Delilah Devlin's Blog, page 5

Memory Game: Favorite Fantasies (Contest)

Okay, the title of this blog likely got you thinking about sexier kinds of fantasies. I could have used the same title and posted multiple pictures of hot, buff guys, and it would’ve worked, too, right? Instead, I raided my file of saved inspirational fantasy photos to put together this puzzle. I hope you love the images! Every one of them could inspire a story.

For a chance to win an Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me whether you saw an image here that you’d like to see inspire a story. What sort of story would that be?

The post Memory Game: Favorite Fantasies (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Gabbi Black: Finding the Right Reader (Contest)

Hello, Delilah! Thank you for inviting me here today to discuss one of my biggest frustrations as a writer — how to get my story into the hands of readers who want to read it. A struggle many authors wade through, although not so many talk about. That said, I’m always candid with your fans and so want to share some insights.

Authors often perceive a choice — write for an audience or write for themselves. Now there’s a Venn diagram where those two intersect. For some authors, that overlap is large; they’re writing what readers want. For others, there’s only a sliver. They’re either writing what they think will sell, or they don’t care about sales, and they’re writing the book of their heart.

Like most authors who publish, I try to live in the overlap. I’d like to write books that speak to my heart but also that readers want to read. Let me tell you, that’s often harder than it seems.

A couple of years ago, I signed up to write a billionaire romance for a charity anthology. This was my first time working with the amazing ladies at The New Romance Café. The first story I wrote was a Gabbi Grey MM romance short story. I loved it. So I decided to keep it, and I wrote a Gabbi Black erotic BDSM short story.

That one was the story I submitted. I loved Mistress Miranda’s interactions with Grant, and how he sought her out after their epic catharsis scene (a little stalkerish, but she acknowledges they had unfinished business). The story gets steamy, there’s a reveal at the end, life’s good. Feedback for the story was generally positive.

As I tackled another project after that, which referenced the catharsis scene, my editor asked if she’d somehow missed the scene. I replied that with the constraint of just 5k words, I hadn’t been able to include it. She said, basically, she wanted the scene!

Okay.

I had a cover that I loved and knew I was going to indie-publish the short story. I took a gamble and rewrote the story and included the BDSM scene. Instead of Grant merely talking about his emotional pain after the fact, I had him endure it. He was known around the club for being a masochist who could take anything doled out by the Tops. He basically gave Miranda carte blanche to try to break him. He thought himself unbreakable.

She proved him wrong.

But he needed to deal with the guilt of something that happened years ago — and she forced him to do that while supporting him all the way.

When I was finished, the story was double the length. My editor whipped it into shape, and I was ready to release. I published it and then got it in a promo where a couple thousand people downloaded it for free.  I thought I’d given a clear synopsis and the blurb was pretty obvious about the content of the story.

Yet, in the end, I didn’t necessarily find the right readers. My ratings are not great on the story and although some reviews are encouraging, some aren’t.

I hadn’t found my audience.

I’m persistent, though. The book is still free on all platforms. The back matter directs readers to my other books. I have faith that, eventually, the short story will find the right readers.

I’ve gone on to write several more BDSM stories, and they haven’t found the right audience yet either.  Still, I persist. I love bringing my personal BDSM experience into my tales. I love the high stakes of catharsis scenes. Or the drama on and off the dungeon floor. Or just that kinky can also be fun.

I soldier on.

Anyway, that’s one of my stories about trying to read the right readers. I have three pennames and have struggled with all three (I’ve given away thousands of copies of the Gabbi Grey billionaire story and haven’t see much read through with that either…).

If you’re interested in reading about Mistress Miranda and Grant, I encourage you to pick up the free short story — available at all retailers I can get into. As a prize, I would like to give out a copy of Grant’s Gambit on audio.  I have US and UK Audible codes.  A quick note: I bid on the narrator for a charity auction, and I think he did a fantastic job. I was thrilled to donate money and was lucky that I got a great performance in return. Okay, let me know — if you find a free book, do you stockpile it? Do you eventually read it?  Might you be willing to try another book by that author?  Leave a comment and Random will choose a winner.  If you don’t enjoy audiobooks, I can provide you another book from my back catalogue. Good luck!

Grant’s Gambit

Mistress Miranda, after one of her most magnificent BDSM scenes, plans to relax and unwind in the safety of her luxury condo, high above her beloved city of Vancouver. She has rules about how intimate she’ll be with a submissive, and she plans to stick to those edicts.

Grant Adkins willingly submitted to the formidable Domme tonight. And she’d topped him in a fantastic cathartic scene. But he’s not ready to call it a night just yet. He’s breaking the rules by following her home, but he wants to have just one more encounter. Then he’ll let her go.

