John Palmer Update...And a Taste...

I know a lot of you are waiting on pins and needles for John's book to come out, titled Embattled Hearts. I thought I would assure you that it will be out this month. It's complete, being edited and beta-read as we speak, cover is ready to go. So, I thought I would give you a little taste to whet your appetite...

She handed a small gray bundle of fur to John. “This is the runt of the litter, and I try to feed her a little more than the others.”

John held the kitten awkwardly in front of him. The young cat’s paws batted the air, looking for something to claw into.

“No, no, hold her against you, like this.”

She settled his hand against his chest and shaped his fingers around the little creature’s bottom.  Shannon didn’t even realize how close she had moved to John until she looked up and found him staring at her. Hard. With those heavy black brows furrowed and his dark eyes full of burning emotion.

“Sorry,” she mumbled and pulled away quickly. She snatched another kitten out of the box and tucked it under her chin.

John’s kitten started to purr.

“What’s it doing now?” he demanded.

Shannon laughed at the ferocious frown on his face. “Relax,” she told him gently, “he’s just purring. It means he’s comfortable and he likes what you’re doing.”

John eased back in his chair and eyed the cat.

“Haven’t you ever had a cat?” she asked him curiously.

John’s face lost all expression, and a subtle tension eased into the air. “No, I haven’t. Animals weren’t allowed at the boy’s home where I grew up.”

“Oh.” Shannon felt like a heel as the revelation about his childhood settled into her. It explained so much of who he was.

“I didn’t mean to dig things up,” she told him finally.

John shrugged and stroked the kitten on the top of its head with a huge finger. “No big deal. You didn’t know.”

“So, have you ever had any pets?” she asked finally.

John shook his head. “None. There was a stray dog I used to toss scraps to outside my window at the orphanage, but he wasn’t around very long before the pound caught him.”

Shannon felt her eyes fill with helpless tears. How very sad. No animals in his life at all, and the one small contact he had destroyed by the dog catcher. She couldn’t imagine not having animals in her life. She still had three horses at her parent’s house in Colorado Springs she needed to decide what to do with. And she had always had animals in her life. From hamsters and hermit crabs as a child to horses and cattle she showed in 4-H in her teenage years. Actually, she couldn’t remember ever not having an animal in her life.

John fondled the kitten around the ears, and the little animal purred just as loud as she could, her eyes slitted shut in rapture. Shannon knew she would do the same thing if John handled her that way too.

“She really likes you,” she told him softly.

John made a non-committal grunt, but he continued to run his big fingers gently over her coat.

“You know,” Shannon murmured. “I’m going to have to find homes for these before too long.”

John immediately held the kitten out to her. “No, thank you. You’ll find a better home for it than with me.”

Reluctantly, she took the dangling kitten from his hand. She wouldn’t push him on it. They wouldn’t be ready to wean for a couple of weeks yet anyway. Setting the two gently in the box, she turned back to John.

And caught him as he glanced away from her ass.


If you haven't read Embattled Road yet, I strongly suggest you do to get a feel for the men.

AND! If you're not on the newsletter list, you need to be!!! They're getting the first glimpse of John's Cover TOMORROW!!!

Porno Writing Grannies and a #FREE Erotica Book

Ok, I have to tell you about 2 books out today that are, quite simply, just wonderful.
The first is by my very good friend Robyn Peterman. It's her first book, and I can only say I have never read anything as downright funny as this book. I  laughed so hard that my husband had to come in and check on me. No Lie!
Check it out- This is the first crazy paragraph.
     "If you handcuff a woman to a headboard, you need to use fur-covered cuffs. Otherwise you'll rub all the skin off her wrists during rough sex and she'll bleed like a mother-fucker. Blood is just not sexy unless you're writing paranormal." The gal with the lesbian haircut delivered that little nugget with gusto.
What a great hook! And the book is just as fabulous. Here's the blurb.
What happens when an accountant decides to grab life by the horns and try something new? Apparently a pirate named Dave, a lot of pastel fleece, and blackmail—just to start with…

Visualize and succeed, Oprah said. I was sure as hell trying, even if my campaign to score a job as the local weather girl had ended in a restraining order. Okay, TV was not my strength. But a lack of talent has never stopped me before. Which is why I’ve embarked on a writing career. I mean, how hard can it be to come up with a sexy romance?

