Just in time for Halloween
Halloween Hijinx
http://www.midnightshowcase.com/Hijinks.htm
Love Never Dies, Imari Jade
Donovan Flowers follows a woman no one else sees. She naked…waiting. Perhaps it’s a trick, but it’s not a treat he’ll refuse.
At The Stroke of Midnight, Lanette Curington
Although Olivia DeBenning doesn’t realize it, she’s already had three brushes with death in her lifetime. During a masquerade party, Death visits one last time.
The Cat’s Meow, Mae Powers
On All Hallows Eve, Prince Draemond must seek a new bride; especially one that won’t cheat on him with his mistress.
The Kissing Frog, Jen Bokal
What’s a girl to do when she discovers her deceased Grandmother’s book of spells? Try a little practical magic of course.
Setting the Mood for Romance
The lights are dimmed, the kids are napping, and it’s raining outside. What a perfect way to set the mood for writing.
So how do you set the mood for romance in your story? It all has to do with the five senses. Use them when you’re about to develop a love scene. As a romance writer we have to come up with different and unique places for romance to take place. Tried and true, the bedroom, the shower and in an airplane restroom has been done to death. Usually before the story is even told I try to come up with the when and where I want to sex to begin. Things to take into consideration:
In Oasis, my characters are riding on a camel in the desert in
The possibilities are endless. The bed is nice, but less face it, beds are for sleeping.
I also like to use sound to set the mood. The sound of rain makes me feel relaxed, so I try to put my characters in a relaxed state of mind when they’re dealing with each other. And depends on who I’m with, rain makes me very amorous. (Wink, wink, get the picture?)
Music – There’s not a better prop to use than music – Put in a CD or turn on the radio. Let the type of music you’re listening to set the mood of the story. If I’m listening to the Beatles while I’m writing, I’m in a lively mood and it reflects in the words I chose. If I’m listening to Michael Jackson, I’m in a youthful mood and my words tend to get a little giddy and joyous. If I’m listening to Tina Turner, I’m feeling empowered and my female characters are bound to be a little over the top. And when I’m listening to Barry White, it’s no hold’s bar. Clothes are flying off all over the place and my characters are getting down and dirty.
In this case music does not soothe the savage beast. It brings it to the surface.
Food – Oh my gosh. Food can really set the mood. Whipped cream, cherries, and chocolate syrup. (Yummy). Fried oysters and champagne (ooh), macaroni and cheese (?) Hey, young mothers need love too.
What goes through your head when you kiss someone who just drinks your favorite wine? Do you find icing on a spoon sexy when you see her eating it? Does a beer gut turn you on? Have you ever watched your best girl eat a banana split? The possibilities are endless.
Touch and Props – The single sexiest feeling in the world is having someone touch you. What do you like? Having your head, feet or back massaged. Getting your hair combed or styled by the opposite sex. What do you do with someone gently runs a feather up your spine or kiss your fingers or the back of your legs. It can be as simple as the heroine reaching up to remove his glass and innocently touches his eyebrow.
Like I said earlier, the possibilities are endless. So when you hit that roadblock, just think about what turns your own. Remember your characters are an extension of you. If you like it, I’m sure they will too.
Imari Jade
http://www.imarijade.com/books.html
New Excerpts
Midnight Showcase Fiction
http://www.midnightshowcase.com/MustlubCats.htm
MUST LOVE CATS! EXCERPTS:
A Girl's Best Friend
By
Imari Jade
Chapter One
"Everything is going to be alright," Vince Carson said to his four-year-old German Sheppard Butch. "I'll be right with you for the whole ordeal."
The Sheppard looked up at him with big soulful brown eyes, thankful for the backup. It was his annual physical and the first one with a new veterinarian. Doc Martin had recently retired and he recommended Doctor Whelan with great enthusiasm.
Something tipped into the room. It was the biggest, fattest feline he'd ever seen. Butter-yellow spots on its beige coat made it look even more menacing. Vince sneezed. He was seriously allergic to cats since he was a child.
Pandemonium broke loose as soon as the dogs in the waiting room became aware of its arrival. The cat seemed to know what its presence was doing and it continued to prance into the room like it owned the place. Fur, claws, and chairs flew in every direction as the chase began. Owners stared in shock as their normally well-behaved dogs succumbed to their natural instincts to hunt and destroy the cat. Three male clinic orderlies ran into the room once the frantic receptionist pressed the panic alarm on her desk.
