DARK HEAT is Out!

What would you do in the dark heat of a dungeon when a man offers his protection in exchange for passion you’d never dreamed possible?

When healer Caelan angers her King, she’s thrown into prison where she bargains her body to a warrior awaiting execution for a crime he didn’t commit. Garron’s very name means protector, and he’s willing to trade protection to get his hands on a woman who smells like freedom and tastes like passion.

But their special powers unite, turning lust into something unforeseen. Soon they are forced to choose between freedom and their growing love in the dark heat of the night.

Buy the book or read an excerpt here!

Getting Older

Recently, I've noticed my taste in men has changed. When it happened I'm not sure. I'm not one of those women who sees a guy and thinks he's hot. In fact, I rarely notice men that way - I guess I'm just not hardwired like that.

But the other night in a bar with a girlfriend (a very rare occurrence these days), she said this guy was hot. I looked over and my first thought was, "Is he old enough to drink that beer?! They're going to lose their liquor license if they're not careful." (I'm very practical - lol)

And it was then I realized that not only was he old enough to drink legally, but somewhere along the way, when I wasn't looking, I got older. I don't feel older (that's a whole 'nother blog), but my taste in men has seriously shifted to the 30-40 year old men set. You'd think it would make sense, but other women seem to think men in their 20's are sexy. I just think they look young and there is not a cell in my body that thinks young is sexy. It's the truth (yes, yes, I know last RWA Conference I said that young and uncomplicated sounded good to me, but that was just to make all of you laugh). I realized that men without lines in their face and maybe a splash of gray in their hair look kind of feminine and uninteresting to me.

So that started me thinking about it. Then yesterday, I'm reading my new favorite magazine (Esquire), and I'm looking through this huge spread on men's clothes (I need to update my husband's wardrobe - sigh) where they have real men wearing clothes real men wear -- although I'm thinking the lobsterman with the $1000 jacket on isn't all that realistic, even if the jacket is pretty rugged. And I'm flipping through and I stop on this one guy and I'm thinking, "see? Now I think he's hot, but of course he's older. God, when did I get so old this guy looks sexy to me?!" Then I realize it's Viggo Mortensen - BWAHAHAHAHA. Erm, okay, well, I'm thinking just about every woman thinks he's hot. Or maybe I'm wrong? Thoughts on this subject? Please tell me I'm not the only one making this shift!!

Rejections -- And Worse

Howdy ho all!!!!

I've been pretty quiet lately, but it's because I've been thinking.

"Thinking about what, Leigh?" you ask.

Thinking about things that are worse than rejection.

"What?! What's worse than rejection?" you wonder.

Well, a couple things have been worse than just having someone say no to one of my manuscripts. Take the following anecdotal stories from the last few months:

-----Example Number One----

I had an editor reject one of my previously ebook published stories because he said my writing left him cold. Um. Never ever heard that one before. A national magazine said -- "Engrossing, enthralling and entrancing, In Ice is certainly not one to be missed." and nominated it as one of the best erotic romances of 2005. Obviously it wasn't that cold. Right?? RIGHT?! ARG!!! I was pulling my hair out, second guessing myself. I wrote that story to practice writing emotion, choosing a scarred hero and an emotionally damaged heroine. I ghosted around my house, debating it, wondering. I called all my writing friends, spending hours discussing it. I tortured my agent with vulnerable dribblings.

Two weeks later, on an author-only email loop, and a friend of mine cut and pastes her rejection letter from this same editor into the email. Holy Smackers!!! She'd gotten the same exact wording, with only our names changed!!!!!!!!!! Oh my god. This editor was using that cruel, harsh, evil rejection letter as his stock rejection (no wonder he asked to see more of my work!! I had been thinking, "you want more COLD writing, do you?!?"). What a complete asshole! LOL! I'm sorry, but he is. (If you're reading this blog, Mr. Editor, you're an asshole.)

