Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 11

5 Tips from a 5 Year Vet of Shameless Book Con

The past weekend was the fifth annual Shameless Book Con in Orlando…and this time, IT WAS AT DISNEY WORLD! Well, Shameless was at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista across from Disney Springs. So…DISNEY WORLD!

I’ve been to Shameless Book Con since the first event. It’s one of the best around, IMO and I’ve been to quite a few author/reader events since I started this author thing back in…wow, 2003????

Anyway, I decided to offer some tips, not just for this event, but for authors attending events in general…and useful to readers, too!

Fellow Author, Autumn Sand & Yours Truly



Tip 1

If you plan on hanging with friends…make real, concrete plans. Don’t just try to ad lib it.

Tip 2

If you decide you’ll do something like press-on nails before the event? Take the damn extras with you, so you don’t end up haunting the drug stores looking for the SAME DAMN DESIGN when you lose a nail prematurely. Like in a hot tub.

Tip 3

There is no such thing as comfortable shoes for something like this. So wear the most comfortable you have and be prepared for sore feet after. I did my set-up in messy lounge clothes and beat-up sketchers since I knew I’d be making multiple trips back to the room anyway…and my feet were still killing me before I even got started.

Tip 4

DRINK PLENTY OF WATER… You exert yourself at these things. You also practically have to shout sometimes when it gets really loud. So…hydrate!

Tip 5

Collect swag! All of these goodies are going to be put up for a contest giveaway!!! Even though I really want to check out what is inside some of the goodies bags….

The post 5 Tips from a 5 Year Vet of Shameless Book Con appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.

Sexy Saint

So, I’ve kept this under the wraps until last week, but I’m working on the next Cochrans of Cocker County book…and it’s going to have an unusual bent to it…as is…I’m playing in another author world.

Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward, authors of Cocky Bastard, have invited authors to join in that world and tell stories of their own in the Cocky Hero Club.

A bit about the book (not the official blurb!)

A one-night stand, a woman in hiding, and the man determined to finally make her his…and only his.

Chase Cochran, also known as Saint for his unflappable temper and the way he gave up on his own dreams so he could help his mother take care of his siblings after their father’s untimely death, is the guy you can count on. Strong, steady, reliable…and although he’s sexy as sin, he’s the one who puts his own needs aside…until the day he met her.

They had one day, one night and he woke up to find her gone.

Now years later, he finds her in the very last place he ever would have expected and the secrets she’s been keeping are much more complicated than he’d ever have imagined.

But while Saint might be the sort of guy to put everybody else first, all bets are off when it comes to the woman who claimed his heart.

If you enjoyed meeting Luke and Sabrina in COCKSURE, I hope you’ll enjoy SEXY SAINT…which is still being written, so no release date available!In the meantime, you should come hang at the Cocky Hero Club on Facebook and meet all the other authors.

Today? There’s a party…

Hope to see you there!

The post Sexy Saint appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.

There’s no secret handshake

The secret is…there is no secret.



SHILOH WALKER.

Let’s not do that again…

AKA… so fricking sick, I forgot to tell you all…

I hate being sick. I don’t mind having unimpeded, guilt free reading time…and I read. A lot. I read Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, books 1-8, all between Sunday and yesterday. Sometimes in ebook, sometimes in audio…and speaking of audio…have you listened to this one in audio? That narrator?

Dammmnnnnn…this guy could read phone books and I’d be in.

Anyway. I’m digressing.

I ignored the signs, ended up with a bad sinus infection and a UTI and the lovely NP who treated me Tuesday told me, I can’t believe you’re still on your feet.

Well, I’d spent most the latter half of Monday and all of Tuesday, save for the doc visit, off my feet.

And I forgot…I reissued another one of my old backlist titles! Go, me! I haz book out. Books make me money so I can pay bills and buy food and be a productive society person…and I will not tell people.

Under Your Spell is a sappy, dramatic, romantic novella about two young people who fell in love hundreds of years ago, made mistakes and it takes lifetimes for them to find each other again. Yes, really. It’s been published before. No new material. But a lovely cover, I think…and it’s only 0.99

Second chance/second lives romance

You will never love another.