They arrived in time to see the tabby gracefully hopping from one cabinet to another while dogs in all shapes and sizes stood on hind legs with their paws against the cabinets trying to get at the cat. Even Butch who normally was too lazy to chase his own tail.
Vince grabbed Butch's leash and tried to get the fifty-pound dog to obey while other owners tried to control their pets. The three orderlies tried to catch the cat using strategic maneuvers but unfortunately, the cat was smarter than all three of them. It took about ten minutes for them to get everything back in control.
"Mr. Carson, Doctor Whelan is ready for Butch now."
Vince rose with leash in hand. He tugged gently for Butch to follow him but the Sheppard whined like a puppy. "It's not going to be that bad."
The receptionist peered over the counter at Butch. "Doctor Whalen is an excellent veterinarian. She's very gentle."
Butch rose obviously reassured that the receptionist knew more than he did about the situation. He sniffed around for the tabby that had been removed from the room. Satisfied he pranced toward the back prepared to meet his fate, leading his well-trained owner. They passed various examination rooms where dogs barked from inside their kennels. Vince spotted a pretty, dark-haired young woman standing at the end of the hall, dressed in a pair of white slacks and a white lab jacket. She walked up to greet them.
"Good morning, I'm Doctor Aubrey Whelan. You must be Mr. Carson." She extended her hand and Vince shook it, surprised at the firm grip.
"Nice to meet you Doctor Whelan. Doctor Martin spoke very highly of you."
"Thank you but I'm afraid he's a bit biased. I was one of his students." She went down on her knees in front of the dog. "My, you're a big one. Why are you here today?" She patted Butch under his throat and stroked his coat. Butch panted happily.
"Annual physical," Vince answered for the dog.
The doctor rose. "No sweat, boy."
That was easy for her to say. He was doing a fair share of sweating and he wasn't wearing a hair coat. The doctor was simply lovely, with big green eyes and a peachy complexion. She wasn't wearing any makeup, just natural beauty.
"Follow me."
Vince and Butch followed her into an examining room. Vince took a seat while the doctor put Butch up on a scale. "Whoa, you are a big one."
Vince looked the new doctor over closely. She was about twenty-five or twenty-six and unmarried. He had done a quick sweep of her fingers when she wasn't looking. There was something useless about building a fantasy in your head over a married woman. He continued to watch her as she performed a routine examination on Butch who had stopped whimpering and was panting happily even through the rectal exam. For a minute, Vince felt envious of his dog.
****
Strange Critters
By
Mae Powers
To boldly go where few had gone before—that had been Kara Lassiter's dream for a long time. One she finally made into reality. In 2042 she'd finished her seventh mission for NASA. Now she was at home to stay for a long while, before there would be another, more permanent trip back into space.
Very few people had the perfect life, but Kara found life pretty good. She had a great job and a wonderful cat to come home to. Having the right man to share life with would make it all perfect for her indeed. But how often did a girl find a man to share her dreams completely in every way? Perhaps that was her problem, she wanted too much out of a relationship.
It had been four months since she'd seen Zany, her space-ballish cat. Her neighbor Lacie Evans, a veterinarian, and owner of two cats, two parrots, a dog, and a couple of other unidentifiable critters, watched Zany when she was away. In turn, Kara took care of Lacie's menagerie when she was home and Lacie had to be away. Their houses were down a country lane, but they lived in the Houston area.
Kara found the silver tabby Zany late one night underneath her car as she was leaving a grocery store. She'd needed to stock up on some items, having just come back from her latest space mission at the time. She'd actually picked up cat food and things for Lacie and found it ironic she found the little thing prowling around.
What had also been strange is that she'd found him just after a meteorite shower passed by. She'd watched it just before she'd gone into the store, and when she came out with the supplies and put them in her SUV, she'd found him. Its silvery blue eyes stole her heart, and she knew she couldn't leave him alone in the parking lot.
Five years later the varmint had the run of her home. It liked Lacie and Lacie's own critters, so Zany knew, somehow, that it was ok to stay with Kara's neighbor when Kara was away for any length of time. But that didn't mean that Kara didn't hear fussing from her little guardian cat whenever she came home.
She always picked up tuna and chicken in cans for Zany on her way home. He liked those best of all and didn't like cat food, especially once he'd passed a year old. She loved the little furball, but sometimes he did the oddest things. Like when she came home, somehow he'd always get out of Lacie's house and be there waiting for her on the porch of her small two bedroom home.
