Meredith Duran wrote an allegedly fabulous book, The Duke of Sin The Duke of Shadows (damn these Duke of titles). I say allegedly ’cause I haven’t read it yet. I want to judge its fabulousness by myself. Apparently, it was good enough to send Ann Aguirre into fits of ecstasy… *grin* She even threw a contest for it.

Check it out:

The Duke of Shadows Sweepstakes.

Prize packages

* Grand Prize: $25 gift card from Barnes and Noble
* First prize: $15 gift certificate from Amazon
* Runners up: Five more winners will receive a copy of The Duke of Shadows

Seven winners. Cool prizes. What do you have to do to get in on this?

Rules for entry for people with a blog:

* Step 1: Make a new post on your blog, entitled “Enter The Duke of Shadows Sweepstakes”
* Step 2: Post the graphic shown here, along with a link back to to this contest. If you aren’t sure how to add a picture to your blog, use TDoS Sweepstakes Code.
* Step 3: Add something like “I entered, you should too!” Publish blog post.
* Step 4: Leave your link in comments, letting me know you’re done.

For those who don’t have blogs, here’s what you do to enter:

* Step 1: Promise in comments to put a review on Amazon (or another online review site), if you win.
* Step 2: Tell at least one other person about the contest.

I hope everyone who enters will check out this book. It would be great if you told people about it, if you love it as much as I do. Winners also agree they’ll review the book somewhere as a condition of accepting their prize. This contest will run until midnight on April 13th. On the morning of April 14, I’ll announce the winners.

Find the contest here. Check out the book here.

(Yeah, see what I did there?)

Hey kids, hop on over to the Erotic Muses blog and check out Bonnie Dee’s serialization of a novella, Liberating Lucius, which I believe was previously published by the now defunct Venus Press. Here’s the information:

Today I’m going to begin serial installments of a novella.
Liberating Lucius was once available at a publisher, but I’m now giving it away as a free read. I’ll post a piece each Friday until the tale is complete, and then put a PDF up at my site for free download. This will give new readers an idea of my style and old readers a freebie to enjoy. Plus, let’s face it, a serial story gives me weeks and weeks where I don’t have to think of something to blog about! There may be an occasional interruption to the story if I have a new book to promote, but I’ll try to keep that to a minimum.

I swear I didn’t steal the serial story idea from Bam’s blog. I’ve planned to do this for a long time. Check out Eventide, Darragha Foster’s story at Bam’s The Serial, now.

If you’ve read Liberating Lucius in the past, you’ll find some changes in the story, more cosmetic than plot-based. I edited to bring it closer to my current style of writing.

“Helena, a Thracian noblewoman, has been stolen from her home and sold as a slave. She is determined to hate her new master and escape at the first opportunity. She certainly doesn’t expect to be physically attracted to the young Roman who possesses her or to connect with him on a deeper level.

Tribune Lucius Calpurnius is taken aback when he’s presented with a beautiful woman as a gift from a friend, yet he can hardly release her into a camp full of soldiers. He intends to keep her as a servant and return her to her home when he is able. But it gets more difficult every day to keep away from the woman he desires, first with his body and later with his heart.

As they become lovers and slowly forge a bond, the outside world threatens to tear them from one another. Can Helena rise above her slavery to save herself and the man she has come to love?”

Hey, I think I reviewed this book once.

I’ve been in a reading rut lately. I’ve been doing so much un-fun reading for work and school, that fun-fun reading doesn’t seem appealing to me anymore. Okay, I will admit I’ve been reading a lot of graphic novels, but only because there are pictures in them. I haven’t read a single romance— except for a re-read of an all-time favorite classic, Crimson Obsession by Deanna James (does anyone know if she even writes anymore?)— and werewolves and vampires and dragons? Meh. But I was browsing Amazon the other night and found this:

And the blurb—

When new music teacher Ali Mather enters Jeanne Cross’s quiet suburban life, she brings a jolt of energy that Jeanne never expected. Ali has a magnetic personality and looks to match, drawing attention from all quarters. Nonetheless, Jeanne and Ali develop a friendship based on their mutual vulnerabilities. THE LIAR’S DIARY is the story of Ali and Jeanne’s friendship, and the secrets they both keep.

A chilling tour of troubled minds, THE LIAR’S DIARY questions just how far you’ll go for your family and what dark truths you’d be willing to admit—even to yourself.

