Friday, April 29, 2011

Time

I was going to post a brief bit on time, how there's never enough and how it seems to fly entirely too quickly for my liking. Or my sleep habits for that matter! But when I looked on Today in History, I saw that today in 2004 the National World War 2 Memorial opened.

Got me thinking about time and the passage of in a whole new way. How it'll be 70 years this December since the bombing of Pearl Harbor (72 this September since the official start of the war). How it took 59 years before there was even a monument devoted to those who served in that war. (I'm obviously not counting the years it took to build the beautiful monument.)

And how of the 16,112,566 individuals were members of the United States armed forces during the war, as of September 2010 approximately 1,981,000. [wiki article]

If you have the opportunity to visit, take the time to do so.

On April 29, 2004, the National World War II Memorial opens in Washington, D.C., to thousands of visitors, providing overdue recognition for the 16 million U.S. men and women who served in the war. The memorial is located on 7.4 acres on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The Capitol dome is seen to the east, and Arlington Cemetery is just across the Potomac River to the west.

The granite and bronze monument features fountains between arches symbolizing hostilities in Europe and the Far East. The arches are flanked by semicircles of pillars, one each for the states, territories and the District of Columbia. Beyond the pool is a curved wall of 4,000 gold stars, one for every 100 Americans killed in the war. An Announcement Stone proclaims that the memorial honors those "Americans who took up the struggle during the Second World War and made the sacrifices to perpetuate the gift our forefathers entrusted to us: A nation conceived in liberty and justice."

Though the federal government donated $16 million to the memorial fund, it took more than $164 million in private donations to get it built. Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, who was severely wounded in the war, and actor Tom Hanks were among its most vocal supporters. Only a fraction of the 16 million Americans who served in the war would ever see it. Four million World War II veterans were living at the time, with more than 1,100 dying every day, according to government records.

The memorial was inspired by Roger Durbin of Berkey, Ohio, who served under Gen. George S. Patton. At a fish fry near Toledo in February 1987, he asked U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur why there was no memorial on the Mall to honor World War II veterans. Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, soon introduced legislation to build one, starting a process that would stumble along through 17 years of legislative, legal and artistic entanglements. Durbin died of pancreatic cancer in 2000.

The monument was formally dedicated May 29, 2004, by U.S. President George W. Bush. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it received some 4.4 million visitors in 2005.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Thursday Progress

Thursday Progress...I made it through another week! Isn't that enough for you?!
Found the picture online...it was the best one of the list!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wednesday Review: Night of the Living Trekkies

Night of the Living Trekkies, where Star Trek and zombies collide--I kid you not!

Confession: I've actually been to a Trek Con. Did not dress up but stood in line for autographs and bought stuff...and more stuff.  I even own a bat'leth...somewhere. I've watched Galaxy Quest and enjoyed it immensely.

Yes, I am one of those.

When I heard about this book, I had to get it. It's much different than a lot of zombie books out there--more zombies than Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, which I thought had too few zombies and needed to plug up some zombie-sized plot holes.

Here you have the addition of Star Trek and a man just back from several Afghanistan tours who isn't settling back into everyday life. Unlike a couple other zombie books I've read (see above mentioned Pride & Prejudice and Zombies) there's a plot without major holes and a satisfying ending

If you like Trek, or even have a passing interest in it, read this book. I may be slightly biased cause of my Trek love, but I think it can be read by Trek fans and zombie fans alike without to much confusion. It's a quick easy read--it'll never win any literature prizes but then the best books rarely do.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tuesday Comings and Goings

Today I'm over at Slip into Something Victorian chatting about my recent trip to Washington DC and the National Portrait Gallery. It was an unexpected side trip and a lot of fun!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Saturday Excerpt

This week's excerpt over at Slip Into Something Victorian Caroline Clemmons will have an excerpt. What is it? I don't know, I've been in NYC for part of the week and checked my email on my phone. Great for deleting and keeping up but bad for remembering anything...But hey, NYC was a great time.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Thursday Progress

I'm nearly finished my dark Regency story, Dark Inheritance. I had to stop writing forward and read over what I had previously written. I'd grown paranoid that what I'd written didn't mesh with what I wanted to write, and that somewhere along the line I skipped something.

I had and I did!

I guess that's what happens when it's written parts here and there, and not looked over again in months. But I fixed it all and now plan to finish reading the last act and send the whole thing out.

