Let’s start at the top!

Southern Arcana

This series is still trucking right along.  We’re looking at the print release of Cipher in August and the digital debut of Impulse on September 4th.  As usual, the print release of Impulse should follow along in 10-12 months.  Next up after that is Enigma, which is looking at a fall 2013 release.  Going forward, I think Southern Arcana novels should come out pretty regularly every fall. We also have a few short stories that we’d really like to write, but as always, those have to fit in and around our contracted work.  (And I will say now for those of you have been waiting for it…Michelle’s story is book #7.)

Sanctuary

The final draft of book one in the new Sanctuary series, Haunted Sanctuary should be headed toward our awesome editor by the end of the day.  This is book one of four in the Green Pines series, and I’ll warn you now–though the relationship arc will be neatly tied up at the end of each of these books, the series arc may be a little cliff-hangery.  However, we’re committed to putting the whole arc out there fairly close together, just like we did with Red Rock Pass.  Tentatively, at this point, we’re looking at January & July 2013 and January & July 2014.  (So all 4 books within 18 months!)

Bloodhounds

This has been a big year for the Bloodhounds. With Merrick’s Destiny out in February, Hunter’s Prey out in March and Archer’s Lady coming out in July. Each Bloodhounds book is a little longer than the previous one, and this trend may continue as we uncover more of the world.  We’ve signed a contract for book #4, Diana’s Hound, which is due out in April 2013.  For those of you who enjoyed Merrick, we’re also planning on doing more side-novellas.  These will always take place away from the main action and focus on only the hero & heroine.  (And future novellas will be distributed to all ebook stores!)

Children of the Undying

These books are my secret favorites, but sadly they’re on the back burner for the immediate future.    The full, long-wided & complicated explanation can be found here.  Rest assured that the next book will be percolating in the back of my head, and when the time is right…well, the time will be right.  Some day. 

And the Beast

The And the Beast stories are in a unique position this year. Last year the series launched six days after a string of tornadoes plowed through a large percentage of the communities around us and so when I say “launched” I mostly mean “limped, unaided, into the world and were promptly neglected by their somewhat shocked & exhausted authors.”   These stories never got the attention I wanted to give them, and so they’ve languished a little, even though we’d already completed story #3 and written most of #4.

At the start of this year we had a hard to make a decision–finish the series out at Samhain (and by doing so, delay the launch of the new Sanctuary books until nearly 2014) or take them out of our Samhain  line-up and hire an editor to go the self-pub route.  Since a far greater percentage of our readers are anxious to read new Sanctuary books, we decided to do the latter.   Iloria is booked with an editor for this summer, and once we’ve got it polished as shiny as we can make it, it will venture forth into the world! If that goes well and people are still excited, we’ll finish up the final story (Malrion’s tale) the same way.

(I do want to emphasize that this was a scheduling conflict only, and not any reflection on Samhain or our editor. If they weren’t so damn enjoyable to work with, it would have been a very easy decision to make!)

Last Call

The Last Call series has been (for the most part!) re-released with new covers.  The previously written books have red covers, and once we’ve finalized a few more details, we’ll be releasing those as a bundle and (hopefully) a print collection.  The new Last Call stories have blue covers.  This is partly so you can easily tell which are reissues and which are new, and partly so it will be easy to tell which books belong to which bundles.  The first of the new stories is Frostbite and it’s available now at most of the bigger stores!  We really love writing these stories, and while we won’t have a regular schedule for them, we hope to find time to squeeze them in once in a while.

Mysterious Projects of Mystery

There are always one or two in the works.    Writing is our day job, our evening job, our hobby and our relaxation technique, so there will always be a few secret projects traipsing through our harddrives.  For now, though, the above projects are our main focus, and that’s plenty to keep us busy.  Even if there are two of us! LOL

Any questions?  Anyone else need a nap?  (By the way–Donna sent Haunted Sanctuary to our editor before I finished this post. She beat me! Curse her!)

Those of you who read the series know that Julio & Sera have had some important moments in some of the previous books (Deadlock and Cipher in particular) but I also think it marks a slight turn in the series.  This is the first book featuring a hero & heroine who weren’t introduced in Crux, and while you see some old friends (Mac & Jackson are my favorite cameo *g*) much of the book takes place away from the main group in New Orleans.

This is a trend that will continue across the next two books–Enigma, which features two certain bounty hunters tramping across the Southwest, and book #7, which may or may not involve a certain ranch in Wyoming.  (Enough hinting. I’m gonna get in trouble.)

