Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 23
October 25, 2017
Back from Shameless…recovered? Different story
So I spent the weekend in Orlando at Shameless Book Con.
This is an epic event. There are three places where I’ve signed like this… RWA, RT & Turn the Page.
That’s it.
There’s a bazillion authors–okay, not a bazillion, but a lot of authors, a lot of readers, a lot of fun and it’s purely a reader event. It’s also in Orlando. Since there was an event on Friday evening, I made the trip down on Thursday and that meant I had all day Friday free…until the evening, of course. So a reader and I went to Downtown Disney (now called Disney Springs, but Downtown Disney sounds better to me). I did a little Christmas shopping, we had lunch…fyi, The Polite Pig has some killer wings, then we headed back.
There’s a cocktail party on Friday for VIP ticket holders or you can do various Orlando like things, like…Downtown Disney or Universal City Walk or just hang around the hotel and talk with fellow readers…or I dunno, hang out at the bar and drink a shot that’s called a Blow Job. Not that I did that.
On Saturday, there’s the big signing, and I mean big. It’s six hours long and I was busy up until the last half-hour.
There’s a costume party on Saturday night which is always an event, plus another reader thing on Sunday, but that’s my drive home day so I can’t really tell you anything about that.
All in all, it’s absolutely one of the top book events I’ve ever gone to, and hands down, one of the best reader events you can attend, IMO.
Tickets aren’t for sale yet for 2018, but you can watch this page.
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October 17, 2017
A new FBI Psychic story, a reissue…also…are you in Florida?
Heya… are you in Florida? I’ll be signing at Shameless Books Con this weekend.
It is a ticketed event, but man…you got a lot for that ticket, including meeting me! (Come on, you smiled, right?)
You can check out the line up here and buy tickets here.
* * * * *
You can always come home. Second chances come a little harder.
Jesse and Zoe were the high school golden couple. Football captain, cheerleader, prom royalty. After graduation, though, Jesse couldn’t resist the urge to experience life outside their small town. He didn’t exactly expect Zoe to wait twelve years for him, but now that he’s back, he finds some small part of him hoping she did.
It’s no big surprise she’s married. The kick in the face is she married his best friend.
Zoe was devastated when Jesse left, but she’s filed those bittersweet memories under “Moved On”. She loves her life, and loves her husband. She has all she needs. And Jesse keeps an honorable distance.
One cold, wet, miserable day, tragedy turns Zoe’s world upside down. Jesse never expected her to simply fall into his arms, but a man can dream. Except his dream doesn’t include the fact that this time, she’s the one hitting the road…and he’s the one left behind.
Warning: This story contains heartbreak, heartache and one last chance for two lovers to find each other.
Some days just went from bad to worse. They started out miserable and just went to outright fucked up as the day progressed.
This had been one of them—it had started out shitty, and hit the fucked-up stage well before lunch had rolled around. Jesse hadn’t even gotten around to eating lunch, something his hollow stomach wasn’t about to let him forget.
He had been back home for six months.
Six lousy, awful months and every damn day, he thought about just leaving. He could sell the car he’d bought, load up his bike and just leave. One of the reasons he’d come back no longer existed…at least not for him.
And because of that, he’d deliberately created himself another reason—he’d bought the town’s sole bookstore. He didn’t know jackshit about running a business, although thank God the store’s manager did and she’d been delighted to hang around, not to mention delighted to hang around with somebody who wasn’t opposed to bringing the store into the current century.
But that was a nightmare of work and today was the pinnacle of those nightmares.
But Tiffany finally had things under control and as she chattered with customers, he slipped into the back office and took five seconds to swear under his breath.
“Lousy day,” he said. “Lousy fucking day.”
The day was done, he could go home, eat. Collapse.
No, he had some books to sort through, he remembered as he stared at the box sitting on his desk. Okay, go home, eat, sort through the books, then collapse.
Hefting the bag of books onto his shoulder, he headed out of the office and slipped out the back door.
