Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 166

Mammoth Book of Hot Romance

Due out in July, I believe… my contribution is a Grimm short… *G* It's the story of how Greta and Rip first meet.

From the publisher's website…

Twenty-five unashamedly modern romances with a strong erotic element aimed at the women's market. Twenty-five unashamedly modern short romances which don't shy away at the bedroom door from the crème de la crème of contemporary romance writers, including Lilith Saintcrow, Louisa Burton, Anna Windsor, Susan Sizemore, Michelle M. Pillow, Rebecca York, Charlotte Stein, Shiloh Walker, Victoria Janssen, Saskia Walker and Cathy Clamp.

This is writing which is more direct, less euphemistic, and frankly accepting of sexuality – fiercely hot stories of flesh and blood and feelings which will entrance and beguile romance readers.

Short excerpt…and I do mean short, because the story isn't long…

The air was thick with smoke, ash, and sulfur.  Death, too.  Mustn't forget the stink of death.

The man with her lay still and silent, despite the pain she knew he must feel.  His eyes, dark and brooding, stared into hers.  "Get the hell out of here, Gretel.  Now.  The ceiling is going to collapse."

His blood slicked her hands as she pressed them against the gaping wound on his side.  "I'm not leaving you here and it's not like you can't walk out of here alone.  I'll thank you not to call me Gretel, Rip.  The name is Greta."

She hadn't gone by that name for more than three hundred years.

Gretel… to some, the name evoked memories of breadcrumbs, witches, gingerbread houses. But for her, it brought nothing but dark, painful memories. They tried to rise up, tried to swamp her, as they always did in times of despair.

She battled them back. She had no time for them now. The scent of blood, hot and metallic, filled her head. He was losing too much blood, and healing far too slow.

"Fool woman.  Are you insane?" Rip reached up and shoved at her shoulder.  It was a sign of his weakened state that he couldn't budge her.  "Get out of here."

"And leave you to burn to death?  I think not."

"I will not burn to death," he said.  "We can't burn to death."

"Are you so sure of that?" she asked, cocking a brow.  She shook her head.  "I don't want to test the theory.   Besides, whether we heal or not—burns hurt. Come on now…if you want me out, I'll leave.  But only if you're with me.  I'm not leaving you here to roast."

Those dark brown eyes flashed.  Then he sighed.   "Fine.  You'll have to help me up.  I cannot walk out on my own."

She had already figured that much out on her own.   It took some doing, getting him to his feet, but once they'd managed, she was just the right height to wedge her shoulder against his body, supporting his weight. They'd managed to make it exactly five steps when she heard an ominous crack.

"Oh, no."

Spinning toward the nearest window, she braced Rip's weight with hers and lunged.

When she'd come into this new existence, it had come with some rather extraordinary abilities…she didn't age, she never fell ill, and she had the strength to lift a horse.

Too bad she couldn't truly fly.  There were rumors that some of her kind could.  It was a shame she wasn't one of them.

But she could pray.  As she propelled herself and Rip through a glass window into the freezing waters of the Boston Harbor, she prayed very, very hard.

A Brush of Darkness by Alison Pang

I got to read this one early.  It's awesome.  It's urban fantasy/fantasy with some romance and hot stuff thrown in.  *how is that for descriptive?*

I actually ended doing more than an hour on a fricking cardio bike/machine/thing from hell because I got so caught up in the book and I wasn't stopping until I finished. My legs really hurt the next day, BTW.

You can check out Alison's blog here, or her website here, or you can just take my word for it (if you like urban fantasy stuff) and just hit BAMM, BN, Borders, Amazon or your local indie and buy the book… 

Blurb:

The man of her dreams might be the cause of her nightmares.