But when things heat up, his walking away in the morning feels far more difficult than either planned.

Grant’s Gambit is a 10k dark, erotic, billionaire BDSM short story with a cathartic scene, holiday cheer, and a surprise pile of money.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/Grant
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Grants-Gambit-BDSM-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B0CDCPKW2X
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195508407-grant-s-gambit

About the Author

Even though Gabbi Black is a firm believer in happy endings, she makes her characters work for it in every romance she writes, no matter what the genre. From contemporary to BDSM, they are penned early in the morning in her home in beautiful British Columbia while her trusty ChinPoo dog keeps her company. She also writes gay romances as Gabbi Grey and small-town romances as Gabbi Powell.

The post Gabbi Black: Finding the Right Reader (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

September into October & a Health Update (Contest)

September

Work-related:

I completed one set of edits and continued working on one other author’s edits (it’s a big book).I read many Burn entries. I’m almost done!

Health-related:

I continued with my immunotherapy. I underwent two Keytruda infusions this month. I also continued taking Lenvima at an every other day dosage due to side effects.My bloodwork indicated there is a problem (more about that below).

Happiness-related: 

Since there’s been no swimming, I’ve upped my puttering game. I’m a quarter way through getting my art room deep-cleaned. It’s exercise, believe me, and those long-handled tongs old people use to get items off high or deep shelves has been key! LOLWhile I worked on organizing and deep-cleaning my art room, I produced no art whatsoever. Not a single piece. October

   

For work-related, I plan:

To put my main focus on Burn this month. I’ll finish reading the submissions today! Then I’ll ruminate for a couple of days over my huge YES pile to skinny it down and choose stories that work together well. Then I’ll announce the lineup for the next anthology! Lastly, I’ll start editing the stories I choose to keep.To write at least half of my story to go inside the pages of Burn .To finish writing  Ignition ! It’s on the schedule dammit. Be looking for the pre-order to go up soon because I think that’s the only way I’m going to light a fire under my ass to finish it!To complete working on the edits I have for one author and await the arrival of another two projects coming in October.

For health-related, I plan:

To continue to focus on recovery! Rest when I need to, and some light exercise. I have to figure out what, other than housework, I can add to my exercise plan. Puttering shouldn’t be everything!To get a new CT scan of my abdomen and endure an immunotherapy session this month.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

To establish a new exercise regimen and commit to it!To participate in an art sale at my local art center, mid-month.To create more art.Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in October …

Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Health Update

Well, I’ll start with what I thought was a funny story.

My daughter sees a breast cancer doctor for her annual exams because she’s always had issues with regular mammograms. So far, so good. She met with her this month and the doctor, who knows my dd’s family history of cancer asked her in a very empathetic way, “When did your mother pass?” She asked this because she’d learned about my Stage IV endometrial/mullerian diagnosis last year. My daughter said her eyes got big and she told her, “Oh, she’s still alive and doing pretty good.” It was the doctor’s turn to look shocked. When Kelly told me this, I burst out laughing. When did your mother pass! Hahaha. I’m still here, bitch.

I’m still smiling because I really did not have good odds to make it past a year when I started (still don’t have great odds but fuck that). Anyway, I’ve had a bit of a setback.

When I went on this Keytruda/Lenvima immunotherapy plan, I had a really hard time getting used to the medicines (I think it’s mostly the Lenvima pills). I had to back away from the recommended daily two-pill dosage to every other day, and the issues I had — severe fatigue and diarrhea) improved some.

My past two blood draws have shown a rise in my CA-125 (Cancer Antigens). For a few months there I was in normal range, under 38. It jumped from a very nice 15 to 27. Then from 55 a month ago to 100 this last week—out of normal range and reason for concern that my cancer may be resurging. So, after talking with the doctor about some pains I’ve experiencing (nothing awful, y’all) and reviewing the concerning upward trend, he asked me to go back to taking Lenvima on a daily basis to see if I can tolerate it and whether it will stop that upward climb. I’ll be getting a CT scan this week or next week, just to see if anything is happening that’s large enough to see. Then when I go in for my next infusion, we’ll talk about whether it’s working or I have to do something like undergo more rounds of chemo.

I expect my energy will be zapped for the next while. I’ll plan my mornings accordingly. I’ll try to get all work done by noon before I crash for a nap (which is code for watching Asian reels about ancient warlords while I nod off). I’m still shooting for a few more years of life despite what the averages say. I may look like a sweet, plump, passive grandma, but there’s still a warrior inside this body.