Aislinn was the only woman Nicholas Montgomery would ever love, a fact he knew even as he was pledged to marry another.

The young, powerful witch’s heartbreak and fury led her to cast a spell that trapped them both for hundreds of years…

You will never love another like you love me.

You will never know a moment’s peace for what you have done.

Until you love me enough to forsake everything – your honor, your pride, your own soul, we cannot be together.

After more lifetimes than he wants to consider, he’s been reborb as Sean Concannon, a powerful witch, and he has finally found her, his Aislinn. But to claim her, he’ll have to make a choice, and a sacrifice he’d never prepared for.

Excerpt

It was by rote that he said the sacred prayers, made his vows to his tiny delicate bride, the woman-child who stared at him with fear in her dark brown eyes. Nicholas could not free his mind from the way Aislinn had looked before land and time and space all became one and he had reappeared in the chambers of his father’s house. She had sent him away.

Remember me …

She had never done that before.

But he had fled from her only days before, when she had pleaded with him to stay. Do not leave me, his proud, stubborn little witch had begged.

Woman, why can you not understand? I cannot dishonor my family.

Remember me…

Yet living in dishonor seemed a small price to pay if he could have Aislinn at his side always. Momentarily, he was stunned that he had thought such a thing. ‘Twas impossible. They could be together, if only the woman wasn’t stubborn, maybe not as man and wife, but together. . .

If I had even half of the talent she had, I would force her to come to me, until she regained her senses. We belong together.

Nicholas stood on the stone steps at the chapel door, facing the priest, Isabella’s right hand laying atop his left while he repeated his vows in a smooth, steady voice. But inside, he was in turmoil. Foreboding had filled him the moment Aislinn had commanded,

“Remember me.” As if he could ever forget.

Her whispered voice, that gentle command, seemed to whisper and echo over and over in his mind, lulling him into a trance.

Remember me…

Remember me…

Remember…

So preoccupied was he with his thoughts that he barely noticed the disturbance that started in the back of the crowd, until the murmurs grew so loud even he could not ignore them.

Remember me…

A shiver ran down his spine and the hair on the back of his head stood stiff and straight. Premonition, never one of his stronger gifts, was so great in him, he could almost see the blackness that was to come.

But it was too late.

Buy

The post Let’s not do that again… appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.

Remember

9/11 Memorial NYC

The post Remember appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.

Damon – A Kit Colbana Prequel – now available

Written exclusively for members of the Patreon platform, Damon is now available for all readers. Previously, this work was only available directly to Patrons or in the Blade Song Anniversary Edition, which is no longer sold.

This novella takes place immediately before Blade Song in the Kit Colbana timeline.

I love to watch you work…

What the bitch queen—aka Annette, Alpha of the Southern Cat Clans—meant was, I love to watch you kill.

Damon Lee has been hiding his claws, his teeth and his strength from the Orlando Alpha as he bides his time. He’s in the city for a reason, but he’s keeping that close to his chest and has no desire to draw attention to himself, or to the strength that lies caged within.

But when the kid he loves like a son disappears, he’s faced with a choice. Does he risk losing one of the few people who matter? Does he risk letting the beast out before it’s time, knowing it could screw everything up? Or is there another option?

Amazon | Apple Books | BN | Kobo | Smashwords

“Oh, Damon. Your face…your poor face.” The breathy, little girl voice, sweeter than sugar, really didn’t fit the insane woman who’d just spoken to me.

I’ve have long since grown used to that voice—and her violent tendencies—and didn’t bat an eyelash as she bent over me and stroked a hand down my cheek. Annette, local ruler of the cat clan, ruler of all she surveyed — except me — and batshit crazy psychopath, caught my chin and lifted my face upright.

For a moment, her face faded in and out of focus. The touch of her hand under my chin had bones grinding together. I didn’t make a sound.

Blinking my one good eye, I focused on her face until it stopped swimming in and out. The other eye was still swollen shut, although it was healing bit by bit.

I was the perfect punching bag for a lunatic.

I was big and strong and I healed fast.

