Friday, December 26, 2014

Belated Christmas fic! Have some Dieter and Beraht :3

I failed completely to make this 'holiday' but it succeeded at being fluffy (for the Dieter and Beraht version of that word, anyway). The artwork was done by the darling and marvelous Raelynn, all my love to her! (it's mildly nsfw maybe?)

I hope peeps enjoy! Happy New Year! :3

---


Beraht threw open the bedroom door and rushed inside—then stopped cold not three steps into the room. He stared in disbelief at the bed.

Then started laughing.

"Autumn Prince set your leaf aflame," Dieter snarled, but the words were slow, even slightly slurred.

Beraht stopped laughing. He yanked off his gloves and threw them to the floor; his cloak went next, followed by his jacket. As dry and snow-free as he could be bothered to get for the moment, he walked over to the bed and just barely sat on the edge of it. He rested a hand on Dieter's forehead, frowned at the warmth radiating from him that did not seem like Dieter's usual, perpetual heat. There was a dazed look to his eyes, like a man after a fresh dose of arcen. "Who the fuck drugged you?"

"They put it in my tea, trying to do what was best for me," Dieter said, the words slower than ever, definitely slurred, as his beautiful eyes slid closed as though keeping them open was simply too difficult. "The very moment I have two functioning arms again…" He trailed off, lips still parted.

His face looked remarkably soft, for Dieter. The barest smudge of stubble, a still-healing cut on his bottom lip, but all the hard edges that were present even in sleep had dulled. Beraht brushed back a lock of overlong hair from Dieter's cheek. There was more gray in Dieter's hair; it would not be very long at all before it was gray entirely. Like a wolf with a winter coat—or a wolf made of winter itself, but dressed in Death's red banner. If ever a description suited Dieter…

Beraht frowned when he saw the bruise on Dieter's cheek that hair and distraction had hidden until then. Not that it was unusual for Dieter to show up covered in bruises, but this looked like the butt of a knife or something similar had been slammed into his face. Whatever had happened, the fight had been nasty.

Then again, Dieter's arm was broken. Of course the fight had been nasty. Beraht did not envy whatever had happened to the bandits.

And he was not going to feel anything at all for the bastard healer he was about to kill. Beraht stood, lingered by the bed before rolling his eyes and leaning down to kiss Dieter's mouth. Playing at noble was turning him into an idiot.

He glanced down at his left hand, the antiqued gold and silver band that still looked strange on his finger. Being married should not feel so strange when he and Dieter had been lovers for years; yet it felt strange nonetheless. One more bit of playacting, pretending to be normal. Some part of him kept waiting for the day he was caught, thrown out onto the streets or strung up by the neck.

Leaving the bedroom, reflexively checking for the knives he knew were there, Beraht strode through the halls to the healers' ward. Reaching them, he cracked the door open slowly and slipped inside, padding soundlessly across the marble entryway and through the next set of doors that led to the main area of the ward.

Three healers went snow-white when they saw him and without any prompting at all, pointed to a door off to the right and all the way at the back. "The Master Healer did it," one of them sputtered. "He's new!"

Beraht ignored them, save to jerk sharply that they should go somewhere else and do it quickly. Reaching the Master Healer's office, he slowly, carefully, pressed down on the latch and nudged the door open. When no one said anything, he nudged it a little more, going bit by bit until he could stick his head in.

A middle-aged man with gray-threaded blond hair and a thin beard was bent over a book, completely lost to it in that way only a worthless, soft-skinned civilian could be. Beraht slid all the way into the room, never making a sound as he closed the door again and crept around the edge of the large office.

When he was behind the still oblivious healer, he grabbed the man by his hair, jerked him up enough to kick the chair out of the way, then threw him down on the desk and pulled out one of his daggers.

He pressed the edge to the bastard's neck, hard enough to draw blood. Could feel the man tremble beneath him and took vicious satisfaction in it. "Do you always ignore people when they tell you they do not want to be drugged?"

"All the time," the man gasped out, anger and fear warring in his shaking voice. "Patients seldom know what's best for them. What are you here about?"

"Dieter," Beraht said and drew a fresh cut alongside the first, watching the blood drip down on the pages of the expensive-looking book still lying open on the desk.

The man's trembling increased. New as he was, he would know exactly who in the palace felt familiar enough with Lord General Dieter to drop all formalities. And while most people adored Beraht as the Breaker, admired him for being crazy enough to make sport of pissing off the Lord General, there were many who were flat out terrified of him and happy to whisper of his dark deeds. "He was in pain, couldn't even function, and suffering because of stupid pride."

"It wasn't pride that kept him from taking it, and your stupid prideful assumptions led you to drug a man who does not handle potent substances well. He doesn't drink, avoids drugs, and now you have damaged his fondness for tea, ruined any trust he had in the healers. Does that sound like a healer who deserves to keep his position?" The man sputtered and Beraht rose just enough to switch hands, pinning him down with the left and flipping the dagger to his right hand. He drew another line of blood. "Does it, healer? Because it sounds to me like you're an arrogant fool who thinks he knows best no matter what his patients say. A man who does not take no for an answer. I've slit throats for far less. Tell me why I shouldn't slit yours."

"I don't—I just—I was trying to help, and I've seen a t-thousand soldiers like t-that, who need a respite from pain but won't take it. I didn't—"

Beraht let go and turned him over. The man inhaled sharply as his gaze landed on Beraht's eyes, which would forever glow yellow from years of arcen use and the brutal treatment that meant he'd never be able to use it again. Had forced him to learn to use daggers in lieu of the deadly spells he'd once relied on. "If you ever do something against Dieter's wishes again, I will ensure you die a slow, painful death, alone and unable to cry for help. Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes, your g-grace."

Beraht drew a last, long cut down his cheek, then roughly let him go and left the room as quietly as he had entered it.

Outside the ward, Kalan leaned against the wall opposite the doors, arms folded against his chest. "I'm afraid to ask why I was pulled from a meeting and told you were on the warpath in the healer's ward."

"Get a new master healer," Beraht said.

Kalan's brow quirked at the bloody dagger still held lightly in Beraht's right hand. "Did you kill the one we just hired?"

"No, but I will if he slips medicine into Dieter's tea again."

"I see." Kalan dropped his folded arms and pushed away from the wall. "I'll handle it. You could have come to me first."

