Yay! Yay! Yay! I got a new design! Don't you love it?! It was done by the wonderful Luna Stone Designs. Check them out here - http://lunastonedesigns.com/.
It's a whole new attitude, baby!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Happy Earth Day!
Happy Earth Day!
If you've ever written about wolves or even werewolves, you should check this out. The following is the text of a news article by Associated Press writer Matthew Brown and it's about the legal killing of wolves in the Northern Rockies.
"Feds loosen wolf rules
BILLINGS, Mont. -- A new federal rule would allow state game agencies to kill endangered gray wolves that prey on wildlife in the Northern Rockies.
An estimated 1,545 wolves in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are scheduled to come off the endangered species list in coming weeks, which would allow public hunting of the predators for the first time in decades.
The rule released Thursday is a separate action that would give the three states more latitude to kill wolves even if their removal from the endangered list is delayed. It was part of a deal struck with the state of Wyoming to proceed with delisting of wolves in the three states.
Opposition to the rule, which could go into effect in late February, came within hours of Thursday's announcement. Environmental and animal rights groups characterized the federal proposal as cover for states eager to kill as many wolves as possible.
An attorney for the legal group Earthjustice, in Bozeman, Mont., pledged to file a court challenge as soon as the rule is published in the Federal Register next week.
The rule would empower state wildlife agents to kill packs of wolves if they can prove the animals are having a "major impact" on big game herds such as elk, deer or moose.
It also would allow hunting guides and others to kill wolves caught harassing dogs or stock animals on public land. Previously, only cattle or sheep ranchers whose animals were being harassed could legally shoot the predators."
If you want to know more about what you can do to stop this abomination, go here -
http://www.earthjustice.org/. According to Earthjustice - ten wolves have already been killed since the end of March.
If you've ever written about wolves or even werewolves, you should check this out. The following is the text of a news article by Associated Press writer Matthew Brown and it's about the legal killing of wolves in the Northern Rockies.
"Feds loosen wolf rules
BILLINGS, Mont. -- A new federal rule would allow state game agencies to kill endangered gray wolves that prey on wildlife in the Northern Rockies.
An estimated 1,545 wolves in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are scheduled to come off the endangered species list in coming weeks, which would allow public hunting of the predators for the first time in decades.
The rule released Thursday is a separate action that would give the three states more latitude to kill wolves even if their removal from the endangered list is delayed. It was part of a deal struck with the state of Wyoming to proceed with delisting of wolves in the three states.
Opposition to the rule, which could go into effect in late February, came within hours of Thursday's announcement. Environmental and animal rights groups characterized the federal proposal as cover for states eager to kill as many wolves as possible.
An attorney for the legal group Earthjustice, in Bozeman, Mont., pledged to file a court challenge as soon as the rule is published in the Federal Register next week.
The rule would empower state wildlife agents to kill packs of wolves if they can prove the animals are having a "major impact" on big game herds such as elk, deer or moose.
It also would allow hunting guides and others to kill wolves caught harassing dogs or stock animals on public land. Previously, only cattle or sheep ranchers whose animals were being harassed could legally shoot the predators."
If you want to know more about what you can do to stop this abomination, go here -
http://www.earthjustice.org/. According to Earthjustice - ten wolves have already been killed since the end of March.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Hear!
I’ve been taking a look at the senses and so far I’ve covered touch and smell. Today it’s hearing. At first you might think that this is one sense that doesn’t require much attention when writing erotic romance or any kind of story for that matter but think again. Have you ever been introduced to a handsome man with a reedy voice? Or to a beautiful woman who sounded as if she were talking through a mouthful of gravel? What about the other way around?
I know a man who has the most gorgeous voice – deep and melodious – he wouldn’t even need to talk sex for you get off on the sound of his voice. I first met him over the phone when I was setting up a regional meeting. Months later, still unable to get his voice off my mind, I made a point of looking for him during the same meeting. Well, he didn’t look at all like what I’d expected. I’d kinda imagined Denzil but he looked more like Martin Lawrence. We talked and I liked him as a person but that was it. I was very disappointed but there you go, that’s the power of hearing to fire your imagination.
