Publishing

Xcerpt or excerpt as it’s more commonly spelled (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) is for a snippet from Tidal Whispers, the paranormal romance anthology coming in early June from J Taylor Publishing.

Here’s the overall skinny on the entire anthology:

Tidal Whispers

by Jocelyn Adams, Claire Gillian, Julie Reece, Kelly Said
Release Date: June 4, 2012
Target Reader: Adult
Keywords: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Romantic, Urban Fantasy

Description

Heart’s Desire by Julie Reece
After a terrible accident, Tessa returns to her family beach house to heal. She doesn’t expect to see her first summer crush from seven years before. Cameron, though, reappears and ignites a relationship that’s far more intense than ever before. The only problem? Summer is once again coming to an end, and this time, Tessa will have to decide whether to choose life with Cameron or to never see him again.

The Sweetest Song by Claire Gillian
Under Poseidon’s rule, Circe is the most destructive siren in the Pacific ocean, her songs luring ships and their crew to their watery graves. Not Otis, the best halibut fisherman in the Alaskan waters. His ship, the Calypso, has avoided disaster each time Circe set her sights on him.

Given one last chance to deliver Otis to Davy Jones’ locker, Circe takes to land to waylay the handsome captain. Instead, it may be Otis himself who hooks the Siren.

Pearl of Pau’maa by Kelly Said
Should Miki choose to wed the local wealthy boy she doesn’t love, her stomach will stop grumbling. Her soul, however, will suffocate. With one last opportunity before she must concede, she sneaks off for a final dive to her hidden crate at the bottom of the seabed. What waits for her is more than a captured lobster. It’s a treasure she cannot claim without great sacrifice or true love.

The Undergarden by Jocelyn Adams
Nixie, a water sprite, lives a solitary existence as she struggles to understand the strange world beyond her waters. When she meets one of the pink ones, a curious boy named Wyatt, their friendship blooms into a love that can exist only upon the sands that divide his solid ground from her underwater paradise. Some love, though, once born, cannot be undone, even in the face of death.

And here’s the Xcerpt from The Sweetest Song, my short story:

“Three, Circe …” Poseidon, God of the Sea, trailed off with an exaggerated sigh, his fleshy lips in a moue of implacable disappointment. “Three times you have failed to shipwreck the Calypso.” He waved the same number of chubby fingers in the air, an oversized ring on the middle one. “Three! What have you to say in your defense this time?”

Circe shifted from foot to foot on the tiny reef where she stood—a jagged-edged perch from which she sang songs meant to lure ships to their hull-splitting doom.

A part of her couldn’t help but think Poseidon had been waiting for the first opportunity to reel her in. Despite being required to shipwreck more than any other siren in the Pacific—a quota Poseidon upped every year—she had managed to avoid his lascivious clutches. She feared she had reached the end of her tether.

She swung her hip-length mane of ebony hair over one shoulder before bowing her head in penitence. He was right, though. The commercial longliner should not have slipped away from her thrice.

Poseidon shook his head. “You used to be the best, but your botched attempts to shipwreck the Calypso make us all look bad. And, my dear, I really cannot have that. As you know, I have a reputation to uphold.” He bent down to consult with his accountant—a one-eyed merman named Cyrus and the biggest sycophant in the sea.
[…]

I hope that encourages you to want to read more. Excerpts from my three co-authors’ stories can be found on J Taylor’s blog. All magnificent stories that I’m proud to nestle in between.

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And…in other news, I’m a guest on Doctor’s Notes blog today! Check it out. <<-Click button.

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Be sure to visit more A to Z Blog Challenge participants today! Here’s where you can find their names and link to their blogs. Their topics are endless.

Sorry I’ve been AWOL for a few days. The P.U.R.E. releases in twenty-six (26) days, less than a month! I’ve got a busy schedule looming but thought I’d give you a preview of where I’ll be “hopping” around to and what will be happening at this site in the weeks ahead.

Tomorrow, March 11th, a little NaNo novel I wrote in 2009, that an alter ego stole and contracted with Evernight Publishing to publish in May, makes a brief appearance in Six Sentence Sunday. “That” person added a fun little twist to the usual six sentence fare. Her post goes live around 4 AM Pacific on Sunday. It’ll be a fun way to celebrate the loss of an hour when the clocks spring forward.

First up for me though is I’ll be hosting the witty and entertaining Regan Summers on March 13th.

On March 16th, come visit my alter ego’s blog for a St. Patrick’s Day blog hop. She has a VERY spicy, adults only, free read if you like that sort of thing. If not, Happy St. Paddy’s day early!

On March 20th, my long time writing buddy, Miss Aimee Laine, will visit me to talk about the world featured in her latest paranormal romance release, Hide and Seek.

April 1st kicks off a month of daily posts inspired by the letters of the alphabet, the Blogging A to Z Challenge. The challenge for me is to maintain the blistering pace of a seven day a week posting schedule (if you include my weekly Six Sentence Sunday post) while also doing interviews at others’ blogs. One of my posts will be my Erma Bombeck contest entry. It didn’t win but I thought it a worthy effort and hope you’ll enjoy it too. My other posts will be about anything and everything, but I promise a few short stories, maybe a few drabbles, a few curmudgeonly rants–my usual schtick.

Come visit me here April 6th through 9th for a Happy Easter blog hop (see sidebar). I’ll have a giveaway and there will also be some really sweet prizes given away by the collective blogging participants in the hop.

On April 14th, I’ll be guest blogging for author Diane Kelly at Killer Fiction, about what I’ve no idea yet, but I’ll try and make it something fun. I found Diane at Erma Bombeck’s site. A kindred spirit, she’s also a CPA who writes romantic mysteries featuring CPAs, only the heroine of her series, “Death, Taxes and _____“, is a tax specialist.

APRIL 16th is THE DAY! — my novel’s birthday. My publisher, J Taylor Publishing, will be giving away a free copy of my book. Yay!

Three blog interviews will round out my first week of release. You’ll be able to find me at Avery Flynn‘s blog, Reviewing Shelf and J.C. Martin‘s blog.

During the week of April 23rd, I’ll be at J.A. Belfield‘s, Aimee Laine‘s and Shieka‘s blogs.

The week of April 30th, you’ll find me at the blogs of Sandra Bunino, Emi Gayle, Luci D’Andrea, and Julie Reece.

Reviews by Molly and The Artsy Reader Girl will play hosts the week of May 7th.

That’s what’s scheduled right now, at least. Throw in a Spring Break trip to California with the family (including tickets to see Jay Leno) and a business trip to Vegas, and I’ll be tuckered out.

Then come June 4th, I’ll start all over again with the Tidal Whispers anthology that includes my story, “The Sweetest Song”.

Oh, and during May, my other me will be busy with her debut novella release from Evernight Publishing, that book she stole from me, All’s Fair in Love and War. (at linked site, scroll to the bottom)

Thank goodness for the ability to schedule posts is all I have to say. Nevetheless, you’ll all be right sick of me before summer even begins.

I’ve got it all nice and neat on my calendar tab too. Google is my best friend these days. Cheers!