tyring hard to hit deadlines

and uh, eek.

failing

keep an eye out, though, I ought to have some christmassy stuff out :D

a new review

for an old title. It's always a nice surprise. This one is for Recipe for Love, out with Changeling Press (www.changelingpress.com)

http://theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/recipeforlovetalbot.htm

Taste Test!

I'm featured in the new Taste Test from Torquere Press, along with my buddies BA Tortuga and Dallas Coleman. If you like your cowboys Buck Wild, you'll love this one!

Here's the official doolie!

Sometimes cowboys like to get buck wild. They get a little crazy, get a little wild hair. That's the premise behind this Taste Test featuring Dallas Coleman, Julia Talbot and BA Tortuga.

Dallas Coleman gives us Jimmy, who's settled down to become a banker, and Cory, an off again-on again lover who tempts him to be have some fun. Julia's Colby and Sean are both bullriders and ex-lovers who get up to some serious fun. BA gives us Jack and Deke, two sometime lovers who come together with a fiery passion that's impossible to ignore. Get buck wild with these boys today!

www.torquerebooks.com

I got word that a lesbian story I wrote a good while back for an anthology with Pretty Things Press, called Lipstick on Her Collar, has a cover. We don't have a sure date, but keep an eye out here!

new novella

This one is about 20,000 words, so definitely not a sip! ;)

It's a Spurs and Saddles from Torquere Press, called Sparkle and Shine. It's over at www.torquerebooks.com

Evan is a rodeo cowboy with an eight year old daughter, an ex-wife who loves to make trouble, and a best friend he wants to love on. Brooks is his best buddy, who wants to be way more than friends. Can these two cowboys get it together?

have a sample!

***

"What are you staring at?" Brooks snarled, flinging his jeans at his suitcase.

Heaven. That was his first thought.

"Nothing. I mean, I'm not staring. I'm sorry, Brooks." There. Ta da.

Tight shoulders relaxed. "Yeah? I… Me too, man. I just figured we were having a laugh."

"We were. I was just feeling sorry for myself." Beer. It had to be the beer making him say all these touchy feeling things.

"Yeah?" Coming right up to him, Brooks clapped him on his shoulder, fingers scarred and callused. "No need, man. You're rock solid."

Almost as hard as a rock, for sure. Wasn't beer supposed to make a man limp? Sandra had always said so. Evan barely resisted the urge to adjust himself.

"Thanks, Brooks. Really." When he felt like he wouldn't offend the man, Evan turned away, breathing hard through his nose.

"Hey, you got the quease? We could order room service."

"Oh, good idea. Something burger-like." That would give him something to do with his hands and his runaway mouth.

"Maybe chocolate cake, too, huh?" Brooks loved the frosting. Evan had seen him eat all the way around a three layer cake, just eating the sugary stuff.

"You order, huh?"

"What's gotten into you?" Brooks asked when he woulda run for the bathroom again.

"I'm horny, okay?" he kinda shouted, hands clenching. "I want to go jack off in the bathroom!"

"Oh." Blue eyes snapped right up to meet his, Brooks staring hard. "You don't gotta run off, buddy."

Another Sip

I seem to be rocking the short fiction these days! I think it's my lack of attention span. There's something about being able to finish a story that's very satisfying. Anyhoo, my Sip came out last week, and I kinda got lost with the Halloween/Vegas/Bullrider thing.

It's called Splitting the Difference, and it's about country singer Dane, who goes back to his West Texas hometown for a wedding, meeting up with an old high school friend names Kent.

I adore people who have history, and this is one of those stories ;) You can find it at www.torquerebooks.com

Here's a wee snip:

"Well, well. I didn't think I'd ever see Dane Hotchkins in this town again."

The voice had the kind of deep drawl only West Texas could make, and Dane cringed at the familiarity of it, at the way it made all sorts of old memories come to life.

He turned, staring at Kent Lawrence, just shaking his head. The man hadn't changed a bit, hadn't gotten all swollen like so many of his old high school buddies had. Lean, long, and all cowboy, Kent looked fucking edible.

As always.

"Well, hey, Kent. I reckon you wouldn't have, if Becky hadn't decided to get married." No way would he miss his baby sister's wedding, even if it did mean eating his words from ten years ago. He'd burned those years right down the highway, singing at every honky-tonk and dive in Texas and Oklahoma. He'd never made it to Nashville, but Austin wasn't a bad place to call home.

Way better than BF Nowhere West Texas.

"Oh, right. I heard about that. You bring you some supermodel as a date?" Those green eyes twinkled, the lines beside them deep and new, the skin tanned to an even dark brown. Lord, that man still did it for him, not that he'd ever let Kent know.