Use it in your stories – does the hero’s voice sound like rum on the rocks or does it remind the heroine of nails being scraped across a blackboard? Describe it. Does she have a low, sexy voice or is her voice high-pitched? Does she make noise during lovemaking or is she silent? How does this make the hero feel? What is her reaction to his voice? Does he whisper or murmur in her ear?
Think also about the connotations attached to voices – a woman with a high-pitched whiny voice isn’t very believable as a femme fatale. Similarly, a hero who saves a child from a burning building and makes the heroine’s heart go bumpety-bump will rarely have a thin, reedy voice.
I know a man who has the most gorgeous voice – deep and melodious – he wouldn’t even need to talk sex for you get off on the sound of his voice. I first met him over the phone when I was setting up a regional meeting. Months later, still unable to get his voice off my mind, I made a point of looking for him during the same meeting. Well, he didn’t look at all like what I’d expected. I’d kinda imagined Denzil but he looked more like Martin Lawrence. We talked and I liked him as a person but that was it. I was very disappointed but there you go, that’s the power of hearing to fire your imagination.
Use it in your stories – does the hero’s voice sound like rum on the rocks or does it remind the heroine of nails being scraped across a blackboard? Describe it. Does she have a low, sexy voice or is her voice high-pitched? Does she make noise during lovemaking or is she silent? How does this make the hero feel? What is her reaction to his voice? Does he whisper or murmur in her ear?
Think also about the connotations attached to voices – a woman with a high-pitched whiny voice isn’t very believable as a femme fatale. Similarly, a hero who saves a child from a burning building and makes the heroine’s heart go bumpety-bump will rarely have a thin, reedy voice.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Collina, a healer of her time
In The Gladiator’s Woman, Collina is hired on as a healer at a gladiator school which is where she meets Scipio, her handsome gladiator. Medicine was one of the few professions open to women.
The ancient Romans had a veritable arsenal of herbal and other weapons against illness and disease. A few may have worked but countless others were probably no better than placebos which worked because people believed they worked and not because of any particular inherent value. Some of these so-called remedies included animal dung, human fat, and urine. Clearly the potion that Collina offers the gladiators could have been worse!
After the games, the gladiators’ injuries would have been bandaged after being salved with wine, vinegar, pitch or turpentine, all of which were valued for their infection-fighting abilities.
Collina is half-Roman and half-Aethiopian (most blacks were called Aethiops back then) but many healers were actually Greek. It was really the ancient Greeks who improved the state of medicine in Rome by cutting out many of the old superstitions and quack remedies. In gratitude, Julius Caesar offered Roman citizenship to all foreign-born doctors. Asclepiades was the first of the Greeks to gain fame for his ability to heal. He emphasized a good diet, fresh air, exercise, regular baths and massage – advice that is as appropriate now as it was then!
Galen, perhaps the most famous of Greek doctors, learnt his trade attending to gladiators!
The ancient Romans had a veritable arsenal of herbal and other weapons against illness and disease. A few may have worked but countless others were probably no better than placebos which worked because people believed they worked and not because of any particular inherent value. Some of these so-called remedies included animal dung, human fat, and urine. Clearly the potion that Collina offers the gladiators could have been worse!
After the games, the gladiators’ injuries would have been bandaged after being salved with wine, vinegar, pitch or turpentine, all of which were valued for their infection-fighting abilities.
Collina is half-Roman and half-Aethiopian (most blacks were called Aethiops back then) but many healers were actually Greek. It was really the ancient Greeks who improved the state of medicine in Rome by cutting out many of the old superstitions and quack remedies. In gratitude, Julius Caesar offered Roman citizenship to all foreign-born doctors. Asclepiades was the first of the Greeks to gain fame for his ability to heal. He emphasized a good diet, fresh air, exercise, regular baths and massage – advice that is as appropriate now as it was then!