The Book Nook had been Warren’s only bookstore for as long as he could remember. Now it was his bookstore. It had gone up for sale just two days after he’d come back home, when he’d seriously been considering whether he’d should get the hell out or really trying making this place his home.
In the end, there hadn’t been much of a contest.
Warren had always been home.
Even if he wanted to snarl or break something every time he saw Zoe and Roger together, he couldn’t leave just for that. He hadn’t come back just for Zoe. Even though part of him had hoped…
THE DOUBTED
A new patreon project
Check out the next Patreon Project, THE DOUBTED, a new story in the FBI Psychics series. Still progress, but hoping to finish it this month or next.
No, it’s not Nalini and Tucker’s book. I’m working up to that one, but you’ll see some familiar faces, inlcuding Joss, Taige and Jillian.
It’s also going to be a Patreon project, so if you’d like to get early snippets and read it before anybody else, you can join my patreon. Pledges start at just a dollar, and every Patron gets their name entered into a drawing to be tuckerized into the current project…meaning, you may well end up a character!
A short snippet is below and if you’re interested in becoming a Patron, they’ve got a longer read over at the Patron blog.
The Doubted
No. Don’t think about…
Voice churned in her ears. Dully, Nye stared at the little TV she’d brought into the office earlier in the year. They had to keep the noise almost nonexistent and honestly, they had it in there more to thumb their noses at Evil than anything else. It wasn’t the noise that caught her attention, though.
It was something to look at, to focus on, to think about—
And then she saw the words.
Those bright red words, and staring at them made it feel like her eyes were vibrating in their sockets.
Corruption Suspected in Leighton’s Police Department
“Police,” she said, her lips numb.
Suddenly, the images of Hailey disappeared, replaced by something else.
Screams. Blood. Gunshots.
A pair of icy blue eyes—frozen in a mask of death.
Familiar eyes.
want to read more? You can read a longer version by becoming a Patron.. .Patrons get exclusive snippets and early reads, plus other rewards.
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October 1, 2017
Haunted Blade…Book 6…Now Out
“She wasn’t coming at me, Kit.”
“Shut up.” I held out my hand for his axe and shoved the bandana toward him. He accepted it, scowling the whole time. Once I returned the axe, we continued on, side by side, staring at the group on the stage.
They’d noticed us.
Us. Not the vampires who had entered the building with us—the ferals weren’t even taking notice of those three. The two men had split off in opposite directions and the woman had leaped up onto the stage, walking forward in slow, graceful steps.
Another feral one stared at me.
She licked her lips, looked at Doyle, paused, then her eyes came right back to me.
Her entire body quivered and there was blood staining her chin and the front of her shirt. Most of it was dry, too.
From behind her, I heard a soft sob.
One of the other feral vampires made a strange sort of whining sound, low in his throat. I would have expected to hear that sort of noise from a hungry dog, not something that used to be human. Not something that had probably been capable of reason less than twelve hours ago.
At the noise, somebody beyond the wall of feral vampires starting to cry, deep, ugly noises.
“Please stop that,” the woman from House Allerton said in a cool tone. “You excite them when you do it.”
The sobbing continued.
“If you’re going to persist in making yourself appear to be prey, then I’ll order my people to leave you here alone. Is that what you want?”
“Shut that little bitch up!” somebody snapped.
I heard a grunt, followed by a crash.
“Lay a hand on her or anybody else here and I remove it at the wrist.” Those words were delivered in a calm voice—a familiar one. “And bear in mind…nobody is being left here tonight. Unless you plan on killing me as well as the mindless.”
Abraham.
One of the few—very few—vampires I didn’t outright despise on sight was in there.
Hissing caught my ears and I turned to see one of the ferals creeping closer, his eyes cloudy, face a bloody mask. Head cocked, he gave me a quizzical look. And his eyes locked on my throat.
I sighted on his forehead and pulled the trigger.
