snippet saturday WIP Desert Dragons 3

Here's a bit of my current work in progress, the as yet untitled Desert Dragons 3

Somewhere along the line, Oliver had lost control of the situation at his dragon sanctuary deep in the Chihuahuan desert of Mexico. His tiny earthship house was full to the rafters with big, burly men. And Banger. And a clutch of almost ready to hatch dragon eggs that were making his own multitude of dragons nutso crazy.

Babies? Bittybitty babies. Azul and Turquesa, his most loved bonded pair kept babbling in Oliver’s brain. He was going to hit them with a rock.

“Babies. Lots of ‘em.” God, how was he going to feed this many? Love them? Keep them from eating each other?

“Mmm. Dragon deathmatch.” His lover, Arturo came to stand next to him in the kitchen, sliding an arm around his waist. “You’re thinking so loud.”

“I’m sorry?” Was he? He didn’t know. “How is the scary hurt dude?”

“Sleeping. I gave him a shot of morphine from the med kit.” Arturo sighed, kissing the top of his head. “We’re gonna need more space if this keeps up.”

“People are going to start wondering what all the gringos are doing here in the desert.”

“Yeah. We’re also going to have to figure out a new supply chain.” Arturo tugged his braid, which he thought was going to be more gray than red soon.

The little sting was sort of happy making, though. “Yes. How are we going to feed them all? Where are they all coming from?”

“I don’t know.” Arturo paused, clearly thinking hard. “If it makes you feel any better, that was what Keon said. Ice’s guy in the mountains? Then he said he needed more people to bond with his dragons, so maybe it’s a numbers game.”

“Oh. Really?” That meant the dragons weren’t just exploding here, though. That meant there was something else happening. Something bigger than all of them.

“Yep. You just got a new clutch, right? Maybe that’s why. Some of your older babies needed to bond.” Arturo turned him, tilting his face up for a kiss. Tactile man.

He opened right up for it, his body threatening to beat his mind to death if it didn’t shut up and let him have this.

Hugs

XXOO

Julia

C 2015 Julia Talbot

A Bloodrose Primer

For everyone who has been asking for another Bloodrose book, that time is September! I think the 23rd? I'm a dither, and will get a solid date when I can go look.

Yay!

The new book is the sequel to Belling the Cat, and it finishes the arc started there while introducing Yves and Reuben.

I'll give y'all a good rundown on Emerald Eyes closer to release. For now I'll talk about the series.

The first book written was The Werewolf Code. It's a mystery where Deke and KC, or Kasey, the main characters, are already together. They have a genetic mutation to deal with, and someone with a lot of rage. They're detectives here, working a case.

When it came out, everyone wrote and told me they wanted to see Deke and Kasey's beginning, so I wrote book 2, which is chronologically book 1. An Itch to Scratch. It introduces Jonny as the owner of the Bloodrose, and it shows Deke being auctioned off as a meal for vampire Kasey. Voluntarily.

Then comes Lean on Me, which introduces Aiden and new Bloodrose manager Jared, a psychic and a werewolf.

Then Incomparable, which is bar manager Ashe and Nikolas, a performer at the club. This is the one I would redo if I had the time. I focused too much on the sex and not enough on the romance I know is there, and I think it's hard to buy the happy ever after without telling their whole story.

In the collection Bloodrose: A Collection of shorts, former manager Duke gets a lover, and Deke and Kasey and Jonny get some fun.

Then there's Cereus, which is also a Jonny business venture. A paranormal vacation paradise on land owned by a dragon. Building, Opening, Training and Rescue, and they all happen between Belling and Emerald Eyes, which is out next.

Hope that helps prepare everyone for Emerald Eyes! All stores are available at All Romance, Amazon and Torquere Press.

XXOO

Julia

Guide to Julia's dragons

A lot of folks have been asking me the order of the dragon books I have out at Changeling Press.

I'm always happy to natter on about my books, even if I am scatterbrained as hell! I forget I have new books to promo, I forget to email people, and I forget to compile series...

So, the dragon story actually starts in Mixed Breeds: Hunted. Find it here. Now, this is a mmf menage and there are no actual dragons, but it's interesting to note that Damon was a member of Elemental Ops, and he flakes out of them in this book.