Galen, perhaps the most famous of Greek doctors, learnt his trade attending to gladiators!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
A Short-Short for you
Izo stretched voluptuously under the firm hands of the masseuse. As the dark-skinned woman’s hands circled her breasts, Izo’s nipples tightened. She squeezed and re-squeezed the muscles of her inner thighs, her eyes closed, giving herself up to the melting pleasure. The woman’s hands went lower and lower, circling, stroking. Izo moaned and opened her legs, an invitation. Would the woman be pleased with her willingness? But she ignored her and mumbled something in her harsh, native language as she went on to massage Izo’s legs, her feet. When she was finished she bathed Izo again.
Izo sighed as the woman poured warm water from the brass jar over her head and then dried her off. It was months since Izo had been captured at the village well and brought to this place, with its high walls, lush gardens and soft, scented women. She had been poked and prodded, made to learn how to pluck the strings of an instrument she’d never seen before, taught to dance, taught to speak their common tongue. In all that time, no-one had spoken a kind word to her or looked at her with anything except detached interest. But today was special, the bath and the massage made that clear.
The woman opened the door of the hamman. Someone outside handed her a silk robe the deep blue color of a peacock’s feather. Izo shrugged it on, marveling at the softness of the cloth. Beaded, matching slippers were passed in next and fit her feet exactly.
The woman motioned her to follow and Izo hurried to catch up as she turned down first one corridor and then another. Izo thought she knew where she was going but it was only when she saw the guards in their white robes, their daggers hanging at their hips, that she became sure. She was in the sultan’s quarters. He had called for her. She’d suspected she’d caught the eye of his Chief Eunuch last week when he’d seen her in the pool and here was the confirmation. The guards opened the huge, double-doors and the woman pushed her inside.
To be continued…
Izo sighed as the woman poured warm water from the brass jar over her head and then dried her off. It was months since Izo had been captured at the village well and brought to this place, with its high walls, lush gardens and soft, scented women. She had been poked and prodded, made to learn how to pluck the strings of an instrument she’d never seen before, taught to dance, taught to speak their common tongue. In all that time, no-one had spoken a kind word to her or looked at her with anything except detached interest. But today was special, the bath and the massage made that clear.
The woman opened the door of the hamman. Someone outside handed her a silk robe the deep blue color of a peacock’s feather. Izo shrugged it on, marveling at the softness of the cloth. Beaded, matching slippers were passed in next and fit her feet exactly.
The woman motioned her to follow and Izo hurried to catch up as she turned down first one corridor and then another. Izo thought she knew where she was going but it was only when she saw the guards in their white robes, their daggers hanging at their hips, that she became sure. She was in the sultan’s quarters. He had called for her. She’d suspected she’d caught the eye of his Chief Eunuch last week when he’d seen her in the pool and here was the confirmation. The guards opened the huge, double-doors and the woman pushed her inside.
To be continued…
Monday, April 7, 2008
E-publishers, big and small
Interested in getting your story in front of avid readers and potential fans? This short list of epublishers can help you do it. (Make sure you check out their submissions guidelines thoroughly before sending anything in.)
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/ - their covers just keep getting better and better and I'm truly not saying that because my novella, Sleep, will be published with them in September as part of their Vampire Oracle series.
http://www.phaze.com/ - one of the leading publishers of erotica.
http://www.firedrakesweyr.com/ - new on the block which means they're hungry for stories and authors.
http://www.samhainpublishing.com/ - one of the powerhouses in the epublishing world.
http://www.amirapress.com/ - an up and coming epublisher. (My novel, Forty-Six Days in the Caribbean, a hip guide for those who love to experience the delights of sex travel will be out from them in September.)
http://www.thewildrosepress.com/ - also up and coming.
http://www.ellorascave.com/ - the mack-daddy of the epublishing world.
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