His head evaporated in a burst of red mist.
The whining on the stage increased, the smell of blood and death agitating the pack.
“How many alive are with you, Abraham?” the woman said.
“Six. Three are human. One is hurt.”
So they had three good bodies, plus our five. And three useless ones. Against…I did a quick look around the room and decided that fate just fucking sucked. There were seventeen feral vampires in this room that I could see.
Seventeen.
The back of my neck crawled and I spun around, weapon raised.
But Doyle had already taken action, axe at the ready. As the vampire’s head and body went their separate ways, he gave me a hard look.
Ignoring him, I focused back on the tableau playing out in front of us.
“I hear rumors that you are rather fast with that weapon of yours.”
Tossing a glance at the woman, I wondered if I was going to like how this played out. “I’m fast enough. Why?”
Kindle | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords | BN|Payloadz
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September 26, 2017
RUIN ME ~ Available Now
Ruin Me
Bella Love-Wins & Shiloh Walker
Publication date: September 26th 2017
Genres: Adult, Romance
ANGEL
I SHOULD KNOW TO KEEP MY GUARD UP WHEN THIS DARK, DAMAGED STRANGER SAVES ME. BUT I DON’T.
HIS TORTURED SOUL DRAWS ME IN FOR ONE HOT, SINFUL VEGAS NIGHT.
THEN I LEARN WHAT HE IS.
AN IRRESISTIBLE LIAR.
I SHOULD BACK OFF, BUT IT’S ALREADY TOO LATE.
I’VE FALLEN FOR THE ONE MAN WHO’LL RUIN ME.
RUIN ME IS A FULL LENGTH (55,000 WORDS) STEAMY STANDALONE ROMANCE WITH DARK STORY ELEMENTS, NO CHEATING, NO CLIFFHANGER, AND A HAPPY EVER AFTER ENDING.
His kiss was…indescribable.
I think maybe I experienced hunger something like this—just about a hundred shades paler. That was after giving up sweets, sugar, chocolate, all of it, for six months while trying to lose weight to fit into a dress for a friend’s wedding.
It wasn’t worth it.
Gorging on salted caramel ice cream every night for a week straight after the wedding?
That was worth it.
This kiss was like that, just more voracious.
He sank into me, tongue and teeth, and I whimpered as I gave into him, unable to do anything else.
One of his sure hands freed my hair from the loose ponytail I’d twisted it into. I moaned when he combed the thick, heavy mess down, massaging my scalp as if he knew how much the weight of it got to me. His tongue licked at the roof of my mouth while the fingers of his hand slowly combed, then tangled in my hair, wrapping the long strands of it around his fingers until he had total control of my head.
When he tilted his head to look down at me, my heart was already racing.
“You sure you want this, pretty angel?”
Something about the way he said it made me wonder if he was using my name or just an endearment. It didn’t matter. I didn’t want to be Angel Halliwell in that moment. I just wanted to be a woman in a dark, impersonal room in some Vegas hotel, alone with a man who was turning my blood to something hot, sweet and thick.
“Damn sure,” I said, curling my arm around his neck and tugging his mouth back to mine. “Kiss me again, Mac. I really like it when you kiss me.”
The post RUIN ME ~ Available Now appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
September 18, 2017
Sales, RELEASES…NEWS
Thirty Nights is on sale… each novella is $1.99, but it’s for a limited time only!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Beautiful Scars is being reissued…today! New, lower price, so if you haven’t read it…
Some scars cut right to the heart.
Three years after her divorce, Chaili Bennett is over her ex. Her only problem now? Of the few men she’s dated since, no one “gets” her. Not like Marc Archer—a man who’s never seen her as more than a friend.
Marc Archer needs a date for a last-minute charity event, and he needs it fast. Not that women aren’t throwing themselves at his world-famous face and body, but sometimes it’s less messy—as in less personal—to use his sister Shera’s escort service.
