I don’t jump on bandwagons, I never have. I was the kid at school wearing a bright pink jacket when it wasn’t part of the uniform (yes that did actually happen) and who sat with a motley group of cool chicks who made the most noise in the playground (hmm, and now I’m at International Heat, so I’m not sure much has changed). I first started writing romance because I loved to read it, and I erroneously thought it might be a cinch to write one. They were fairly short, the storylines were simple boy-meets girl stuff (well they were always boy/girl back when I began reading them). I’d dabbled in creative writing from a young age. Why not give it a shot?
Of course I soon discovered writing romance novels was far from easy and I made several attempts before I began to see myself making any progress at all. It took years before I wrote something publishable, years more before I discovered what I’ve come to recognize as my voice. Sometime along that journey I went from writing traditional sweet romances to erotic ones, some menage including MMF and even dabbling in some mild kink. I found that writing erotic books allowed me to use character types and plotlines I couldn’t use in traditional romance, so it gave me a lot of freedom. I also love reading erotic romance for all the same reasons, and because so many kick-ass authors write it :).
All this has been leading up to something: I’ve never written erotic romance for the money. Would I like some more $$? Sure, but the only reason for that is it would enable me to write full time, which is the dream. I do it because I love it, even when I hate it, and I get satisfaction out of the challenge. When I hit a hard place in a book and manage to write through it by sheer virtue of my own stubbornness, when all is said and done I’m proud of myself. I’m proud of every book I’ve ever had published, and even of all the manuscripts that never went anywhere. I’ve never put out anything that I consider smut or trash, as one particular author (who shall remain nameless because I don’t feel like trafficking any more publicity her way) apparently has. I respect myself, and my readers, enough to make every book I write the best it can possibly be—just as I know all the writers on this blog do.
I love erotic romance readers because they are so open minded and awesome. I love them because they are smart enough and discerning enough to know what they want and loyal enough to post great reviews when they do find a gem of a book. And because they buy backlists of authors who do respect them enough to put love in every word they type.
Contrary to the opinions of some, romance novels aren’t all the same. There are many different subgenres for a start, and many different authors with many different writing styles within each sub genre. My chosen specialty is contemporary romance and within that subgenre there is something to please every reader, from those who enjoy light sweet comedies to darkly erotic journeys. I’ve written sweet stories and very, very sexy stories. I’ve also written books that are issue driven.
By now you’ve all probably heard about Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a preventative double mastectomy because she carried a mutation on the BCRA 1 gene. My menage a trois (MMF) novel Erica’s Choice had the heroine dealing with this same gene mutation and the resultant high-percentage threat of contracting cancer. I never set out to write about that issue, and if I’d known where the book would take me I probably would have chickened out and not written it that way! But when I sat down to put pen to paper this whole breast cancer issue just came out. Once I’d started down that road, I couldn’t stop.
It took a long time for me to get that book as right as I could, and when it was accepted for publication I spent the subsequent months believing not many people would buy it because of the subject matter it dealt with. I was pleasantly surprised to find the book was much better received than I thought, and that the BCRA gene mutation storyline hasn’t turned readers off (as far as I’m aware). It makes me wonder if romance novels are the ‘pure escapism’ many claim they are, or if many readers are happy to explore real and complex problems, problems that real people face in life, along with their ‘escapist’ romance.
So what do you think? Do you believe romance should be pure fluffy escapism or do you like to read books that take on gritty issues?
Erica’s Choice:
High school teacher Erica Shannon isn’t a one-night stand kind of girl. Pair that with an aversion to relationships, and she’s resigned to no love life at all. Then one horrifying discovery propels her off her take-no-risks path, and into the arms of the stars of her midnight fantasies.
When his friend and fellow firefighter threatens to make a move on Erica, Corey figures he’d better get over the notion that she’s way out of his league—fast—before he has to get in line.
Griff never thought he’d get the chance to introduce Corey to the combustible delights of multi-partner play, until he senses the sheer volume of sexual energy surging beneath Erica’s repressed exterior.
A blazing night of passion has unexpected consequences. Corey is surprised to discover the woman of his dreams, and that he doesn’t mind sharing her—or himself—with Griff. But Griff finds his heart pulled down a romantic path he vowed he’d never venture again.
Erica? She’s got a problem on her hands. Hold two, hardwired-to-rescue firemen at arm’s length—and away from her heart—until she’s fought and won a battle that may well destroy her.
You can read an excerpt from the first chapter at my website, where you’ll also find buy links (or go straight to Amazon or Samhain).
So what have I been doing lately? The most significant thing I suppose is not going to RT (boohoo). But I am over my distress now that all the other girls have returned and things are normal again.
I’ve been writing, of course. Currently working on a sexy rom com style book and struggling with plot. I always struggle with plot so what else is new? Doing some revising at the moment and hoping to be done with the draft of this one soon.
