80K to the Palace: Days Four Through Six
Sorry about that — I’ve been running around cooking and cleaning and critting and doing other stuff, and I completely forgot to update. My bad!
Days 4-6’s stats:
Words needed to stay on schedule: 7,998 words
Wrote: 8,337 words
Total word count: 16,532 words.
This is turning out to be even more fun than I thought it would be, which is good because fun = excellent word count. It’s nice seeing Danaë and Matthias six months on and settling in to life with each other, as well as their respective thrones. Now I just have to change the names up a bit because apparently some reviewers don’t know if I’m setting this in the real world or a made-up one because I’m using Greek and Belgian place names for Hellas and Ypres, and it’s confusing them.
Hint: magic users mean it’s a made-up world. Also, I was kind of in a hurry when I was writing the first book so I may have draped Belgium and Greece in fantasy garb and used them for settings. I’ll try to come up with more generic place names with Palace, I promise.
80K To The Palace: Days One Through Three
Remember my 83K or Bust marathon last September and October in order to get Empress of Storms done? That worked really well, didn’t it?
So I’m doing it again for Palace of Scoundrels. This one will be called 80K to the Palace, and the goal is to get the first draft done by July 4th, with publication ideally on July 19th. Technically it started on Sunday, so today (well, yesterday since I’m posting this on Wednesday) is Day 3. With a planned writing quota of 2,666 words a day, this should be relatively easy and give me room to finish other writing projects at the same time before they show up at my door with torches and pitchforks wanting to know where Cross Current and Do No Harm are.
Days 1-3’s stats:
Started With: 0 words
Words needed to stay on schedule: 7,998 words
Wrote: 8,195 words
Total word count: 8,195 words.
So I’m slightly ahead of the game, which is good. This, by the way, is going to be a bit more rom-com than Empress. There will still be magic, derring-do, and excitement, but there are also going to be some rather hilarious moments if things work out the way I want.
Well, well, well!
Would you just look at that!
Huge thanks to everyone who’s buying and enjoying Kel’s inaugural tale (and remember, reviews are love). I can tell you that J.T. is a VERY happy erotica writer right now, which is good because Valet’s Pleasure will be out on Tuesday and there is definitely a drive to keep this particular ball rolling.
I am grateful
An amazing number of things have happened to me professionally in the last two weeks things that have reinforced my decision to switch genres and start writing the stuff I always wanted to write. I am deeply grateful for all of these wonderful opportunities, and I want to thank each and every one of you who read my work because you’re the reason why so many good things are happening right now. You people rock.
- May 8th I signed a contract with Me and the Muse Publishing to have Trickster translated and published in German.
- May 15th held three important career milestones for me:1) For the first time in my writing career I cracked the five figure mark in writing income.
2) I cracked the five figure mark for yearly writing income.
3) I made five figures (oh, screw it — $10,000) on one title. And yes, it was Empress of Storms.
- May 16th I signed a contract with Juno Publishing to have Empress of Storms translated and published in French.
- May 18th I signed a contract with photographer Javier Cortina to use a photograph of Colby Keller from Javier’s The Legend of St. George photo shoot as the cover for my fantasy historical M/M romance The Chevalier, coming out in August.
On the verge of turning 50, I feel like my life and career are truly on track, and I’m very excited to see what the next few years bring.
Marvelous Monday Reads: Pharaoh’s Pleasure
Hello, angels, and welcome to yet another week. Let’s kick it off with newly minted M/M erotica writer J.T. Handler (I swear, I love this crazy goof — it’s like we’re twins or something) and the kickoff book in a hot, hilarious new M/M series that cheerfully romps through time in search of historical mysteries and babelicious guys (seriously, my SF writer heart is squeeing at the thought of this). I speak, of course, of the fast, funny, and pyroclastically sexy Pharaoh’s Pleasure (Pleasures in Time #1). I also know that PiT #2, Valet’s Pleasure, will come out next Monday, with a new release scheduled for each Monday running through May and June. Read on and enjoy!
Hunky grad student Kellen Fox is screwed. Forced by his horndog employer to finish a museum exhibit in a single night (or else), he stumbles across a spell hidden in a carved scarab. Little does he know that reading the spell aloud will summon the gorgeous 17th Dynasty pharaoh Senekenre from ancient Egypt.
