a little excerpt

Here's an excerpt from Just Semantics!

Dix loved froufy coffee. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t terribly manly, and he’d bet the other demon hunters never admitted to it. They probably said they preferred tequila or motor oil. Still, there was nothing like a double espresso caramel macchiato with triple whip.

Maura was an Americano girl. Somehow that didn’t surprise him at all. She seemed like a control freak, no fuss kind of chick. She also looked amazed that she was having coffee with him. He couldn’t blame her. She had been pretty adamant.

“So, who is this Magnus person?” She’d come to have coffee with him to hear all about Bingo and Magnus. The whole idea of a dog shifter and a warlock seemed to intrigue her, which did not piss him off. Not at all, especially since she called him a killer.

Dix would take what he could get, but he’d much rather find out more about her. Her wavy black-brown hair and lively blue eyes fascinated him, and her curvy body intrigued the hell out of him in a very “I want that” sort of way. “I told you. Warlock. He’s the jealous type. He’s forever seeing our allies and enemies jumping into bed with Bingo. Sometimes it’s true.”

“Bad dog.” Her eyes widened after she said it, like her joke surprised her.

“You know it. What about you? Do you have dogs?”

“No. I have one very opinionated cat.”

Quelle surprise. “A familiar?”

She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. “Just a cat.”

He held up his free hand. “No offense intended. I just know you witchy types like cats as familiars.”

“Oh! Why am I even here with you? A woman can have a cat and not be all Gaia and granola and all.” Maura planted her hands on the table and stared at him.

“Because you want to get laid.” He regretted it as soon as he said it, and with good reason. With a noise that sounded like a teapot building to a whistle, Maura whirled around and stomped out of the coffee shop, making a grand exit. Dix had only enough time to rise and swig the last of his coffee before he heard a high-pitched cry of dismay and a crashing noise. Shit.

Hola peeps!

I'm getting a late start today (noon) because I got an early start with the organizer we hired to help us clean the garage. O.O

Lord, that's a whole blog post of its own.

Anyhoo, today I am blogging to promote my new Hot Flash over at Changeling Press. It's called Just Semantics, and it's about a demon hunter and a shopkeeper.

Dix and Maura

http://changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1496

Dix is kind of a manly demon hunter. Maura hates that. It's hot. Fun. Go read.

so, about natural flea remedies. If ingested, pennyroyal can be a bad, bad thing. A drop on the back of your dog's neck, though, can kill fleas. Yay. If you're going to do a flea wash, though, you have to be way more careful with what you use.

Try a rosemary flea dip. Steep two cups of rosemary in boiling water. Remove leaves after it cools and dilute with more water. Store in a plastic container with a lid. Use a few tablespoons in a bath for fleas.

I'll be back later with more!

Hot Flash Out from Changeling Press

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1496

It's called Just Semantics, and it's all about Demon hunter Dix, who's searching for his shifter hunting partner's flea remedy. Magic shopkeeper Maura thinks he's awful. Hot, but awful. Can they find any common ground?

Coming Soon!

my Hot Flash from Changeling Press!

http://changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1496

rambling about the business of writing

books are one of the least profitable retail items in the business

part of it comes from the publishing model of paperback books, which is more than a century old and needs an update. Part of it is the cost of production. Paper is more expensive than ever, and shipping options are narrowing, not expanding. Bookstores will only carry books for 6-8 weeks unless it's a bestseller or unless you're Stephen King with a backlist that sells. And if you write m/m, you know that bookstores often won't carry you at all.

Which is where ebooks come in, right? Low production cost, a growing market of eraders, and an ever-larger number of distributors ought to make it easier than ever for an authors to make a living.

Well, yes and no. I have to admit, I am incredibly grateful that I was one of the first authors to jump on the m/m and ebook bandwagon. My readers are truly wonderful, loyal people, and I appreciate that I'm able to make a living off what I do.

On the other side of the coin, though, there's the fact that with so many books coming out every week now, it's easy to get lost. And with sites like Astatlk gaining popularity, some of us have seen a chunk of sales disappear with every new release.

Trends change a lot faster than they used to, as well. The world moves faster, and the days when you can write in the same genre for 20 years and be successful are over.

