Chasing the Skies and Conquering the Skies - Available Now!

 

IT IS DONE.

I started my blog post of July 13, 2022, with that same exact sentence. (Yes, I actually looked something up!) A smidge over a year ago, I had finished up the actual writing of the Searching the Skies series and sent it off. Now, after editing and cover design and whatnot, the entire series has now been published. PHEW.

I'll get to the blurbs in a moment, but since this feels like a pretty big achievement, I'm going to take this opportunity to recap the history of this series, especially since I've picked up some new readers along the way. If we're going allllll the way back to the beginning, I might as well start in late 2010, which is when I got laid off from my then-job and got back into writing fanfic.

Fanfic was fun enough, but in time, I wanted to see if I could write something 100% original. E-readers and indie publishers were on the rise, and I thought I had a halfway decent shot at getting something published. By this point, I don't even remember where the original idea for Geneva's space adventures with her two doting men came from, but I wrote it in the fall of 2011. I submitted it to a publisher I had in mind...and was rejected. Not terribly surprising, actually. But I kept at it and eventually got a "yes."

And then I started learning how much I really didn't know, and I will forever be grateful to that first kind editor who started gently whipping me into shape.

The first edition of Searching the Skies released in 2012. I'd started working on my next book by then, since everything I'd read said the best way to sell your first book is to write a second. Even though I was focusing on other projects, my mind kept wandering back to Geneva & Co. When I plotted out the first book, one of my big concerns was how to make it realistic that Ash and Marcus would be willing to engage in this threesome. I had some ideas for a dramatic rescue mission, but since Searching the Skies was my very first book, I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew, so I abandoned that plot line and kept it simple.

Then I thought about revisiting the characters and making the throuple more "equal" - as in instead of Geneva always being in the middle, the two men engaging in intimate activities with each other. I combined that with the aforementioned plans for a dramatic rescue mission, and Defying the Skies was born. I admit that when I wrote my very first book, I had zero plans for a sequel, yet once I had the plot fleshed out in my head, I wanted to write it. The first edition of Defying the Skies released in 2013.

Back then, I did sort of have a rough outline for a third book, but a lot of other things were going on. First, I had other shiny new book ideas that I wanted to write. Second, I finished up my coursework for my career change and went back to work, leaving me with a lot less free time. Lastly, while the original publisher I was working with wouldn't shut down for another few years, by that time, I kind of saw the writing on the wall and had concerns about its future even then. I sent one more sequel to them (The Fall of the Midnight Scorpions, the sequel to Disintegration) and decided that would be it.

Time passed. I wrote other things. I had two kids! (At the same time, but still!) As the years went by, somewhere in the back of my head, I vaguely remembered the rights reversion clauses in the contracts and knew I was approaching the point where I could request that. Again, though, I was working on other books, and while it was an interesting idea, it wasn't a priority. 

Then...the decision was made for me. The publisher was shutting down/being absorbed by another company, and unless we wanted our books relisted with the new company, all rights reverted back to us. Well, that turned out to be easier than expected, I guess. I was glad to have my books back with me, but I needed to figure out what to actually *do* with them.

I focused on rereleasing the Disintegration series first before revisiting Searching the Skies. And what I found...oof. OOF. Don't get me wrong, there was still a lot of good stuff going on in there, and I guess it's nice to see how much you've grown as a writer, but I was cringing all over the place. Like, a tiny part of me wanted to reach out to everyone who read the first version and apologize to them. It was painful. But, I sat down and got out the electronic red pen. It was tough at times, and I did consider giving up once or twice, but I wound up with a better version of my original book baby. Thankfully, Defying the Skies didn't need *as* much work.

The rest of this saga has already been documented more recently, but to wrap up this recap: I did write that third book, decided it wasn't a satisfying ending to an entire series, plotted out two more books, and offered the whole thing to Decadent Publishing, who I'd always enjoyed working with. (Really, they're great! I highly recommend them to anyone who's looking for a smaller romance publisher.) They accepted it, contracts were signed, and my first book and its sequel found a new home.

So, here we are. This has been a journey of almost twelve years. That's older than my kids. That's older than this website! It's kind of crazy and surreal to think about, but anyone who knows me will tell you I rarely give up on projects and I like to finish what I start. And today, the Searching the Skies series is officially finished.

Thank you for indulging me in that bit of rambling. As promised, here are the short blurbs for the last two books in the series!

