Six Sentence Sunday ~ Wild West Weekend ~ 1 (#sixsunday @6_Sunday)

#1 of Six Sentences over six weeks from 'Wild West Weekend.'

     Desire coiled low in her stomach, bunched into a tight ball. She purred quietly to herself. Maybe she’d see about a weekend fling with the ranch hand. A bit of a scratch for my little itch. And wouldn’t it be nice if the ranch hand was actually Dakota? A soft snicker followed the purr.

For more, on 'Wild West Weekend' - coming soon from Evernight Publishing - visit: http://doubledranchtales.blogspot.com/ & for other Six Sentence participants visit: http://www.sixsunday.com/

Saturday Snapshots ~ Misc pics (#vegas #lasvegas)

Snapshots of Las Vegas through a resident's perspective.
Here are this week's pics...

Spoon player at http://www.hofbrauhauslasvegas.com/

Outside Excalibur http://www.excalibur.com/

Down at the Fremont Street Experience http://www.vegasexperience.com/

As always, I appreciate your comments and if there's something you'd like to see, let me know!
Happy reading,
C.R. Moss

Welcome special guest: author Callie Croix (@CallieCroix)

     Thanks very much to CR Moss for having me here today! Let’s see, where to start this tale of how I fell to the dark side...
     I started writing erotic romance on a dare from my other pen name’s editor, and with a little push from her friend that came with her to the Wild Rose Press’s author retreat in Texas last year. *glares at CR* (It’s all your fault!) {Yep. I remember how we took your hand, crooked our fingers and said ‘Come hither,’ enticing you over to the dark side. ;) }
 


     From that trip, and with some suggestions from CR Moss, Callie Croix was born. As it turned out, she liked writing steamy romance far too much. In fact, I’ve now got five books contracted under that name, while my other pen name’s projects languish away in a dusty file on my hard drive. Writing smut is so much more fun! Lol. {Isn’t it! & now you’re enjoying every minute of it, aren’t you. *snicker*}




     My first release as Callie comes out today, and it’s called Deacon’s Touch. It’s set on the very ranch I visited in Texas last year, and it features an ex-Special Ops hero, since I just can’t shake my love for those guys. What can I say? They’re hot. {& the heroes you create in your stories are hot, too!}

~ Blurb ~
     After her own engagement goes to hell, workaholic Jessica

Talbot dreads her friend’s bachelorette party at a dude ranch in Nowheresville, Texas. But the outlook for the weekend brightens when Deacon Dumen picks her up at the airport. The sexy cowboy awakens every dormant sexual fantasy with nothing more than a friendly smile and a handshake.
     Ex-Air Force Pararescueman Deke Dumen doesn’t know what to make of the sexy yet reserved brunette who breaks through the walls he built after an injury ended his career and a divorce soured him on relationships. As a guest at his family's ranch Jessie is off limits, but the Dom in him rebels at the restriction, even as he realizes his penchant for control in the bedroom would likely scare the holy hell out of her.
     When Jessie shocks Deke by asking for exactly what he's been craving, he's ready to break the rules and introduce her to his own brand of dominance. Her willing surrender rocks them both to the core. But once the weekend's over, they must decide if it was just a wild fling or the start of something more.

