Jan Irving's Blog, page 6

Straight, Shifter and Shy Cowboy in print

I think it's good value if you like print. Today Uncommon Cowboys Volume One is out, including Straight, Shifter and Shy Cowboy. Find it here .

Why we need books to make us cry

I visited the lovely Lavinia Lewis' blog today to talk about why we need to cry. Read it here .

Wounded Cowboy out today and spotlight author

I'm the spotlight author at TEB for the month of October. I did an extensive interview and stuffed it with pictures and future and past story information, including my writing spaces. Take a look here .

And Wounded Cowboy is out at last. Luka's story here .

Kari Gregg takes over the blog

I first came across Kari's work when I read Spoils of War. I had never heard of her but the blurb intrigued me. I have a weakness for h/C stories (well, also what I'd call 'gentle BDSM' and master/slave fiction--as long as the cuddling factor is there.) I read I, Omega the week it came out so I think I can rec both these books to you guys. Now Kari's dropped by to talk about writing it.

The Fork in the Road -- or Why I, Omega?

I'll be honest with you. I started writing I, Omega last fall. The earliest create date I have for any of my IO files points to September 11th, 2010...a week before my first book, Lovely Wicked, released. I didn't know if readers would take to Mitch, Liv and Sam in LW. I sure didn't know if readers would go for Micah and Eli in Spoils. All I knew is I had two new characters scrambling inside my head and I had to get them out.

Sometimes, for me, it's like that. Micah's story was. Very much so. I've gone on record before as saying that I wrote Spoils of War in three weeks and that's essentially true. The bones of that story were laid down in three weeks. What I don't generally tell folks is that I then let it sit. I let that story grow and mature. I wrote that one in three weeks one January, you betcha. And I also spent six months adding to, taking from, and developing the story until Spoils was what I knew it could be. THEN, I sent it out.

I did that with IO too. Except worse. I wrote the bones of it last fall while Lovely Wicked and Spoils were releasing. I knew I was on to something. I was completely captivated by the world Gabriel & Cal inhabited. Even when the first calls for sequels for the first two books began rolling in, I couldn't let Gabriel go.

But it wasn't. ready. yet. Nowhere near. Pretentious Kari took the driver's seat and demanded a writerly experiment. How far would the reader let me get away with showing the story rather than telling what was going on? After all, Gabriel didn't know what was happening and he's my POV character. If I added a bit of contradiction -- GLARING bits of contraction, I should say -- would the reader grasp that there was more going on that was immediately discernible to Gabriel? IO's a pervy story. It's hot, smexy fun. I'm not ashamed of that. I own it. Hell, I LOVE it. But I didn't know if readers would be willing to look beyond the smut to another sly story told in subtext. Or if anyone would realize the contradiction I nested inside IO were deliberate -- Easter eggs to cue the reader to think about what was really going on, under the surface of Gabriel's comprehension.

It was a risk. A bold risk. An OMG risk. I'm new. Readers might've assumed those contradictions were accidental (God forbid). Writing the sequels to Lovely Wicked and Spoils of War certainly would've been the safer bet.

Writing IO made me a stronger writer, though. That story challenged me to stretch and grow in my craft in so many ways. As the story evolved, so did I. Plunder (the Spoils of War sequel) will be a MUCH stronger book because I took the other fork in the road and wrote IO first. I'm a better writer for taking that unexpected, much riskier path and the stories I have yet to tell will be richer for it.

So...That's why.



After one mind-shattering night with a stranger at a local leather bar leaves him forever changed, Gabriel lives on the streets as a vagrant to elude the master who hunts him, but the were-shifter is a fierce, stubborn predator who reclaims him soon enough. Gabriel is carried away to the pack's home territory where his instruction on what it means to be the pet of an alpha begins. Gabriel isn't just any pet, though. He is the rarest among their kind: a human omega.

Treasured? Or cursed?

As Gabriel's father, the Distinguished Gentleman from Pennsylvania and stalwart of the conservative party, pushes the considerable resources at his disposal to locate his missing son, Gabriel explores who and what he is under his master's careful protection. Gabriel falls for the shifter who is lover and destroyer, owner and...friend?

Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: BDSM theme and elements, dubious consent, male/male sexual practices.

Find an excerpt and I, Omega here .

Who is Kari Gregg?

Kari Gregg lives in the mountains of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia with her Wonderful husband and three very Wild children. Once Kari discovered the fabulous play land of erotic romances at RWA's National Conference in 2009, the die was cast. Finally! A market for the smoking hot stories she loves!