The last woman on earth Marc expects to see in his sister’s office is Chaili. There’s something different about her, but nothing pleases him more when Shera sets them up. That simple date quickly evolves into much more as they both discover the other fills a deep, secret need they’ve shared with no one else.
Though Chaili insists one night is all she wants, Marc isn’t walking away now. Not until he discovers what put the shadows in her eyes. And the scars on her soul.
Buy links
Excerpt
Two seconds later, he was reaching for her.
Stunned, she couldn’t think. As his lips covered hers, she just couldn’t think.
Marc was kissing her.
Damn it.
Marc was kissing her—
Had she drank more wine than she’d thought?
“Open your mouth,” he snarled against her lips, a harsh, urgent command in his voice. “Give me your mouth.”
Dazed, she did just that, opened for him.
His arms came around her as his tongue stroked across the bottom of her lip, slowly, seductively…teasingly. Oh, hell. She was in trouble. Big, big trouble…
Read more
Get Ready to Get Ruined…
RUIN ME – A Vegas Knights Story
Angel
I should know to keep my guard up when this dark, damaged stranger saves me.
But I don’t.
His tortured soul draws me in for one hot, sinful Vegas night.
Then I learn what he is.
An irresistible liar.
I should back off, but it’s already too late.
I’ve fallen for the one man who’ll ruin me.
Excerpt
When he tilted his head to look down at me, my heart was already racing.
“You sure you want this, pretty angel?”
Something about the way he said it made me wonder if he was using my name or just an endearment. It didn’t matter. I didn’t want to be Angel Halliwell in that moment. I just wanted to be a woman in a dark, impersonal room in some Vegas hotel, alone with a man who was turning my blood to something hot, sweet and thick.
“Damn sure,” I said, curling my arm around his neck and tugging his mouth back to mine. “Kiss me again, Mac. I really like it when you kiss me.”
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September 11, 2017
It’s ok to check out
I have to remind myself of this.
I was watching a 9/11 tribute and the pain was visceral.
When depression is eating away at you, things are …or can be magnified. I wasn’t thinking about this until the mi see hit me sideways. In public.
And I had to remind myself.
I didn’t have to be watching. It’s ok not to.
It’s ok to check out from time to time.
Today is 9.11. It’s raw open wound for many, and not just in the US.
Whether you lost family or friends, that day scarred millions and changed the face of our world.
It left scars seen and unseen and we should never forget the lives lost.
But you decide how to honor. How to remember.
Watching the tributes can be hell at the best of times and if it hurts too much, turn off the t.v. or click away.
Those who struggle with PTSD and/or depression, know your triggers and when you have had too much.
Your pain doesn’t honor lives lost.
Your life does.
Loving your neighbor does.
Kindness does.
The post It’s ok to check out appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
September 7, 2017
Ruin Me: Vegas Knights
News!!!
Angel
I should know to keep my guard up when this dark, damaged stranger saves me.
But I don’t.
His tortured soul draws me in for one hot, sinful Vegas night.
Then I learn what he is.
An irresistible liar.
I should back off, but it’s already too late.
I’ve fallen for the one man who’ll ruin me.
Coming this fall…
Preorder links
The post Ruin Me: Vegas Knights appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
September 5, 2017
Depression, dealing, reading
The past few weeks have sucked. It’s been three months since D. died. I haven’t been expecting it to get easier yet, but it might be nice to not feel sucker-punched by it all still so much of the time.
There’s family crap going on that nobody should have to deal with on top of me and my husband just trying to get out kids through everything. Plus, Diva’s gone off to college. That’s a happy thing, yes, but it’s still a change.
I haven’t been able to write as much, and not on my own stuff for a while, so …yeah, no. That’s not helping.
My depression has been slowly, steadily weighing me down more and more so I’m resorting to the basics of self-care.
A lot of things I’m all like…
I’ve lost interest in needless drama and petty shit.
I’m making myself work out more because endorphins…they say they are going for depression. FYI, I still think they lie.