In another few minutes, the bruises and bloody wounds would be gone and once I showered, nobody would be the wiser.

Save for me.

Even Annette would forget.

“Does it hurt?” She stared at me solemnly, her lips puckered, touched with a soft, pale pink that matched the negligee she’d pulled on earlier. Even the splattering of blood on her lower lip was echoed in the blood spray on the pink silk.

My blood.

Again.

“Damon, does it hurt?” She stroked a hand down my cheek.

Yes, bitch. It hurts. Mentally, I told her exactly what she wanted to hear—the truth. Out loud, I said, “I’m fine, Lady.”

Amazon | Apple Books | BN | Kobo | Smashwords

In other Kit news: Many have asked if there’s going to be another Kit book…and yes, there will be. I had to take some time away from here, which I talk about here at my J.C. Daniels site, but I’m back to working on her story again. Thank you for your patience.

The post Damon – A Kit Colbana Prequel – now available appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.

That dreaded, evil one-star

AKA … why are people so mean to me?

If you’ve been in book world long enough, especially romancelandia or the wild and crazy YA world, whether as a reader or writer who hangs out on social media, you’ve probably seen brouhahas over those awful, pesky one star reviews and/or ratings.

Everything from …my book isn’t published yet, how can it have a one star to well, I read your review and it’s obvious you didn’t read the book I wrote. My book is brilliant. BRILLIANT, I TELL YOU!

You can see the spiels run the gamut from the author baring her tender, delicate feelings on twitter, to being an absolute sideshow crazy piece of work like Kathleen Hale, who fricking stalked a reviewer over a review, showing up at the woman’s home. FYI, the link doesn’t go to the author’s site, but to an article by Bustle that details the bullshit.

I’ve talked about the craptastic behavior on the parts of some (almost always new, almost always female and almost always younger) authors who see a one star review or read a less than stellar one and they flip out.

And it’s always the same basic routine….

Author sees the review or ratingAuthor freaks outAuthor goes on a rampage about the one star, sometimes screenshotting or calling the reviewer out directly or just weeping brave silent tears… publicly… so people can see her tribulationsSome do rush to pet and stroke and soothe the soul of the poor, wounded authorAuthor continues to devolve and clutch her pearlsPeople tell author she’s being overdramatic at best, an idiot or spoiled diva at worstAuthor now feels like a victim because people don’t understand how terribly she’s been wronged because somebody didn’t LOVE HER PRECIOUS BABYAuthor lashes out against those who have pointed out the one star isn’t that big a dealAuthor digs a deeper holeClapback gets worseAuthor goes quietVery often, author deletes posts or tweets or blogs like nothing ever happened

I mean, this plays out over and over and over…

There was the Kathleen Hale incident that, really, defines a diva author having a tantrum and why you shouldn’t freak out over reviews.

But there are also incidents that led to these posts:

On negative reviews and unicornsYou shouldn’t post negative reviews!Bad reviews

These things never turn out in a positive way for the author(s) involved, because after showing their asses in public in such a fashion, they end up on plenty of NEVER TO BE READ lists.

But…yesterday, I saw one of these boring old one star reviews will ruin me dramas take on a new twist! Much drama! Big Excite!

The tweets from the author ended up getting deleted but, as typical, there were some individuals that rushed to soothe/pet/stroke.

And one had this brilliant (meaning very very stupid) idea…

Seriously. What kind of BS is this?

Naturally, there was some clapback. Somebody asked about libraries or friends borrowing books. And we got this response from the genius.

I suspect this writer wannabe is going to have a harder time getting people to review future books.

And then we end up with this…

Really.
Suggesting action that unless a reader can prove
PROOF OF PURCHASE…then no review.

Okay, folks. If you made it through all of that… and your eyeballs haven’t rolled out of your head, then you deserve some cookies.

And for the newby writers reading this? Just keep in mind….you’ll get negative reviews. They won’t kill you. We all get them.

Making an ass of yourself, though? Well, bloggers and reviewers and librarians can be a huge ally in this dodgy, crazy world. Or you can bite the hand that feeds you.