The post September into October & a Health Update (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

A. Catherine Noon: Love Me in Vegas, Baby!

If you are going to be in Las Vegas this November, I hope you’ll join Rachel Wilder and me, A. Catherine Noon, at Reader Nation on Friday, November 7th. Held at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, the event is completely FREE. James Paterson heads a lineup of indie authors from across the spectrum, from horror and romance to Westerns and literary fiction. There will be swag and opportunities to meet your favorite authors—and meet authors that are new to you.

One of the reasons I’m so excited for this event is that the Signing Store offers a seamless experience for patrons. Instead of having to pay each author separately, we have our books collectively available through the Signing Store, so for you, the reader, it’s just like going to your favorite bookstore—better, even, because you know the author will be getting more of the profits from their work, and because you build relationships with the creators you love.

Another reason I’m excited for this is that Rachel and I participated in the Kickstarter for Love Me in Vegas, an anthology of romance stories by signing authors—including Noon & Wilder! The anthology is available for purchase through the Signing Store, here, and if you purchased one through Kickstarter or at the event, you can come by our table to have us sign it for you!

What other reader events are you excited about this fall or in 2026? Please let me know in the comments; I’d love to hear from you!

The post A. Catherine Noon: Love Me in Vegas, Baby! first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Report Card & Open Contests

Report Card

Last week…

I continued working on another author’s manuscript.I continued reading entries for the  Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology ! I’m almost there. Just one more day…I uploaded Ultra Strokes, Volumes 1 & 2 to booksellers other than Amazon. Now, I have to update the links on this website!

This next week…

I have another checkup and immunotherapy infusion scheduled for tomorrow morning.I’ll set up the online pre-order for Ignition . This is the month I’ll finally get it done!I’ll continue working on edits for one author.I’ll finish reading Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology entries! I’ll make my decisions and then send out acceptances/rejections.I’ll set up a private FB group for the Burn authors to communicate and get authors started on writing their loglines for their stories.I’ll continue to work on organizing & cleaning up my art room.Open Contests

Be sure to check out these posts and enter to win the prizes that are still up for grabs:

Collect Rocks Day (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!Gabbi Grey: Even for those who aren’t Jane Austen fans (Contest) — This ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Early Fall Signal — The Surprise Lilly — This ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!Flashback: Ultra Strokes, Vol. 1 (Contest & Excerpt) — Win a FREE book! Two winners!Memory Game: Backgrounds for Book Covers (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Lucy Craft Laney – History That Cannot Be Erased (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!Along Came a Spider! F*R*E*E Read! Get your copy today! — This offer ends soon! Get your FREE book!Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Lovely Bruschetta — Win an Amazon gift card!The post Report Card & Open Contests first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Lovely Bruschetta

Why am I posting about bruschetta this morning? It’s a little off-topic, right? Well, I’m hungry. And I am a foodie. Big time! I love ethnic cuisines, and my daughter and I frequently search for recipes for dishes from other countries we’ve never tried and can’t find in our food desert in southern Arkansas.

So, back to my search for artwork for today’s puzzle. When I went to my favorite stock photo site, I naturally typed in “food.” And I got lost in pictures of lovely dishes. Funnily, lots of pizzas and pastas were right at the top. I guess Italian cuisine is popular (it is in my house!). The picture I chose was of bruschetta—toasted rounds of crusty bread, smeared with olive oil, and topped with a variety of vegetables, cheese, and meat. I wish I had the right bread, right now, to make it! I think I have everything else except for the mushrooms in the fridge and pantry… Okay, I have to post this now and go have a look.

While I’m pottering around the kitchen, you solve the puzzle. Then, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you’re a fan of a particular ethnic cuisine. Got a favorite dish? Something you crave and have to make yourself because you can’t find it? Enjoy the puzzle!

The post Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Lovely Bruschetta first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Along Came a Spider! F*R*E*E Read! Get your copy today!

It’s Friday! And I know some of you are looking forward to some downtime! How will you fill your time? Look no further! Download your free copy today. This offer won’t last long!

All this SEAL wants is time alone to recharge after a grueling mission, but what he gets is caught in the crossfire of passion and danger.

After Spider follows a fellow SEAL’s advice to take some downtime and try fishing to get over his restlessness after back-to-back missions, he finds himself even more irritated until his fishing lure gets caught in the bushes, and while trying to free it, he notices men armed with tactical equipment moving through the forest. Curiosity piqued, he follows and is just in time to prevent the men from harming a lone female camper.

Jessie Tamberlin hoped to hide out in the woods until after her wedding to a billionaire, following her discovery that he is an illegal arms dealer. However, she knows secrets he’s determined to keep silent; he’s never going to let her go. When she finds an ally in the woods, who helps her escape, she has to make an on-the-spot decision to trust him.