"No," Beraht said. "I couldn't have." He pulled out a kerchief to clean the dagger before tucking it away in his jacket again as he strode off.

"You're lucky Esta isn't here! She'd kill all of you!" Kalan called after him.

Beraht didn't bother to deny that.

Back in their bedchamber, Dieter was still fast asleep in the enormous bed. The sun had long ago set, leaving the room in firelight and a few flickering candles.

Servants had filled the bathtub and left food on the table, along with a small green glass bottle with a note about how much to give Dieter at a time. Beraht dumped the contents into the chamber pot and threw the bottle in the garbage bin by the writing desk.

That taken care of, he stripped off his clothes and climbed into the bath for a thorough scrubbing. Matthias and Esta were gone on a tour of the country, but they'd wisely left their children behind. Somehow Beraht always wound up the one who took them riding and fishing and whatever other fool nonsense they insisted on doing.

When he was clean, he climbed out of the tub and roughly dried off, pulled on an old pair of breeches and shirt before turning to the table to finally eat. Only as he sat down did he notice the package sitting at the edge of the tray—a gift wrapped in delicate blue and gray tissue paper. Esta's familiar handwriting spell out his name on a little slip of paper attached to it by silver ribbon.

Frowning, he picked the package up and sat back in his chair to examine it. The other side of the slip of paper simply said Good Tidings to you on the Festival of Saint Ciel.

Ah. Only Esta would bother to remember the holiday, or think that Beraht might possibly care. The only reason a nameless cared about holidays was the improved chances of stealing things that people forgot in the midst of their celebrating. The occasional citizen who managed to muster humanity enough to throw a nameless a few bits. More often holidays just increased the chances people would seek out nameless to get away with things they'd feel about guilty doing to someone who existed.

He tore open the tissue paper and sighed at what was revealed, stomach knotting in that it always did when he wasn't certain how to react—how normal people would react. It was a portrait of him and Dieter, a palm-sized version of the idiotic portraits that hung in the gallery.

They definitely had never sat for it. The only thing more ridiculous than the idea of him sitting for a portrait was the idea of Dieter doing it. So Esta had done something sneaky, because Beraht had no memory of anyone following him around either.

Beraht had no idea what to make of it. What did he know about paintings? The artist had certainly captured Dieter's infuriating smile, the color of his eyes and the smugness in them as he stared at Beraht with a barb poised on his lips just waiting for the best moment to throw it. His hard edges, the heavy fur he wore as casually as the beast he was called after.

Why the artist had drawn them glaring at each other, Beraht didn't know. He thought portraits were supposed to have people staring back at gawkers. What was he supposed to do with it? Maybe he'd hang it up in Dieter's office just to raise his hackles.

A low, soft groan came from the bed. Beraht dropped the portrait on the discarded tissue paper and picked up the kettle that Dieter kept in the room for when he did not want to wait for servants to bring him tea. Filling it with water from the pitcher on his tray, Beraht put it on a hook and swung it over the fire.

He ate while the water heated, wolfing the food down as quickly as he could without making himself sick. The chilly air started to penetrate the warmth remaining from his bath, but Beraht ignored it.

When the kettle began to emit steam, he pulled it out and set it on the table. A little wooden box, divided into compartments, held a half a dozen different teas. Beraht hadn't known there were so many kinds of tea in the world, and he suspected Dieter hadn't either before joining up with Illussor, but he had rapidly developed an obsession.

Picking the one Dieter had to replenish most often, Beraht brewed the tea and poured a cup. He reached the bed just as Dieter opened his eyes. The strain around them, the faint wince that Dieter quickly smothered, was all Beraht needed to know about whether or not the healer's stupid draught had finally worn off. "I brought you tea. Brewed it myself."

Dieter's mouth was set in a flat line, but he took a sip when Beraht lifted the cup to his lips. After a couple more, he finally took the cup away and held it himself.

"So tell me how the mighty Scarlet Wolf got his arm broken, because no one has actually explained that part to me. I think they only recalled me on the fear that you would go berserk or something. Which is still a possibility, I'm sure."

"Winter's Tits, I'm too exhausted to put up with you," Dieter said, closing his eyes and resting back against his pillows. "Go find someone else to mock."

"What is the point of having a husband if he is not there to endure mockery at my whim?" Beraht asked.

That got Dieter's eye open again, if only so he could act smug and superior, like buying the rings had been his idea rather than Beraht's. "You're in a remarkably good mood. Who's bleeding?"

"No one," Beraht replied. "Drink your stars rejected tea."

Dieter gave that oh-so-wolfish smile of his and instead set the tea on the bedside table. He threaded his fingers through Beraht's hair and pulled him in for a hard, toothy kiss.

Some of the worry scraping and clawing at the back of Beraht's mind eased. He drew back only when his back began to ache from the uncomfortable angle. "You're a little too injured for that sort of nonsense."

"Nonsense?" Dieter's pale eyes glittered.

"I will jostle your arm if you try anything," Beraht said, smirking and hastily moving out of reach. "How long does a broken arm take to heal? Weeks? Months? I haven't had you at my mercy like this for a long time, Krian."

Dieter gripped the blankets as if to throw them back.

"Stay where you are!" Beraht snapped, stalking back to the bed and slapping his hand down on the blankets—

And grunting as a hand fisted in his hair and dragged him in, and Dieter's kiss that time split his bottom lip and left his mouth bruised and aching. Dieter's fingers slid down to his neck, held him in place, and Beraht didn't doubt there'd be bruises there too, pale ones that would fade within a day or so, not even enough to really ache. But there all the same.

He drew back just enough to stare into gray-green eyes that always saw far more than Beraht liked. "Get in bed." Dieter's voice was rough, but not as rough as he probably wanted, and the tightness around his eyes gave away the pain that must have been driving him half-mad. Stupid, stubborn Krians.

Beraht drew back enough to strip off his clothes and drop them to the floor. He slowly nudged Dieter over enough in the bed so that he could lie alongside Dieter's good side, though it wasn't going to be fun for Dieter later to crawl out of bed to piss or whatever else he took it into his head to do.