I’ve also been doing edits on Unforgettable Summer, my next Samhain release which is due for release on the 26th of November. Down to the final line edits AND I’ve seen a draft of the cover which looks absolutely AWESOME (thanks to our own Valerie Tibbs). I hope I’ll be able to share that soon.
Unforgettable Summer is a follow up to Moonlight Mirage, book 3 in the Bandicoot Cove: The Wedding trilogy that I wrote with Jess and Lexxie. While Moonlight is not technically a menage, there are some hot voyeuristic scenes involving the book’s hero, Mitch, his love Hayley and Hayley’s friends-with-benefits, Ty Butler. In the end Ty had to bow out so Mitch and Hayley could have their HEA, but he left an impression on me so I had to write his book.
If you want to get to know Ty a little before Unforgettable Summer comes out, you can meet him in Moonlight Mirage:
Two years ago, Hayley Bryant left Australia on a round-the-world odyssey that changed her life, and her attitude. After that, coming face to face with the man whose rejection sent her packing shouldn’t affect her at all, right?
Except there’s one thing that hasn’t changed—her former boss Mitchell Wood makes her burn as hot as ever. The difference is, Hayley’s now a grown woman who knows how to get what she wants, and she wants Mitch. Trouble is, she hasn’t come to her friend’s wedding alone. Her very sexy friend with benefits, Ty Butler, might pose a problem.
Business was always Mitch’s first love…at least until he hired his little sister’s friend as an intern. Pushing her away was the right thing to do, but now his sister’s wedding has Hayley re-entering his life—and the empty place in his heart. Soon he’s acting less like the consummate workaholic and more like a man crazy in love. But Hayley’s “plus one” is an unexpected obstacle.
Fortunately, Mitch has never been one to shy away from a little competition
You can checkout an excerpt from the first chapter at my website.
Stepping deeper into the nightclub, he relaxed his hold on his demon a little, the release amplifying his preternatural instincts tenfold. Death’s distinct scent slipped through his nose, past his lips and over his tongue like cool, sweet mist. It pulled at his very core and, with a sudden surge of dark excitement, he saw her sitting in a shadowy booth to the rear of the arena floor, a half-empty margarita glass in her right hand. She watched the couple’s performance, a nonchalant expression on her perfectly beautiful face. Her pale skin appeared almost luminescent in the booth’s muted light.
He destroyed the distance between them in half a blurring second, dropping onto the padded bench directly opposite her without word or warning.
“Hello, Steven.” She took a sip from her cocktail, her attention never wavering from the couple all but copulating on stage.
Ven glared at her, struggling to keep his demon—now both excited and agitated—in check. “Stay away from my brother.”
Death took another drink, her ice-blue stare riveted on the strippers. “Your brother is not what you think he is.”
He snorted. “You don’t think I know that?”
She raised one dark, exquisitely shaped eyebrow and gave a soft, unconvinced sound, her gaze following the movement of the strippers with attentive focus.
Ven couldn’t suppress his growl. “I know I’m only young for a vamp, and you’re what…older than God? But stay the fuck away from my kid brother. If you touch him again I’ll—”
“This is a very good show,” she cut him off, lifting her glass toward the writhing pair before her. “I like the use of the serpent. Nice symbolism, if a touch clichéd. Not sure I appreciate the comment about my age, mind you. It’s not nice to insult a lady like that.”
Hot anger tore through Ven. “Jesus, Woman! I’m threatening you with a considerable amount of pain here and you give me a live porn critique and lessons in etiquette?”
“Well, it’s a very good show. It makes me horny.” Eyes the color of an ancient glacier turned to him. “And I know it makes you horny too.”
Another wave of anger crashed through him, all the more scalding for the disgust her statement brought. She was correct; the strip show did make him horny. But that wasn’t why he was there.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, suppressing the urge to squirm in his seat. Fuck, how did she make him feel like a bloody hormone-crazy teenager? “Don’t you have souls to take?”
Death turned back to the stage show and took another sip of her margarita. “I rarely get to take in live theater these days, and I had time to kill while waiting for you. What better way to pass the hours than to check out one of your favorite haunts.” She chuckled, the sound low and throaty and having an immediate effect on his dick. “Haunts. That term has so much more relevance when associated with someone as dead as you.”
“I’m not dead,” he growled through clenched teeth, his body still recovering from her far-too-sensual laugh. “I’m undead. There’s a difference.” He grabbed a bottle of beer from the tray of a passing waitress and took a mouthful before giving Death a narrow-eyed glare. “And how the fuck do you know where I like to ‘haunt’?”
She raised an eyebrow, a grin playing at the corners of her mouth. “Still insisting you can imbibe human food?”
Ven took another mouthful. “It’s beer, not food.”
“From what I understand, to you Australian men, it’s the same thing, isn’t it?”