~ Excerpt ~
     “But what?” He could barely get the words out.
     Her eyes searched his. “You wouldn’t…hurt me.”
     He imagined the thoughts running through that pretty head. No doubt she wondered whether he got off on tying his partners up and whipping them raw. He swallowed a laugh. “No. But I’ll push your boundaries.” It was how he was wired.
     Her sigh of relief tightened something inside him. The interest and growing need in her eyes sparked something far more primal and possessive.
     Without warning, the dark hunger he’d held at bay swept over him in a powerful wave, making him light-headed with the need to take her. Testing her resolve, he closed his hands around her slender wrists and held them to the bar top as he bent to taste the skin beneath her right ear. Her swift intake of breath made his cock surge.
     He kissed the fragile pulse point, savoring the frantic beat of her blood beneath his lips for a moment before nipping gently. She jerked in his hold and made a little sound of arousal when he soothed the tiny sting away with his tongue. A tremor rolled through her body, goose bumps breaking out across her smooth skin. Then slowly she let her head tip back a few inches, offering her throat.
     The subconscious surrender in the movement made his heart pound. He hoped the hell she understood what she was signing up for, because he was more than ready to deliver.
     He could feel the tension gripping her body as he held her there, trailing feather-light kisses across her jaw to the corner of his mouth. Keeping her hands in place to introduce her to the sensation of being restrained, he hovered a breath away from her tempting lips. And waited.
     A moment later, she closed her eyes and turned her head to kiss him. A slow mingling of lips and tongue, as addictive as a drug. She softened, yielded. Her timid, yet sensual response went to his head like a fifth of whiskey. Before he could take things further, he pulled back. When she opened her eyes and gazed up at him in silent question, he released her wrists and stepped away. “Let’s go,” he said in a rough voice.
     She straightened slowly, watching him with equal parts arousal and indecision. Deke held out his hand and waited. Her gaze slid down to his palm, and he could feel her struggling with herself. She studied his hand, and he knew she was taking in its size, how much stronger it was than hers. What his control over her would mean during sex. If she put her hand in his, she was his for the night.
     Meeting his eyes, she finally lifted her hand and settled it on his palm. Her skin was cool and soft, delicate compared to his. Something to be treasured. He closed his fingers around hers and squeezed, her need and unspoken trust in him easing something in his chest.
     Oh, sugar. You’re mine.
     Without a word, he turned and guided her out of the bar.


I’m giving away a copy of Deacon’s Touch here on CR’s blog, so please leave me a comment to be entered into the contest. And CR—thanks for giving me that final shove over to the dark side! I like it over here. {& we like having you here…bwahh, ha, ha… Thanks for being here today! :* }

Happy reading,
Callie Croix
www.calliecroix.com

Six Sentence Sunday ~ Dirty Little Slayer ~ 6 ( #sixsunday )

Six Sentences over six weeks from my recent release 'Dirty Little Slayer'


"You would really encourage her to have an affair? To cheat on me?"

"You're kidding, right?"

He shook his head.

"Who cheated on who first here? Umm, I believe you made the first move in the cheating game with that Sasha chick."


For more, on 'Dirty Little Slayer' and the other 'Dirty Little' books, find them at: http://www.crmoss.net/AlternativeBooks.htm & for other Six Sentence participants visit: http://www.sixsunday.com/


Next week I’ll start a new six week period of six sentences for my next release (co-authored with RM Sotera) Wild West Weekend.

Leading into the next 6 sentences for six sentence Sunday...

For Six Sentence Sunday, I’m sharing an excerpt from my story ‘Dirty Little Slayer’ over the course of five weeks. The first week (7/17) of what I call my “six sentences over six weeks” was from a different part of the book where Jay, the demon-slaying heroine, is exploring her feelings for a demon. Then, the next five weeks of the six are from later in the story when Jay is speaking to her best friend’s fiancé (Jett) about his skewed set of principles. (the * denotes a paragraph)

7/24: * Jett tossed her a quick glare. His features hardened again. "Gotcha. So where's my girl?"

* Here we go. She gave him a quick once over, making sure he didn't have any weapons on him. "Well, she's with an old friend of mine."
7/31: * "This friend isn't a male, is he?"

* The question piqued her. Double standards much? "And what if the friend is a male? Who are you to talk?" She poked him in the chest, made sure her words were clear, concise and curt.
8/7: (Jay is still speaking) "Banging another woman with your fiancée there? Then not even letting her participate because you're too into the slut? Yeah, I wouldn't blame Sophia a bit if she's banging Laurent seven ways to Sunday and enjoying every minute of it. If she were here, I'd give her my blessing and say go for it."

