes, I just need to step away. But I’m going to try to read more erotica in the next year. If nothing else, authors improve by reading, and I can always improve my pen name craft.

Christian Pan’s City of Desire is about 100 pages. These shorts were brilliant, and it was refreshing to see a new take on stories with erotic aspects. Usually, shorts of erotic fiction either lack well-drawn sex scenes, OR they lack good story line. Pan managed both well here. Click on picture to read now.

Other Reads to Try:

This next one is an anthology of sports romance shorts. If you like your hockey romance, baseball romance, etc., pick this up. It’s in pre-order and will release in August. Click on the picture to pre-order.

Last but not least, if you like total opposites attract and small-town romance, give this one a whirl. Click on the picture to order.

Free local event coming up:

Come see me and other local writers at Writers of the Riverbend.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the year!

What’s Coming in 2023

I hope your New Year’s Eve parties were awesome and your hangovers were short this morning. We didn’t do much, but we did make it over to our friends’ house for a small party…as much as you can party with kids in the house, at least. If you’re STILL hungover, remember that there’s no hangover a breakfast sandwich from McDonalds can’t cure. I prefer the bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, but dealer’s choice. Pro tip- Put the hashbrown on the sandwich.

My year starts off with two back-to-back releases. One of them, The Flower Festival Fling, has been done since last summer, so I’m excited for you to finally read it.

January – The Cuffing Season Contract comes out Jan 17. The pre-order price is 99 cents and will go up to $3.99 a week after release, so make sure you grab it for the sale price or on KU!

February – The Flower Festival Fling releases Feb. 28. Also in KU and also for 99 cents at first. Regular price will be $2.99, so grab it at the pre-order price. This is a nice spring read if you need something quick. This is a novella and eBook only.

Sometime This Spring – You’ll get book 4 of The Traveling Calvert Sisters here. More details to come.

August or September – I’m currently working on a Kindle Vella that will be converted into a book about this time. Stay tuned for Kindle Vella episode drops sometime around the end of February/early March, but the book will be out late summer. More details to come. I’m about 10k words into this, but I’m keeping it close to my chest until the Vella episodes drop.

October or November – I have the most magical Christmas story coming to you for 2023. I won’t give away the title, but it’s something totally irreverent and is probably the most envelope-pushing thing I’ve written NOT under an erotica pen name. I’ll be on the Wednesday Coffee Clutching show with CJ Warrant and Rochelle Bradley in November to talk about it. Until then, I’m keeping this one totally under wraps. It’s titled, outlined, and I have the blurb drafted in Amazon. Length will depend on how much I enjoy writing this one, but I’m thinking it will be full-length.

Events:

Writers of the Riverbend is a free event. All other events and signings are ticketed. Check the event web pages for ticket information.

I hope everyone has an amazing new year, and I hope to see you if you’re local to events.

2023 Event Information!

That’s right, Calvert fans. I’ll be in the girls’ hometown of Alton, IL on Feb. 4 with a ton of other authors from the bi-state area at Maeva’s Cafe. Come see me. I’m not bringing the entire catalog because this is a small event. But I’ll have my paperback Calverts and Rocks: The Complete Series (that’s also inspired by an area town) paperbacks with me. However, if you’ll be there and know you want something, DM me on Instagram or comment, and I’ll make sure I take it for you.

I have two visits to Kansas City planned this year. If you’re in the area, come meet me on one of those dates. If you’re at Flirty in Kansas City, pick up a paperback of the event anthology. My short, Hot Sauce Blues, will be in it. It is an event only paperback. Tickets on sale.

Storybound fest should be pretty cool and will be my first panel appearance. I have no idea what that panel appearance will surround at this point, but I’ll update my blog and newsletter when I know. Tickets are on sale for this event here.

Books by the Arch!!! Come see me and a few of my author friends like Kelly Kay, Melanie Jayne, Ava Cuvay, and Cindy Tanner. It’s going to be a party in the lou. Tickets are on sale, but every author has two VIP tickets to give away, and I’ll do a giveaway for them closer to the event! Just want to get the darn tickets? Click here.

I hope to see anyone that can stop by. Bring your already owned paperbacks, and I’ll sign them!

Fun Christmas Book Season!

Christmas on the Cruise Ship is out and available for 99 cents until Christmas. Buy at that price before it goes to its regular price of $2.99! It’s also available in Kindle Unlimited!!

Click on the picture below to grab it. It will be available on all major retailers with the rest of the series in Feb.

