What would I do if I couldn’t be a writer? the #evernighties

What would I do if I couldn’t be a writer?

I suppose I would go one pretty much the same way, seeing how after all I don’t make a living (not even close) with my writing.

But let’s suppose hypothetically that I did make a living, that I *was* technically a writer (as opposed to someone who just writes, and publishes and goes stark raving mad about her stories etc), and supposing I could not be a writer any longer ... I suppose I would go and be a cobber. 

Of course I *am* cobber, or a least a person who cobs (cobbing being the activity of building cob buildings, try to keep up, won’t you?).

I mean, I am not likely to make a living with my art, so that’s a no-go.

I probably won’t make a living with cob either. But at least after you worked you ass off all summer you get a house out of it, albeit a small one. That’s gotta count for something. Cobbing is the most satisfactory job I ever did. First of all after a cobbing day you are intensely aware in all parts of your body that you worked hard. There’s none of that “where did the day go?” nonsense. You know exactly where the day went, and your back knows it, and your feet know it, heck even your fingernails know where the damn day is gone, because they are gone with it. Cobbing occupies all your muscles. If you have no muscles you are going to get some in a real bloody hurry.

And it’s fun. It might be one of the dirtiest things you can do with your clothes on, but it’s as fun as fuck (all puns fully intended). When you are sculpting an arched niche, in wet mud to your armpits, you know in your whole body that you are creating something beautiful. Beauty, thick, gritty, wholesome beauty, gets smeared thickly all over you, from your toes to the inside of your ears, and even in your hair and places inside your tightest sports bra where you would never have thought possible.

Artists and writers tend to live in their head, way, way too much. Cobbing is art too, it's the most creative thing you'll ever do, but it brings you in full body contact with the ground. Literally. It is literally grounding. As in you end up with subsoil sticking all over you.

 

It’s brilliant. When I grow up, I will definitely make mud pies, I mean, houses.

New Release - Finding Fulfillment - Lynn Burke

#BDSM #Contemporary #Romance #Erotic #Series #HEA

Finding Fulfillment

Found by Fate 3

By Lynn Burke

Release Date: January 21, 2019


BLURB:


Jade Matthews may be young, but she knows what she wants in a man--someone mature and kinky, a man who shares her deepest desires to have her pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen and submissively compliant in the bedroom.

Archer Brennan aches to unleash his dark side on the too-young grocery bagger, with her pert pony tail and glossy lips that makes him yearn for a taste. With an ex-wife and a messy divorce threatening to destroy his pursuit of happiness, he binds himself to one rule -- hands-off Jade's tight body until his divorce settlement is final.

A submissive must obey her Dom, but some rules were meant to be broken, and when one misstep threatens the dominant lawyer's life, will Jade defy Archer's hands-off decree or lose the only man capable of fulfilling all of her dreams?

​PURCHASE LINKS:


Books2Read: books2read.com/findingfulfillmentfbf3

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Fulfillment-Found-Fate-Book-ebook/dp/B07MWVXSTS/

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Finding-Fulfillment-Found-Fate-Book-ebook/dp/B07MWVXSTS

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1126423553

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/finding-fulfillment/id1449906799

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/918487

ADULT EXCERPT:





Eyes closed, I strained to listen, wondering and worrying over what Archer planned. The front door closed, and my pulse thrummed.

Alone.

I pressed my knees tight as arousal slickened my sex. My breasts grew heavy, my nipples tight and chaffed by the dress.

“I sit here at my desk, thinking of you.” Archer’s low voice low sent shivers down my spine. “I’ve been dreaming about you all day. Your shy smile, sparkling eyes.”

A smile bloomed on my face, and I found myself relaxing.

“You show up ten minutes late for our appointment, but when you walk through my door in nothing more than a mere wrap dress, I can almost forgive you. Almost.”

He growled the word, but not in anger. Hunger filled his voice, and I pressed my knees tight again.