It'll be a relief!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Wednesday Review: Murdoch Mysteries

Based on Maureen Jennings's Detective Murdoch Mysteries, this series takes place in 1890s Toronto. I watched the first two episodes, did NOT like Detective William Murdoch but for some strange reason wanted to watch the rest of the disc.

I don't know if it was because of the time/locale or the supporting cast, but whereas I usually wouldn't have bothered, I ploughed forward. I'm in the middle of Season 2 and am torn between Murdoch's staunch and quite rigid thinkings and the rather fore thinking of the rest of the cast.

For the first time in my TV watching life, I find myself not liking the main character as much as I do the supporting cast. I really like the ME, Dr. Julia Ogden, a woman who has fought her whole life to brush off the stigma of her gender for the career she wants.

Constable George Crabtree is obviously the less educated foil for our brilliant and ahead of his time detective, but Inspector Brackenreid is...it's hard to describe him. I really like him, he's a cross between a stereotype of his time and someone who doesn't like the rules but can't break them just yet. It's a rigid world but it's a changing one, and Brackenreid is caught between that.

If you like police procedurals set in unusual locations, give Murdoch Mysteries a try.

“The most surprising thing that struck me throughout all my research,” Jennings says, “is just how vibrant the city was, its complexities, its people. And the things that happened couldn’t have happened anywhere else.” It’s true: at that time Toronto really was caught between a rock and a hard place with Mother England and her Victorian morality on the one side and nose-thumbing Americans on the other. Toronto the Good was the moniker coined in the 1880s by Toronto Mayor William Holmes Howland in an attempt to wear the city’s heart on its sleeve. (He too is the same mayor that appointed an Inspector to the Police Department to fight vice and prostitution!) “A lot of what happened and how things were handled came from the morality of the time, the Church, and the notion of ‘Toronto the Good’,” Jennings points out. “It was very specific to the city.”

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Rights reverted

I've recently learned that I might be getting the rights back to a couple stories. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I'm sad to see it no longer available. But then again, if I do get the rights back, I can post it for download on Smashwords, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

It's an interesting cavet to all the stories going around about self publishing.

Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.

~Frederick Wilcox

Monday, April 18, 2011

Changing world of publishing

There's been a lot of talk the past few weeks about the changing world of publishing. From the author who refused a $500,000 advance to self-publish to the self-published YA writer who signed a 4 book deal with St. Martin's Press. He's already in print, she wasn't but soon will be. I also stumbled across J.A.Konrath's blog where he goes into great length about self-publishing's pros.

As recently as last month I admit to being one of those people who poo-poo'ed self-publishing, but recent news has me thinking about changing my views on this. I'm not 100% ready to, and will only admit that at this point I find the whole debate fascinating. There are pros and cons about each, and when you really look at it, you have to wonder: is it about the money or the recognition?

Money is great, but seeing my book in bookstores is awesome, too. Plus there's the editing, the cover, the grammar corrections, another set (or 3) of eyes looking at the book for characterization, plot holes, depth of emotion, and all that goes into a fantastic book.

Here's the question, my lovlies: Knowing you could make 70-85% of the price of your ebook, would you go the money route? Or wait to find the right print publisher and go the more traditional route?

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Saturday Excerpt

This week at Slip into Something Victorian, I'm posting an excerpt Dark Desires of the Druids: Temptations and Treachery (only $2.49). I'll also be giving away a free PDF to one rendomally selected commentator.

Lady Isadore Harrington is a well-bred English lady. She's traveled the world in search of magickal artifacts to help her people and has seen the best and worst of humanity. But she's never taken time for herself-never done just for herself. Going to Philadelphia as the magicker emissary between England and the Americas, she intends to rectify that.

Then she meets James Blackthorne. Tall, handsome, witty, commanding, he brings out feelings in her she's always wanted to experience but never has. He makes her want him, makes her forget all else but him. Virginal, but far from naive, Isadore is tempted to experience everything James has to offer. Cautious by nature, she offers her body to him and discovers all her sexual desires fulfilled.

But the magicker world is far from safe, and Isadore is threatened from many who are jealous and distrustful. Temptations abound, but treachery is never far behind.

Friday, April 15, 2011

In DC

I'm in Washington, D.C. this weekend despite the threat of a government shut down. And frankly if Congress can't agree to a budget I think every government employee BUT them should be paid. Take that.

However today I'm doing the tourist thing and walking around DC, possibly finding the historic society, enjoying the sights and sounds of my nation's capitol. Then off to the Library of Congress. I'm really excited about this, and have already signed up for a library card.

