BLACK SATIN

Musings 15? - Book Report

2012-01-28T12:51:00.000-05:00

At Barnes and Noble and I managed to get a seat this time. Enjoying a large Passionfruit iced tea and a pizza pretzel. Both good. I could enjoy it a lot more if the three woman next to me wasn't spending all this time griping out loud about the actors and actresses in the fan mags not to mention the fashions. "Ladies, enough!" I want to yell. "I don't want to hear about a boob job!" Well it's always something isn't it? Oh good, they left. And even though I can't even begin to afford it, I'm purchasing books. Chocolate and books, the only two things I'll buy when I'm low on funds. And maybe electronics.

What's on the Shelves? Still a lot of paranormal but not as many as before. Historical seem to be making a comeback as well as heroic fantasy (yeah!) so I'd better get cracking if I want to do one of my New Years resolutions of getting into mainstream.

And I'm just hearing of this today but apparently, after wishing for a series on my last musing, Janet Evanovich's One for the Money, is now on film with Katherine Hiegl as Stephanie Plum. Wow, I need to start watching the news more, this came out yesterday. Or at least literary news.

As to the books one of my FAVORITE authors, Beverly Jenkins has come out with a new novel called NightHawk. The sexy shirtless cowboy on the cover caught my eyes. Well that and I pretty much have all her historical romances.

The second is Greatshadow by James Maxey. I've seen his previous works but never had an occasion to purchase them. This is book one although it doesn't say whether its a trilogy or a series. Either way is good for me. He also has a blurb by Gail Z. Martin. Wonder how he managed that?

I'm glad I could get out today. Its kind of cool but its nice enough and I did some shopping. But now I want to write. I'm going to finish my tea and probably head on home though. Left the coffee pot on. Besides I want to send out my writing resume and see how to put it up on my site. I also want to start researching some literary agents. I realized the last time I did, was when e-books were first created.

Hope you all make many words today. Peace!

CJ

NEW RELEASE!! SOULS INFLAMED: M/M PARANORMAL

2012-01-18T23:52:00.000-05:00

PURCHASE NOW!

CAUTIONS: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE / GRAPHIC SEX

GENRE: CONTEMPORARY GAY PARANORMAL

PUBLISHER: COBBLESTONE PRESS

COVER ART: PJ EDWARDS

FORMAT: E-BOOK

Good news, everyone! My newest release, Souls Inflamed is hot off the virtual pressestoday! This is my first M/M contemporaryparanormal novel and I hope, as always, you enjoy it! Find this sexy and steamy read at theCobblestone Press site, grab a nice glass of wine (or a cup of hot chocolate)and sit back and enjoy! Just click onthe link and of course, always feel free to let me know who you liked it! Peace

Blurb:

The first timeMyles Bryce lays eyes on Demetrius Jordan, the attraction is immediate. Butthere's something about Demetrius that frightens Myles. A power that the otherman exudes that even Myles can't fathom. Myles himself is not quite normal. He possesses the power to control and manipulate the emotions of others,what he calls his insight.

DemetriusJordan has had a prized possession stolen from him, a journal that contains allhis secrets. An incubus with his ownarcane power, Jordan traces his stolen merchandise to Myles’ bookstore and isshocked to find that Myles refuses to return his property. Demetrius senses the power that Mylespossesses but he isn’t as much interested in that power as he is in possessingMyles. And Myles wants to be possessedby Demetrius.

Quickie News!

2012-01-15T13:11:00.001-05:00

Just received the new cover for Crave The Dark. Isn't it absolutely delicious? Crave The Dark is coming soon from Ai Press and is a M/M contemporary paranormal novel. This is my second work with Ai and it's a pleasure working with this wonderful publisher.

And to be released on 1/18/12 through Cobblestone Press, Souls Inflamed a menage paranormal. Cobblestone is another publisher I enjoy working with. I'll make an official announcement the night before.

It's moments like this that remind me how much I love what I do.

Peace!
CJ

HAPPY 2012!!

2012-01-01T00:22:00.000-05:00

Author Matt Staggs posted his New Years Resolutions, More Comics, More Games, More Fun: My New Year’s Resolutions on Suvudu . I commented what a good list I thought it was especially points, three, four, five and eight. I added three more:

1. ... I’m going to try getting published in the mainstream this year. I’m in the process of building an e-publishing presence, I’m hoping to parlay that into print publishing.
2. I also want to pursue other avenues in the industry like scripwriting and manga/graphic novels.
3. Also playing more video games although I’m waiting for the Wii U to come out. I’m an RPGer myself but other games like Batman Arkham City and Uncharted have caught my attention.

I'm also going to lose weight. No, not because I want to look good in a little black dress although that's a benefit but its purely for health reasons. Diabetes runs in my family, my oldest brother just told me he was recently diagnosed and my doctor has been on my case about it for years. Not quite sure how I'm going to accomplish it yet. My doctor suggested at least try to be more active. I even considered buying Wii Fit. Has anyone tried that with success? I don't have much time to go to the company gym and that's not really my thing anyway.

So what are your resolutions for the New Year?

Wishes you all my fellow authors, friends and readers a Happy 2012!

Peace.

CJ Black

FINISHED!!! CRAVE THE DARK 37.5K WORDS

2011-12-22T01:23:00.000-05:00

When one completes a WIP, there is always that sense of pride and accomplishment for a job well done. On the other hand, there's that sort of sadness that comes with finishing a story that you've put your all into and that you've spent so much time with the characters. It's like that Schoolhouse Rock short -- Interjection! When the girl says, "Darn! That's the end."

Having said that....

CRAVE THE DARK IS OFFICIALLY COMPLETE!! FINAL WORD COUNT APPROXIMATELY 37,500.

Talking Dirty With Erotic Fiction Author CJ Black - Did you miss it? Here it is!

2011-12-12T18:51:00.000-05:00

Listen to internet radio with Bk Walker on Blog Talk Radio

News and Updates!

2011-12-10T20:33:00.001-05:00

Yes, it has been awhile hasn’t it? I have some updates and a couple ofannouncements, some you probably already know if you follow my FaceBook pageand the other areas where I hang out.

First, need some last minute Christmas present ideas foryour online friends? OK, I know it’sstill really early but what the hell? Some hot, steamy erotic will workwonders! I have many works availablethat have gotten some kick-ass reviews. It’s the perfect present! Justclick on the link at the top of my page – My Books and Stories.

Once again the awesome Jadette Paige has me as a guest ather blog on December 12^th where I’ll speak about my works with AiPress, most notably, Rain Play and my WIP Crave The Dark. So make sure you stop by and have a look!

And on the very same date, I’m going to gather my courageand do BK Walker’s podcast at Blogtalkradio.com! Note down the time 6:00 pm EST. In fact why not go there now and set up areminder? http://my.blogtalkradio.com/bkwalker You’ll get to hear my dulcet tones – well my voice at least – for thevery first time and you’ll be able to ask me questions about my writing, myselfor whatever catches your fancy! I’ll besending out a notice later tonight. I amSO hyped up about this. Hmm, maybe Ishould relax a bit?

But wait – there’s more, the fabulous Nobilis Reed has agreedto do a blog interview. I’ve wanted tofeature him here at Black Satin for quite some time and I figured it was waypast time. The questions have alreadybeen sent, so as soon as everything is set up I’ll make the officialannouncement!

If you don’t already know, I also have a free read up atSmashwords which is doing quite well. Soif you’re a first-timer reading my work this is a good chance to get a samplingof my style! And of course a reviewwould be appreciated! http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108883

I’ve updated both my blog and website with the many reviewsI’ve received recently. I’m so gladeveryone is enjoying my work!

Peace everyone!

FINISHED!!!! SOULS INFLAMED

2011-11-12T13:20:00.001-05:00

SOULS INFLAMED FINISHED! TOTAL WORD COUNT 32,327. BOO-YAH! TIME TO GET A LATTE AND CELEBRATE. THEN ONTO EDITING! ACK!

News and Muse – Veterans Day 11/11/11

2011-11-11T16:22:00.001-05:00

Like I always say, every year on this day, take a moment at least to both thank and remember the brave men and women who protect our country and freedoms. I’m still fairly certain that if my grandfather were here and knew I wrote erotica, he’d be like. “What the hell?” I mentioned him a little while ago, letting everyone know he was a veteran of both Korea and WWII and always very old school.

I’m into the final stretch of Souls Inflamed and as with all my work, I enjoyed the ride but am always a little sad when it ends. I want to finish Crave The Dark as my wonderful publisher Sedonia Guillone of Ai Press has been waiting patiently for it and I appreciate it.

Things have been going well with my writing for the past few months. As many of you know, I’ve gotten some excellent reviews for some of my newest releases. Hell I even got a 4.5 Star Review for a book that isn’t currently on the virtual shelves so to speak, which of course, made me giddy.

If you’ll recall my fantasy erotic short story Paint became unavailable some time ago. The plan is now to re-publish it on Kindle in the near future but apparently it was out long enough for it to be picked up by the wonderful reviewers at Night Owl Reviews. Because of the 4.5 it became a NOR Top Pick. Woo-Hoo! I’m being a little low key about it right now because I want to get it up on Amazon so my equally wonderful readers can enjoy it. So bear with me, I’ll keep you updated!

Passions Due is now listed as Number 6 of the Top 10 Bestsellers at the Ravenous Romance site! KA-CHOW!

But you know, I have one regret. Yes I know I shouldn’t have any but I do. I just wish all this had happened twenty years ago. I’ve been writing for a very long time and it’s been a long and arduous journey. There was my writing defeat which dealt a major blow where I almost gave it up. I had a few sales but nowhere near what’s going on now. But realize back then there was no internet, no e-books, no Nooks or Kindles. No Facebook or Twitter. Hell there were even no home computers! No being able to submit via e-mail. When I first started out you had to hand type your manuscript and send it in via snail mail, then wait for several months, sometimes up to a year for a response. Okay, pick your jaws off the floor.

I just think I would have gone a lot farther back then if I had everything we have now. Although I do appreciate everything, all the technology and conveniences. Now I have to just do the writing. Since its going to be a cold weekend I’ll do just that. Why not hang out with me and get some work done as well? As always you can tell me your word count and see how far we both get.

Peace!

Winner of my Birthday Bash Contest - Dellani Oakes!

2011-10-19T07:08:00.000-04:00

And the winner is.....Dellani Oakes! Her uplifting birthday present story has earned her a free copy of Passion's Due! Let's give her a round of applause!

Birthday Bash Contest - Win a free copy of Passion's Due!

2011-10-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

Celebrate my birthday with me! Post here and answer a simple question – What was your favorite birthday present? I’ll choose someone at random to win a free copy of Passion’s Due. And is your birthday the same day as mine – October 18th? Just say so (I’m going to go on the honor system here) and you also have a chance to win a copy of Passion’s Due by choice at random.

Peace!

NEW RELEASE! Passion's Due from Ravenous Romance!

2011-10-03T11:42:00.000-04:00

KA-CHOW! What a way to start a new work week! My newest short, a m/f contemporary Passion's Due is out today from Ravenous Romance™! Only 0.99! Hop on over to their site for a copy of this steamy quick read today!

Blurb:

All her life, Angie has carried her brother through his irresponsible actions and addictions. But the day he offered her up as a sexual plaything as payment on his debt, her anger and hurt pushed Angie to finally remove him from her life.

Alex Curtis is a man with a bad reputation who takes whatever he wants. He’s intrigued by the offer he’s given. Alex already knows Angie and wants her in his bed and under his complete control.

Angie thought once she’d walked away that was the end of it, until Alex came to collect. What he’s planned for her has nothing to do with the debt and everything to do with his need to dominate her. To let her experience the pleasure of being bound and at his mercy. And Angie isn’t certain she doesn’t want to give in.

Off to work now! Peace!

CJ Black

Musing 14 - My Response to Jessewave’s & Mantastic Fiction’s Posts – The Oversaturation of M/M Fiction

2011-09-29T19:51:00.002-04:00

I came upon this article when Erates shared it on Friend Feed. It caught my interest so I decided to have a look. The original post was on Jessewave's site on 9/25/11.

The question Jessewave originally asked was Are Some M/M Readers Reaching A Saturation Point. I thought to comment on her site but I decided this would probably take a lot of thought and much more space. How I love my blog.

When I first saw the post I have to admit I was kind of pissed. If there is one thing I can’t stand is being lumped in with a certain group when it comes to my writing. The post seemed to say that most of us authors of M/M erotic fiction just didn’t care and were churning out badly written, badly edited books without thought to our readership. Boring, uninspired and sameness was one of the words used by her and apparently a plethora of other reviewers.

Then I thought, let me calm down and looked at this with a clear, objective opinion.

But first, I will say, I do care.

As a reader, I love M/M books and have enjoyed many of them I’ve read. Look here on my blog for some of my favorites. The only reason why I haven’t been reading any lately is because I’ve been working on my own WIP’s. Did I mention, I love to write M/M as well? I haven’t been into the whole erotic fiction and certainly not the M/M genre for very long, maybe four years tops if that. I’m still enjoying it immensely.

And although I can in no way speak for them, I think perhaps the gay community appreciates the fact that now they have another form of entertainment tailored for them.

But back to the post. The comments were many and varied. I did see a couple from authors. Again I will admit I didn’t go through all of them, so I may be wrong. Please feel free to correct me. It was mostly those stating their opinion of agreeing or disagreeing. Then again maybe other authors that saw it, decided to keep their own counsel. Normally, I would do that myself. I know we authors aren’t supposed to comment on such things but, I don’t know, this time, I felt I needed to voice an opinion of my own. Hope I don’t get into too much trouble.

My reasons are varied. First off, and I am going to be totally blunt here, have either authors of the posts read any of my works? And no this is not shameless self-promotion on my part and I’m certainly NOT saying mine are better than anyone else’s. I am asking because if you are making such a broad generalization then I hope you’ve at least read something of mine. I'm sure this will apply to my fellow authors as well. I’d appreciate it anyway.

Second, I’m uncertain what authors are being read here and what publishers they’re going with. Are the posters reading the same people over and over or are they looking for the hidden gems (as someone in the comments mentioned) from authors who are not on the Top 10 or Best Seller Lists? Just because we aren’t in that position, doesn’t mean what we write is poor. I can’t speak for other authors but I’ve gotten my share of rejections, no responses and “what, are you kidding me?” e-mails. And when I do finally get that wonderful acceptance, the publishers I’ve dealt with put me through the equivalent of basic training (and yes, I was in the military so I know how that is) when it comes to editing. And yes, I think this is a good thing because it tells me they care about my work as much as I do and are not going to let it out into the world until we both think it is perfect. I sure as hell do not want people to see typos, bad sentence structure and wording, flat characters and an overall uninteresting plot. It drives me insane when I do see people mention typos and the like. It means I haven't done my job. My name is on this work. It is a reflection of me.