He settled against Dieter's good side, enjoying the warmth even if Dieter was still slightly too warm. But if anyone could out stubborn a fever, it was Dieter. And if he didn't… Well, Beraht knew how to handle ill-tempered, unreasonable wolves better than anyone in Illussor. "Go back to sleep."

Dieter grunted, no doubt an attempt to say he wasn't tired, but only a few minutes later his breathing evened out and he settled more heavily against Beraht's side.

The idiot never had actually managed to tell him what happened. He'd just have to drag it out of Dieter later, or terrorize someone else into giving him the full story.

Reaching out, he snagged the book he'd left on the bedside table several nights ago, when he'd been reading to pointedly ignore Dieter in retaliation for something Beraht couldn't even remember now. Probably being arrogant and presumptuous. Dieter was very, very good at that.

He flipped the book open to the page he'd marked, a couple of pages into the second chapter.

Only a few pages later the book slipped from his fingers and slid from the bed to land on the floor. Beraht didn't stir from where his head had slumped against Dieter's shoulder in sleep, and his right hand had curled with Dieter's left where it had fallen in Beraht's lap.

The soft sound of their breathing, perfectly matched, was muffled by the icy wind howling outside and the crackling of the fire.


Friday, December 12, 2014

WIP: Anti-Heroes #2

Once upon a time I wrote some silly superhero stories. I always wanted to do more with them, do better by them. And now I am finally getting around to it. There are six of them, according to my notes, and my goal is to write all of them before moving forward with publishing.

Long-time readers (long suffering readers? remarkably patient and tolerant at any rate) will recognize many of the players, though I'll be bringing in some new characters to abuse. Story #2 is a rewrite of the one that was the universal favorite, Drunk Butterflies. It's been retitled Turncoat.

(and for the curious, story #3 is Close Enough to Touch and that is Minder's story).

Onward to Turncoat snippet :3


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Why I'll Never Go Near Midas Again


So in October one of my back tires went flat. Just out of nowhere died a fast, brutal death. We took it to the Midas at 5526 Carolina Beach Road, Wilmington, NC 28412 . We asked them to change both back tires (b/c they were pretty worn anyway), do an alignment, and an oil change. The place wasn't busy, this should have taken like an hour, two tops.

We sat there for over four hours.

After the first two hours, they took us back to the car and showed us stuff, told us our brakes would need to be changed in not more than a month (we had them done elsewhere) and tried to tell us all kinds of other things that should be changed (like power steering fluid. which my car doesn't have, b/c the power steering system is completely electrical. red flag, if only I'd chalked it up to more than them being money-grubbing assholes).

About an hour of sitting around doing nothing after that, they told us only that they were having trouble "getting the bolts off" doing the alignment. That they were going to use torches to heat then up to loosen them. Okay, fine, whatever.

ANOTHER HOUR LATER they tell us the car is finally ready. We leave. Sadly I did not hang on to the receipt, let that be a lesson to me.

Fast forward a month later, we take to Toyota to do the safety inspection so I can renew the registration (due the 28th of December).  And they tell me I'm going to fail my inspection b/c my rack and pinion system and inner tie rods are completely shot. That it looks like extreme heat was applied and basically destroyed the whole damn thing. And that the heat/damage was done recently.

There was only one place that could have applied the kind of heat. So I called them, pretty fucking angry, and demanded to speak with a manager. Chris spent most of the conversation calling me 'young lady' and talking to me like I was a little woman. I was encouraged to come in so 'we can sit down and talk about this and work it out.'

Because yeah, it's such a good idea for me to sit down alone in an office with somebody who not only caused extensive damage to my car, but lied about it. When I said I was going to take this to small claims court, the manager got pissed off and said that if that's how I was going to be then this conversation was over, he was going to work with someone like that. And then hung up on me.

Called back two minutes later and said it had been an accident. Given the trail of lies already established, I'm sorry, I don't believe that.

We get the paperwork from Toyota, I send an email to Midas (which was ignored) and call to file a complaint as well. Midas said the OWNER would call me in 24-48 hours.

Two days later, right at the edge of the 48 hours he had to respond, I get the manager Chris again. Not the owner. To date the owner hasn't said a single word to me. He tells me to bring the car in so they can fix it and 'save me the 1400.00' I said with respect, I wasn't trusting the people who broke the car to fix it. He said he understood, he'd have to call corporate to let them know. I asked how long that would take, he said he didn't know. He also gave me the owners number, but I'm not comfortable calling the man who in all of this just ignored me and shoved everything onto his manager. And I'm waiting for the call from corporate anyway.

But nobody calls us.

So we call again. Get bounced to customer relations. Who tell us they're busy, but leave a message and they'll call us back.

Almost a week later, nobody returned our calls. We call back. Get informed that Midas thought the store was managing it, and the store of course wasn't doing anything. And because it's a franchise, corporate Midas can't do anything but play intermediary.

Which explains why the Midas twitter went from being kind and helpful to just ignoring me.

If there's one thing corporate and franchise both seem to be good at, it's ignoring problems in the hopes they'll go away.

So now we've had to email stuff to Midas, who will put pressure on the store. But right now it looks like I have to take the car to the place that broke it, and they'll look at it (because of course their word is to be trusted).

And in the meantime, my car still needs to be fixed, re-inspected, and I have until December 20th to do all this since I'm leaving for New York on the 22nd.

So now it's just waiting around until Midas gets back to us (which they suck at doing), and I have to take my car back to the lying jackasses who broke it in the first place.

And right alongside the whole Midas drama is problems with my car insurance and THOSE people being liars and jerks.

Merry Fucking Christmas. Thanks for ruining mine, Midas. If you have any decency in you at all, you'll apologize for ruining my car and cut me a check for $1415.34.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Various and Sundry Things


BOOKS



The Christmas anthology I edited, A Touch of Mistletoe, is available for pre-order all over the place. Much love the authors who, when I emailed them about it, happily agreed to join the party. If you're looking for a collection of cute (and occasionally hot) Mistletoe-themed stories, well here you go :3


My new serial has begun running. Shine Forever actually goes back in time, a few years before Love You Like a Romance Novel to tell the full story of how Dai and Cooper met. Not a story I ever thought I'd write, but then again I thought Missing Butterfly would be the only one. I'm still not certain how somebody who doesn't even really like bandfic keeps writing it (answer: I'm a sucker).




