Some updates and a new release!

BA was back in the hospital this week with hysterical bleeding. She's home now, and being monitored closely.

Girl dog is pooping in the bed. Send bleach cloths.

I've got a new release!

Check it out here at Dreamspinner Press!

And here at Amazon.com

Many thanks to all who've been so supportive. I'm just a little pooped and pooped on...

Hugs

Julia

Happy Release Day! Two Cowboys and a Baby by BA Tortuga

"Country don't mean dumb."

This is my favorite line from the Stand, wherein Mainer Stephen King takes up for country folks all over who might talk slower or come to things from an angle that city folks don't think of.

That's what happens in Two Cowboys and a Baby by my amazing and talented wife, BA Tortuga.

Hoss McMasters finds a baby on his doorstep. What ensues is a tropetastic romp from a Deep east Texas perspective. Hoss is a cowboy's cowboy, just like the guys I grew up with, and I adore him. Bradley is a redneck boy who will do anything for a job, and he makes me laugh. These two are stubborn, clueless and amazing.

It's here on Dreamspinner

And here on Amazon!

Read without prejudice! These boys are country, but they're a wonderful ride!

XXOO

Julia

All the Books! A Guest Post from BA Tortuga

Hey, y'all!

BA Tortuga here, taking over the wife's blog.

Did y'all know I have all the books out these last few weeks?

I do. I have a lot. So I want to tell you all about them. Come sit close. We'll have coffee and I'll give you the short and dirty list.

I have Mr. Unlucky at Totally Bound.

Addie is a photographer with a past she wants to forget. Bodie is the unluckiest man in love who ever existed. Can they get their shit together?

Buy Link

See what I mean about quick and dirty?

Reclamation 2 is out at Changeling! No Time to Lie

Marshall and Ben believe their mate, Jakob, has been killed. When Jakob escapes from a cult, there is nothing that will stop them from reclaiming him.

Awful blurb. Good book. Werewolves and kidnapping and weird cults! Buy it here.

Real World is out from Dreamspinner. Sequel to Ever the Same

Dan is ex Army and trying to assimilate to the real world. Weldon is bisexual, a widower, and has a ton of kids. Not exactly a match made in heaven, right?

Buy it here!

Then there's the reprint co-write with the wife, who is so kindly hosting me today.

Link to the Crescent. NOLA. Werewolves. Vamps. Sexay!

get it here or at amazon!

Pant pant. I'm exhausted. I hope y'all are reading!

Much love y'all

BA Tortuga

www.batortuga.com

@batortuga on Twitter

facebook!

New Release! Midnight Rodeo: Belonging

Woo!

The sequel is finally here!

A few years back, Kiernan Kelly, BA Tortuga and I put out Midnight Rodeo's first book, Homecoming. We recently republished that book on our own, and now we have the sequel, Midnight Rodeo: Belonging.

Look at this cover by the amazing Kris Norris!

Strangely enough, I'm not responsible for the tiger shifter on the cover. That's BA Tortuga. I wrote a cheetah shifter and a spirit guided rodeo rider named Raven Walkingman.

You can buy it here at ARE and here at Amazon!

And here's a bit from my story, Light a Rocket. Special thanks to Jaymi for being our amazing editor.

“Rocket, you cannot keep this up, kid.” Thack, the head of all things in the arena, looked bitchy on the best of days, but the stock contractor was positively livid. The huge black horns curving over his head actually sort of pulsed. Cool. Terrifying, but cool.

“Keep what up?” Rocket went for innocent. It wasn’t his best look, but it was rare enough around these parts that he thought it could work.

“Kid, you weigh, what? Eighty pounds?”

“Stop it. I’m at least a buck and a ten-spot.” Pretty much.

“You can’t bulldog. You can’t do the timed events. Stop being a turd with a death wish. You rile up the stock.”

Rocket tried hard not to let his hurt show. Or his panic. He had to make some money. Had to. “I’m not trying to upset anyone. I’m bulking up, I promise.”

“Bulking… okay. Okay. You get one more chance, but the physics say it can’t work.”

“Physics say the girls can’t ride the barrels and they sure as shit do.”

“Mmm.” Thack was good at the noncommittal noise. “Well, just do me a favor and don’t get hurt.”

“Right. I’m on it. Totally.” Hell, he wasn’t sure his three broken ribs were ever going to recover. They did tend to stick out. Rocket was a cheetah shifter. Ribs were a thing.

“I’m serious. One more catastrophe on the timed events and I’m sending you to Eshelman.”

The shifter doc was… intense. Difficult, at best. Strict. Rocket just nodded, feeling like a bobble head doll.

He slunk passed the bullfighters, the scary as all fuck ghost riders, and then headed to his truck. He thought he was safely out of everyone’s way, which was naturally when he slammed right into a solid, lanky body.

“Whoa, kiddo. Watch where you’re putting those boots down.” Raven Walkingman caught his upper arms when he bounced.

“I. I—”

Oh, God. God. That was— He’d just bumped into…

Right. Breathe. “Sorry.”

That bronze face split into a wide, white smile, the king of the Midnight Rodeo not seeming at all put out. “No problem. Rocket, right?”

“Yeah. Yes, sir. Rocket Ugara.” He held out his hand, the urge to sniff this man overwhelming. He panted a tiny bit, his usual reaction to stress more than a little embarrassing.

Walkingman shook his hand, making shivers run up his arm and down his back. Hello.

His kitty purred inside him, its tail lashing, and he had the urge to do his best sexy dance. Rocket fought that compunction, but he couldn’t cover it completely, obviously. Walkingman’s nose quivered, and he grinned wider.

“You riding tomorrow?” Rocket asked. He had to stop being an idiot. You didn’t come onto the most famous cowboy in their world. It didn’t happen.

“I am. What about you?” Walkingman let him go, the lack of touch such a disappointment.

“Gotta make my pennies, so yeah. Totally.”

“Well, watch those ribs. I was you, I’d sit out the bulldogging this week.”

“Yeah. Thack was pretty clear about that.” Still, he needed to get enough cash for gas to make it to the next event and pay his entry fees.

“Then why are you still doing it?” The man sounded genuinely curious.

“Same reason every broke-dick cowboy does it, I reckon.” And didn’t he feel about two inches tall admitting that?

wordless wednesday

I was going to do TBT but it's Friday

but I can't find any pics on this machine

Sigh. And my dropbox only has new stuff

So I'll tell a story instead.

When I first met my wife in person, I went to Texas in February or March and melted. They took me to Chuy's and we waited outside forever and I melted some more. I was dying. Colorado at that time of year is a tough one. Colorado: 40 degrees. Texas: 68

See, in Texas, spring comes on Valentine's Day.

My wife came to visit me the first time in October in Colorado. It was lovely. 70 and sunny the whole time until the last day. Then it rained and the high was 58.

She about died.

Now we've been in Albuquerque for 2 years. This is our third fall. Yes, despite the 85 degree highs, it's fall. How do I know? BA broke out her jeans yesterday. She loves the seasons now, and it looking forward to cooler weather. Now when we go to Texas? She's the one who melts.

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

Wordless Wednesday

Release Party at TRS today!

We have a release party at TRS today!

Sean Michael, BA Tortuga and I are promoting Cereus: the Building and giving away a kindle!

Go here to see