Sommer Marsden's Blog, page 23

A New Reader's Guide to Me

I got another one today. Another what? Another email that said basically "I read your story in ___anthology X___ and really liked it. What book do you recommend I start with from your list?" That's paraphrasing to protect the innocent, but beleive it or not, I get a lot of these emails and I thought...duh. Why not give people and idea of what they'd like depending on...well, what they already like!?

Why I have not thought of this before I do not know. I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times. So here we go:

For the Super Romantical Type Person:

Poster Boy for Average. A lot of my romantics love this book. They also love that it's a no b.s. love story. No bells, or whistles or trickery. Just a love story.

Lost in You . My newest from HarperCollins Mischief Books is a romance story through and through. I was asked to write a romance heavy novel with 'lighter language' and jumped at the chance/challenge. So if some of the racier words put you on edge, you'll like this one. Don't get me wrong, you'll still get heaping spoonfuls of sex...just more delicately worded if you will.

Restricted Release . Not a conventional love story but definitely a highly romantic love story with a twist. Loads of sex, explicit, and all that good stuff but heavy on emotion and the feels. I love this one. Unabashedly.


For the Sex Lover:

The Accidental Cougar . Fun. Not overly complicated. Read in two settings kind of book with lots of sex. Good stuff! I love it. But ya know...I'm biased.


Wanderlust . I put this out myself. It was a novel I happened to write 'live'. A blog post every day for...I have no idea how many days. What it turned into was the longest novel I ever wrote. 88,000 words I think. Road trip, family dysfunction, the bad boy (shorn and growly), the girl who wants to find herself. Bondage and angst and cross country travel, oh my!

Calendar Girl . One girl, twelve months, a new lover each month. I can't even begin to tell you how much I have adored this book from day one. Oh, and let's not forget some drag queens. How can you forget the drag queens?

Sex, Sex, Sex...:

This category is called that because I've actually gotten some reviews that say "Just sex, sex, sex..." Some people meant it as a positive, others not so much. But if that's your thing then...

Boys Next Door . Three men, one woman, maximum passion. 'Nuff said.

Restless Spirit . Three men want her, only one can truly possess her. Again...that sums it up!

Learning to Drown . Two men--brothers--one girl with a need to be dominated. Will she belong to both of them or will one win out over the other? Gasp! I can't wait to find out.




Some Magic with Your Sex:

The paranormal category!

Dirty Magic . Just out (only in paperback) from Ellora's Cave. Contains two favorites. The novel Dirty or Die and the novella Automagically. One's a haunted house, one's sister witches. What's not to love?

Under My Skin . A novella about undying love and ghostly closure.

Crossroads. An extravaganza of demons, shifter and witches, oh my!! Just out from Excessica but originally appeared in Other Magical Creatures.

Quick! Before the Zombies Come!

That's right. I have a zombie trilogy. Don't worry. The people are having the sex, not the undead. The trilogy consists of a lot of drama, killing, danger, weapons and plenty of sex (M/F and M/M and M/F/M/M if you must know). The trilogy is We Kill Dead Things , No Guilt and Lunatic Fringe . (Note: all three are available in a single paperback volume " Zombie Exterminators ")

Then as an extra special bonus there's the dystopian sorta a zombie novel Hollow Men . *Please note that Hollow Men is a stand alone novel. You do not have to read the entire new reality line to understand any of the novels in the line.


M/M Lovers:

My Divination Falls trilogy should wet your whistle. It does fall in the category of paranormal as well. The books are: Lion Hearted , Beast in Me and Kiss Me, You Animal .

My favorite M/M that is not paranormal is Blank . It was written a long time ago but still holds a special place in my heart. Full of fear, anger and ultimately redemption I still love it beyond words.



I think I've covered most of it. If you think of anything I missed shoot me an email. But these are my official recs if you are just starting to read me. And if you're just starting to read me...hey...THANKS!

