Sunday, November 30, 2008

Just In Time For Christmas

As many of you may know, author Jo Leigh lost her husband this year to cancer. Theirs was a story of reunited lovers worthy of a romance novel. The loss of her husband hit her hard, both emotionally and financially. (authors are self-employed, so often have no medical insurance.)

In an effort to raise money to help her pay off those medical debts, the romance community has once again banded together and an auction is being held. Check out all the wonderful items here: http://www.forjoleigh.com
Just imagine what great Christmas presents these items would make!

There are autographed books, fun items, and lots of critiques being offered by published authors, agents, and editors, including some of the authors here at Authors After Dark! :)

So check out the auction and be sure to spread the word to any loops, groups, or blogs you might be on.

Now, go forth and bid! *g*

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving and Squeeeee!



I had this wonderful post all planned out about sex and paranormal romance and then the mailman delivered a box and all I can do is Squeeeee!

You see my print copies of Pentacles of Magick arrived in the mail, which I thought would be no big deal. I was wrong. While I have had a few print anthologies come out this is my first all ME book. LOL

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I've got one here on my desk and I can't stop looking at it. I've been so anxious for them to get here since I have a book signing the first Saturday in December that I didn't even take the time how it would feel to finally have them in my hands. It was a tearful moment.

Honestly November has been so busy, I haven't thought about hardly a thing except the book i'm writing. I'm doing NaNo, which is National Novel writing month that challenges writers to write 50,000 words in one month. I'm at 40k with 4 days to go and i'm still trying to make it. Or more importantly I am trying to finish Book 2 in my catshifter series that will debut in January. My editor threw me a curve ball this week by sending me some copy edits on Book 1 that are due back in just a few days but I am still determined to win NaNo, finish my book and turn in my copy edits on time.

Here is a peek at the January book with cover and blurb.

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***

Kira MacDonald is in trouble. Plagued by false visions and erotic dreams of a man she’s never met, she fears losing both her psychic powers and her sanity. The cure? Finding and bonding with her mate. The stubborn red-haired warrior might not want one, but fate has other plans, plans that include her rescuing Lucas Gunn.

As the Guardian of his shape-shifting clan, Lucas Gunn lived a quiet, solitary life. Until he was kidnapped, examined, and tortured. Now imprisoned, his only tie to the outside world is the memory of his dreams and the passionate woman who appears in them. He thought she was nothing more than a vision. Then she came for him.

An uneasy alliance, a mating call that won’t be denied, rituals that must be honored, and unrelenting enemies who will stop at nothing to get what they want. It all comes together in the first of Eliza Gayle’s sensational Black Cougar Series. Passion and pride. Duty and danger. In the end, there’s really only one choice…for Lucas.

***

2009 is shaping up to be a pretty exciting year but today I am thinking about 2008 and all that I am thankful for. It is Thanksgiving after all. I've got the turkey in the oven and i'm writing in between cooking. It feels good to be alive and surrounded by my family who supports me during these crazy times of intense writing and deadlines.

I truly hope wherever you are and whatever your circumstances that you have a wonderful holiday and take a few moments out of the busy day to be thankful for the good things in life no matter how dark things may seem.

Have a good one!

Eliza

Monday, November 24, 2008

Winners

Okay, I have the winners of the bookmarks:
Anna and Picky!!

If you'll send your snail mail to alexandraivy@yahoo.com I'll get those in the mail. And for anyone interested I'm running another Darkness Revealed ARC contest at my web site www.alexandraivy.com Just go to the blog and the directions are there!

Happy Thanksgiving to all,
Alex

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Bookmarks!

Good morning to all! I hope that everything is well with you and that you are currently looking forward to Thanksgiving. I love the holidays and getting together with family, although I have to admit there are times when there’s a little too much together time J We usually have at least three Thanksgiving meals spread over the week as well as the unexpected visitors that drop in…not always a pleasant surprise when my house is a mess!

On the writing front, I’ve sent off the outline for the sixth book in the Guardian series. This one is Salvatore’s story, so I hope to hear back soon on whether it’s a go! Until then, I’m finishing up my latest historical I write under the name of Deborah Raleigh. It’s a Christmas story so it’s helping put me in the mood.