Are readers too critical was asked? They should be but for the right reasons. I’ve gotten low reviews because a book is too short or too long, which has nothing to do with the plot, characters or the overall work itself.

I have always invited readers and now I will include reviewers to drop me a line about my works. I want to know what you like or what you don’t like. I will try my best to be as accommodating as possible. That doesn’t mean that I won’t write what I want first, and yes, I do write from my heart or gut or whatever as another commenter said. However, I also use my intelligence in the form of the research and plotting I do. But you CAN’T write fiction without some heart.

What exactly are the reviewers looking for? We have no idea unless you tell us. At least that’s how I feel. It’s easy to complain how books are “boring”, “uninspired” or “the same”, but it does no good without going in the opposite direction, giving us your opinion about what you’d like to see.

If you are in fact burned out by a genre, perhaps take a longer sabbatical away from it. Quite frankly, I believe if you’re so burned out that you’re thinking, “I can’t look at another piece of erotic fiction without screaming.” Then it seems to me that you were never really into the genre in the first place and should change completely.

I'll use myself as an example. When I first started considering a serious writing career at the tender age of fourteen, I wondered what I should write. I was raised by my grandparents and one of the things my grandmother and I did together was watching the old NBC Mystery Movies, some of you may recall like Columbo. So when I asked her what to write, she said, “You like mysteries do that.”

So that’s what I did for the first several years of my writing life. Churning out awful little things that could be used as blackmail material on me if they existed today. I tried for years but I just couldn’t get into it like I thought I should be doing. I became angry and frustrated. I remember at once point, throwing a WIP across the room. You had to actually print stuff out back then.

Then when I was about to give up, I was perusing the bookstore one day and I came upon the fantasy aisles. I’d never considered fantasy before. I don’t quite recall what book I picked up first. By the time I was done, mystery was right out the window. As you know I do a lot of fantasy but I find myself also getting into contemporary and paranormal but my first love will always be heroic fantasy and sword and sorcery. Haven’t gotten tired of it yet and it’s been almost thirty years.

Now as to erotic fiction, particularly M/M that was something I thought I would never consider. No way, no how. Then I wrote that first story and got paid for it…a lot. Or at least a lot in my book and pun fully intended. But at the time, I thought, let me try this and get it over with. It’s probably going to be like pulling teeth. So I wrote the story and I thought later, wait, this isn’t bad. This is kind of good. Then as I continued to write and dabbled into M/M I thought, hey not only is this not bad, it’s pretty good. I’m beginning to like writing this. Finally after I had a few stories and my novel under my belt, I told my friend Robin that I really loved writing erotic fiction. That I wanted to delve as deeply into it as possible despite what I’d said in the past. His reply was pretty much, “Well duh. That was obvious from the beginning.”

So if it’s not obvious from the beginning it’s a good bet it’s not what the heart and the head wants.

Wow, I’m getting tired. But I have a few more things to say and I’ll keep my peace from now on.

Let me comment a bit about one of MANtastic Fiction’s Observations –

Too many shorts -- Interesting. All I can say is when I write a short story, it’s so I can give my reader something quick and as entertaining as my longer works. Shorts are a challenge for most of us and I like to test my abilities by rising to that challenge. It doesn’t always work. I’m sometimes told, I wish the story were longer. Not that it was bad, they just wished it hadn’t ended so soon. And yes, I write them as sort of an introduction for readers new to the genre. I personally was glad for the shorts, giving me a little taste until I was ready to delve into something deeper.

Before I conclude perhaps I should actually answer the question. No I don't believe it's oversaturated. Do we believe straight romance is? And its been around for at least a good hundred years if not a few centuries. But people still buy it in droves. M/M is still finding its niche. People are still discovering it. If you've read my past musings you will see how I've noticed the same old types of books when I peruse the shelves at Barnes and Noble. A commenter on MANtastic said it perfectly -- if the market were saturated, we'd see a decline in sales not a steady climb. The same can be said for paranormal, romance and yes erotic fiction. I just appears to me is that the question is asked based on a matter of personal preference. Perhaps more care does need to be taken when perusing the virtual shelves.

I like to take my time with my work. I sometimes joke about dragging my muse out of the corner but in truth, if I don’t feel like working on something I won’t. Forcing yourself only makes for bad writing, so yes it may take some time for my new works to come out but I promise when they do they will be the very best I have written. I love what I do. I don’t believe in doing anything half-assed. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a perfectionist. If it’s not perfect you won’t see it. My word on that.

If I’ve offended anyone, I apologize, as that certainly wasn’t my intent. All right, I’ve spoken my peace for now and to my wonderful readers, fellow writers and the reviewers I say,

Peace

CJ Black

Musing 13 - Books Into TV Series...Why Not?

2011-09-22T22:35:00.000-04:00

Just watched the premier of the remake of the Charlie’s Angels series and I have to admit I thought it was pretty good. Considering some of the comments I saw I began to wonder if the critics were watching the same show. One old dude complained about the dialogue and gave it a one star. It all seemed fine to me, then again I got the impression this man had never seen the original show. Not only did he use the words, “fluffy” and “campy” to describe the original (well it was a little campy) but he completely forgot to mention Jacklyn Smith, citing Kate, Cheryl and Farrah as the original Angels.

But I’ve always liked shows about kick-ass women so maybe it’s a personal preference. Drew Barrymore, who incidentally had a lot of Cover Girl commercials during the showing, exec-produces it but hey, she has every right to indulge in some shameless self-promotion. After all, we writers do the same thing.

But on to the topic of this Musing. One of the main complaints I saw on various message boards and forums was that people were tired of seeing remakes of old shows. I have to go with them on that, despite the fact that I liked what I saw, so far anyway. It’s been a big pet peeve with me. I mean, really, can’t you big TV producers think of something original? But of course, that raises the question, is there really anything original? I’ve heard it said, no. There are no original ideas, just the unique spin you put on the tried and true ones (if you disagree feel free to comment) but I can’t but wonder why the producers don’t ever take advantage of that place that can provide a wealth of ideas. I am speaking of course of a writer’s favorite place. The library.

Yes, within these hallowed halls are hundreds – nay, thousands of a wonderful invention called BOOKS. And believe it are not, these have been known to be adapted to TV and movies with reasonable success. Not always, but sometimes it works.

So what books or series of books would you like to see adapted to a TV series? Well for me, I’d love to see Beverly Jenkins do something with her works. She is my FAVORITE, author of African-American historical romances. When was the last time we had a historical or a show based in the Old West? I actually caught an episode of Dr. Quinn tonight and thought, what aren’t Westerns popular anymore? Dorothy Garlock is known for her writing books that take place in Depression-era America among other earlier decades. Why not something along those linesof her works or ask her to co-produce a series? I also would like to see something based on Sharon Sala’s works. And I hear a lot of people like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series.

I figure if HBO can do A Game of Thrones, can’t someone else do a fantasy based series?

Let me take a moment to peruse my 300+ books. Ah – how about Tamora Pierce? She’s written some very intriguing and popular series with strong female characters. I’m also partial to Gail Z. Martin and Maria V. Snyder. And let’s not forget Jane Yolen. I think I e-mailed her a long time ago. Another one of my favorites.

So tell me what do you like? What books or series of books would you like to see made into a TV series and why or why not? And as an extra added incentive here’s a little secret contest – I’ll pick a random commenter and give you a choice of one copy of a book from my back list.

Peace.

I’m the Spotlight Author at 1 Place for Romance – 9/21/11!

2011-09-20T21:36:00.000-04:00

I welcome everyone to stop by the 1 Place for Romance blog and hang out for a while, learn a bit more about me and where I am on the net. They’ll also be more information about my new release from Ai Press, Rain Play, M/M contemporary short. Hope to see you there and of course comments and questions are welcome!

Peace!
CJ

Musings 12 - There Be Books Here!

2011-09-17T16:49:00.000-04:00

Ahh…another good soup and sandwich meal at the Barnes and Noble. And I was starting to feel not having eaten so I’m glad I stopped. It was a little pricey but delicious. The only problem is the only table available is by a fire door near the stairs and people keep rushing past behind me. Someone is going to get tripped up the next time I jump out of my chair.

My thoughts, if you’re deliberately going to be unprofessional and totally clueless at your job, give it up and let someone have it that really needs it, like that single mom or retired vet . Sheesh, sometimes I’m amazed at how miserable or lazy people can be at their jobs. How do they get them in the first place?

Perused the shelves at B&N of course and it’s pretty much the same old, same old. However I did see two books that caught my eye that I’m probably going to grab on the way out, Shadow Kin by M.J. Scott and Coronets and Steel by Sherwood Smith. Will recommend stopping by Ms. Scott’s site as it is very nice.

I still of course hope for the day when my and the books of my fellow erotic authors can be on the shelves. I mean if you have to place our work in locked glass cases and require proof that your of age, go ahead and do it but at least give us a shot.

I’m not going to harp on that though. Just have to patiently wait I suppose.

Yet another idea has stolen its way into my brain. I’m trying to finish everything that I have on my plate right now but at least I’ll have plenty to do on my vacation, which will be a glorius fourteen days including weekends. No I’m not going anywhere but I will be celebrating an – almost monumental birthday age. Right now, I’m deep into Crave the Dark, Memory in Shadow and am waiting to hear about the proposal I sent for Souls Inflamed. I’m never sure how long I should wait before sending a follow-up e-mail without coming off as pushy.

I’m going to spend the rest of my evening writing. It is quite dreary and cold outside today. Autumn is finally making itself known. I’ve been wearing my favorite hoodie all day but before I go I think I’ll grab a latte to warm up.

See you online everyone. Oh, BTW feel free to post your own Musings here as well.

P
eace

My 9/11 Rememberance

2011-09-11T08:23:00.000-04:00

On 9/11/01, I was sitting in my cubicle at work. I was employed by a major corporation that year when one of my co-workers ran into our area and said, “Someone just flew a plane into the World Trade Center.” And ran out. He gave no details and first we all thought it was someone who had flown a small engine plane into it by accident. No one told us any different.

Later another co-worker had to be carried out of the office because she was crying hysterically. We later learned her brother worked at the WTT. I never found out if he made it out alive. Finally I walked over to where everyone had gathered to see what exactly was going on. Shock doesn’t begin to describe how we all felt. There was something surreal about the whole event. We felt we had all been gut-punched. We couldn’t breathe. We felt sick. I can’t find the words, even this writer couldn’t find the words.

The next thing we knew our building had to be evacuated. Some sick individual had called in a bomb threat. Actually threats were called in to several major businesses. As I exited my building I saw the office across the street had also been evacuated. People milled around in the parking lot. My car was parked in their lot as there wasn’t enough room in ours so I ran over and asked the attendant if it was all right. He seemed unconcerned. He didn’t know what was going on. I rushed into the lot and as I did I heard one of the gathered people say, “I heard it was a car bomb.” Just as I reached mine.

It didn’t come together in my mind until I was behind the wheel. I just wanted to get away from there. I remember sitting in my car for fifteen minutes, paralyzed with my hand on the key, thinking, is this it? Is this how I’m going to go out?

I finally turned the key. Had to avoid the crowd standing there but I finally got out. Drove straight home. I called my mother to see if she was all right and let her know I was. I didn’t leave the house for the rest of the day.

When I returned to work I had carried a radio with me. No one seemed to have a problem when I turned it to the news and talk radio and we all listened to what was happening in NYC.

Then something started to happen that truly scared me. People started to call in advocating violence against anyone of Middle Eastern descent. That we should just “get rid of them all now or deport them now”. At that point we didn’t truly know who was responsible. I wasn’t long before people started suggesting we deport everyone who “isn’t American”. The DJ finally said the next person who called in with that crap would get torn a new one.

I recall going on a writer friend’s message board and telling people not to advocate this type of violence and I was accused of basically not caring. “Are you saying we shouldn’t do anything?” “That we should just accept what happened?” Were some of the comments I received. Where the dumbasses got that from my saying, don’t go out and kill someone because they’re a certain nationality is a mystery to me to this day. The ironic this – when I asked my friend to help me get my message across on the board he said, “No, I don’t want to think about this anymore, I just want to forget this happened.” I thought, “Are you fucking serious?” That was the last time I spoke to him.

I knew we would never forget this. I knew then things would never be the same. What I try to do though is focus on the fact that the majority of American’s rallied together in that time of great crisis. That we were united in our shock and horror and how so many people risked everything to lend a hand. How other countries also showed they were with us and shared in our tragedy. We took care of the man responsible. Again, I won't comment except to say now, may their souls rest in peace.

So take a moment to reflect. It doesn’t have to be too long, just a nod. Look at an article or post on a blog. Comment on Facebook or ask someone, “Do you remember where you were?”

Peace, everyone

*images provided by MS Office ClipArt

Sex Marks The G-Spot: Author interview

2011-08-31T19:33:00.000-04:00

I have an interview up at Sex Marks the G-Spot! Stop on by and get to know me a little better! Tomorrow there will be detailed promo information so don't lose this link!

Sex Marks The G-Spot: Author interview with C.J. Black: Welcome to Sex Marks the G-Spot. Today our guest is author C.J. Black. She was nice enough to answer a few questions for us, so let's get ...

Musings 11 a. – Life is Good.

2011-08-23T22:58:00.000-04:00

What a totally fabulous summer this has been! Four story acceptances, two printed and one to be out by the end of the month. And I got the new position I wanted. No more phone work! Boo-Yah! On the drive home, I turn on the radio and what is playing? Don’t Stop Believing, by Journey! Is that karma or what?

I’m feeling really good right now. My next door neighbor was out with her family and when I told her I’d gotten the job she invited me over and we had Peppermint Patty and Chocolate Covered Cherry Shots to celebrate.

Hell I even got a couple of citations from the city for some fixing-up I have to do on my property and I’m thinking, “Whatever.” I’ll take care of it tomorrow. After all tomorrow is another day…

I finally started retaking my courses for my Associates in Business. I was given a pre-Algebra course (anyone want to do my assignments in exchange for chocolate) which is already kicking my ass and Critical Reading to start. Which of course will be a breeze. J

Are all my fellow Easterners all right after the earthquake? That certainly made the day more interesting.

Time to snuggle down and watch my guilty pleasure….Family Guy.

Peace!

Musing 11 - A Quick Muse

2011-08-20T15:57:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered what you’re supposed to be doing?

I don’t mean just for one day, I mean life in general. You stop one day and ask yourself, is this what I’m supposed to be doing?

I guess there’s no real way of knowing. For example, sometimes with the strict Christian upbringing I had I wonder, should I really be writing erotic fiction? But the thing is I love doing it. Well I love writing period and since I’ve been published and people read my work and say they like it, I like to believe I’m good at it.

I guess I shouldn’t worry over it. There are a lot of things where I wonder, is this what I’m supposed to be doing? But I suppose if it’s not we all come to know it soon enough. Besides there’s no way I’m giving up these B&N chocolate cupcakes and their White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino which I just discovered today.

