HE MEETS HIS MATCH.
SHE MEETS HER MASTER.

Art gallery curator Joy Montgomery has never liked her body’s generous curves. And she’s always been too shy to explore her wild side. But tonight, everything is going to change…Desperate to save her job, Joy approaches bad-boy artist Ash Hunter and asks him to exhibit his erotic work at her gallery. Ash agrees on one condition: Joy must pose as his model. But business soon turns to pleasure, as Joy experiences a passion beyond her wildest imaginings and Ash finds more than just inspiration in his voluptuous new muse.

To learn more about Lilli Feisty and her books, you can visit her website.
You can buy your own copy of Dare to Surrender here.
On February 1st, Lilli will be interviewed on the Smutketeers Blog, where they’ll be having a giveaway!

Instead of boring you with a bunch of crap you don’t want to hear in regards to why I haven’t been posting, I’ll just sum up the last two months to: life happens. Easiest way to explain it without going into details and turning this post into one huge rant.

Anyway, I’m not sure how long life is going to be…hectic, so it may be a while before I post again. Guess I should have mentioned that, oh, two months ago, huh? Ah well. I’m letting you know now.

Happy reading, and hope life is treating y’all well.

As a reader: I like escaping into a world that isn’t ordinary. The problems aren’t ordinary, so the hero/heroines aren’t either. We (Okay, I) get enough reality in, well, reality. I know what happens in the real world; I want to know what happens outside of it. I want to know what the world would be like with vampires, shifters, and demons running loose. Of course, then I want to know how to conquer those things. (Hey, it could happen–I’m making a list of how to destroy these things. )

As a writer: The same as above. Plus, I like being able to twist things around and see how they’d work from other angles, with different explanations and reasons. The worlds I write in, so far, are all modern worlds, just the…details are different. And I have to admit, writing about a character who can see the future or shapeshift or move things with her/his mind…that’s just cool.

Don’t get me wrong. I still like some stories that don’t have paranormal aspects, like Inez Kelley’s Jinxed (read more here, buy here) and JD Robb’s In Death series (I don’t consider them para), but for the most part, what I’m reading has to be paranormal/urban fantasy. Now you know why.

What about you? What genres are your favorite? Whether it’s to read or write.

This week’s Supernatural Saturday is about vampires. Again. But I swear it’s a completely different question.

Question: Why can’t vampires see their reflection in a mirror? (By the way, I LOVE this question–Thanks, Alexia!)

Answer 1: Because they don’t have souls. (Which was my original guess)

Answer 2: Vampires don’t reflect light (which can also explain their aversion to sunlight), so when they stand in front of a mirror, they can’t be seen.

Answer 3: They can work illusions so their reflections don’t show, making it a choice, not necessarily an impossibility.

Personally, I favor the first answer as it was my original guess. A soul is something you’re born with, I think, and it changes as your personality changes; it shows who you are, what you’ve grown to be. I think that’s why a vampire can’t be seen in a mirror. Demons have no souls, so when a person is changed into a vampire, there is nothing to reflect because their soul has moved on. Of course, this would play into the mythology that mirrors are, or can be, a doorway to the soul. (Maybe an idea for another post?)

What do you think? Which answer would suit your or beliefs of vampires? Do you have any questions? Let me know!

Alexander Forsytheʼs house is haunted. One wouldn’t think a hundred and three year old vampire would let a little ghost bother him, but this particular house guest has outstayed her welcome.

Alex detests witchcraft, but after discovering his ghost, Abbie, is the ancestor of the local witch, Willow Cowan, his choices are limited. Alex calls on Willow to help evict his ghostly tenant, but he begins to wonder if the sexy spell-caster might be more trouble than the ghost.

Willow thinks Alex needs her magical abilities to remove the spirit from his house. What she doesnʼt realize is that his specter is her long lost ancestor. Sheʼs not sure she wants to help the gorgeous vampire in his ghost hunt, until she sees a long lost family heirloom on display in Alexʼs house.