"No. I didn't bring anything but my guitar and enough clothes to get me through the week. Gonna rent the tux, even."

"Oh, now, I thought a big shot like you would have your own."

Sighing, Dane shook his head. "You're looking for a fight, Kent, I ain't your man. I'm too damned tired and old. 'Sides, I always liked you. Don't fuck that up."

I have an appearance coming up in February at Celebrate Romance, and they've asked us authors to spread the word! For readers, it's a very affordable con, and there will be lots of opportunity to meet with your favorite authors!

Happy Halloween!

happy halloween!

here's a bit of my sip! It's called Grimoire Erato and it's available at www.torquerebooks.com

***

The book smelled like pine and sage, which shouldn't surprise him, the way his uncle had spread the herbs about. Kelly had expected it to smell kinda… musty. The more natural tang of spice was a pleasant surprise.

"Well, old man," he said out loud, just to hear someone talk. "Let's see what was so all fired special about this one that you didn't share it."

The letters swam a little at first. He liked his languages dead, he would admit, but it had been a long while since he'd read Latin. Hell, this was worse. It was a combination of Latin and archaic Greek.

"Every well-educated young man should read French, Latin and Greek," Uncle Noel had told him not long after Kelly's mom and dad had died in a freak snowstorm. They'd been cross-country skiing.

His eight year-old self had scoffed. "Does that mean I get a grand tour of Europe when I'm old enough, too?"

Noel's blue eyes had danced. "If you behave."

Kelly had soon learned that Noel always kept his promises, and he'd been sent off on a backpacking tour of Europe when he turned eighteen. Noel had given him a Eurailpass and enough money to last two months if he was frugal.

It had been the time of his life.

Sighing, rubbing his eyes, Kelly focused back on the book, reading some of it out loud, just for the fun of it. "A lonely man should sacrifice a cock, if what he desires leads him to this path, and should offer the flesh to the one bound to serve, to receive his earthly reward. He should read from the book at the longest hour, and light the fire that will bring him the thing he needs above all else."

Right. Lord, what a crock of shit.

Kelly closed the book and finished off his brandy, just as the old grandfather clock struck midnight thirty. Well, there was the longest hour, huh? Cackling, Kelly climbed to his feet to refill his brandy, and the fire laid out in the fireplace caught his eye. Oh, hell, why not? He lit the kindling, watching it spring to life like it never did when he actually needed a fire.

He didn't have a cock to sacrifice, but maybe he'd jack off when he went to bed. Just to see what the old book had up its leather jacket.

Which was probably not a damned thing.

hello hello!

man, I'm pooped. I have a novel due that's still a fledgling and I'm flailing (woo, alliteration)

I've been thinking a lot about my style, and about my favorite genres, and I want to hear from readers! Do you like my historicals? contemporaries? My mysteries?

Let me know what genre you think I do best. I'll give away a copy of my Arcana, Rock Bottom, from Torquere Press to one random commentor!

have I pimped Crash and Burn?

I think I have, but I bet I haven't posted a snippet! :D

Here's a wee bit from Crash and Burn, my sip over at Torquere Press

***

"Danny! Danny, quit it!" There was Todd again, grabbing him, pulling him out into the tiny hallway. "You're not helping shit."

No. No, Todd was the helpful one, wasn't he? Danny turned and drove his hand into the wall next to Todd's head, his face inches from Todd's nose. "Why don't you quit? Why are you still fucking here? I'm a fucking lost cause."

"I… I don't know. You're still paying me?" Those green eyes were so wide, so shocked, and it kinda revved his motor.

"True enough. I wonder how helpful you really want to be."

"What?" That pretty mouth fell open, and somehow Danny had never noticed how sweet Todd's lips looked, how hot that square-but-lean face was.

"I need to blow off steam." He leaned, trying to press his mouth to Todd's, but Todd ducked.

"No. No, I won't do that unless you mean it. I'll… I'll find you someone."

"What if I want you?" The thought had never occurred to him before, and Dan wondered why not. Now, with Todd pressed up against him, he thought maybe it was the best idea he'd had in ages.

"You don't. You're just pissed off." Pushing Danny away, Todd stuck his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched like Danny had actually hit him. "If you had ever once looked at me before now? I'd be naked in a heartbeat. I'll make a couple calls."

Todd left him standing there with his mouth hanging open, just like that.

When the hot young thing showed up, though, Danny gave him a fifty and told the kid to go have a beer on him. Somehow, it just wasn't the same.

***

Another story finished!

go me

I can't talk too much about it yet, but I can definitely say it was worth the work...

As for what all is out there, I'll be updating that very soon!

