Alexis Fleming

I haven’t blogged for a while because of the spam problem I’ve been having. It was taking me hours to delete all the porn spam and by then I’d run out of steam to actually write something.  We’ve now got a spam blocker downloaded so at least no, or not many, posts to delete. Although I still have sixty thousand to delete from the last barrage. Yep, you heard me right. Sixty thousand. *thud*

Now I can bring you all up to date with my latest news. I posted some of it on the MEA blog, but I’ll post it here as well.

WHO’S YOUR DADDY anthology with Lyn Cash, Alexis Fleming, and Summer Devon, has gone to print and is due out 15th this month at Total-e-bound Publishing.

•    Publisher: Total-e-bound
•    ISBN-10: 1906590265
•    ISBN-13: 978-1906590260

My Escape story I wrote for Changeling Press is now in print too. It’s an anthology of the eighteen Escape stories, aptly titled…well, ESCAPES, of course. Lol

 ISBN (13): 978-1-59596-814-2

Genre(s): Paranormal,

Print Series: Escapes Multi-Author

 On a final note, Lyn Cash and I just received our cover for Pandemonium, the second story in our Sexy Mythconceptions series at Total-e-bound.

And if that’s not enough, we’ve just been informed that Hit And Miss and Pandemonium will be coming out in print anthologies, Lust Bites Anthology Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 on 7th July. How kewl is that? lol I’m stoked.

The final piece of news? I’ve just signed a contract with Ellora’s Cave for a co-authored novella with Lyn Cash. Way kewl!!

I am at my wit’s end. I am being spammed on my blog. Not just a few posts. Last night over one thousand pages with twenty posts per page. Aghh! It’s driving me crazy. I am spending more time deleting spam than I am writing or blogging at the moment.

My apologies to anyone who comes to visit and encounters all the porn spam posts. There must be a way to beat this. Please???

Anyone have any suggestions?

I’d like you all to welcome author, Lyn Cash!

Lyn is the multi-published author of over fifty short stories and confessions, a couple of non-fiction books, and over a dozen novellas and novels. Her mainstream fiction is written under Bobbie Cole, her erotic fiction under the pen names of Lyn Cash and Cash Cole.

Her newest release, Mistress Mine, Book 1 in the Kinky Kruising Series, is a contemporary erotic romance now available from Total e-bound Publishing.

RC Jones poses a problem for his sibling, who wants RC out of the way before their grandfather’s upcoming birthday. Shanghaied, inebriated, and tossed onto a cruise ship for the kinky, only to wake up with a leather-clad dominatrix standing over him—just what every alpha male needs!

April is a psychology major who earns extra money during the summer by working as a dominatrix on a cruise ship.

When RC gets shanghaied, April thinks he’s her next submissive. But a challenge is issued—if she falls for him during his ‘vacation’, she becomes his submissive for two weeks.

What’s a woman to do?

Lyn Cash
~ laughs & love in every book ~
http://authorlyncash.blogspot.com/

Excerpt page & Buy Button are HERE

And now a few questions for Lyn.

Where do you get the inspiration for your stories?
I’m a people watcher, and people never cease to fascinate and amaze me.
Pantzer or Plotter?
Bit of both, actually. I rarely travel without a road map, but I always veer off course into unknown territory when something interesting catches my attention.

What makes a hero for you? Do you see them on the street, or are they simply in your head?
They’re in my life, all the time! I see courage and determination, the will to overcome the negative and stress the positive, I witness the traits I admire best in the people I love.

What advice would you give to aspiring erotic romance writers?
Write WHO you know, not just WHAT you know. Same for any genre. People are complex and have speech patterns, habits, spirits unlike anyone else – we’re all unique, and once a writer latches onto the perfect character for the perfect plot, the rest is gravy. Just write interesting characters and give them something interesting to do.
You write the male/male erotic romance relationship in a way that can completely absorb and arouse a female heterosexual reader. So what is it that’s so titillating to you personally about writing male/male and male/male/female?
The male/male wasn’t difficult to write, because I have gay male friends—I fly out to DC to visit them about once a year, and I get to watch the romance (not the sex – pull your minds out of the gutter) between them. The m/m/f is easy, because it’s a fantasy nearly every woman envisions. The f/f, however, has been different – I have a book due to release this fall for Carol Lynn’s Cattle Valley series. I’m enjoying writing it, though, because it’s forced me to examine my own perspective, what I enjoy receiving rather than giving. Once I got into that mindset…piece-a-cake. ?