Leave it to me to wind up in a group of porno writing grannies who discuss sex toys and apple cobbler in the same breath. Also leave it to me to leak an outlandish plot idea to a bestselling author with the morals of a rabid squirrel. And only I could get arrested for a jewelry heist I didn’t commit—by a hunky cop whose handcuffs just might tempt me to sign up for a life of crime. Maybe I’ve found my calling after all…

The second book is by another friend of mine I know from Decadent Publishing. It's a very, VERY, sexy spanking erotica piece. AND IT'S FREE!!! I read it this morning and could not put it down. Totally different than the first but just as good.

Mona Whitman is in for it. Her boss has promised severe punishment the very next time she arrives late for work and the hour she spent fantasizing about him has put her job in jeopardy. If only she could come up with an alternative to firing…a punishment they might both enjoy…

Randolph Marks, business tycoon by day, dungeon Dom by night, is in a quandary. His favorite employeeis late for work again and he must go through with his threat of retribution. But how to go about it without crossing a line and violating good business practices? He couldn’t possibly get away with spanking Miss Whitman.

Seriously, you need to pick up both these books. Fantastic reads, both of them.

The Embattled Road is FREE TODAY AND TOMORROW!!!

I'm getting ready to start releasing my disabled veteran series soon, and this is the prequel of the series. It's not a standard romance, in that, there are no heroines in this book. It's all about the men's struggle to come to terms with major life changes when they're injured in combat. The first book of the series is projected to release in February.

And the prequel is free on Kindle today 01/10/13 and tomorrow 01/11/2013! Click on the cover or this link to download.










Blurb- In the harrowing prequel to The Lost and Found series, three embattled Marines must deal with their devastating physical and emotional injuries in a world that seems to have turned against them.

When the rescue helicopter crashes into his convoy in Iraq, Marine First Sergeant Duncan Wilde struggles with the loss of men, his career and the use of his body. Things can't get much worse. Until his fiancée decides she has to move on with her life, and that of her unborn child by another man.
Sergeant Chad Lowell knew when he went to war that it would come with a price. And it did. A young Marine under his command is killed by a landmine. Chad's left with one less leg and a mountain of recriminations. That doesn't mean he wants to be a pitied by every female he comes in contact with.
Gunnery Sergeant John Palmer is furious at the hand he's been dealt. He's served his country faithfully, if not without antagonism, for many years. Now they're turning him out like a relative who has overstayed his welcome. And, since he's not even a real man anymore, maybe it is time to move on permanently.
Can these wounded warriors use a friendship borne out of adversity to form a partnership rescuing others? And can they find real love in spite of their challenges?

I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read!

JM

My Holiday Gifts to YOU!!! Gift Card, books and swag!

I love Christmas. I really do. And when I'm asked about my favorite story, one in particular always comes to mind.
When my son was about five, we lived in Ohio in this beautiful multi-level cedar sided house. It had decks on both ends of the house. That year, we had our Christmas Tree in the sun-room on the south side of the house.
At five, our son was curious about Santa. He was worried that the reindeer wouldn't be able to land because our roof was shrouded in trees. We promised him that the reindeer would make it work. They'd get Santa here somehow.
Christmas morning we woke up and had our celebration. After a little while, my husband stepped out to the deck for firewood. Within a few seconds he called me out to look at what he'd found.
Reindeer prints in the snow! They were deer prints, of course, (I think) but it so totally backed up our street cred with our boy when he saw them. Santa and the reindeer had made it to our house!
The deck was 2 stories up! If you look in the background, that's my jeep down below.
Check out the pics! I do apologize for the quality- these are pictures of pictures, but I think you can get an idea.

The even crazier part is where these prints actually were. This side of the house was set into the hill, and the deck was L-shaped. The 'reindeer' walked UP four steps then turned the corner of the L. We couldn't believe them when we saw them. 