Speaking of Enigma–we had originally intended to try to have it out in May 2013, but these books just take us a lot longer when it comes to revisions and working all the niggly little series arcs and foreshadowing in, so it’s being bumped back a few months to the fall.  That will put it more in line with our usual Southern Arcana release schedule of one a year, which is about what we feel comfortable maintaining without rushing.

So that’s the update! Oh, except also, Impulse is already up for pre-order on Amazon and hopefully will be available on B&N soon too. And since I’m so excited to have finished Impulse, how about I share a promo excerpt.  (A first kiss! And a little naughty.)

Her submission can heal him. His dominance can free her.

Southern Arcana, Book 5

Sera Sinclaire is a New Orleans rarity: a submissive coyote trapped in a town overrun by dominant shapeshifters. Worse, she lacks the willpower to deny the alphas-in-shining-armor who need her soothing presence, even when their protectiveness threatens to crush her hard-won self-reliance.

The only shifter she doesn’t want to push away is Julio Mendoza, a wolf so dominant he’s earned a place on the Southeast council.

Julio doesn’t have the luxury of indulging in the vacation his psychic shrink insists he needs. He can’t turn his back on responsibilities he’s beginning to wish he’d never shouldered. When an obsessive ex endangers Sera, though, instinct drives him to get her out of town. Watching her come to life outside the city makes him feel like he’s finally done something right, and her touch ignites desire he doesn’t want to ignore.

But soon, lighthearted flirting becomes a dangerous game of seduction, where every day spent falling into each other is another day avoiding the truth. Sera’s ex isn’t the only one who’d disapprove of their relationship. There are wolves who would kill to get Sera out of Julio’s life—starting with his own blood kin.

Warning: Contains endless summer road trips, family drama, redneck werewolves, sexual power games and a taboo love affair between a submissive coyote who’s among the last of her kind and a dominant wolf who loves his heroine’s ass. Literally.

* * *
An Excerpt from Impulse
* * *

If he didn’t do anything else right, at least he could do this. “We’re going to keep you safe. Whatever it takes.”

“Any of them would have kept me safe.” She unbuckled her seatbelt with a soft click and slid across the bench seat until she was tucked against his side with one arm wrapped around him in a half-hug. “You’re keeping me sane.”

Sane. Exactly what he wasn’t as he cupped the back of her head and tilted her face to his. Insane, that was more like it—for a thousand different reasons.

He kissed her anyway.

She had soft lips. Soft and warm, and they tasted like the cherry ChapStick she’d tossed into her bag a few miles back. Her hand slapped against his chest, fingers splayed wide, then fisted around his shirt as she moaned, low and hungry.

He wanted to delve deeper, bite her lip and slide his tongue into her mouth. Instead, he lifted his head and fought to slow his breathing. Sera’s fingernails dug into his chest as she voiced her protest in a snarl of loss and caught his lips again.

He reacted without thought, tightened his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back. “Sera.”

She went still. Not just quiet, but utterly still. Even her breathing stopped for one tense moment, and in that moment her power washed over him in a shuddering wave. An alpha’s magic challenged. Hers was sweet and accepting, clinging to him even as her breath escaped on her rushed apology. “I’m sorry—”

“No, I am.” He stroked his thumb over the shell of her ear. “Not about kissing you. I’m not going to apologize for that. But I shouldn’t have done it here. Now.”

“I don’t have very good control.” A confession. A tortured whisper. “I’m so freaking tired of fucking humans. I eat them alive.”

He knew there were human men who could handle fucking shifters—people did it all the time, Mackenzie for one—but Sera seemed caught up on what she wanted versus what she thought she should want. “What you want isn’t so complicated, sweetheart. You’ve just got to let go.”

She shivered. “Letting go is how you drown.”

He still had the taste of her on his tongue. “Not letting go isn’t worth it.”

“No one’s ever caught me.” Her whole damn body trembled with nervous energy. “Last time I let go, I fell forever.”

Her eyes were deep and still despite all that energy. “Does that mean you’re going to hold back now?” he asked.

She fought the grip on her hair, tugged against it until she could nuzzle his chin. Not a very human gesture, and he could feel the feral edge of her coyote beneath the surface. “I don’t know how to let go a little. Don’t ask for it if you don’t really want it. It’ll change this trip. It’ll change everything.”

It sounded like an ultimatum and a promise. It sounded like a warning. “We’ll find out,” he whispered. “Tonight.”

Warm breath feathered across his ear. She licked the lobe, then closed her teeth on it with a quiet growl. “The clerk inside is staring at us.”