What’s your writing schedule like?
Oh, man, I’m all over the place. I’m a stay-at-home writer, so I write not only during a schedule (as in when everyone else is gone - that’s my schedule) but when I damned well please - lol.
I know you have another book, Spies, Lies, and Duct Tape, where did you get the idea for this book?
The heroine and I share the same head injury, and while I’m no spy, I wanted to give another woman, even one I imagined, the abilities to overcome her fears and to not only live with her disability but to succeed despite it.
And for a final question, what do you wear while you’re writing?
* Sunny looks down at self. * Whatever is comfortable, which can be a sarong - just a sarong - lol - or sweats, depending, but you won’t catch me putting in a day’s work wearing stilettos and satin.

Thank you, Lyn, and good luck with your release.
If you want to know more about Lyn, check her out here.

I’m back. Well, sort of. Still feeling like crap but not as bad as I was. I think it’s going to take me a little while to get over this bug. But I learned one thing. No matter how bad you feel, get up and check your blog, because odds are some crud had blasted it with spam. Ack!

I went to bed on Friday with this flu. Yesterday was the first time since then I logged onto my blog. OMG. 546 pages of spam, 20 messages per page. I’m not even going to try and do the math. I’m just going to say it took me over three hours to clear all the spam off my blog. Hey, anyone want porn? Check out my site, because I’ve been hit with more porn than I can shake a stick at.

So I figured I’d be okay to post on my blog today. WRONG!!!!! Another 499 pages of spam, at 20 messages per page. Hey, guys, I write erotic romance. I research a lot of sites. I don’t need all this porn dropping into my box. Thanks very much, but I can manage fine on my own. Grrrr!!!!!

Hi All

Just popping in to say I’m still around, just not on line very much at the moment. One of the sad things about being in the hospitality business is that you’re exposed to all the germs that walk in the front door of reception. Every person who comes in with a sniffle or a cough, or sometimes something even worse, leaves a deposit of viruses when they exit.

Unfortunately, I forgot to go have my flu shot, and yep, you guessed it. I have the flu. I’ve been in bed for days, only hopping up long enough to answer emails. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in and I’ll start to feel a little bit better. I’ll be back on deck as soon as that happens. In the meantime, be good to yourselves.

Alex

Wow, I didn’t realize how hard it would be to book flights for America. My daughter and I are flying over for the RWA National conference in July. We really should have booked before this, but we waited because hubby was going to come too this time. But only if we’d sold the motel. Unfortunately, one of us has to be here at all times. So no sale, no trip for the man.  This week we booked the flights. I can’t believe how much the prices have gone up since last year. *gulp* But we did finally get a flight direct from Sydney in Australia straight through to San Francisco. At one point, we looked like we were going to be up for 25 hours travel, going via Hong Kong. A direct flight is much easier. lol My daughter is not the best traveler so the less time we’re in the air the better.

On the writing front, I posted off a partial to a print publisher yesterday. Now I just have to finish the rest of the book. I think I’ve been a bit spoiled in the last few years. I’ve been able to just send in a short blurb and the partial to my editors at the houses I’m already contracted with, without having to worry about the full length synopsis and doing a query letter. Going back to basics really made me work. Particularly doing a full length synopsis. I tend to start my stories with only a vague outline in my head. This one I was forced to plot all the way through. Hopefully the writing will go quicker with it being fully plotted out.

I’m also working with Lyn Cash to increase the word length on a story we’ve already written. lol More sex! That’ll work, yes? I’m going to have to set my week up with a strict timetable I think. Two days to work on one story, two days to work on the other. Forget Tuesdays. That’s paperwork and wages day here at the motel. Okay, so we’re up to five days of the week. That leaves me two days for the busy days here at the motel and for doing edits etc.  Sounds like a plan, but I wonder just how it will work out. It’s not always easy to schedule things in this type of business, and I’m referring to the motel here, as how busy we are all hangs on the number of booking we have any given day. Ah, well, we’ll see!

That’s me for the moment. I have to go get ready for work. It’s carpet cleaning today. *groan* Not my favorite job.

I want to share with you all something very special to my heart. My family has always, in one way or another, been involved with the military. My husband was a member of both the Navy and the Army. My son-in-law is in the Army. My son has done his share. My step-dad marches ever year, despite the fact he is partially crippled and legally blind. In short, this family is very military orientated.