Coming out in just a few more days is the audiobook for Dance in the Dark. It's the same voice actor who did Dance with the Devil. But the voice actor will be changing for Midnight, for obvious reasons (we had a voice actor picked out, but he's no longer viable, so I have to listen to samples to pick a new one). But DitD is ready to go and awesome ^__^


The new year is already pretty busy! Along with the ebook releases of Shine Forever and Harem Master (release dates to come), I also have The Broken Forest coming out in March as part of LT3's Damsels in Distress collection. Those get listed in December, so more then ^__^ 


WRITING

In writing news, peeps will be very excited to know that I have finally finished the rough draft of the expanded The High King's Golden Tongue. Currently the story sits at 104k, so it's not a short rewrite. And knowing me, that number will go up. It is currently with a beta, and after I get it back and fix everything the beta mentions, it's off to the editors at LT3. Expect this one in the fall (ish) of next year.

I am currently poking at the first of what will be six (give or take) superhero stories. My plan is to write all of them before doing anything more with them. I also want to get back to Clan Mordred since that poor story fell by the wayside this year. And I'm also going to tackle Dragon Magic. After that comes The Painted Crown and possibly The Stolen Scepter, which are sequels to The Engineered Throne.

After that, we'll see. My main long term goal is to finish up a bunch of straggling Dance-verse short stories and then write the last, last Dance book. But lord only knows what will get in my way or distract me before I get anywhere near it. Speaking of Dance and Mordred, I am hoping to finally get Pack published. I sent it to the editors forever ago, but with one thing and another it just had to fall to the wayside. But that should be out in 2015 as well. Date to come when I have it.

On the sci-fi front, I am slowly picking away at a story called Star Grinders. This is set in Kidnapped-verse, but not in the Infinitum Government. It's about a rival government/territory called the Stalarium Empire, and this particular story is about Hikkar, a bio-luminescent ex-military delivery guy who just wants to be left the hell alone (but winds up escorting a cute android-type figure to a certain party planet in a place they're not supposed to go).

And I feel like I'm forgetting something, but whatever, my plans change every five minutes 


MISCELLANEOUS

I am going all the way to the top of New York for Christmas, to spend it with Sasha and her family. The cold is going to kill me. Remember me fondly, my beloved peeps.

I bought a new bed! It's a fancy memory foam thing. Getting in and out of it is really weird. The cats keep stealing it, which surprises nobody.

My back or hips or something have been killing me lately. I don't know what it is. But it doesn't matter how I sit, lay, or stand, it always feels like that whole lower back and hips area has jerked out of alignment and rusted, or something. I keep hoping it will fix itself. We'll see x_X

I hope everyone is doing well, and that the cold is not too terrible for those who hate it (and just right for those who love it). Have a good weekend, my lovelies!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Writing the Weird Stuff


Every time people are forced to listen to me babble, one of the things that comes up is that I have hard time saying what's the weirdest/strangest thing I've written. My barometer for this stuff is pretty broken. It's a lot stranger for me to write something like The Missing Butterfly than it is to write something like Wriggle & Sparkle.  I'm a fantasy nerd through and through. I often forget that things like incest need a warning because that will give a lot of people pause. When I accepted a commission to write a twincest/threesome story, the requester was very nervous about asking for it (which made me feel awful for her, b/c it gave the impression she's been treated like shit for liking it and you don't have to like what I like, but don't be a jerk about it).

But of all the 'weird' stuff I write, the anthro is my favorite. One, it's a challenge. The way they look, the way they move, how it changes their thoughts, beliefs, etc. Like Lukos Heat, where Najlah's tongue remains forked when he shifts, meaning he can't speak human languages and most humans find him incomprehensible. When a character permanently has things like claws, venom, fur, feathers, etc. it definitely keeps an author on their toes :3

It's also just plain fun. One of my earliest fictional true loves was Rei from Breath of Fire III


Fuck yeah hot tiger man. My brother got so sick of me fangirling him (but you should see him go starry eyes over Chris from Suikoden III, he has a slight thing for women in armor). I'm a fantasy writer, I have never seen any reason to limit my options to human. My first heavily anthro character (that I remember, readers may recall someone else I've forgotten) was Glen from Quest

Glen from Quest by pancake rabbit

He's got wings, tail, pelt, bird legs from knee down, and other stuff I'm probably forgetting (it's actually my fav story in that set. Amusingly enough, another story in the verse, Mad Finnegan, is about brothers :3).

Lynn from Wriggle & Sparkle was a little different, in that he has a full human form, is the size of a few houses in his full kraken form, but has a middle form that is human on top, tentacles on the bottom (he also can shift gender as he so pleases). Sadly, I do not yet have a pic of him in half-shifted form :3

Lynn from Wriggle & Sparkle by V. Rios


I definitely tried to push myself harder with Lukos Heat, both with Naj himself (and his brother), and the cultures/world. I have two more stories planned (where "planned" means "was ordered to write") for this verse, we'll see how much harder I can push myself :3

I hope those that are reading it for the first time enjoy, and those who were kind enough to buy it despite having it in Dracones, enjoy. Much love to you!



Najlah is on the hunt for the traitorous coward who attempted to assassinate the king and nearly killed Najlah's brother in the process. But the hunt has taken his team deep into the Shide, the treacherous, freezing mountains controlled by the mysterious Lukos, feral wolf shifters who do not tolerate trespassers.

When the Lukos come upon them, Najlah is reluctantly intrigued. The Lukos, especially the one called Barkus, are nothing like the soft humans he spends most of his time around. They thrive in the brutal cold the way he thrives in volcanic fire. For the first time, it feels like Najlah may have found someone who can equal the fierceness of dragons, and see them as more than demons.

But if he hopes to explore the bond forming with the Lukos, he must first survive the enemy—and the Shide.


LT3 | Amazon | ARe

Saturday, August 16, 2014

My eyeballs

So this is a personal post, rather than writing blather, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I've needed to get new glasses for awhile now, but time+money is a remarkably tricky combination. Anyway, finally managed it today, and it was not what I expected (also, pardon typos, my eyes are still dilated and everything is very very blurry).