So, that's my Christmas story. It added some unexpected magic to the day.

Real quick, I have to mention I have a new release! It would be a wonderful gift!

In the harrowing prequel to The Lost and Found series, three embattled Marines must deal with their devastating physical and emotional injuries in a world that seems to have turned against them. 
When the rescue helicopter crashes into his convoy in Iraq, Marine First Sergeant Duncan Wilde struggles with the loss of men, his career and the use of his body. Things can't get much worse. Until his fiancée decides she has to move on with her life, and that of her unborn child by another man.
Sergeant Chad Lowell knew when he went to war that it would come with a price. And it did. A young Marine under his command is killed by a landmine. Chad's left with one less leg and a mountain of recriminations. That doesn't mean he wants to be a pitied by every female he comes in contact with.
Gunnery Sergeant John Palmer is furious at the hand he's been dealt. He's served his country faithfully, if not without antagonism, for many years. Now they're turning him out like a relative who has overstayed his welcome. And, since he's not even a real man anymore, maybe it is time to move on permanently. 
Can these wounded warriors use a friendship borne out of adversity to form a partnership rescuing others? And can they find real love in spite of their challenges?

Now, on to the prizes!!!

Tell me about your most favorite Christmas story. One person who leaves a comment will win a $10 Amazon or B & N gift card, a free download of ANY of my books and a gift pack of swag. The swag bag is for US residents only, but the GC and download can be for international residents. If you ALSO sign up for my newsletter, your name will be entered 2X! I will draw the winner December 17th.

And don't forget about the GRAND PRIZE!!!

We have THREE grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $200 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

Be sure to leave your email!!!! That's how you're entered! And click the hop button at the top to return to the list. Good Luck and Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!

Am I Your 'Next Big Thing?'

There are the books everyone has heard about: Twilight, Hunger Games, Fifty Shades of Gray. But what about all those books written by people you’ve never heard of? Some of them are treasures, just waiting to be found, and that’s what this blog hop is all about: the books you might not have heard about, but that you might end up loving.

This blog hop is like a game of tag. One author posts and tags up to five other authors who link back to their website the next week and tag five new authors. If you follow the blog hop long enough, you’re bound to find some books you’ll love! Maybe you’ll even discover a book that ends up being the next big thing.

I was tagged by Robyn Peterman, a fabulous friend and writer. You can learn more about her hilarious book How Hard Can It Be? on her website, and it will be out mid-January. I’ll tell you, I’ve never read anything funnier. Pee-your-pants kind of funny. You need to make note of her name.
Taryn Raye is the first author on my list you need to check out. She's been a good friend for many years and has released her first book, a fabulous, sweeping historical titled Castaway Hearts through Turquoise Morning Press. It's in print and ebook!

This blog hop includes ten questions to help you learn more about an author’s current work in progress, so here’s a little info about my current project:

1: What is the working title of your book? Embattled Love

2: Where did the idea come from for the book? Well, really, it came from all the veterans we have returning from war right now. I don't think anybody has written this type of storyline before.

3: What genre does your book fall under? It will be romantic suspense.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Hmmm, for the male I think I’ll dream big and say Hugh Jackman, mostly because of his look and ability to slip into any role. This would be a hard one for him though because the hero is wheelchair bound. As for the female, maybe a Mila Kunis or Natalie Portman look.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Wow. Ok. Wheelchair bound hero struggles to keep love-interest safe from vengeful ex-boyfriend/stalker. 60,000 words in one sentence.

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Self-published, of course. Traditional probably wouldn’t even look at something like this.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Still going. On the final chapters though. In total, I’ve worked on this series a couple of years.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Hmmm, a lot of people have tapped on the military aspect, but I don’t know anyone who’s done a vet series like this.

9: Who or What inspired you to write this book? The vets returning from the war. It’s not as bad as when the Vietnam Vets came home with all the protests, but the same disregard still seems to pervade the public about what they’ve had to do to serve their country. It’s easy to go along with our daily lives and forget we have people dying (and killing) for our safety every single day. They need to be recognized. And appreciated. And of course they need love.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? This is going to be a multi book series and the prequel, Embattled Road, is already out on Amazon. It goes through the men’s background and fills in the back story of their friendship and how they recovered from their devastating injuries.