Chasing the Skies:

Geneva’s new job as a private investigator leads Marcus to contact her when Adele witnesses some potential illegal activity at her office. She reluctantly agrees to look into the matter, all while fighting her lingering attraction to him and missing Ash, who has been deployed on a dangerous mission with the military. Can she keep her loved ones safe while navigating her new roles?

Conquering the Skies:

Big changes threaten to disrupt Geneva’s comfortable routines, forcing her to make significant decisions about the future she wants. Throughout weddings, new jobs, and travels to distant planets, will she finally find a place in the galaxy to call home?

All five books of the Searching the Skies series are now available on Kindle Unlimited!

Defying the Skies - Available Now!

 

Whoops, I'm a couple days late, but Defying the Skies, Book 2 of the Searching the Skies series, has been released! This is also a re-release, but I'll post a short blurb and excerpt for a refresher.

Before I do that, though, here's the schedule for the rest of the series. The remaining three books are all brand-new, and I'm so glad I finally got to bring this series to an exciting, satisfying conclusion!

Surrendering the Skies - June 30th

Chasing the Skies - July 15

Conquering the Skies - July 29

The whole series will be available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited, so don't miss out!

Blurb:

Geneva has settled into a comfortable routine with the two men she loves, but Marcus wants more…not from her, but from Ash. Before he can confess his attraction to the other man, he’s abducted in a terrorist attack. Can Geneva and Ash find him before it’s too late for him to fulfil his fantasies?

 

Excerpt:

Marcus let out another sigh. “A year ago, if someone had told me I’d be sharing my bed with another man every now and then, I would have said they were crazy. I know we were all a little skeptical at first, but I really did just want to make you happy because I was terrified of letting you slip away.”

She tapped his wrist. “I’m still not seeing what the issue is.”

“I’m trying, I’m trying. Bear with me.” He rubbed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. “I care about you, and I love how you make me feel, all the things you do to me. Then there’s Ash, who I’ve also developed some sort of intimate connection with, and he’s there with us in the heat of the moment, and….”

“And?”

“We’ve always focused all our attention on you, and you on us individually, which is fine. As I said, I’d do just about anything for you. The look on your face when you’re with both of us is a substantial reward.” His eyes remained shielded from view. “That look is part of what’s been haunting me. I’ve watched the two of you together. When you’re clinging to me as he’s moving inside you, sheer bliss illuminating every part of your body…sometimes my mind can’t help but wonder what….”

Realization set in as he trailed off. “You’re attracted to Ash.”

A pained grumble emanated from behind the barrier he had created. “Well, when you put it so bluntly, of course it’s going to sound strange.”

Geneva contemplated his distressed confession. Despite having been with both of them simultaneously on numerous occasions, she had never envisioned a situation in which her men derived pleasure from each other. The idea intrigued her. “I don’t think it sounds strange at all.”

“You don’t?”

“It makes perfect sense to me.” She leaned closer to him and nudged his hands. He finally uncovered his face and looked at her. “Both of you make me feel amazing. And if you want to feel the same way….”

Character Names, Part Wherever We Left Off

Edits are underway for A Flame Among the Stars, and I've also seen a mockup of the cover, which is AMAZING. As soon as I'm allowed to share it, I will, because it's seriously gorgeous. I don't want to spoil anything, but: DRAGON. Also, as soon as I have a firm release date, I'll be sure to share that, too. (Reminder: I've been using my newsletter more than my blog lately, so make sure you're signed up for the latest news!)

More on the topic of exciting news! I believe I mentioned I'm rebooting the Geneva Greyson/Searching the Skies series, and now I can announce I've signed contracts for the first three books. (The first two were previously published, #3 is new.) I'm currently plugging away on Book 4, which is about two thirds of the way done.

That brings me to the topic of the day: character names! I've written posts about the various aspects of naming characters in the past, such as when to name characters and my thought processes for doing so. Book 4 has a lot of secondary characters in it, and those characters needed names. A lot of said characters are female, and finding enough distinctive names that still fit their personalities was a little bit of a challenge.