When Kari's not writing, she enjoys reading, coffee, zombie flicks, coffee, naked mud-wrestling (not really), and . . . coffee!

If you would like to catch up with Kari, caffeinate yourself and head on over to http://www.KariGregg.com
Friend Kari on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Kari.M.Gregg
Follow Kari on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/karigregg
Find Kari at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4366316.Kari_Gregg

New cover art for His Landlady

Diana Moore is edgy around new tenant Sloan Kent, owner of a kick boxing school. From the moment she glimpses a martial arts poster of the lean, beautiful man, she wants him, but she can't see a focused warrior athlete and an earth mother like her having much in common.

But Sloan's calm Zen facade lulls Diana so that she submits to him the first time they are alone together. Diana has never had such intense pleasure, but he's too young to be her master, isn't he?

I took an absorbing silk painting class for a few days so I'm coming up for air to share the cover for His Landlady.

Amy Valenti's Deceptive characters

Today I'd like to welcome Amy Valenti to my blog. Amy talks about something that is really hard to achieve--writing characters who are 'up to something.' Often ensuring you are writing something sympathetic is tricky. You don't want readers unable to empathize with your leads. I think she's done it well in a fun, sexy romp. Here's the scoop.

Deception Isn't Always A Bad Thing

When I first wrote Dominance and Deception, it wasn't called that at all. It had a very boring working title of 'Sir and Little Tease Novel' – Sir being the protagonist, Detective Zach Pierce, and Little Tease being Faye Tate, his submissive forensic scientist.

I didn't realise how much deception factored into the story until I sat back and looked at it. There were duplicitous characters everywhere! What had I written?! Were all my characters total bastards?

Looking at it again, I started to break it down. The genre of the book is kinky crime – BDSM/Crime/Thriller, as categorised on my publisher's website. So I had a few criminal dirtbags in there.

Both Zach and Faye are deceitful in their own ways: Zach for the greater good (though it comes with a fair amount of angst along the way!), and Faye out of pure hedonistic mischief. She wants to switch with her Dom, and she uses an offer of 'carte blanche' – a verbal 'blank cheque' – to engineer it so he can't say no without using a safeword. He sticks it out and gets his sexual revenge on her later, but not without a hefty punishment for her deception…

Here's a little teaser from that section of the novel:

"Now, you be a good boy and lie quietly for a while."

I heard her moving around the room, the sounds of rustling fabric, drawers being opened and shut, and several other noises I couldn't identify. For a good five minutes, all I could do was 'lie quietly', but just as impatience started to get the better of me, she spoke again.

"Hmm. That should do it."

Footsteps approached, sounding slightly different from before, and then, without warning, she tore off the blindfold. The light in the room was dim, so it only took a second for my eyes to readjust and to seek her out. And when I found her…

I'd seen her Domme for Santoro in a corset and lingerie, but this was entirely different, and for a moment my mind went blank as my eyes swept over her. Her red hair was down around her shoulders, framing her pale face and the darkly dramatic eye and lip makeup she'd applied. Further down, her bra, thong and stockings were all complex swirls of black lace that left little to the imagination, and her heels were just chunky and platformed enough for her to be comfortable walking in them.

The overall visual effect was breathtaking, and I couldn't hide my arousal from her—why would I have wanted to? But this went deeper than the way she was dressed—the attitude she exuded was something I'd never seen before. She was dismissive, haughty, predatory, and as her eyes flicked down to my hardening cock, then back up to my face, she arrogantly arched one eyebrow.

It was as if Faye's extremely bitchy twin had stepped in, and I barely recognised her. I was taken aback, and as she interpreted the expression on my face she let the façade drop, giving me one of her warm, suggestive Faye-smiles to reassure me she was still in there. I laughed softly, shaking my head in admiration, and she winked at me before slipping back into character, tapping her riding crop against her palm.

"Something funny, boy?" she demanded, her gaze icy and her low, husky voice disdainful.

"No, Mistress," I told her, unable to completely screen the amusement from my words.

Disapprovingly, she flicked the crop down on my thigh, and pain flared there, a sting that faded to a slow burn.

"There better not be. Because this is no laughing matter."

I lay still, sensing she had more to say, and she didn't disappoint me. Shifting her weight seductively from one foot to the other, she contemplated my bound and naked body. "I heard something about you. I heard you have a high pain threshold, and I'm sure hoping that's true. Wanna know why?"