XOXO
Sommer

Slave Girls Tour: Breathe

For an anxious person, like yours truly, the first thing that is forgotten in an anxiety-inducing situation is the simple act of breathing. I know this for a fact, it’s why I wear a sterling silver bracelet on my left wrist that simply says Breathe. Often for an anxious person, again—such as yours truly, a person can help immensely. Just one person. That certain person. That’s the person who can ‘talk you off the ledge’ so to speak.
 I don’t need to say who my person is, now do I? I didn’t think so.
All of these things were the root of my Slave Girls story Breathe. The erotic element that comingled with the simple concept of breathing and a safe person was, of course, breath play. Some people won’t touch it, so I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the inside of this book. Yes, it can be a risky type of play. However, in a situation with that one person—that right person—it can be perfection. I won’t tell you how I know this, you can just trust me on it if you’d be so kind.
I reread the story to prepare for this post and D.L.’s blog tour. I’ll cop to the fact that a lot of times I only vaguely recognize my own stories. I think my mind, like the minds of so many others I know, can only hold so much information. So if it’s holding the stuff I want to write it often dumps the stuff I’ve already written. When I reread my work so that I could speak about my own story without sounding like a doofus, this stuck out to me. It’s been long enough that this story did not read as mine and I found myself rereading the following section a second time. So I’m posting it for you today. I figured if I read it twice, you might like to read it once…

From Breathe by Sommer Marsden
Nick moves toward me slowly so my eyes have a chance to track every single step he takes. He pushes me back roughly. This is not sweet and tender lovemaking. This is not prom night. This isn’t romance. This is what I need, fucking and writhing and the feel of him deciding when I can draw a big gulp of air and when I can’t.
This is about trust. Utter, blind belief in another person’s ability to dictate what you can and cannot do. This is freedom.
My back hits the bed, my long brown hair fanning out and a bit of it falling forward to cover my eyes. He brushes it away with a firm flick of his hand. He likes to look into my eyes. He likes to watch me watching him, submitting to him.
“Breathe,” he says again.
I take a deep breath and then feel the start of his fingers pressing to my neck, trapping my thumping pulse beneath his thick fingertips.
For more about D.L. King and her amazing Slave Girls and the full lineup go HERE: http://dlkingerotica.blogspot.com/
XOXOSommer

current stuff and upcoming stuff...

Again, I obviously fell off the blogging bandwagon. It's been a while so forgive me for the information dump. It's been a rough week around here, and to be honest, you'll probably being seeing less of me for a bit. Not sure. I guess, just like every day for the last year, we'll take it day by day.

Right! On to the actual stuff. I hope I remember everything, I had a mammogram this morning and apparently if you squish my boobs in a machine I can't remember things. I do, though, remember asking the girl, upon spying the smelling salt thingy taped to the mammogram machine, "So, have you ever had to use that? Has anyone passed out here? Because I doubt they'd fall down. They'd kind of be stuck."

She looked at me like I was nuts but then laughed. She never had, but since I asked she was now curious and planned to ask all the other girls.

Ah, the things writers think of when they have their ta-tas smushed between plastic plates...

Current stuff:

Poster Boy for Average got a really nice 4 star from The Romance Reviews. The reviewer kindly said: "Ms. Marsden demonstrates her adeptness at weaving a tale that is both moving and uniquely satisfying on many, many levels." and more nice things. Go HERE to read the full review.

Also, the always-clever Alison Tyler has had another genius idea. She's come up with the Trollop Erotic Book Awards and she wants YOUR nominations. Check out the whole shebang HERE .

Upcoming Stuff:

This weekend I'll be "attending" the Romance Festival 2014. If you click the poster you'll see where to register and you'll get all the deets. I hope to 'see' you there. Luckily it's virtual so if I'm in sweaty workout gear...no one will know! :)



I will not be attending Smut by the Sea, sadly, but here's more info on that gathering in case you are lucky enough to get to attend. I've been told there's still room and time to register so get your smut on by the sea. What are you waiting for?


Go HERE for more info and to register!

That's it. I hope you have a great week. :)

XOXO
Sommer

Friday Updates...