As it turns out, Kel is the only one who can help Senekenre with a delicate problem regarding his ability to sire an heir. Kel’s more than happy to lend a hand (among other things), but rendering this assistance may well change Kel’s life forever.
Story Excerpt
Kel’s mouth went dry. “Wait. You’re telling me this Amhemnet guy used magic to send you to another time? To this time?”
Senekenre nodded. “Yes, thanks to you. I take it you invoked the spell?”
“If you mean I read it out loud, yeah. I didn’t know it was a spell.” Swallowing hard, Kel forced himself to reach out and touch Senekenre’s arm. It was warm under his fingertips. “Oh, shit,” he whispered, yanking his hand back. “I’m not hallucinating. You’re real. You’re really here!”
“Yes, I know.” Senekenre came closer. At this distance, Kel could see the dark hint of stubble under the other man’s tan skin, as well as a small scar along his jawline. “You thought I was a dream, young scholar?”
“Uh, yeah.” The logical part of Kel’s brain screamed at him to step back, get the hell away from the exhibit space and its time-traveling visitor. The rest of his brain wanted to ogle Senekenre’s broad shoulders, cut abs, and sleekly muscled legs. “I mean, we don’t get a lot of visitors from the 17th Dynasty, you know?” He realized how idiotic he sounded and flushed. “I’m sorry. This is all a big shock to me. Could we start over again, sir? Your majesty? Sire?”
“Sire will do, young scholar.” Senekenre’s head tilted to one side, openly considering him. “But what land is this, that produces such beautiful men?”
Kel’s pulse sped up at the pharaoh’s jaw-droppingly sexy smile. Aaaand the long-dead pharaoh is flirting with me. Holy shit. He couldn’t remember anything in the research materials about Senekenre being gay or bi, but that didn’t make it impossible, either. “Uh, you’re in the United States of America, sire. It’s a country far to the west of your kingdom, across a large ocean. It didn’t exist in your time.”
“Oh. And are all the men here like you?” Senekenre said, reaching out to stroke the line of Kel’s jaw. “Such pure, smooth skin, and your hair, the color of a winter sunset. If you were of my time, I would make you a member of my court, simply so that I could look upon you every day.”
Kel licked dry lips, willing his cock to behave itself. “Just look?”
Senekenre smiled. “Hmm. Perhaps … kiss?” He leaned forward, brushing his lips against Kel’s.
Where To Buy
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon AU
All Romance eBooks
About J.T. Handler
J.T. Handler was born on an off ramp of the information superhighway and chewed through the chain link fence in order to wander up and down Al Gore’s creation. Having spent the bulk of childhood determined to become a neurosurgeon, J.T. quickly realized in college that an inability to pass Organic Chem would make acceptance to med school problematic. The siren song of the English Literature major soon called and J.T. answered with a vengeance, taking up the mantle of the fiction writer. A joker, a smoker, a midnight toker, J.T. loves the open road and all the characters met along the way.
I never actually told you about the cover, did I?
D’oh. So a couple of weeks ago an insanely talented Spanish art photographer named Javier Cortina did a most spectacular photo shoot of Our Man Sans Culottes entitled The Legend of St. George (click this link to see NSFW pics). And lo, L.D. Blakeley and I did squeal about the beauty of said pics, until I said the fateful words, “That second pic, the closeup where he’s holding the sword — that would make an awesome book cover, don’t you think?”
“I do! You should contact Javier and see if you can license it!” she enthused.
“No, I can’t do that. Can I?”
Suffice it to say that an hour later I’d fired off an email to Javier asking him if he ever licensed his photographs. It turned out he did, and we’ve negotiated a deal for me to use the picture as a book cover. Herein lies a story; Javier, quite reasonably, asked me what the book was about, to which I replied, “Um…”
*thinks frantically about picture*
“…it’s about…”
*pounds head against wall until something shakes loose*
“…it’s about a fantasy world loosely based on 17th Century France where an impoverished nobleman joins the royal guard as an officer and promptly gets embroiled in palace intrigue after he discovers the handsome young man he was flirting with at a masked ball is the Crown Prince, who is being blackmailed by a foreign ambassador. I’m calling it The Chevalier.”