I nodded, and she let me get away with it, telling me, "Because I've also heard you're a Dominant. And if you can Dom worth a damn, which I highly doubt…" Despite her words and her demeanour, her eyes were shining with amusement at the put-down, and I bit my tongue to stop myself from telling her exactly how well I was gonna Dom her later.

Beginning to move around to the side of the bed, she continued, "…then you'll know the amount of torture you can inflict on a willing subject with a high tolerance for pain."

Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she scratched her nails down my stomach. "Tell me your safe word, boy."

Unable to resist, I said pointedly, "It's 'revenge', Mistress."

Her lips twitched as she struggled to hide a smile, and she took a second to get herself under control before responding.

"Really? I was just thinking something along the same lines. And I'm the one with the bound and helpless victim."

There are other deceptions throughout the book, whether they're little white lies in the beginning or malevolent conspiracies dreamed up by the bad guys. It's a pretty fitting title, all told, but when everything comes to a close, there's nothing but trust and love between Zach and Faye. Gotta have a happy ever after, especially in a relationship where kink is a major factor!

Dominance and Deception is available now from Total-E-Bound: here .

You can find out more about me at my blog: http://amyvalenti.wordpress.com/

Thanks for hosting me today, Jan! :)

New cover art for A Plain, Ordinary Cowboy

Loved writing this story. It was a favorite for me.

Uncommon Cowboys Book five.

Since the night he was hunted because he was different, Deputy Micah Danvers vowed to be 'normal' at all costs. He left behind the wounded boy and now he's dating a nice woman and he's got a good job and a ramshackle cabin to fix up.

But when plain ordinary cowboy Micah rescues exotic and mysterious Sasha from bullies at a local fair, it turns out Sash isn't a woman like he thought. Unconventional Sash is not afraid to stand out—he thrives on it from his nights of dancing around a fire in the nude to the rare breed sheep he's trying to rescue from extinction. Micah aches for Sash, but he'll have to leave the shadows to claim a man who is unafraid of tempting the wolf.

Coming in December from Total E Bound.

Tanith Davenport Visits

Today I welcome Tanith Davenport whose latest romance has just come out in print. She's going to talk about writing for Conciseness.


I have never been a short story writer. However, since novel-length stories take a while and the market for shorts in erotica, both as stand-alone and in anthologies, is booming, I've been trying to get into them. After blogging about my struggle with shorts, a fellow writer told me that they're an excellent way to improve your writing as they encourage conciseness.

That's a good way of putting it. Unfortunately for me, my problem has always been that I'm too concise.

Seriously. I never went over the word count on an essay as a student. I try to write a five-minute presentation and it ends up lasting two. Job interviews take half the time they should. And when I started attending writing workshops, it really came home to me that conciseness was a problem.

Why? Because of the editing process.

The Hand He Dealt, in its first draft, was 76,000 words. At a publishing workshop I was told two things - the lower limit for a novel is 80,000 words, and when editing, cut out a tenth.

So I wasn't even at the lower limit and they were trying to knock me down below 70. At that point I seriously started to consider giving up and becoming a hermit.

I can see why being concise can be a virtue. I went through the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme and knew people whose first novels were over 200,000 words long. I can't even imagine writing anything that length. Fortunately thanks to the eBook market a slightly shorter novel, or even a novella, is perfectly acceptable, because my next novel is already proving to be concise in the extreme.

And yet I'm still wrestling with short stories! Agh! How do you short story writers do it so well?

Astra Scott likes to live life to the full. A sorority girl and Gaming Management student, she spends her days studying and practising guitar, and her nights partying or working at the Fountain Casino, where she has an internship as part of her final semester. The only blot on her landscape is Ash Drake, her best friend Sasha's boyfriend. Arrogant, physical and blond, Ash has never forgiven Astra for her rejection months earlier and enjoys annoying her at every turn.

But when Astra's boyfriend Harry reveals a shocking secret, Astra responds in the only way she can think of: by finding a way to take on a more attractive, masculine role in the relationship. Her experimentation with sex toys finds a surprising outlet in Sasha, but when Ash discovers their secret and wants to get involved, Astra finds herself torn between dislike and desire… and as their undercover relationship grows, Astra finds herself falling in love, a path she feels can only end in heartbreak. For Ash may be the only man whose own fantasies are a match for hers, but can she knowingly steal his affections from her best friend?


Find Tanith's release The Hand he Dealt here .

Challenges of Writing a menage

I talked about the challenges of writing my first menage A Pastry Princess on Tanith Davenport's blog here . Drop by and leave a comment if you're moved.

Interview at Two Lips Reviews

I talked about upcoming material at Two Lips Reviews which you can see here .