Saturday it's the Crime Museum and Spy Museum (both of which I already have tickets for).

And through all this I hope to continue to edit Dark Inheritance and maybe get some insight of Washington during the 1920s.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

What are you reading?

I'm reading 3 things at the moment:

Listening to The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart in my car. It's book #2 in a children's series and is smart, if oddly told. Very omniscient with flipping amongst the characters. I guess I'm used to a more narrow POV but it's not bad and the reader is excellent.

In eBook I'm reading unTied Kingdom by Kate Johnson. Alternate worlds where England is a 3rd world country with no concept of computers or technology. I'm not very far in but am enjoying what I've read.

At my nightstand is a paper copy of Caught Off Guard by Kira Sinclair. I've read the first chapter and enjoyed it but between my allergies and late nights, can't seem to keep my eyes open by the time I get to bed.

What are you reading?

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Wednesday Reviews: Black Swan

A study in insanity. I enjoyed it, thought it could be a little shorter in parts, but overall not bad. If you like studies in insanity that is.

And it's easy to see why Natalie Portman won the Oscar. Wow, her performance rocked! (Very articulate I know but alas.) From White Swan to Black Swan and back again, virginal, pure, and kind to dark and manic she embodied each character perfectly.

As I said, I thought it went on too much in places, and the ending was ambigious enough to make me wonder, which is always a good thing. I'd recommend it but not as an absolute must see. It was good, and Natalie Portman was great in it, but I doubt I'd watch it again.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Historicals will never die

I've read and heard a lot about the death of the historical. HA! These people know nothing. I agree that preferences change for time periods--I remember reading loads of Civil War stories in college but it's hard to find a mainstream publisher willing to take a chance these days. Good thing for small pubs!

Regency--lack of the death of and all that. You can probably put Medieval in there, too. And anything Scottish or Irish.

But what about England of 1666? Or Moorish Spain? Or alternate history? Check out the Unusual Historicals blog for more crazy suggestions.

Nope, I don't believe historicals will ever die. Take that naysayers!

Monday, April 11, 2011

American Civil War BEGINS!

April 12, 1861, 150 years ago, the American Civil War started with the firing at Fort Sumter. It last 4 years, cost over 600,000 dead, and tore the very fabric of America to shreds.

There are lots of events commorating the war, if you can attend on, I highly recommend it--and then stop back here and tell me about it!
According to CivilWar.org today, roughly 30 acres of battlefield land are destroyed each and every day, paved over and lost forever. There are many worthy causes to donate to, people to help, lives to save. But preserving our nation's past in important, too. If you can spare even $10, please do so.

“In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.”

- Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at the 1889 dedication of the 20th Maine monument at Gettysburg

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Friday, April 8, 2011

Friday Guest: Kay Jaybee

The most common question I’m asked as an erotica writer is 'Where do you get your ideas from?’ (Closely followed by, 'Have you done all that kinky stuff then- but I ignore that half of the question!)

It is an intriguing question, and one I can only partly give any sort of sensible answer to. This is mostly because, in the main, ideas just come to me. They literally pop into my head, usually at highly inconvenient times. On the school run, in the middle of doing the ironing, when I'm out for a long walk in the middle of nowhere on the only day of the year I have forgotten to carry a pen and paper with me etc etc...

When I stop to think about it properly though, I admit there are trigger points, things that get the subconscious flowing and the creative urges juicing.

Number one for me inspiration wise has to be a great location. I prefer ordinary places in which to set my mini sagas of temptation; places that every reader can relate to and easily picture in their minds eye. Cafes, bookshops, storerooms, clubs, offices, hotels and so on. One of the most enjoyable things about going to a new place for me, is to decide what if (should I mentally will away all the occupants within the said space), could happen there, with one, two, three, or sometimes more invented individuals, and how I might take their clothes off- or not?

The second main starting point for my writing has to be overheard conversations. I like to think I'm observant rather than nosy- but you could argue either way!

It's amazing what an innocent sounding sentence can be turned into if it hits your imagination at the right time and in the right place. This is the major reason I write quietly in public places. I never know if someone nearby will say something that will add that little bit of extra spice to my work.

In fact the entirety of my linked anthology, The Collector (Austin & Macauley, 2008), was based on the premise that people talk about their most intimate secrets in public places. They think they are talking quietly- sometimes they are- did I mention I can lip read? As a result I have literally collected together notebooks full of scribbled ideas from overheard conversations; enough material of erotic interest to compile several anthologies, rather than just one.