* "Laurent? Not Laurent Bouvier, the vampire?"
8/14: (Jett’s still speaking) "…The man who owns this place?"

* "The one and only." Jay leaned back, smug and content that she'd nicked Jett's steely façade.

* "Damn." He ran a hand through his hair, messing up his locks. Turning a worried gaze her way, he frowned.

For the end of the excerpt, look for “Six Sentence Sunday ~ Dirty Little Slayer ~ 6” coming up in the next several minutes.

Saturday Snapshots ~ Mirage ~ 5

Snapshots of Las Vegas through a resident's perspective.
Here are this week's pics...
Outside the Mirage on the strip...

As always, I appreciate your comments and if there's something you'd like to see, let me know!
Happy reading,
C.R. Moss

Welcome special guest: author Lisabet Sarai

Foreign Affairs By Lisabet Sarai
     I want to start by thanking C.R. for giving me the opportunity to meet some of her readers here at her blog. I thought I'd use this chance to talk about one of my life's passions - travel - and how it relates to my writing.
     Anyone who's even slightly familiar with me or my writing knows that I'm a travel junkie. I've been to every continent except Australia and Antarctica. I'd rather take a trip than own a car, or a house, or a fancy smart phone, and my husband feels the same way. Nothing turns us on like the chance to set foot in a new country and experience a new culture.
     Needless to say, my travel mania spills over into my fiction. I've set novels in Thailand (Raw Silk), England (Ruby's Rules), and Guatemala (Serpent's Kiss). My short stories might take you to Prague, Provence, Amsterdam, Laos, London, or Bangkok, not to mention New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Minneapolis or Omaha, Nebraska. (Hey, exoticism is in the eye of the beholder!)
     Muse It Hot Publishing recently released another of my travel tales, this one set in Cambodia, among the ruins of Angkor. Citadel of Women draws heavily on my memories of the voyage we took half a dozen years ago to see the fabled remnants of the great Khmer empire. The plot and the characters are purely imaginary, but the tropical landscapes and the marvelous sights come from my own experience.

     Citadel of Women is a cross-cultural love story, though not, strictly speaking, a romance. Doa George is a bisexual New Yorker who's never visited Asia. When her female lover severs their relationship just before a long-planned trip to Angkor Wat, Doa stubbornly decides to travel alone. The magnificent temples and palaces from the long-lost Khmer civilization do little to heal the rift in her heart. Che, the mercurial young man serving as her tour guide, senses her loneliness and offers her comfort and passion. Their connection is far more than physical – but how can two people from such different worlds have a future?
     The path along which Che leads Doa and her fellow tour members mirrors my own steps. He starts at the gates of Angkor Thom, a moated metropolis that in the thirteenth century was the largest urban center in the world, with more than a million inhabitants. Images of the founder, King Jayavarman VII, adorn the city gates, which are precisely aligned to the points of the compass.

     Within the precincts, both we and Doa visit the ruined Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King, the state temples of Phimeanakas and Baphuon, and the magnificent Bayon temple, adorned with dozens of serene faces simultaneously representing both the Buddha and great King himself.

     Of course the most famous and imposing edifice in the region is the enormous Angkor Wat complex. Doa visits it at dawn, following decades of tourist tradition. My husband refused to get up that early, especially when he felt the only reason to do so was the fact that this was what everyone else was doing. (He's definitely not a morning person and a bit of a rebel besides.) Even at the respectable hour of ten AM, the temple was amazing.

     The heart of my tale, though, unfolds in the lovely temple of Banteay Srey, a thirty minute drive from Siem Reap (the modern town closest to Angkor). This monument was perhaps my favorite sight on the trip.  The temple has been dubbed the "Citadel of Women" because it is fashioned of warm pink sandstone, rather than the cold gray granite of most other Angkor edifices, and because it is decorated with many sculptures and reliefs of buxom goddesses (asparas and devatas).