Then we start Elemental Ops. Ice, Teamwork, Found and Vanished, which, incidentally was meant to be Lost but the publisher said they had one of those already.

Then Desert Dragons. Turquoise Trail is first, then Coyote Dance. Right now I'm working on Earth and Stars, and there's one more planned before I move to Mik's tribe in the Pueblo area of New Mexico. There are at least 10 more dragon books planned O.O

It's like the dragons are just overrunning my brain. We're just at the tip of the iceberg.

XXOO

Julia

TGIF

Man, it's been a long while since I've been so glad to see a Friday. I see fro-yo and copious craft room time in my weekend.

Maybe I can even con BA into frogging my badly $#@%ed up knitting for me. Cackles.

What are y'all's plans this weekend?

XXOO

Julia

my Ebay obesssion

I might have mentioned a few weeks ago that I was selling stuff on Ebay.

We cleaned out a bunch of stuff in the garage and kitchen overflow. We sold a pasta roller set. A French language set from a famous software seller who hates reselling so will remain nameless. A bunch of books. Jewelry.

It's a fascinating look into human nature, and might be a wee bit obsessed.

You never know what will sell for way more than you think. What you think will sell for lots of money never does. People who buy big stuff pay right away. People who win shit for .99 never want to pay and you have to open unpaid complaints with Ebay. People still snipe each other.

I've also bought some jewelry to resell lately, and I have some advice.

Read descriptions and look at pics. Set a top bid and stay there. Don't get suckered into bidding more than it's worth through excitement and innate competitiveness. IOW don't get all hyped up and hope for more than you're really going to get ;) Easiest way to get burned.

I love old stuff. I love to but it and sell it. Bit soon I might have to put down the Ebay app and back away slowly ;)

XXOO

Julia

rewriting

I am not the queen of rewrites. I will try to make what I have work.

Sometimes though, you have to kill part of a story. Scrap it and start over. I hate it, but it happens. Like a surgeon, you have to cut out the parts that kill the flow. wah. It hurts.

I wish I could ignore the need, but there it is.

Hormonal train? Oh yeah

XXOO

Julia

BA Tortuga and her Cheerios

Some 7-8 years ago now, my wife BA was diagnosed with a severe allergy to wheat and gluten. Not only does it cause internal bleeding and skin issues, it causes terrible nerve pain.

As you can imagine, she immediately went Gluten Free. I did at home, as well, only splurging when we ate out. The other party we lived with at the time, well, no. But that was the story of our time together and that's why that person is gone. (Huge, happy grin)

Now I;m fully gluten free as well, as nerve pain and eczema are not my friends.

This means no Shredded Wheat. No wheat anything. We gave up a lot. One of those things, thanks to possible cross contamination was Cheerios.

I am fond, but mostly indifferent.

BA missed them SO BAD.

6 months ago a gluten free blog told us Cheerios were going the way of Chex and going GF. BA has been bouncing and checking the cereal aisle every week since.

Well, today, guess what.

This is a happy day

XXOO

Julia

A hard day at Black Rock

Okay, y'all, I'm going to whine.

No, not wine. Whine. Really whine.

I love my job. If I don't make that clear enough, let me say it again. I love being home with my wife and writing and plotting and even all the crazy promo we have to do.

Today has been tough, though.

I find it really difficult not to take things personally. I have struggled with it all my life. When I waste weeks writing on a book that will never fit the call I'm writing it for, I get snarly. While this book will no doubt sell to another publisher, I am now 3 weeks behind on all my deadlines, and half through with a book that has no home.

Sigh.

The few other troubles I had got fixed, but they still rankled, and man, I just need some time with my foam roller.

XXOO

Julia

drowning in deadlines

send coffee and chocolate. Here, I'll demonstrate

You can always drop by if you have anything that pretty!

XXOO

Julia

What I'm working on and a new dragon book!

Let's see

Out now! Desert Dragons 2: Coyote Dance

Buy it here!

Banger wants to save the day. Mik wants to save the world. What they really need is to save each other.

When Banger wakes up in an earthship house in the desert, surrounded by dragons, he knows his whole life has changed. Add to that the fact that the man he's been chasing for years has a new lover, and he's pretty sure his day can't get much weirder. Which is when Cereyshe accidentally trips trying to save his friends and shoots someone.

