Isabelle Drake's Blog, page 63

Romanticon 2013, Don't Miss the Naughty Confessions Party!

If you're coming to Ellora's Cave Romanticon, you won't want to miss Naughty Confessions, Friday, October 11 from 4-4:50.


You can be sure that Cheryl Dragon, Karla Doyle, A.S. Fenichel and I will show you a good time!
Want to know what you're in for?

Secrets revealed and confessions told in this interactive tell-all game with lots of prizes and give-aways.

Like to be dominated? Even participated in a ménage? Are you a proud member of the Mile High Club? Better get over that shyness and check your inhibitions at the door, because nothing is too wild and crazy for this crowd! The naughty confessions game is played through a series of yes or no questions crafted to reveal sexy secrets. We’ll do several rounds until we uncover the sweetest angels and the naughtiest devils. EC authors play along.
Come find out if you’re naughtier than an EC author, and perhaps win a sparkly tiara (you innocent thing, you) or a silky pair of devil horns (rrrrowrr!).
Naughty Confessions is all about audience participation, prizes, and give-aways, so come prepared to have a great time.

Welcome October!

Sometimes in September

Undead, sexy zombies pinned on Pinterest

What better way to get excited about finishing my second zombie book than to make a Pinterest board? One of the things I love about my zombies is that they aren't rotting and don't smell bad. They are sexy, strong and smart. And on the prowl for human sex slaves.

Here are a couple of my pins.  For more, check out Undead, erotic horror Pinterest board.

Want a taste of erotic horror?

If you're curious about erotic horror and like historical works, try Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. This novella, first published in 1872, predates the much lengthier Dracula. At roughly 100
pages, it is the perfect fall afternoon read.

Get a free copy from Project Gutenburg.

After enjoying the novella, you might hunt down, The Vampire Lovers, a swanky, fun film based on the story.

Always in August

Shameless, Invitations #3, out now

We'd all love to be someone else, just for one night. That's what Jenn Davidsen does when an invitation to an exclusive party arrives at the hotel where she works. Once there, she decides to fake a British accent. Things get complicated when she runs into Liam, a very sexy cop with a very real British accent.

Excerpt:
As a cop, Liam Wallace spent his day with other men and women who lived right in the grit of it all. So he knew how to handle himself. But every once in a while, he couldn’t avoid a social situation he knew he ought to—the kind of situation where he was likely to turn into an ass and start saying things he didn’t really mean and was going to regret later. Tonight was one of those nights. He could already feel some restless sarcasm starting to brew inside him. If he didn’t find a way to get out of the party his old roommate Davi had insisted was ‘going to be awesome’, it might turn out to be a rough night. Davi, a wild Brazilian, always loved a good party and assumed everyone else did too.

But no good excuse for getting out of the party had come to him, so there he was at The Indigo, the ultra-trendy bar in the lobby of The Continental. The neon blue lighting and gleaming chrome furniture made the place look like an action movie set. People having a good time—laughing, talking, doing all the normal things he just didn’t feel up to yet.

Behind him, a row of impossibly hot blondes were laughing too loudly, tossing their perfect hair and waving their manicured nails as they looked around the place to see who was paying attention to them. His mouth started to turn down but he stopped himself from frowning.
Be nice. Don’t stand around scowling like an asshole.

He moved his gaze away from the women and looked out into the hotel lobby. Now there was someone he could stare at and not scowl. The redhead behind the reception desk hadn’t been there when he’d passed through the lobby a while ago. He would’ve remembered that fair skin. It was probably dotted with freckles in all the right places, and that red hair—impossible to ignore. It hung down her back in a heavy wave of copper. Damn it would look good spread across a white pillow. She looked his way.

Wait a minute. He did remember her. Jenn, the actress. He’d met with her a couple of times last spring when she’d needed to listen to someone with a London accent—she’d been preparing her own affected accent for a role in a play. While she’d been listening to him name streets, towns, famous cities, and ramble on about foods and football, he’d been wondering what she looked like under those plain sweaters she always wore. It didn’t help that she’d stared at his mouth the whole time he’d been talking. But she’d had a boyfriend who’d dropped her off and picked her up every time they had met. It’d been hard to even think about getting something going with him lurking about.

A couple came up to the desk and he watched her check them in then pass over a set of key cards. Damn, she was hot. Sweet and sexy. And because they’d spent those hours together, he knew she was hard-working and determined too. A flicker of anticipation stirred inside him. The tiny flame was the first heat of interest he’d felt in a while. Weeks, probably. She looked up, scanning the area as though she was expecting someone. Liam went ahead and scowled. It wasn’t like she was going to notice his frown, since she was probably watching for that same lucky bastard. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t keep staring and imagining her kneeling between his legs, unzipping his pants.

"You going to spend the whole night staring at women, my broken-hearted friend?" a familiar voice asked. "Or are you actually going to talk to some?"

Liam smacked his friend Davi on the shoulder then yanked him into a rough hug.

After they had exchanged hellos, Davi nodded to the row of blondes. "Let’s go check them out."
Liam took a swallow of his drink. "Might be better if I kept my mouth shut. I’m not in the best mood tonight and I don’t want to ruin your chances."

Davi pulled his leer away from the women. "We talked about this. I’m taking you to the animal shelter next week. We’ll pick out the neediest, loneliest, saddest-looking pup they have. You can take it home and spoil it so badly it will live as long as Paddie."

"Her name was Padame and she wasn’t spoilt."

Davi cocked one of his dark eyebrows. "We lived together, remember?"

"All right," Liam conceded. "She may have been a bit spoilt."

"We’ll find another sad thing for you to dedicate your life to. Until then, you have to live. Or at least pretend to be alive."

Get Shameless , now from Total-E-Bound.

DH Lawrence's The Fox, covers

For film adaptation tie-in, Bantam, 1967
 Hesperus Classics,  2003Three covers, one story--DH Lawrence's The Fox.
The Bantam version reflects my own interpretation of the story. The plot centers around the Nellie March; its her story. This image captures the sense that the events sweep her in and she finds little power within herself to redirect her life. The simplicity of the Hesperus edition is intriguing, and I'd be very interested to read the forward written by Doris Lessing, a fairly traditional choice for that task.The Total-E-Bound edition captures the rustic beauty of the story as well as the triangular relationship struggle. I could say, love triangle, however as a gothic, I see the motivating emotion as more of an obsession rather than love. Total-E-Bound Clandestine Classic, 2013
For an analysis on book covers, do check out this fairly adorable clip from German soccer fan, David Delgadillo.

Submitting...the publishing kind

Write the entire first draft. 
While polishing up that first draft, get a subscription to Publisher's Marketplace. Make a list of agents/editors who are selling/buying a manuscript similar to yours. 
When your manuscript is ready to be ready, start querying. You can get agent/editor submission information from Publisher's Marketplace. Agentquery.com is a good source for agent information.
Keep track of the queries. I use 3x5 cards because they are big enough and small enough.
Send the submissions. Keep track of those as well. Include what you sent, etc. At the time you send them, you may think you would never forget, but consider the possibility that you will forget. There is a good chance you will want the information later. For example, what if you want to query that same person again in the future? In that case, it would be good to know what you had sent before.
Start working on something else. It will make the waiting easier.

Happy 4th!