If she told people half the things he did, they might put her away in a loony bin or think she'd ingested some alien microbe. However, that wasn't the case; Zany was just a peculiar, long-haired silver tabby with intelligently seductive eyes. She used to think they were just sweet, alluring eyes, but as he got older, Kara often felt the cat saw into her soul and more. She felt sure it was just her odd imagination, of course, but sometimes, the wild little purrrson had her wondering about him.
Sometimes, when he slept with her at night and cuddled against her side, she went into a very deep sleep and had some of the strangest but incredulously sensual dreams. Dreams in which Zany changed from a cat to a full grown, silver haired man with glowing silver eyes. A hunk with a body that hypnotized her into the most lustful needy feeling she'd ever experienced in or out of her dreams. She shivered with the recall, but as she pulled her SUV into the large driveway, she banished it from her thoughts.
***
Purr
By
Ruth J. Hartman
"Now just what have you guys been up to since I left? Hmmm?" No one answered. Seventy-two eyes stared at her from half that many faces. Furry faces. And the eyes that stared at her were of the feline variety. "Have you all got each other's tongues?"
Roxy never liked being the center of, well, anything. That's probably why she chose running a no-kill cat shelter. No one expected you to be dressed up, or wear makeup, or comb your hair. She did actually do the third one, and occasionally the second. Never the first. She was a jeans and Henley-shirt kind of girl.
Another reason for her career choice? The woman was absolutely, one hundred percent cat-crazy. There was no denying it. She had been in love with cats since she was in the womb. Her mother, who was also a cat-person, would hold one of the fluffy creatures against her stomach when Roxy was on the way. The womb-enveloped baby would smack, poke and shuffle. Anything to get closer to that amazing motor-like purr she later discovered was a cat's expression of delight.
Her job was her life. Period. There was no husband, boyfriend, or male anything else. Except of course, about half of her cat population. That's not how she wanted it. That's just how it was.
"You're here early, Roxy."
She looked up to see her assistant, Teresa Lynn. "Hey, yeah I decided to get an early start on those adoption forms today. Never can have too many willing pet-parents, now can we?"
Teresa Lynn smiled. "Exactly."
The two women went about their morning duties. Teresa Lynn checked through their huge stack of mail, hoping to find an elusive donation.
"Found one!" she waved the envelope at her boss.
"Great!" said Roxy. "See if there's any more. We're coming up short on the mortgage this month. Not that it hasn't happened before."
"I'll keep looking." Teresa Lynn continued to flip through the stack. "Sorry. Just the one."
"Rats," Roxy muttered as she made her way down the narrow corridor between the cages of stray cats. She then turned her full attention to her charges. "Who's hungry? Anybody? Raise your left paw if you want some breakfast." Every fur-bearing creature in the place began to pace and howl. Roxy quickly filled bowls with cheap dry cat food (the only kind they could afford). One by one, cats purred and pranced, eager for his or her turn to gobble their rations.
Along with breakfast, each cat received a quick chin-scratch. Later on, they'd be let out of their pens in stages to frolic and mingle. At that time, Roxy and Teresa Lynn could give them more individualized petting and attention. During the kitty "happy hour", the purr level usually reached the three hundred-decibel level.
"There now, doesn't that feel better?" Oliver, the orange tabby, practically smiled as Roxy quickly brushed his long, tangled fur. "You just need a haircut, don't you, my little man?"
Teresa Lynn giggled as she watched them. "You talk to them as if they were human."
"Well, they think they're people, so I guess I see them that way, too." She smiled sheepishly.
Both women looked toward the front door as someone rattled the doorknob, trying to get in. Roxy stood up and put Oliver back in his cage. She walked to the door to peer through the glass. "We don't open for another two hours. Sorry."
The boy standing outside the door was frowning. His navy, hooded sweatshirt was too large for his skinny frame, and he needed a haircut, badly. Roxy waited for him to leave, but he stayed planted right where he stood.
She made a second attempt to dissuade her frumpy visitor. "Um, sorry, but we're closed. Can you some back at 10:00?"
The boy simply stared through the glass at her. As she looked closer, she realized he was crying.
"I can't stand it," she muttered. "Why is this kid standing out there using the waterworks?" She unlocked the door and opened it for her unwelcome guest.
***
The Cat in the (Wizard's) Hat
By
Carla Cripps
Ashley sat staring morosely at his cat flap, his purrs turning rapidly to growls of masculine frustration. `Oh, Joy! Merriwen, light-of-my- life, you just had to lock the latch, didn't you?' he thought.
