Love of a Courtesan out in the world!

Well, after a long, hard labour, Love of a Courtesan is out!!! Check it out! It was released 20th May by New Concepts Publishing. Here's another excerpt -

Chapter One
The loud, firm knock on the door resounded through the atrium startling the yellow songbirds in their cage. They flew off their perch, chirping, their wings fluttering. Chloe's own heart leapt though she had been expecting this summons, had been waiting for it. Belthus, her longest-serving slave, emerged from a side room but she waved him away and hurried to the heavy door. She knew who it was even before she opened it. A tall, slender man the color of burnt almonds stood in front of her. It was the third time he'd come. The third Monday morning in as many weeks.

"My master sends his greetings and this token of his love." He extended a small packet to her. A shiver went through her as his fingers touched hers. She wished she could prolong the contact.

"And a letter as well?"

"Yes." He made to hand the small scroll over to her as well but she stopped him with a shake of her head.

"No, come inside. I want you to read it to me." That was the plan she'd hit upon just the night before. It would draw the Aethiop courier into the house and keep him there, where she could feast her eyes on the sight of him. Even better, he would read the letter to her and she could pretend that it was he who'd written her the honeyed words of love, that the expressions of the writer, the feelings, were his.

"Do you not prefer to read it yourself, in privacy?" He frowned. "Perhaps it would be better."

"No," she said, firmly. "You know your master and know the inflection he would give to certain words. Since he prefers to remain anonymous for now, your voice will have to serve as his."

"I must be getting back."

"The letters you've brought before have been short. Is this one longer?"

"No." His tone was amused.

"Then you will be done before he has had time to miss you." She had out-argued him but he did not seem to mind she noted with satisfaction. A small smile splayed around his full, well-formed lips but he kept his eyes averted as if he didn't want her to read the expression in them. She turned to show him through the atrium. The songbirds monitored their passing but Chloe's attention was all on the man.

She watched him carefully to gauge his reaction to the large mosaic on the floor. It had been installed a year ago and depicted a series of love scenes between gods and mortals. In one corner, a swan lay on top of a voluptuous woman, Zeus's rape of Leda. In another, an ardent Bacchus lay with a naked Ariadne who reclined among flowers, her legs open to receive his very visible and very erect cock. Her guest slowed but she couldn't tell or even begin to guess what he was thinking. She thoughts his lips twitched but she wasn't sure and his face was completely neutral. As a slave, he might never have been in the home of a courtesan before. Certainly, few slaves could afford the services of a much sought-after courtesan and had to content themselves with a hurried fuck from a streetwalker in some small hovel near the theatres or outside the city walls. If they had enough money to spare, they might, as a special treat, seek out a fellatrix, those women whose gifts with their tongues could make a man believe he had found paradise.

A few whores moved up from the street to the bordello but few reached her status as owner of her own home, able to choose and refuse clients. Whenever she thought of what she'd achieved since she left North Africa as a teenager to follow Gallus Aemilius, the Roman governor, back to Rome, she felt a sense of pride. He had hired tutors for her to teach her the arts of conversation and literature, how to sing and dance. But Chloe herself had sought out the fellatrix, Cynthia, to teach her the more intimate arts and she had proved an apt pupil. When a stroke nearly felled Gallus Aemilius she had persuaded him to help her set herself up as one of the most stylish courtesans in the city. His patronage had ensured her success and though it was more than a year since he'd died she continued to offer prayers for him every day at her household shrine.

She wondered how much the Aethiop knew of her history, if her home and its explicit decorations had shocked him. Surely, he'd have realized that a courtesan's home would be no ordinary place, would, in fact, be something of a temple of the seductive arts. Like the garden to which she led him.

The rains of the past couple of days had revived her languishing plants and made her peristyle, once again, an inviting and intimate room for outdoor assignations. Jasmine vines curled around the columns and the leaves of the grape tree were a bright emerald green. Basil, thyme, mint and other herbs flourished alongside violets and nasturtiums while the red and white rosebushes ranged along the far wall released subtle but heady fragrances into the air.