In an attempt to tickle everyone’s tinsel, I’ve teamed up with a literal swarm of other authors for a group Christmas promotion. Click here or on the picture below for more ideas and to be taken to a Bookfunnel landing page! Click on the book you’re interested in, and you’ll be taken to a page with all available retailers. Christmas on the Cruise Ship is on the list!

If none of these jingle your bells, check below for more options. Heat levels vary, and these are written by my friends. Check them out…because they’re amazing! Click on the pictures to be taken to the book on Amazon.

Highly recommended! (only 99 cents!!!):

Romantic comedy (All of Evie’s books are five stars for me…):

Full-length holiday romance:

Christmas Novella:

Lastly, if you live in the US and need a stocking stuffer, message me at smuttybooklady@gmail.com to get signed and shipped paperback copies. Christmas on the Cruise Ship is not yet available in paperback because my designer is in Ukraine, and she’s had spotty internet and technical issues. I’m still waiting on the wrap, but I hope she’s safe. I’ll update social media as soon as I have it. I have TONS of copies of Rocks and Winning the Witch! Help me clear out my stock!!! I take PayPal, but I prefer Venmo.

Happy Holiday Reading! I hope you enjoy the holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate. Comment below on what you’re reading this month, and I hope you watch lots of holiday movies and eat loads of pie.

Free Audio Codes

Rocks is now available in audio on Audible! Read by Allie Anthony and written by me, you get all 3 Rocks shorts (Cherry Burn, Blue Balls, and Pistol Fire.)

I’ll send out download codes to two lucky winners that will be chosen at random by a randomizer app.

How to enter: Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/hWqPZv or subscribe to my blog at http://www.smuttybooklady.com. All current subscribers to my newsletter and blog are automatically entered. If I contact you and you aren’t interested because you don’t like audio, that’s cool. Just let me know, and I’ll move to the next winner.

Rules: No purchase necessary and no review required. International giveaway since the codes will work for anyone in the world. This giveaway is not affiliated with any social media platform and is run entirely by the author. All rights reserved. Everyone welcome. Can unsubscribe from newsletter or blog at any time. Winners will be contacted via email address they provide by November 10, 2022.

Embarrassing Mistakes

It started out fine. In fact, the morning started out like any other morning. I sat down with my cup of coffee (which is about 3 cups with my giant mug.) I checked my Amazon stats and sighed, lamenting how hard it actually is being an indie author and seeing low romance sales but plenty of erotica reads and sales. Then, I flipped over to my email.

There it was. Another BookSprout review notification for Pistol Fire.

I got excited. It was getting great reviews. I happily opened it and saw another 5-star rating.

But this one was different. This one had a private message from an ARC reader named Tima (look for that name in Disco Bar as thanks to her.) It went something like this:

Tori, I think you mean “countenance” instead of “continence.”

That’s right. I had written the words “His continence was calm, soothing even.”

Now, I was writing about a 50-something man. His continence may have been soothing, and that may have been impressive to my main female character, Libby, who is in her mid-40s. As a woman in my mid-40s, I’d take a man with a job, all his teeth, and good continence any day.

However, I meant countenance. I even typed that out. But here’s what probably happened…

I spelled it wrong, and my system autocorrected it to something I did not intend.I read my work back, and the read back was probably close enough that I didn’t notice. Or, I was dealing with a kid asking for tacos or both kids fighting and wasn’t listening as well as I should have been. I ran it through Grammarly. Spoiler alert. Grammarly catches nothing but what I don’t want it to catch.I sent it to my proofreader, and she also saw what we want to see when reading.

But here’s the thing…It was so funny, I almost left it in. I almost left it in and gave a big middle finger to the world and was prepared to say that I meant what I wrote. Yes, world, Brock has soothing continence, and it’s sexy as hell when a man can hold his shit together…literally. It’s a Depends commercial waiting to happen.

By the way, this is my favorite meme…ever. It pretty much works with anything I fuck up in my life.

But wait, there’s more.

Jump to October 2nd. Winning the Witch had been out a day, and I had a Bookbub New Release feature getting ready to run on the 4th. Thank fuck for the reviewer named Jenn (look for that name in Disco Bar in May) who pointed out that I look like an idiot (not her actual words) for not knowing how to spell koi.

At first, I was like, “I know how to fucking spell koi. What the hell?”

When I pulled up my manuscript, I did not laugh this time. There it was throughout…coy. Fucking coy. I wasn’t talking about being coy. I was talking about a fucking koi pond.