     Unlike the massive buildings closer to Angkor Thom, Banteay Srey was built to a smaller scale - a woman's scale. It features gloriously detailed carvings and lovely, graceful towers.

     My goal in writing Citadel of Women was to lead my readers on a dual journey: a real world trip to view one of the wonders of the world, and a voyage into the heart. It's a story about love and loss, about passion and the distance even the most intense emotional and physical connections cannot bridge. If you're interested, you can read a PG-rated excerpt at http://www.lisabetsarai.com/citadelex.html. The story itself is sexually explicit but a far cry from the playful free-for-all you'll find in some erotica (including my own). If I've succeeded in my intentions, Citadel of Women will both excite and move you. And it might just make you want to embark on some foreign adventures of your own.
     Thanks again, C.R., for having me by! For more about me, my work, my travels and my peculiarities, please visit my website, Lisabet's Fantasy Factory (http://www.lisabetsarai.com) and my blog, Beyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com).
     ~ Lisabet Sarai

Welcome special guest: author David M. Brown (@elenchera)

 Today we have author, David M. Brown, visiting. Welcome!
David was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and first began writing at college in 1999. He’s spent more than a decade working on the history of Elenchera, which now comprises twenty-three lands, 500+ maps and 47,000+ years of events.

* So, David, what inspired you to become a writer?
In 1999 I first discovered the RPG series Final Fantasy on the Playstation and fell in love with the games, their characters, stories and worlds immediately. They introduced me to Norse mythology which I soon lost myself in for months. When I emerged from months of Viking myths and Final Fantasy campaigning I decided I wanted to write my own fantasy and soon after the world of Elenchera was born.
* When did you attempt your first story? What length was it? What's become of it?
The earliest story I can recall was in primary school and was about a group of travelers on a stagecoach. I remember it being quite a long story so maybe 2-3,000 words and it brings back memories of my feeble knowledge of history at the time. I asked my primary teacher if the travelers in my story could bump into Romans and she smiled politely and said no! I’m not sure what became of that story but if it’s been incinerated or something I won’t lose any sleep about it!
* How many stories did you complete before you sold your first?
Yikes! That’s an awkward one! Having taken the decision to self-publish I suppose I technically haven’t sold a story! I had around seven short stories completed before Fezariu’s Epiphany was self-published in May 2011.
* What genre(s) do you write in? What drew you to write in it/them? What’s your favorite genre of all to write in?
I generally write in the fantasy genre though the novels I’m producing are more sagas than traditional fantasy tales. This has been my favourite genre for a long time and there was no question about me writing fantasy when I first set out to be a writer. I was drawn by the challenge of creating my own world and setting my own rules. Elenchera has been hard work but it’s been rewarding.
* What are the best and worst pieces of writing advice you ever received?
The best advice came at the end of secondary school when my English teacher saw potential in the poetry and prose I had written for my GCSEs and told me never to give up on them. It was sound advice indeed as a year later I started writing. The worst advice was also at secondary school. Struggling to think of an idea for a short story a fellow student told me, like him, to write about space marines from the world of Warhammer 40,000. He dismissed me when I chose to write a story about a caged animal instead. Good thing really. He got a C and I got an A!
* How do you celebrate/deal with acceptance/rejection letters?
Having gone down the road of self-publishing I no longer have to worry about them! Previously I have had rejection letters for earlier books/stories and they used to bother me at first. Today, whenever I get feedback from readers or reviewers I will spend time assessing the remarks, whether positive or negative. The good things people like I want to retain and the bad bits I want to avoid in my next novel, A World Apart. I welcome feedback from everyone and although no writer can ever satisfy every single person I’m not the sort to only listen to the comments that are positive.
* In regard to the book you’re promoting, which actor and actress do you envision playing the roles of your hero and heroine? If there’s a villain or other characters who are pertinent to the story, who would play those parts?