I'm not opposed to alliteration, or having more than one name in a book start with the same letter. As I wrote in one of those previous posts, for me, I sometimes think it's more important to vary the ending sounds of names. For women, this can get tricky because a lot—a LOT—of names end in A. Y might be the next most popular letter/sound, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

All right, so we've got our main character Geneva, the star of the show. Her mother, Dahlia, also has an -a name, but the other sounds plus the syllable count make them different enough for me. (In my accent/voice, anyway. If you want to stress every single sound and call her Dah-lee-ah instead of sort of smearing together the last vowels, I certainly won't stop you.) Out of all the other female characters, I only have one more who has an -a name—Freya—and she doesn't show up too often, anyway. And luckily, Geneva, Dahlia, and Freya are never all in the same scene together.

Book 3 introduces us to a new significant character, Adele. Here, I really wanted a big contrast to Geneva. Longtime readers will remember one of the [male] main characters of the series is named Ash. I did devote some thought to having two A- names, but ultimately decided Ash and Adele were different enough to not be distracting. Again, in my accent, the initial vowel sounds in Adele and Ash don't even sound the same. (Fun fact! Adele was very close to being named Katharine, but I thought Adele fit her better.)

Back to Book 4, there are three other female characters who needed names. Renae was one of those characters who kind of named herself. Hey, sometimes you just can't fight what was meant to be. From the very beginning of starting to plot this book, she was Renae in my mind. I guess if I was really concerned about the way repeated letters look, I could have gone with the more traditional spelling of Renée, but 1) I admit I didn't want to deal with the accent marks, and 2) I think the Renae spelling is cooler anyway, and this Renae is a badass.

Okay, two more to go. For one of them, I really wanted to set her apart from Geneva and the others for various reasons (she's not quite a villain or antagonist, but let's just say her morality scale differs from that of our heroine). I chose Lorelei, as I like the name well enough, I thought it fit the character, AND it had the added bonus of having a unique ending. Perfect! For the last of the minor characters (Lorelei's friend, who shows up on screen once and is mentioned one subsequent time), I originally went with Tamara, but thought it was too similar to some of the other names, so I did a find 'n' replace and changed it to Taryn. Yay for yet another ending letter/sound!

Phew, that's a lot of names. There are a couple new male characters of varying significance in Book 4 as well, and I did spend some time making sure they were different enough both from each other and existing characters. I don't know, though—for some reason, I've always found female names to be a lot more fun. And regardless, I'm more than happy to feature a lot of interesting women in this book!

A Series of Questions

I've been saying to myself "oh, I really should write a blog post" for about the past week or so. Honestly, I don't have a whole lot to report. Progress on Surrendering the Skies, Book 3 of the series I'm rebooting, is coming along nicely. I would estimate I'm somewhere between a third and halfway through, and I've got a pretty good outline for the whole thing. (As well I should, as this has been floating around in my head for years.)

As I've been writing, I've been thinking of how this book will fit into the series as a whole, and various issues relating to doing a series in general. First, I should preface this by saying I admit I have not read a series in a long time. Free time for hobbies is limited these days, and I try to spread it around evenly. Due to that, I've definitely had a preference for standalone books the past few years. I know, I know, good readers make good writers, blah blah blah. But there are only so many hours in the day, you know.

One big issue I've been thinking about whether or not it's important for each book of a series to be able to stand on its own. As always, there's no one right answer. I read a lot of the Anita Blake series in high school and college, and I started with Book 9, Obsidian Butterfly, because I got it as a birthday gift from a friend who worked at Barnes & Noble when it came out and he liked the cover. (Hey, there are worse reasons!) Interestingly enough, Obsidian Butterfly is kind of the "side quest" of the series, in which Anita takes a vacation from all the drama in her life. So, that kind of answers the standalone question and actually made it a decent book to start with. I continued on with #10, Narcissus in Chains, liked that too, and then went allllll the way back to the beginning.

(Then I quit after #12, Incubus Dreams, and learned a few years later that I was not alone in stopping at that exact point, but THAT is another topic for another day.)

Then the other full series I've read in recent years is The Hunger Games trilogy. (I have not gotten to the new fourth book yet, but that's a prequel anyway.) I started at the beginning, and I can't think of a single person who has started anywhere other than with Book 1. I'm sure they exist, but I can't imagine reading that series out of order. Also, I did read the first Outlander book a few years ago but didn't continue with the rest of them, and that seems like another one where people tend to start at the beginning.