We all sat down to a family movie night last week… Harry Potter, of course. Sometimes, some good old good V evil is what you need.
And on Labor Day? I did nothing but drink and read, read and drink.
I read Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews, which I loved. More Derek and Julie, please.
I finished Nothing Short of Dying by Erik Storey. It was pretty good.
And I finished listening to The Knocked Up Plan by Lauren Blakely–I had four hours to go, so that was an investment, but it was worth it. It was my first LB book, but won’t be my last. I loved it and it was enough to get some creative juices going so once I get caught up on freelance projects and have the time, maybe I can write some me stuff.
I do have a project I’ll be telling you all about soonest.
That is something I’m excited about.
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August 28, 2017
I should probably mention… No Prince Charming… reissue!!!
Her Happy-Ever-After has been a long time coming…
Grimm’s Circle, Book 2
Elle spent years trying to get over her so-called Prince Charming, and she’s finally getting the hang of it. A Grimm—a guardian angel with unique gifts—she spends her nights trolling for demons and kicking ass, and lately, her days have been spent with her on-and-off-again lover, Ren, a fellow Grimm. But fate has other plans in store for Elle, plans that include Michael, the prince from her youth who broke her heart.
“What do you choose…live for her? Or would you rather die?”
That was the choice Michael was given all those years ago. Although he knew she’d never forgive him, when Michael was given the chance to become a Grimm, he took it. Still, he isn’t so sure Elle needs him in her life. With a lover at her side and a mission before her, Elle looks like she’s doing just fine.
But the not-so-charming prince isn’t going to back off that easily…not if there’s a chance she might need him again. He’d do anything to save her. Kill for her, live for her, die for her…
Warning: This dark, twisted version of Cinderella involves demons, deceit, and desire between a princess and two sexy guardian angels, both determined to win the fair Cinderella.
Excerpt
“We’ve got to get inside tonight,” I told Ren. Halfway across the parking lot, I picked up my pace. “It’s getting darker in there. We’re going to lose more if we don’t move soon.”
There was so much life…so much emotion.
Lust. Anger. Jealousy. Need. Love. Rage. Hatred.
Emotions—uncontrolled emotions drew predators. That’s why the demons were here. Wherever there were people there would be emotion. And wherever there was emotion there would be demons.
Wherever there are demons there would be Grimms.
There would be us. Unlikely guardian angels trying to keep the unsuspecting mortals from making bad, bad and worse mistakes.
That was our job. We would do it. We would do the job. We would deal with the succubi and incubi. We would find the king or queen and eliminate them. Then Ren or I would hang around long enough to make it clear this area was now under the Circle’s watch.
If I had my way about it, it would be Ren hanging around. If at all possible, I wanted to clear the hell out the second we dealt with the king or queen.
I was planning on getting out of Ohio as quick as possible.
Maybe head for New York this time. Or Chicago—
No. Screw that. I was going to Milan. And the Circle could pick up the damn ticket, too.
I’d asked for a break and I’d ended up with an assignment instead.
They owed me that break, damn it.
I took a deep breath and glanced down at my clothes. Barbie goes badass. That was the look I’d been going for. I had on a black silk corset and, unlike some of the corsets I’d seen around lately, mine was the real thing—it pushed my boobs together and up, cinched my waist and kept my spine ramrod straight.
I was as comfortable in one as anybody could hope to be, but then again, I’d had a lot of practice. I’d grown up wearing these things when I had to—thanks to a doting father, I hadn’t spent my entire childhood in one.
But I had worn them often enough.
Never one quite like this though. Black-on-black silk brocade with blood-red lacing. I’d paired it with leather pants and heels that would break my neck—if I fell, and if I could break my neck in such a mundane manner. Which I can’t. I’d pulled my blonde hair into a high ponytail, gone a little heavy with the black eyeliner and red lipstick.
Barbie does badass, with a little bit of Dominatrix Barbie thrown in for good measure.