“I sit behind my desk and tell you to bare your body to me. Slow and easy, you untie your dress. The material swishes down your creamy skin to pool around your ankles. Pink flushes your chest, your face, as I take my time caressing your body with my gaze. Your pulse thrums in your neck.”

Oh, does it… I sucked in my lower lip.

“Your nipples are hard, straining for a touch, kiss, or bite. Your stomach quivers as my gaze slips lower. ‘Come here,’ I say. Knees trembling, you obey until you stand in front of me.

“I want to lean forward and lick your glistening pussy, but you were ten minutes late.”

My breath caught as my arousal peaked. One mere flick of my clit, and I felt sure I’d fly.

“I pull you down over my lap, head and legs dangling down either side, arms held tight behind your back with my left hand. The scent of your arousal rises to my nose, and I breath deep. Unable to help myself, I stroke the globe of your ass and dip between your thighs to find your wetness.

“Your pussy tightens on my fingers as they slide deep, your hips rising to meet each thrust of my hand. Whimpers escape your lips—”

I bit on the inside of my lips to keep a real one inside.

“—and you beg to come, but I withdraw my hand, denying your release. Your musky scent draws me like a bee to nectar, and I stick my fingers in my mouth, sucking them clean and groaning at your sweet taste.

“Then, whack!”

I jumped, a small yelp ripping from me even though Archer sat ten feet away from me.

“Your body jolts beneath my hand, but you have nine left. Within seconds, three hand prints flare to life on your skin, and you’re no longer struggling to escape. I sooth my palm over the red markings, and a moan slips from your lips. By the eighth swat, you lift your hips toward my hand with a needy groan, the pain morphed into pure pleasure.”

My mouth parted as I drew in air, quivering with the need to come.

“Are you wet for me, Jade?”

Through the buzzing in my ears, I realized he’d spoken to me directly. “God, yes,” I say, unable to help the honest need pouring from my words.

“Pull up your skirt and show me.”


© Lynn Burke 2018



© Lynn Burke 2018

ABOUT LYNN BURKE:











Lynn Burke is a full time mother, voracious gardener, and scribbler of spicy romance stories. A country bumpkin turned Bay Stater, she enjoys her chowdah and Dunkin Donuts when not trying to escape the reality of city life.


Website: https://www.authorlynnburke.com/


Blog: http://authorlynnburke.blogspot.com/


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author-Lynn-Burke-555282497937461/


Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorLynnBurke


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorlynnburke/


Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/authorlynnburke





BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lynn-burke

New release - Elodie Parkes - The Romantic

The Romantic 

MM romance from eXtasy Books

Handsome Luke Kirby loves books, so when he finds boxes of old and beautiful tomes in a dusty shop, he can’t resist buying them. To his delight one of them contains what he hopes will bring an end to his loneliness and heartache. As he prepares to cast an ancient prayer spell to the god of love, across town Ethan Goss decides that moving to a new apartment will ease his broken heart.
With the help of an eccentric real estate agent, gorgeous Ethan goes to a viewing in the block where Luke lives.
When Luke meets Ethan in the lobby, it’s the start of a passionate love affair. 
Fate hasn’t finished with the two handsome men—will true happiness evade them both?
#gayromance with an edge of paranormal 

Warning this story contains MM sex in the love scenes.

Read the teaser

In the lobby, Victor stopped walking. “I should show you the garden, but I need the key for the gate. It’s in my car. Wait here a moment.” He strode rapidly out of the front doors.

Ethan checked out the table in the foyer where mail sat in three neat stacks. One stack had a lot, the others not much at all. Ethan couldn’t help reading the names on the envelopes. As his gaze traveled over the addresses, someone clattered down the polished hardwood stairs.

Ethan turned to the footsteps.

A young man glanced up from watching where his feet fell. His blue eyes locked with Ethan’s stare.

Ethan gazed at him, and his stomach lurched. His heart pounded. Not one word would form in his mind other than, wow.

