It’s my hope that life has been treating you well and you’ve found time in the busy schedule we all seem to have these days to indulge in the favored pastime we all love – reading! I’m happy to report that I’ve been working hard to add to your “To Be Read” list, spending time with new characters for you to enjoy. Don’t worry, some well-loved and familiar faces will also make guest appearances here and there! So here’s the current status on things:

Upcoming Releases…

Enjoy cover art, blurbs and excerpts for all of the following under Peek Inside the Cauldron! And if you want exclusive early peek and additional excerpts on these upcoming releases, be sure and sign up for the guestbook. I won’t release your email address to anyone else, never fear.

In A Mermaid's Kiss (November 2008), Jonah is an angel who plunges to earth after a battle against his enemies. Anna is a mermaid with unusual abilities who makes the brave decision to hide and protect him. This is part of a two-book series. The second book, A Witch’s Beauty (possible Spring 2009 release) will be about two of the secondary characters, a young angel named David, and the dark and bitter sea witch Mina. Love the cover art on these two!

Then just in time for Christmas (December 2008)… Do any of you remember Ben, Lucas, Jon and Peter of Board Resolution (Behind the Mask anthology)? Well, Lucas will be the first of the foursome to get his own story, but just like Matt, he’ll likely need the team’s help to win over the prickly Cassandra Moira. The story is called Controlled Response, and will be part of the Unlaced anthology, also featuring stories from fantastic authors Jaci Burton, Jasmine Haynes and Denise Rossetti!

A Vampire’s Claim (Spring 2009) is the story of Australian vampire Lady Daniela (Danny), and the bushman who becomes her human servant, Devlin. They were featured as secondary characters in Mark of the Vampire Queen. I had the pleasure of learning more about the world of 1953 Australia for this book. Dev has the dry humor and “no worries” attitude unique to the people of Oz, and Daniela, who is also different from our more formal European vampires, was the perfect complement to him.

A Vampire’s Promise (due July 31, release date TBD) introduces the mysterious Lord Mason, a vampire who lives as a recluse, brooding over the loss of a woman who died centuries before (he’s also featured in Mark of the Vampire Queen and was briefly mentioned at the end of Vampire Queen’s Servant). A beautiful archaeologist is determined to find his lost love’s burial site and Mason is determined to stop her. Only he finds out that Jessica is also the escaped servant of a dead vampire, and she needs his protection – though she’d rather be boiled in oil than ask for his help.

No release date yet, but on the horizon as we go forward…

More vampires! Gideon, a vampire hunter and Jacob's brother, introduced in Mark of the Vampire Queen, will have his own story. I can't introduce a tortured hero like that and not give him his own book! His heroine has not yet stepped forward, but I expect she’ll have to be a pretty unique female to win over the heart of a bitter vampire hunter. Will she be human? Vampire? Or something entirely different? The muse is being coy, so I’ll let you know once I find out myself.

A Vampire’s Claim also had two different couples step forward and demand their own stories. Elisa and Willis, both second-marked humans who work in Lady Daniela’s household, will be given a very unique and dangerous responsibility by the end of the book, and their feelings for one another will grow as they face the challenge. Also, I hope you will be intrigued as I was by the Queensland Region Master, Lord Alistair, and his human servant Nina, who is pregnant with his child in A Vampire’s Claim. We’ll go back to the beginning of their relationship so we can find out their full story.

With respect to my Nature of Desire series, Brendan and Chloe from Mirror of My Soul are percolating. Chloe’s been having some trouble getting over her traumatic experience from that book, and Brendan is the perfect, sensitive hero to restore her confidence and joie de vivre again. Of course Marguerite and Tyler will help facilitate in a number of provocative ways...

Rough Canvas, also from the Nature of Desire series, brought us Julie, a close friend of Marcus and Thomas. Since she’s in her late thirties and has pretty much given up on finding a good relationship, she’s told Marcus that she’d just rather hang around with gorgeous gay men, flirt with and fantasize about them, than be let down by a flesh and blood hetero male. We’re going to see if we can’t find a man to change her mind about that. You know Marcus and Thomas will be there, protecting her interests and checking this guy out thoroughly.

I've also got another male/male erotic romance percolating in my mind. Will keep you posted on that.

Things pending…

The Vampire Queen’s Servant is supposed to eventually be available in e-format. So my digital readers should keep an eye on this title on the Berkley site…

Still no word yet on a print version of Rough Canvas, Mistress of Redemption or Chance of a Lifetime but I’ll keep you posted as soon as I hear anything. Ellora’s Cave has indicated now that it can take from 1-3 years from digital release to bring a work to print. Letting the publisher know about the titles you really want to see made available in print format sooner rather than later never hurts, so if there are stories you’ve been waiting for patiently (or not so patiently!) visit their site and let them know.

Final Notes…

Remember, if I add you to my guestbook, check your spam filters to make sure my email is on your “allowed list” or however your software handles that. Most of the kickbacks on emails I get are due to that and I want you to get the updates!

Thank you all, as always. I ALWAYS welcome your feedback, good or bad, so please never hesitate to email me. I always respond personally, and usually within 48 hours of receipt. Best wishes and happy reading!