So I’m going to continue doing what I love until the Powers That Be tell me different.

Still nothing much new on the shelves. I still await the day when we can see our works somewhere in a section of our own. It’s bound to happen someday.

I hope everyone is enjoying their day like I am. With the exception of running up on a curb while making a turn in a parking lot (and having a pedestrian look at me like I was insane) it’s been a pretty good day. Take a moment and enjoy it to.

But still work must be done. I have two very important WIP’s that need finishing so I’m going to snap to it.

Peace

Articles by Brenda Woody - On Coffeejitter

2011-08-13T10:56:00.002-04:00

Recently, Brenda Woody and I had a little discussion concerning book reviews and it came up that she's written an article on the subject for a site called Coffeejitter. I recommend reading it if you are or wish to become a reviewer in the future. Brenda has told me she plans to write other articles on various subjects within the business. So visit her on Coffeejitter and give her articles a look-see. Here's a sampling below:

How to Become a Book Reviewer:

If you are an avid reader and love to tell your friends about the books you read, why not become a book reviewer?

There are advantages to becoming a book reviewer. Most book reviewers receive books to review before they are available to the public. While generally this is an unpaid job, you get to read your favorite subjects and keep the books. Authors or book stores will ask a reviewer to read and submit a review for a book newly released to help with sales.

Additional article by Brenda Woody:

Organize Your Space to Write. http://www.coffeejitter.com/index.php?pg=viewArticle&id=29

Peace!
CJ

CONTEST AND NEW VIDEO!

2011-08-07T22:29:00.001-04:00

Well here I go putting myself out there by presenting another video. I whipped this up while taking a short break and I believe it came out pretty good. But just to be certain -- I need your opinion of course! Having said that how about some incentive. Watch the video, and comment on it, either here on FaceBook or YouTube, which ever medium you prefer. The contest will run from tonight 8/7/11 starting now to Saturday 8/13/11 to 11 pm EST. I'll pick one random commenter and you may have your choice of a FREE COPY of either Rain Play or Diamond in the Rough. Now isn't that easy? All I ask of course is that you be gentle.

Have a fabulous night, everyone!

CJ

NEW RELEASE – RAIN PLAY FROM AI PRESS!

2011-08-05T00:23:00.004-04:00

Can I get a BOO-YAH?! I am pleased to announce another New Release for your reading pleasure! On sale now! Rain Play, my M/M contemporary erotic romance. My thanks to Sedonia Guillone and the staff of Ai Press for making this possible! Purchase now!

Blurb:

Zach Wilder has to content himself with lusting after Mark Davis from a distance. His sexy co-worker is already involved and Zach is no home-wrecker. Mark spends most of his time in whispered cell phone conversations with his boyfriend. Zach is nothing more than an eavesdropper until Mark’s relationship ends abruptly, leaving Mark heartbroken and available. Zach steps in willingly and gives Mark the comfort he needs…

One taste of Mark and Zach is hooked. However, Zach quickly learns his new lover has interesting…tastes…of his own, a side that pushes boundaries Zach has never before breached. Is Mark worth overcoming his limits or will Zach just take the memory of that hot encounter and go on his way?

Excerpt (contains graphic language):

Some kid came out the complex door, carrying a box. He struggled to load it into the back of the truck. The guy behind the wheel didn’t make a move to help him. I suddenly had an uncomfortable feeling that the kid had to be Mark’s ex. I thought, Really? This dumb kid actually left Mark for a complete asshole?

The kid went back inside. I was like, Damn, now what? Mark hadn’t told me when to come. So what was I supposed to do? I guess I was crazy. I got out of the car and headed for the building.

I didn’t have to be buzzed in, which was good. I walked up to the fourth floor and as soon as I stepped out of the stairwell, I heard the voices.

“Why the hell are you drawing this out? Just leave, all right?”

Mark’s apartment was 4B. I could see the door was open as I walked down the hall. I got a good view of what was going on. They were both in the living room, standing and facing each other.

“I’ll go when I’m damn good and ready. You’re going to hear what I had to say.”

“Why would I want to hear anything you have to say?” Mark demanded.

“Because you need to hear it.” His ex shot back. “You need to know how hard this is for me.”

“For you, you son of a bitch?”

“I’m letting you down easy, aren’t I? I’m the one who’ll look like the bad guy. You shouldn’t be such a bitch about this.”

I couldn’t listen to this bullshit any longer. I knocked on the doorframe.

Both of them turned to me. Mark looked surprised, then embarrassed, and the ex looked pissed.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Normally I would have backed off. I don’t like confrontation as a rule, but looking at Mark, seeing the tears in his eyes and the flush on his face, just pissed me off to hell. “I’m the fag who’s going to smash your face into a wall if you don’t get the fuck out, you little asshole.”

I’d never seen a guy turn three different colors in such a short time, first green, then pale, then red. A sight to behold.

He turned and strode past me, taking care not to get too close. Guess he thought I was going to do something to him.

“Zach?” Mark’s lower lip trembled.

“Hey.” I went to him and put my arms around him. “Are you all right?”

He blew out a breath. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I kissed him. It wasn’t anything kinky, just a quick peck on the lips. I just felt like he needed it. I led him over to the couch and sat him down. “Is all his stuff out? He’s gone for good?”

Mark nodded. He blinked, and the tears ran down he cheeks. He didn’t look as though he realized he was crying. I hated to see him that way. Then I thought again, What the hell?

I didn’t know what he wanted but I thought I knew what he needed, and right then I didn’t give a shit that he was on the rebound. I knelt and reached for his belt buckle. He didn’t look at me at first. The tears had dried on his face and he was in his own world, staring at the far wall. I figured at this point I didn’t have anything to lose.

******

Currently available through the Ai Press and many other online retailers!
I’m sure you’ll enjoy my newest tale. And of course, I’d love to hear your opinions! Everyone have a fabulous weekend and thanks for your continued support!

Peace!

CJ Black

Author Interview and Giveaway – Brenda Woody and Steve Tindle

2011-07-29T23:14:00.002-04:00

Whew! What a week it’s been! I’m so happy the weekend is here. Again I’m giving a shout-out to the person or persons who suggested having too blissful days of no work! So what’s everybody up to this weekend? I know what I’ll be doing, writing, working in my garden (now that the heat-wave has broken more or less) and presenting a brand-new author interview!

So everyone, let’s welcome writing partners, Brenda Woody and Steve Tindle! This dynamic duo was kind enough to visit me here at Black Satin and allow me and my readers and fellow writers to get to know them better!

And as an extra added bonus, Brenda and Steve will be giving away a .pdf copy of their work, Temptation Trigger to one lucky commenter - random draw. So be sure to comment!

Here’s a bit more about Brenda and Steve:
BIO

Steve Tindle and Brenda Woody were high school friends in Georgia who reconnected, on a social network, after 30 years of leading separate lives. During their re-acquaintance, they found their past and interests were similar; they had written poems, songs, and both had the desire to be published. Their combined experiences and fantasies inspired their first erotic novel "Best Lover in Town", published June 1, 2010. Brenda moved to Dallas in 2009 to be closer to Steve, start a new chapter of her life and work on future books. Their second book "Temptation Triggers", an anthology of erotic short stories, was released June 1, 2011 for Kindle and will be available in print July 1, 2011. "Triangle of Secrets", a third book, has been accepted by Naughty Nights Press to be released late September 2011. Their stories are penned with the perspective of both male and female point of view regarding sexual desires and pleasures.

Author Interview:

1. Who are Steve Tindle and Brenda Woody?

Steve - I’m Steve Tindle and I write with Brenda Woody

Brenda – I’m Brenda Woody and Steve Tindle is my co-author among other things. (wink)

2. When did you first start writing and why?

Steve - I asked Brenda a few years ago what was on her “Bucket List” because the movie was popular at the time. She mentioned she wanted to be published and told me she had started a story years before. Brenda sent me the two page story and I asked her about changing the genre to make it erotic. We were already talking about our likes and dislikes online and on the phone so the discussions now transitioned to what Janet would do or not do. The story line was a way for us to talk openly about sex and situations. We really learned a lot about each other during the first year of our relationship.

Brenda – I started writing poetry first. My poems are on Helium and Originalpoetry.com. I always wanted to write a book and be published. I just never had anyone (male) I could share this desire with. Until Steve.

3. Are there any particular writer/artists who inspire you?

Steve - Our style is our own but Tonya Kinzer has helped us smooth the rough edges. She has taken us under her wing and taught us more than anyone the art of being authors.

Brenda – I’m an avid reader. Kathleen Woodiwiss was my first romance author – I gobbled up her books. I’m currently reading “No Turning Back” by Deanna Jewel. I met Deanna in a chat forum. Since then we have become virtual good friends. Both Deanna and Tonya help us a lot. We dedicated two books to them.

4. Why your current genre/style?

Steve - It’s a combination of “sex sells” and “write about something you know”. After years of dating, marriage, kids, and relationships, we have seen it all. Now Brenda and I sit back and write about it all.

Brenda – Erotic stories are very sensual and well just plain hot! We didn’t realize the vast market for this type of genre existed. We love writing about sex, romance and sharing what we know.

5. What type of tools do you use when creating your work?

Steve - I prefer to use my laptop to write notes, stories, edit, and format. We use Word 2003 and love to use the Thesaurus. I have read some reviews that advise authors not to use a Thesaurus but I disagree.

Brenda – Our laptops are side by side on the coffee table. We also use the internet for research. Notepads and pens are placed all over the house and in the car so when an idea hits, we can jot it down right quick.

6. Can you describe a typical day of creative work?

Steve - If you had asked me a few months ago I would tell you I was a MS Excel Programmer. Today we sleep until we wake up, no alarm clock. Read emails and chat with fans about our books. We do some edits of what was already written, and then hop in the spa to talk about where we want our stories to progress. The spa is our muse away from all the electronics. Once we have soaked away all the stress of our day, we return to the laptops to update the files with our spa talk. We work on our work in progress before retiring to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

Brenda – I usually get up an hour or so before Steve, make coffee, check emails and update our blogs. I write articles for Yahoo! Associated Content, eHow, Examiner.com, Coffeejitter and Constant Content. Once my articles are out of the way, we start working on our stories. Play on Facebook, tweet, and chat in yahoo IM with Tonya or Deanna. Working from home has always been my dream.

7. Someone approaches you and asks you, what do you write? How do you respond?

Steve - I tell them exactly what we write then proceed to sell them a copy and give them a business card.

Brenda – LOL I’m a little more subtle about speaking to people about what we write. I tell them “It sure ain’t Harlequin.” If we state first we are authors, I ask them what genres they like to read – to get a feel of their preferences. Then I tell them we write erotic. Usually the comeback is “Oh, you write the good stuff.” LOL

8. How do you handle the question, “Why don’t you write something serious?”

Steve - What we write is serious. Best Lover in Town has lots of tips and guidelines for novices and experts alike. We introduced glass dildos and how to sanitize them properly; how to use food safely during sex; and the use of a safe word with your partner.

Brenda – Good question. We are serious about our work. The difference between erotic and porn is time. Anyone could write smut if they put their mind to it but to blend good characters, plot and sex, and make the story flow requires good writing skills.

9. How do you feel about the current state of mainstream publishing? E-book publishing?

Steve - Mainstream publishing has had its problems. We have heard horror stories from other authors about bad business deals and losing royalties. Our future books will be self-published so we can keep control of our financial lives. As for ebook publishing, we are currently testing the water on Smashwords.

Brenda – We have a horror story with a publisher. LOL But we have learned what not to do. Other than Triangle of Secrets, our future work will be self-published. It’s easier than we thought. eBooks are the way to go until you see a lot of sells, then you can consider bringing the book out in print.

10. What bothers you most about some of the cover art you’ve seen?

Steve - When you can’t read the titles or the author’s name. Either the font color is blended into the background or the size is too small.

Brenda – Too busy or flashy - takes away from the content of the story. A book cover should be simple but pleasing to the eyes.

11. What are some of your other interests?

Steve - Brenda and I collaborate in writing articles for several online websites which we will list below. We are also moving from Texas to Georgia in a few months so we watch the DIY & HGTV networks for ideas on what we want to do once we find a house to live in.

Brenda – I already mentioned I read. I also like to crochet in the winter time. Once we move, we’ll be setting up a garden for vegetables and growing our own herbs.

12. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

Steve - It still surprises me how much Brenda and I complement each other. Writing together engages more than just putting words together. Our past and future can be revealed if you read between the lines. We have written two stories about Savannah, Georgia and we are moving to Georgia soon. Janet and Nathan (Best Lover in Town) meet, separate for years, and find each other again. Mmh, sound familiar? Brenda and I were in high school together then apart for thirty years before finding each other again.

Brenda – The surprising things for me is finally finding someone I can talk openly to. Steve and I are always in the same mind frame when it comes to our stories. The other surprising thing is we write pretty well. We created the book cover for our re-released Best Lover in Town. Our cover won #1 in the Hot cover category with Book Nook.

13. What do you think makes a good story?

Steve - I like to add twist to stories or little clues in one chapter that don’t mean anything until you read a later chapter. It leaves the reader thinking “Oh yeah”. Like who is the person Madison is IMing in chapter three of Best Lover in Town? You don’t know until chapter six.

Brenda – What makes a good story is creating characters that readers remember for a long time, especially if the readers relate to a character or their situations.

14. What are some of the promotional methods you use? What works or doesn’t?

Steve - We used to use MySpace but moved to Facebook after a few months. We host blog interviews for other authors so their fans will see our works too. We do interviews like this one so the host’s fans will see our works. We have had drawings for free ebooks and sign copies of Best Lover in Town. We chat with fans and learn what they liked and disliked about our stories so we can become better writers. We have business cards and bookmarks to pass out. We sign copies of our printed books for fans. We have done books signing at our favorite sex toy store, now called Condom Nation.

Brenda – Authors must have a blog or two to promote their work and gain followers. Word of mouth from readers always helps. We are also host authors for BK Walker’s Virtual Book Tour (VBT). Signing up for contests hosted by blogs, such as Romancing the Book or Coffee Time Romance helps to bring new fans. So far all promotional methods have worked. I highly recommend becoming a member of Coffee Time Romance. Join their newsletter and watch for their discounted member drives.

15. Are you an introverted or extroverted writers?

Steve - As the marketing person behind our books I have to be extroverted. I want to tell everyone about our books and stories. It’s a matter of sales. Emails, chats, or like the person I met at the car repair shop (I sold her a copy), they will all know. I have placed business cards in the envelope when paying bills; someone has to open their mail and it might generate a sale for us.

Brenda – I’m an extrovert online with the groups we are in, blogs we maintain, the ones we follow, and with fans and other authors. But the last few years I have become a little introverted as far as our personal lives. Steve is my best friend. We hang out with just each other and both like to stay home. We don’t entertain because we are just to busy with writing. We do make sure we have date nights.