The young man smiled, approaching the table. “Hi. I’m collecting my snail mail—yeah, not much as usual.”

Through a daze of attraction, Ethan watched the man pick up the two envelopes in his stack. He looked the young man up and down, taking in his hard body and fashionably cut dark hair. He held back a sigh of appreciation as the man turned to him.

“Are you the new tenant?” He waved a hand at the apartment door.

His low voice traveled over Ethan like a glaze of melting honey. Ethan stared at the man’s handsome face. He is gorgeous. About my age, too. “I haven’t taken the place yet, just…just viewed it.”

The young man moved closer. “You should take it. There aren’t many places as good, big, and with a garden this close to the city.” He held out his hand. “Luke Kirby. I live on the third floor, but that’s my patch of garden next to yours, if you take the place. It might seem odd to have to trundle down the stairs to sit in the sun with my coffee, but I’ve grown used to it.” His eyes sparkled at Ethan. He held Ethan’s gaze as he talked.

Butterflies filled Ethan’s stomach. He couldn’t stop his heart hammering and wondered if he could actually speak, meeting Luke had such an effect on him. “Ethan Goss.” He shook Luke’s hand. What he felt like doing was pulling the guy close and kissing those perfect lips that moved again.

“Pleased to meet you.” Luke held on to Ethan’s hand. His eyes held something unspoken.

A wave of longing rose through Ethan. His loneliness and need for sex put an ache in his stomach, replacing the butterflies. He glanced down at the strong hand gripping his, wondering if he could hold on a little longer, despite how weird that might be. Better not, that’s kinda creepy. All the same, it wasn’t Ethan who abandoned the handshake.

Luke let go but trailed his fingertips along Ethan’s palm as he withdrew his hand.

With his skin tingling from the touch, Ethan gazed into Luke’s blue eyes and knew. He’s gay. He somehow knows I am, too—probably the way I’m ogling him. He’s interested in me. Thank you, god. Ethan flashed his eyes at Luke with a flirtatious expression he usually reserved for cute guys he met in the gay bar.

Copyright Elodie Parkes 2019 eXtasy Books

BUY the BOOK

https://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Elodie-Parkes-ebook/dp/B07MLRX2TH

http://mybook.to/TheRomantic will take you to your Amazon site

http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2304-9-the-romantic

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/916564

In the Eye of the Wind is Live!

My darling pirate is live at all major retailers, folks!

Born in the northern wastes of Kaleva in the middle of a devastating war between light and darkness, Rikko’ has found his way south to the warm shores of the Circled Sea, the first elver to ever turn pirate.

Forbidden by the rules of the Andalouan court to pursue such an ungentlemanly career, Gael can only dream of ever becoming a doctor, and his medical studies remain unfinished until his aunt the Queen sends him on a covert mission to the pirate city of Beyas’kahl.

And here, after one night with Rikko’, all his loyalties are put to the test.

Queen Amata has reigned for three decades, and she always used her men cunningly. But even the best player can miscalculate, and her blunder places Gael first in slavery, then in a naval battle, and finally, worst of all, face to face with Rikko’s darkest and deadliest side.

From such darkness, is there any coming back? Is there any hope of love for Gael, or redemption for Rikko’?

Find on Amazon (you can also grab a free sample here)

Or at Evernight

⭐⭐⭐And don't forget to check out Wind's own webpage 

for all maps and illustrations, and an exclusive excerpt.⭐⭐⭐

How much of me is in what I write? - the #evernighties

 Today's #evernighties blog prompt is "How much of me is in what I write".

All. Blood heart and soul. That’s the short answer.

The long answer is that I always pour a lot of my personal feeling and experience into my characters and stories. It would be hard to know where to start. My novel Spellbreakers (which is on sale at 0.99$ at the moment, just saying) is a long slow foot and horse trip across Europe, and large bits of that were inspired by my own 5000 km trek from Germany to Catalonia via Brittany in 2009/10.