Alex is adamant that the necklace belongs to him.. Itʼs been in his family since it was created for the wife of a distant ancestor. The necklace had been given to every wife of the first born son. Heʼs reluctant to give away his precious heirloom to a witch.

Can they learn to work together and get past their differences? Or will Abbie be the one obstacle they can’t remove?

You can check it out at The Wild Rose Press. Remember, it’s available on Wednesday August 26, 2009!

For more information on Sierra and what she’s working on, stop by here website. She’d love the company!

Question: Why do zombies eat brains?

Answer 1: One place says it’s to make other zombies. Um…No. I’m not going there, nope.

Answer 2: Another site says it’s to keep them energized, basically.

Actually, most of the answers were #1. I don’t have anything witty to add cause, you know, eating brains is just wrong, readers, wrong! Err, I mean, it’s kind of gross. But, I will add this little non-brain-eating-related tidbit: It’s said their saliva infects their victims. Scientifically, in a way, I could see this being completely plausible (wow, I just had a Myth Busters moment there). Eating something that is spoiled or rotten, or, you know, been buried for months and decayed, it’s probably gonna make ya sick. Just sayin’.

Oh, yeah. Another non-brain-eating-related tidbit. Everything I’ve researched so far, the people who’ve given their explanations/reasonings, have sounded as if these things are completely real and everyday things. Now, I’m not going to deny it, because hey, anything’s possible and I try to be open minded. (Plus, I’ve already told y’all I believe in aliens.) However, the zombie research is the first time I’ve come across any animosity towards the question-asker. It’s the first subject that has clearly had any kind of “Zombies are not real!” type message in it. I just thought that was funny.

So, my readers; Any subjects you’d like researched? Any questions you’ve wondered about? Let me know!

I wasn’t going to do it this month because I have a lot going on and I honestly couldn’t think of anything to use, but I decided to for Mel and Bria. This was a piece I started last year (a story that I’m not good enough to write yet), so I decided to use it. I actually got the idea last year, while walking the devil spawn (aka the old puppy) when I saw the moon.

With her face buried in her hands, Kendra sat, hunched over on the couch. Her breath came in ragged, short gasps.

She prayed numbness would take over as the pain in her heart became more and more unbearable with each tear that streamed down her tear-soaked cheeks. It didn’t matter how hard she tried; she couldn’t make them stop.

Raw sobs tore from her throat, burning more and more. She started coughing so hard she couldn’t catch her breath. Instead of giving her a reason to try to calm down, it enraged her and she surged to her feet.

When the gold watch she had forgotten was in her hand fell to the ground and shattered, it was the last straw. She dropped to her knees and pounded the floor with her open palms. “Damn you,” she shouted between sobs. “You can’t do this to me. It isn’t fair! It isn’t right!”

Pain and a wet feeling under her hand gave her pause. Lifting it from the ground, she winced. Bloody handprints covered the ground where her hands had just been.

Why was she bleeding? she wondered dimly. Disgusted, she turned her hand over and discovered a cut, in the shape of a C, on the heel of her hand. It circled the burn she’d gotten earlier in the day.

Together, the wounds were unusual and, somehow, familiar.

She didn’t know how, but Kendra knew she recognized the design. She’d seen it somewhere. It meant something. It had to.

There were no coincidences in life. Isn’t that what she’d heard, even earlier that day?

Energized with a sudden spark of hope, she scrambled to her feet. She slipped on her own blood and fell back to the floor; glass crinkled under her knees and dug in to her skin. Ignoring the pain, she managed to get to her feet again and ran to her bedroom for her lock box.

Whatever was going on, whatever that design on her hand was, she knew it was important.