So, what's a writer to do?

I think the answer to that is the one thing that hasn't changed. Write what you love. Write it as well as you can. Hope someone loves it. Go out and tell people about it. If you change what you write to fit an audience, it will show in your words.

No matter what the market looks like, it's the best job in the world.

Hot Flash coming out from Changeling soon!

I'm very excited. My first strictly m/f book in a bit. It's a short story, about 6K, and I'm very proud. More soon!

Interview!

my partner in crime, BA Tortuga, has started doing interviews! I was her guniea pig, and my interview is up over at http://batortuga.blogspot.com/

vote for Pictures of You!

http://www.darkdivasreviews.com/polls.php

Need to get going

I have a deadline...


ahhh

Happy Halloween y'all

New Book out!

Hey y'all!

There's a new anthology out from Torquere called Mine.

It's all about possessive paranormals, y'all! I have a young man in his vamp in my story, which is smokin' hot, if I say so myself. There are some amazing stories, in all time periods and all sorts of creatures. Vamps, dragons, demons, demi-gods... It's awesome

go see it here

Friday Link round up

Hey y'all!

Working hard on some short pieces, but nothing to post so I thought I'd round up some links of interest:

My buddy Sean Michael has a het book out at Changeling Press. Now, before you gag and ew, it's smokin' hot, and the next book in the series will be mmf. Give it a shot
http://changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1469

My own latest Changeling title is the last book in the Mystic U series. Final Exams. It has mf and mmf so there's something for everyone. http://changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1448

Torquere is having a scary good sale this weekend. 15% off total purchase through Sunday, code scary2010 www.torquerebooks.com

y'll know how I love hats. Here's how to make an awesome with hat for halloween
http://sew4home.com/projects/fabric-art-a-accents/705-haunted-halloween-dead-roses-witch-hat

If you love Halloween, it's paranormal month at Torquere. New stories are out now, and later this month the Mine anthology will be out with a story from me and I'll have a Halloween Sip out, as well.

Follow me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/juliatalbot

Got any link obsessions to share? Lay it on me!

Writing hard

Have lots of deadlines to hit here at Chez Julia. BA is hitting hers...

In fact, my buddy BA has 2 new books out. Desert Lobo, a smokin' hot menage about werewolves, and a Screwdriver (which means it ran on Turn of the Screw) called Where there's a Will. Woo.

get them both at www.torquerebooks.com

Getting slammed with pirate notices on my Google alerts. Please don't support pirates. Please please please

In other news, been working on making dolls and having a ball. I love making faces...

Charity Sip Blitz!

I know I'm a little late to the party, but the Torquere Press Charity Sip blitz was released Sept 15. This year's theme is Healing Hearts, and the charity is Doctors without borders. Last year we raised 6000.00 for the Matthew Shepard Foundation.



My story is a fairly non-traditional doctor story, a paranormal called "You Don't Need a Doctor"

When a gunshot victim comes into Alan's ER, he jokes that this guy doesn't need a doctor, he needs a veterinarian. As he keeps working, though, the patient seems to be getting less hairy and less hurt. All except for the bullet wound that's now festering badly. Alan is shocked when his patient seems to miraculously heal as soon as he removes the bullet. He's even more shocked when the guy turns up at his house later to offer a very personal thank you.

Can he figure out Shiloh's secret before it's too late?

***

Here's an excerpt!

"Shit, Tony, this guy doesn't need a doctor, he needs a veterinarian." I pried open the mouth of the guy who'd just come into emergency, staring at the amazing set of canines he had. He'd been shot, and the wound was a mess, seemingly already festering.

Christ, the guy was fuzzy, too.

"Looks like one of those dog-faced boys from the circus." Tony was a great RN, but he'd been working in trauma a long time and had developed a little of the gallows humor you saw when the patient came in unresponsive. It was a defense mechanism, though, and I understood.

"He's not that bad, but yeah, he's on the hairy side. Do we know what happened?"

Tony was doing his job, trying to find a vein to get that IV in, get the fluids going. Janey, the ER tech, was hooking up monitors, waiting to see if I wanted oxygen.