Two of my characters (Ivory in Black Carnival and Gillian in The Nymph in the Stolen Garden) are apparently tame, shy plants-women with a wild side. I did work as a gardener, and like Ivory I did spend a preposterous amount of time making botanical illustrations and drawing up garden plans, when I would have much preferred to hire a model and draw nudes.

In Head Shy there is a traumatized mare that is slowly brought back to working condition and a more trusting frame of mind. Much of that comes from my experience with my own Haflinger mare, Kaylee.

But I certainly poured most of me in my more recent books especially in my loosely interconnected Transgender Trilogy. Nina from Woman as a Foreign Language is a strongly autobiographical character. Her traumatic past, her metal-work, her let us say, almost accidental gender-queerness, even her passion for myths and fairy tales, are all me.

In Spice & Vanilla there is a bit of me in Di, and a bit in Hugh. 

My passion for ancient sailing ships definitely shines through in In the Eye of the Wind (coming tomorrow!!)

And Nathaniel in A Muse to Live For (coming soon!), is definitely very much my alter ego in the way he feels about his art, his muse and inspiration. 

Perhaps it makes me a pathologically self-centered kind of person, but I find it very difficult to write characters that are entirely “other” from me. For example writing truly assertive, confident heroes is not something that comes at all natural to me, and I wonder how convincing they are when I actually do write them, although it is always fun to try.

There is a strong elemental streak in all my writings, earth and air and fire, light and darkness. In almost all my stories there tend to be an earthy, subfusc, usually short lover, and a taller, more luminous, airy-fiery one. 

Almost all the earth people in my books are me.

My first memory #evernighties

When I was 7 years old something really traumatic happened to me, and I remember nothing of my life before that. Even the years after are just a chaotic mess of blurs and odd flashes. I am not even sure I have what one could call real childhood memories, at least not many, and certainly not very coherent.

But the few things that stand vividly out in my memory are all art related. I remember drawing a heard of cows and the delight I felt when I got a cow with her head turned up to mooo exactly right. It was something about the shape of the muzzle, and the way the neck aligned with the head.

I don’t remember breaking my right arm, but I do remember the German Shepherd dog standing by his dog house that I drew *with my left hand* because my right one was all done up in plaster.

And I remember the wondrous discovery (I must have been nine or so, I think) that the sky is not a thin line of blue at the top, but that the blue goes all the way down to the tree-tops. When I shared this amazing this discovery with my then best friend, Francesca, also a talented artist, we lay hands on all blue markers in the classroom and made this huge drawing (huge for us at least… I think it was an A3 sheet) with all manners of animals and grass and trees, and above that, everything was coloured blue.

I was very amused when I read the same observation years later in a book by Terry Pratchett.

I used to draw all the time. I made stories in my head, and scrawled sketches on any odd bit of paper, like a sort of scattered, fragmented comic book. But I never drew another cow, as far as I know, and I forgot how to draw with my left hand as soon as my right was healed, which is a pity, since I broke my right arm once more twenty-five years later.

New Release - Raven McCallan - Temptation

Very happy to host Raven McAllan today with her exciting new release, Temptation, which is the first installment of a new series, Isola dei Sogni. A big hello and cheer please for this lovely lady and great friend!! Please remember that if you buy any Evernight Book this week directly at Evernight.com all proceeds go to support our dear Doris O'Connor as she fights her very scary battle with cancer. SO even if you are usually an Amazon shopper, consider buying directly at Evernight for this week. New releases are always discounted too!


Thank you so much for offering to host me today.

I’m very excited about the fact Temptation the first book in my new series, Isola dei Sogni is now available from Evernight Publishing here

You can get it on Amazon, and from other eBook vendors as well.

Several years ago I had two short stories out about Isola dei Sogni, an island where dreams and fantasies come true if you let them. The rights reverted to me and I pondered until eventually, I lengthened the stories and sent them to Evernight.

Who, quite rightly decided book two Temptation would make a better book one. The other story Impulse is now book two and will be released in March.