He inhaled deeply and appreciatively.

"Your garden is a perfumerie," he said, looking admiringly around him.

"I am pleased you like it. Come sit." She took a seat on one of the three heavy couches and patted the space next to her. "You've said your master does not wish his name revealed but will you not tell me yours?"

For a second their eyes met and something hot uncoiled itself in her stomach, tautening her nipples. The Aethiop's eyes were the color of dark honey glinting in the sun, his lashes as long and silky as an Easterner's.

"He has instructed me not to reveal that either."

"Oh." She tried not to let the disappointment show on her face.

"Are you going to open your present?"

"What? Oh." She'd forgotten she held it. "No. I'll look at it later. I want you to read to me now."

He chuckled then, a low throaty sound.

"What is so funny?"

"I think you must always get what you want, when you want it. Isn't that so?"

No, she could have told him. It wasn't so. She could have told him that she'd wanted him from the minute she'd first seen him, could have described for him each and every dream she'd had of him, and how on some nights she woke up wet and panting for his touch. She could have told him that, last night, she'd turned away her clients so she'd be fresh and well-rested for him, that she'd woken especially early in order to have more time at the Baths to cleanse herself. But she said none of those things.

ePublishers

Just a quick post to say how much I really love epublishers. I mean, what's not to love? They accept electronic submissions meaning I save a bundle on stamps and envelopes and, if they accept my manuscript, it's usually out within a year.

So let's hear it for epublishers. And by way of celebrating them, here's a list of some of the more well known ones including the ones I've been published by.

Amira Press - http://www.amirapress.com/ And check out their blog for info about new releases - http://amirapresssays.blogspot.com/

Cobblestone Press - http://www.cobblestone-press.com/ You can learn a lot more about them here - http://www.cobblestone-mainstreet.com/forums/

Ellora's Cave - http://www.jasminejade.com/default.aspx?skinid=11 This is their sister site - http://www.jasminejade.com/default.aspx?skinid=13

Samhain Publishing - http://www.samhainpublishing.com/ And their blog - http://authors.thesamhellion.com/

New Concepts Publishing - http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/

Liquid Silver - http://liquidsilverbooks.com/ Read their blog here - http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/blog/

Loose Id - http://www.loose-id.com/

Ravenous Romance - http://www.ravenousromance.com/

And I've already mentioned Carina Press in another post.

Enjoy!

Excerpt from For the Love of the Courtesan

Below is an excerpt from my manuscript, For the Love of the Courtesan, currently seeking a home with an epublisher.

The loud, firm knock on the door resounded through the atrium startling the yellow songbirds in their cage. They flew off their perch, chirping, their wings fluttering. Chloe’s own heart leapt though she had been expecting this summons, had been waiting for it. Belthus, her longest-serving slave, emerged from a side room but she waved him away and hurried to the heavy door. She knew who it was even before she opened it. A tall, slender man the color of burnt almonds stood in front of her. It was the third time he’d come. The third Monday morning in as many weeks.

more of Ovid's advice to lovers

"I advise you, if it is feasible, to have two mistresses at the same time, for thus one passion shall moderate the other. Rivers lose their force when they split and branch off, and the fury of a fire can be disminished by making several small ones out of a big one...If you have been so foolish as to retain the affections of but a single mistress, lose no time to find another immediately....If you are troubled to find them, read my Art of Love. Voyage out upon the sea of Love courageously and soon your ship will be laden with beautiful wenches." Ovid, The Art of Love

New Publisher in Cyber-Town

This post by Angela James, formerly of Samhain Publishing, and now Executive Editor at Carina Press, appeared over at Risky Regencies. I've taken Angela at her word about cross-posting!