So, my Skies series. I've said before that back when I wrote the first one, I never had any plans for it being a series, which I guess fits in with me being more of a pantser than a plotter anyway. When I wrote Book 2, Defying the Skies, I did make an effort to make it accessible to readers who hadn't read the first one. Now, with Book 3...eh, not so much. I mean, since it's not really a complex world, I guess readers could start here and figure out the context quickly, but it's not a priority for me this time around. And unless someone whose opinion I value tells me otherwise, I'm sure I will be at the point of barely caring at all about this issue by the time I get to #4 out of the planned five.

Which reminds me, I will eventually need a better outline for #5 than I have now, but I don't need to worry about that yet, right? (Pantsers unite!)

To the Skies!

I've mentioned a couple of times over the past months that the first publisher I worked with has shut down, all the rights to my books have reverted back to me, and I had to figure out what to do with them. I took my planned writing break following the completion of A Flame Among the Stars, but then it was time to decide what to start next. As always, I had a number of ideas to choose from, but one possibility called to me the loudest: I wanted to finish off the Skies series.

To recap: Searching the Skies was my very first published book, featuring Commander Geneva Greyson and her attempts to balance her career goals with her family life, along with having to choose between two men who show a romantic interest in her. (Spoiler alert! She chooses both, and the three of them live happily ever after.) As this was my first major writing project that wasn't fanfic, I didn't really think too far ahead beyond "can I get something published?" I don't even remember what made me want to write a sequel, but I did, and it came out a year and a half after the first one. I did have plans to write a third book and had a pretty solid outline for it, but for a whole long list of reasons, it never happened.

So, here we are. Before starting the shiny new book, I wanted to go through and edit the first two. I'd skimmed through them back when the rights first reverted back to me, and I knew I had some work to do. As I wrote in a previous post, Searching the Skies was...ARGH. Ergh. Bleh. I guess if nothing else, it's nice to be able to say I've so obviously improved as a writer? Some of it was downright painful to reread, to the point where I almost want to track down everyone who read it and apologize to them. Honestly, there were points where I considered scrapping the whole thing, but if this were easy, everyone would do it, right?

I believed a good story lay hidden in there somewhere and slogged through to the end. Next up: Defying the Skies. While not flawless, I'm pleased to report this one held up considerably better. Sure, there were some errors that had been missed the first time around, and a few instances of lazy writing and awkward phrasing, but there were a few points that made me say "oh, damn, there's some really good shit in here". Us writers are often known for doubting ourselves, so those moments where the opposite happens are quite nice, I must say.

Okay, so the first two books are edited. Time to start the third! I started a new file two nights ago and I'm easing back into writing these characters I first created almost ten (!!!) years ago. But wait, there's more! As I said, I'd outlined the third book (and even titled it!), and it had a clear beginning, middle, and end...but then I realized that the ending I'd planned wasn't the most satisfactory, especially considering the series as a whole and comparing it to the previous two. I mean, it's an ending, in that it concludes the story the book tells, but I don't think I can leave off there. To make a long story short, I've decided this trilogy is now going to be five books long, and everything will be finished off with a pretty little bow on top by the end.

It sounds like a lot, and I definitely have my work cut out for me. I also have to decide on the best route for publication, and while I have some ideas/strategies, I need to get a bit more actual writing done first. For now, though, this is what I want to focus on, and I'm looking to more fun, sexy space adventures. Because I firmly believe the world can always use more of those.

Choosing a Direction

In my last post, I made a short vague statement about revisiting an old project/idea, accompanied by a promise to write a blog post about it. You know how sometimes when you sit around thinking about something, debating all the pros and cons and everything, if you wait long enough, a decision is made for you? That's kind of where I'm at right now. So, here's the promised post.

A couple of weeks or months ago (time has lost all meaning in this pandemic), I was thinking about some of my earliest books. I reviewed my contracts to see when the rights would revert back to me, and I was there on most of them. I was debating emailing the publisher to clarify a couple things, and then working on a plan for what I want to do with the books. I ran this by usual sounding board buddy Boobulon, and his immediate reaction was to encourage me to do this, reminding me that the works are mine, and if enough time has passed, I should take advantage of the reversion clause. I thanked him for his input, and ultimately filed the whole thing away in the "stuff to maybe get to someday" mental folder.

Then this morning, I got an email saying that the aforementioned publisher is closing/being absorbed by another company, and all rights have reverted. Okay, that's taken care of, I guess. There was a list of options regarding relisting with the new site, paying a fee to retain cover art and formatting, and so on. I've given all of this some thought, and luckily, for what I want to eventually accomplish, I don't have to *do* anything or contact anyone. The rights are mine, and I'm not going to have the books listed with the new site.