Six months ago, Abby Sinclair was struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Now, she has an enchanted iPod, a miniature unicorn living in her underwear drawer, and a magical marketplace to manage. But despite her growing knowledge of the OtherWorld, Abby isn't at all prepared for Brystion, the dark, mysterious, and sexy-as- sin incubus searching for his sister, convinced Abby has the key to the succubus's whereabouts. Abby has enough problems without having this seductive shape-shifter literally invade her dreams to get information. But when her Faery boss and some of her friends vanish, as well, Abby and Brystion must form an uneasy alliance. As she is sucked deeper and deeper into this perilous world of faeries, angels, and daemons, Abby realizes her life is in as much danger as her heart—and there's no one she can trust to save her.

Oh, pretty, pretty…another indie project

Just a reminder, before anybody asks, the indie projects are ones that I'm doing on my own, working in around the stuff I've got contracted.

In other words…it's extra and I have to squeeze it in when I have time, so I don't have set release date… it depends on when I finish writing it, and then getting it edited…I plan on using different people for a while…good way to get used to doing these freelance things.

Once it's edited, then I got to do my part again, go through it, format it (that's not fast) and after that, there's the pain in the tail of uploading and all.

Indie means I do it alone and I have to all of this before it's ready for you all. When I have an idea of when it will be done, I'll post the info here, I promise!

Now…wanna see the pretty?

Designed by Angela Waters

No blurb yet… it's a contemporary, I can tell you that. Beyond that…um. Well, brain is mush.

Archangel's Consort… fricking awesome book

Be warned…today and tomorrow, I talk about awesome books.

Of course, it's a fricking awesome series.  I love the Archangel books.  They are amazing.  This one is due out tomorrow… I read it a couple months ago and it's so amazing.

An ancient and malevolent female immortal is rising in Manhattan to reclaim her son, the archangel Raphael. Only one thing stands in her way: Elena Deveraux, a vampire-hunter-and Raphael's lover.

Now that blurb doesn't even touch on this book. But whoa… it's good. If you haven't read the first of the Archangel books? Like urban fantasy/romance and action/awesome stuff? You must read. Start with Angel's Blood. Read more about them at her site here.

Goodreads… a question about stars/reviews…?

So, in all seriousness, a question for those who maybe do this-and I'm just curious.

It's not really related to my books, it's more… an…um, why do that thing… What's the deal with giving stars to books that haven't yet come out?  I mean, sometimes books that aren't even written yet, so there's no earthly way they can possibly be in anybody's hands for review.

Is there a reason?  Is it done for something other than review purposes?

I'm so perplexed…

Saturday Snippet…okay, so it's longer than a snippet

But still… from If You Know Him, book three in the RS trilogy due out either late this year or early next.

"I'm going to my hotel," she announced, flashing her keys at Law.

"Uh-huh."

Two seconds later, the keys were no longer in her hands.

She wiggled her fingers, looking for the keys.

They weren't there.  Frowning, she checked her pocket again, then the floor.  Where had they gone?

They jangled and she looked up, scowled when she realized Law had them.

"Come on, gorgeous.  I'll get you back to the hotel.  You can thank me in the morning when that bike of yours is still in one piece…and you are, too."  Law slid an arm around her waist.

She started to jerk away from him.  "I don't let anybody touch my bike."  But even as she started to pull away, she relaxed against him, wondering why she would want to pull away. He smelled…wonderful.  Like…well, a guy.  Warm, sexy, like soap, grass and beer.  Something else, too… hmmm, books, she thought.  He kind of smelled like books.   She liked it.  A lot.

Turning her face into his neck, she breathed him in.  "Hmmm. You can't touch my bike," she said.  "But maybe you can touch me."

Law grimaced as she slid a hand under his shirt.  Her fingers were cool, sleek and wicked against him, tracing against his skin with no hesitation and all sorts of determination.

If he lived through the night, he deserved a nomination for saint-hood.

Maybe he should have told Leon to call it quits before she'd ordered that fourth round.  But right up until she'd gone to slip off her stool, she'd been steady as rain.  Barely even a glint in her eyes to betray that she was anything beyond sober.

But then she slid off the stool and although she wasn't slurring her words, wasn't tripping over her feet, it was pretty clear she wasn't sober.  There was also the fact that she had her hand under his shirt, sliding over his belly like she was petting a cat.