“Great. Insult my gender and nationality.” He drained the bottle, placing it on the table between them with a little more force than he’d planned. She was getting to him. A lot. “So tell me, while you’re camped out here checking out the skin show, the world goes without death? No one dies while you’re getting your thrills?”
She laughed, that throaty chuckle again sending a jolt of wet heat straight into his balls. “God, no.” She favored him with an easy grin. “About one-hundred and fifty-three thousand, four-hundred and six people die every day, give or take a few. That’s roughly a little over one hundred a minute. I have a whole staff of underlings to take care of the simple stuff.”
Unable to stop himself, Ven frowned. “So what do you do, Death? I distinctly remember you strutting about over my body as I died. What? Today a religious holiday?”
“I do not strut, thank you very much, and please, call me Fred.” She finished off her margarita and gently placed the empty glass on the table, fixing Ven with a very pointed look. “I tend to the more complicated claimings. If someone is meant to die and something or someone is interfering with that, I step in. Example—the kiddy-rapist your brother saved at the beach was fated to die by the Order of Actuality. If I hadn’t intervened Patrick would have resurrected him and the Order would have weakened.” She leant back in her seat, stretching her arms along the edge of bench. Ven studied her, unable to miss the upward thrust of her breasts the casual position caused. They were a perfect size, her breasts. Not too big, not too small. Just the perfect handful. He swallowed, feeling an invisible pull on his gut he hadn’t experienced since becoming a vampire. Plain, simple, old-fashioned desire.
“Trust me,” she suddenly said, making him jump. He snapped his gaze to her face, relieved to discover she was watching the fornicating dancers on the stage once again. “Where Peabody is now, is a much more deserving place for a pedophile.”
She studied the performance in silence for a moment, allowing Ven to take in the exquisite beauty of her profile. Smooth, rounded forehead, turned-up nose, full, bee-stung lips, long, swan-like neck of the creamiest alabaster. His mouth filled with hot saliva and his cock grew thick in his jeans, pressing against the snug, restricting denim. He bit back a groan. Damn it, what the bloody hell was he thinking?
What was he doing being turned on by the Grim bloody Reaper?
He glared at her, wanting to get away from her as soon as possible, wanting to yank her against his body and fuck her senseless just as quickly.
You are in trouble, Steven. Big trouble.
The dark thought shot through his head just as Death turned her gaze away from the stage show to fix him with an unreadable stare.
“Tell me, Steven Watkins, why do you need to protect your brother? Who do you need to protect him from?”
The sudden reminder of his brother sent an icy shard of guilt into Ven’s gut. He scowled at Death, letting his demon rear closer to the surface. “You.”
Sorry guys, I had a computer issue this week and finally got fully back up and running yesterday. But I’m back and I have lots of news to share! 🙂
First, I showed off the cover for Tales of the Were: Slade in my last post and I actually have a little more news about that series…
1st) Within the next few days, or so, Tales of the Were: Rocky should become available in print form! I’ll post the links on my blog, facebook, my website, etc…
2nd) I’m aiming to release Slade on/about March 18th. Again, I’ll post the links all over the place as soon as they go live.
3rd) Slade will be available as a print book in early April!
I’ve added a little graphic to this post that you can swipe and share if you feel like it. Slade’s love story isn’t a permanent menage, but somehow a bit of menage action crept into it while I was writing it. After all, cats can be very frisky! 😉
And in related news, for those of you who are interested in print books, Brotherhood of Blood: Wolf Hills came out in print on Tuesday. This is the first book I’ve ever had nominated for an RT Book Award. We’ll find out in May at the big RT conference if it won, but I have to admit, I was THRILLED to have it nominated!!! It’s such a huge mark of recognition and it means a lot to me.
The sequel to this book, which is titled Broterhood of Blood: Wolf Quest is awaiting edits and is scheduled for release in December. I finished writing that book last August, but for whatever reason, Samhain Publishing has decided to hold onto it for a bit. I’m not thrilled with the delay, but I really don’t see any alternative at the moment. So I guess we all just have to wait. 😉
Meanwhile, I’ll be expanding the Tales of the Were more throughout the year. I’m getting Slade out before conference season heats up, but I hope to release books for a few of the Redstone Cougar Clan this summer. Lots happening here, so stay tuned! 🙂
And, as always, you can find the latest information on my website at WWW.BIANCADARC.COM.
Sorry guys, I had a computer issue this week and finally got fully back up and running yesterday. But I’m back and I have lots of news to share! 🙂
The sequel to this book, which is titled Broterhood of Blood: Wolf Quest is awaiting edits and is scheduled for release in December. I finished writing that book last August, but for whatever reason, Samhain Publishing has decided to hold onto it for a bit. I’m not thrilled with the delay, but I really don’t see any alternative at the moment. So I guess we all just have to wait. 😉
International Heat 