Lisa Fox's Blog, page 204

Dessert First Giveaway with Special Guest Emily Cale

I am so excited to have my friend, super-hot romance author, EMILY CALE here with me today! She's giving away a copy of her HOT and scrumptious new release, DESSERT FIRST, so be sure to leave a comment and be entered to win.

LisaFox: So, tell us about you. Who is Emily Cale?

EmilyCale: Good question. I have no idea. I'm basically an erotic romance author who spends her spare time trying to get a PhD. Wait, was that supposed to be the other way around?

LF: You are a romance author, but do you consider yourself a romantic?

EC: Definitely yes. I'm a sucker for flowers, chocolates, and candles. That said, I'm also easily made happy with a glass of wine, pjs, and a movie.

LF: Morgan Crane, your hero in DESSERT FIRST, is a chef which automatically makes him future ex-husband material in my world. Tell us more about him.

EC: He's takes a lot of pride in the food that he makes and is offended when Alexis tells him she hasn't even tried it. Of course, he manages to change that. Morgan is a little bit of a nervous guy. The party that he is catering in Dessert First is a big break for him and he's worried about screwing up. That said, he isn't willing to turn down a sexy woman when he sees one, as long as it doesn't interfere with his job.

LF: Who plays him in the movie?

EC: I'm going to go with Joseph Gordon-Levit. Mainly because I have a big crush on him.

(Definitely crush-worthy)

LF: I know I love chocolate cake. What's your favorite dessert?

EC: Any type of chocolate lava cake.

LF: Who would you break the law to meet?

EC: Well, I tried to stalk Christian Bale when he was in town, but had no luck. I guess if I had to pick one person it would be Harrison Ford. I know where his WY ranch is, but I would have to sneak onto his property.

LF: Any new projects in the works?

EC: I just contracted a lesbian 1 Night Stand Story titled Public Display of Affection with Decadent Publishing, so hopefully I'll be seeing edits for that soon.

LF: How can people find you online?

EC: They can visit my blog (http://www.emilycale.blogspot.com) or find me on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/emilycale)

Thanks so much for having me Lisa!

Blurb:

Playing perfect daughter at her mother's parties isn't Alexis Arnette's idea of a good time. She always leaves grumpy and hungry. Unimpressed with the spread laid out in the living room, she sneaks off to the kitchen to find something a little more satisfying. What she discovers is chef Morgan Crane, a man who is even more delicious than his baked goods. When one taste of his creations leads to more and her good girl demeanor dissolves, would the boring evening turn into one she'll never forget?

Contest runs though midnight September 18, 2011. Winner will be announced on Monday, September 19, 2011

Filed under: Interview Tagged: Chocolate Cake, Dessert First, eBook Giveaway, Emily Cale, Erotic Romance, Food, Giveaway, Interview, Interviews

Moonlight and Merlot

The continuing saga of the lives, loves and heartbreaks of the residents of Dion Valley, CA.

As with all the best things in life, this is for adults only.

*****

Phoebe woke up in a fantastic mood. She felt refreshed and rested and revived and she was just bursting with energy, ready and eager to take on the day.

Or at least that was what she tried telling herself as she rolled out of bed around noon and blinked in the too-bright sunlight flooding her room. She was absolutely not in the mood to feel bad or down or depressed or anything like that today though, therefore she simply decided that she would not.

She put on her robe and went downstairs and helped herself to the coffee she found already brewed in the kitchen. The house was silent, still, and she wondered where everyone was. Her parents were nowhere around and she did not hear the usual bustling of the cook or the quite mutterings of the maid. She glanced out the window at the rolling hills of lush, fertile ground her family owned and frowned. She supposed her father was probably out in the fields fawning over his grapes, cooing to them or whatever. Her mother could be any number of places, but shopping in San Francisco seemed most likely.

She supposed she should do something today since that was probably a big part of being refreshed and revitalized and all that, but she couldn't think of one single thing that she wanted to do. She only had the most vague impression that she wanted to do something…productive.

She meditated on what being productive might actually entail until she got bored with the whole concept and decided she would call Zach instead.

The sun was momentarily obscured by a cloud and darkness filled the kitchen. The grey light seemed to seep into Phoebe and she felt a sudden, piercing chill right down to her bone. She shivered, the cold and the darkness wrapping themselves around her like a suffocating cocoon and she wanted to struggle, to fight, there was nothing to rally against. She was alone in the kitchen and the very next instant the sun shone again. The cold remained though, settled deep into her body and Phoebe rubbed her arms trying to warm herself.

She took a sip of her coffee, but gagged on the ice-cold and disgusting liquid. She tossed the remains into the sink with a scowl.

"Shower," she decided aloud, trying to shake off the icky feeling that clung to her along with the cold. "Nice, hot shower."  The concept sounded nice, though the words sounded hollow and small in the empty room.

She hastily left the kitchen, hoping to leave the cold behind, her thoughts on the wonderful shower she would have when the doorbell rang.

[Until next Tuesday…]

Filed under: Moonlight and Merlot Tagged: Free Read, Moonlight and Merlot, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Soap Opera, Tuesday Serial

Hot Men Houseboy Edition

I would like one of each please.