Hoop skirts, brocade, feathered headdresses, kid gloves, kid slippers, horses, carriages, talk of locomotion (not Kylie Minogue's!), Queen Victoria, cowboys, discussion of women's suffrage, ratafia, corsets, chemises, calling cards, pelisses, peers of the realm, cutthroats, Mary Wollstonecraft, six-shooters, hothouse flowers, wallflowers, parties lit by candles, cowboy hats, bluestockings, hunts, hounds, masquerades, horses, operas and operettas, tours of Italy, grand tours, wars (Napoleonic, Crimean), revolutions (French, Russian)...

Do you love these things? We do, and we want to read more about them—and share them with our readers! Carina Press’s acquisitions team and editors have begged me to find more historical fiction and romance, so I’m putting out the call. If you have a completed historical manuscript, 15,000 words and up, Carina Press would love to see it. We’re looking for both historical romance and historical fiction (with or without the romance subplot) of any steam level (including none, none at all). Historical Victorian, Regency, Western, turn of the century or whatever other time period you’ve chosen to write in, we’re interested in publishing some amazing historical work. Our submissions guidelines can be found at www.carinapress.com/submission-guidelines and we’re working through submissions very quickly, due to the large number of us reading them, so you won’t be waiting until summer (or next year) for an answer!

We hope you’ll take this post and pass it on, post it on your blog, direct your friends to it and let them know: Carina Press is looking for historical fiction and romance!

Want to know more about the people behind the Carina Press acquisitions and their love of all things historical? I asked them to share thoughts about favorite authors, books and just what they love about historical romance and historical fiction in general.

I’ll start (Angela James, Executive Editor): I love historicals for the things I learn. When I was in sixth grade, I visited the junior high, as a kind of orientation for the next school year. We were all assigned a seventh grade buddy, who we attended classes with for the day. In her history class, the teacher asked, “What was Queen Mary’s nickname?” I was the only one who knew the answer was “Bloody Mary” and that was because of the historical romances I’d been reading (yes, in sixth grade). I got mad props from the seventh graders (upperclassmen!) for knowing that answer!

I adore Julie Garwood’s old historicals and have for many years. They’re some of my very favorite re-reads, and books I will never give up because, even after all these years, they still make me laugh out loud, smile, and fall in love with both the hero and the heroine. Despite historical inaccuracies and what some might call a wallpaper-historical effect, I love them and I continue to recommend them to friends for the fun storylines and relatable characters.

Amy Wilkins, Acquisitions Team: I love The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig for its incredible blend of adventure, comedy and romance.

(plus it amused me that the hero and heroine are named Amy and Richard -- my boyfriend's name is Richard!)

Melissa Johnson, Editor: I love Kresley Cole's MacCarrick Brothers Trilogy because one of the heroines is actually not from France or the British Isles, and Cole's heroes are all crazy-hot for the women they love. I don't even mind that the brothers are each crazy-hot in basically the same way.

Deborah Nemeth, Editor: I love the sparkling prose and witty dialogue of Eloisa James. In the Desperate Duchess series she went beyond the typical Regency to the Georgian period, one that I love.

I'd also love to get some historical manuscripts set in the Italian Renaissance and the Tudor/Elizabethan courts that feature political intrigue. The Roman empire between Augustus-Claudius (the setting of the I, Claudius series) would also be good for this type of political story.
I'd also love an adventure story set during the Crusades--perhaps from the Saracen point of view. A romance featuring a troubadour during the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I also enjoy the roaring twenties, Paris during the Belle Époque, and England during both WWI and WW2.

Andrea Kerr, Acquisitions Team: You can quote me: "I admit it: I love historicals for the gowns!"

More seriously, one thing I really like about historical romance is that there is built-in conflict. Relationships between men and women were governed by very different and intricate social rules that simply could not be crossed. So it's believable to me that the hero and heroine in a historical can't be together because they are on different social levels, for example, or because they are unable to come out and say how they feel. In a contemporary romance, it takes a LOT more to convince me that two available people who are obviously attracted to each other can't just sit down and work through their differences and be together.