“You look delicious,” Ren said as he kissed one bare shoulder. “You sure you don’t have a whip lying around?”
“Oh, please.” I smirked at him and took a few seconds to adjust the bodice. I had my pendant tucked between my breasts. Wasn’t very comfortable, but I couldn’t afford to have the wrong person see it, nor could I afford to be without it. There wasn’t any room for weapons on me, but that had been intentional.
I wanted to look around this first trip in, not fight. I’d made that clear to Ren as well, but he’d have weapons on him. I knew that as sure as I knew my own name.
Still, I knew I could trust him not to draw them unless he had to.
I just hoped nobody forced his hand…or mine. I might not have weapons, but I’m pretty far from helpless.
The air closer to the building felt hot and heavy, a warning of what lay inside.
I’d known from the get-go this wouldn’t be a quick, easy job. I might have been harboring hopes, but they were dying, fading, withering away with every second I remained close to this abyss of darkness.
“Should be a piece of cake,” he had told me. Those had been my boss’s exact words.
“Will, one of these days, I’m going to kick your ass,” I said to myself.
“Hmmm?”
I shook my head. “Just grumbling about Will. The bastard had the nerve to say this should be an easy job.”
“Well, so far all I’ve done is make out with you in view of others and watch other people making out as well,” Ren shot me his trademark devilish smile and in a low voice added, “Seems remarkably easy.”
“Your luck is about to break.”
This wasn’t going to be easy. It wasn’t going to be quick. We would have to kill while we were here. Not tonight, but sometime before the job was over. I knew it as sure as I was standing there. Possession by succubi or incubi was subtle…a seduction. It started out as just a minor need. Sex—something pleasant…maybe even harmless.
But the more the victim fed that need—through sex, naturally—the stronger the hold. It was like an addiction.
In the early days it was possible to rid the victim of the demon’s presence. Possible, but not easy, and the longer it went on the harder it would become.
Sooner or later, without intervention, the demon would be in control and the need for sex would dominate over anything else. Everything else.
Either the victim literally fucked themselves to death—forgoing food, water, anything and everything that wasn’t sex. The other scenario—the need for sex became so overwhelming they lost all inhibitions and all sense of right and wrong.
I’d saved people in the past before one of the possessed could rape them.
Somebody in there was already too far gone. Either they were killing themselves without realizing it, or I’d have to kill them when they went too far. Personally, I’d rather find whoever it was and just end it now.
A waste. Such a waste. Somebody had given up everything, just for the fun of a few quick fucks.
Do I sound slightly bitter? Sorry. Can’t help it. I’d lost my rose-colored glasses a few hundred years ago. Right about the time I lost my virginity and, shortly thereafter, my Prince Charming.
“Elle.”
Speak of the devil.
I knew that voice. It was the last voice I wanted to hear right now. Unless he was saying something along the lines of, “Ow, that hurts!” as I beat him across the head with a heavy, blunt object.
I stood there, frozen. Although I didn’t want to turn and face the music, my partner had no reservations.
I dug my fingers into Ren’s arm.
Why?
Will. Damn it. He’d done this—orchestrated this. The bastard.
Schooling my features, I turned around and I’m proud to say, I didn’t feel the urge to swoon. Not even for a second.
That angel face of his hadn’t changed at all in the past three hundred years.
He looked as perfect now as he had the day he kissed me for the first time.
Heat flashed through his grass-green eyes as he studied my clothes and despite myself, my belly clenched in response. Why is it that I can barely remember the name of my father, my stepmother, my friends growing up, but I can still remember the way it felt when he made love to me the first time? It had hurt…but then, after he’d cleaned me up, he’d lain between my legs and done things to me that had left me scandalized.
I can still remember the shock. I can still remember the pleasure.
And I can still remember the pain when I discovered the following night that he was engaged to be wed.
To my sister.
“Why…if it isn’t my Prince Charming.”
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