Two quick things before I take my box of wine and go lie down in the middle of the floor (bad day, LOL). They're good things so I'm going to celebrate them.



First thing:  Crossroads , a paranormal, M/M/F, demon, cursed, witch shifter extravaganza is out from Excessica today (available on Kindle, B&N, ARe etc). It's at the low low rate of $1.99. A hell of a bargain. Hell...*snort*...do you see what I did there?





Second thing: Poster Boy for Average got a 4.5/5 and Top Reviewer Pick from Night Owl Reviews . It's a super lovely review and I'm over the moon about it. I love that the reviewer loved my book. Go see for yourself HERE .


That's it. Have a great weekend. And pass the wine...

XOXO
Sommer

Hi-ho, Hi-ho...

I've got more work to show!


I have no idea where that homage to the seven dwarves came from but hey, there it is.

It wasn't supposed to be until tomorrow but Crossroads is out today on Amazon (other venues to follow tomorrow). My cursed/witch/shifter trifecta novella can be found HERE right now. And more places tomorrow on 5/30.

Woohoo! And of course, bad ass cover by Willsin Rowe. See below for more about Willsin!

XOXO
Sommer

Mixing it up with Willsin Rowe and his bad ass covers...

I wanted to mix things up a little. I have authors on spotlighting their work all the time. And the other day I said to myself, "Self, you should have a cover artist on. And lucky for you, self, you have the best cover artist." And I do! And here he is! I've had the pleasure to work with Willsin Rowe as a writer AND as a cover artist. He's definitely got a lot going on and manages to handle it all brilliantly. Now let's look at some pulse-quickening covers and my probing questions...

*probe probe probe*





If you could create ANY cover what would it be? No holds barred. No client like me saying: “You know I really like minimal…”There really isn’t any one kind I’d most like to create. Mainly I’d love for people to see one (or more) of my covers and feel compelled to investigate that book. Whether that be through crisp simplicity or through magnificent detail...either way is fine by me.
What’s your favorite font? There are only a trillion of them, right? So choose one. ONE.Gah! Yer killin’ me here! Actually, I think Goudy Old Style would be my favourite, if push came to shove. It looks good in a formal setting, but also can work as body text. It’s kinda like the Miss America of fonts! For reference, it’s the font I used as the title on this little number I co-wrote with Katie Salidas.
What’s the weirdest request you’ve ever received?This is not quite what you mean, I suppose, but I did receive some private messages on Yahoo at one point. A saucy young man who took a shine to a cover I’d made, and thought perhaps “Willsin Rowe” was the model on the front of it (a gorgeous blonde wearing almost nothing except handcuffs and a gag). When I pointed out that I was definitely NOT that girl, due to me being a dude, he wanted to know if I took the photos myself. Nope. Stock shots. “Oh...got any you can send me?”
Do you find it harder to do your own covers? If so, why?Absolutely I do. Essentially it comes down to having too much information. Not just about the physicality of the characters, but the events of the stories as well. When a client requests a cover, they usually boil the story down for me into the most important chunks. I have my whole story moonwalking through my mind as I search for models.

What’s your darkest cover?Probably one of the first I ever made. “Pitfalls of Desire: Winston” by Jennifer Campbell. A tale of forced feminization and punishment.
Your most whimsical?It’d be hard to go past Selena Kitt’s “Tickled Pink” for that one. Mmm...underwear...
The most bad ass?I think Jason Halstead’s “Devil’s Icebox” would be a tough one to beat in the realm of bad-assery.
How did you get into covers in the first place?But I want to answer that previous—

No you don’t. How did you get into covers in the first place?It was almost by default, really. My main publisher, Excessica, put around an email asking if any authors had the skills to work on covers. At that point (2009) I’d been working professionally with Photoshop and Illustrator for 15 years, so I tentatively offered my services. It seemed I had a little bit of what it took, because I’m still doing it now, nearly 5 years later!