Damn—he wouldn't mind being a cat, for her.

Aw, fuck…now she was toying with his belt buckle.  It was his turn to stumble a little as he led her over to the door.  Yeah, not entirely sober, there and damned if he wasn't going to suffer for it.

"I like the way you smell," she muttered.  She tipped back her head to stare at him.  "Like it a lot.  You gonna come to the hotel with me?"

"Yeah.  I'll come back with you."  To tuck you into bed…right before I go home and take a cold shower.

The Friday 56… Monster Spotter's Guide edition

So. I've rearranged my office. Which means different books are now at hand. Today, the closest at hand is…

FYI… this is a FUN book. I can't find a website for the author, but it's fun. My kids have totally dog-earred it. We got it right before we went to Alaska and that was the summer my son told me he had been kidnapped by Bigfoot. My daughter thought she saw Bessie, (Lake Erie's version of the Loch Ness Monster). Anyway. It's fun.

On to the Friday 56…which isn't as fun as the book because it's reference thing.

See Honey Island Swamp Monster

But the book.  Is. Fun.

About the Friday 56

Grab the book nearest you. Right now
Turn to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

I have news… international news, even

I've been desperate to have this happen.  All but begging for it.  Praying for it.  Whimpering.  And… YAY!!!!  Apparently it's happening…the romantic suspense trilogy that's due out later this year or early next from Ballantine, If You Hear Her, If You See Her, If You Know Him has been bought by LYX/VGS in Germany.  I'm being translated!  My first foreign rights deal!  I almost danced…even asked my agent if I should/could…*G* she said I'd have to upload it to youtube, which probably ended all thoughts of dancing.

But YAY!  I shall be translated!

There have a few small translation things that publishers handled for me, but that's not quite the same.  Nothing even remotely, I don't think…I didn't even know about them until after and this was all handled by my agent and it feels all official like.

*can you tell I'm excited???*

When was your last sleepover?

O.O

And how many of you are going… say what?

But I'm serious…when was your last sleepover?  Not for your kids, but you.  As in a friend crashed at your place.  And you just talked.  I just had one of those.  And it was kind of fun.  As in we stayed up talking until… um…5 am?

You see, in mostly joking manner, without completely realizing just how obsessively organized this lady is, I mentioned to my friend aka admin aka sanity saver Nicole that I could desperately use some help when my new desk arrived.  It's not exactly a desk-it's like a writing desk, with two hutches, a filing cabinet, etc.  Up until Saturday, I'd had one metal filing cabinet, a rolltop desk and I made do by shoving everything here, there, putting it into the attic.  But I had next to no place to keep things organized here-as in right around me.  (Still working on that).

But Nicole, being obsessively organized, when it comes to books and such, wanted to do this.  Granted, I think she probably enjoyed the opportunity to pick my brain about books and such.  And since she's fairly close, but not entirely close…anyway, long story short, she wanted to come help, come talk, and we decided she'd just come up.  And there were margaritas.

We talked. Until 5am.

We got up between 8:30 and 9:00, and then took the kids to breakfast…the DH had to work.  We came home and I alternately griped about the desk not arriving and moped, while she laughed at me.

When the desk got here, we got it positioned where I needed it-this was a mad rush because I wanted it done BEFORE the DH got home.  And then…she organized my shelves.  It was disturbing.  She used a list.  People… a list.  Is that normal?

But, normal or not, the shelves are neat.  And I've got organization.

Yes, take note of the toys on the floor.  I'm still trying to get across the point that this is my office… sigh.  Anyway…I had a sleepover, I got organization.  Nicole?  She got pizza and books and info. And margaritas.

Pretty, pretty…

Another indie project, coming out in May.

This isn't going to be a long story, folks, an ebook that will be out from Smashwords, Kindle, Nook, etc.  FYI, be warned… I'd made the decision a long time ago that it's best I keep my Hunters books focused with Berkley in New York and nothing has changed that.  This is just a veer from the normal, a temporary, to go with something I'm doing with Wicked Writers…