The irritated British Shorthair sighed inwardly and slunk off to find his human. He could smell her favorite perfume wafting down the stairs, so he padded silently up the two shallow flights to her bedroom. The aroma, an eau de gardenia that he normally thought quite pleasant, only aggravated him now. `All right for some,' he grizzled to himself. `Some can come and go as they please! Some don't have to wait at the beck and call of human whim!'
As Ashley approached the open bedroom door, he paused. To be fair, if he had to share his house with someone, Merriwen wasn't a half-bad tenant. She never failed in her duty of care: his meals were always on time, as tasty as top-line commercial cat food could be, and ample in quantity for his moderate appetite, his litter box was always tidy, as was the rest of the house, and best of all, she, being single, with no romantic partner, was happy to spend quality time with him, grooming his luxuriant black-and-grey coat, or playing with him if he was in the mood.
He did have to pitch a fit when she considered having him neutered, but it was his own fault he'd not thought to fake her out that it had already been done. It helped that she was still dithering about it, her civic responsibility as an Australian cat custodian weighed against his "rights" as an independent entity. And far be it from Ashley to try to unduly affect her conscience.
No, he and Merriwen were bumping along quite nicely, thank you very much, except for the latest enviro-rant that caused her to put a lock on the flap. Not that he blamed her. If he'd been a real cat, who hunted for food or sport, it would have made sense that she thought she was keeping him inside at night, so he couldn't threaten the native wildlife. Cats were an imported species, didn't belong running loose in Australia, or "Oz," as its justly proud residents sometimes call it.
But although Ash himself was real, being a cat was just his day job. His true vocation was that he was a bona fide, practicing wizard, whose ancestors in England went further back than Merlin. His great-great- great-grandfathe r had had a touch of the wanderlust, and came to Australia late in the 19th Century, and prospered. He took a wife only a few years out from Ireland, a woman who held to the old ways, though not from a witch family; they had one daughter, who became a witch, who married a sympathetic non-wizard. Their son became a wizard, and so on, and so forth until Ash was born.
He loved everything about wizardry, became an apt pupil, first at his father's and grandfather' s knees, then spent a time in England and Europe, apprenticing to the best of modern wizards. Then he returned to Adelaide to settle down. He hoped to find a wife of his own, to continue the dynasty and to pass on his great skill and knowledge, but it proved harder than he expected, or maybe he was just pickier, so he passed his time dabbling in property development and other capital ventures, and continuing his supernatural practice and study, while feeling keenly the isolation of his single state.
How he came to be trapped in his own house in cat form, hoist in his own pet-ard, so to speak, was, as these things usually are, the result of the dumbest of dumb ideas: it had been his less-than-well- considered habit, when the agent was showing the house to a potential renter, to discreetly check out the person himself. He'd long ago decided that anyone who loved cats tended to be reliable in other areas and, he was sufficiently cynical not to take anybody's word for their position in the matter. So he would morph into cat form, invite himself inside, pull his worst kitty stunts, see how the person reacted to him, and generally give them his personal once-over.
Plotting – who created this and why? I’ve spent the last two days trying to come up with plots for two manuscripts I’m working on. One manuscript is about angels and demons, and the other is something new I’m researching called yaoi. Manga and anime fans know exactly what I’m referring to, but for those of you who don’t, yaoi is about male/male relationships written from a female perspective. So guess which one I’m having the most problems with? If you guess the one with the angels and demons, you’re right.
Even though I’ve written about angels before I’m still having problems with putting them into sexual relationships. It took me four months to plot out “Damnation,” because I feel angels should be angelic, yet I’ve had no problem coming up with characters names for my two male leads in the yaoi manuscript. I’ve also developed their backgrounds, decided on what occupations they will have and even come up with a title. How come this was so easy? Because I watch a lot of anime. I can’t recall the last time I hung out with an angel…though I did see an episode of “Angels in America,” on television the other night.
So I’ve decided to make the lead a demon. Those I don’t have problem working with. They can be as bad as I want to make them. Now I’m trying to come up with professions for the two lead characters. Guardians have been done to death. What time period do I want them to be in? Where on earth is this going to take place? Is she going to be an innocent or is she going to be headstrong and cocky?
Plotting make my head hurt. Knowing me, I’m just going to jump right into it and let the characters make up the story as it goes along. I have two weeks to come up with two 25,000 word manuscripts. Will I be able to do it? Honestly I don’t know. It’s possible. I’ve written one in five days before. I better get back to work.