Any big projects/plans coming up?I have stories coming out soon in a couple of anthologies, for which I’m also making cover art. Those will be (or already are!) 3D boxed set covers too. I’ve been pushing the boundaries of 3D covers lately, as well. Things like this, and this, for instance...




Thanks for visiting with us, Willsin and showing us some of your amazing covers! If you look, dear reader, in the sidebar you will see some of my covers done by Willsin. Gritty, Wanderlust, The Accidental Cougar, Crossroads, etc, etc, etc. 
XOXOSommer

Sexy Denial and Dirty Paperbacks and Book Recs, oh my!

Here I am again, a day late and a dollar short. Well, probably more than a dollar if you examined my finances but you know what I mean!

Yesterday was a stop at the amazing Victoria Blisse's blog for my pseudo blog tour for Poster Boy for Average. I talk about how denial can be a lovely thing. That's right. You heard me...

Go HERE to see what the hell I'm talking about.

And...drum roll...yesterday was the release day for Dirty Magic ! My new print book from Ellora's Cave is a compilation of the short novel Dirty or Die and the novella Automagically. It's a whole lot of sexy paranormal sandwiched inside a smoking hot paperback cover. Perfect beach reading if I do say so myself.



Happy Saturday. I'm about to do my ritual Saturday morning errands with girl child and then I think I shall continue reading the great book I started late last night. Maybe I should tell you about my evening reading...

Around 9 I finished Game by Barry Lyga which I highly recommend. The I Hunt Killers series is awesome. Girl child got me hooked. I read the first book ( I Hunt Killers ), waited impatiently for her to finish Game after it arrived in the mail. And upon finishing it I immediately downloaded Lucky Day the ebook just to give me a fix while we wait for book three .

I am saving the ebook for when I start to get twitch. So I started Cradle Lake by Ronald Malfi last night at around 11. So far, I'm digging it. The opening bits are reminiscent of the opening to Pet Sematary to me. (Please, no one correct my spelling. Every time I mention that book in print people try to slyly correct my spelling to Cemetery. So I recommend they check out the book cover . The spelling is supposed to indicate a child's spelling. But somehow no one every notices it's spelled wrong on the book. Just that I spelled it wrong! LOL ;) )

XOXO
Sommer

Grrr....so behind!

I owe a great thanks to CJ Lemire for having me to his blog the other day...Tada! With an excerpt involving nimples (Okay, so it's nipples but that's how my kids once said it...out loud...VERY LOUDLY!...in the grocery store. So they've been nimples forever since.) Go HERE to check it out.

Also, Tada! The Accidental Cougar is out in print, my friends. How awesome is that? Go HERE if you want it on your RL bookshelf.



And...today! Today I am at Angell Brooks' joint as the most recent pseudo blog tour stop. Thanks, as always, to Angell for having me. I can't remember what I'm talking about over there (are you surprised?) but you can go HERE to find out for yourself.

Then someone come tell me...

XOXO
Sommer
p.s. Stay tuned for more updates. And a print book out on Friday. And a new book out on the 30th and...*gasp*.

Two for the price of one! It's Saturday!...

And my Poster Boy for Average tour has two pseudo stops. Okay, they're actual stops. But it sounded better that way.

Stop one was with Lynn Townsend and involves a favorite moment. GO HERE .

Stop two was with Tamsin Flowers. She asked for a naughty excerpt and I delivered. GO HERE .

Thanks to both of these lovelies for having me back. I feel like I should start paying rent on their blogs!

XOXO
Sommer

Back again for the pseudo blog tour for "Poster Boy for Average"

Teresa Noelle Roberts is awesome. She's had me back again to her blog, this time for my almost blog tour for PBFA. Today I have a snippet involving man-chest for your perusal.

"Instead of hitting the dirt in a tangle of jalapenos and tomatoes, she hit a broad-chested man in a flying tackle. He stopped her momentum easily and she got a face full of man-chest."

If you're looking to procrastinate some on this gloomy, rainy Friday (at least it is here) stop by and waste time for a bit.

XOXO
Sommer