Even something as simple as an aroma can set off the creative urges. For example, the smell of new paint wafting towards me as I walked through my local town a few days ago was enough to get me wondering if there are people out there who get their rocks off by painting each other with emulsion...and so a new short story was born (or will be when I’ve finished it!)

My latest novel, The Perfect Submissive, came to life as a short story called Seducing Laura. The first chapter of the novel is based almost entirely on this original story, and centres on the first kinky encounter between the dominatrix, Laura Peters, and handsome artist Samuel in the Fables Hotel where she manages an adult entertainment facility on the exclusive top floor.

The first spark for Seducing Laura came as I watched a friend drawing a picture. There is something very sensual about watching a pencil caress a page...I’ll say no more on that, or it will ruin the novel for you...

By the time I’d developed the novel's central character, Miss Jess Sanders, I knew I had created a creature destined to endure an intense training schedule at the hands of Mrs Peters and her staff, before she ultimately becomes the perfect submissive...

So, where do I get my ideas from? From nowhere; from everywhere; from anything, and everything!
Thanks for your time today,
Kay
*****
If you need to find Kay on any weekday morning, then she's usually to be found in the far corner of her favourite cafe, with a large black coffee in one hand, and a ballpoint pen in the other.

After five years of compiling stories and poems, and reviewing other people's work, she says without doubt, that there is NO going back. Once writing has you in its power you are at its mercy for life. It doesn't pay well, it leads to constant disappointment, and it takes over every other thing you do - but when the publisher says "Yes," and the occasional unexpected royalty cheque arrives in the post, it suddenly all seems worthwhile, and I love it!!

You can find more information on Kay's website: . She's also on Facebook.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Thursday Progress

Have you ever looked back at a story and wondered just why you went in direction A instead of B or where you made a wrong turn when you should have taken a left at Albuquerque?

Not saying the story's wrong, just that I seemed to have missed a twist somewhere. And this is why there are 1st drafts (2nd drafts, 3rd...etc.). And why we self-edit before sending a story in. Not only for plot, grammar, and characterization, but for intensity.

Dark Inheritance (the working title of my Dark Regency story) is an extremely shadowy story with murder, betrayal, suspicion, spies, and a romance that's ever so intense. But the romance has to fit the plot and vice versa. It all comes down to words. The correct choice of them and the correct placement of them.

That's what I'll start this weekend, the final read-through of the story, one act at a time, before sending it in. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

If you've ever wondered...

What it's like to work in a library, trust me when I say it's not all shush-ing and reading. These are from the excellent site Unshelved.com, a small sampling of what goes on in every public library in the country. I don't care where you live.

Not in any order, I chose my favorites from the last few months. We look at this site every day.

This is a library favorite.




You have no idea the various people who come itno the library on a regular basis.

Or how many don't understand the wide scope of what we offer. Where else can you read a book, a magazine, watch a movie or listen to CDs and audiobooks, anduse a computer for free?

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Guest: Alyssa Aaron

Today's guest is Alyssa Aaron talking about traveling, flying, and her release, His Perfect Submissive. Please join me in welcoming Alyssa!

Traveling With Alyssa Aaron
I’m not a huge traveler. I don’t like to fly. So most of my travels are road trips and that suits me just fine. I love taking road trips.

I like to take my time and ponder the things I see along the way. I like to stop here and there to take pictures of flowers and trees and dilapidated buildings or a lonely stretch of road or a mailbox with an interesting planting of flowers around it.

I like to allow my writer’s mind ample time to kick in and gather pieces for some future story that I’ll write someday in the distant future when I’ve exhausted the hundred plus novel ideas already spinning in my mind.

When I travel I may be drawn to the house on the left which is gray with age, has a sagging porch, and missing windows. I’ll notice the front porch with its turned columns that were once a cherry shade of white and I’ll reflect that it was once someone’s home. I’ll think that generations may have been born there, matured there, perhaps even died there. I’ll connect with the children playing in the yard that I conjure in my imagination. I’ll wonder who they grew up to be…who they married…what troubled spots the marriages endured.

There is no telling what story will come out of my quiet ponderings as I wander around snapping photos, letting my muse run wild. My muse may dart after the little girl in the pink polka dot dress with the long blond tresses whose best friend disappeared from the school bus stop last week. I may think about the role that experience has on the little girl as she grows up, matures, has children of her own. Or the thoughts may take a different path and focus on the missing child…who took her…where is she now…will she survive her ordeal…how will it impact her life in the future? Or my thoughts could dart to the parents of the child. How will the kidnapping affect them? What strains will it put on their marriage?