How's y'all?

a wee book review

I adore zombies. No, really. From Dawn of the Dead to Shaun of the Dead, I love zombie movies. I love Zombie stories, too, including the one Lorne Rodman did, tongue in cheek. http://www.stemsandfeathers.org/rodman/free.html (scroll past the moose...)

So it's no wonder I love Autophobia by Lydia Thorne You can buy it here.

Jake is traveling toward Montana, avoiding the main roads and big towns in a world where a terrible infection is making people into half-dead predators. He meets Sam, another real, live person, the first he's seen in ages. Can they survive, or has Jake already started to succumb to the disease?

What I loved about this book was the way Sam is young and scared without being a whiny twink, and how Jake is the hero without being perfect. The story has a very non-traditional ending, very original, but I would argue that it's a happy ending, the only kind these two can have.

The story is very much a zombie tale, with a lot of the traditional imagery, but there's nothing wrong with that. It just makes sure you know what genre you're in. I think Lydia manages to be original for all of that, and give us a short, intense tale that's well worth reading!

waves

have y'all read my Sip? Have you? It's out at Torquere Press. It's called Crash and Burn, and it's about motocross star Danny and his assistant, Todd. Danny is about to crash in a big way. Can he convince Todd that he needs help not to burn out completely?


www.torquerepress.com

in other news, I have a wee bit of content up at the Torquere Birthday candle dealie!

http://torquerepress.com/birthday/index.html

My day was the third.

Also Also, I'm a participating author in the scavenger hunt!

http://torquerepress.com/contest/scavengerhunt.html

That's one heck of a prize!

Scavenger Hunt!

Hey y'all! There's an Anniversary Scavenger Hunt going on at Torquere Press. We authors got together and helped donate the prize, which is a fabulous Sony Ebook reader!

See how to play here: http://torquerepress.com/contest/scavengerhunt.html

My website is http://thegates.net/juliatalbot You can hunt there for my letter!

News!

I have new Sip out at Torquere Press. Sips are short stories, and at $1.29, they're a heck of a bargain. It's called Crash and Burn, and it's about Danny, a Motocross rider who loses his job, and his sponsors. In face he loses everything but his assistant Todd, who he realizes he needs more than anything else.

find it here!

http://www.torquerepress.com/fiction/sip019.html

okay, so I'll quit whining!

grins

have an excerpt instead. From Jack and the Big Old Beanstalk, my story from Torquere's Torqued Tales:

They lay in a sweaty tangle of arms and legs, both of them panting and smiling for the first time in what seemed like weeks. Jack took a lazy, sloppy kiss, his body feeling like it had been run over by the plow.

“You sure tore me up, Dane,” he said, watching his hand as it slid up Dane’s ribs.

“You brought me candy,” Dane said, kissing him right back. “I’m sorry I made you sleep in the lean-to.”

“I ain’t, if it gets me this.” He sighed, though, knowing it was time to get up. “We should see where that stalk goes.”

“What?” Dane pulled back to stare at him, just like the night before. “Why?”

“Well, that tinker feller said there was riches involved. Now, you know I ain’t inclined to flights of fancy, but it did grow to the sky without no water.”

“Huh. Well, get yer clothes on, then, and let’s go ‘fore it gets too hot.”

They got dressed without any more argument, and started climbing, both of them huffing and puffing long before they reached the top. They had to be crazy. They ought to be out plowing. But they climbed on, both of them resting a bit on one big bean shell.

When they finally popped up at the top of one big ‘ole bean that had split out of the shell, they gaped in amazement.

“Dane. Do you see?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you believe?”

“No.”

There was a whole ranch up there. Hell, the cows was as big as their little house, no lie. Giant cows. Giant everything. And a ranch house sat back along the line of the bean, looking like a fortress to a pair of rag dolls.

“Should we?”

“Hell, yes.” Dane took off like a shot, dodging cow flops bigger than their whole bodies.

“Well, shit. Now who’s a believer?”

working hard

have so many deadlines I can't think...

and so many mediocre reviews that I'm thinking of hanging up my hat and just doing non-fiction...

sigh

I hate being hormonal

an exceprt from Come and Take It: England

available from Torquere Press

London, 1845

Leland August figured London was a pretty strange place for a man who grew up in Texas. It just seemed so damned civilized. All those streets paved with cobbles, with more folks on them than he'd ever seen in one place save the battlefield.

The Texas Legation was on St. James' Street, which made it even more intimidating to a bumpkin from Waterloo. Oh, it might be called Austin now, but Leland had been born there when it was just four families and a settlement before, the new government had decided to call it after Mr. Austin. Wasn't much to it, really, but a map and a plan.

