It's Almost here: Sweetwater!

Not long now! Sweetwater, my historical western, is out on September 29. Although, if you pre-ordered it from Riptide, you’ll get it early on the 27^th.

From the 29^th, I’ll be doing a blog tour. If you want the chance to win a $20 Riptide gift card and any title from my backlist, just follow the tour and leave a comment to enter the draw.

Psst: you can read an excerpt of Sweetwater here.

And you can follow the blog tour at the links below:

September 29, 2014 - The Jeep Diva

September 29, 2014 - Smoocher's Voice

September 29, 2014 - Delighted Reader - Spotlight Stop

September 30, 2014 - Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews

September 30, 2014 - Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words -Spotlight Stop

September 30, 2014 - The Blogger Girls - Spotlight Stop

September 30, 2014 - Erotica For All - Spotlight Stop

October 1, 2014 - 3 Chicks After Dark

October 1, 2014 - Love Bytes Reviews - Spotlight Stop

October 1, 2014 - Prism Book Alliance - Spotlight Stop

October 1, 2014 - Rainbow Gold Reviews - Spotlight Stop

October 2, 2014 - The Novel Approach - Spotlight Stop

October 2, 2014 - Book Reviews & More by Kathy -Spotlight Stop

October 2, 2014 - MM Good Book Reviews - Spotlight Stop

October 2, 2014 - Joyfully Jay

October 3, 2014 - Boys in our Books

October 3, 2014 - Words of Wisdom from the Scarf Princess- Spotlight Stop

October 3, 2014 - Slitsread - Spotlight Stop

October 3, 2014 - Romancing the Book

 Wyoming Territory, 1870.

Elijah Carter is afflicted. Most of the townsfolk of South Pass City treat him as a simpleton because he’s deaf, but that’s not what shames him the most. Something in Elijah runs contrary to nature and to God. Something that Elijah desperately tries to keep hidden.

Harlan Crane, owner of the Empire saloon, knows Elijah for what he is—and for all the ungodly things he wants. And Crane isn’t the only one. Grady Mullins desires Elijah too, but unlike Crane, he refuses to push or mistreat the young man.

When violence shatters Elijah’s world, he is caught between two very different men and two devastating urges: revenge and despair. In a boomtown teetering on the edge of a bust, Elijah must face what it means to be a man in control of his own destiny, and choose a course that might end his life . . . or truly begin it for the very first time.

Coming Soon - Brandon Mills versus the V-Card

In exciting news, JA Rock and I have a release date for Brandon Mills versus the V-Card, the second in our Prescott College series. For those of you playing at home, the date is October 28!

Dinosaurs. Brandon and Alex love them.

I don’t know what it is with the Prescott books, but the timing is always terrible for me when it comes to promo. When Mark Cooper versus America came out, I was in hospital and, despite all my best intentions to get some work done while in there, I spent a lot more time being unconscious than I’d intended. Also being on drugs that made me very happy and floaty.

Brandon Mills is out the week after GRL, and I’ll be in San Francisco that week with my friend Kate, who I met a gazillion years on my first day of school at Goondiwindi State High. So, once again, the lion’s share of the blogging and stuff will be down to JA. But I will totally pay her back in chocolate. She knows I’m good for it.

But you can’t have a sequel without a three-quel, right? That’s a word now. So, from the kinkfest of Mark Cooper versus America, to the awkward sweetness of Brandon Mills versus the V-Card, to:

Ta da!

Liam McDermott versus Authority.

This is the working title for our third Prescott book. And yes, there will be kink. There will be a D/s relationship. And, for Liam McDermott, college will mean a very steep learning curve.

  

The blog post I never wanted to write.

On paper, a dog shouldn’t mean so much. But often things aren’t the same on paper as they are in your heart.

Today I had to get Cleo put to sleep. The vet said it could take up to a minute, but it was a matter of seconds, really. She was old, and she was hurting, and she went very quickly.

So I’m a mess, of course.

Twelve years is a long time. I think it will take me a while to be able to go to sleep without listening for her claws clicking across the floors, as she’d flop down beside my bed with a long sigh before snoring like a chainsaw.

Cleo and her BFF Grub, being accidentally photogenic. 

Once upon a time – and I’ve probably told this story before – Cleo ate Christmas.

It was my first year in my own house, and I was going to make the latticed veranda beautiful. I went and spent a lot of money on Christmas lights and decorations, then spent hours threading them through the lattice. Hours, getting the spacing just right. My arms and shoulders were killing me by the time I was finished. I flicked the lights on once to make sure they worked.

God, it would look so good at night when I turned them on. I could hardly wait!

Then, studying the molding above the front door, I thought to myself, That would look great with a piece of tinsel above it.

I went inside to get some tinsel.

And, in the thirty seconds I was gone, the dog chewed through the power cord for the lights. Hours of painstaking work with a chair and a step ladder… ruined.

“We are never doing Christmas again!”

I pulled all the lights and the tinsel and the decorations down while I ranted and raved and had a meltdown, and the dog just sat and placidly watched me go insane.

“Never again!”

We did, of course. Lots of times. And Cleo never really lost the uncanny ability to hone in on the things I least wanted eaten, and eat them. My brother-in-law’s new expensive sunglasses. Books. Yummy crunchy CDs. Any bra she could reach.

She was fun and stupid and lazy and sneaky and sweet and stinky and happy and naughty and bouncy.

I’m going to miss her like hell.

What's another word for...

So here's something interesting that I stumbled across on thesaurus.org: the word "masochist." Notice anything depressing about the suggested synonyms? 

Not only are they all highly inaccurate, but the suggestions with the most votes are: 

degenerate 

pervert

deviate 

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. And I'm not, really. I am annoyed though. I'm annoyed that the so-called synonyms have to come wrapped in a negative value judgement. And I'm annoyed at the assumption that any of the words on this list even come close to being anything like a synonym. All of those things on that list are very, very different, and very, very specific. 

And sure, of course I shouldn't be relying on some website that suggests avocado as a possible synonym for oak, but it's different. An oak does not equal an avocado. The comparison is stupid, but it's not offensive. 

Oaks aren't avocados, any more than masochists are degenerate. 

I'd say the whole thing is like comparing apples and oranges, but then thesaurus.org probably can't tell the difference.