Having a pretty good day. Woke up this morning and watched the Biography Channel. They featured a few of my favorites, Donny and Marie Osmond, Smokey Robinson, and Davy Jones. If any of you out there don’t know who these people are, then you are much too young to be visiting this blog. (Smile).
I started out my writing day digging out disks (Floppies) that were stored away in a drawer. I had one of those hare-brained ideas to work on a novel featuring some characters I developed a couple of years ago. I felt it was time to get it out of the house and hit while the fire is hot. It’s about vampires and you know they’re what are currently happening. I’ve been working on a series for years. I call it the Southern Slayers. I think the vampires are hot and sexy and they’re dangerous. It took a while to find them since I have so many floppies. I’m still in the process of converting them to the latest storage/backup drive. Once I moved it over to the zip drive I printed out the information I had, three-holed punched it and put it in a binder. In the process I ran across another manuscript I’ve been working on about wolves. So now I’m sitting here working on both and trying to get them ready to submit.
I got on the Internet for a while to search for guidelines and Calls for Submissions. I picked up a couple of places to submit my work. I transferred the information to a Word Document that I update weekly.
I’m checking my email periodically. One of my editors emailed me a new review site, so I stopped what I was doing an email a copy of Death Takes a
I think the most remarkable thing about today is that I actually got a chance to do with I liked to do. I’m not baby-sitting at the moment. I better not say that too loud because the doorbell might ring. I should be doing something constructive like getting my stuff ready to go to work tomorrow but I’m not. I’m not cooking either. They can eat leftovers.
So how am I going to spend the rest of the evening? Working on these two books. I have the DVR programmed to tape Fox’s Sunday night line-up. Earlier today I did get a chance to watch a few episodes of Entourage and Supernatural.
Imari Jade
Happy Labor Day!
It's 8:30 in the morning and I'm freezing to death because my children are warm-blooded creatures who think it's appropriate to have the central air-conditioning unit on sub-zero.
While they're snug in their beds I'v been up since before the rosters working on my non-working holiday. I've mopped the floors, paid the cable bill, renewed a membership, read my email and started promoting on-line.
Why am I up and busy so early in the morning? Because I'll be baby-sitting from 9:00am until 4:00 pm and my family really don't think I have a life.
We're expecting rain today in New Orleans, so bar-be-quing might be out. Maybe not. It just depends on my son's mood. Should he decide to become chef for the evening does not free me from my duties. I have to do the side dishes. It's Monday in Louisiana, so that means mama will be cooking a big old pot of red beans to accompany the chicken and whatever else he throws on the grill.
Later this evening I'm stopping in to give some support to my writer friend Trent Kinsey who will be chatting at Eternal Press and promoting his new horror/scifi book "10:15." Please join us.
I hear my daughter-in-law stirring, trying to creep out of the front door to go to work. That means I need to get off this thing and go cook breakfast before the babies get up.
Imari Jade
Title: Body Heat
Author: Imari Jade
Genre: Erotic Interracial Romance
Publisher: Sugar and Spice Press
Line: Uninhibited Series
Book Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psm5WVu1BrA
Buy Link:
Buy Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Body-Heat-ebook/dp/B002GNYTSS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249046796&sr=8-1
Blurb: Rayna Wright was the daughter of the President of the
Title: Damnation
Author: Imari Jade
Genre: Erotic Paranormal/Angel Romance
Publisher: Midnight Showcase Fiction
Digest: Forbidden Fruit
Price: $5.99 download
Buy Link:
http://midnightshowcase.com/FruittyDigest.htm
Blurb: A fallen angel’s fate is tested when he meets a beautiful young woman who lives at the gates of hell.
Title: Love Never Dies
Author: Imari Jade
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Midnight Showcase Fiction
Digest: Halloween Hijinx
Price: $4.99 download
Buy Link:
http://midnightshowcase.com/Hijinks.htm
Blurb: Donovan Flowers follows a young woman no one else sees. She’s naked…waiting. Perhaps it’s a trick, but it’s not a treat he will refuse.
Coming Soon
Title: Death Takes a
Author: Imari Jade
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Carnal Desires
http://www.carnaldesirespublishing.com/index.php
Blurb: Thantos Marinatos has reaped souls, fought demons in hell, commanded ghostly armies, and won chariot races in both
Announcing the upcoming release of Midnight Showcase's latest Anthology Digest, Forbidden Fruit, featuring the stories for fellow Midnight Showcase authors, Imari Jade, Molly Whalen, Tracey Fischer, and Ellen Margaret (Forbidden Fruit Contest winners). Available June 25, 2009 at:
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