Check out these links for some other Excerpt Monday’ers:

• Melissa Aires: Futuristic Romance (R)
• Melissa Blue: Contemporary Romance (R)
• Jax Cassidy: Contemporary (R)
• Christina DeLorenzo: Furturistic Sci-Fi (R)
• Ginny Glass: Paranormal (R)
• Amber Green: Romantic Suspense (R)
• Cate Hart: Paranormal YA (R)
• Kinsey W. Holley: Erotic Romance (R)
• Ali Katz: Erotic Paranormal Romance (R)
• Aislinn Kerry: Fantasy (R)
• Inez Kelly: Fantasy Romance (R)
• Cherrie Lynn: Contemporary Erotic Romance (R)
• Mel/Alexia Reed: Urban Fantasy (R)
• Rebecca Savage: Romantic Suspense (R)
• Fae Sutherland: Contemporary Erotic Romance (R)
• Stephanie Adkins: Paranormal Erotic Romance (NC 17)
• Evie Byrne: Erotic Historical Romance (NC 17)
• Ella Drake: Erotic Contemporary (NC 17)
• Dawn Montgomery: Erotic Paranormal Romance (NC 17)
• Lauren Murphy: Erotic Romance (NC 17)
• Kim Knox: Erotic Paranormal Romance (NC 17)
• Emily Ryan-Davis: Historical Western Romance (NC 17)
• Kirsten Saell: Erotic Fantasy Romance (NC 17)
• Jeanne St. James: Contemporary Romance (NC 17)
• AJ O’Donovan: Poetry (PG 13)
• Stephanie Draven: Paranormal Romance (PG 13)
• Heather S.Ingemar: Dark Fantasy/Poetry (PG 13)
• Babette James: Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
• Cynthia Justlin: Romantic Suspense (PG 13)
• Kaige : Historical Romance (PG 13)
• Julia Knight: Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
• Ansha Kotyk: Middle Grade Adventure (PG 13)
• Adelle Laudan: Contemporary Romance (PG 13)
• Jeannie Lin: Historical Romance (PG 13)
• RF Long: YA Paranormal (PG 13)
• Caitlynn Lowe: Epic Fantasy (PG 13)
• Shawntelle Madison: Paranormal Romance (PG 13)
• Crista McHugh: Contemporary Erotic Romance (PG 13)
• Bria Quinlan: Rom Com (PG)
• Leigh Royals: Historical Romance (PG 13)
• Megan S: Paranormal (PG 13)
• Dara Sorensen: Historical Paranormal (PG 13)
• Bethanne Strasser: Historical Romance (PG 13)

Question: Why does silver hurt werewolves?

Answer 1: Something to do with the moon. It’s said silver is the “moon metal” (no idea what this means–I haven’t found a clear description). My best guess is, because the moon affects werewolves and silver is related to the moon that it has some kind of adverse reaction.

Answer 2: Silver is faster (by .02 seconds, woohoo!) and, in its purest form, is supposed to conduct heat. I take this to mean that heat is bad for our furry friends.

Answer 3: A bible passage, Psalms 12:6, says: “The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times.” Which, in my opinion, means that something pure (silver, apparently) can kill the werey.

Miscellaneous answers: Other resources say silver has magical abilities. Or that it was some kind of antidote for certain diseases/illnesses.

Non-silver related answer: Before the 19th century, silver wasn’t even acknowledged as a source to kill werewolves. Many countries, however, believe that rye and mistletoe are harmful, as well as Mountain Ash and wolfsbane.

My answer: I think it was better when I didn’t think about the reason so much. Just sayin’.

Does anyone have any supernatural/paranormal questions like this one? Let me know! I might do some research on it and post about it!

The question she asked me was: “Why do vampires turn to dust?”

My first thought was: Oh, that’s easy. Because…. *blank stare* — Yeah, I had no answer for her. I couldn’t think of a logical reason, so I went to my Google God and found one that pleased us both.

Answer: According to most vampire lore, vampirism (awesome word, by the way) is an infection of sorts. So, when a vampire is staked, it kills the infection and reverts the body back to its normal state of being (a dead corpse). Since most vampires are so old, the corpse would be rotted and simply turn to dust.

This of course made her ask a new question: “But what about newly formed vampires?”

*blank stare*

New answer: When the vampire is turned, the infection spread throughout the body, taking it over, preventing it from decaying, etc., so when the vamp is killed, the body has nothing to go back to and just turns to dust.

That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it!