16. Do you feel writers get a fair portrayal in other mediums such as TV shows and movies?

Steve - The main writers people really hear about is Stephen King and JR Rowlings. Most of the time the writer’s name is just a line on the screen that passes so fast it’s hard to read and viewers don’t care about. People know movies and TV shows by the actors’ names and directors. As long as the writers have a little input and are compensated does it really matter?

Brenda – Once a novel changes into a screenplay, the director or producer usually gets all the glory. Except for the two authors Steve mentions above and of course James Patterson. So I guess if you are not well known as an author, you wouldn’t get a fair portrayal.

17. Do you have any quirky or unusual stories concerning your work?

Steve - When we sent Temptation Triggers to an editor he told us men didn’t wear boxers in the 1930’s. Brenda and I wrote him back with the web link where we had already done the research. He shut up about it.

Brenda – LOL Yes, that was a good one. The other quirky story is a how we came up with a few of the titles in TT. Steve took me to What-a-Burger for Valentines for a patty melt (I love them) and while we were enjoying our food at the little table decorated with a vase of red carnations and valentine placemats (yes What-a-Burger went all out to celebrate this holiday) Patty Melt was born. Break Up Pudding is a real recipe our daughter found in a magazine.

18. Just for fun -- they’re making your book into a movie. Who do you imagine would play your characters?

Steve - I see the females in Temptation Triggers short stories as the following: Holly Hunter [Saving Grace] in Gnat and FLO; Betty White in Grandma finds her G-Spot; Katherine Bell in Steal My Love; Kim Delaney in Hotel Savannah; and Sally Pressman [Army Wives] in Patty Melt.

Brenda – Well of course Steve would name only females! Pssst – he is hooked on Army Wives. As far as Janet and Nathan in BLT, I can imagine Janet being played by Julianne Moore and Nathan would definitely be Clive Owen. Brendon Fraser as the mysterious male in Hotel Savannah with Jane Seymour as the female. Hugh Jackman in Steal My Love with Sandra Bullock. Sean Connery as the voice in Patty Melt.

19. And speaking of movies, what’s your writing soundtrack? Or do you write in complete silence?

Steve - We don’t have any particular music to write by but we don’t write in silence either. We might put on Pandora, some of our music, or the TV as background noise.

Brenda – We love the classic rock and especially listen to music from the 70’s. It’s more for background noise.

20. What is the best and/or worst writing advice you’ve ever received?

Steve - The best advice is to watch the “point of view”. It makes a smoother read. If a reader has to re-read a paragraph several times to understand who said what it might prevent them from purchasing your next book.

Brenda – The best writing advice was to read our stories out loud to make sure they flow. The worst was – our publisher allowed us to self-edit our first book, heck we didn’t know anything about editing back then. Needless to say the book had a lot of errors and POV mistakes. Due to this, we learned to edit and have edited for several author friends. The rights to Best Lover in Town were reverted to us – Yeah! We re-edited, made it a smoother read and re-released it on Smashwords with a hot new cover.

21. If you could meet three writers (alive or dead), who would they be? Why those choices and what would you say to them?

Steve - Tonya Kinzer ~ she has helped us so much in our writing, I’d like to thank her in person. Brenda and I have talked about meeting her once we get settled in Georgia. John Gray ~ I read John’s books years before we started writing. I would ask him about his male/female perspective. I’m always willing to learn so we can write better stories. Brenda Woody ~ of course I get to hook up with her every night, but I never tire of getting to know her better.

Brenda - I would love to meet Nora Roberts and pick her brain on how she writes and combines thrillers with romance. I’d also like to meet Stephen King – no brainer there. I would want to just sit across from at his desk and watch him create. And I have the third author always working along beside me – I would ask him why he didn’t flirt with me in high school! LOL Can I pick a fourth? LOL Deanna Jewel too. I would like to discuss her WIP, Whispers at Ghost Point. This story has a ghost.

22. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Steve - I enjoy chatting with fans about our books. Many times they say our stories reminds them of things in their past or tell stories about what they have done. Sometimes we incorporate their stories into our work in progress. If I have talked to you, you might see your thoughts as a scene in Temptation Triggers.

Brenda – We love to write erotic and hope the readers will follow our blogs. We like to hear feedback on our stories whether it’s positive or negative. Criticism helps us grow as writers.

23. Tell us about your current and future projects. What is on the horizon? (feel free to provide links).

Steve - We are currently writing three stories and hope to have all epublished by December 2011.

Black & White Affair is a short read we are expanding for Smashwords.

Triangle of Secrets was written for an anthology but was rejected by Gina Kincade, the owner of Naughty Nights Press, who wanted to read more of the story. We were asked to expand TOS now that the word count limitation has been lifted.

We have an erotic cowboy novella that has been put on the back burner several times over the passed two years. We think it is time to complete the work.

Brenda – We also have several more short stories in the works; a time travel, paranormal – ghost, and an amnesia patient. Can you imagine waking up and not knowing who you are? Someone you begin to trust tells you are in the sex industry. You believe them because you don’t remember any other life.

Also my favorite is our WIP – Marcie who is a homicide cop. She will become a series.

Our web links:
Facebook Fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Authors-Brenda-Woody-Steve-Tindle/155085384532803

Web site http://www.brendawoodystevetindle.yolasite.com/

Blogger http://brenda-steve.blogspot.com/

Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/brendaandsteve

Blog where we interview authors http://www.brendawoodystevetindle.yolasite.com/author-interviews.php

Sites to Purchase our books:

BLT – Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/76429

TT – Amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Temptation-Triggers-ebook/dp/B0053IIVP0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309366648&sr=1-2

Our articles:

Plano Sex and Relationships Examiner http://www.examiner.com/sex-and-relationships-1-in-plano/brenda-woody

Yahoo! Associated Content http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/1075725/brenda_woody.html

Coffeejitter http://www.coffeejitter.com/index.php?pg=viewProfile&id=23

eHow

How to Connect With Your Spouse http://www.ehow.com/how_8546187_connect-spouse.html

How Important is Humor in a Relationship http://www.ehow.com/info_8779483_important-humor-relationship.html

BLT synopsis

Janet Anderson is searching for sexual magic in the man who can match her in the bed. Janet suspects all this and more lies within her handsome boss, Nathan Lovett. During a work-related visit to Janet’s home, Nathan and Janet give in to an attraction beyond their control, and soon find themselves immersed in a pleasurable night of uninhibited sex and heated passion. To their dismay, their luscious interlude is interrupted, and Nathan must leave on a plane to a far away place; their whirlwind coupling on hold.

Three years pass, and with Nathan gone, Janet’s co-worker and best friend, Madison, urges Janet to end her mourning and explore other possibilities. Janet attends parties and events to fill the void left by Nathan, meeting four other men. Though she experiences new sexual delights and discovers more about herself; her suitors fall flat, and Janet is left longing for the touch of her Nathan. Will the best lover in town return to finish what he started?

TT synopsis

Temptation Triggers captures the wickedness of sexual fantasy, the mystery of unexplored territory and the fulfillment of open communication. Among these thought-provoking stories, two friends find themselves drawn into a dark erotic world, a woman encounters a mysterious man and a mature couple discovers hush-hush desires about each other. With different styles of writing, Temptation Triggers reveals erotica that is passionate and spellbinding.

******

Thanks to much you two for such an in-depth interview! So much information and I and I’m sure my readers greatly appreciate it! Peace!

CJ

NEW RELEASE! DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH FROM COBBLESTONE PRESS!

2011-07-23T09:06:00.002-04:00

I am pleased to announce the release of my newest work, Diamond in the Rough, my gay ménage contemporary short. This is a totally re-vamped and expanded version of the original which I am certain you will enjoy! I would like to thank everyone at Cobblestone Press who made this possible! And of course feel free to contact me to discuss what you thought of my work.

Blurb:

Chris is a young man confident in whom he is and the choices he’s made in life but a recent relationship that ended badly leaves him with a bruised ego and many lonely nights.

Enter Jackson and Ethan, exotic lovers whom Chris meets for a business transaction but the older men can see the emptiness inside him and decide to fill Chris’s need if only for a night. Chris accepts their invitation and completely gives himself into their care but he finds himself wanting more. Will Jackson and Ethan be willing?

On sale now at Cobblestone Press:
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/diamondintherough.htm

Read an excerpt here:
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/excerpt/diamondintherough.htm

Everyone have a fabulous weekend!

CJ

Interview: Rob Williams – Co-Owner of Guest House Films.

2011-07-16T23:54:00.000-04:00

Hello my fellow readers and writer, I have a special treat for you! I have the pleasure of an interview with award winning director, writer and producer of films geared towards the LGBT market, Rob Williams! Mr. Williams is also the co-owner of his production company Guest House Films where his works have their home. You can also get to know him on FaceBook and on Twitter. I’ve enjoyed his movies immensely and am eager to introduce him to my blog-goers so they may take the opportunity to get to know this talented artist.

If you’ll recall the question I asked on Facebook about requesting interviews, Mr. Williams is one of the people I’ve wanted to ask. I have to admit, I was nervous but I was eager to have him as a guest at Black Satin. Of course I’m glad I did. I want to thank Mr. Williams for taking the time to visit today. I look forward to his next work.

Here’s a sampling of his movies and my personal favorites:

And now may, I present Mr. Rob Williams!

• Who is Rob Williams?

I am a filmmaker - writer, director, producer - focusing on films for the LGBT market. I have made five films to date - "Long-Term Relationship," "Back Soon," "3-Day Weekend," "Make The Yuletide Gay" and "Role/Play."

• When did you first decide you wanted to be a filmmaker and why?

I started writing first - it's a cliche, but everyone in Los Angeles really does have a screenplay! - and I went to an amazing screenwriting group that taught me so much about structure and dialogue. One of my earliest scripts was a gay romantic comedy called "Long-Term Relationship" that went on to be the first film we produced and that I directed. But it was really my love of gay cinema and my awareness of the need for more gay films in the marketplace that made me want to become a filmmaker and make films for the gay market.

• Are there any particular writers/producers/directors that inspire you?

My greatest inspiration is Woody Allen. He has been making films for decades, usually one film a year, and he has the freedom to explore different subject matter and genres, and to tell the stories he wants to tell. He has made some of my favorite films of all time (such as "Manhattan" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors"), as well as my favorite film of this year, "Midnight In Paris."

• Can you describe a typical day of creative work?

I wish it sounded more interesting, but I usually spend most days on the computer - writing, corresponding with distributors/actors/fans, promoting our work, doing research for new films, etc. That's broken up by trips to the post office to mail "Role/Play" DVDs, and lots of games on Facebook!

• What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your movies?

I'm always surprised when someone takes the time to write me and tell me that they enjoyed one of my movies. Even though we work tremendously hard to make good films and to get them out to the world, it's always such a joy to hear from someone who liked a film enough to find my email address or track down my Facebook page and let me know. "Make The Yuletide Gay" generated a lot of emails from teens who came out to their parents after seeing the movie (or in some cases, watching the movie with their parents), and it's incredible that something I did encouraged these kids to come out and be honest with their families. That was surprising and very, very humbling for me.

• Do you believe the industry will ever be fully accepting of LGBT filmmaking? Or do you believe they already are? Why?

On one hand, the industry is completely accepting of LGBT filmmaking and especially of LGBT filmmakers - look at the success of "Brokeback Mountain" and "Milk." But on the other hand, the industry (and more specifically, the mainstream audiences) aren't always ready for films with real gay content, such as gay sex scenes, male nudity or even same-sex kisses. I can't wait for the day when a major Hollywood studio makes a film about realistic gay characters and the issues they face, and have those films get national distribution and have mainstream audiences go to see them.

• Do you have any quirky or unusual stories concerning your work?

The weirdest things I've had to do for our films always involve buying wardrobe or props. When we were getting ready to make "Role/Play," I spent a couple of hours buying swimsuits for star Matthew Montgomery. The smallest swimsuits we could find. He'd try them on, and I'd have to decide which tiny little bikini looked best on him. Tough job. And for "3-Day Weekend," I took actor Derek Long shopping for a leather harness for one scene - again, making him try on different ones to see what looked best. That's the part of indie filmmaking that makes people with office jobs really jealous!

• What is the best and/or worst filmmaking advice you’ve ever received?

The best filmmaking advice I ever got was, "Feed your cast and crew well!" Many low-budget films order pizza for lunch every day, and that does not go over well with a crew that has been working really hard, so we always find a good caterer, offer good food, and it makes a big difference. :-)

• Do you have anything specific that you want to say to other aspiring filmmakers or in general about the industry?

Follow your dream. Make your film. Love what you do.

• Tell us about your current and future projects. What is on the horizon?

Guest House Films, the company I own and run with my partner Rodney Johnson, just announced its move into distribution, so our next project will be a series of gay-themed short-film compilations, starting with a group of darker-themed films titled "Black Briefs." On the production side, we have two projects in development - "The Mystic Chord," which is my dream project, an adaptation of the Jim Tushinski novel "Van Allen's Ecstasy" about a gay man struggling to regain his memories after a mental breakdown; and "Make The Yuletide Gay 2," a sequel to our award-winning Christmas comedy. And we are continuing to sell our last film, "Role/Play," in more international territories, including a September release in Australia.

I want to thanks Mr. Williams for taking the time to visit me at Black Satin today and provide this wonderful interview. It’s greatly appreciated!

Peace!
CJ

Interview: Rob Williams – Co-Owner of Guest House Films.

2011-07-15T22:12:00.000-04:00

Picture from GuestHouse Films site.

Hello my fellow writers and readers! Please join me here on Sunday, July 17^th where I will have my special guest, Producer, Writer and Director of LGBT films, Rob Williams! Mr. Williams is the co-owner of Guest House Films and the creator of some wonderful works including the movies Role/Play, Back Soon and Three-Day Weekend. I highly recommending watching and purchasing his movies and showing your support for his prolific talent. And to make thing a little extra special, I’ll be picking a random commenter to receive a free copy of one of my Coming Soon works in the near future. So come on over and show Mr. Williams some appreciation!

Musings 10

2011-07-09T20:14:00.000-04:00

Well I managed to get to B & N for the first time in several weeks. I decided to try something a little different this time and got a cream puff with my cappuccino and it’s delicious of course. I swear I am never going to lose weight but what the hell, life’s too short not to have a cream puff now and again.

And of course I perused the shelves and didn’t see many new entries on the shelves, mainly continuances of series. And of course, a majority of the covers have the sexy, angst-ridden, kick-ass women in tight jeans (or leather pants) or the grim angst-ridden hard-nosed guy in a leather jacket, or the kick ass woman, standing with the hard-nosed man. So of course my question is when are we going to see some hard-ass men standing with kick ass men (or women). Together? OK, I’ll say it, when is the LGBT fiction going to go mainstream? I mean seriously mainstream. Don’t get me wrong, I adore writing e-books but you know, I think it would be nice if the bookstores stopped being such prudes and opened their doors and made room on their shelves for me and my fellow m/m erotica writers. I even looked around the shelves at B&N to make sure I wasn’t mistaken and didn’t see any. Now I recall Borders had a small section for erotica, that was some time ago. I haven’t been there lately but I don’t recall seeing it. That was all het anyway.