And a portion of the proceeds of the books will be donated to a wounded veteran charity.

Here is a list of fabulous authors who will be joining the hop for week 26 on December 17th. I hope you’ll visit their blogs next week and learn more about their wonderful books. Maybe one of them will become your new favorite author!

1 Taryn Raye

2 Jesse Coffey

3 DL Jackson

4 Krista Ames

5 Teresa Reasor

A Needful Heart is FREE 12-06 and 12-07!!!

I can't believe I almost forgot to announce this!

I'm leaving the Select program on December 18th and this is the last time the book will be free on Amazon.

The program worked well for me but readers want diversity, so after the 18th it will be available on all platforms.

If you've already read the book, Thank you. If you've read AND reviewed the book, Many, Many Thank-you's.

If you haven't read it yet, pick it up. Please. I'm told it's a really good read. ;-)))

Writers- Don't Fall for Archway Publishing!

I'm so aggravated! As if it isn't bad enough that big name publishing companies do shady deals with their own writers, now the're preying on the hopeful, with dreams-in-their-eyes newbies.
Grrr....pisses me off. Sorry for the language, but it does.
Simon & Schuster has gone into business with Author Solutions, a company well known for bilking unknowing writers of hard earned cash in publishing deals. They overcharge, over-sell, take rights that aren't theirs. There's a well-documented list over the past several years.
Read David Gaughran's blog post here. And check out Writer Beware.
Basically, Simon & Schuster created Archway Publishing, a business working in tandem with Author Solutions offering 'self-publishing contracts'.
First off- it's not self-publishing if you contract through a company to publish a book. That's called VANITY publishing. And let's look at what you get when you vanity publish through Archway Publishing.
For only $2000, you get...fluff. You get exactly what you WOULD get if you actually SELF-PUBLISHED yourself, in the truest sense of the term.

• Amazon and Google search programs- okay, basically you're listed with Google and Amazon.
• ISBN- okay,  well, several of the publishing sites don't even require an ISBN, but if they do, if you go through Smashwords it's free.
• Personalized Archway Publishing Bookstore Page- Whoo hoo.
• Barnes and Noble- Look inside the book option. Okay, again, if you self-publish with B & N on the Pubit platform yourself you will receive this. FREE.
• Standard cover design- meh, not impressed with their examples. But, of course, you can PAY THEM for a better cover.
• 'Editorial Assessment'- Okay, it even says in their info this is not actual editing. But, of course, YOU CAN PAY FOR EDITING THROUGH THEM. WHICH MAY PUSH YOUR BILL UP TO $5000!!!

For Non-fiction your book package may cost as much as $25000. What the hell!

And then...THEN.... They want 50% of your royalties. Holy crap, Batman, that's so wrong!

I promise you, I have NEVER put $2000 into a book, let alone $5000. I'm too broke to do that. With a little bit of time and energy, you can put out a professionally covered, well-edited, properly formatted book for less than $500. I know, I've done it. Depending upon the size of the book the price may fluctuate for editing and formatting. And that's for PRINT, too! And that includes all the other little doo-dads they have listed on their site.

I know for a fact they will have business from this venture and I feel sorry for the people that fall for the name. Sadly, Simon & Schuster won't even put their name on your book after you've paid all that money. Nope. It'll be under Archway Publishing, which nobody knows.

I sincerely hope that writers investigate this to their full ability before committing to anything. There are resources out there to guide you in self-pubbing yourself. You don't have to hire somebody to tell you what to do when. Defeats the point of self-publishing, right?

If you have questions, ask another self-pubbed/ indie author. I have found as a group that they are the most open writers you will ever meet. Heck, if you have a question or need help, ASK ME!!! If I don't know the answer I will certainly know somebody who does. Read back through my blog. I have a lot of valuable information listed. 

Be cautious!