Travels for me are wonderful times of slowing down physically and mentally so that my writers mind can kick in, play, and gather the bits and pieces that may someday form the foundation of another story…or perhaps just a piece of a story already coalescing in my mind.

I like to travel to areas where there is an interest in quilting. There are several Amish areas with that interest within driving distance of where we live in Indiana and I’ve enjoyed travels to several of them. Often Amish areas have restaurants in which the décor includes wonderful quilts hand-pieced and hand-quilted within the community. I love to dine at places like that as I like to see what other quilters have done with fabric, batting, and their own imaginations. It feeds my muse. It excites me. It makes me yearn to play with my own scraps of fabric and to gather more.

I love visiting new quilt shops on my travels as well. My quilting muse is perhaps not that different from my writing muse in that it too likes to run free darting here and yon looking for tidbits, snippets, scraps. My muse may find a perfect yellow solid to go with something I am working on at home…or it may find a series of things that form the inspiration for a whole new quilt which will be made either as a gift for a family member or friend or for a quilt that will be donated to a child in need somewhere in the world.

My travels are usually adventures in gathering…pieces for stories…pieces for quilts…interesting photographs that may one day find their way into a blog template, greeting card, calendar, or other project. The thing that I like most about traveling is the opportunity to allow things to freely associate. A child who flows into my imagination while I’m snapping pictures outside a dilapidated house may one day become the child version of the heroine in a book that’s coalescing in my mind as happened with Kara in His Perfect Submissive. A yard of fabric with pictures of bunnies nibbling flowers may one day become the focus fabric for a quilt for a child recovering from surgery in a third world country.

As I travel I don’t always know where the pieces that my muses gather will end up. This is true whether they are story ideas, fabrics, or interesting photographs, but I welcome them all because I believe that one day each tidbit will find its rightful place in a story, a quilt, or in a blog template, calendar, greeting card or some other project.

Kara was the victim of a brutal rape that occurred when she was seven. The event destroyed her family and left her fearful and distrustful of men.
When Kara's brother embezzles $30,000 from Slade's company, Kara goes to Slade’s office determined to talk him out of going to the police.


Slade wants a peaceful, obedient, submissive with whom to share his life and in Kara he glimpses what he wants. He seizes the opportunity and makes Kara an offer she can't afford to refuse. The only way she can save her brother from certain prison is to accept Slade's marriage proposal and become his submissive.


Kara faces her wedding with anxiety. She can't tell Slade she can't submit sexually without risking her brother's freedom, yet she doubts she'll be able to keep her promise to be a submissive, obedient wife.


This romance explores the role of trust in even the most mismatched of partnerships and explores the complex connections between dominance and submission while it demonstrates the power of real love to heal even the deepest wounds.


Excerpt:
“Are you feeling better? Is talking helping?” he asked as he maneuvered the SUV off the exit ramp.

At the bottom of the ramp he turned right and followed the sign that advertised several restaurants in that direction.

“Yes it’s helping. I don’t feel quite as scared. I still feel—” he cast a sideways glance at her, mesmerized by the tangle of emotions that played over her expressive face as she searched for the right word.

“Uncertain?” he supplied. “Steak okay?” he asked as he turned the car onto the frontage road that served several fast food restaurants and a steak house.

“Steak sounds wonderful. No, not really uncertain, although that’s part of it I guess.”

He pulled the SUV into the Ned’s Steakhouse parking lot and parked. “So, if it’s not uncertain?”

“More like—lost—.”

“Uhm—Lost huh?” He pondered her choice of words, wondering what she meant by lost, what she still needed from him that he hadn’t given her. He killed the engine and turned in the seat so he could give her his full attention. “Talk to me about feeling lost Kara.”

She sucked in a deep breath and dropped her gaze to her hand that was still enclosed in his. He stroked her with his thumb.

“I feel like I don’t know anything.” Her voice was earnest. “I don’t know where I fit in this whole dominant submission thing. I don’t know anything about being submissive or what that means to you.” Her voice rose and caught and he thought for a moment she was going to cry. He longed to pull her against his chest and wrap her in his arms but she was too tense, her breathing too ragged and he knew that such a move would only make her pull away.

He knew she was used to knowing where she fit and that she was probably also used to feeling confident of her abilities. He hadn’t meant to, but he had taken that away and left her feeling uncertain and inadequate.

