These are either unedited snippets, or snippets in the process of being edited, so they may not be the final version.  But they’re mostly pretty short anyway. 

From Deadlock

Alec jerked awake to the sound of his front door crashing in off its hinges.

It could have been any of a dozen threats–someone come to rescue the prisoner still in his basement, someone he’d pissed off recently, even a pointed message from Cesar Mendoza–but as Alec rolled from the bed a familiar voice sounded from the entry way, the words a rage-filled roar. “Where is he?”

Oh shit.

Alec had fallen into his bed too tired to take off his jeans, and he didn’t waste time with a shirt. By the time he got down the hallway Andrew had already torn the basement door off its hinges. It crashed to the floor as Andrew disappeared down the stairs, his nose leading him unerringly to the one person Alec had to keep him from killing.

When he found out who’d spilled their guts Andrew, he might do some killing of his own.

From Zola’s Pride

The soft murmur of feminine voices drifted through the dojo as the last few students lingered in the warmth of the building, making plans to meet later in the week or catching up on the latest gossip. February had brought an unseasonable cold snap, the kind of chill that settled in Zola’s bones and made her long for the unforgiving deserts of her childhood.

A board creaked on the floor behind her, and Zola looked up from rearranging a stack of punching targets to catch sight of Sheila’s reflection. The teenager had a jacket zipped up to her chin and a knit hat pulled low over wild corkscrew curls, leaving just her pale face uncovered. “Zola?”

The girl looked worried, and Zola tensed. “Yes, Sheila? There is a problem?” Even after all these years English didn’t come naturally, the words tumbling out in an order that always made others laugh. She’d spoken too many languages in too many countries to worry now.

Sheila was so accustomed enough to Zola’s linguistic oddities that she didn’t blink. She did, however, speak in her own nearly indecipherable dialect. “There’s a guy lurking outside. I mean, he’s hot and all, but the lurking is pretty creeptastic and a little pervy.”

From A Safe Harbor

Seamus barely managed not to smile. She was sneakier than she gave herself credit for being, and he liked it. “I think you’ve got a bit of a rogue bottled up in you too, sweet Joan.”

She finally looked up, and her dark eyes glinted with amusement. “Women have been using men’s vices against them since men discovered vice.”

“Mm-hmm.” He cracked two more eggs into the bowl. “And what did they use against them before that?”

“Why would they need to? Men were angels. Now I’m thinking they might have been a bit boring too.”

“Men have never been angels, sweetheart.”

“I suppose not.” Her pen scratched against the paper again, more idle doodles. “I’ll enjoy learning about your vices, as long as I’m numbered among them.”

Happy Friday! Today brings a new author to these here blog parts, one who I discovered through Samhain editor Sasha Knight’s recent space opera anthology, Impulse Power.  The covers for her two space anthos (done by artist Kanaxa) are so incredibly cool that I pretty much drooled in anticipation for several months.  J. C. Hay, who has only chatted with me once or twice on twitter, was indulgent enough to agree to be one of my spotlight features this week.  (Whether he had any idea what he was getting into is questionable, but he’s a good sport!)

An Impulse Power story.

Syna Davout thought it was supposed to be a simple smash-and-grab job—smash onto a luxury yacht, grab the cash, and split the proceeds with the client. Unfortunately, the client failed to mention that she’s the diversion for an assassination attempt that destroys the yacht and leaves her with a passenger she never expected. A fugitive telepath caught in the middle of a revolution.

Galen Fash thought his days were numbered. The fledgling revolution on his homeworld needs him to buy them time, with his life if necessary. The last thing he needs is to get involved with a pirate captain-for-hire whose larger-than-life emotions draw him like a moth to a flame.

Inexorably, Syna is dragged into a war that isn’t hers, and they both discover—between knock-down-drag-outs—that their whole is far stronger than the sum of their parts. Dodging the enemies that want them both dead will be hard enough. First, they have to survive each other…

Warning: this book contains Space Vikings, gossipy AIs, boxing-as-foreplay, rogue telepaths and a demanding pirate captain who likes to be in charge. The author will not be held responsible for a desire to punch your partner in the jaw, or a sudden awareness of latent psionic ability.