“Do you blame her?” After another heartbeat, Julio released Sera and started the car. “Probably wondering whether she needs to call the cops on us.”

After retreating to her side of the car, Sera gave the attendant a cheerful wave. “Maybe she was enjoying the show. You’re hotter than any of the softcore stuff on cable.”

“If you say so.”

“You don’t fool me, mister. You look like a man with a healthy stash of porn.” Her seatbelt clicked into place before she turned to eye him. “I’m thinking…busty cheerleaders in short skirts? Or is that too vanilla?”

“I’m all about variety,” he told her solemnly. “Busty cheerleaders are well-represented in my collection, but I would never limit myself so severely.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught her grin. “I stick to the Playgirl stuff. Oiled-up men aren’t really my thing, but at least they go for the hunky ones.”

He flashed her a knowing grin of his own. “And you like the men in uniform, right? All the ladies do.”

“You mean like McNeely?” She whistled as he steered the car out of the parking lot. “That is one fine hunk of wolf. Too bad he’s got a big dumb crush on Giselle.”

After Wesley Dade’s conveniently telling remark, they’d probably spent the weekend in bed together. “That’s your type, huh? Tall, dark and handsome?”

“You have to ask, when I just tried to climb into your lap in a parking lot?”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

She laughed. “You’re tall, dark and handsome, Mendoza.”

“You’re mostly right, Sinclaire.” He adjusted the rearview mirror so the slanting sunlight wouldn’t blind him and pressed his foot harder on the accelerator. “I’m not particularly tall.”

“You’re taller than me.” She reached across the seat, and her fingers brushed the back of his neck in a caress almost as teasing as her words. “But not too much taller. Which would come in handy, if you’d ever considered bending me over furniture for dirty sex.”

The car swerved as his grip tightened on the wheel. It wasn’t hard to call forth images to match her words—her naked, rounded hips, pale skin under his hands, and the smooth, endless expanse of her back stretched out before him.

Her fingertip snuck under the collar of his shirt. “If you were taller, I’d have to stand on phone books or something.”

That bare touch on the back of his neck hardened his cock. “Arrive alive, honey. Hands to yourself.”

Another laugh, but she eased away. “And this is why everyone in New Orleans thinks we’re going to spend the next week having sex. They all know I can’t keep my hands off you.”

* * *

So here today I bring you Sera in all her sassy, badass glory. I really love this cover and her attitude (and even her tiny little short-shorts, because Sera is a shapeshifter who is quite comfortable wearing nothing at all, so all clothing is modest in comparison.)

While we don’t have our official blurb for Impulse yet, I have a rough version here for anyone interested in the storyline.  (Since this is not the final copy, I’d ask to please not repost it anywhere like goodreads at this point.  When we have the final version, it’ll go up on our website!)

Sera Sinclaire is a rarity: a submissive coyote trapped in a town overrun by dominant shapeshifters. Sera has all the shifters-in-shining-armor she can handle, but she lacks the willpower to deny the alphas who need her soothing presence, even when their protectiveness starts to threaten her hard won self-reliance.

Julio Mendoza is struggling to get by. His psychic shrink wants him to take a vacation. He can’t turn his back on his responsibilities to a council he’s starting to wish he’d never joined. When an obsessive ex endangers Sera, Julio jumps at the excuse to get out of New Orleans–and watching Sera come to life outside the city makes him feel like he’s finally done something right.

But what starts as light-hearted flirting becomes a dangerous game of seduction and submission.  Every day they fall into each other is one day spent avoiding the truth. Sera’s ex isn’t the only person who would disapprove of their relationship. There are wolves who would kill to get Sera out of Julio’s life–starting with his father and uncle.      

Warning: Contains endless summer road trips, family drama, redneck werewolves, sexual power games and a taboo love affair between a submissive coyote who’s among the last of her kind and a dominant wolf who loves his heroine’s ass. Literally.

And hey, while I’m at it…how about a little excerpt. (The following is not edited yet!)

SNIPPET FROM IMPULSE

Sera froze, all of her except for her fingers, which clenched around the counter until the edge bit into her palm.  She hadn’t heard him moving, which was scary all on its own when she could hear the quiet buzz of the streetlight out on the road.

She could feel him, though, a wall of unrelenting heat at her back, and she braced her other hand against the counter mostly to keep from slumping back against him.  “You are scary stealthy when you want to be.”

His hand slid over her shoulder.  “For such a lumbering hulk, you mean?”