Not like London, that had been there for hundreds of years and soared up so a man could hardly see the clouds.

He'd been there for nearly a month so far, working at the Legation office, which mainly seemed to involve having a drink with the gents at the exclusive clubs on Pall Mall and riding about in the park, showing off horseflesh.

The streets always seemed to have people on them in London, even late in the evening while Leland made his way back to the Legation office. His own accommodations were nearby, and he itched to get out of his starched and yet drooping clothing, but he needed to stop in and leave the packet of papers he'd retrieved from the shipyards.

Sighing, he turned the corner from Pall Mall to St. James, quickening his steps as the wine merchant the Legation hovered over came into view.

Which was, naturally, when he slammed into another body, sending his leather bound packet flying and his own body stumbling back almost into the street.

"Damnation, man! Watch where you put your enormous feet, will you?"

"My feet?" Leland saw red, his hands clenching into fists. "I, sir, was watching where I was going. You came from thin air, I assure you.

Lord, he hated fellows with that snooty tone.

"Indeed? Well, then, certainly the fault is all mine. My abject apologies, you insolent backwoods oaf."

"Oaf!" Growling, Leland straightened his clothing, making sure nothing was awry. "I might be forced to take offense, Sir."

"We are in the right place, then."

***

get it at www.torquerepress.com

My new books are out!

My Arcana came out last week at Torquere Press. It's called Rock Bottom, and it's based on the 10 of Swords tarot card. Yeah, that one... The one with the pincushion sword guy. I took it from the card definition of troubles that you bring on yourself, but also troubles that are at an end. Mitch is a Colorado boy who likes the outdoors and likes to play, but can't keep a job to save him. His boyfriend Gus loves him, but can't live with him like he is, and asks him to move out. It takes a life-threatening flash flood to make Mitch clean up his act, but will it be too late?

My Chaser comes out today, and it's called Come and Take It: England

It's the first story in a set of three about Leland, a misplaced 1830's Texan in England. There he meets Ford Mayhew, who he thinks is just about perfect. Except that Ford's boss has some ulterior motives, and sets Ford to spying on Leland. Can they learn to trust each other?

Find them both at www.torquerepress.com

a lot going on part 2

I have 2 new releases coming out this month from Torquere Press. A Chaser, called Come and Take It: London, about a Texas boy in 1830s London, when Texas was its own country. The second is an Arcana, and it's called Rock Bottom. It's based on the tarot card, the ten of swords, and it's about what happens when a canyon guide in Utah gets about as down as he can possibly get before clawing his way back up.

Look for them in a few weeks!

lalala

just checking in. I have a lot of projects in the works, but man am I behind. O.O

ack

how's y'all? (chirp, chirp)

re-release!

my Torquere Press Single Shot Love Dot Com has been released again as a Single Shot Classic! If you missed it the first time around, it's the story of Virgil and Willie, who meet in an online dating forum, and find out that you really can find love online!

www.torquerepress.com

Check it out!

An excerpt, from my Torqued Tales story!

From Jack and the Big 'Ole Pinto Bean

by Julia Talbot

“Goddamned dried up old cow,” Jack muttered under his breath, kicking a clod of caliche dust out from under his boot. He spit a little, just because he could, because he was so damned mad. “Time to take you off to auction, lady.”

“She’s not giving at all, huh?” his lover Dane asked, coming over to rub a hand up and down his back. “She’s the last one we got, Jack. We’re gonna dry up and blow away.”

“No we ain’t.” Jack wasn’t no quitter, and he wasn’t gonna let Dane get all down in the mouth. He spit again, drawing up to his full height. “I’ll take her in tomorrow, sell her off. We’ll have us a feast.”

“A feast? I’d settle for some flour and sugar and maybe some lemon candy.” Dane’s blue eyes twinkled. “Some coffee.”

“You don’t want much, buddy. But I’ll do my best. Now come on, let’s leave her alone to enjoy her last days on this earth.” Both Jack and Dane took their hats off and held them over their hearts, having a moment for Bessie, who had served them well. Bless her. Even if she was a dried up old bitch.

get it here! www.torquerepress.com

Torqued Tales!

Torqued Tales is an anthology of twisted fairy tales from Torquere Press. I'm in it! It has 19 fairy tales, traditional like, all twisted up into hilarious gay romance and heat!

I did a take on Jack and the Beanstalk called Jack and the Big 'Ole Pinto Bean!\

I'll try to get an excerpt up in a bit. :>

for now, you can find it here:

www.torquerepress.com

A little rant

You know, I am well aware that not everyone will like my books. Heaven knows, even my favorite authors have clunkers that I go o.O about.