Of course we’ve been told the reason -- too controversial. Come on, really? You do know if you relent and put some of us on the shelves you might just get more customers which some of you guys need right now, right?

Despite those awful Amazon Kindle commercials, I don’t believe the paper and ink book is going anywhere anytime soon. Some of us can’t afford Kindles and Nooks (yet), anyway. This purchase of the full version of MS Office 2010 that I bought has set me back so far that I’ll probably be eating nothing but TJ’s chicken potstickers for a while.

Times are changing and no one can stop progress despite how many times people have tried. And it hasn’t destroyed us yet, has it?

Peace,

CJ

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T07:58:00.003-04:00

Wishing everyone a Happy July 4th today. It's the day we celebrate our freedoms which we sometimes take for granted. Have fun, but also take a moment to think of the people in this world that don't have the freedoms and rights we do and hope that they obtain them soon. The whole Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness rule? Everyone deserves that!

As I've said on FaceBook, I love this country. Sure we have a lot of problems to be fixed but I'm going to say it, it's one of the best damn places to live. As a single woman who lives her life by her rules and owns a house, car, possessions and holds a job, I know there are some places in this world where I could never even dream of having those things without having my life taken from me. I truly appreciate that.

As for me, I'm going to take my coffee and go out into the garden this morning, spend my day writing, and my evening, grilling and watching the fireworks. Sometimes I can see them from my back yard without even having to go anywhere.

Peace, everyone!
CJ

*Photos Courtesy of NVT Office Clips

Guest Blogger - Author Bella Marie

2011-06-13T23:02:00.000-04:00

I absolutely love hosting my fellow authors! Each time I get to meet someone new, learn about works that can go on my TBR list and provide informative opinions and articles about our profession. So let’s welcome my next guest, erotic author, Bella Marie! Bella is going to tell us all about her works and as an extra added incentive, Bella will be giving away a Smashwords Coupon for one of her works, so you know the drill, come one, come all and comment for a chance to win!

*************

Bella Marie - Born May of 1966. Lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, is a single mother of two grown children and one pre-teen. Favorite places include the beach, and any body of water which inspires her to write explicit adult erotic stories. She started writing stories for friends about 15 years ago who liked them so much, they encouraged her to publish them. She didn’t follow their advice until she became friends with an Indi Author, Martin Sharlow who encouraged her to publish them, mentoring her on how to do it while watching him become a successful author. She is working on her second published series at the moment.

Where to find Bella:

Facebook

Twitter:

Official Website

Amazon Author Page

Amazon Meet the Author:

Blog:

******

How about some exciting explicit adult erotica for the nights by the fire, or maybe in the bathtub with a glass of wine? Alone or with a friend, spouse, or lover, this almost 31,000 word, 15 total short stories are sure to warm you up even if you don’t have a fireplace! With no names in the stories it is easy to imagine yourself in the adventures, enjoying right along in the fun.

Here is an idea of what you will find in this adults only book….

The New Beach House

A contractor builds his dream home on the beach. He is very excited to share it with the woman that he has fallen in love with. He surprises her by taking her out to see the finished home and propose to her as well. They end up enjoying a wonderful day of lovemaking both inside the new home, and outside in the waves on the secluded beach.

Friends

Two friends get together for a hot night of passion. They meet up at a bar and go to her house where they enjoy some intense self-pleasure as well as backdoor fun. They shower together at the end of the story as they continue into the next story.

Dinner Out

The two friends decide to go out to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. They sit in a dark corner pushing the limits of exploring sex in public to see how far they can go without being caught.

A Night to Remember

A married couple enjoys experimenting with mild bondage and she has decided that she wants to really enjoy herself when her husband gets home. She gets all ready, complete with a new outfit, ropes on the kitchen table, and a tray set up with hidden toys. It’s her turn tonight and she bought a wonderful new large toy just so she can find out how far she can push him.

Surprise Meeting

A woman is surprised while shopping by an old friend that comes up behind her. They end up going to her place for a night of intense sex with a little spanking to go along with it.

Other stories include stories about friends, as well as total strangers enjoying a variety of pleasures that are sure to inspire most interests. There is also a lesbian story where they are joined by a man to make it threesome enjoying amazing pleasure at a waterfall; a story on a cruise ship, and 10 more explicit adult erotic stories.

Happy Reading!

Bella Marie

Warning: Adults Only! Explicit Adult Sexual Content

******

Pushing the Boundaries….

by Bella Marie

Being a fairly new Erotica Author, I always wonder what people think of my books. I don’t know about other erotic authors but I get very little feedback. Most of the comments I get from other authors of erotica that I talk to say that people don’t really give feedback unless it is bad. I guess that means that my books must be fantastic since I hear so little… I am expecting my first million any day now :O)

(For those of you that don’t know, I have an odd sense of humor…. I am slightly sarcastic at times… first million is very amusing to me because there are a lot of people that believe that they can put a few books up and in a month, their first million will be made, book deals, movie deals… their lives will be perfect. I am a bit more realistic, I have yet to see 500 but I am having a blast writing them and if it takes a little more than a month to make a million, have my book and movie deals I am ok with it!)

I often wonder what people think about the different types of subject matter I write about, wondering if I am pushing people’s boundaries and how they receive them. One of my favorite things to write about is sex in public places. Call me a rebel but the whole possibility of getting caught has a certain appeal to me. In one of my stories, Dinner Out a couple is at a Mexican Restaurant and they totally push the boundaries of having sex in public. When they leave, they have hot passionate sex at home.

There are a lot of stories like this in the Time Well spent – The Complete Collection, sex at an office, at the beach, river, on a cruise ship, and at the mall. In A Night to Remember, I push boundaries of some I think where I write my first mild bondage story.

I use to write stories for friends who would give me a topic and I would write it for them. It pushed many boundaries for me. I didn’t think at first it would be interesting or possible for me to write but it turned out for me to be an extremely hot story to write by the time I finished it. The person I wrote if for absolutely loved it even.

This journey of writing for me has pushed many boundaries for me, not just subject matter in my work but I had very little computer experience, especially in formatting a book or making covers. I have found in this whole experience that I enjoy pushing my boundaries… I am learning a lot about myself and meeting some fantastic people along the way.

There are of course boundaries I would not personally cross but I am having a really interesting time discovering just where those boundaries are. For instance, I never thought in a million years that I would be writing to an audience that enjoy what I write in a blog form, let alone being interviewed about my books and experiences as a writer. To think that I would not only create a website but be able to do it and still have hair… well that is a serious accomplishment :O)

I look forward to experimenting with boundaries both in writing as well as learning new skills that I never thought possible for me. The thought of me not being alone in this journey is very comforting.

******

I want to thank Bella Marie once again for taking the time to visit Black Satin! It was a pleasure having you here! Peace!

CJ

Big News! Two Acceptances & Other Nice Things...

2011-06-12T22:48:00.000-04:00

It’s been a great month for this erotic fiction author. If you haven’t seen already I got two acceptances, one from Ai Press and the wonderful Sedonia Guillone. They accepted the revamped version of Rain Play. Here’s the coming soon from the Ai Press site. Hope they don’t mind that I nabbed it!

Rain Play
Author: CJ Black
Genre: M/M; Contemporary
Length: Tryst

Zach Wilder has to content himself with watching Mark Davis from a distance. His sexy co-worker is already involved with someone and Zach is no home-wrecker. Mark spends most of his time in whispered conversations with a man on the other end of his cell. Zach is nothing more than a voyeur until a chance encounter brings the two of them together on a rainy night. One session during the storm leads to many others as skin flushed hot by desire is cooled by the torrent. Zach has promised himself he wouldn’t fall but holds on to the hope that Mark will allow him to be his shelter. He’s ready to take a chance on Mark even though he is on the rebound. Unfortunately for the both of them the past has a nasty way of interfering, leaving Zach to wonder if Mark is truly worth the fight.

And now for the second, earlier today, I learned Cobblestone Press and the fabulous Deanna Lee accepted my M/M/M contemporary short story, Diamond in the Rough. As soon as I get more information, I’ll place it right here. This story is also a reimagining if you will.

So that’s two acceptances in one month! Life is good.

On the 14th, I will have a new guest blogger Ms. Bella Marie. So I hope you’ll stop by.

Going strong on Memory in Shadow and another contemporary paranormal which is yet untitled (sigh) and I am close to finishing. So maybe it will be three this month. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Peace,

Slow Burn Blog Tour With Author Ednah Walters!

2011-05-26T21:53:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Ednah Walters’ Slow Burn Blog Tour! It’s a pleasure to have Ednah here today at Black Satin and I want to thank her again for taking the time to visit! So have a look at Ednah’s words and get to know her a little better! And if you’ll stick around there’ll be some prizes such as a fridge magnet, bookmarks and a pen as a giveaway. You know the deal – all you have to do is comment! Now isn’t that easy?

About Ednah’s works:
(From Amazon.com)

Book 1: AWAKENED
Purchase Now!
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Pill Hill Press (August 22, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1617060380
ISBN-13: 978-1617060380

Orphaned as a child and raised by her grandfather, Lil Falcon is concerned with navigating her new high school and is unaware she's a descendant of the Nephilim, a race of beings with super powers tasked with protecting humanity from the demons who threaten it. But when she meets Bran, his psi energy unlocks her latent abilities and opens her eyes to what she is, a Guardian.

But Bran has a secret and befriending him sends Lil down a dangerous path that will either destroy her or make her stronger.

Book 2: BETRAYED
Coming Soon!

Lil has come to terms with her life as a Guardian/demon hunter and the wielder of the Nephilim most powerful weapon. She trains everyday to master her growing powers, gets along with her Guardian trainee friends (most of the time) and cherishes her moments with her human friends.

Just when she feels she belongs, her nature-bender father contacts her and warns her about a betrayal by someone close to her. Then Bran, the guy she loves, starts to act strange and one of her human friends acquires a supernatural ability. While Lil struggles find a connection between these three things, she begins to realize that someone is manipulating her and Bran, and will stop at nothing (including hurting those she loves) to lure them to the dark side.

Where To Find Ednah:

Blog: http://ednahwalters.blogspot.com/

Website: http://www.ednahwalters.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ednahwalters

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Ednah-Walters/100000535104042

THE BEST HEROES ARE….

“Hi, my name is Ednah and I’m a tortured-hero addict.”

Everyone say, “Hi” then share your addiction(s).

Seriously, what type of heroes rocks your world? Is it the flirt? The perfect and charming one? The serious, meticulous kind? The cocky bad boy? The nerdy hunk? The tortured, brooder?

I remember a critique partner kept pushing me to read J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood books. I resisted for so long but finally succumbed.

For months she raved about her favorite hero. All she talked about was Hollywood—I can’t remember his name now, but if you’ve read the series, you know the one. He’s the gorgeous hunk with multi-shaded blond hair. She raved about how hot he was, gorgeous and charming…everything she loved in a hero.

When I finished four of the books, I only had one word for her—Zsadist. Boy, talk about a tortured hero. I loved Z before I read his story. Cried when I read it. And he spoiled the rest of the series for me. Okay, he didn’t exactly do that. After I read the ghost wife book, my interest in the series tapered off.

Anyway, this post is not about Ward’s BDB series. It’s about heroes. What we like in our heroes and what we don’t. Look at TV characters we love, the programs we tune in to watch every week. I’m talking about Dr. House, White Collar, Monk…. I may like smart, nerdy guys (I looove The Big Bang Theory), but my favorite guys are the tortured heroes. The White Collar guy…what can I say? He’s so in love with his Kate he can’t see straight. Monk and his wife. House…why is House tortured? He’s so complex every time I think I’ve figured him out, he surprises me.

Why do tortured heroes appeal to me? I like to see them come out the dark place and into the light, watch them become transformed by the right woman. They tend to resist falling in love the hardest, yet they long to be loved the most. When such a man lets a woman in, you know it’s for keeps, ladies. You got him for EVER.

So in my books, I always try to make a hero as imperfect as I possibly can and tortured. If it’s not family issues, it’s personal ones. Ron, in SLOW BURN, is from a wealthy family, but it’s as dysfunctional as they come. They have secrets, most of them not good. They’re not big on touchy-feely moments either, so he has a lot to learn about trust and love. Then there’s the tortured part, the guilt he carries with him that only adds to his character.

In MINE UNTIL DAWN, my hero has it worse dealing with rejection from his father. Part of the time he wishes the old man would stay out of his life the other part he wants his love. So there, I admit it—tortured heroes are my weakness.

Thanks again, Ednah for stopping buy! It’s appreciated. Feel free to visit Black Satin anytime!

Peace,
CJ

My Author Interview With Tonya Kinzer!

2011-05-21T21:31:00.002-04:00

Welcome friends, readers and fellow authors! Now, may I introduce the fabulous Tonya Kinzer! Tonya has graciously agreed to join me tonight at Black Satin for an informative interview. So sit back, grab a snack, and get to know Ms. Kinzer! And stick around because Tonya will be giving away a $15 gift card to one lucky winner! Contest information after the interview!

Available at Amazon.com for the Kindle:

The Boss's Pet Book 1: The Contract

File Size: 151 KB

ASIN: B0051VGSWW

Price: 2.99

Comfortable with her life, Sondra wasn't looking to start a new relationship let alone a new life style but Nick presented a challenge to her. The time together at the office spilled in to more time away from the office that eventually leads to a deeper relationship. He introduces her to a life style she'd never experienced nor heard much about but is fascinated with.

The Boss's Pet Book 2: Office Training Goes Home

File Size: 135 KB

ASIN: B0051VT7GQ

Price: 2.99

New to the world of bondage, Sondra agrees to become a submissive. It just so happens, her Dom is her boss and business partner at the office. Can she obey all she is instructed to do or will her training and punishment continue in the dungeon at home?

Can she handle all she has agreed to?

The Boss's Pet Book 3: Sharing Among Friends

Release Date: June 2011

Chapter 1 Excerpt

Join Nick and Sondra as they move on to more of Sondra's training and introduction into the other 'lifestyle'. Nick furthers her training by proving to her that she can train her body to accept what once was unacceptable and introduces her to friends who can share so much more with her.

Will Sondra get past some of the 'normal' things that are acceptable in this lifestyle that would never be acceptable in the vanilla world she came from?

Author Interview – Tonya Kinzer

CJ: Who is Tonya Kinzer?

Tonya: I’m a woman who enjoys writing that opens new doors of reading entertainment to individuals and partners who read together. I’m a wife, mother, sister, friend….the sweetheart next door! *wink*

CJ: When did you first start writing and why?