I swear to God, I have no idea where this stuff comes from.
And She Returns…
My goodness, I haven’t posted anything since before RT, have I? Bad romance writer, NO new MacBook Pro!
No, seriously, no new MacBook Pro. I was going to buy one this weekend with my royalties because my existing laptop is 1) over eight years old and 2) was a refurb when I bought it, but as it turns out I need to use my income for other writing-related expenses — namely, a cover (more about that later), sponsorship and attendance for Wild Wicked Weekend, and to pay off my half of an upcoming trip.
So the new laptop will have to wait another month. Which sort of sucks, but that’s adulting for you.
Anyway, back to RT — I decided to drive from Dallas to Vegas instead of flying because I was in the mood for a roadtrip (and er, I had a lot of shit to bring). Said road trip was gorgeous, and I learned that it is geographically noticeable when you cross from Texas into New Mexico and New Mexico into Arizona. At the TX/NM border the landscape immediately changes from flat plains to gorgeously colored mesas, and at the NM/AZ border it immediately turns into scrubby desert with the occasional mountain until you get to Flagstaff, at which point you’re definitely in the mountains. Lovely, and I’d like to do it again with Ramón if possible.
Vegas itself is the neon-lit adult funland that it’s always been, so no real news there. The Rio was perfectly serviceable as a hotel, although I did hear that the route from the hotel rooms to the conference area was referred to as “the Hallway of Doom” due to its distance. Let’s just say that I hit 10K steps on four different days and leave it at that. Much fun was had with the lovely LD Blakeley as my roommate, and we attended some nifty panels, hung out with great folks like Kenna Nauenberg and Alex Gordon, and of course attended the amazing Cirque du Punk party on Friday night.
Kenna, LD, and myself. I was yelping, “I have a waist, I have a waist!” when LD was lacing me up.
Lady Amphitrite before the nails and corset went on, because those were saved for last, you betcha.
Two erotic romance writers loose in Vegas. I’m surprised we didn’t get into more trouble.
Competing in the CdP costume contest (picture courtesy of Michael Patrick Gleason). I cannot adequately express how much I love this costume.
The other big event of RT for me was the Book Fair on Saturday. I didn’t sell a lot, but I did get to see sights like this:
My life is so hard.
Sunday was spent tidying up, trying to get everything packed (or in LD’s case cursing UPS for their extortionate charges to ship stuff to Canada), and hanging out with fellow Evernight author Khloe Wren and awesome cover model Michael Gleason:
After this LD and I looked at each other, said, “Let’s get out of the hotel for a bit,” and went for a cruise up and down the Las Vegas strip during which we spotted many crimes against good taste, what we suspect is a genuine murder hotel, and a gigantic and truly scary gift shop.
The next day I dropped LD off at the airport and headed home (including a white-knuckle drive during a severe thunderstorm in the Texas Panhandle) to get back to work on all the WIPs I need to finish toot sweet. I also tried to finish a short story for Evernight’s Dark Captive anthology, but the damn thing blew up on me and turned into a short novel. So, um, yeah, look for Do No Harm this summer from Belaurient Press!
In other publishing news, I sold the German language translation of Trickster to Me and the Muse Publishing in Germany, I’m currently waiting on a decision from Juno Publishing in France as to whether they want to publish Empress of Storms in French, and a very good friend of mine will be releasing a hot and hilarious new M/M erotic novelette on Tuesday which I will be helping out with on promo (trust me, you want to read this). The current work queue includes (counts on fingers) Cross Current (Olympic Cove #4), Behind the Iron Cross, Prince of Scoundrels (Two Thrones #2), Do No Harm, and Trickster: All In. That should be enough to keep me going for a couple of months, don’t you think?
Marvelous Monday Reads: Clouded Hell
Welcome to another edition of Marvelous Monday Reads, pumpkins! Today I’m featuring J.R. Gray and his deliciously depraved new erotic romance, Clouded Hell. Take it away, J.R.!
I survive on avoidance. Physical pain to avoid the mental. Disposable flesh to avoid relationships. Work to avoid attachment. My club became my empire of avoidance. Inside the ring millions are won and lost. The fight is confined to breaths, actions and reactions, fists and pain. Rules don’t exist. Only my opponent exists.