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Filed under: Hot Men Tagged: Chores, Cleaning, Domestic Chores, Houseboy, Nearly Naked, Nice Ass, Sexy Men

Six Sentence Sunday

This week's sentences are from MOONLIGHT AND MERLOT, the weekly, paranormal, soap opera, serial story I do.

The sun rose high and bright over Dion Valley the next morning. In fact, it was such a beautiful day one could almost believe nothing was amiss at all.

Of course, Lela knew better, but it was nice to believe that everything was fine and normal. She felt so good snuggled in Nick's arms, naked and warm in his bed with the sunlight streaming through the slightly parted curtains. She breathed in the fresh morning air, savoring the scents of sun and grass and grapes, and wished that this moment could go on and on forever. There were few things she could imagine that would be more wonderful.

Be sure to stop by the OFFICIAL SITE for all of this week's snippets!

Filed under: Six Sentence Sunday Tagged: Moonlight and Merlot, Nice Ass, Paranormal Romance, Sexy Men, Six Sentence Sunday, Soap Opera

Saturday Video – The Dark Knight Rises

I can't even tell you how excited I am for this movie.

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Filed under: Saturday Video Tagged: Anticipation, Batman, Dark Knight, Movies, Saturday Video, Superhero, The Dark Knight Rises

Last Night I Had a Horrible Nightmare

Last night, cozy in my bed, I dreamt that I met Hugh Jackman

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And we got along famously and whatnot and we had a marvelous time and etcetera and he was totally in love with me and we were going to have beautiful, exploding, tumulus waves of volcanic erupting, brilliant Macy's 4th of July firework display, shuddering, gushing, gasping, glorious sex

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But then I realized I had not shaved my legs and I was horrorstruck by the embarrassment of my folly

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And I swear to you, I woke up screaming.

Filed under: Ramblings Tagged: Awful, Hugh Jackman, Lisa Fox, Nightmare, Number One Husband, True Story

Inspiring

Makes you want to take that pen and write, doesn't it?

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Filed under: Hot Men Tagged: Eye Candy, Inspiration, Nearly Naked, Sexy Men, Writing, Writing Prompts

A Bit of Non-Fiction For Your Reading Pleasure

This week I am hosting a non-fiction book called Wannabe a Writer We've Heard Of? It is full of information about publicity and social networking and all kinds of important stuff very writer needs to think about.  Here is an excerpt on the joys and dangers of Amazon reviews.

*****

Jane Wenham-Jones is a novelist, journalist and presenter and the author of the Wannabe Books – two how-to manuals on getting published and becoming well-known. Below is an extract from Wannabe a Writer We've Heard Of?, available on Amazon or through all good bookshops. For more on Jane see http://www.janewenham-jones.com.

Amazon – a double-edged sword

There is no doubt that Amazon can be a wonderful tool for the modern writer. Readers can see all your books at the click of a mouse, order them instantly while the iron is hot – when they've just heard you on the radio for example, or seen you on TV – and have access to feedback from others who've already made a purchase..

You can collect glowing reviews, post your own comments and author info and build yourself a profile. You can also become obsessive about your ratings if so inclined. (I am.)

If you have a website, you can link to Amazon and potential customers can click through to the store from there. Many authors have a 'shop' page – I do myself – with thumbnail images of their covers that go directly to the corresponding page at the bookstore.

If you join the Amazon Associates Programme (details on the Amazon site), traffic originating from your site will be tracked and you will earn a commission on any resulting sales – of anything, not just your books.

These small payments can accrue quite nicely and while you're unlikely to be able to retire on them, they may well keep you in chocolate from time to time.

For any author who is self-published or whose books have not been widely distributed in the High Street, Amazon can be a godsend.

You can have a fair idea of whether stock is moving – each book's ranking is updated hourly; there's a lot of cross referencing – "customers who bought this item also bought", etc., which can increase awareness and sales; and customers are positively encouraged to write reviews and comment on the reviews of others – both of which are simple to do. So far so good.

The only fly in the ointment is that as far as the reviews go, there are millions of books on the site, millions of readers posting their thoughts and you may find some of them unwelcome.

Readers are invited to award one to five stars to a book they've read and if you find you've been given only one and your book, that you spent a long year of your life sweating blood and tears over has been pronounced "Unintelligible Bilge that's a waste of the rain forest" you may, understandably, feel upset.

But everyone is entitled to their opinion. Sometimes readers will just hate a book and that I'm afraid is something we have to take on the chin. You can't please 'em all and nor should you expect to.

However, it can be galling if the reviewer is clearly just trying to plug a rival book or something of their own, and puts up negative reviews purely in order to bring your average star rating down. What can you do about it? If they're clever about it, not a lot. But they often aren't…

Fiona Mackenzie is the author of How to Start and Run a Petsitting Business (How-to Books). She received what she describes as a "heart-stopping" review on Amazon.

My one star review advised that I was "no writer" and that anyone wanting to be a petsitter should join a certain fee-paying association. The review ended with 'sorry sweetheart'."

Since this appeared to have been written entirely to further the reviewer's own ends, Fiona decided to investigate.