The doctor I went to see noticed that I have what he called 'convergence insufficiency'. The TL;DR is that the muscles in my eyes don't work the way they should, and I have to work harder to force them to. I've apparently been doing this instinctively my whole life, never realizing the way I read and stuff was weird. It explains, among many many other things, why after a few hours it's easier for me to read with one eye close. Doctor said it was impressive I was such an avid reader, since it's hard to focus my eyes that way for long periods of time.

Also my previous eye doctor apparently gave me too strong a prescription.

So no wonder my eyes have been so tired and sore lately. Between new glasses and the exercises to help the convergence problem, I should be doing much better going forward ^__^ This is really awesome news for me (and it was refreshing to have a doctor who gave a fuck, when I've pretty much come to hate the medical industry for being callous assholes who don't give a fuck about anything but getting people back out the door).

Now I just need to order the new glasses, which I will hopefully have before YaoiCon and GRNW ^__^

Peace out!

Books - New and Coming Soon


Much love to peeps who have been enjoying The Harem Master and A Suitable Replacement. I don't know if authors are allowed favorites, but Tavamara is definitely one of mine. And I'm super pleased with how Suitable turned out. Marriage trope are among my fav (I am going to be writing a marriage tournament story for Piper Vaughn in the near-ish future, in fact. With editor permission, even :3)

In honor of the launch of The Harem Master, and the shiny new editions of Sandstorm and The King's Harem, I have listed a free story on my website. The long term plan is to finish the other two in the set, and release them together. But for now, enjoy Heydar, a tale of a prince and one of his concubines :3

COMING SOON

I've got a last rush of stuff to end the year (and stuff already lined up for next year, cause I don't have an off switch, but we knew that). We'll start with the serial, even though it comes out November 5th.


Dai gave up everything when he ran away with his cousin, traded a life wealth, power, and security to create their band and live the way they want. The one thing he refuses to do is hide; he's worked way too hard, and given up way too much, to pretend to be something he's not.
Cooper never anticipated he would trade rodeo fame for country music stardom. But the secret he had to keep for his own safety is now a secret he has to keep to protect his band. The one thing he can never do is make his sexuality public; he's sacrificed far too much to risk it all by airing personal matters.
But when a chance meeting turns into a passionate night that neither can forget, a tenuous relationship neither wants to let go, someone is going to have to break the rules …
And for the dragon/fantasy lovers in the crowd, Lukos Heat is finally making it's LT3 debut in October. I'm excite. Samantha has helped me expand it, Julie gave it a badass cover, and I'm still very proud of these dragons.

Najlah is on the hunt for the traitorous coward who attempted to assassinate the king and nearly killed Najlah's brother in the process. But the hunt has taken his team deep into the Shide, the treacherous, freezing mountains controlled by the mysterious Lukos, feral wolf shifters who do not tolerate trespassers.
When the Lukos come upon them, Najlah is reluctantly intrigued. The Lukos, especially the one called Barkus, are nothing like the soft humans he spends most of his time around. They thrive in the brutal cold the way he thrives in volcanic fire. For the first time, it feels like Najlah may have found someone who can equal the fierceness of dragons, and see them as more than demons.
But if he hopes to explore the bond forming with the Lukos, he must first survive the enemy—and the Shide. 
You can pre-order Lukos Heat at LT3 if you are so inclined.
And wrapping up the year is the Christmas Anthology I'm editing

Official blurb is still coming, but the theme is probably self-evident. This anthology contains stories by me, E.E. Ottoman, A.F. Henley, Talya Andor, Isabella Carter, and J.K. Pendragon. More details will appear in October, when it goes up on the coming soon page.

And that is a wrap for now ^__^  I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

~Meg

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Come and Talk to Me (if you want or are really really bored)! :3

My Bitten by Books Release Party for In Despair is tomorrow! If you want to come talk to me and a have chance to win Amazon gift cards, stop on by ^__^ I will be around from Noon PST to at least 17:00, but probably a little longer.

The last time I did something like this was at the Slash Pile back on LJ. Was fun!

Today is a writing day, so I will not be around much.

This coming Tuesday, our new furniture arrives! \o/ We don't often get to buy such shiny things, so we're super stoked. It's a whole living room set and because we did buy the whole set, we get a free TV :D

And August will be spent largely getting ready for September, when we're gonna spend two weeks on the west coast for Yaoicon and GRNW.

Last but not least, for those who have not already seen it, London sent me the cover for Rabbit Season! When it has a due date, I shall let peeps know ^__^


I hope everyone is having a lovely week!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Random Things

Sasha and I are participating in Digital Book Day. Today only you can download Dance with the Devil and Drink Class X for free. And there are lots of others books at the DBD site (pretty sure I saw Jordan Hawk), so have fun!

EDIT: Since apparently their site can't handle the traffic, just go to LT3 directly, that's where the DBD site linked anyway. Drinker. DwtD.

Speaking of books, I was excited to finally have all of these



I've been so busy with Princes of the Blood, I keep forgetting that A Suitable Replacement comes out beginning of August. Much love to those who read it piece by piece, to my editor Amanda for beating it into shape, and everyone who loves Deceived-verse. I hope you have enjoyed/will enjoy this latest addition to it.

Also love to everyone who has dropped me comments about In Despair. It's been very humbling, and gratifying, to see people like all the things I hoped they would, and that I managed to convey what I wanted. I think my favorite thing so far is the Lol they def act like teenagers vs. argh they def act like teenagers mix of reactions :3

That, and the way chibi Alrin stole the show briefly despite only being around for like a page ^__^

I am currently up to my neck in other projects, some of which were not originally planned and are throwing everything else off, but I'm still aiming to finish most, if not all, of them by the end of the year.

On the 16 I'll be at Blogger Girls to babble about Looking for More. On the 24th I'll be at Bitten by Books to chat about In Despair (and whatever else peeps want to know).

The Harem Master starts soon, taking Suitable's place. I will also have something else for peeps, along with the re-editions of King's Harem and Sandstorm.

- - -

LT3 is preparing for our convention adventure. It's like, one con and a meet-up, but we're going to be gone for like two weeks. In San Francisco for YaoiCon, then we'll be hanging around CA and WA a bit before going to Seattle for the Gay Romance Northwest Meet-up. We are sorting out books, swag, etc etc. If there is a book you want to see at YCon, speak now or forever hold your peace (GRNW we don't have much to do with the book ordering).