I’d been avoiding my needs for far too long when Remi stumbles into the Inferno and I’m hungry. The promise of a submissive with no attachment is far too tempting. I can’t resist him. He was only supposed to be a distraction, but I know I’ll never get over him. There isn’t a chance in this clouded hell.
Story Excerpt
If I hadn’t seen the video of the fight, I wouldn’t have believed it. I clicked the button on my laptop to rewind it, to see the way his body moved. I gripped myself through my shorts and glanced over at Kai. He was busy inking a full back piece, and I doubted he’d even take a break for another hour. He couldn’t see me from where I sat. It would be so easy.
I trailed my fingers over the places Dante had left marks. I could almost taste them, even if the bruises had faded. I’d looked at them in the mirror over my bed and fucked my hand every night since I’d left. I groaned as I slipped my hand into my shorts.
I squeezed my shaft, digging my nails into the sensitive skin. I had to bite back a hiss of pain. Kai could easily walk out and see me. The rooms in the shop were three-quarter walls to divide the space with wide open doorways. Maybe I wanted to be caught. I kicked my feet out, watching a bead of sweat drip down Dante’s neck. When he threw a punch his muscles tightened, and it took me back to him swinging his belt. The sound of his fist hitting flesh was close, so close, to the way the leather sounded against mine.
I shouldn’t be imagining him touching me, but it was impossible not to. I wanted his hands on me. I wanted him to mark me with them. I was hit with the sudden realization he’d been acting when he was in the ring with me. He hadn’t even gone at half speed. He was a monster when he fought. It took every ounce of self-control I had to keep from getting up and into my Jeep to drive to the airport.
I used my free hand to unbutton my shorts and slide down my zipper, freeing my cock.
Where to Buy
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Print
Goodreads
About J.R. Gray
When not staying up all night writing, J.R. Gray can be found at the gym where it’s half assumed he is a permanent resident to fulfill his self-inflicted masochism. A dominant and a pilot, Gray finds it hard to be in the passenger seat of any car. He frequently interrupts real life, including normal sleep patterns and conversations, to jot down notes or plot bunnies. Commas are the bane of his existence even though it’s been fully acknowledged they are necessary, they continue to baffle and bewilder. If Gray wasn’t writing…well, that’s not possible. The buildup of untold stories would haunt Gray into an early grave, insanity or both. The idea of haunting has always appealed to him. J.R. Gray is genderqueer and prefers he/him pronouns.
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Nicola’s Sunday Shoutout: L.D. Blakeley
Woohoo! Happy Sunday, and I am delighted to have my fellow writer and partner in crime L.D. Blakeley on the blog today to talk about her awesome new erotic romance Parker’s Profile, now available from Evernight and other online retailers of fine erotic romance. Take it away, L.D.!
Thanks so much for having me on your blog today to talk about Parker’s Profile! I can’t wait for everyone to meet Parker and Lane as I’ve become quite fond of them since the day they sprang to life.
The boys first appeared to me last December when a certain viral video was making the rounds. You know the one I’m talking about. The one where the impossibly beautiful Brock O’Hurn teaches the ridiculously adorable Zach Kornfeld how to be sexy? Yep, that video. And because it’s the way my brain works, my first thought was, “oh, what if it were two slightly different men in that situation?” And thus sprang forth my story idea.
And, while I did envision Zach and Brock initially, it didn’t take long before Parker and Lane were two fully-formed characters with their own ideas about how their story needed to be told. So I listened. And I hope you enjoy.
Parker Knowles needs a date. No, really. If he can’t find one by Valentine’s Day, he’s agreed to let his sister fix him up. And quite frankly, he’d rather chew off his own arm than go out with someone of his sister’s choosing.
Internet phenom, Lane Steadman, has offered to show Parker the art of the perfect selfie. After all, an outstanding dating profile is useless without a topnotch photo, right?
Can love really be found on the Internet? Or is a real-world connection closer to Parker than he thinks?
Excerpt
“What we need to do is get you wet.”
“Pardon?” Parker squawked.
“Yeah. Aside from that video Seth posted, my most popular pics are the ones at the beach or in a pool,” Lane explained.
There’s a shocker, Parker thought.
“I smelled chlorine in the lobby. I’m assuming there’s a pool in your building?” the other man continued.