To steal the title from my last blog post: So, what now?

That's where things get a little trickier, and I will actually have to do something other than sitting around on my butt. Some decisions are clear, while others, I haven't formed a definite plan yet. In no particular order:

For all of them: Redoing the covers. Whether that means throwing together something basic on my own or paying someone to do it for me, we'll see. (Maybe a combination.) I also decided to do all the formatting on my own. The Kindle publishing platform is less finicky than it used to be, and while yes, it's another chore to do, it's not the worst thing ever and I can handle it. For availability, as of right this moment, I am leaning toward making them all Amazon exclusives, free for Kindle Unlimited members, and a low-ish price for non-KU people. I have Feelings about Amazon becoming a monopoly, but for right now, I think it's the best way to go.

The Edge of the Sphere: This one's the easy one. New cover, check the formatting, done. I think I'll try to get this done by the end of the summer.

Disintegration/The Fall of the Midnight Scorpions: Since these two go together, I guess I should come up with some sort of branding and scheduling plan. Also, there's a glaring typo right in the beginning of TFotMS that's been bothering me since it was published, so I can finally fix that, at least. I've been poking around on stock image sites, and I may wind up outsourcing the cover design for this one, but we'll see. Not a priority right now, although I do still love this set of stories.

Searching the Skies/Defying the Skies: Arrrrrrrrgh. Lots going on here. This was actually what made me start thinking about looking into the rights reversion in the first place. I'm sure I mentioned it at least once here, but once upon a time, this was intended to be a trilogy, and then for a variety of reasons, the third book never happened. It has a pretty good outline, but I never even started writing it. Another complicating factor is that when I first got this idea, I went back to review, and StS needs a lot of work to make me feel comfortable rereleasing it. A LOT. The foundations are there, there's still a lot of the story I love, but there's a lot that makes me cringe because I know I can do better now. I'm not talking a total revamp/rewrite here, at least, but it definitely needs some polishing. (DtS has held up better. Yay for growth.) Yet another thought I had was, if I did clean up Book 1 and wrote Book 3, if I want to shop this around to a new publisher as a completed set, rather than doing it all on my own.

Then that leads us to perhaps the biggest question of them all: How much time do I *really* want to spend on this? Which is the better use of my time—giving these existing books the best shot I can, or focusing on the future with new projects? I mean, I can try to do both, but I also know my limitations.

To steal the overused emoticon from my last blog post: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My tentative plan is to get The Edge of the Sphere back out there soon-ish, but also focus on the new project I've been outlining and work on that. The other books will be relegated to the backburner for now, but I guess if I get into a writing slump with the new project, I can work on rereleasing the old stuff. As far as writing the third book of the Skies trilogy goes, I really don't know. It's not the priority now, but who knows, I may get excited over the idea again. At least it looks like I'll be keeping busy!

Defying the Skies Artwork!

Boobulon has done it again! I had an idea* for some artwork featuring the starring trio from the Skies series, and he accepted the commission. This is awesome and amazing and wonderful and I love it hard!

Click for embiggening!

If you've been following along on the DtS book tour (and if not, SHAME), this is one of the prizes. You know you want this badass scene adorning your mantle, don't even try to deny it. If you're impatient, the prints are available through deviantArt.

*I believe I said something along the lines of "How cool would it be to have Geneva and Marcus in the same pose as the 'Army of Darkness' poster, but with the genders reversed?" This is the answer, and the answer is really fucking cool.

Defying the Skies Tour!

Follow the tour!

What better way to celebrate a three-day weekend than with a blog tour! Check out all the sites that have been gracious enough to host me, leave them some friendly comments, and be sure to enter the giveaway! I'm giving away e-copies of Defying the Skies, the original Searching the Skies, plus prints of some brand-new artwork from Boobulon (that he's putting the finishing touches on)!