---- Example Number 2 ----

I've been writing for Red Sage's Secrets Anthologies. I love Red Sage and had been pretty sure that Red Sage loved me. Only I hadn't heard anything about my latests submission - for like EIGHT MONTHS!!! Um. I sent emails asking submission status, heard back about 3 months in that I should be receiving an edit letter, then nothing.... Silence. No other emails were answered.
Now most of you know I hurt my back, and that was smack dab in the middle of this. I had thoughts like, "even Red Sage doesn't like my writing any more" - WAHHHHH!

Then two weeks ago, I got an email from the owner of Red Sage, saying my editor had health problems and had retired. I emailed her back and basically was told I'd been lost --- LOST. They didn't hate me, they'd lost my manuscript! Within two hours, I had someone reading it. Within days, they called to buy it.

----Conclusion ----

Well, obviously this business is tough and ego-bashing. Yadda yadda yadda - and all that jazz authors always moan about.

But what I think I finally learned is that things happen that have nothing to do with me, but feel very personal from where I'm standing. An editor has a stock rejection letter that guts me. Another editor becomes ill and loses my manuscript. All that has nothing to do with me, but I took it so personally, they were padding a room with my name on it at the state mental institution. I guess it just finally struck me that I've got to have some distance between me and the people commenting on my work. That doesn't take away all of the pain -- lord, I'm not Superwoman and you'd have to be to withstand all this with a stiff upper lip. But I can remind myself that there are forces at work here that go beyond me and, although they feel very painful, they are things I shouldn't be wasting time and energy worrying about.

Remind me I said this next week when I fly off the handle about my latest round of rejection, would you?

Reality

PC Cast has another one out!!

GODDESS OF THE ROSE by PC Cast
(Berkeley, February 7, 2006)

GODDESS OF THE ROSE is a magical, sensuous retelling of Beauty and the Beast – with a modern slant. Our Beauty, Micki (named after the Mikado Rose), and all the women in her family have a special affinity for roses – their blood, diluted in water and applied during the night of a new moon, makes roses grow spectacularly. What the women don’t know is that they have this ability because they are descendants of a High Priestess of the Goddess Hecate. Hecate is Goddess of Night, Magick, the Crossroads of Man, and of Beasts. She is also the proctrectess of The Realm of the Rose – the place wherein all dreams and magick originate. This realm is guarded diligently by The Guardian, a creature on which the myth of the Minotaur was based. The Guardian swore himself into Hecate’s service for eternity, and in return the Goddess gifted him with the heart and soul of a man, even though he has the body of a beast. But all is not well in The Realm of the Rose. The Guardian made a terrible mistake, arousing the Goddess’s wrath to such an extent that she bespelled him and the realm, and Hecate swore that they would sleep eternally unless the Beast was awakened by a woman who carried the magickal blood of Hecate’s priestess, and was wise enough to see the truth, and compassionate enough to act upon it.Micki does awaken the Guardian and he abducts her to The Realm of the Rose, thinking that she would automatically break the curse placed on the realm and set things to right, but modern woman Micki is a very unexpected kind of High Priestess, and there are forces at work within the realm, both of love and of hatred that might change the shape of dreams and magick for all of eternity unless Micki is brave enough to make the ultimate sacrifice…

Capa Nominations

Good news!!

It looks like two of my stories have been nominated for Capas!

Secrets Volume 12 is nominated in the Erotic Anthology Category.

True Seeing is nominated for a Psyche Award for Best Overlooked Work (has not received a CAPA previously, any genre or time frame).

Wow!! I'm so excited!

Gena Showalter Has Another Out!!

JEWEL OF ATLANTIS by Gena Showalter
(HQN Books, February 1, 2006)

Enter a mythical world populated with vampires, dragons, demons and Nymphs…enter a world of dark seduction and powerful magic…enter Atlantis…..

All Atlantis seeks the Jewel of Dunamis, which legend claims can overcome any enemy. Grayson James, human agent for the ultra-secret Otherworld Bureau of Investigation, has orders to keep it from the wrong hands – or destroy it. What he doesn’t know is that Jewel is a woman, not a stone! But once he meets this precious gem, destroying her is the last thing on his mind…Jewel, part goddess, part prophet, is a pawn in Atlantis’s constant power struggles. She needs Gray’s help to win freedom and uncover the secrets of her mysterious origins. Gray needs her wisdom to navigate monster-ridden Atlantis. But need blossoms into passionate love as they fight demons, dragons, vampires – and a prophecy that says the bond between them could destroy them both.