"The intake says he was found at the site of a drive-by. He was unconscious and only partially responsive. EMTs feared some sort of paralysis."

"Drive-by?" There was one bullet, and it had gone in at the lower ribcage. Usually drive-by shooting victims ended up peppered with bullets, or had completely random placement. This looked like it had been aimed for the heart.

"We need to determine how soon he can take surgery, then. That bullet is going to have to come out."

"His vitals are holding steady." Janey started reading off numbers, and I stared a little. The man was bleeding like a stuck pig. There was no way his pressure and heart rate were that good. No way.

"Tony, can you take the monitor for a moment?" Janey waved her pager, and we both nodded. We were shorthanded as hell tonight, and everyone had eight places to be, at least.

Tony nodded, and I started cataloging the issues. The contusions seemed more in line with a beating than a drive-by, but you never knew what was going to happen when someone hit asphalt.

"Does that bullet wound seem… I dunno. Shallower?"

***

Find it here!

Just a Cowboy is out!

Hey y'all!

Just a Cowboy, the sequel to Jackass Flats, is out at Torquere Books!

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2834

I'm so proud of this one, y'all! It's a good little story. Go see. Shoo

New Book out from Changeling Press!

Woo!The last Mystic U book is out. It's called Final Exams, and while Danny, Heather and Lee are all present and still figuring stuff out, Alpha Logan is getting his very own annoying professor. Alli is kind of a stick in the mud, but Logan might convince her she likes the exciting life...

here's an excerpt:

Logan surveyed the assembled men, noting the age and disposition of each one. He knew each of them well, knew their idiosyncrasies and their loyalties. He knew their scents, too. None of them were the werewolf who was causing trouble within the pack. None of them were a potential assassin. Which made them perfect for what he wanted to do.

"Thanks for coming tonight, guys," he said in his best pack alpha voice. "I need your help."

A murmur went through the group, but no one really spoke up yet. It was an honor for the pack alpha to ask for a man's help and they all knew it, even if it made them nervous enough that the scent of unease was sharp and acrid.

"Someone is attacking members of our pack. I'm sure you all know that Gage got shot last moon." That had made him so angry that he'd torn up the clearing himself, looking for any clue about who might have been there.

"Yeah, but that was a human, right?" That came from one of the younger men, a strong black wolf who Logan hadn't gotten to know very well yet.

"It was, yes. The problem is that whoever put him up to it is one of us."

Another, louder murmur went up, but Logan forestalled it with one raised hand. He had the proof from Danny's dorm room. Maybe one of these men would recognize the scent. "I can prove it, which is why I need your help. Someone has to know who this guy is. Someone has to recognize the scent. Once we know, I need your help to hunt his ass down." He could see skepticism out there, but more than one of the pack men nodded. They had to protect their own.

"Just tell us what we need to do," the young one said, speaking up again, which was surprising and impressive.

"Well, first I need you to come smell this..."


Here's where you buy:

http://changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1448

yay!

win a nook!

see how you can win a B&N Nook and many other prizes!

https://www.torquerebooks.com/contest/contactmain

Working on a lot of new stories

hoping I can hit all the deadlines!

lions and tigers and werewolves, oh my

question, if you're out there. Would you rather see a m/f or m/m/f for a new short story I'm doing for Changeling?

Experieincing personal joy

I went jogging Friday.

No, this is not part of the joy. In fact, there was pain. However, there was a guy out there jogging in the opposite direction, and he had his border collie with him. Man and dog were hugely happy. Smiling. Panting and wheezing in perfect time...

So I thought about my personal joys. Dancing, writing, spending time with non-jogging bassets, my craft room.

Got me through my half hour run

Not a bad deal, all in all

Books coming out in September

I have the last Mystic U book coming out in early Sept from Changeling Press. Very exciting! Danny and Heather and Lee get their screen time, but Alpha Logan gets his girl, too

When I have a cover I'll preview.

then in mid-Sept the much awaited sequel to Jackass Flats, Just a Cowboy is out. Woo

check this out

where does the time go?

ack

man, I got to go Cheyenne with BA last week, and it was awesome. Cowboys ahoy!