Tonya: I’ve been writing for years but only recently decided to self publish. I’m pretty techie and find the formatting and uploading easy once you figure out how each site works because all of them are different. It takes patience and the ability to read directions. I’m self taught in most of what I know how to do.

CJ: Are there any particular writer/artists who inspire you?

Tonya: I started reading romance novels when I was a teen but I also enjoy a good murder mystery. Writers who inspired me were Kathleen Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsey, Virginia Henley, Victoria Holt, among many others.

CJ: Why your current genre/style?

Tonya: I write erotic romance with a touch of soft bondage, BDSM, Dom/sub relationships and enjoy having a plot and HEA ending…is that bad?

CJ: Can you describe a typical day of creative work?

Tonya: Since I’m self published, I do my own marketing, websites, covers and book trailers. I do that in the morning along with my email then start writing by mid morning. I’m a night owl so I do NOT get up early; never have and doubt I ever will. I head to bed around 1:00 am and am up about 8 am. Making yourself stay off the internet and get some writing done takes discipline and I need to work more on that!

CJ: Someone approaches you and asks you, what do you write? How do you respond?

Tonya: My ‘vanilla’ friends have no idea I write in this genre! *wicked laugh*

CJ: How do you feel about the current state of mainstream publishing? E-book publishing?

Tonya: I love that so many of us can now self publish. I find it easy but before one puts something ‘live’, they need to make sure they’ve edited their work. They need to understand POV and head hopping between characters and why that isn’t good. I have an article about this on my website for those who want to read that. It’s on my ‘Fun’ page. They also need to understand sentence structure, meaning: don’t start every sentence with he/she, or character names, don’t make your work sound like an instruction manual, read and re-read what you’ve written, make the sentences flow together and include the five senses in your writing. Okay, I’m off on a tangent here! Sorry, but these are important items for me and I’ve read some pretty bad things on the self published sites. I’m not the best, by far, but spelling is a big thing for me!

CJ: What are some of your other interests?

Tonya: I love designing covers and book trailers, along with ‘how to’ help articles and more of these will be added to my pages. When I get stuck while writing, I might head out to work in my gardens and yard where scenes and characters open up for me.

CJ: What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

Tonya: Characters have a mind of their own. They pay no attention to my plots or plans, which is why I don’t write up an outline. I may write down a few plots and how I will achieve them, but my characters easily fill in the rest.

CJ: What are some of the promotional methods you use? What works or doesn’t?

Tonya: I use Twitter and FaceBook quite a bit, I ‘ask’ other authors for interviews on their blogs as well as invite them to mine. If we don’t ask, we don’t receive! Many authors do interviews for each other; we all know this is one avenue to reach more readers. I may do ads on romance and erotica sites and I create book marks or post cards to send out to other authors for goody bags they hand out to readers.

CJ: Are you an introverted or extroverted writer?

Tonya: In person, others find me shy, at least until I think I know them well enough, which for me, takes a while. I’m not a trusting person because I’ve been burned too many times so I’m careful who I trust with my personal feelings and information. Online, I’m more of an extrovert because there we can be who we want and others don’t judge as quickly.

CJ: Do you have any quirky or unusual stories concerning your work?

Tonya: Is the fact that I enjoy what I write quirky? I love it when I know that my writing in a particular scene will grab the reader….one just feels that when you finish a scene.

CJ: What is the best and/or worst writing advice you’ve ever received?

Tonya: Best advice was to read my work out loud. If it doesn’t read smooth, keep working. Sentence structure should make them all flow together like rippling silk over your senses…to make you say YES that works!

CJ: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Tonya: I hope if someone doesn’t like the way I write, they let me know what might work better for them as well as what they like. We all love hearing from readers. They can post on my blog and leave reviews on my books sites. Reviews help immensely on the sale and book store sites; I wish more readers understood that. Thank you to those who HAVE left a review for me! Contest: I will choose one commenter to win a $15 gift card and the drawing will be thru Friday the 27th and I will pull a winner on Saturday, the 28th to give everyone time to visit and leave a comment.

CJ: Tell us about your current and future projects. What is on the horizon?

Tonya: I’m working on book three, Sharing Among Friends, as part of my series, The Boss’s Pet. At this point, I have no idea how many books the series might end up having; maybe until I can’t think of anything else for Nick and Sondra to do! I plan to do a few stand alone books and possibly submit those to a publisher, we’ll see. I’ve been checking out a lot of them and haven’t narrowed it down to which ones I’d like to send to.

CJ, thank you so much for having me here. I will be around to chat with your readers and answer any questions or just comment with them. Below are a few of my websites and I have sample reads at freado.com (BookBuzzr) and also on my blog.

Where You Can Find Tonya:

Blog Site: http://tonyakinzer.blogspot.com/

Website: http://tonyakinzer.webs.com/

SmashWords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tonyakinzer

FB Fan Page: http://tinyurl.com/4sh37tk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/tonyakinzer

BookBuzzr: http://www.freado.com/users/26001/tonya-kinzer

Author’s Den: http://www.authorsden.com/tonyakinzer

Manic Readers: http://www.manicreaders.com/TonyaKinzer/

GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/tonyakinzer

CoffeeTimeRomance: http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=1593

************

And thank you again Tonya! It was a pleasure having you here and getting to know so much more about you!

Peace,
CJ

Publish You Blog on Amazon Kindle - Info Article Part 2

2011-05-20T23:33:00.000-04:00

Greetings everyone! Welcome to Part II of my article on the Amazon Kindle Blog Publication Service. As promised I obtained additional information concerning the clause specifying how Amazon uses the information that you publish on your blog.

So I sought the advice of the fabulous Ms. Victoria Strauss, co-founder of Writer Beware. For those of you who don’t know who Ms. Strauss is or Writer Beware, Ms. Strauss is an award-winning fantasy author. Writer Beware had been assisting authors be they published or not by provided informative articles and opinions on the various organizations, services and representatives an author may encounter in their pursuit of publication. I highly recommend her blog, Writer Beware Blogs! Read it, get to know it, live by it! Or at the very least, pay attention to it.

I wrote to Ms. Strauss and asked her to give her opinion on the clauses I mentioned in Part I. Go here to read it if you haven’t gotten a chance. The Amazon Kindle Blog service was brought to my attention on FaceBook so I checked it out but as previously stated there were clauses in the Terms and Conditions that made me a little wary. I asked Ms. Strauss for her opinion and this was her response:

“The language you're worried about sounds alarming, but you'll find similar language on many Internet platforms, blog hosts, content sites, message boards, etc. It's not intended to allow Amazon to tamper with your content, but to enable the company to transmit the content to others and to promulgate it online via its website and other technology such as the Kindle. The "adapt, modify, and create derivative works of" language applies only to metadata, which is identifying information about your book or blog (author, publisher, ISBN, file size, etc.)--not the content of your book or blog.

Bottom line: You are simply agreeing to allow Amazon and any third parties it contracts with to publish, sell, list, market, and distribute your content, and to allow purchasers to download and store that content on devices such as the Kindle. You retain copyright, which means that Amazon cannot alter your content…”

So it is good to know that Amazon doesn’t plan on using your content in any way they see fit. So it seems to be basically safe to use the service if you decide to partake.

Ms. Strauss did go on to voice her personal opinion about the service itself:

“...I am skeptical of this blog service--not because of the terms of use or grant of rights, but because I find it hard to imagine that very many people will be willing to pay for blogs they can access for free online--even for the sake of the convenience of having the blogs on their Kindles.”

I have to agree with Ms. Strauss. Now I’m not saying (and I believe I can safely say neither is Ms. Strauss) that you shouldn’t attempt it but I seldom if ever pay for something I can get for free, despite convenience. I would really have to want the information.

So in order for this to truly work, you would have to be constantly updating your blog with useful information. It’s hard to say on what basis. Daily, weekly, monthly? And what would your readers consider useful? News about upcoming works alone? Personal news? Informative articles? All of the above? Would it have to focus on writing alone? Or other topics? I'm hoping to start doing DVD and game reviews soon.

I would be very interested in hearing from anyone who had tried this service, be you successful or not. I will print all your opinions here in a third article. In the meantime, I’m going to decide if I want to use Black Satin as a test subject. It wouldn’t hurt.

More later.

Peace,

CJ

Special Announcements!

2011-05-20T12:02:00.000-04:00

Special Announcement everyone! On May 22nd thru May 26th I will have as my special guest author, Tonya Kinzer! Stop on by and ready my interview with her for a chance to get to know this fabulous author and to win prizes!! Tonya will be holding a contest for a $15 gift card!! Boo-yah!

And on May 27th, erotic fiction author Ednah Walters will stop by for her Slow Burn Book Tour. Ednah will also be giving away some cool prizes so stop by and learn more about her and her works!

I’m please to announce that in an effort to continue gathering information on the Amazon Kindle Blog Service, I contacted the one and only Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware Blogs! Ms. Strauss was nice enough to look into the situation for me and supply a response which I will post this weekend in the form of the Part II of the article. Thank you Ms. Strauss and as I stated before, your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Peace,
CJ

HAPPY! HAPPY!, JOY! JOY!

2011-05-17T23:40:00.000-04:00

If you'll forgive the cross-posted news:

KA-CHOW! And here's the news I've been waiting to announce! Just signed and returned a contract to Ravenous Romance™ for my M/F contemporary short story Passion's Due (formerly Trade). Come do the Happy Dance with me!!

Yes, I wanted to make sure everything was official before I made the announcment. I got the contract right before I was going out the door to work and it drove me nuts waiting for the day to end so I could get home and sign it. Sometimes working late shift has its disadvantages.

But as with all my works I can't wait until this comes out and I hope everyone enjoys it! Dang, wish Border's was open, I would go have one of my latte's.

More to come.

Peace,
CJ

MUSINGS PART 8 -- IT IS EIGHT, ISN'T IT?

2011-05-14T18:31:00.000-04:00

Today I’m at Barnes and Noble and I’m having this:

Is that not totally decadent or what? As I posted on FaceBook I love being a modern writer.

Not much to muse on today. It’s dreary and rainy out and normally I stay in on days like this but today I just wanted to be out. I have a few errands to run and I’m off to Trader Joe’s right after this to get some frozen potstickers dumplings. Then I’ll probably go home and have a nice nap.

Change of plans concerning one of my short stories. I’ll make an official announcement very soon.

One thing I did notice when I was perusing the shelves at the B&N was the surfeit of identical covers in the paranormal romance and suspense genres. This has been noticed before as I’ve read some comments and an article on the subject in the past. Now I’m not knocking the covers and I know it’s necessary to convey the genre and I know there aren’t many other ways to do it, but it just seems sometimes that publishers need to put a little more effort into the presentation.

I counted a good forty covers that have the same thing – usually a bad ass woman in a leather outfit posing for the camera holding a big gun or sword, the background is usually a gritty urban setting, and at times there is the shadowy portrait of her love interest in the background. The tag line is always something like, “She’s bad ass and she’ll kick your ass.” Now again, they’re all very well made and the artists are quite talented but let’s try something a little different shall we? Perhaps allow the artists more control and to be inspired by the story? Just saying.

I’d personally like to see a different type of woman on the cover. But if that is to happen we have to have different characters. Although we don't know if this is what the author actually planned. My point is, why can’t she be a badass without being a young woman going around in leather all the time? What about the quiet, gentle librarian type who dresses modestly and neatly? She’s standing behind the desk, glasses perched on her nose, when the werewolf busts in. She calmly walks over him, beats the crap out of him, then pushes back that wisp of flyaway hair, replaces her glasses on her nose and goes to have a latte.

What about a -- *ahem* more mature woman like Helen Mirren ala Red?

That movie is in my Netflix queue and I’m so wanting to see it.

Hell, I’ll take Juniper Lee’s Ah-Mah, Jasmine Lee.

Oh you know who would be even better? A sort of O-Ren Ishii type character? Now that I’d pay serious money for! I just loved the below scene. Um – remember this is a very violent scene but since no one under 18 years old is supposed to be here, what are you doing?

But he kind of had it coming didn’t he? I mean how are you going to go into a powerful woman’s home, sit at her table, eat her food, drink her drink, then insult her in front of her peeps and not expect to get your head cut off?

There are probably many other ways the paranormal romance/suspense character can be done or if anyone knows of a different way or seen different cover art feel free to post.

Hmm…You know, I could write any one of these characters myself. Everybody, forget I mentioned them.

Peace,

CJ

MUSINGS PART 7 -- SANS BORDERS

2011-05-06T20:57:00.000-04:00

Okay, this is more of an extended rant or at least a partial rant than a musing.

Today was one annoyingly weird and crappy day. Or at least the last few hours were.

You know I try to advance in business and basically be honest but with the people I have to deal with, being a back-stabbing little byotch sometimes has a certain appeal even though that’s not how I roll.

Someone took exception to me calling them “sweetie”. I call everybody sweetie or dear. Yes I’m an old lady and am allowed to do so. No one has been offended by it until today. Or if they were they’ve never said anything. To coin a phrase from Judith Light in Law and Order SVU, “Take your meds people.”

I stopped at my local garden center. When I was there I felt better as I walked along the rows of racks and shelves. I was only there to get a cucumber and watermelon plants but it made me feel comfortable all the same. Like the plants as they sat were surrounding me in an embrace. When I left I remembered how pissed I was.

And I made sure to get my lady-beer tonight.

And apparently liquor stores don’t take empties anymore. The EPA now requires the stores to pay them .04 cents a bottle. You can recycle them but you don’t get anything for them. So I had to lug them back home.

And I got carded. For the first time in --- a few years. I just looked at the guy and said, “Seriously?” He gives me this innocent look and says quietly, “Yes ma’am.” I just laughed and said, “Ok, sweetie (uh-oh) I’ll take that as a compliment.” His fellow clerk said, “Yes, take it as a compliment. You look very young.” It made me feel a bit better.

Next door to the liquor store is a fire house. As I was driving past, I noticed a cordoned off area where there was a car, flipped over on its roof, its windows smashed. There’s no logical explanation for how that happened. I could only think, WTF?

Well I’m home (nods to Dorothy) and apparently it’s going to be for the whole weekend. So feel free to catch me online or one of the IM’s. I’m going to knock out as much of Memory in Shadow as I can this weekend. I want it out there.

Then again I wouldn't mind playing some video games. I was going to buy a Wii but now the Wii 2 is in the works. Maybe next week I'll finally upgrade to the DSi. No, I am not paying $249.99 for a 3DS.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. Peace.

CJ

Publish You Blog on Amazon Kindle - Info Article Part 1

2011-05-02T11:53:00.000-04:00

Amazon.com is now offering a new service (well new as far as I know) where you can publish your blog on Kindle. I first heard of it on FaceBook via a post by my buddy Gina Kincade, when she shared an article from the blog Live Your Love

This seems like a great opportunity for my fellow writers to showcase and make money from their blogs via Kindle. Yes, Kindle readers pay $1.99 a month to subscribe to blogs of which the owners get 30%.