“Yeah, there is, but…”
“Perfect.” Lane hopped up and slid his phone into his back pocket, giving Parker both the means and opportunity to ogle. And ogle, he did.
Until he realized Lane meant to take pictures of him in a bathing suit, and all ogling ground to a screeching halt. Oh, hell no
“I’m not sure if it’s such a good idea,” was what he actually said.
“What’s not a good idea?” With perfect timing, Seth strolled into the living room and handed them both a beer.
“Me posing in a pool.” Parker searched for a reason that wasn’t I don’t want to pop a boner near Lane that I can’t hide in a bathing suit.
“Maybe being in the pool will relax you,” Lane added. “Because I don’t think the beer is doing the trick.”
Parker knew the gorgeous man was trying to be helpful. Reluctantly, he nodded.
“Fine. Can I grab my trunks first?”
“Unless you’d prefer to be naked.” Lane winked and Parker felt his kneecaps liquefy.
He knew Lane hadn’t intended to come across as flirtatious. Unfortunately, his brain was having a tough time comprehending that. Pull yourself together, you drooling idiot. This guy is doing you a favor. The least you can do is behave like a sane, rational adult.
Too bad his id was projecting horny, teenage boy.
Pushing aside his inappropriate and misplaced lust, Parker headed into his bedroom and quickly changed his clothes, swapping out boxer briefs for swim trunks. He could do this.
As he headed back into the living room, he grabbed the security swipe card off the key rack by the door. “Okay, let’s get it over with.”
Lane and Seth followed behind Parker and kept up a constant chatter as the three of them rode the elevator to the lobby. Parker waved a quick hello to a neighbor as they exited and made their way toward the pool. When he heard voices coming from the direction of their final destination, however, he started to have second (and possibly third and fourth) thoughts.
“There’s people in there.” He faltered outside the glass doors that led to the pool. “Maybe this isn’t such a good—”
“Nope.” Seth grabbed the swipe card from Parker. “You’re not bailing on this.”
“M’not bailing. Just … can we do it when there’s nobody around?” He was prepared to start begging when the two older gentlemen who had been swimming laps, climbed out of the pool and started gathering up their belongings.
Seth had already unlocked the door and was holding it open for Parker and Lane to join him on the deck of the now-empty pool. “C’mon, stud. Let’s take some pictures.”
“Oh God.” Parker cringed at Seth’s choice of words. As they made their way around the perimeter of the pool, he looked to Lane, who had his phone out and looked keen to get started.
“Should I just…”
“Strip, baby.” Lane’s eyes crinkled in mirth as his mouth curved into a wicked grin.
“I hate you both,” Parker muttered as he fumbled with the buttons on his shirt.
Where to Buy
Amazon
All Romance eBooks
Barnes & Noble
BookStrand
Evernight Publishing
iTunes
Kobo
About L.D. Blakeley
L.D. Blakeley is a pragmatist with a romantic soul & a dirty mind who’s a fan of horror movies, hot sex, and happily ever afters. Easily distracted by shiny things, L.D. is a slightly neurotic, highly ambitious dreamer who enjoys dabbling in photography & pretending she can carry a tune.
In another life, L.D. was a newspaper reporter, an entertainment & music writer, travel writer, website content editor, and a marketing shill. Now she prefers to spend her time writing hot, steamy fiction (with a healthy dose of romance) about intriguing, sexy men.
Although she dreams of living some place isolated with an endless supply of wine and an infinite number of titles on her eReader, she currently lives in downtown Toronto with her husband and their rock star cat.
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Mermaid crown progress pics
It’s official — I love Worbla thermoplastic because this shit is da BOMB. I deliberately wanted the crown to look a bit rough and organic (twisted spines between the fins, etc.) so I didn’t worry too much about smoothing out the surface apart from a layer of wood glue. If you do want a smooth surface you can use wood glue, gesso, or air-drying clay (NOT SCULPEY — you bake this and the entire thing will melt), or apply some craft foam instead. Tried it on and loved it. Loved it even more when I put on a layer of gold paint in the garage and it looked like gold foil. Yay!
If there’s another costume event next year, I’m going as Lady Amphitrite again, but I’m going in her battle gear. Hee, hee, hee…
Nicola Cameron Writes 