Lately I have been watching Dr. Who where I get the chance. I've always seen it in bits and pieces, and learned a lot from my sisters who are big fans, but never watched it properly. Haven't gotten far, but I'm having fun. Am going to be cosplaying Rose Tyler for Yaoicon :D

- - -

Let's see, anything else of interest? LT3 has lots of shiny books coming, as ever. Sasha and I have been watching Arrow, but mostly we just get mad at it for being fucking stupid. Bunch of shows I want to watch, but I haven't even caught up on Hannibal yet. Am managing to watch Sailor Moon Crystal, though :D :D :D

Now back to work I go ^__^

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!


Monday, July 7, 2014

In Despair and Other Writing News

In Despair comes out this week! I am happy and sad, nervous and excited.

This was meant to be a single story for serialization that turned into a trilogy. It's been quite the undertaking. I am proud of the results, but I will also be glad to take a break from this verse.

In Despair comes out Wednesday, which any LT3 peep knows means Tuesday night. If you have any questions, or just want to chat, or simply want to see me be a massive dork, I am going to be at Bitten by Books on July 24th to answer questions and such. There will also be a couple of drawings for Amazon gift cards, one for $50.00, the other $25.00.

This was definitely the hardest book of the three to write. It required the most work, editing wise, and poor Telme suffered more than any other character I've written, I think. And he's only 16-17 throughout the book (and Korin is 15-16). I hope peeps enjoy it.

Much, much love to everyone who has read this trilogy and made it as popular as it has been. It was a series I was certain would only do so well because everyone is sick of vampires, but it has been very well received ^___^

Thanks are also owed to readers of Looking for More, which is the fluffiest piece of nonsense I've published since Backwoods Asylum. I will be guest blogging at The Blogger Girls, one of my fav review sites, on the 16th (I have to write that blog post next, actually, before they kill me). If you want to come read my babbling about some of the things that went into that story, stop by ^__^


In other writerly news, next month A Suitable Replacement comes out in ebook. That story was meant to be some 20k fluff and nonsense piece, but wound up longer and more involved, cause at the end of the day I do what I'm told.

Replacing it as a serial will be The Harem Master, which I'm really fucking pleased with. It's a bit involved, since it bounces between three different POVs, but it's fun and it brings in bits and pieces of Tavamara I've never expounded on before (like the council). I think after I finish up some other stories in that verse that need finished, I will actually switch continents and do something with Rittu.

The new editions of Sandstorm and The King's Harem will be posted about that time, and I may have something else sort-of shiny to go along with. We shall see. I like Tavamara-verse, I'm really proud of it and love to play there.

In October, I'll be re-releasing Lukos Heat. Yay, dragons! And I've been ordered to do a sequel, which will probably get written next year when I've gotten other stuff off my plate.

And in December, LT3 has a Christmas anthology coming out, and I (AM THE EDITOR IN CHARGE AHAHAHAHA) have a story in that. More details to come on that later, but my story is called Two Parts Mistletoe and is about a potionmaker.

Still to be scheduled: Pack and Rabbit Season.

And everything else is in writing or editing. Many of my projects have fallen behind because of one thing or another, but I'm aiming to change that this month and get back on track. We shall see.

Love you, Peeps! Have a good week ^__^

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Missing Butterfly, Romance Novel, and Shine Forever WIP

 


It's been a really shitty day. Another cat, my sister's cat Lady Wilde, was killed last night by a dog. My sister is shattered, my mom was the one to find the body, and the rest of us are obviously miserable. This year is turning out to be fucking miserable.

So I am trying to focus on positives before I settle into a mood I won't get back out of.

With that in mind, I am totally stoked to announce that The Missing Butterfly and Love You Like a Romance Novel are now available in audio! ^___^ I hope peeps enjoy them. For those waiting for LT3's other audiobooks to reappear, they should by the end of June.

And now seems a good time to mention on more than twitter that I am being forced to eat my words. Several peeps asked me if I was ever going to write a story for Dai and Cooper. I said no. I WAS A FILTHY LIAR apparently. I needed a break from all the fantasy breaking my brain and lo, there it was. I'm about 18k into it, and if it's like the two above it'll end up somewhere between 40-50k.

It's a hard story to write, mostly because of the time skips (one of the main reasons I never wanted to write it, but if a story bites, a story bites and I do what I'm told). But I'll manage, that's what I'm paid to do ;)

SNIPPET. It's very rough, please forgive errors etc etc. All of the prologue :3


Friday, April 25, 2014

Rainbow Con and Other Things As I Remember Them

So it's nice to be back in my house and getting back into a normal pattern. We're getting a kitten soon. I'm kind of happy because yay, kitten! and kind of sad because it feels like I'm really saying goodbye to Pumpernickel forever and replacing him, even if I know that's not even remotely the case. I can't help it. I'm a soft touch. I started crying driving home the other day because a butterfly got caught in my windshield wipers >_< I blame my mother. I know I get it from her. DAMN IT MOTHER.

Baaaack on topic. Rainbow Con. More fun than I thought it was going to be, given various reasons I can't really make public. The best part hands down was meeting a whole bunch of awesome people. Isabella Carter had us laughing hysterically for 80% of the con (the other 20% was spent working at panels or "working" at the LT3 table). Angel Martinez was the poor soul stuck next to the LT3 table, but she endured our shenanigans and occasionally joined in ^__^ I bought her book Brimstone and got her to sign it, whee!

I also got a book signed by Shira Anthony, who was also made of awesomesauce. I should have stolen a copy of Alpha Trine and made Lexi Ander sign it, cause I heart that book and I heart her. Other totally awesome peeps I met whose names I can currently recall:  Tami Veldura, Ann Anderson, Elizabeth Noble, Grace Duncan, Augusta Li, Kathleen Tudor, Anastasia Vitsky, Leta Blake ... and I'm already blanking again, I'm terrible human being. I blame still being tired. But everyone was lovely.

There were a few rough spots. The worst was one of the con managers acting inappropriately toward one of my employees. Another manager later apologized for the first one, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

The panels were not as smoothly run as they could have been. My biggest complaint there was the lack of communication right from the start. Randomly one day the schedule was posted to the author/publisher group, and only then did some people (those who follow the group) find out they were hosting panels. It's one thing to sign up to be on panels, quite another to host one. It would have been a lot more responsible of the managers to contact people ahead of time and ask them if they were comfortable doing that. Some people didn't know they were hosting until they arrived, which is also poor form. It's not hard to email people; that should have been done.