Only J. C. Hay knows what he was expecting when I sent him “a few silly questions” to answer, but answer he did, with wit and vigor, so now I present to you his ground breaking opinions on ebooks and the robot apocalypse.

#1) Why do you write ebooks? Aren’t you worried that you’re contributing to the eventual fall of civilization at the hands of the robot overlords?

E-books just seem the perfect medium for tales of Science Fiction. After all, what spaceship doesn’t have a collection of books on holocubes or what-have-you. As for the second half of your questions, I’m writing SF-Romance, so I have been working to pave the way for our Robot Overlords for some time now by helping to soften their image. Also, I believe the PC term is “Biomechanical Protector” – We felt that Overlord sent the wrong message.  Continued use of the outdated phrase might require me to spend time in one of the public relations training camps, so I’m going to stop there.

#2) Some say the world will end in robots, some say in zombies. Which are you?

I say it’s two great tastes that taste great together. Give me robots that infest and reanimate the dead. Robots and Zombies together in a hybridized apocalyptic snack cake of awesomeness.

#3) Finally, the greatest question of our time: Caveman vs Astronaut. Who’s gonna win that epic battle?

Wow. Tough choice. Still, it doesn’t take much observation to realize that civilized man, as the astronaut surely must be, has no chance against the unbridled savagery of our Ancestors. Caveman in the second round, by knockout.

Contest: I’m going to buy someone a copy of J. C. Hay’s Hearts and Minds, so if you’d like to be in on the running, leave a comment and answer this question: if you could have any psychic power (link only included for examples), which would you choose?

(Me? I would love to be able to teleport. No more rush hour traffic, man.)

It’s day three and I challenged Alisha Rai to show up and school Keith in how interview questions should be answered.  (I’m not sure if Alisha is my enemy or ally…it does seem to change from day to day, but at the moment we are united against Keith.  That may have changed by the time I post this.)

Alisha writes hot romance and we are so looking forward to sharing a release date with her on June 1st!  But for now, here’s a little info on her latest release.

Veiled, Book 1

Leyla Karimi can’t keep her eyes off the hunky guy living in the house behind her. How could any woman resist ogling Dr. Mason Barrett, especially when he makes it so easy by parading around in his skin and skivvies?

If it was only their age difference, she would have made a move a long time ago. Except Mason is more than a neighbor. He’s her baby brother’s oldest friend. It’s not like they can have a casual fling and walk away in the morning.

Mason’s been doing a little lusting—okay a lot—for quite some time. When he catches Leyla peeking, it’s a sure sign she could finally be ready to heat up his nights with loving. One taste of her lips, though, and he doesn’t want a “little” of anything. He wants it all.

Unwilling to jeopardize a lifetime of friendship for a one-night stand, Leyla is reluctant to throw caution to the wind. When he’s kissing her senseless, though, it’s hard to remember all the reasons why she should hold back…

Warning: Contains a hot hero who doesn’t mind baring it all in the name of love, a heroine who doesn’t settle for less, a sweet romance, steamy sex in a car and more good lovin’ in bed.

Alisha was kind enough to indulge me by answering my three very important questions on ebooks and technology, and I’m happy to report that on the evil scale she falls somewhere between Ann Aguirre & Keith Melton.  (I’m not telling you which of those is more evil, you have to guess for yourself.)

#1) Why do you write ebooks? Aren’t you worried that you’re contributing to the eventual fall of civilization at the hands of the robot overlords?

I write ebooks because they allow me to concentrate more on writing the stories simmering in my brain and less on what’s “hot.”

Also, I like them because I am, as you say, a robot overlord. You fools are all playing right into our hands! My brethren, who you refer to as “Tivo” and “George Foreman grills” have already insinuated themselves into your daily life. It won’t be long now, dear mindless followers. Not long at all.

#2) Some say the world will end in robots, some say in zombies. Which are you?