Here’s what I surmise happened there.

I had written so much over the summer, I was trying to save my shoulder when I sat down and did Winning the Witch. Many of you know that I had extensive physical therapy on my shoulder for semi-frozen shoulder last year. Pain was settling in again because I sat at my desk and typed straight for 4 months. I did speech to text for a good portion of this book. Whenever I would mean koi, the system typed it as coy. Read back didn’t catch it because it sounds the same. I blame my crotch goblins again.I really don’t know why I even fuck with Grammarly before sending it to proofread. It’s honestly useless. Proofreader missed, probably reading with context over that part.

Now, I’m not mad at my proofreader. Katee Robert tweeted about this very shit a few weeks ago. Apparently, someone found a mistake in one of her books and fileted her over it, saying it was unprofessional.

Robert’s response-She literally has 12 people look at her stuff before it’s released, whether it be self-published or at a traditional house. They still miss stuff.

Or something to that effect.

Basically…she’s Katee Robert FFS.

Ya’ll we miss stuff. Proofreaders and editors miss stuff. As someone certified to teach English, I know there is an actual thing in our brain where we look at the first letters of a word, maybe glance at a couple more letters, and assume the rest of the word, especially given the context. Our brain works with context clues a lot when reading. (I assume that happened with the countenance/continence issue as well as koi/coy. Our brains hear the word and hear it in context and keep going.)

The big five houses miss stuff, and they have professional line and content editors and much more money for beta readers and proofreaders than any indie author has in the bank. Content editing can run thousands of dollars, and indies have to foot their own bill for that. I have an English teaching certification, audio read back after every chapter, my own read through and editing, Grammarly, a former English professor that now proofreads for local authors in her retirement, and a few regular first readers that I can count on to tell me when I do dumb things. That’s what I can do right now in my career. I think most readers passed over it too, again using context.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to my ARC readers who have told me when they find stuff. We can’t change things without being told about it from the people with early copies. Because of Jenn, I was able to fix it before I had a big BookBub day. Unfortunately, I’d already done my print run for Witches in Cottleville, so anyone that bought the book there will have coy coy coy. I did tell some buyers about it, and one was like, “So, it’s special first edition?”

Sure, we’ll go with that.

It’s so fucking mortifying that I told my husband I was done writing. I said I would never write another word. I did talk myself off that cliff, but I walked around beating myself up for a good two days, sweating that Amazon would get the updated version approved in time for my promo.

Authors are human. We do stupid things sometimes, especially new indie authors trying to juggle 500 things like cover creation, writing the book, marketing it, and actually having jobs and families. Sometimes, we don’t make sense.

One author told me she loaded the wrong version of a book that was only half of the book. Someone messaged her about it a couple of days after release. Another author loaded the entirely wrong book, and nobody found it for a year.

I haven’t done those things yet, but I can see how it’s easy to do. We’re all human, and we’re all creating for fun and our own sense of creation here.

Thanks for being patient with me.

October Happenings and News

I had an amazing time at the Cottleville, MO “Witches in Cottleville” event. So many people came out and gave my books a shot. A big thanks to my friend, Erin, that came along and helped me set up, break down, stamped the door prize sheet for guests, and watched my booth while I used the bathroom.

I love that I’ve had such a good response to Winning the Witch both online and in person. If you stopped by my booth and tried one of my books, thank you. You made my heart glitter. I also got some newsletter subscribers, and many ladies submitted “name a character” ideas into the bucket.

Name a character winners:

The Cuffing Season Contract – The main male character’s best friend will be named…Gus Thank you to Elizabeth Dulle for the idea.

Disco Bar – The villain of the book will be named…Felix. Thank you to Tracy Huber for the idea.

Here are a couple of pics of the event.

Soooo, let’s get down to it. What deals do I have for you this month?

Smashwords deal for the month – The Caretaker (erotica) eBook is only 99 cents on Smashwords only until October 31. Click here to get the deal. Make sure to utilize the coupon code to the right of your screen. It’s JH47T.

Radish coupons Thirst–

Like reading serials on Radish Fiction? Arson, book 1 of Jensen City Heroes, is always free on Radish and all major retailers. If you want book 2, Thirst, I have a Radish coupon for you. Click here for 5 free episodes.

Special Preorder Prices for Upcoming Books! –

The Cuffing Season Contract – Preorder price for the eBook is $0.99. Price will be $2.99 a month after release, so grab it in preorder here!