Mik has never been shot on a first date before. When his spirit dragon Piasa tells him to go to the little compound in the Chihuahua desert he's expecting dragons, maybe smugglers, but he figures no one could expect Banger. Even as Mik falls for Banger, his new lover decides he's a danger to the baby dragons he's there to help, and Banger ends up kidnapped by a white slaver in the desert. Can Mik save Banger from danger, and keep him from hurting himself?

Publisher's Note: Coyote Dance is best enjoyed after reading Turquoise Trail (Desert Dragons 1).

It's on sale, too!

what I'm working on now.

Desert Dragons 3. Daniel, a coyote shifter introduced in DD2 and a new dragon keeper

Cereus whatever the new title is...

A new wold shifter novela

A contemporary for Dreamspinner about a former lifestyle sub and a cowbpoy

XXOO

Julia

Wordless Wednesday

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Julia

Updates and news about my website!

Hey y'all!

I updated the coming soon and new releases pages up here on the blog.

Here's the new releases! and here's the coming soon!

In other news, I'll be getting a new website soon! I know my updates at Juliatalbot.com have been sucking wind. SUCKING

The amazing Kris Norris has designed me a new one and BA is working on getting all my books up. With covers! Blurbs! Stuff that's out of print is gone! Yay! A few weeks and it will be live!

XXOO

Julia

Why defending romance makes me crazy

I read smut. I read chicklit. I read romance, gay and straight and otherwise.

I also happen to write all of these things.

I see a lot of articles defending one or more of these genres at the expense of the others. I see a lot of people validating their romances simply because men read them.

Crackling static.

Why? Why do men have to read your genre for it to be serious and worthy. Why do we have to put down erotica or say "mind candy" is bad and I write serious shit, Jim!

We write what we love to read. I had a professor in college who told me at the beginning of my lit career, "Never be ashamed of what you love to read."

I have echoed that here many times, and I always hear it in that Mainer accent my prof had.

I'm sick of the word defending popping up all over when it comes to what I adore. Fuck that shit. These days I think I'll just start slapping people with my heaviest paperback.

Love, Smut loving angry woman,

Julia

New Full Moon Dating!

Does the butt shaking happy dance!

Full Moon Dating: Gage and Hamish is out! Yay!

My amazing cover from Kris Norris. Uhn.

Gage and Hamish are a novelette in a series and probably ought to be read that way. I'm getting into the FMD mythology pretty hard these days.

Here's the blurby

Cat shifter Gage is an impossible bottom. No one has ever been able to tame him, even if he wants them to. He’s willing to keep trying, though, and when he finds out about the paranormal dating site Full Moon Dating, he puts himself in their hands. He longs for someone who will take him in hand and make him like it.

Hamish is a bear shifter who plays too rough for most subs. Gage sounds like just what he needs, so when Full Moon matches them up, he’s happy to see how they get along. Can he convince Gage that he’s the one to make the man toe the line?

And here's a wee bit to get you going!