My first question was did they accept blogs from erotica writers? I had other questions as well so I went ahead and opened an account. That seemed to be the only way to learn more information.

First I looked up their Content Guidelines, seeking information about what they accepted. I came up with this, so far on their community forum:

Titles made available through the Kindle Publishing Platform must follow our content policy and guidelines, detailed below. Publishers are expected to conduct proper research to ensure that the titles made available through the Kindle Publishing Platform are in compliance with all local, state, national, and international laws. If we determine that the content of a title is prohibited, we may summarily remove or alter it. We reserve the right to make judgments about whether or not content is appropriate. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with some examples of prohibited content:

Pornography
Pornography and hard-core material that depicts graphic sexual acts.

Offensive Material
What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect. We reserve the right to determine the appropriateness of titles made available through our platform.

These are the first two. Now my fellow writers we know there are some who just think of our work as porn or find it offensive. We know Amazon in the past attempted to remove our work from their site, so one has to wonder what they consider “pornography” or “offensive” and how much support will be received if someone complains, although you figure if a person chooses to download a blog, it’s their choice alone.

Here’s a suggestion, it anyone owns a Kindle check and see if there are any blogs that present writers or adult content and let me know and I’ll print your comments in another article.

There is also this paragraph for Grantor of Rights:

5.5. Grant of Rights. You hereby grant to each Amazon party, throughout the term of this Agreement, a nonexclusive, worldwide right and license to distribute Publications as described herein, directly and through third-party distributors, in all digital formats by all digital distribution means available, such right to include, without limitation, the right to: (a) reproduce and store Publications on one or more computer facilities, and reformat, convert and encode Publications; (b) display, market, transmit, distribute, sell and otherwise digitally make available all or any portion of Publications through Amazon Properties (as defined below), for customers and prospective customers to download, access, copy and paste, print, annotate and/or view online and offline, including on portable devices; (c) permit customers to “store” Publications that they have purchased from us on servers (“Virtual Storage”) and to access and re-download such Publications from Virtual Storage from time to time both during and after the term of this Agreement; (d) display and distribute (i) your trademarks and logos in the form you provide them to us or within Publications (with such modifications as are necessary to optimize their viewing), and (ii) portions of Publications, in each case solely for the purposes of marketing, soliciting and selling Publications and related Amazon offerings; (e) use, reproduce, adapt, modify, and create derivative works of and use and distribute, as we determine appropriate, in our sole discretion, any metadata that you provide in connection with Publications; and (f) transmit, reproduce and otherwise use (or cause the reformatting, transmission, reproduction, and/or other use of) Publications as mere technological incidents to and for the limited purpose of technically enabling the foregoing (e.g., caching to enable display). In addition, you agree that we may permit our affiliates and independent contractors, and our affiliates' independent contractors, to exercise the rights that you grant to us in this Agreement. “Amazon Properties” means any web site, application or online point of presence, on any platform, that is owned or operated by or under license by Amazon or co-branded with Amazon, and any web site, application, device or online point of presence through which any Amazon Properties or products available for sale thereon are syndicated, offered, merchandised, advertised or described.

Several people have posted on the forum that they have asked questions. I won’t reprint them verbatim here because of rights issues but the most simplistic answer I’ve seen as to what this all means that Amazon owns the rights for the Kindle version of your content. That they can redistribute and/or alter your content and use it to advertise services on Amazon and making your content a part of said services.

I could be wrong about this, so I’m going to see if I can’t ask someone more knowledgeable about such things. It doesn’t appear that they’re saying they own the rights to your work, just the right to use it in ads and various services any way they see fit.

Now I’m not saying this is a bad idea. I’m still thinking this seems to be a good way to advertise your blog and obtain more readers for your work. One of the services they offer to advertise that your blog is on Kindle? It’s called a Chicklet. From the Amazon Kindle Getting Started Page Under General Topics:

To promote your blog, you can place a Kindle Chicklet next to your other RSS chicklets or elsewhere on your site to let Kindle customers know your blog is available on Amazon Kindle. Since the chicklet is brought to you by the Amazon Associates program, you’ll also receive referral fees for all qualifying purchases on Amazon.com, including 10% on the Kindle device.

So another plus, you can make a few dollars more (no pun intended) by placing a widget on your site or blog. You have to have an Amazon Associates Account which had to be different from your Kindle Blog account, which has to be different from any other accounts you have with Amazon like Author Central. So be prepared to have a couple of different passwords.

Well I have to get to work now. When I come home tonight I’ll do some more research and see what else I can find. In the meantime as stated above if anyone can get information on this please drop me a line and I’ll place it here. Stay tuned….

Peace,

CJ

Musings Part 6 -- Doubts

2011-04-30T21:39:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered why you bother to write?

Or worse yet, if you're even good at it?

Is it presumptuous to think you are? That you must be doing something right? I mean, you are published after all that says something doesn't it?

Yes, I'm in Border's looking at all the published books. I'm not feeling well suddenly so I may have to rush out very quick. I'm going to purchase another book, The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. I'm reading Giest by Phillipa Ballantine and I'm wondering if I will ever join them on these shelves.

Yesterday I spoke with a gentleman who is also a published author and we got into a conversation about books. He didn't know I was an author but he went about saying how frustrated he became when publication eluded him. He made it finally but he did tell me the myriad of times he told himself not to give up but then he would put his work away saying something like he needed time away from it. Then he said he realized that every time he did put the book away he was in a sense giving up. He vowed never to do it again.

I’ve given up about fifteen times in the past several years and I’ve set books aside. Drawbacks like my big PC crash made it difficult to start over. It still isn’t easy. I’m still reeling from that writing defeat of mine. I tried to get over it but I can’t. Maybe the trick is learning to work with it or around it. Not sure which is better?

I see all these books and wonder, when will that be me? When will the trade magazines announce my fifth in a series of books?

Of course this won’t happen if I don’t write as words don’t magically appear, well not as far as I know. Wish it were as easy as it sounds.

Ah well…back to work. I’ve got the whole Sunday to write. I mean seriously, you’ve seen those gas prices.

Peace,

CJ

Author Interview at Tonya’s Tales!

2011-04-26T07:06:00.002-04:00

Good morning, everyone! I have an interview up this week with author Tonya Kinzer of Tonya’s Tales! Stop on by and get the skinny on me as an author! I’ve made some wonderful online friends over the past few months so this is a great opportunity to get to know me a little better. And if you comment you have a chance to win a free copy of one of my backlist titles! And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line, anytime! And my thanks to Tonya!

Peace!

Well my day has taken a turn....

2011-04-24T13:27:00.000-04:00

Well if this don't beat all. Here I am ready for a nice fun day in the sun. I go to Home Depot to pick up a few things, I get out of my car, close the car door and the driver's side mirror falls off and breaks. A couple of years back my car was vandalized and I had to get the mirror replaced. Actually this is the second time, it happened before and the car dealer my insurance company chose (not mine) put the wrong mirror on. I took it to my dealership the second time. Luckily my insurance covered it both times. I thought my dealership had done it right this time. Would you believe they stuck the mirror back on with glue squares? So now I had to buy a stick-on mirror at Pep Boys (shout out) in order to see to drive home because the dealership is closed today. Well I'm making the best of it. I'll work in the garden and wash my car, maybe make a few frosty drinks. Tomorrow I get to play irate customer.

Peace

CJ

QUICKIE NEWS -- IT'S OFFICIAL!

2011-04-18T08:53:00.000-04:00

I am in a reasonably good mood (except for one thing that I saw online this morning that I can't mention because its against the code set forth for authors) while I sit here munching on Eggo's and drinking my coffee before starting another work week.

I was at Border's yesterday but I didn't get to write a musings so I'll reserve it for next week.

But the good news is, it's official! Last night I finally came up with a title for Illusion's sequel, Memory in Shadow. Didn't think I'd ever get the perfect title but I'm loving this one. I'm up to chapter seven hoping to finish it this morning. It's amazing how much motivation a new title can give you. I suppose it makes the entire project official.

So the question of the day is, how do my fellow writers come up with their titles?

Peace,
CJ

MUSINGS PART 5 -- MY LATTE IS BACK!!

2011-04-11T11:23:00.000-04:00

I actually meant to put this post up on Sunday but didn’t get a chance. So enjoy! But first how do you like my tweaking? I’m going to do more to my blog later although I’m not sure what just yet.

4/10/11 -- MUSINGS PART 5 – MY LATTE IS BACK!!

I didn’t stay at Border’s as long as I usually do today because I saw a few things that I want to buy and right now I’m a little short on funds not to mention – have you seen the price of gas lately? Damn, I really shouldn’t have come out today. That and the WiFi here isn’t working so I can’t even get online. But the good news is they actually still have my latte and I’m sitting here in the peace and quiet (far away from my noisy neighbors) and enjoying one right now.

Who reads comic books? I’m asking because three racks of them are staring me in the face and I can’t help but look at them. I’m not a reader of them. Yes, I own a few, like the comic they made for the Dragon’s Lair game which has woefully gone unfinished and a comic for The Pirates of Darkwater, which I think is Hanna Barbera’s greatest achievement (next to Johnny Quest) and they totally dissed it. I’m sorry, I have NEVER liked Scooby Doo, even when I was a kid. But let’s not get on that tangent. And since I grew up in a house full of boys, I’m quite well versed in the characters. This and I liked the old 60’s Spiderman series (and how many of you young folks remember that?) I hope someone admits that they do. I also recall having a Wonder Woman graphic novel when I was a pre-teen as well as a storybook and record (yes I said record). And I fully plan on checking out the new series.

And I have to admit I am a fan of the hilarious Linkara from Atop the Fourth Wall, he’s a vidcast comic reviewer. It’s sort of a guilty pleasure for me. But the fact of the matter is I’ve simply never been able to get into comics because of some of the things that comic writers are allowed to get away with that novel writers can’t. Now all you comic lovers out there don’t get upset. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with them, they’ve just never been something I could get deep into.

I can imagine how an editor would react if I wrote something like a main character getting killed off, brought back to life, cloned several times, killed again, reborn a different sex and many other eyebrow raising things I’ve seen in comics. But then again I’ve heard of fans being infuriated by such things. They want good plausible story lines as well, along with a coherent plot and fully fleshed out characters. Sure mysticism, magic, paranormal is fantastic. After all, I write it and I love it. But I and many writers of paranormal, fantasy, science-fiction, and horror feel there has to be some plausibility to it. Just a little.
OK, time to finish my latte and go home.

Peace!
CJ

Musings Part 4 - The Latte Is Gone

2011-04-02T17:45:00.000-04:00

Well I find the inevitable has happened and it was much too soon….they took away my drink. Somehow the cappuccino hot chocolate I have isn’t the same. I guess I’ll have to figure out how to make it at home. My drink that is. I was at Borders earlier and realized Dropbox hadn’t updated my files and I was hoping I could access them that way because I left my pen drive at home. But it’s all right. It’s reasonably nice outside so I didn’t mind going out again.

It’s quieter here too. Well some people have started to laugh and when I first sat down, the two women sitting next to me stopped talking abruptly, although there were people on the other side of them. Well my table is closer but really? If you want to have a personal conversation a bookstore café is NOT the place to have it.

And I looked at books for a little while again. How many of us remember Jean Auel? She wrote Clan of the Cave Bear a few years back and suddenly seemed to disappear from the industry for almost a decade. Now she’s back, with a new book, and if I may venture a guess, a new attitude. It’s only been about five years since my writing defeat. Sometimes I wonder if I should have waited longer before trying again, if I should try at all.

I used to be able to write a book within three months. Now it takes considerably longer. Maybe that’s a good thing? I haven’t been working much on my projects except when I go to the bookstore. I wonder why that is? After my old PC crashed and I had to go to the library, I hated doing it. But then again I didn’t have my cute netbook at the time, nor could I have an unlimited supply of sweets and caffeinated beverages. OK, not an unlimited supply, these things cost a lot of money. And I swear if those young girls two tables down don’t stop giggling…

But I tend to get more done here. Maybe because I’m away from home and there are less distractions? But then again they’re my distractions and I could just as easily ignore them. I can make my own coffee and cocoa drinks. I have before. You can buy toffee chips anywhere. So why don’t I do that? Stay home and write? I really can’t say what it is. Suggestions anyone?

I read a post earlier today (and of course I can’t find it now) on an author’s blog about how the author had just sent out a work and he couldn’t decide what to start next and found himself doing the dreaded checking of e-mails. My situation is similar. I know what I want to write but I find myself doing the old checking the e-mail thing too. It’s a bit harder to do outside of the home and to be honest I don’t want to do it on the free Wi-Fi anyway.

So I guess I’m going to have to train myself to work from home so to speak. Otherwise all my money is going to go on lattes and red velvet cupcakes.

Damn someone just sat next to me with this delicious looking bowl of cream of chicken and rice soup and a crusty loaf of bread, as we fantasy writers like to say. It smells way too good. All right I need to go home now.

Peace,

CJ

Award Nomination - The Overlord Award

2011-04-02T11:16:00.000-04:00

I’m going to be hitting B & N soon for my bi-weekly netbook outing so I may have a musing for you. I also still need to buy a new coffee maker. I haven’t had coffee in three days and haven’t had time to go buy a cup. But first I want to thank Vampirique Dezire for nominating Black Satin for the Overlord Award! The rules according to her blog are as follows:

RULES:

Post the award and the rules on your blog.
List 3 things you would change if you were overlord.
List 10 blogs you think are worthy of world domination.

Leave them a message in their comment sections with a link saying you chose them

Now I have to find 10 blogs that I like and since there are hundreds, that’s going to be hard! And from my understanding acceptance of the award isn’t mandatory, it just goes to show the blog owner how fantastic their little corner of the net is.

So I’ll take some time while I’m out to think of the blogs, then update this post a little later.

Peace!
CJ

The three things I would change if I were Overlord?

1. Make it mandatory to sit down and talk to someone for five minutes if you have a problem with them.
2. Create more programs and activities for writers where I live.

3. Make cafe drinks a lot cheaper, with greater variety and with more bad-for-you things in them.

Musings Part 3 - Sittin' Up In Borders

2011-03-26T15:21:00.000-04:00

So I went to Borders again since I am now hooked on the Salted Toffee Ultimate Mocha and I decided also to make this sort of a bi-monthly ritual. OK, so this wasn’t my bi-monthly day. I decided to do the whole get a latte with my netbook thing every payday. However all morning I’ve been fighting a migraine. I tried to just sit quietly and keep the noise and light down to a minimum but it seemed to be hovering just outside my brain.

Well finally I got tired of it. I didn’t want to sit in the house any longer, so I risked going out. I’m writing this on the free Wi-Fi right now, while things are on my mind. But then again, don’t people do this to blog as well?