“For anyone.”  The slippery fabric of her top wasn’t skimpy, but she could feel the shape of his fingers, Jesus, the shape of his fingerprints.  The urge to reach for him swallowed her whole, but there was a giddy thrill in self-denial, in keeping her hands locked around the counter.

A sick thrill.  An oh-so-wrong thrill.  How many pained looks had she endured from the submissive wolves?  How many gentle lectures had she sat through, condescending words urging her not to buy into stereotypes, not to undermine the rest of them.  Submission was about pack and safety, not life and sex.

She’d always been a little bent.

“Sera?”

“I’m not touching you.”  It came out husky.  Desperate.  “I don’t know if you were seducing me, or just trying to keep me out of your pants.”

“Who says it couldn’t have been a little of both?”  His fingers brushed the back of her neck.  “When’s the last time someone took it slow for you?”

Pleasure zipped down her spine, tightening her nipples and melting everything below her waist.  “Define slow.  A couple hours?”

“Not the sex,” he whispered.  “Getting there.”

No one ever had.  Before Josh, she’d never made the boys go slow. After Josh, she hadn’t let the men go slow.  Independence had been too hard won to let any guy have more than a few hours.

Until now.  Until him.  “I don’t know. Slow isn’t really my thing.”

He leaned closer.  “It’s mine.”

# # #

Yaaaay! Impulse is due out in September. So far away…but not as far as it seems. (Guys. February’s half over!)

We’ve been lucky enough to get some positive reviews!  I have a by-no-means exhaustive list of those I happen to have links to on my laptop, too: Badass Book Reviews | Book Lovers Inc | From Me to You | LibraryJournal | Long and Short Reviews | Reading the Paranormal | Smexybooks | The Book Pushers | Under the Covers | Wayfaring Writer | What Book is That

So thanks, everyone who picked up a copy of Demon Bait and thanks to everyone who read it and talked to us and hugged us and tweeted about it or was just, in general, pretty damn rad.  Donna & I sometimes fall down on the whole HEY, BUY OUR BOOK part of promotion, but for some reason you wacky people keep doing it anyway.  I am eternally grateful. <3

And now it’s only four weeks to Hammer Down!  Which is like Demon Bait except 3x as long and with 3x as much violence and 3x as much sex and 3x as many demons and the answer to why the series is called “Children of the Undying.”  (I can’t tell you. It’s a spoiler. Ha!)

 

I’ll be doing a little blog clean up today and posting the final winners of the Apocalypathon contest over the weekend.  Thanks everyone who participated…it was so much fun!

It’s Donna’s birthday, today! Woooohooo!  We’ll be celebrating by taking it easy today, and in our usual tradition, by giving away some books.  Because that’s what birthdays are all about.  (Isn’t it?)

Look! Lots of Ebooks!

AND DON’T FORGET…THESE ARE FREE FOR ALL:

It’s easy to enter! Leave a comment, say happy birthday to Donna, and tell us which ebook you’d like to win.  And if you want a freebie while you’re here, grab one. Or five. Or nine!

EDIT: WINNERS HAVE BEEN POSTED IN THE NEXT POST! Comments are now closed.

You’ll have to go to Paranormal Haven to find out.  (And they’re giving away Southern Arcana ebooks!)

This summer was loooong.  There was the time we almost got hit by a tornado, the time we broke our book and threw away everything we’d written and started from scratch with a new plot, the time we got plagiarized by that chick who changed one of our character’s names to Flora Logger, the time my husband rescued four kittens and I had to keep them in my office and they tweeted, and guys, I’m only to mid-July.

However, we have still managed to get a fair bit done.  So here are our upcoming projects…

Children of the Undying

We’re launching this series next!  The intro novella, Demon Bait, is on sale November 29th.  I’ll be gathering up review copies for this one in October, so if you’re interested, keep your eyes peeled!  We’ll also be having a huge party in November with a ton of other Apocalypse & Demon loving authors, including but not limited to: Ella Drake, Larissa Ione, Nathalie Gray, Alisha Rai, Eden Bradley, CC Bridges, Zoe Archer, Nico Rosso, Vivi Andrews, Mina Carter, Karen Erickson, Cate Morgan, Meljean Brook and Dani Worth.  And those are just the authors giving away books!

Five weeks after Demon Bait, the first full novel in the series will go on sale. Hammer Down is the pet project of our hearts. It’s got violence, sex, love, danger, hackers, magic, demons, halfbloods, betrayal, loyalty, virtual reality, truckers and a very hard earned happily ever after.  And we are super. Damn. Excited. (Also: our blog is currently Children of the Undying themed! Yay!)