He wished he had it to do over again, and could take the time to make things right between them instead of rushing her into the marriage as he had, but he didn’t have that luxury.

“Dominance and submission is complex Kara. It’s different for every couple that does it. I cannot explain what it will become for us, partly because it will depend some on what you want it to be too. It’s the kind of thing you’ll have to experience to really understand.”

“Yes, but I’m afraid I’m going to mess everything up before I get there,” she sighed.

Her voice was so solemn that it cut at him. He stroked her cheek. “There is nothing to mess up Kara. I know I dumped a lot in your lap the day I asked you to marry me but really all I want from you right now is to earn your trust and get to know you better. The rest of it will fall into place over time.
Okay?”

She didn’t know how it happened or when she had stopped fearing him and had started trusting him, at least a little but his reassurance soothed her. He stroked her cheek and she nodded her understanding. Then his mouth pressed against hers. She tensed, anticipating the breathlessness and the terror as the memory of being held down, her breath cut off by someone larger and stronger teased the edges of her consciousness.

The kiss wasn’t like the ones that she remembered. This one was a gentle caress that coaxed more than it demanded. Slade’s mouth didn’t hamper her ability to breathe, didn’t cause her to feel dizzy or to black out.

She relaxed a little, bemused by the gentle stroke of Slade’s tongue along her lip and the command to open her mouth that he whispered against her lip.

She opened her mouth, unprepared for the soft stroke of Slade’s tongue as it teased her mouth. The unfamiliar intimacy sent a stab of heat to her center.

She was shocked by the warmth that filled her and by the lack of terror. There was no fear, no dizziness, no nausea, no panic attack. Only sweetness and the sense that she was okay, that Slade wasn’t going to hurt her.

She lifted her hands to his broad shoulders, liking the solidness of him beneath her hands. She didn’t protest as his tongue slid into her mouth, teasingnan intimate dance of liquid warmth in its wake.

Her mind raced. He’d been kind and gentle and matter of fact when he’d explained his feelings about dominance and submission and what he wanted from her. The whole day he’d treated her with kindness and respect. He hadn’t belittled her when he could have. He’d remembered her headache and gotten her medicine, he’d cared that she preferred Mountain Dew from the fountain rather than a bottle. It all combined making her feel soft and warm, cared for, and taken care of in a way that was completely new to her.

She clung to him feeling grateful to him for helping her brother and for trying to make her feel comfortable in this new marriage. His kiss deepened, his mouth urging hers to open more as one large hand slid up her back and beneath the curtain
of her hair to caress the tight spot at the base of her neck.

She opened her mouth, allowing his tongue to find hers again. His hand kneaded her tight muscles, easing the strain that had overwhelmed her. His tongue explored her mouth engulfing her in unfamiliar pleasure that made her open to him, admitting him, like a flower opens to admit the sunshine.

She felt his hand move as it slipped beneath her sweater. She shifted slightly, moaning a protest that was swallowed up by his mouth. “Um—please. Slade—no—” she murmured, twisting to avoid the touch of his palm as it slid up her rib cage toward her breast.

“Shhh Kara, I just want to make you feel good,” he whispered against her neck as his hand stilled. His other hand stroked her hair and her neck.

She heaved a sigh of relief, the knowledge that the hand beneath her sweater had paused that he was waiting for her permission to go forward eased her fear and made her feel more comfortable. The knowledge that he would stop if she insisted made her feel safe. His hand felt good where it rested against her rib cage. She both wanted him to touch her and wanted him to stop.

“Relax and let me make you feel good Kara,” he whispered in her ear as his hand began to slip slowly up her rib cage toward her breast.

She wanted to protest but her breath caught in her throat as his large, warm hand closed over her breast.

Leave a comment for Alyssa, join in the chat!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Monday Musings

Weekends aren't long enough. I need more time! I need more sleep. I need to write more. I need a lot of these things that I seem to do only on the weekend. Why is that I wonder...

Friday, April 1, 2011

April Fool's Day

Because what else would I talk about other than the history April's Fool Day? This from History.com's This Day in History:

On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other.

Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery. Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as "poisson d'avril" (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Historians have also linked April Fools' Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises. There's also speculation that April Fools' Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with "hunting the gowk," in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people's derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or "kick me" signs on them.

In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a "Left-Handed Whopper," scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.
In other news on April 1: Jane Austen declines royal writing advice (1816) and Marvin Gaye's father shoots and kills him (1984). I never knew and love his voice! General Hospital premiers (1963) and Hitler is sentenced to Landsberg jail (1924).

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