I pray that it’s zombies. Some reasons why:

1. Zombies are still physically vulnerable, and therefore, killable. While you still might be able to take down a robot, it would take a lot more technical knowhow than I possess. If it’s robots, I’d probably just disembowel myself and call it a day.
2. Zombies are stupid. Which is ironic, given all the brains they eat.
3. I just went to Costco today and I have a huge pack of tuna cans. (The tuna can be fed to the zombies in lieu of my brains. Or I can eat it during the zombie attack. I like tuna.)

#3) Finally, the greatest question of our time: Caveman vs Astronaut. Who’s gonna win that epic battle?

My gut says Caveman. Astronaut is dependent on his TOYS, man. Take away the million dollar shuttles and bajillion dollar breathing suits, and all you have left is a super athletic, genius level individual.

Sooo…now that I think of it that way, I don’t know why my gut still says Caveman. Maybe I have a subconscious affinity for unibrows?

Get in on the Alisha Rai backlist contest! Just visit her author page at OmniLit and leave a comment telling me which of her ebooks you’d most like to try and why!

Welcome to day two of my totally last-minute and therefore gleefully odd celebration of Read An Ebook Week!  Today’s featured author is a man who needs no introduction, because surely he must be universally reviled by now.  He is pure evil and my arch-nemesis, but I suppose I have to acknowledge that his books are pretty badass.  So today, a truce, while I tell you about his latest release from Samhain Publishing.

Nightfall Wolf Clans, Book 1

Leah Kendrick is guilty of only one crime: loving her human mate, Tom, enough to give him the gift of The Bite. The Pack council is merciless, and the punishment swift. In an instant everything she’s ever known is ripped away, and they’re turned out into the long winter with nothing. No money, no car, and no protection from a variety of creatures who’d like nothing more than to take down a lone wolf.

Friendless and broke, they form a daring plan to take back what’s theirs and chase safety north. But the Pack has other ideas. And with time running out it’s about to call their bluff…

Warning: Contains savage werewolf combat, defiant love, graphic violence/language/sex, kangaroo trials and unrepentant criminal havoc.

I managed to set aside my generations long feud with Mr. Melton long enough to ask him the three Questions Du Jour, and I think his evil nature shines through in his answers.  (If you’re wondering at the strength of my disregard, you should check out the history of our vicious war.)

#1) Why do you write ebooks? Aren’t you worried that you’re contributing to the eventual fall of civilization at the hands of the robot overlords?

I don’t really write ebooks. I write books that show up as electron rainbows in the datastreams of time.

Or something…

Ebooks have advantages and drawbacks. I see them as just one more tool to get content in front of readers. I look around at all these bookshelves in my house, and as much as I love love love books, I would like some way to keep the Urban Book Sprawl a little more in check.

And who doesn’t want to carry around a library in their phone or eReader? I’d need a backpack or shopping cart to haul around all those physical books. And then people would stare.

As for the robot overlords? Well, the joke’s on them, because as Neil Young wrote: Rust never sleeps.

(Neither does male pattern baldness or scabies, but I won’t bring those up here. Feel free to thank me.)

#2) Some say the world will end in robots, some say in zombies. Which are you?

Is there a choice C) robot zombies? How about cyborg zombies? Those could get ugly.

Both have some serious disadvantages. I mean, as soon as a human body dies, the bacteria in the intestines go crazy and start spreading everywhere unchecked. The body bloats up with gasses from decomposition. How many bloated zombies do you see in the movies? And there’s this age old problem: The more a zombie eats of a victim, the less effective that victim’s corpse will be if it reanimates—i.e. if it loses too much muscle or ligaments it won’t be able to move.

Robots? Well, anyone who has suffered through Windows Vista understands that one can have a superfast processor and lots of shiny gadgets and still suck toggle bolts through a steel wall.

#3) Finally, the greatest question of our time: Caveman vs Astronaut. Who’s gonna win that epic battle?

Honestly, I must have missed the memo. I wasn’t aware this was the greatest question of our time, surpassing things like McDonalds vs Burger King, Pepsi/Coke, Mild versus sharp cheddar, lime gelatin versus pond scum.