25th April marks Anzac Day for us here in Australia. The school kids love it because it’s a public holiday which means a long weekend this year. But it’s more than just a holiday. Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. The pride they took in that name endures to this day, and Anzac Day remains one of the most important national occasions of both Australia and New Zealand. Just about every town, big or small, holds a parade. The military, the school children, all those who share the special memory of the Anzacs, march on Anzac Day. It’s our time to honor those who died in conflicts across the world.

I was listening to a show on television this week. A song came up and everything stopped as my husband and I sat there and listened to the lyrics. How poignant. It brought tears to my eyes and does every time I hear it sung.

The song is called And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda and it’s written by Eric Bogle.

Read the lyrics and remember those who fought for us, not just here in Australia and New Zealand, but across the world. We have a lot to be thankful for.

The lyrics from Eric Bogle’s song, written after observing an Anzac Day parade.

Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray’s green basin to the dusty outback,
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said, “Son,
It’s time you stop ramblin’, there’s work to be done.”
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.

And the band played “Waltzing Matilda,”
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk, he was waitin’, he primed himself well;
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell –
And in five minutes flat, he’d blown us all to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

But the band played “Waltzing Matilda,”
When we stopped to bury our slain,
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.

And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead –
Never knew there was worse things than dying.

For I’ll go no more “Waltzing Matilda,”
All around the green bush far and free –
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more “Waltzing Matilda” for me.

So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,

And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.

But the band played “Waltzing Matilda,”
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask “What are they marching for?”
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays “Waltzing Matilda,”
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda.
Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
Who’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
– Eric Bogle

The Passionate Ink Cyber Circuit is a group of writers who belong to the Passionate Ink Chapter of Romance Writers of America and write erotic romance. Once or twice a month our members will tour a recent release in the hope of tempting you to add it to your to-buy list.
Today I’d like to introduce you to Barrie Abalard

Exes Patti North and Dylan Decker adore each other. Her problem? He cheated. His problem? Her temper. Fixing things will take more than spankings and hot sex, though that’s a good start.
HOT TO TROT, set in the often funny-weird worlds of Boston high-tech and equestrian hobbyists, tells the story of two exes who still adore each other—and still annoy each other—more than any other twosome on the planet.

HOT TO TROT by Barrie Abalard
ISBN: 978-1-59632-665-1
Buy link: http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=695
Excerpt link: http://www.loose-id.com/BAHTHex.aspx

About Barrie

I have been writing and selling erotic romance for over twelve years under the pseudonyms Barrie Abalard, Miss Lee, and Belle. As of 2008, I’ve sold over eighty short stories, eight short novels/novellas, and one long novel. Loose-Id (http://www.loose-id.com), Amber Quill Press (http://www.amberheat.com), and Discipline and Desire (http://www.disciplineanddesire.com) carry my work.
When I lived in Boston, I was a jack-of-all-trades, mastering two: radio personality and technical writer/online help designer. I also did short stints as a taxi driver, clerical chartist for the Federal Reserve Bank, and temporary office worker for half a dozen companies. However, fiction writing is my first and longest-lived love. (If you can say that three times fast, you, too, might have a career in radio.)
I read widely, adoring a good story with quirky characters. Besides reading, I enjoy being around horses and cats, singing, creating new recipes, taking solitary road trips, and hanging with friends. I confess to being hopelessly addicted to the wonderfully-over-the-top television shows Boston Legal, House, Men in Trees, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, and 24, among others. I write comic romance under my real name, and my first release, Cover Me, is now available.
I’m married with a grown child. All three of us live in one of the Middle Atlantic states, along with two persnickety, high-maintenance cats. I believe that a woman should have a past that’s juicy enough to enjoy retelling in her old age. Not that I’m going to tell it here, mind you, and not that I’m old…

Barrie Abalard
…stories of love that hurts so good
http://www.barrieabalard.com
http://www.barrieabalard.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/barriea

Now I’m about to put Barrie on the hot spot with a few questions.

Barrie, tell us about your hero and give us five descriptives of his personality.

Dylan Decker is complicated, arrogant (but in a good way), funny, iconoclastic, and sweet.

The odd thing about Dylan is that I had absolutely no one in mind when I first imagined him. Usually some small aspect of someone I know will inspire a character, but Dylan sprang fully-formed from the place my muses live. (Barbara Samuel calls them “the girls in the basement”, and that’s how I think of them, too.)

Dylan has a brilliant mind for software, is tall, dark and handsome, has a great sense of humor, and also has the amount of ego necessary to found a company and be one of its officers—in other words, a lot of ego. I spent many years in high tech as a technical writer, but I never met anyone quite like Dylan.