Together, they work to stay one step ahead of her ex-fiancé while trying to ignore their growing attraction for each other.

Get your FREE copy here!

The post Along Came a Spider! F*R*E*E Read! Get your copy today! first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Lucy Craft Laney – History That Cannot Be Erased (Contest)

Another awesome woman I discovered for my Facebook Presbyterian history posts during Black History Month was Lucy Craft Laney.

Lucy was born on April 13, 1854, in Macon, Georgia. Her father, David Laney, saved enough money to buy his and his wife’s freedom, so although born in the antebellum South, Lucy was born free. She learned to read at the age of four, when it was still illegal. After the Civil War, she was educated at Freedmen’s Bureau and American Missionary Association schools.

In 1873, she graduated from the first class of Atlanta University’s Normal Department, where she trained as a teacher. After teaching for ten years, she opened her own school in the basement of Augusta Georgia’s Christ Presbyterian Church. This was that city’s first kindergarten for African American children. Her school started with six students. Two years later, she had 234.

In 1886, Francine E. H. Haines learned of Lucy’s school at a presbyterian church convention. The denomination turned down Lucy’s request for funds, so Ms. Haines personally donated $10,000. In her honor Lucy renamed her school The Haines Normal and Industrial Institute. The Institute taught traditional liberal arts and vocational training. The school was the first to offer nursing training to African American women and is now the Nurses’ School of University Hospital.

Photographs of the Institute’s classes were part of W.E.B. DuBois’ exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1900. DuBois’ presentation countered the false narrative of African Americans’ inability to learn and advance themselves. By 1912, Lucy’s school employed thirty-four teachers, had 900 students enrolled and offered an additional year of college preparatory classes to her high schoolers. Her graduates went on to prestigious colleges like Fisk, Howard, and Yale.  Among them was advisor to FDR, Mary McLeod Bethune.

Lucy had Haines Institute host concerts, lectures, and social events in recognition of African Americans’ need for cultural enrichment as well as education. She knew civil and political rights were needed, too. She was part of the Niagara Movement, a civil rights organization founded in 1905 and the National Association of Colored Women. In 1918, she helped found a local chapter of the NAACP in Augusta.

She died on October 23, 1933, and was buried on the grounds of the school she founded. Honors and tributes to her legacy run the gamut from a historical marker at Haines’ original site to schools and streets being name for her, to having her portrait hanging in the Georgia State Capitol. Here’s a video produced by Georgia Women of Achievement about this amazing woman: https://players.brightcove.net/1127823189/default_default/index.html?videoId=4587379609001

In 2025 as the current US administration tries to erase people of color and white women from our history pages, this truth penned by Maya Angelou’s “And Still I Rise” rings louder than ever,

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

The achievements of Lucy Craft Laney and other people marginalized by society are now and always will be stronger than any executive action or book banning movement.

For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card, share your thoughts about Lucy in the comments.

“Take Me To the Water” by Michal Scott
inside Silver Soldiers  

An unexpected dare holds the key to a second chance with the disgraced Buffalo soldier she’s never stopped loving

Excerpt:

Her attention was genuine and without a hint of condescension. She could afford to be kind. He was a stranger to this young woman. But not to the majority of her husband’s congregants. Ambrose glanced at the old timers—those his age—clustered in groups, murmuring and muttering about him behind raised hands. They’d known him of old.

“Ambrose Stewart. Come to church after all these years. Would you credit it?”

“Kept his seat during the altar call. Of all the gall.”

“Look at those rags he’s wearing. Lord have mercy if that’s his Sunday best.”

The minister’s wife laid a hand on Ambrose’s shoulder and gave him a bright welcoming smile. “There’s plenty more, so please come back for seconds.”

He smiled back, knowing he wouldn’t. He hadn’t come here to fill his belly. He’d come here for only one reason. A chance encounter with Mamie Gladwell at Chautauqua had confirmed that Hephzibah still lived in Weeksville, still attended Third Baptist.

“Good Lord, boy. Where you been? Why don’t you come home and be the Christmas present she deserves?”

Mamie’s words had given him hope the court-martial had killed, given him the courage prison had crushed. Third Baptist would be safe ground for a possible reunion or at least for a non-vitriolic rejection.

Buylink: https://rb.gy/f5ah2n

The post Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Lucy Craft Laney – History That Cannot Be Erased (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Memory Game: Backgrounds for Book Covers (Contest)

Admittedly, I needed an idea for a puzzle today, and I clicked through my stock photos to find a topic. I have an entire folder of art for book cover backgrounds. Take a look at the cover above. Would it be as nice without that hint of rugged scenery in the background?