(I hope that’s not confusing.)



So Temptation is ready to be read. I do hope if you decide to give it a go, you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I had a blast.

An island where dreams and fantasies come true?
Unheard of.
That’s what Meryl thought until someone showed her the brochure.
Dare she?
It was all well and good until the one person she didn’t want to see was there. Ready, willing and able to give her those fantasies.
Marloth couldn’t believe his eyes when the one lady he truly loved appeared on Isola Dei Sogni. Was this his second chance to prove his love for her?
Now he just had to get her to believe in him, and that they had a future together.
Being a shifter wasn’t going to help. He’d need all of his human skills to achieve his heart’s desire.

And a wee tease~

Three hours later, Meryl was replete, comfy, and ready to sleep. Next to her, Mia had settled down with her headphones on and was watching an old film with a grin on her face. Meryl stuck her head over the privacy screen. Johnny Depp in Chocolat. She smiled. Yeah, he’ll do. Mia gave her the thumbs up before she pulled the screen up, let her seat down into a bed, and covered herself with the blanket provided. Films could wait, but the inspection of the inside of her eyelids couldn’t.

The man who stroked her hair was everything anyone could want. Meryl looked at him and grinned.

“It was you.”

He smiled and nipped her earlobe with sharp white teeth. “Of course, who else? I’m always around. You’re mine and I’ll be wherever you are.”

Meryl sniggered, even though she felt like crying. “Liar, you might be in my dreams, but you aren’t always about. Hell, I’ve cried myself to sleep and you’ve not been there to hold my hand or wipe my tears.”

“Ah, love.” He cuddled her close and Meryl felt his heartbeat resonate through her. “I’m always there. You chose to ignore it. You are my life and with me, in me, at all times. I shouldn’t have stayed and I did. I shouldn’t have left like I did, but I had no options. Surely, you knew you just had to show me you needed me and I’d be with you? If not in person, in your dreams. Even when you’ve called me all the names no self-respecting person should know, let alone say.” He paused and rubbed her shoulder. “Just because I’m not on show, doesn’t mean I’m not here, not with you. Hold your hand out and let your heart feel me. You are mine, and even though you doubt it, it’s true.”

He ran his hand over her heart, and Meryl felt his heat burning into her. She melted as he kissed her, and his hand lifted her t-shirt and stroked her breast over the top of her bra. Her skin stung as arousal zipped through her and Meryl crossed her legs to stop the shivers of excitement she felt from being too obvious. She was on a plane, for heaven’s sake. Okay, she’d heard of the mile high club, but it was so not her. Was it?

He grinned, and tingles danced down her spine. “Ah, my lovely Meryl, just let yourself go. Purr for me.” He nipped and sucked her shoulder and at the same time moved his hand to creep under the top of her jeans and touch her clit. Meryl groaned at the sweet sting he gave her, even as she arched into his palm. His breath was warm on her neck. “Oh sweet, I’ve so missed touching you. Come for me now.” As he stroked and petted, it was the perfect feeling of love, care, and being needed.

She shook, and he drank her sighs and mewls of pleasure as his mouth covered hers in a long, lingering kiss. With a silent scream, she shattered. As she came down from one of the most exhilarating climaxes ever, his hands stroked her hair in a long soothing caress. If she were a cat, she’d purr.

Hold on. Cats? Purring? What the hell is going on? Her sleepy, sated state disappeared in a second.

Meryl opened her eyes. All thoughts of her climax disappeared as she saw where she was. Sheesh, did I really make myself come with a dream? Hell, I hope no one saw or heard me. She checked—the blanket still covered her.

There was no one around. The noise of the engines droned in the background, her video screen showed static, and the lights were dimmed. Next to her, Mia was now fast asleep and most of the other passengers were in the same state. Nowhere could she see that golden-haired man with the amber eyes.

Worried, she made her way to the loo and stared in the mirror. There on her shoulder was a deep red mark.

*****

Happy reading,

Love Raven x