"This one is on me." Hamish flagged down the waiter. "You're sure?" He wasn't a moocher. He paid his own way. "I am." Meeting his gaze, Hamish smiled. "I won't be expecting anything, I promise." "Well, thank you, man. Let's go explore." "Sounds good." During the day downtown Boulder was all coffee shops and tourists. At night, the main drag was all twinkly lights and locals out for the evening. Joggers and craft beer enthusiasts. He grabbed his jacket, the night air cool, even in the summer time. Hamish moved close, that big body radiating heat. He approved. He had to resist a good hard snuggle. They were in public after all. Maybe there would be snuggling later. Gage liked to keep his options open. The street was bustling, and he ended up hanging close to Hamish to keep from bumping the crowds. Hamish chuckled. "I have this urge to hold your hand." "Yeah? Don't lose me, huh?" "Nope. Crowded tonight." Hamish turned off on the side street leading up to the Hotel Boulderado. "Friday night shenanigans." "Yeah. I didn't think about that when I asked you to meet me here. I'm not antisocial or anything, but that's a heck of a crowd." "It is." A group of men turned the corner, moving together in a way that screamed wolf pack. Hamish stiffened next to him. "This way, maybe?" "Uh-huh. Together." "I would never leave you to them, kitty. They have to go through me." "I'm pretty good, one on one." A pack, though? Not so much. "They're looking for trouble," Hamish murmured, and it wasn't an unfair statement. Not the way two of them turned over a trashcan mounted on a chained platform. He took Hamish's hand, a low rumble building inside him. "Oh, hell no! Look at the gays!" They'd been spotted, and just at the right fucking time. Damn it. "Fuck." He growled long, his shoulders rolling. "Just keep going. If they start something, get your kitty tail to the hotel and have the front desk call the cops. Got it?" Hamish sounded different. Feral. "Not leaving you to the wolves." "Hey, I just have to hold them off until the cops get here." He got a wild grin, and he thought maybe Hamish was on an adrenaline high. Gage pulled his phone out, dialing 9 and 1. He never had time to type in the other 1. The wolves attacked in a rush, and his instinct was to leap, take the first one that reached for him. Instead, he kept his back to Hamish's, going with safety in numbers. He heard Hamish roar, and heard flesh connect with flesh. His sound was more a scream, wild and totally terrifying. The wolves focused on Hamish, following the hunting pattern of their pack, but more than one lashed out at Gage. He fought back, snapping and snarling, his hands tipped with deadly claws. "Fuck! Get them. There's just two of them!" The head wolf had a memorable voice, a deep bass growl. "Hamish, I got your back." "I know." Hamish sounded certain. That was good. It felt like Hamish was huge, vast. Who would take on a full-sized grizzly? Even in a pack? These assholes had to be on something. He kept his back against Hamish, his eyes feeling like they were burning in his skull. He slashed out and caught one wolf under the chin, causing a howl. He heard two more go flying, Hamish roaring. Gage heard the thud as he was hit before he felt it, the pressure sending him flying. Hamish went nuts, flinging wolves everywhere, bellowing his name. He landed on his feet, his head spinning as he fought everything he couldn't see. Damn it, were there more now? It seemed as though an endless number of wolves were all over them. "Hamish!" Fuck, help! "Gage!" Hamish turned, leaving that broad back vulnerable, but tearing into the wolves trying to kill Gage. Utterly magnificent. He managed to stay upright, fighting with all he was. The sound of a siren was what finally drove the pack away from them, even though Hamish fought like a demon to keep them at bay. He slumped against a fence, sucking air, eyes rolling. "Come on, Gage." Hamish picked him up under one arm. "No waiting for the police."

Buy it here!

AMazon buy link ARE buy link

The other books, in order, are Aiden and Ben, Coy and Denver, and Evgeny and Feng.

XXOO

Julia

Monday Monday- wait is it Tuesday?

Sure seems like Monday. Google Docs hates me. Cut my toe open yesterday. Had to frog my scarf again.

I want an eclair.

Stamps foot.

Gage and Hamish out tomorrow!

Available here for preorder.

XXOO

J

Vintage Jewelry Love

So I recently rediscovered a love of mine from my antique dealer days.

Vintage jewelry. I adore weird rhinestone stuff, crazy old pins and earrings, weird pop beads and bizarre cocktail rings. The weirder the better. Since I have very little room for collectibles, I'm selling most of what I buy at yard sales on Ebay. Yesterday I got to research a Miriam Haskell shell shaped stickpin. 1950s. Neat thing. People lover Miriam Haskell. She was like Tim McGraw. She didn't design her own stuff, but she sure knew how to pick a designer.

Today it was a lovely sterling silver and turquoise pendant. So neat.

I love hauling out my loupe and looking at marks, though man, my eyesight is way worse than it was it my 20s. o.O

Here's the stickpin

Such fun!

XXOO

Julia

knitting woes

I suck at knitting.

Now, mind you, my stitches are lovely. I can follow a pattern. I know a decent number of stitches.

What I suck at is paying attention.

I try not to stop in the middle of a row. But I do. Then I get turned around. Not kidding.

Seed stitch. Knit perl knit perl. Next row. Perl knit perl knit. Right? So easy. Makes a lovely rib pattern. I frog every third row because I can't tell what a perl stitch looks like vs a knit. My wife, who can, is left handed, so she inevitably tells me to start with the wrong stitch and I inevitable lose count, even with a row counter.