To help put you in the mood, I’m offering a bookmark to two of you who tell me what your favorite (or least favorite) part of Thanksgiving is!

Blessings to all,
Alex

Saturday, November 15, 2008

FREE eBook & Other News

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. First and foremost, if you haven't read my first dragon book, Maiden Flight, go to Amazon NOW - while it's still free - and download it! It'll be free until this Sunday as part of a special promotion, so check it out fast!

Second, my vampire novella, One & Only just released in ebook formats. It will be in print sometime late next year, along with two other stories, Rare Vintage and Phantom Desires. Check it out if you like hot men with killer smiles. ;-)

In related news, my latest print book is doing very well. Sweeter Than Wine is a paranormal tale about a vampire, his new mate and their close friend who just happens to be a werecougar. It's in bookstores now. My next print release will be in late December - Book 2 of my futuristic, highly erotic, Resonance Mates series - Davin's Quest.

Aside from all that, I've been writing, writing, writing. Working hard on finishing up a few projects. I'm working on edits for Rare Vintage, finishing book 4 of Resonance Mates (Grady's Awakening is the title of that one) and expanding Phantom Desires to double its original size. Lots going on here!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Its November already!?


Well Hey and Hi ho everyone!

October was a wild ass month, and November wont be any different it seems. I have started two new business ventures, one solo, one with my cousin, and have finally finished a solo project. Audra and I are still hard at work on the novel that we have been working on since September, so I'm hopeful we will be finished soon with it and send it off to the Beta so we can bulk the Satyrs to send out too.

So lemme get to this craziness. First, the winner of my contest for October is Raonaid Luckwell
So congrats to you hun and email me at stella@stellaandaudra.com. you will get your e book and the print book will come in the mail. Congrats!


Second, I have opened a ETSY shop called Stella by Starlight. I sell one of a kind steampunk jewelry, acessories and costumes. And did I mention Im cheap? Yep totally. So pop by and Take a lookie. If you do, and mention this blog post, I will forgo the shipping. Just convo me there and I can make you a new listing. Perfect for those kinda people that LOVE odd jewelry.


Third, Coming in December, my cousin and I have started a Jewelry store on Etsy called SANSER & PIGGLE. Its going to be all that cutesy jewelry you see in Metropark, Sanrio and other pop art jewelry companies, at a fraction of the cost. Rings, bracelets, pendants, brooches... lots of goodness to be had so I will be posting about it when we open.

And guess what? Im part of a cool little scavenger hunt with 14 other authors! It starts on the 15th, and you can get your info here. we are giving away two print books and a load of promo goodies.



I have finished my first short story alone. It's called Becoming Persephone, and will be in the Tease Publishing Gods anthology called Pantheon in Feb. And Ill be writing under Dagmar Avery. I hope you guys will be picking it up, it has some great authors in it (Tilly Greene, Cat Johnson, Selena Illyria, Kayleigh Jamison, Diana DeRicci, and Eliza Gayle) and will be in print a little before Valentine's day. and isnt the cover just SEXY!? LOL.

Those of you that didnt do it last month, please send me your snail mail addy and favorite book or character we have written and youll be put on our holiday mailing list! Email me at stella@stellaandaudra.com and you are all set!

So my contest for this month... has to do with my new business venture. Yes! How would you like to win a piece from my store? Or maybe something a little more custom? Well this is your lucky day! Simply go and check out the store, and comment here about what you like, what you dont like, what you would like to see more of... and you will be entered! Winner will have choice of anything in the store OR the choice of having something created simply for them *using selected metals, and findings* A winner will be chosen at random and listed here December 10th and will be sent to you in time for Christmas in a swank gift box with all the trimmings! Good Luck.

Now Im back to writing. Audra and I need to finish this book soon, and I got another flash of inspiration! Hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving, and I'll see you all next month!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Debut For You


So I've had this for a while now but I realized I hadn't shared with all of you :) So her goes.
This is the gorgeous new cover of the next book after Ecstacy. The first image is the actual cover itself,
the second image it the stepback image after you open the first cover.

How totally cool is this? All that orangey gold on the cover is actually going to be copper foil. It's going to be so beautiful!

I'm very please with these. So tell me, what do you think of them? I'll give something special, like maybe a deck of Nightwalker cards, to one of my commentators, so don't be shy!