I had five panels, Sasha had all three of her panels in a row, and I heard a lot of similar complaints all weekend from many sources. And for one of Sam's, the host didn't even show up and one of the other panelists had to take over. Another frequent complaint was people being put on panels they hadn't signed up for.

But it was the first RainbowCon, so I'm sure everything will be smoother next time (I do not envy them managing 138-ish panels, which was the last count I heard :3 ).

Most of my panels went well, I think. The Taboos in Romance was a hell of a lot of fun, definitely my favorite of the lot. I think the only one that disappointed me was the one about Writing Polyamory in Fiction. That panel felt like it was hijacked by people who were more interested in talking about their personal lives. Whenever the rest of us tried to get it back to writing, they stole it again. Frustrating because I had really looked forward to that one.

The hotel was beautiful. Definitely loved the happy hour at the end of the day to sit and chill. Staff was great, room as great. Am sad Rainbow Con won't be there again, though it's still in the air whether or not LT3 will return. And I'm definitely not going to put up with doing five panels again -_- I was seriously frazzled by the end of it all. I am not an extrovert. I don't enjoy talking in front of people. Three would have been more than enough.

The people I got to meet and hang out with really were the best part, followed by how happy people seemed by what LT3 had to say at our spotlight. Never done one of those, it was very x_x but I like to think I will only get better.

Did not do any of the evening events (past my Taboos panel, which was at 10 PM, ugh) but I never do. By the time the day ends, I'm too wrung out to keep socializing ^^ But those who went seemed to have fun.

The raffle was ... weird. Never saw the baskets. Never saw a list of what was in the baskets. Sasha asked somebody and was told 'one has tea and chocolate or something'. Which did not compel me to spend money. To be fair, one manager (the only one who seemed to be around and reliable) said that would change next year.

I think the only other thing that sort of gives me pause is the way the con managers seem to be using the con for personal matters. The theme/charity next year is focused on cats, which I guess it's their con, their choice, but we're an LGBTQ crowd and it seems like we should be doing something to help that community. I feel their pain. I lost my cat not long after they lost their kitten. But it seems inappropriate to use the con that way.

I'm also kind of annoyed that authors and other attendees got surveys but publishers did not.

But enough bitching from me. Overall it wasn't bad and I hope it flourishes in the future.

-----

Because my editors hate me, I have gotten back a pile of editing all at once. I've been so busy with the con, LT3, and editing that I haven't written in what feels like forever :( But I am going to spend the weekend writing, and the rest will just have to fucking wait until Monday.

Editing wise, I am beating into shape:

In Despair

Looking for More

The Broken Forest

Rabbit Season

And I should also be getting Lukos Heat back soon. Ideally that will come out in October. LFM will come out whenever I manage it (that's a self-pub). Broken Forest is part of Damsels in Distress and comes out in February. Christ I have too many releases, people must be getting sick of me.

I'm also still waiting on Pack, and when that comes out I have no idea. Will keep you posted.

On the writing front, I really need to get cracking on my Mistletoe story. Am also working on The Harem Master, The High King's Golden Tongue, Clan Mordred, and The Painted Crown (which will follow Harem Master as a serial, don't expect it any time soon).

Oh, and A Suitable Replacement finishes running in August, so you get In Despair in July and Suitable in August. Because I have no life, apparently. Or just suck at scheduling. Possibly both.

I'm just saying, there are reasons we buy the beer at Costco.

---

Have seen Winter Soldier twice now, plan to go see it again today, or over the weekend if tomorrow doesn't work out for reasons :3

SPEAKING OF POLY, this goes live the beginning of May:



If you've been waiting for a good excuse to stop doing everything and write a poly story, well, you're waiting is over. And we've got lots of other cool calls coming.

Now I think I have harassed everyone enough for one day. I hope you have a fabulous Friday and a fantastic weekend, lovelies <3 o:p="">



Saturday, April 12, 2014

Books, RainbowCon, other things


On the writing front, I am as busy as ever. High King gets attention where I have time, Rabbit Season I have only to transcribe the last twenty pages I've written and that will be done (on my to do for today). I'm also working on The Harem Master and The Painted Crown, which is a sequel to The Engineered Throne, about Prince Istari. After that one will follow a story about Bertin. Still trying to work on other stuff as well.

Currently deep in final edits for In Despair, A Suitable Replacement (also planning to finish today), and Looking for More (which I'm self-pubbing when it's ready). And my editor still has Pack and Lukos Heat (which will probably also get a sequel, since Sasha was pretty adamant about it and I like breathing).

I'm also continuing to write Wriggle & Sparkle for Yaoifix, and am in charge of a Christmas anthology for LT3. More on that as the date approaches.

Speaking of books and approaching dates, With Pride comes out this week. I am guesting at MM Good Book Reviews on the 14th, and with Pants Off Reviews on the 15th.


Much love to those who have already read it and enjoyed it. I hope everyone else does as well. For those patiently waiting to learn of Korin's fate, fear not. Only a few more months now :3 And at some point I will get to rewriting Dalibor's story.

You can still pre-order WP through Tuesday evening. Come Tuesday night, it will be available to all for reading, and third part sites should follow over the next 8-24 hours (itunes is the slow one). 

- - - - -

RainbowCon! Should be interesting. I am on a handful of panels, modding two of them. Well, modding one, and then Grace Duncan and I are part of the world-building workshop (and two other authors, but they haven't really spoken up and I'm not sure one is even going to be there). I have never done a workshop in my life, and it's probably the only thing I'm nervous about because I would like to be useful to peeps. Grace Duncan seems like she's got it well in hand, though :3 Should be fun in the end.

Friday 11:00 - Publisher Mash-up. I have no idea what this entails other than the obvious, but I'm on it with Lor Rose and K. Piet

Friday 22:00 - Taboos in Romance. This is the panel I'm modding. Though at ten PM on a Friday I sincerely doubt it will be well-attended, if attended at all? Still seems a weird panel time to me, but I'll guess we'll see :) I am looking forward to it, because I like my taboos and it'll be fun to see which ones get discussed.