No werewolves, no vampires (what enters her house “when she is not at home”? Man, it better not be werewolves. Or vampires. Or aliens). But my first thought was, “Ewww, women’s fiction!” [Side note: Can anyone tell me why I seem to have this weird bias against women’s fiction? I’m a woman. I like fiction. Why don’t I like them? (Women’s fiction, that is. Not women. I love women. Women are awesome. But crazy. And yet awesome.)] But this line, “her fear that someone has been entering her house when she is not at home” really sent a chill down my spine. Holy shit. Is it all in her head? Is it for real? I’m biting my nails already. Naturally, I just had to buy it even though I just spent a GILLION BAZILLION dollars at the hospital. Universal Healthcare, I am soooooo ready for you.

Anyway, I hope this book is good. That would at least make the whole eating-ramen-noodles-for-a-week thing worth it.

Update: Oh, lookeeee! It even has a book trailer on YouTube! Man, if I ever get a book trailer done, I hope Jane and Ned will agree to do it. Their video reviews are BRILLIANT.

Harlequin Presents is looking for new writers!

It’s an exciting time for Harlequin Presents: from January 2008, there will be 12 of our intensely passionate romances available every month. And with this increase of titles comes a great opportunity for aspiring authors – we will be looking to buy more books for publication!

The old saying goes that first impressions are lasting impressions – and when it comes to reading a Harlequin Presents, that certainly holds true. If the first chapter doesn’t immediately grip the reader with its pace, passion and intensity, then she won’t continue to turn the pages.

So Presents is inviting unpublished writers to show us how they can grab the attention of our readership with first chapters that really sizzle. The INSTANT SEDUCTION competition offers prizes that are chances of a lifetime for the lucky winner and runners-up:
*First prize – win yourself an editor for a year!
*Two runners-up will be given editorial critiques of their first chapter entries and also a personal telephone consultation about their writing!

Continue to visit this blog for full details of the competition – and the chance to prepare for publication with an exclusive series of writing tutorials prepared by the editorial team at Harlequin Presents, including advice on First Chapters, How to Write a Synopsis, Developing a Global Voice, Loving the Alpha Male and Generating Emotional Conflict. Check out the all the links under the writing competition category.

Entries for the competition will be accepted as on-line submissions only from 1st January until 14th February 2008. Entries should comprise of the first chapter and a synopsis of a previously unpublished/unsubmitted novel aimed at Harlequin Presents.

Address for entries: instantseduction@hmb.co.uk

Good luck everyone and we are very much looking forward to finding some exciting new voices.

And now I need some ideas… *rubbing hands together*

Oh, and thanks to SweetNSourGirl for reminding me to add the website where y’all can find out more info.

… not run by me.

Miss Kate Rothwell is running this month’s contest on the account of me being a lazy cow with no money. The deadline is November 24, 2007.

You enter 400 words or less. If you put in 500 words I’ll know and I’ll leave you up but you probably won’t be a finalist. We’re not all about the rules, but there might as well be some way to eliminate the thousands of entries we’ll get.

Heh. Once I ran a Best Reviews contest no one entered and I kept opening up the thing. First it was romance reviews. Then anyone could enter. Then it was fine, go lift something from Amazon. I don’t give a f***.

Bam hated WIP things (um, oops. I didn’t notice that rule once) I say if it stands alone without a sense of wtf?, and if it works, okay.

Here’s November’s topic: Revealing The Big Secret. You get points for never actually saying outright what it is. Show don’t tell, baby. Speaking of which, there was some thought to making it a Secret Baby, but heck, you do your secret. Maybe you get points for making it a Secret Baby just because anyone who can write that well deserves points.

You win a twenty dollar gift certificate to Amazon or Samhain (I’m cheaper than Bam). AND you win a book. I have a beautiful pile of them and you get to pick one. And you win the glorious button that I’m going to make eventually to proclaim to the world that You Are A Professional Award Winning Writer. Hey, you won the contest and you’ll paid for your writing, right?

and here are the prizes:

You’d win:
* a pair of Bosnian Sox
* a book with a Big Secret in it (I have one all picked out) or one of mine.
* $20 to spend on more books with or without big secrets.
* A gorgeous e-button declaring you are a champion pro writer.

So go. Now. Then come back here on December 1st for MY writing contest.