Gina Bernal, Editor: I love the emotional depth of Mary Balogh's historicals, because she takes characters to the lowest of low points and yet makes me believe time and again that love does conquer all. Lately, I've been hankering for a good harem romance and love all sorts of unusual settings and underexplored time periods--from Vikings, Romans and Celts to Caribbean pirates and WWII resistance fighters.
Emily Matheson, Acquisitions Team: I love Eloisa James. Everything she's written. Not only do I love her characters (they're always smart), but I always learn something-- be it about politics in Georgian England or how migraines were treated in the regency period. It's the best way to be educated.

Elizabeth Bass, Editor: I`d love to find an author who could single-handedly bring western historicals back into popularity!

Jenny Bullough, Acquisitions Team: Like most of us here at Harlequin, I'm a huge fan of Deanna Raybourn's MIRA historicals, because as much as I love Regencies it's a treat to read historical novels set in the Victorian era for a change! With Carina Press open to any and all eras and settings, I'm always excited to read submissions that are set in unusual or different eras or places -- from ancient Rome or Egypt to turn-of-the-century America or WWII Japan, from the Salem witch trials to Renaissance Italy!!

Kymberly Hinton, Editor: I love Judith McNaught's rich, evocative language because it makes me feel like I'm right there with the characters, and she's the first author who helped me to realize that "reformed rakes make the best husbands." I also adore Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series because she has a rare ability to make me laugh, cry, and jump for joy all in the same book.

the Horse of Hector

If you're writing erotica, it's always good to know about as many sexual positions as possible, isn't it?

In the Horse of Hector, the woman is on top with the man lying on his back with his knees up and his feet on the bed or ground. She sits on him with her knees on either side of him and leans back against his thighs. This position allows for really deep penetration.

Enjoy! (Umm, your characters, I mean, they should enjoy...oh, you know what I mean!)

Conflict in romances

If you're writing a romance and have done your research into the elements of the genre you'll know that conflict is one of those necessary things that an editor or agent will be looking for in your work. Even though I've been published, I have to admit that I struggle with the whole concept of conflict - my characters often instantly like each other and I have to work at keeping them out of each other's beds! It's not easy!

Conflict creates the tension or the suspense between your hero and heroine, the will-they-won't-they quality that keeps readers hooked throughout your story.

There are two types of conflict you can employ - external and internal conflict.

External conflict first - And I'm not talking some simple thing like a misunderstanding that could have been easily cleared up by asking a simple question (my problem with Othello, btw!). No, external conflict is more along the lines of the hero is a spy for Queen Mary Tudor while the heroine's family wants to see Elizabeth on the throne, or, if you're writing fantasy, your hero is a wizard charged with eliminating shape-shifters and your heroine is a wizard whose brother is a werecat whom she will protect at all costs. External conflict gives your readers something to think about and your characters stuff to do!

But internal conflict can be even more interesting. Here is where you can layer the personality of your characters to show what they stand to lose and what they stand to gain depending on their relationship to each other and how they grow or evolve emotionally. A police officer who falls in love with the woman he is protecting from the murderous ex-husband trying to kill her must not only keep her safe but also overcome her natural fear of getting involved again, and her distrust of her own ability to make the right choice. If he, himself, is an arrogant, high-handed bastard then something in him must also change if he is to win her - maybe he can continue to be a bastard to everyone else but her.

And the central conflict between the hero and heroine dictates their actions, their reactions, how quickly the relationship moves and creates different obstacles they encounter on the path to true love. For example, maybe the couple above make some progress and are grooving on each other, that's great but thrown them a curveball - maybe the officer makes an important decision that affects her without asking her opinion - this reminds the woman of her husband's behavior and they're back at square one! So she loses a little bit of her trust in him and keeps a secret from him which puts her in greater danger and so on, and so on. Use the conflict to escalate the drama and add complexity to your characters so you keep your readers guessing till the very end!