However, he has a sensitive side—he likes to wear silk undies, he adores horses, and he’s emotionally a very complicated man. That last personality aspect was borrowed from my husband. I rather like complicated men.

Where did you get the idea for your latest book?

I’m still trying to figure that out. HOT TO TROT was the first story I wrote that was longer than a short story—the idea came to me back in 2001. Obviously some parts of the story were inspired by my life, but the story itself just kind of appeared in my head one day, poof. It’s been a long road to publish this novel!

I’m what writers call a “pantster” (meaning, I don’t plot beforehand, I just start writing), so Patti and Dylan came to me first, along with the title. Because I was taking riding lessons at the time (and love horses), I added the horse element. And I was working a contract at a company whose products resembled the ones Patti documents in the book.

What do you like about erotic romance best?

I love that my heroines can be fully sexual and unashamedly kinky while falling in love with the man they’ve been looking for all their lives. I love that my heroes can be alpha and still enjoy pleasing a woman in bed. And I love, most of all, that I can write stories that are romantic yet very much true to life.

What’s your writing schedule like?

I am no good early in the morning, so these days I finally get to sleep past seven AM before I go to work. (Can you tell I love my day job?) My “girls” don’t like to write before noon, so I tend to promotional duties, email, errands, chores, and so on in the morning. (I used to do the same thing when I was a technical writer—my prime creative time was about eleven to four. I saved the beginning and end of the day for less creative tasks.) In the afternoon I write as many hours as I can keep my butt in the chair—usually at least three. Sometimes I do more chores when I run out of steam, creatively speaking, or sometimes I simply switch gears to another manuscript and work on that one for a while. I do put in long days.

I have a work-at-home part-time job in high tech. (I’d tell you who the company is, but I’d have to kill you. Seriously, I’m not supposed to broadcast it, at the request of the company.) Between the time I log at my high tech job, and the writing time and associated tasks like email and promo, I work six days a week, between nine and eleven hours a day. That’s real work time, not just sitting in the chair time. So it’s not all eating bonbons. On the other hand, the commute is short, and I can have breakfast/lunch/dinner whenever I feel like it. And I don’t have to go to meetings or answer the phone (I love the last part—I’m not much of a phone person)—or put up with the boss from hell!
What is your favorite part about writing a book? What do you dislike most?

My favorite part is always the first third of any book. My least-liked part is always the middle of the book—sometimes my girls run out of steam at this point, so the writing becomes a chore, and feels like pulling teeth. And the last third is sometimes sort of boring, because I know how it turns out and writing it all down is just too much like, well, work.

I have a very low boredom threshold—can you tell? But I am doing the work I am meant to do. I love every minute, even when it’s hard.

Thanks, Barrie, and all the best with your book. You can visit Barrie at her website to learn more about her writing and books.

Do you enjoy a good read? Well, have I got a contest for you.

Joyfully Reviewed has opened its 2008 JR Bunny Hunt with a staggering number of prizes on offer. All entrants must be members of Chatting_with_Joyfully_Reviewed so if you’re not a member, pop on over there and join.

Once you’ve done that you can access the questions. There are 61 questions in all.  The questions will both be posted to the group and in 2008-Hunt-Ques.html , saved in the Files section of the group.

All can be answered by hunting through participating authors/publishers’ sites.  Need help starting your search?  The 2008 JR RT Bunny Hunt database lists the main web addresses…as well as the prizes!
Once you have all the answers, please use this form to submit:  2008-Bunny-Hunt-Entry-Form.html.  (It will send your entry, in the proper form, to the correct address.)
Don’t forget, all entrants must be members of Chatting_with_Joyfully_Reviewed.
All entries must be received by 11:59 PM US Eastern, Friday, April 25 2008.
Winners should be announced by April 30.

A large chunk of the writing community, both readers and authors, are away attending the Romantic Times Convention this week. For those of us left behind, we’ve put together a scavenger hunt for you all. We’ve called it the Romantic Days Scavenger Hunt.

Nineteen romance authors, tons of books and a chance to win your very own ebookwise reader along with tons of ebooks to keep you busy through the spring.
What do you have to do? Well, you have to go here April 16-19th and check out the posted questions. Then, you go to the author’s websites to find the answers. Once you have all the answers for the day, you will email them to us and your name goes into the pot for the prizes of the day. They include ebooks and signed print books. Then, if you send us the answers to all the questions over the four days, you get your name in the hat for an Ebookwise reader, which includes a 64 mb memory card to hold up to 100 ebooks!

So come along and join the fun!