That’s a great question. I hope Hollywood’s directors are reading this! I suppose an actor like Jake Gyllenhaal would make a great Fezariu. His performances in Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain were exceptional and he could get to the heart of Fezariu. Drew Barrymore would make a good Alycea, Fezariu’s companion from childhood who he maintains a tenuous link to through annual letters. John Malkovich would make a great villain in the form of the brothel owner, Vincent Birchill, whose misogyny and malevolence manages to ruin countless lives.
* The book you’re promoting, is it a stand-alone story or part of a series? If it’s part of a series, please list the order the books need to be read in for maximum reading enjoyment.
I’ve had some readers and reviewers ask about a sequel but Fezariu’s Epiphany is very much a stand-alone novel. I may tackle a series at a later date with other ideas from Elenchera but my preference will be self-contained stories set in different periods of Elenchera’s history which will enlighten different parts of the very busy timelines. I can say for certain that there will be no more novels featuring Fezariu, his story is fully told with this book and it’s been a pleasure bringing his tale to life.
*** Now for some fun info… ***
* Are you a cat, dog or both kind of person?
Growing up my family had a gorgeous English sheepdog, Suzy, who was sadly put to sleep on my first day at secondary school. Dogs had always been favoured in my family but when I met my wife, Donna, we adopted two rescue cats – Kain and Razz. Our household has since extended to six cats with one-eyed Buggles, Charlie, and two Norwegian Forest cats – Bilbo and Frodo – joining the ranks. I have a soft spot for dogs and cats but at this moment in time I’m more a cat person!
* What’s your favorite day of the week?
I’ll go for Friday. Although much of it is spent at work it’s the last day of the week so the atmosphere is always more pleasant and when you enter Friday night it’s a really great feeling knowing you have the weekend ahead of you. After a few days of abstinence, I’ll treat myself to a beer or whisky on Friday and Saturday nights and can get some serious writing sessions under my belt at the same time. A good day all round!
* If you were stranded on a desert island and were only allowed to have five modern conveniences with you, what would they be?
I love the desert island question. I would take my laptop, my Kindle, the TV, a DVD player and one of the games consoles. I’d like to say cooker or microwave but I’m no longer having access to any supermarkets so would make so with campfires and hopefully the island would have plenty of fruit as well.

*** About David’s book… ***

Interesting fact: When I started writing Fezariu’s Epiphany, I was working in an office and had given a colleague, Donna, some of my writing to read, even though I hardly knew her.  She wasn’t shy about her feedback!  Anyway, in the time it took to write and edit Fezariu, this hardly known colleague has gone from colleague, to friend, to girlfriend, to fiance, to wife!  Is she any softer with her feedback?  No!  If anything, she’s even harder on me now!
Tagline: ‘A young boy faces betrayal; a grown man carries a heart of stone’
Blurb: The story revolves around the main character, Fezariu, who suffers a betrayal as a young boy that leads him to turn his back on his family. He joins the Merelax Mercenaries, convinced that their way of life will offer him a way to avoid any ties and leave his past firmly behind. In his quest to prove himself, he is forced to forge new alliances in order to survive the dangerous assignments in the colonies but works hard to distance himself emotionally. Despite his determined focus to move on his thoughts are constantly drawn back to Clarendon where the White Oak, an infamous brothel, holds the secret to his past and the childhood friend he abandoned still remains.
Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Fezarius-Epiphany-ebook/dp/B00515BM9W

***Find David here***

Website: The Elencheran Chronicles - http://elenchera.com

Blog: The World According to Dave - http://blog.elenchera.com

Twitter: @elenchera - http://twitter.com/elenchera

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fezariu
Book Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgcNNLMBvY

Thank you for joining us here today, David! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your work. And, what a wonderful story about you and your wife!

David will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate! Follow the tour and comment. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. Tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2011/06/virtual-book-tour-fezarius-epiphany-by.html.