The post That dreaded, evil one-star appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.

Coming in Last… on sale, only $1.99!

Coming in Last is a Kindle Monthly Deal, but only for a few more days.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Play | Smashwords

The post Coming in Last… on sale, only $1.99! appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.

Grilled cheese & skateboarding …the story of real life HEA

(Mostly a repost)

Yesterday was our 23rd anniversary.

My DH used to skateboard.  I can remember sitting on the curb and watching him when I was a kid.  I mentioned it on twitter and somebody asked me how long I’ve known him-how we’d met.

I’ve known him since I was ten or eleven.  My older brother used to skateboard with him.  I can remember watching them together and thinking… “He’s so cute…”

I also remember kicking him in the shins.  Yes, I had it bad.  And yes, I was mean.  And I mentioned the fact that I was ten or eleven, right?  I one time charged him $2 to make him a grilled cheese sandwich.

We started dating right around the time I turned fifteen.  He’d come over looking for my older brother, who wasn’t there.  I very snottily demanded, “So how come you never come over here to see ME?”

He gives me this weird look and says, “I didn’t know you wanted me to.”

A few days later, he calls me, asks if I’d want to go to the fireworks for the 4th of July with him.  A few weeks later, a movie.  I was fifteen.  He was getting ready to turn eighteen.  We’ve been together ever since.

When I was nineteen, he proposed.  We married when I was twenty.  I love him more every day.

Loving him is natural-it feels like I was born to love him, and I think I was.

Doesn’t mean it’s always been easy…it hasn’t.  Making a marriage work is just that-work. 

The past two years have been hard, harder than almost anything. Losing my brother hit both me & the guy, but the effects on me were brutal. But I got through….because God gave me him. The guy’s the one person who knows me inside out & has always, always had my back.

We’re not perfect. We’ve got flaws & have had mega fights. But we make it through.

Because it’s worth it.

The post Grilled cheese & skateboarding …the story of real life HEA appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.

SPECTRE – Out Now Excerpt **super hot**

Spectre 

​​​​​​​I wasn’t even a man when I took a life for the first time, although you couldn’t say I was a child. If I’d ever had a childhood, it hadn’t lasted long. My father, may he rot in hell, had seen to that. I took his life as well and that, too, happened before I was old enough to be considered a grown man. I never regretted it for a second.

​​​​​​​That path almost led to my own grave, and would have, if I hadn’t stumbled across somebody who was as different from my father as day was from night. Sarge had seen the monster lurking inside, so he took control, gave me guidelines, rules, so I wouldn’t be the monster my father had planned.

​​​​​​​It worked. I restrained the worst of my rage and honed the skills that had been drilled into me—theft, stealth… assassination. The broken child ceased to exist and I became Spectre, an assassin spoken of in whispers, hired to take out the worst of humanity.

​​​​​​​Then I was sent to kill her…and my world came to a screeching halt.

​​​​​​​Tia 

​​​​​​​It’s taken a long time, but I finally had a nice, steady routine. I stopped trying to conform to the neurotypicals of the world and found my own normal.

​​​​​​​Normal went out the window when I walked into my kitchen and found a strange (hot), dangerous looking (so fricking hot) man drugging my new dog. 

It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to leap at him like a banshee and attack, but that’s what I did. 

​​​​​​​When my attempt to wreck the vehicle was averted, my kidnapper didn’t hurt or threaten me. In fact, he told me he wanted to protect me. 

​​​​​​​This (hot) guy had to be crazy. But if he was crazy, what did that make me? Because I believed him. More, I found myself seeing something beyond the rigid, blank mask he wore. 

​​​​​​​He kept trying to push me away, but I couldn’t seem to keep my distance. He calls himself a monster…but when I look at him, that isn’t what I see. I just see him…and I know he’s meant to be mine. 

​​​​​​​Warning: This isn’t a snuggly, comfy read. The male MC is a hired killer, while the heroine is neuro-atypical. Some dark material is involved—the hero kidnaps the heroine. There’s also violence when he goes on a rampage against those who put a contract on her. Also references of abuse (not against the heroine). Also very graphic, erotic scenes with minor bondage play.