SCHEDULE:
Sept 2: Snarky Mom Reads
Sept 4: Rose & Beps Blog
Sept 4: SinfulReads Blog
Sept 6: Book Reviews
Sept 7: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
Sept 8: BookwormBridgette's World
Sept 10: Triad Literary
Sept 11: Naughty Bits' Book Reviews
Sept 12: Reader's Edyn
Sept 14: Sharing Links and Wisdom
Sept 15: Wicked Readings by Tawania
Sept 17: Dalene's Book Reviews
Sept 16: deal sharing aunt
Sept 18: Have Novel, Will Edit
Sept 20: Harlie's Books (Review)
Sept 22: Danita Minnis
Sept 22: For the Love of Bookends

Cover Girl

Hey, a real blog post! As promised, it's time to dissect the cover of Defying the Skies, and all the FEELINGS I had about it. To refresh your recollection:

I'll be totally honest here: My very first reaction was "...where are her pants?" (Okay, if we're going for total honesty here, it was "GENEVA Y NO PANTS?") My heroic, ass-kicking commander seems to have left half her armor at home. That's quite the oversight.

Then the feminism started to kick in. My heroic, ass-kicking commander should be appealing because of said ass-kicking, and all the really smart thoughts floating around in her head. For lack of a better term, this cover is a bit...fanservice-y. I had some concerns about my heroic, ass-kicking commander being relegated to little more than a pinup girl.

I walked away from the computer to marinate on this for a little while. (Next total honesty point: I was on the toilet.) Something about the boots and color scheme reminded me of someone. In thinking it over, I came up with Tyris Flare from Golden Axe, a well-loved game from my childhood and beyond. Well, the bottom half, anyway. At least Geneva had the good sense not to go try to save the world in a bikini. Then Boobulon pointed out the obvious - on this cover, Geneva looks almost exactly like Mieu, a popular character from Phantasy Star III, which friends and frequent readers know is part of one of my all-time favorite video game series ever. Seriously, the resemblance is striking.

It's no secret that a lot of my writing has been influenced by video games. While not the most perfect representation of my character (and really, how often do covers flawlessly depict what's inside?*), I think it works as kind of a kitschy callback to the games and character designs of my youth. I DID love growing up with Tyris Flare and her irrational bikini, after all.

Lastly, I took a step back and remembered what I'm really doing here: I write erotic romance. There is sex involved. Sex involves skin. There is skin on this cover. If anything, this cover hints at what's inside more than any of my previous ones. And if that helps sell more books, even better!

Bottom line: I like this a lot. While some aspects (PANTS) made me raise an eyebrow at first and it's not going to win any points for being sensitive to gender issues, I think this is an appropriately badass cover for Geneva & Co., and how they heroically save the day and go home for some kinky fun afterwards. Fun!

(*The worst example of this is when I was browsing a well-known publisher's site and a lesbian romance book had a heterosexual couple on the cover. Eeeeeesh....)

Hump Day Hook!

Wednesday, Hump Day...no matter what you call it, it's everybody's favorite day of the week! Defying the Skies is still new and shiny, so I'll try to hook you again with some naughty thoughts from my very first sequel. As always, be sure to check out the other fantastic hooks!

The idea intrigued her. “I don’t think it sounds strange at all.”
 
“You don’t?”
 
“It makes perfect sense to me.” She leaned closer to him and nudged his hands. He finally uncovered his face and looked at her. “Both of you make me feel amazing. And if you want to feel the same way....”
 
Her lips brushed against his. Marcus threaded his fingers through the hair at the back of her head and refused to let her go. His tongue slid inside her mouth as the heat blossomed between their naked forms. Geneva tried to picture Ash with them at that moment—his hands roaming over both of them, his mouth passing from her body to Marcus’s....

Hump Day Hook!

It's Wednesday! This week, I'll be presenting a special Hump Day Hook to coincide with my latest release, Defying the Skies. Once you're done reading the hook (and the other fabulous hooks this week), be sure to enter the giveaway, because I'm giving away two free e-copies!

Marcus is missing and Geneva is pissed. Watch out!

The armed guard stood with his back to her. She crept towards him, taking care not to draw his attention. Chase’s eyes widened when he spotted her, but he said nothing to reveal her presence. When she was close enough to reach her target, she lunged forward and grabbed his arm.
 
She twisted the joint as she pulled the limb back, hoping the gun wouldn’t discharge. A swift blow with her elbow succeeded in making him drop the firearm. She pinned his arms behind his back with one hand, unsheathed one of her daggers with the other, and held it to his throat. “Open the door,” she ordered.
 
He didn’t move.
 
“Do it.” She gave him a nudge with her knee. “Or else it’s your time that’s running short.”
 
“Your friend wasn’t going to kill me, and neither are you.” The quiver in his voice suggested a lack of confidence.
 