Bloodhounds

New news here!  We’re going to have three new Bloodhounds stories out in 2012!  The first will be a short story that we’re writing as part of a special Valentine’s Day promotion.  It will feature a cranky bloodhound who’s been around almost since the beginning of the Guild and a badass young airship pilot who rubs him in all the wrong–and right–ways.   We’re really excited about getting the chance to write this wicked little tale. 

Right after that we have Hunter’s Prey in March and Archer’s Lady in July.  Hunter & Ophelia’s book will give you a bit more of a look at how things run in Iron Creek and what life is like for a new bloodhound, as well as a little more information about the Guild and what the current climate there is like.

Archer’s story will see him on his own path to redemption, with a heroine who has not been introduced.  For those of you who’ve been eager for hints about how the bloodhounds were created and exactly what they are–some secrets will be revealed. 

Southern Arcana

After our Bloodhounds spring & summer, we’ll be heading in to a Southern Arcana fall. Impulse is the fifth novel in the series, and it features Sera and Julio. The wait between book four & book five is going to be a full year, but good news–book six will follow a bit more quickly in May of 2013.

And since virtually everyone has guessed, I will confirm it.  (LOOK AWAY, SPOILERPHOBES.) Patrick & Anna are the hero & heroine of Enigma, which will be a chance for readers to see a little more of the seedy underbelly of the Southern Arcana universe.  Bounty hunters have the very best friends.

Also: Deadlock will be in print in December, and Cipher will go to print next summer. So yay!

Other Projects

We’re hoping to sneak the third And the Beast story into 2012 as well.  It is the tale of the arranged marriage of Farran & Iloria, a storyline set up during Sabine.  We’ve also got a few more projects we’re working on as time permits, but everything else we do will be mostly arranged around keeping the releases steady on our existing series.

Questions?

Got any? I will answer!

To be clear, that means SPOILERS! If you don’t like them, click away!

Questions? Comments? Want to yell at us over THAT THING?  Ask!  I do not promise to answer every question clearly, but one of us will answer every question. 

My husband often jokes that he doesn’t want to read our books because he feels like he knows everything about the characters by the time the books finally come out.  And he’s not wrong…Donna & I spend insane amounts of plotting, discussing, dissecting & preparing to write these books.  But you guys don’t know all about the fake men & women currently dominating our desktop computers, so I figured I’d give you a peek.

I’ll start with our 2011 folks, and maybe tomorrow I’ll hand over the first two couples of 2012. I might even make Donna play along, too!

First, of course… Kat & Andrew from Cipher.

Kat:

Andrew:

* * *

Next up, Marci & Gabe from the Children of the Undying novella prequel, Demon Bait, due out in November.  I like this scene for both of them:

It’s a one-two release day punch for us! The ebook release of Cipher, book #4 in the Southern Arcana series, and the print release of Building Sanctuary, which contains A Safe Harbor & Undertow.

Let’s just get started on the fun, huh?

 SOUTHERN ARCANA #4 – CIPHER

Length: Novel | Rating: Hot | Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Themes: Shapeshifters, Badass Alphas, Dominance Games, Evil Plots Need Foiling, Guns & Explosions, Hot Techies, Psychics, Psychics (Empaths), Shapeshifters (Wolves), Supernatural Politics, Witches & Wizards, Shapeshifters

* * *

BUILDING SANCTUARY NOVELLAS #1 & #2 IN PRINT

Print Versions
Amazon, Book Depository, Amazon.de, Barnes & NobleA Safe Harbor& Undertoware also available for individual purchase in ebook format.A Safe Harbor

Joan was turned against her will, but now that she’s part of a pack she’s determined to protect all its women. Even if that means joining forces with a witch and a vampire–and leaving the comfort of Boston.

Escorting some female wolves to safety should have been easy for former bootlegger Seamus, but their leader, a prim ex-debutante with power to match his own, challenges him in every way. Before they can build a future, though, they must free themselves from the past…and a powerful man who’s out to teach her a lesson she may not survive.

Undertow

Harsh experiences prepared Victor for anything–except resisting Simone, a young refugee who rouses his inner wolf. The last thing he wants is to be just the next man who uses her.

Once adrift, Simone is fired by the chance to broker peace between werewolves and European wizards. Yet her instincts–the same ones that led to trouble before–keep drawing her back to Victor.

When a storm traps them together during a full moon, she breaks through his walls so easily the question is no longer how Victor will stay away, but how he’ll let her go…

* * *

It’s a pretty awesome day, all told. Thanks to all of you who have read our books and supported us for all this time.  We hope you enjoy the books!