Okay, so maybe the relevancy of my topic is a bit questionable, but I tried. LOL

Anyway, I love puzzles. I hope you enjoy this one, too. Solve the memory puzzle, then let me know which backgrounds appeal to you most for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card. Have a great Wednesday!

 

The post Memory Game: Backgrounds for Book Covers (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Flashback: Ultra Strokes, Vol. 1 (Contest & Excerpt)

I like to remind you from time to time that I have stories you might not have read. Some are anthologies filled with my short stories—sexy tidbits for those of you with busy lives who need a quick read every now and then. I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Ultra Strokes, Vol. 1. It includes two stories previously published inside Penthouse Magazine! It also includes my very favorite short stories, “Red Dawn” and “Zombie Love.”

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the snippet at the bottom. For a chance to win a FREE download of the book, comment below about whether you are a fan of short stories! I’ll choose two winners!

Ultra Strokes, Vol. 1

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Delilah Devlin, comes a sinfully hot collection for your reading pleasure…

From Delilah:

“This compilation includes twelve stories I believe are among my very best. Most are contemporary stories, but there are futuristic, historical, steampunk, and paranormal tales included in the mix. The collection is intended for bedtime reading. Read the stories while you’re alone or with your partner. Read them to your partner.

I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. Bon appétit!”

This compilation includes:
Tailgating at the Cedar Inn
The Morning Ride
Big Brass Buckle
Pitch Black
Red Dawn
Nip ‘n’ Tuck
Zombie Love
Lily’s Last Stand
Dr. Mullaley’s Cure
The Pleasure in Surrender
The Butler
The Long Ride Home

Get your copy here!

A snippet from “The Butler” inside Ultra Strokes, Vol. 1…

Grant came with the fine fieldstone house I’d purchased with my first, fat royalty check. One of the many amenities the previous owner had willingly dumped when she’d decided she was tired of cold Virginia winters and purchased a villa in Italy.

Something I’d never understood—how a servant could be passed from one owner to the next along with a deed. But Grant was a “legacy”—a fourth generation butler at Parker House.

I remember reading through the inventory of buildings and barns, tractors and horse tack, and then stumbling when I came to one name, Grant Preston. “Seriously, I own a butler now?” I’d asked the lawyer who drew up the contract.

“You’ve bought his contract. It’s yours to break, but understand that if you do, you’ll have to purchase the remaining years.”

“That sounds like indentured servitude.”

“It’s how it’s done here, ma’am.”

I’d learned later that he’d exaggerated. Grant was responsible for the language of the contract. He’d insisted on the verbiage with his previous employer, his way of assuring himself long-term employment in a highly fluid and dying career field.

And Grant had no interest in finding employment anywhere else. He’d been raised at Parker House. He was as much a part of the house’s history as the yellow stones and old furnishings. The three storied, twenty-one room house was his home, if not in name. I’d come to understand that the first week after I’d moved in. I’d purchased every stick of furniture along with the house, but when I’d mentioned selling pieces to replace them with more modern furnishings, his back had stiffened. And after listening as he’d regaled me with every story behind every piece I wanted gone, I’d relented. How could I sell history?

It wasn’t until I’d retreated, deflated, to my rooms that I realized he’d manipulated the conversation. Very politely and with a small, seemingly genuine smile, but I hadn’t been willing to douse the light of pride that shone in his eyes when he’d spoken. A simple maple desk chair had somehow become a treasure I’d be gauche to remove, cruel even. I didn’t want to disappoint him.

At first, when I realized his game, I was angry. But as he slowly “educated” me regarding the history of the furniture and the house, and then gently but firmly guided me to an appreciation of the surrounding lands I’d purchased, I’d grown amused. Admiring, even. Grant was the true treasure of Parker House. Its living defender.

Not that he didn’t understand the need for small changes. The claw foot tub in my bathroom might have been used by a famous movie star or a president, but I’m short, and using stairs to get into the deep thing wasn’t practical. I wasn’t a bath sort of person anyway, so the tub was moved to another bathroom, and he oversaw the construction of a large shower, tiled with natural stone from the fields, a lovely thing with nozzles at different heights to assure my pleasure.

When he’d let me see the final result, I’d blushed, realizing he’d had it fitted to my measurements, and the colors of the stones reflected my blonde hair and gray eyes. He’d personalized it to me, and I had now become an integral part of the house’s history.

However lovely and subtle that manipulation had been, I wasn’t ready to concede the larger battle for control of the house. Especially after he’d introduced me to the “butler’s buttons.”

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