Geneva applied more pressure to the blade, feeling it skim the outermost layer of his flesh. “Are you really so sure?” 


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Defying the Skies Celebratory Giveaway!

Win this!

Good morning, and happy Monday! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. (And if you didn't have the holiday weekend off, I hope you at least kept cool!) To help chase away the Monday blues, I'm giving away two free e-copies of Defying the Skies! Turn on your fans, grab a cool beverage, shed your pants like our favorite Commander, and get ready for something steamy!

You know the drill - follow the Rafflecopter directions, get your tweeting fingers ready, and so on. I'll pick the two lucky winners on Sunday, so stay tuned! 
  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Defying the Skies Release!

What better way to celebrate the holiday weekend than with a brand new release?

I'll admit that when I first saw the cover, I had some mixed feelings about it, namely about Geneva's...uh...lack of pants. Yeah. However, after I marinated on it for a little while, I've decided that this is pretty damn cool. Would pants be more helpful in taking out a slew of space terrorists in their hidden lair? Maybe. But Commander Geneva Greyson is just so much of a badass, she can kill you without pants. Yup. I'll elaborate on all my feelings more in a future post, but for now, let's just marvel at that sweet weapon of mass destruction.

The book's out at DDP and Amazon as of rightthissecond. Since plenty of people are out and about this weekend, I'll hold off on the celebratory giveaway until sometime next week. Until then, have an official blurb!

In addition to her distinguished career with the Terran military, Commander Geneva Greyson has finally achieved harmony in her personal life. Her renewed relationship with her mother has grown stronger and she’s settled into a comfortable arrangement with the two men she loves. Marcus confesses a dark fantasy to her while she’s on leave from duty—not only does he have feelings for her, he’s developing an attraction to Ash. He begs Geneva not to reveal his secrets before Ash arrives to spend the weekend with them. 

The officers return to their posts after a relaxing, decadent visit. They learn of a distressing event upon completing a week-long mission: A terrorist group has organized a strike and taken hostages in their efforts to attract attention to their cause. When Geneva discovers Marcus is listed among the missing, she disobeys her orders and sets out to join the reconnaissance team with Ash by her side. Will they find Marcus before it’s too late for him to affirm his desires?

Hump Day Hook!

Happy Hump Day! I know I've been kind of slacking with the blogging lately, but every now and then, real life gets crazy busy. To help make it up to you, I'll share a superfun longer excerpt from Defying the Skies (sequel to Searching the Skies), which will be released soon! Once you get your fix here, don't forget to check out the other hooks!

“I guess that’s the problem with climbing the ranks,” Geneva joked. “Once you get high enough, the military thinks you’re irreplaceable and that operations will cease to function if you’re gone from your post for too long.”
 
Marcus smiled. “Well, they’re right about one thing.” He kissed the top of her head. “You are irreplaceable.”
 
“Oh, her absence is definitely felt on the ship,” Ash said to him, grinning. “All those young soldiers assigned to laundry duty had to get their thrills somewhere else when her panties weren’t tumbling down the chute.”
 
Geneva kicked him in the shoulder. “You’re terrible!”
 
“Terrible, but undoubtedly correct.”
 
“That’s not very nice, teasing those poor boys like that.” Marcus said. “I mean, they’re probably curled up alone in their bunks dreaming of you every night, and you couldn’t even leave them some dirty laundry?”
 
Her attempts to suppress her giggles were unsuccessful. “You’re just as bad as he is. My underwear is not nearly as fascinating as you make it out to be.”
 
“You know that’s not true.” Marcus ran his finger along the thin band of exposed skin between the bottom of her shirt and the top of her pants. “And forgive me for being forward, but instead of arguing about these things, shouldn’t we be making the most of the time we have together? With or without your panties, of course.”
 
“He’s a wise man,” Ash said. Another set of hands joined the provocative exploration.

Hump Day Hook!

And here we are yet again! I just sent in the first round of edits for the upcoming Defying the Skies. As I went over the document one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything, I was struck by how much this exchange resembled last week's HDH! However, it's pretty obvious that there have been some *cough* changes between that moment in Searching the Skies and now. Happy reading, and don't forget to read more scintillating hooks from the other awesome authors!

The imprint of his lips and Marcus’s hands on her body made his requests impossible to ignore. She slithered into his lap and they tumbled onto the covers. “So much for straightening up the room for you,” she mumbled as his mouth returned to her neck and chest.