I suck at gauge. My stitches are always too tight, so I have to go up a needle size.

I get a third of the way through a project and quit. I have a third of a sweater. Five one third finished scarves. One scarf I was halfway through a beaded knit and lost it in a move. That one really pissed me off because it was a) expensive yarn b) a gift for my Aunt in Law.

So, why do I knit? Well, it allows me to buy really neat yarn. It's actually relaxing at the time I'm doing it. It's something to share with my wife.

I still suck at it pretty badly

XXOO

Julia

joy of the day

my big joy of the day is that Alan Jackson has a new album out today. I adore him, but even more than that, my girl loves him so much that she's bouncing and happy.

One of the very first big gifts I ever got her was tickets to an Alan Jackson concert. We were in different states and she was still, er, stuck with the evil ex, but we were BFFs already, and I wanted her to be able to go. There was a big old mess with the tickets being on the ends of two different rows, which I didn't know about, but she was so happy. Joe Nichols opened for him, and that was the first time she told me Joe could sound like anyone from George Jones to George Strait.

We've since seen some 50 or 60 concerts together, from 14 Tim McGraw shows to Texas singers no one but BA and I have heard of. We've seen George Strait 5 times. Sugarland. Luke Bryan. We even took BA's sister K to see Poison and Def Leppard. We've seen Alan together once, at the Dallas Stampede rodeo, where we had standing room only floor seats.

I still remember the very first concert I ever got her tickets for, though, and how much she loves Alan Jackson. Every time I hear him, that's what I think of.

XXOO

Julia

my favorite things about yesterday

I learned all about Finnish silver hallmarks. Not for a book, but for selling a pair of earrings on ebay. Thanks to the detailed markings I know it's .916 grade silver, it was made in Helsinki for export, the designer's name, and the company. Also they were made in 1957. So yeah, if you have a burning passion for Kalevala Koru, hit me up. I have a pair if 1957 screwback earrings in an in an unusual pattern.

My wife and I sat and talked at dinner about how we came to fandom and what fandoms were our faves. Sure, we know all this already, but I love our rambling dinner conversations. I can sit and listen to BA talk for hours about how she and Darth Velma used to go to cons in Santa Barbara together. Then I regale her with my fannish horror story about getting to Baltimore to meet an online friend only to have her flake at the last minute and screw me out of a place to stay and a hot meal on a really shitty rainy night in Maryland. Suffice to say we did not remain friends.

edits on Desert Dragons 2. Hoo. I have a new editor, and she's not read the El Ops or DD1. Ack. This series just can't stand alone at this point, and I'm struggling to add the backstory she wants me to without making the story sound weird and pedantic and repetitive. Such are the problems of tight 3rd person specific. If a character isn't thinking it, I can't put it on the page, so huge chunks of exposition don't happen.

I needed to knit something. I started a new scarf. I don't get that urge as often as BA, or as author friends like Amy Lane or Ariel Tachna, but I love a chunky yarn and a seed stitch.

Weekend, ho!

Julia

10 little known facts about Julia

Bad blogger. No doughnut.

The niece came to visit. She's 6.

Wow, was that exhausting. Twisted up my bad foot, too, which sucks. Still, we had a ball.

So, ten unknown things

I used to be an antique dealer. Did it for 5 years. I still do Ebay stuff under my real name.

I love to paint. I suck at it, but I love it. I make goddess dolls out of painted gourds.

I may have bassets now but I grew up with German Shepherd mixes

I eat super clean now but sometimes I dream about McDonalds. True story.

I love American Ninja Warrior. Love how they all root for one another.

I used to love the really dark comic books like Witchblade and the Darkness. I read them for free at the bookstore I worked at, so I was never too much of a comic geek, but I did get asked to go on a date to Denver comicon. Since he was married I said no.

I want a pick-up truck. We have an SUV, but dude. I want that hauling capacity.

I love to co-write with my wife BA Tortuga. When people review our books and say we sound too much alike without knowing we're married I cackle madly.

I have a cashew allergy that makes me sick as a dog. Please don't use this against me.

When I was a teenager I wanted to be a journalist. I found out I was way better at features, and then fiction.

XXOO

Julia