I’d say Astronaut. Why? Because alphabetically, astronaut comes first. Also, how many songs are there about cavemen? While astronauts, well, there’s “Rocketman” and “Space Oddity” etc.

The prosecution rests.

Get in on the Keith Melton contest! For your chance to win one of Keith Melton’s ebooks, check out his backlist at OmniLit and leave a comment telling me which one you’d rather read and why.

The winners, in no particular order, are:

Savage Posession: Heather & Elain R (Sorry guys, it said Savage Lessons at first, but the contest was for the 1st book, not the 3rd!)

Cry Sanctuary: Sarah Keery & KC

Crux: Audra Holtwick & Sandra

Wild Card: MinnChica & Debbie_D

Last Hope: Andrea I & Gretchen

Kamikaze: Sharli & Dana

(Names are linked to the winning comments.)

To claim your prizes e-mail me at bree@moirarogers.com and I’ll get you set up!

What better way to kick off my (somewhat belated) Read an Ebook Week celebrations than with an ebook you can read for free?  It’s no surprise to those of you who have been paying attention that we’re pretty fond of Ann Aguirre.  She’s a rockin’ author and a kick-ass friend. And she has a great book here…

An extraordinary first novel, a new fantasy in the exotic storytelling tradition of Tales from the Thousand and One Nights…

Muir is a slave, the lowest of the low. Yet hers is a magic great enough to shake the earth, great enough to topple kings from their thrones, perhaps even great enough to free the gods from their ancient prisons-if only she can free herself first.

Rodhlann is among the last of the Daiesthai, a race of inhuman sorcerers who bled the gods of their magic in order to enjoy limitless power and eternal life. But now, after untold centuries, the Daiesthai have lost the will to live.

Only Rodhlann resists oblivion’s siren song. Only he dares to dream of a future for his kind. And for that crime, they will kill him if they can.

This book is free in .pdf form. Download it. Read it. Share it with others. Just don’t sell it or claim you wrote it.

However!  If you have a kindle, an iPhone, iTouch, Blackberry or Kindle for PC and would like to help out a good cause, you can visit Amazon.com and buy a kindle version of Stone Maiden for the rockin’ bargain price of $1.99!  All proceeds from kindle sales of Stone Maiden will be donated to First Book, a charity that helps children in need get books!

In honor of Read an Ebook Week I invited Ann Aguirre to sit down and answer three vital questions about ebooks and their role in the coming apocalypse.  (What, we all have our own slants on ebooks!  I, for one, welcome our future robot overlords.)

#1) Why did you publish an ebook? Aren’t you worried that you’re contributing to the eventual fall of civilization at the hands of the robot overlords?

AA: I wanted to contribute to the delinquency of handheld reading devices everywhere. No, because I’m an agent of Skynet.

#2) Some say the world will end in robots, some say in zombies. Which are you?

AA: Clearly I’m a robot. There’s just no way I could consistently meet my deadlines otherwise. These rumors of hard work are just crazy talk. Of course, first thing in the morning, I share some qualities with zombies as well. It’s a tough call. But I never shuffle around mumbling, “Brain!” so I guess I must be a robot, but I’m a high quality, life-like facsimile. Sometimes you can’t even tell the difference.

#3) Finally, the greatest question of our time: Caveman vs Astronaut. Who’s gonna win that epic battle?

AA: That depends. Is the astronaut human and armed with modern weaponry? Because I think that’s self-evident. But if they’re alien astronauts who can’t breathe in prehistoric earth, then all the caveman has to do is rupture the suit with a pointy stick. Honestly, though, in the first aforementioned scenario, I think the best question(s) is, how and why did the astronaut time-travel, and did he step on any butterflies?

Contest Day One: Win an ebook download from Ann Aguirre’s backlist! (Okay, Blue Diablo, Grimspace, Wanderlust or Doubleblind…I’m not sure why that other book is on her Omnilit page. )

To enter the contest to win one of Ann’s backlist, leave a comment and tell me which of her books you most want to read and why!