Saturday 11:00 - Polyamorous Fiction. Looking forward to this one as well. Should be especially fun since I've just started work on Harem Master. I'm not familiar with the other authors on this panel, except Augusta Li and then only by name (I think the one series is a threesome?). So it'll be fun to meet other poly-writing authors. 

Saturday 15:00 - LT3 Spotlight. Come listen to LT3 babble about what we do and ask us questions. We will attempt to be useful :3

Saturday 16:00 - World-building Workshop with me, Grace Duncan, Robin Saxon, and Carole Cummings. If there is anything specific you would really like me to mention, by all means drop a line and I will do my best ^__^

---

Until a week ago I had two roommates - Sasha, and my youngest sister Brandie. But Brandie got a new job that required her to move to a different city (where my parents currently live) so it's just me and Sasha now :3  So my bedroom is now an office, and Brandie's room is my room. The cats like it because they can lay on my bed and stare out the window. They just really wish I would stop using it :3


(Finnegan on the left, stealing my damn pillow, and Seamus on the right going OMG BIRDS)

Scorching Book Reviews is doing an LGBT theme throughout April, lots of good posts so far. 


Definitely check it out. I had a post on the 5th reccing sci-fi and fantasy books. The giveaways wrap today (I offered up some LT3 books, and the magnificent Aleks offered up Scorpion and Lying with Scorpions), but even if you miss that the recs might be worth a look. The other posts are definitely worth a look.

I feel I am forgetting something, but it will have to wait for another post because I must get cracking on work. Lots to do today, and the next few days, to be ready for RC. We leave on the 16th, get back on the 20th, and I would like to come home to a pile of work, not a mountain.

Everybody have a good weekend, and a lovely week! If you're going to RC, I will see you soon ^__^

Monday, March 31, 2014

WIP - The Harem Master

So once upon a time I wrote a dumb series of fluffy stories about a king and his harem. I totally thought it would be a one off type thing, but it spawned (and I really really should have known it would).

But I haven't had time/chance/inspiration to go back to the stories I had planned for it, or even finish the one I did. Poor Menagerie remains unfinished, and there's a story I finished years ago that I've never actually published because I wanted to write the other two that go with it first (The Prince's Harem, about Shah's youngest son. I wrote the story for the guard, not for the slave or the thief).

There was another idea I always wanted to play with in this verse, but the exact story never came to me. One of the things you hear frequently and often about fantasy is that what the author knows vastly exceeds what makes it on the page.

And I know a lot about Tavamara, including it's not-so-pleasant history. For this new story I went back back several generations, to a king abusing his power and a harem master caught in the middle of the mess.

If you've never read Sandstorm or The King's Harem, no worries. This one stands just fine on its own.

Onward to rough snippet. This story will begin running as an LT3 serial in August.


Friday, March 28, 2014

Friday Recs

Two books this week. I've had the first lying around forever waiting patiently to be read. Finally read it, adored it enough I went looking for more and found the second! Which I loved even more. Can't wait for third, which comes out in May ^__^


So far this is a very fun, sweet series. It's a nice change up from a genre that seems mostly full of sex slaves and fuck or die. Spice n Solace is about a brothel owner, basically, who has to sort out a problem with a high end client and is mistaken as his whore for the evening. He's rather adorkable for a dude that manages hookers for a living. I like the client, too. They're very cute, very hot, and it was just overall a lot of fun to read.

Alien n Outlaw is even better, with the alien who likes humans but has no idea how to about flirting with one, and then the hapless, game for anything thief he collides with :3 Very cute, and I love the effort put into the differences between species, the compromises they make to be with each..

Definitely rec these for anyone who likes good space opera type stuff, or just cute, fun stories in general.

I seem to be on a sci-fi kick lately. I'm a huge fan of Alpha Trine by Lexi Ander, and because I am the publisher I have already read its sequel, Striker, at least three times. It's good to be me! :3 Must find more books like these and the above, cause I still want.

Everybody have a good weekend <3 p="">

Monday, March 10, 2014

WIP: The High King's Golden Tongue

Of all the (many, many x_x) stories I am working on right now, I admit this one is my favorite. I am taking a 12,000 word short story that I wound up extremely pleased with (and was way more popular than I could ever have anticipated or dreamed) and turning it into quite the beast. When I started the rewrite, I thought the final product would be in the 40-60k range. I definitely think it'll be more like 80-100k now, if I'm going to do the job right (and I always do my damnedest to do it right).

THKGT is comprised of basically three parts:  meeting, shenanigans, post-shenanigans.  Now, when endeavoring to make/keep it a short story, I kind of started at the very end of the first part, then cut out most of the second and third and smooshed the remaining bits together. This was acceptable for short form.

For long form, that's not really an option. Everything takes longer, and this is very much what is called a slow burn romance. That romance, in fact, cannot even realistically take place until the third part, and that's the main reason this story has to be so much longer.

In addition to that, more must be done with the politics and strife, and there are way more characters to juggle. I also have a sub-romance going for Rene, whom I'm sure most fans of the short story will remember.

I posted a snippet of the rewrite before. That was the new beginning, and was Allen's POV, so today we'll switch to Sarrica, the most stubborn, head-desk High King you will ever meet.


----

Friday, March 7, 2014

Friday Recs

Short List:

Cambion by Cari Z.
Strength of the Wolf by Kendall McKenna

This was a fun book I finally got to read when I made myself take a day off. I always enjoy characters who are extremely sexual, by choice and/or design, and their lovers have no problem with that. Greatly enjoyed both the leads, but I admit my favorite character was Steven and I can't wait to see him get a happy end someday. Looking forward to more adventures all around, there's definitely plenty of world left to explore (but you can also walk away at the end of this if that's your druther). A good read for peeps fond of paranormal and supernatural shenanigans :3




One of my fav werewolf series. I hate the covers, because they don't even come close to doing the books justice. My favorite part is how fucking well McKenna portrays the military. That is such a hard fucking thing to find. I'd read these books for that alone, but I love the werewolf culture she's built, and how it meshes (and clashes) with human culture. Looking forward to the next book.

To Lauren Hough and Other Whiny Pissbabies: How Not to Behave as an Author

I should know how to behave and not behave. Anybody in MM Romance will be happy to tell you I have a long and sordid history of pissing peop...