“I noticed.”
 
“Lies.”
 
“Okay, I didn’t. But I appreciate the effort.”
 
Geneva wriggled out of his grasp. “Let’s at least fold back the bedspread before we create a wrinkled mess.”
 
“Whatever you say.”
 
She turned back the covers, revealing the pristine sheets underneath. As soon as she was done, Ash grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down next to him. “I thought you said we weren’t going to do much without Marcus!” she said.
 
“We’re not. I’m just making sure you’re warmed up.”
 
“Uh-huh.” With his soft lips and deft fingers, he erased her reasons for resisting. “This isn’t fair,” she half-heartedly argued.
 
His kisses traveled between her breasts and traversed her abdomen. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked.

This, That, and Other Things

With all the events that have been going on, as well as the weekly features I do/participate in, it's been a while since I've actually written a typical blog post. In a perfect world, I'd sit down and organize my thoughts into a cohesive narrative...but I think we all know by now that our world is delightfully imperfect. So here's some stuff that's been going on, in no particular order:

 — I announced it on facebook, and I believe I alluded to it here, but if you haven't heard yet: I signed the official contract for Defying the Skies, and it should be published sometime in July. Yay!

 — Things are going well for my work-in-progress. I feel like I've hit that point where I've established the characters enough that they almost write themselves. I actually organized my sloppy list of "stuff I want to include" into a chapter outline. (Well, most of it, anyway.) I'm usually terrible at estimating these things, but by my calculations, I'm somewhere between a third and halfway through.

 — Also on the topic of my WIP: Again, I know I've been a little vague and coy in various places on the internet, but I'll say it outright here, in case anyone missed it - I decided to try something new and write lesbian erotica. It's been fun so far, but there have definitely been some challenges. The biggest one so far? Pronouns. Oh dear god, the pronouns. They're killing me. But we should always be challenging ourselves and trying new things, right?

 — Not completely relevant to writing, but relevant to my free time and what I do with it: I've been interning for a new job I spent a year and a half training for, so that's been exciting and a little scary and all that other stuff that comes with change. So far, I've still been finding time to write, and I hope that stays the same when I start working for realz. I also want to continue to maintain this blog, and maybe actually get off my butt and write real posts more often.

That list wasn't so bad. It's probably even neater than my chapter outline!

Titled! (finally!)

In this post, I expressed my woes over not having a title for the Searching the Skies sequel. The same thing happened this weekend as with the original book - I finished the first draft, and still had no title. I decided last night that THE TIME HAD COME, and I was going to title this damn book even if it killed me. (Which I believe would make me the first case of "death by untitled manuscript". Alert the medical examiner!)

I went back to the original list of ideas. [Verb]-ing the Skies still seemed like my best bet, especially since I have at least one more book in this series up my sleeve. I made a list and consulted whatever friends were unlucky enough to be signed into gtalk at the moment and nagged them for opinions. I kind of liked Saving the Skies, but I was still wary of the alliteration leading to ridiculous titles down the line. Guarding the Skies topped the list for a while; I was heavily leaning toward it, but I'll admit that some of that was just due to the "ugh, I just want this thing named already!" feeling.

The Artist Known as Boobulon didn't like it. Wah. We discussed at length the plot and themes of the book, and he told me what he felt the key points were and how he thought the title should reflect them. I understood and appreciated what he was saying, but it was still difficult to find a verb that captured all of that. Actually, we did find a couple, but 1) I felt they had negative connotations that I didn't really want in my title, and 2) they just didn't feel right. The seven o'clock hour was drawing near, and it was time for me to put down the computer and pick up the knitting needles and watch Jeopardy. (Because I'm secretly an old boring woman.) I told Boobulon I'd be back in an hour and we'd contemplate it some more.

And then as soon as I picked up the yarn and needles, it hit me! My mind stumbled upon the Verb that reflected the focal themes of the book and still sounded badass. I renamed the relevant documents and finally felt a sense of relief.

So I'll announce it here first: unless my editor changes it, the story of Geneva, Ash, and Marcus will continue on in Defying the Skies. I won't post details here yet, but trust me, "Defy" works on multiple levels. I also like how it calls to mind both death-defying aerial stunts and the song "Defying Gravity". I hope it's a winner!

(And now I can rest easy, for I already have titles in mind for my next couple projects. Thank goodness. We really don't want to have to go through this again.)