Excerpt

“Agree,” he said, his voice practically soundless.
“Agree to what I asked, damn it, and call your fucking brother.”

“I’m not here to do whatever
the fuck you tell me, dumbass!”

“That’s obvious.”

I sneered at him, a reply forming but
it never made it past my lips. His hand curled around the back of my neck and I
felt the impact all the way down to my toes. But there was nothing cruel
or domineering about—it was…gentle. Protective, even.

But then he moved and his next action
wasn’t even close to gentle or protective. He pressed me back against the wall
and wedged himself between my thighs, let me feel, up close and personal, that
big cock I’d noticed moments earlier.

I sucked in a startled gasp, then let
out a hungry mewl before I could stop it.

“Keep pushing,” he whispered against
my ear. “Just…keep pushing, Tia.”

He moved against me and I shuddered
as his cock dragged over me—thick, heavy, demanding.

“Keep pushing.” He bit my earlobe.
“You’re not in your nice, safe world right now with some nice, safe guy you met
for drinks at the bar near the aquarium.”

He moved against me a second time,
then a third.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the
onslaught of sensation. Sensation too intense, too consuming.

I’d never felt anything like
it.

“Those nice boys will walk away,
Tia.” He reached between us then, cupping me.

I sucked in a breath as he ground the
heel of his hand against me.

I tried.
I tried to brace myself against the impact of what was coming. His fingers slid
lower. Defenseless, I clamped my thighs around his hand and dragged my lids up,
staring at him.

“I’m not a nice boy. I’m not
nice at all.”

He went to pull away.

And that greedy, needy part of me wailed
in denial.         

Curling one leg around his hips, I
moved my hips against his. “If you’re so fucking not nice…then do it
already.”

Casper went rigid.

Before he could pull back, I curled
my free arm around his neck and glared at him.

“Stop it,” he said.

“No.” I leaned in and kissed him. I
wasn’t very good at kissing. At least, I didn’t think I was. I’d never enjoyed
it before. The only time I had enjoyed it had been in the SUV with
him—just hours earlier—when he’d been distracting a trucker. I wanted to
pretend it was something other than what it was, but I was a lousy liar.

Not even to myself. He was right
about that.

I kissed Casper the way he’d kissed
me, tracing the line of his mouth with my tongue, catching his lower lip
between mine and sucking it between my teeth, then biting down when I felt him
shudder.

The heat between us sparked, grew,
flamed. He thrust against me again and again and I was starving for
more, to have him naked inside me, fucking me hard and deep.

He lifted his head and watched me,
withdrawing before rocking against me again, slow and steady, letting me feel
the full, heavy weight of his cock dragging over me.

“You’re playing a dangerous game,”
Casper said, one hand palming my ass, lifting me, adjusting the angle so that
when he passed over me again, the sensations were that much more
intense.

I might have bit my lip bloody to
keep from responding…except I realized that was what he wanted. He didn’t want
the response. He didn’t want the reaction. It was safer, for him, if he
could pretend I didn’t react. Not to him. Not to this. Which made it that much
more laughable. I’d never felt such a strong reaction to a man before,
and everything about him made it harder to control my response.

He slid over me again and the cotton
material of my leggings dragged over my wet, engorged clitoris. I sank my nails
into his shoulders and shoved closer.

Fuck safety.

Fuck logic.

Fuck everything.

I wanted to come.

He tensed.

“Tia…”

I dragged my lids open and stared at
him, lashes heavy, body lax. “I want to come. Stop telling me
what kind of game I’m playing when you have your cock wedged up against my
pussy, Casper. Stop talking about…whatever it is you’re talking about
unless you’re going to do something about it. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a mess right now.I can handle it by myself but it will
be a lot easier if you’re not fussing at me.”

A hard breath shuddered from him.

He shoved a hand into my hair.

Then, even as I tried to center myself, he shoved his other hand into my panties. “You want to come?”

Add on Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Play | Smashwords

The post SPECTRE – Out Now Excerpt **super hot** appeared first on SHILOH WALKER.