wild west succubus

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My eight sentences for Weekend Writing Warriors this week come from my WIP, His Acadian Lady that I’m currently polishing up for submission.

Here’s a little bit of early relationship banter between the heroine, Lydia, and hero, Paul:

“Red sky at night,” Paul began.

“Sailors take fright.”

Paul shot her a wry glance. “You’ve got it backwards.”

Lydia smiled to herself. “I don’t think so. It’s red skies at night, sailors take fright, red skies at dawn, troubles be gone.”

A chuckle and shake of his head greeted her attempt to tug on his leg.

Heh! Paul’s right. It’s “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”

More from this story in the weeks ahead! Got a nibble on a toe-in-the-water submission already. Not holding my breath on it, but you never know, and it does tell me that perhaps the query is not too bad. 😉 This is the one I used. It’s obviously still a work in process:

An all expenses paid trans-Atlantic cruise from New Orleans to Rome has romance written all over it…unless you’re the poor employee who has to audit the last time someone cleaned the toilets or how fast-moving the cafeteria lines are.

When Lydia Johnson, quality control manager at J. P. Theriot Enterprises is tapped to do the job typically done by lower level staff, she’s not buying that it’s because the head of the company only wants “the best”. If that were the case, she wouldn’t be saddled with an untrained assistant.

Paul Thomas may be new to secret shopping aboard The Acadian Lady, but he certainly knows his way around the ship and especially its casino. He’s also not the least bit shy about expressing his frank appreciation for his ambitious manager. The Cajun charmer is tempting to Lydia’s self-control, but he could also be a spy sent to test her seaworthiness as a manager.

One thing is for certain: Paul has never given up on anything he wants and right now what he wants is the woman who knows more about him than any other … except who he really is–J. P. Theriot.

Now… my other me, Lila Shaw, has a book that is tame enough for my readers, but still spicy enough to be interesting. Wild West Succubus is available NOW. and I’m currently giving away FIVE (5) free copies at the end of my tour. If you’re interested, use the Rafflecopter to enter:
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Lots of fun stops so far.

It kills me to see the declining frequency of my blog posts of late. I’ve had a lot going on, really, but readers of this blog don’t always know or care about what my other me’s (ie other pen names for other target audiences) are up to. But sometimes my me’s overlap. Sometimes life gets hectic. Both of these have been true.

When you last visited me, other than to read about the latest issue of BTS Book Reviews (which is looking sooo good, do check it out from the link in my sidebar), I was bitching and moaning about all I was worried about. Well, many of those worries are still very present but a newer one popped up that I’ve been quiet about on this blog.

I lost my father on July 14th after a 3 week hospitalization. I’ll not go about it here—I did that on Lila’s blog—other than to say it’s a huge reason why I’ve been quiet lately.

The other reason is because I’ve been working very diligently on the final stages of a new book, a novella, that I’ll be releasing as Lila Shaw. I mention it because I think you may also like it. Though it’s a western / historical / urban fantasy (haha…take your pick; it’s all of these) and stars a succubus, Priscilla is not your typical slobbering, thinly-veiled porn star of some erotic works.

I don’t say this glibly, but I understand there’s a fine line in many readers’ eyes between erotica and porn, and that’s why I typically write the more questionable stories under the pen name of Lila Shaw. Not that my stories are all that “sweet”.

Priscilla’s story is less about the sex and more about the urban fantasy, and for that reason, I’m recommending it here too.

No cover yet, but soon. Release date for Wild West Succubus is August 19th. I’ll share the cover and blurb together very soon.

I’ve also been marketing my YA book, which is very sweet, Louder Than Words—entering contests, querying agents and publishers, as well as insinuating one of my other WIP’s, My Fair Vampire, into the occasional contest. Editing for His Acadian Lady, which I think you’ll enjoy as a character-driven story, continues as I have time. I’ve also started co-writing a serial with a friend that I’m super-excited about. We hope to release it during the Thanksgiving / Christmas window as a special reader treat. More on that in the months ahead!

In the meantime, I thought I’d point out that my latest book, Purely Relative is still FREE if you purchase from Smashwords and use the coupon code (click link and scroll down to where bookseller links are located). It’s 99 cents at all the other sites.

Cheers, my friends!