Disco Bar – May – Preorder price for the eBook is 99 cents!! It will be $2.99 after the first week of release, so get in on the preorder price here!

Neither book will be in KU, so grab these at pre-order prices.

Catalog News: Winning the Witch is now live and available for $2.99 on Kindle or free to read with your KU subscription!

Loved in Las Vegas will be moving out of KU on 10/22. Grab it before that date if you want to read it in Kindle Unlimited.

Rocks: The Complete Series For this series, the audio book is done! However, I’m still waiting for Audible approval. From what I hear from other authors, they kind of approve it when they feel like it. Watch my blog and social media for updates. It is coming!

Upcoming appearances and interviews:

I’ll be at Flirty in Kansas City on February 18. I’ll have stock of all books, including The Cuffing Season Contract at that time. You can buy tickets on Eventbrite by clicking here. Come see me and get books from my friends EL Koslo, Devin Sloane, Nola Marie, and Sionna Trenz.

I’ll also be on Instagram Live this week with Author Shae Coon. Log on and check it out. We’ll talk about Winning the Witch and Rocks.

Winning the Witch is Live!

Now available here and only on Amazon!

Blurb: Eliza Owl is all about helping her community. When her friend, Lily Jane, talks her into being a prize in the annual children’s hospital date raffle, she worries something will happen at the event that she can’t control. It’s not that she doesn’t like helping her community or children. The raffle is on Halloween, the one day of the year when her witch power is full and things just…happen.

Jake Salt thinks Christmas has come early on Halloween when he finds out he’s holding Eliza’s ticket. He immediately sets out to make their date a perfect night. But dating a witch on Halloween has its downfalls.

August Coupons, Sales, and Free stuff

It’s hard to believe summer is almost over. This is the first summer in a long time that I haven’t gone on a vacation. We went on spring break, so we decided not to travel this summer. I wrote a blog a while back about how much I just want to sit around. I was content to write a lot, play pickleball, and do my walks. Boring, I know. I guess I’ve just reached that age…

Help Needed! – First up, I need a character name. He’s a real bastard, but not a sexy one. This guy is just plum douchey, and I can’t think of a good name. Comment below to send me ideas! You can also submit ideas on Instagram or Facebook on my blog/newsletter post today (8/25) at @authortoriross on either site. Give me your ex-boyfriends’ and crappy bosses’ names! All the douchebags!

NEW!– First up! I wrote a little novella this summer. It’s a spring short, and I had initially shopped this to a traditional publisher to be part of a spring collection they were doing. I was assigned an editor, and she asked for the full manuscript. I got through those doors, at least.

However, they wanted me to change the story before they wrote up a contract. They wanted me to take out words like “dick,” “clit,” and even “wetness” from a sex scene. My other choice was to change the story to be an erotica story if I wanted to leave my “too steamy for contemporary” sex scene in. That would have resulted in me having to re-outline and basically do an entire re-write.

Well, I’ll be damned before I write a book with “penis” or “moist” in it. “Length” can only go so far, and “manhood” has no place in a book set past the 1920s.

So, here it is…in its full DICK glory. It’s currently on Radish Fiction and will be in eBook in February on all major retailers, including Google Play.

Coupon Link – Click here for 5 episodes free on Radish Fiction. (The first three are always free.) It’s also on Kindle Vella. (Amazon recently changed the terms of service so I can have it both places.) If you have coins over there, you can read it there.

Smashwords Coupons for the Month: All Jensen City Heroes books are 25% off at Smashwords until September 1st. Click here to be taken to Thirst. Make sure to use the coupon code on the left of the page. I absolutely love Smashwords. In addition to pushing my stuff out to stores like Barnes and Noble, they have their own online store. They allow authors to issue coupons for their work and have semi-annual sales. (Amazon doesn’t allow us to do that.)

FREE BOOK IN SEPTEMBER– Head Over Heels in Hawaii will be free on Amazon from Sept 9-11. It’s always free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription, but if you don’t have KU and want to read it, it’s here for you on those dates.

Arson is always free on all major retailers. I ran a freebooksy promo in August and had over 4k downloads of Arson, hitting #1 in several categories. Since then, several people have left ratings and purchased the next in series. If you’ve wandered over to my newsletter or blog through that promo, thank you for giving my book a chance.

New Release– Pistol Fire is book three in Rocks. Click on the pic below to buy for 99 cents or read in Kindle Unlimited.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of whatever season your hemisphere is celebrating!