"I had no idea who this person was but I did a search on the internet with her username and found her on ebay. It felt good being able to see who she was and that she had links within the pet care world so perhaps had an agenda. I then contacted Amazon and said as I'd had a book published by a highly respected publisher, clearly I was a writer and if they let the review stand it would reflect on other 'How To' books. I tried to avoid making it all about me. Amazon took the review down within twenty-four hours.

Amazon takes all complaints seriously but obviously you cannot complain just because someone doesn't like your book and says so.

Everyone has the right to free speech and is entitled to their view – which is entirely as it should be. However, if you feel that any reviews or comments made are actually defamatory then you can say so. Amazon has a procedure for reporting such things.

After two years of largely positive reviews of my first Wannabe book, I had a sudden spate of one star reviews myself.

They came from different names but were all very similar in content – each one seemed to be getting het up over the fact that others had described my book as "brilliant" when it very clearly wasn't, and opining that one would do far better to read Stephen King.

The former was reasonable, if a little obsessive, and I can hardly disagree with the latter since I recommend On Writing by the awe-inspiring Mr King myself, in Wannabe a Writer?

However, the reviewer, not content with popping up several times saying this, then descended into what amounted to libel by accusing me on several occasions of either writing the five-star reviews myself or asking my friends to.

Several of the reviewer's own 'friends' materialised to agree.

This was utterly untrue. My publishers reported it as defamatory and the offending comments were removed. I can't stop this person reappearing any time he wants to – and from time to time, he does. I'm not always sure what is said because Amazon themselves have often deleted the comments before I've got there – and a note has been left to this effect – but as this has happened, one can assume they fell into the abusive or libellous category.

Such behaviour is not worth getting steamed up about – one could indeed feel sorry for the kind of person who finds this a fulfilling way to spend their time – but it is worth keeping an eye out for.

Just to be clear: if reviewers are merely stating their opinion – honestly held – you haven't got a leg to stand on. If they are making any claims that are untrue, and therefore they will be unable to substantiate them, then you have a case to report them to Amazon as defamatory and Amazon will take action. (Details of how to make such a report are clearly laid out on the site.)

For example.

"I hate this book"

"This book made me throw up my breakfast"

"This book is inane, facile, full of useless information and the author is a dork"

(Which, I think, is what my admirer was trying to get at) are all fine but:

"The author has plagiarised A.N. Dork in the writing of this dreadful book", or

"This author is a convicted criminal who roasts hamsters and eats them", or

"This book is the most expensive of its type on the market"

when these statements are false and unproven, are not acceptable and you have every right to ask for them to be removed.

Wannabe a Writer Site: http://www.wannabeawriter.co.uk

Buy links:

Amazon UK (paperback)

Wannabe A Writer We've Heard Of?

Moonlight and Merlot

The continuing saga of the lives, loves and heartbreaks of the residents of Dion Valley, CA.

As with all the best things in life, this is for adults only.

*****

Bright sunlight streaming through his bedroom windows woke Zach up long before he wanted to get out of bed. He tried to ignore it, to turn away from the light, put his pillow over his head and go back to sleep, but it was useless. The damage was done. He was awake.

He dragged himself out of bed, pulled on an old t-shirt and boxers and went downstairs in search of some food. Cold pizza sounded really good or leftover ham from last night's dinner or maybe some that cheesecake his mom brought back from New York. And coffee. Definitely coffee.

He found what he needed in the kitchen and he munched on a thick slice of ham while the coffee brewed. Through the picture windows he could see that it was going to be another perfect day in the Valley. Bright sunshine, warm breezes, all the stuff that the tour books boasted about. He should be happy, he reflected looking out over the acres and acres of prime land that had been in his family since the beginning of time, but he wasn't. Not even a little bit.

Maybe he just needed some time alone. Some time away from Lela and Nick and Phoebe. Probably most especially Phoebe. He did love her, but being around her too much was…tiring.

And he didn't even want to begin thinking about what happened last night. The dark. The wind. The power. Power enough to knock him off his feet and sent him crashing onto the ground hard enough to bruise. What could have done such a thing? What force had Lela brought into this world?

"No," he said aloud though his voice sounded weak and almost desperate in the empty expanse of his family's kitchen. "I don't even want to know." And even as he said it, he knew deep down that he would have to know. That somehow, someway, it would be required of him to know.

But not today.

He poured himself a tremendous mug of black coffee and headed for the porch. He was going to drink his coffee, enjoy the day and maybe go into San Francisco for a bit. Have lunch. Buy a few things. Forget about the inevitable.

He cut through the living room to get outside was surprised to find his father up and dressed and sitting in the leather recliner in the corner. He nodded to the old man on his way across the room, but his father got up when he saw him, making Zach pause.

"Son," Blake said as he rose to his feet. "We have to talk."

[Until next Tuesday…]

Filed under: Moonlight and Merlot Tagged: Free Read, Moonlight and Merlot, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Soap Opera, Tuesday Serial

Hot Men Labor Day Edition

Celebrating labor…

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Filed under: Holiday, Hot Men Tagged: Construction, Holiday, Hot Construction Men, Labor, Labor Day, Sexy Men, Sweaty