The last time I talked about 3rd Party Royalty Rates I concentrated on why they’re important.  The post ended up spawning a lot of interesting discussion, and a lot of different points of view.  My personal opinion is that 3rd party sites are vital as ebooks become more mainstream. A niche market can expect readers to be willing to go from publisher to publisher, memorizing a dozen different logins on websites that, let’s face it, aren’t always very user friendly.

The huge spike in ereader sales means more and more people are viewing ebooks as no different than their paperback counterparts–that’s good for volume of sales, but it can change consumer expectations.  A paperback reader probably expects the ability to buy books from various publishers in one location.  They may be uninterested in purchasing ebooks a different way, which makes visibility on popular ebook distributors vital.

I want to be on as many 3rd party sites as possible, but I also want to get a good royalty rate.  That’s one of the reasons I spend a lot of time running numbers.  I may not always be able to make the best choice, but I’d like to make an educated one, regardless.

First, the Disclaimers!

There is no insider knowledge here.  I am not a publisher, or employed by one.  I can’t give anyone any awesome secrets here, but I can provide information I’ve spent a lot of time gathering up from various places on the internet and wrestling to put into a meaningful format.

I say it a few times throughout the post, but I’ll say it again up front: all of my math is based purely on numbers available to the public on vendor websites.  Publishers negotiate their own contracts, and I’m never going to know for sure what’s in them.  However, since many of these are listed as standard contracts, I think it’s safe enough to use that as a helpful starting point.  We can hope that most publisher negotiations have only made the terms better, not worse!

I do not claim to be an expert.  Just obsessed.  If I weren’t, I wouldn’t have spent this many hours doing math and making charts!  (Also, I welcome being corrected and will update my post if mistakes are found.  I want this to be good information more than I, personally, want to be right.  So if something looks fishy, please let me know!)

Net vs Gross

There are two basic ways ebook authors tend to be paid.  Gross or net, which usually means a percentage of the cover price or a percentage of how much the publisher receives for the sale.  A lot of this depends on how your contract is worded–which is why it is so, so important to make sure you understand it.  For the purpose of my examples, I’m going to assume that “net” means the money the publisher receives from the vendor, without any other publisher-side fees or additional administrative fees taken out.

For obvious reasons, this is all much easier if your publisher pays you based on your cover price, regardless of where your book sells.  However, while a cover price is easier to understand, there’s no way to be sure that it’s really a better deal unless you know what you’re likely to earn on the net.

Figuring Out Your Cut of the “Net”

While it’s generally not possible to know the exact contract a publisher has with a vendor, there are some who list standard terms on their websites, if you’re willing to hunt a little.  For example, All Romance Ebooks says, Best of all, publishers will earn 60% of the retail price on each and every eBook sale. Fictionwise lists a standard contract on their website as well, with the following terms: Publisher royalty is fifty percent (50%) of the Sale Price or twenty-five percent (25%) of the List Price, whichever is greater. (This is a complicated one and will get its own section, because Fictionwise makes authors cry.)

It is my understanding that Amazon has a standard 50% cut as well, but just to give a nice round picture, I figured out some percentages below.  These are a lot of numbers in a short space, so to understand what’s going on, let me give you a little breakdown:

Your Rate: The first line is the 3rd party royalty rate.  If your contract says you get 30% of net receipts on 3rd party sales, then the column you want to look at is the 30% column.  If you split the net receipts 50/50 with your publisher, look at the 50% column.  I broke it down into 30-50% to hopefully cover a broad range.

The Publisher Rate: The first column is the rate your publisher gets.  If they get 60% (like at All Romance Ebooks) look at the bottom row.  50% (Amazon & Fictionwise, to my best knowledge) look at the middle row.

The Percentages In the Chart: These are the percentage of your cover price that you’re actually getting. If your book sells at All Romance Ebooks and your publisher gets 60% of the cover price and you get 50% of what your publisher gets, you get 30% of the cover price.

Displayed as an image for clarity, though a text-only version is available here.

In a perfect world, that would mean you could usually expect a royalty rate between 15-30% of the cover price of any of your books.  How nice it would be if we lived in this perfect world!  Unfortunately, there’s one thing that brings joy to readers everywhere and fear to the heart of epublished authors: Fictionwise Sales.