~ BACK OF BOOK ~
     The White Oak, Clarendon’s oldest brothel, lured and destroyed men by the thousands. Fezariu was different. He had never been drawn by the White Oak’s vices but the brothel had still ruined him when he was just a boy.
     Salvation came in the form of the Merelax Mercenaries – Elenchera’s most prestigious hired hands. They gave Fezariu the chance to escape from his past. Immersed in the world of dangerous assignments in the colonies Fezariu longed to forget everything about his childhood but only in facing the past would he ever be free of it.
     RRP: £9.99/$14.99 (paperback), $4.99 (ebook)
~ EXCERPT ~
     The White Oak betrayed the impact of the stranglehold of time. The once pristine sign above the main entrance had faded, while the outer walls were cracked and filthy, their once white coat blemished and degraded. Nonetheless, the clattering of glasses, raucous laughter and jovial music still flowed from the open windows out onto the filthy streets.
     Across the street from the White Oak, Fezariu stood with one hand resting on the wall of a derelict house, his eyes were locked on the door of the White Oak and his mind was reliving that fateful day when he had seen his mother entertaining the patrons. She had pushed him aside then, defined the worthlessness that had consumed his very essence until he stumbled upon the path of salvation that led him to Merelax Island and to the mercenaries.
     The last time Fezariu had seen the White Oak he had been nothing to his mother, nothing to anyone, but now things were different. He had changed his life around, he was successful now, respected by his peers and finally of some value. With the weight of achievement supporting him, Fezariu finally had the reason and purpose to come back to the White Oak, to prove to his mother what he had done with his life; that he had thrived without her love and without her help. Today he would dictate the exchange between them, show Wild Jessamine that she was just another whore to him and not his mother. As a child, Jessamine had looked down on Fezariu and cast him aside as she would stained garments, but now Fezariu would tower above her and make her feel the same worthlessness he had.

Six Sentence Sunday ~ Dirty Little Slayer ~ 5 ( #sixsunday )

Six Sentences over six weeks from my recent release 'Dirty Little Slayer'

"…The man who owns this place?"

"The one and only." Jay leaned back, smug and content that she'd nicked Jett's steely façade.

"Damn." He ran a hand through his hair, messing up his locks. Turning a worried gaze her way, he frowned.


For more, on 'Dirty Little Slayer' and the other 'Dirty Little' books, find them at: http://www.crmoss.net/AlternativeBooks.htm & for other Six Sentence participants visit: http://www.sixsunday.com/

Leading into the next 6 sentences for six sentence Sunday...

For Six Sentence Sunday, I’m sharing an excerpt from my story ‘Dirty Little Slayer’ over the course of five weeks. The first week (7/17) of what I call my “six sentences over six weeks” was from a different part of the book where Jay, the demon-slaying heroine, is exploring her feelings for a demon. Then, the next five weeks of the six are from later in the story when Jay is speaking to her best friend’s fiancé (Jett) about his skewed set of principles. (the * denotes a paragraph)

7/24: * Jett tossed her a quick glare. His features hardened again. "Gotcha. So where's my girl?"

* Here we go. She gave him a quick once over, making sure he didn't have any weapons on him. "Well, she's with an old friend of mine."
7/31: * "This friend isn't a male, is he?"

* The question piqued her. Double standards much? "And what if the friend is a male? Who are you to talk?" She poked him in the chest, made sure her words were clear, concise and curt.
8/7: * "Banging another woman with your fiancée there? Then not even letting her participate because you're too into the slut? Yeah, I wouldn't blame Sophia a bit if she's banging Laurent seven ways to Sunday and enjoying every minute of it. If she were here, I'd give her my blessing and say go for it."

* "Laurent? Not Laurent Bouvier, the vampire?"

For the continuation of the excerpt, look for “Six Sentence Sunday ~ Dirty Little Slayer ~ 5” coming up in the next several minutes.