But what I don't understand is a reader who consistently bashes an author or a press, buying book after book and running them down. If you know you don't like Harlequin romances, why are you still buying them at Wal Mart?

Somewhere it becomes the reader's responsibility to buy what they like, not my responsibility to write what they want me to.

Also, before spreading misinformation about a business that a lot of people work hard to make good, or you know, agreeing blindly with the person who made the statements, people ought to check their facts.

back to your regularly scheduled promo now...

working hard

I have a zillion things due

A few little coming soons will follow.

Just wanted to say I'm still alive

Hi

just a little ramble

RT was fun. Did I mention my first fangirl experience? That so rocked. I got to sign things and I got hugs and all. I hope I made a few new fans, too. I got a reaming from my editor at Changeling for not getting CDs to sign... grin. I should have read my email huh? I'll know next time.

back from RT

there were some panic inducing moments, but all in all, it was a great ride.

I hope that nothing happening right now will affect my chances of going back next year, as I think the exposure was great.

I sold *and* signed books for the first time, really, and it was a rush!

Thanks to all the great fans :D

New Books!

some promo!

I have a story in Torquere Press' Galleons and Gangplanks! http://www.torquerepress.com/fiction/galleonsandgangplanks.html

Pirates! Captives! Sword fights and ship battles! We love our precious yes we do!

And!

I have a new book out from Changeling Press. The third and last book of the Pack Mentality series, called Big Bad Wolf.
http://changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=577

This one may appeal to even those readers who didn't want to read books one and two. It follows Steve, who appeared in book two, Myra's Mate, and his new stalker... er, love interest, the pack alpha, Kamen. Yup. All m/m, this one. ;) My editor said it was the best of the three, and who am I to argue? (Though I admit, there's a scene in book one with Sasha and Liam that remains the hottest scene I've ever written for Changeling...)

The whole series can be found here: http://www.changelingpress.com/catalog.php?upt=book&ufilter=series&sid=85

Starts with Alpha Bites, then Myra's Mate, then Big Bad Wolf! Woot

Galleons and Gangplanks

A new quartet of stories from Torquere Press, debuting in one book! It will be in print and ebook, and comes out next week!

Featuring me, Sean Micahel, Willa Okati and Mychael Black, it's all about historical priates, baybee!

a little of this

a little of that.

I'm amazed at how many people can't count change back.

I'm amazed at how unhappy my dad is with every day life.

I'm amazed at how many books I have out

I have another book coming out with Changeling in April. It's a m/m, the final book in the Pack Mentality series. It's called Big Bad Wolf, and it's about what happens when Kamen, the werewolf pack alpha, hooks up with Steve, Myra's ex from Myra's mate. Check it out!

working on that deadline

but you know, it just went by like a freight train...

ack

grins

still, working is good, right?

working working

yeah, I'm behind as usual

what are y'all up to?

back from EPICcon

what did I learn this year?

Promote. People have not heard of me. Hell, people who have published me have no idea who I am. Huh. What's up with that? Also, do not slight people who have published you. Not that I did, but I saw a lot of people dis publishers who helped them get where they are, and it will always bite you in the butt in the long run.

I had a lot of fun on the cowboy up panel, talking rodeo, which is my passion. I think it went well and people said they enjoyed it.

congratulaitons to Lee Rowan, who won the GLBT award. I was very pleased to see her win. Congrats too to Sean Michael and Willa Okati, who were fellow nominees to Lee, with very fine books indeed.

Going to sleep now ;)

J

so where was I?

in the Bahamas!

Ahem. Yup, had a great time on the Tim McGraw cruise

Now, for the stuff I neglected to pimp:

To Hell You Ride! It was a Turn of the Screw Serial. Now it's an ebook. You can find it here: http://www.torquerepress.com/cart/cart.php?m=product_list&c=1198

It's about hard rock miner Big Roy and his new 0bsession, actor Clancy. Set in late 1800s Telluride, it has all the lovin' you could ask for, lots of fighting, and a cave in! What more could you ask for.

Upcoming:

Taking the Leap - Ross Thatcher's story, and my final Thatcher book... Feb 28

April: a pirate story in Galleons and Gangplanks, an anthology from Torquere

and Big Bad Wolf, the third and final story in the Pack Mentality series from Changeling Press

there's probably more, but that'll do for now

rodeo tonight. Woot. More inspiration is always a good thing ;)

blargh

okay, so. Texas is the land of sun and heat and all, right? So why has it been icy, rainy, and not above 40 degrees for 2 weeks!?

I'm so over it. SO OVER IT

it's killing the writing, because getting out of bed? Impossible

blargh