The Funny Math of Fictionwise

Fictionwise has a lot of sales.  When books first hit the site they’re usually 15-20% off for a week or two.  If it rains, or is sunny out, or the day ends in Y, or for pretty much any other reason that strikes their fancy, Fictionwise will have a sale to celebrate.  This is awesome for readers (and I’m not even going to pretend I don’t take advantage of the sales–I’m not rich, and a fictionwise sale is a great time to try out new authors!)  It can be awesome for authors, as well, because as I just stated–you may get a few purchases from people willing to take a risk on a 30% or 40% off book.

However, if you’re paid on the net on 3rd party sales, this is when life starts to get a little uncomfortable.  Remember the basic terms I listed before?  Publisher royalty is fifty percent (50%) of the Sale Price or twenty-five percent (25%) of the List Price, whichever is greater. If you’re very lucky, you might write for a publisher large enough to have wrangled a more friendly deal out of Fictionwise.  If not, this is when being paid on the cover price becomes vital.

Again, since this is a complicated chart, here is the breakdown:

Your Rate: The first line is the 3rd party royalty rate.  If your contract says you get 30% of net receipts on 3rd party sales, then the column you want to look at is the 30% column.  If you split the net receipts 50/50 with your publisher, look at the 50% column.  I broke it down into 30-50% to hopefully cover a broad range.

The Sale Rate: The first column is the discount being offered. No Sale means a Fictionwise sale at full price.  50% off means the book is discounted 50% when it’s sold.

The Percentages In the Chart: These are the percentage of your cover price that you’re actually getting.  If your book sells for 50% off at Fictionwise and you get 50% of what your publisher gets, which is 50% of 50% of the cover price, you get 12.5%.  (Wow, that was a lot of 50%s.  This is why charts are good.)

Displayed as an image for clarity, though a text-only version is available here.

As you can see, even a generous 50/50 split of the money received from Fictionwise can look pretty lean when they’re having a sale.  50% of 50% of 50% of your cover price is 12.5%, which is not an incredibly robust rate for an epublished book.  A less friendly royalty rate of 35% of the net yields you only 8.75% when a book is half off at Fictionwise.  Compared to a publisher that offers you 30% on the cover price (I have one epublisher that does) it becomes clear how quickly money dwindles.  That’s less than 1/3 as much!

(I’m not doing any money breakdown examples here because I did plenty of them in my original post on 3rd party royalties.  If you’d like to see how big the difference is between 30% cover and 35% net, I did some example math there.)

What Does It All Mean?

Nothing, without context.  Sadly, context is the hardest part of all.  I could give you anecdotal data for where the bulk of my sales occur, but it’s nothing but my personal experience, and to be honest it varies wildly from publisher to publisher.  Our shorter, hotter books sell pretty well on All Romance Ebooks, but very few people buy our Samhain titles there.  Our Samhain books, on the other hand, are starting to move pretty well on Amazon, but our Loose Id ebooks are still flagging.  What does that mean?  Nothing, because I have enough friends who share numbers to know they have the opposite experiences.

I do know that I’m no longer incredibly comfortable with signing epublishing contracts where I’m paid on the net.  It’s harder to keep track of, harder to understand and harder to enjoy any sort of transparency.  However, under some circumstances I’ll consider it, if the rate is 50% of the net receipts.  I’m comfortable with that because I did the math and know roughly where the bottom line is.

With the digital marketplace exploding, it’s safe to assume that all epublished authors need to consider their 3rd party royalty rates very closely in the future, because they could be making a lot of sales through those venues.  Everyone has to decide where their own bottom line is, obviously.  Hopefully my cheerful charts can at least help a few people see those lines a little more clearly.

Got an anecdote?

Anecdotes may not be statistically valid, but they can be interesting.  If you’ve got experiences that differ from mine, I’d love to hear them, whether in the comments or by e-mail.  I do not get tired of talking about this stuff.  Ever.  Just ask Donna, she really wishes I’d stop!  Questions are welcome too, or discussion, or pretty much anything else.  Especially cookies.  Math makes me hungry.