Read an excerpt here!!

Things You Don't Know About Women

I am married to a man who has a very strange passion -- collecting airline miles. Everything we do revolves around it in some way, shape or form (yes, I know those of you who've met him find this hard to believe, but sometime when I'm NOT around, ask him about it. Make sure you have an hour or two to listen to the answer - you're going to need it). We have two credit cards and I'm told when to use each and where, since it turns out that the cards give you double miles at various points, such as when you buy things during the month of May in grocery stores. I find this annoying and silly, since somewhere deep inside I do not find fulfillment and joy from airline mile accruement, but it keeps him off the streets and makes him happy. We all sacrifice for love!!

This means, though, that I have small amounts of airline miles on carriers we never use. It was very important that I get these miles. We had more moments than I can count where at 6am, some poor overworked, grumpy airline counter-person had to look up my number and sit there while I filled out the form to change my maiden to my married name.

But recently, I've had miles expire -- gasp! It's heart breaking for him.

One of the things American will let you do with expiring miles is exchange them for magazines. Now I need more magazines like I need a hole in the head, but I found myself taking my pool of miles and getting as many as I possibly could. Seven of them to be exact. And my choices were limited to guy kind of subjects. I got Field and Stream, for example. I just received my first issue and laughed for a solid hour reading through it - just the picture alone of men in orange and camouflage drinking beer while ice fishing while the sun comes up was priceless. But the magazine which has amused me most to my great surprise is Esquire. They sent me two issues at once, December and January, and I read them both cover to cover. You have no idea how absolutely fascinating this guy periodical is!! Check out an issue.

They have an article each month with the title of this blog entry. This month I'm about to quote is from Desperate Housewives Felicity Huffman. Anyway, here is a couple of my favorites from the 13 bits of advice she gives men:

1. Women also fantasize during sex.
2. If you want to see us naked more often, turn up the damn thermostat.
3. We can't hear a word you're saying if there are hairs coming out of your nose.
4. If you would just listen to us, we'd shut up.
5. Want sex? Fix something.
6. Women want empathy, not advice.
7. You would be crazy, too, if your insides fell out every twenty-eight days.
8. Some handy translations for men:

"You're working too hard." = "You're not spending enough time with me."

"What are you thinking about?" = "Do you still love me."

"Do you want to talk about it?" = "I want to talk about it."

"Fuck you. I can't stand you." = "Fuck you. I can't stand you."

*Heehee - hope you enjoyed those as much as I did.

SORCERESS OF FAITH

Oh wow! Look what Robin Owens has coming out this month!!
SORCERESS OF FAITH by Robin D. Owens
(Luna, February 1, 2006)

With the world of Llandrana threatened by encroaching evil, the Sorcerers must do the unthinkable—Summon an outsider to stop the insidious Darkness slowly taking control of their land and poisoning the Sorcerers themselves.
Arriving in Lladrana, grad student Marian Harasta is stunned to find herself the center of a dispute among Sorcerers who want to augment their Power with her own. She must quickly learn her new magical Powers – and decide who she can trust in this strange land. She has prayed for a miracle to save her brother – could Lladrana offer that knowledge, and can she somehow return to Earth with it?
She knows she must offer the Sorcerers something in exchange, and ridding them of the Evil Sorcerer is what they want, but how will she fare in her first magical duel?
With unexpected help – and unexpected betrayal – Marian must determine where her true fate lies.

Read an excerpt here!

Blog Re-Start

Okay guys, I'm restarting my blog after a lengthy hiatus. Sorry about that!

I'm happy to report I just as of today got a clean bill of health from my Physical Therapist. Yippee! I had been going four days a week and ended up letting some things slide. But my back is on the mend and I've got things to rant about!!

Hope everyone is enjoying 2006 and getting ready for Valentines!