So nine books seems like a lot!  I actually thought it was eight for a little bit, but then I stopped and counted, and our list breaks down like this:

Southern Arcana (Romantic urban fantasy/paranormal romance novels.)

• Crux (March 2009)
• Crossroads (February 2010)
• Deadlock (January 2011)

Red Rock Pass (Category length paranormal romance.)

• Cry Sanctuary (October 2008)
• Sanctuary Lost (June 2009)
• Sanctuary’s Price (October 2009)
• Sanctuary Unbound (June 2010)

Building Sanctuary (Paranormal novellas set during the Great Depression.)

• A Safe Harbor (July 2010)
• Undertow (Fall? 2010)

We’re multi-taskers because it’s the way it works for us…it takes us a little longer to write a book because we’re both working hard to meld our styles together and make it seamless.   However, because of the way we work, trading manuscripts back and forth, it’s actually faster for us to work on three (or four!) projects at the same time than it is to work on just one.

With just one, only one of us is writing, and the other is probably wandering off to do something else.  If we have two or three, though, we have to stay focused because there’s always a project for each of us to be working on.  It means we may take 6 months to write a book instead of 3, but we can write 2 books, a couple novellas and a short story or two in that 6 months.

However, while we’re plotters, we don’t plot precisely enough that it’s a great idea to be starting the next book in a series before we finish the previous one.  That means we always need three or four distinct projects going on at once to stay at our most efficient.  So that’s why we can write lots, but can’t get those Southern Arcana books out much faster than we do.  (Though hey, 11 months isn’t that bad!)

What are we writing right now? Deadlock, of course. The last 10,000 words of the Mysterious Project of Mystery.  We’re finishing up our little Mammoth Book of PNR 2 story and getting ready to pick up Undertow again.  And because we needed a little balance in there, and something to carry us forward, we’ve gone wild and decided to try a story for Samhain’s steampunk anthology call.   (The story with the hero so crass, Donna keeps IMing me with, I can’t WRITE this! It’s too dirty!)

Anyway, that’s what’s up with us. 

Now for a gratuitous picture of Karl Urban dressed like a cowboy.

Just Because I Can

Samhain has a kickass blurb editor who makes whatever we give them into magic, so here’s the ‘official’ story blurb and its inevitable warning. God I love writing warnings.

“Sanctuary Unbound” by Moira Rogers

Genre: Paranormal Romance

ISBN: 978-1-60928-046-8
Length: Category
Price: 4.50
Publication Date: June 1, 2010

Red Rock Pass, Book 4

New England is ideal for vampire Adam Dubois. His cozy home in the Great North Woods reminds him of a happier time when werewolves and witches were stuff of legends, and he was a simple lumberjack.

Hiding from past failures has worked for over eighty years, but a life debt owed to the Red Rock alpha has forced him to leave his retreat—and come face to face with a woman who challenges and tempts him on every level.

Hiding secrets is a lonely business, and Cindy Shepherd is lonely with a capital L. Red Rock isn’t exactly crawling with available men, but her interest in the mystery-shrouded new vampire in town seems mutual. After all, it’s only sex—there’s no danger he’ll dig deep enough to unleash the demons of her past.

Casual flirtation turns deadly serious when Adam discovers that the vampire plaguing Red Rock is using his mistakes as a road map. When it comes to his life, he knows Cindy has his back. But in order to secure the future, they both must trust each other with more—even if it means sacrificing themselves to save everything they hold dear.

Warning: This book contains epic werewolf battles, mystical vampire blood bonds, unexpected sex on the kitchen floor and a dangerous attraction between a secret-burdened werewolf and a vampire lumberjack.

Even cooler, Alisha Rai’s Veiled Seduction is coming out on June 1st too! Is it a coincidence that both of our books have kitchen sex in the warning?  I think…err, yes.  But still! That won’t stop us from pretending it was all part of our master plan.

Muahahahaha. Mine is an evil laugh.