I’m finding I’m getting more work done usually when I go out. I’m hoping the weather gets warm and stays warm so I can finally go out in the garden. I’m so loving the netbook. Shout out to gateway.

So I’m here again, the third time in a bookstore in two months after several years (jaws off the floor please) and I’m realizing I’ve missed a lot. First I perused the shelves and found quite a few series that were starting out the last time I was in a bookstore, up to their fourth and fifth outings or the author has started a couple of new series. Then I saw some people who haven’t written anything new suddenly making a come-back. Bookstores still have it going despite some naysayers, I believe. I love e-books but that doesn’t change how I feel about print books.

It’s a little louder in here today because there’s some kind of event for kids going on and I find myself surrounded by families as I’m sitting here. It’s not too disturbing though. Everything is quiet enough that I’m starting to feel a bit better.

I was thinking as I perused the shelves how I had tried for mainstream publication in the past. I had stopped for some time. My reasons are indirectly connected to my past writing defeat. But I believe all authors at one point suffered a defeat that made them question whether or not they were good enough or if it was worth it. Somewhere I decided that it was because I started writing again although I couldn’t tell you when.

So I don’t know, right now I’m just doing some more musing. I’m wondering if I can successfully transition to mainstream. I’ve seen many e-book authors do it. I’m not sure yet if I want to try, like I said, right now I’m just sitting here thinking and working on Illusion’s sequel, which is doing quite well and thanks to the suggestions of my fellow authors and Mozy and Dropbox (and having Comcast) there won’t get lost.

So I may have another latte and think what I’m going to do. So many things have changed for me lately and I’m realizing that there’s so much I want to do and it’s past time for me to get started.

For now, I’m going to finish my mocha and get some work done.

But I can’t seem to stop looking at the cover of an Archie and Friend comic sitting on a nearby rack. It’s captioned Reggie’s Revenge and it has Reggie doing the evil super-villain look. What’s up with that?

More Musings next week. Hey, maybe I’ll make this a bi-weekly column?

Peace,
CJ

More Musing....

2011-03-20T08:48:00.000-04:00

Something important I forgot to mention about yesterday. Which I can't believe, where was my mind?

When I went to B & N yesterday, I realized it was the first time I had set foot in a bookstore in years, let alone purchased a paperback book. Okay, jaws off the floor please. It had much to do with the "serious writing defeat" I've mentioned in the past and happened years ago. I just didn't feel like being in a place where other authors had their work displayed and mine wasn't included. Even harder to read their works.

But before I sat and had my green tea drink and indulged in some writing myself, I perused the shelves.

I first wanted to see what was popular in young adult. There's also a reason for that for another project I'm considering but that's way down the road. Next, I hit the romance and fantasy shelves. I saw a lot of familiar favorites, some series I had started but had stopped but perhaps I'll pick up where I left off. For yesterday, I purchased Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier. I'm looking forward to reading it and finishing some reading I began but drifted away from.

But for now, as previously stated, I have a few projects I'm working on and I'm looking for some other places where I can spend some time, do some writing and have some good coffee. I think I'll stop by Border's today and maybe see what's on their shelves.

In other news, I recently signed up for Amazon's Author's Central. Now there's another thing I haven't been on in awhile and in fact left a few years ago and very seldom if ever, purchased anything there. But this service was mentioned by one of my publishers and I thought, "Why not? I'll give them another shot." Pretty much all of my works are there with the exception of Fire and Fate which I'm hoping will change soon. So stop by and have a look if you want. Any one else on Author Central?

Spend the day , relaxing. It's Sunday. Peace!

CJ

Musing...

2011-03-19T21:07:00.000-04:00

I had a pretty nice day. Today I did something I've always wanted to do. It was a small thing but I had fun. I went to the local Barnes and Noble with my Netbook in hand, bought a green tea blended drink, sat down and wrote. I actually started something new (to join with the myriad of projects I'm currently working on) but this is something specific and I started it for a special reason. I can't get into it right now but I hope to have some news soon.

I wanted to work on some editing too but I found that I downloaded the wrong version of the story but that's all right. I want to find a couple of other places with free WiFi and some good coffee.

Before that I hit the local Best Buy and bought a new microphone (I stepped on my old one) and one of those netbook lap holders. I want to spend a lot of time outside writing and enjoying my garden this summer.

The mic is for Skype, which I recently joined. Anyone else on?

The only annoying thing I had happen today? Well besides someone getting an attitude again when I didn't want to try and beat on-coming traffic (I mean, really?) was going to a certain department store to price some appliances and being subjected to the "hard sell". The lady was nice enough and I know she has to make a living too but I've never responded well to the hard sell tatic. If I say I'm only pricing and don't want to purchase today, leave it at that. If you give me the old, "buy this thing right now or you'll regret it for the rest of your life" routine chances are, I won't buy it there. Just saying.

On the other hand I made a purchase at a different store because the sales person had this totally fun and upbeat attitude and I was impressed. Consider this a shout out. I really wanted the item and would have bought it anyway but because he didn't make me feel like I was being coerced it sealed the deal.

A UFO?? No, it's the super-moon and a street lamp.

Now I'm at my favorite place -- Home. Dorothy? And I'm snacking and having a nice glass of wine. And it was a pleasant day and a reasonably nice night weather-wise. Now the "super-moon" had risen full and bright and earlier it was hanging low in the sky and had sort of a golden color to it. If I wasn't driving, I would have taken a picture on my cell right then and there.

Now I'm eager for spring (ok, lets say the warm weather, as spring will be here in two days) and to get out in my garden. I plan on making it rather spectacular this year. So what are your plans for the spring and summer?
A nice trip? Staying at home? Or finding a nice place to write?

Peace!

CJ

Guest Blogger - Author HD Hatcher

2011-02-23T22:41:00.000-05:00

I’ve been very fortunate to have many wonderful authors guest blog here at Black Satin. I’m enjoying having them here and hopefully we’ve been able to help each other by drawing more readers to our works!

This month, I’d like to welcome author HD Hatcher with his recent release, A Cold Dark Place. And as an extra added bonus, Mr. Hatcher will be giving away a copy of A Cold Dark Place to one lucky winner! There will be more on that a little bit down the post, so stay tuned!

Of course, we always begin by giving you a bit of personal information about the author.

******

Bio:

Author HD Hatcher is no newcomer on the literary scene. He is author of In the Heart of the Closet, a piece nominated for both the 2006 Stonewall Book Award and the 2005 Lambda Literary Award. He is an avid supporter of gay and lesbian causes, suicide prevention programs, as well as Animal Rights. Hatcher currently resides in the Grand Strand area of South Carolina, near his hometown of Conway, with his Life Partner of ten years, Jerry.

******

About A Cold Dark Place:

Purchase at Passionate Writer Publishing

ISBN# 978-0-9828209-2-6

210 Pages: $14.95

E-Book: $6.99

On a chance meeting, (at a mutual friend’s house) Luke finds the love of his life. Andy is what Luke has been longing for all of his adult years: the perfect man. But, this perfect man is not only straight—he is married to a woman who is more devilish than Satan himself.

In a bittersweet journey that will change his life forever, Luke must reach deep inside and find the strength he never knew existed. A Cold Dark Place is the story of a man who must pick up the pieces of his broken heart after a lifetime of heartbreak and betrayal.

******

HD was nice enough to provide us with his take on what it entailed writing A Cold Dark Place:

HD Hatcher- A Cold Dark Place

When I was writing A Cold Dark Place, I knew that I wanted to include a love scene. I will be the first to admit that it would have been much easier to say, “To hell with it” and allow the scene to be written as a raw piece of erotica. I wanted to. Don’t get me wrong. However, I felt as though that it would be inappropriate due to the sensitive nature of the novel as a whole.

I kept the scene light and devoid of too much intensity to prevent A Cold Dark Place from becoming a stereotypical gay read. A lot of the gay reads depict a graphic tale of “Wham Bam, thank you ma’am” relationship with as many strangers as possible, immediately followed by your drug of choice. This is exactly what I have always promised to stay away from in my writing. (Even in the erotic short story that I have written entitled, One Too Many, the sex is between two friends that have known each other for a long time.)

I wanted the feelings between the two characters in A Cold Dark Place to be highlighted by the emotions involved as opposed to the act itself.

I wanted the reader to use their imagination. I felt like this approach would allow for a much hotter outcome for the reader. Much more so than anything I could probably conjure up for them.

I am not quite ready to venture out and start writing erotica just yet, but nine chances out of ten, there might be a reason or two for the reader to have to take a cold shower after reading something of mine.

Thank you so much for having me and I hope that we can do this again some time.

******

And now for the giveaway. It’s quite easy – post here at Black Satin and tell us how much you want a copy of A Cold Dark Place and why! And to give yourself an even better chance of winning? Subscribe to Black Satin and let us know you’ve done so. The winner will be chosen and contacted by HD.

I’d like to take the time to thank HD for visiting me at Black Satin. Good luck with A Cold Dark Place and all your future works! It was a pleasure!

Peace!

CJ Black

Tweaking My Site Look and New Content!

2011-02-16T22:51:00.000-05:00

Good evening, my fellow writers and readers! Just a quick note to let you know I’ve changed the look of my official website! Nothing too drastic, but I like it. Drop by and have a look! Let me know what you think!

Author CJ Black’s Official Website.

And have a look at a BRAND-NEW excerpt from the (as of yet untitled) sequel to Illusion of Night! Please be advised however, that this excerpt has yet to be edited, so bear with me.

I also have a new free-read for you to peruse, called Comfort Zone, a contemporary M/F erotic romance. The usual warnings apply.

You may have seen me mention on FaceBook, that I’ve recently re-vamped and expanded my story, Diamond in the Rough, and I’ve sent it out on submission. Wish me luck! I’ll let you know as soon as I hear.

This weekend it will be all about the writing. I need to give Paint Shop Pro 9 a rest!

Peace!

CJ

I've Been Interviewed by Gina Kincade at Naughty Nights Press!

2011-02-04T20:12:00.000-05:00

Join me on Saturday 2/5/11 for my interview with Gina Kincade at Naughty Nights Press. If you’re just getting to know me or we recently traded a friending on Twitter or Facebook, this is a great chance to get to know me better and learn more about Illusion of Night, other works on my list and where you can find me online. I always love to hear from fellow writers and readers!

And if we’ve been buddies for awhile and I haven’t heard from you then let’s get reacquainted! And while you’re there have a look around the Naughty Nights Press blog. You’ll love it!

Peace,

CJ

*art by Andrey Zyk courtesy of PhotoXpress

Guest Blogger - Author Kiki Howell

2011-01-18T22:58:00.000-05:00

Nothing makes an evening good by spending it watching Netflix movies (Despicable Me to be exact) but what makes an evening great? Spending it preparing to host another wonderful author. Allow me to introduce Kiki Howell, author of Torn Asunder. Let’s all give Kiki a warm welcome! I’m told this is Kiki’s first full length novel! Congrats!

First we’ll learn a bit about Kiki and then, read an informative article she’s penned titled, How I Write With an Angel and a Demon on My Shoulder.

******

Bio:

Ever since she was young, Kiki Howell has loved to listen to a well-woven tale with real characters, inspired plots, and delightful resolutions. Kiki could spend hours lost in a book, and soon she knew that creating lives, loves, and losses with just words had to be the greatest thing that she could do. To that end, she pursued her study of literature and writing, earning a bachelor’s degree in English. She then followed in a Master’s program in Creative Writing.

“After a long break having my boys, I finally just had to write again. And, as soon as I gave the stories the space, they entered it. It’s both awesome and humbling to find the words in my mind become characters on a page and create their lives.”

She has now had over twenty stories published between five different small presses. She could not be more thrilled or grateful to see her creations polished and out in the real world. Please look around. Although, a bit of caution, most of her stories tend to hang out on the graphically sexy side of town.

Kiki resides in the Midwest with her incredibly handsome and talented, singer/songwriter husband and two children. When she is not writing, she is spending time with her family, reading, baking or knitting.

*****

Blurb:

Aubrey Griffen is a witch whose true reasons for coming to London soon fall to the wayside when she catches the eye of Edmund Bryant, the Marquess of Dalysbury. He seduces her into a whirlwind romance until the lies and threats of his mother force her to flee to Triaill Brimuir, a secret island of her ancestors off the coast of Ireland. Edmund goes after her only to be hit by Aubrey’s confusion and anger when she magically transforms him into an elemental beast of her own creation.

However, it is when Edmund’s lust mysteriously turns him back into a man that the couple are forced to deal with a family secret and untold of powers. Now, Edmund must learn to shift himself into the beast in order to save her in a battle of black verses white magic.

Genres: Historical (Regency), Paranormal (Witches & Shifters), Erotic Romance

Adult Content Warnings: Explicit Graphic Language, Violence

Purchase at in ebook or trade paperback at Excessica Publishing or Amazon as well as many other retailers.

******

EXCERPT:

The roses, elegant in their refinement, fell from one another with little grace as she undid the paper around them. Staggering back a few steps until her back met with the wall, she slid down to the floor letting the wrapping and flowers fall where they may. Aubrey wrapped her arms tightly around her midsection. Her chest ached more with each beat of her heart as she swallowed hard, blinked away the mistiness over her eyes, and remembered.

It had been the beginning of the season, a bit over a fortnight ago, when she first encountered Edmund Bryant, the Marquess of Dalysbury. Although she rolled her eyes still at the title, she felt impelled to live through it all again--through the days of fantasy in which she had allowed herself to participate. Love at first sight didn't always give way to rational thinking. It did, however, make possible even the wavering delusions of believing impossible dreams could come true. She had just come to London to live with Lord and Lady Sanderly, her cousins who had paid for her travels under the guise of giving a poor relation of marriageable age a chance to find a good husband.

Whereas, the truth of the matter was, she was a relation who had shown a great aptitude for learning of the magical powers she had inherited. The good Lord and Lady, while holding the public title of Earl and Countess, were actually descendants of one of the notorious Pendle witches. They were to teach her to harness and utilize her innate talents in secret while flaunting her about from various parties and balls in the public eye.

She recalled with a weak smile the first ball Lord and Lady Sanderly had thrown to immerse her into proper society. At the time, she had consciously gripped her hands before her waist to resist fidgeting while trying hard to fix to memory all of the titles of those to whom she was being introduced. Her level of discomfort had increased, however, as an unsettled awareness of someone in the room, a haunting premonition of sorts, had made her heart race and her mouth dry. She had paid mind to ignore the successive shivers which rushed the length of her spine until they pooled as heat in her tightening stomach.

Reminded she was holding her breath only when forced to speak, her ribs had begun to ache. When a chill more pervasive that any she had ever known even in the drafty county cottage she had been raised in permeated her shoulders, she had turned in the direction of the source, and her eyes had met with a man standing just across the room looking back at her. She had immediately felt challenged to not look away from the gaze of his dark eyes. They radiated a raw energy unlike anything she had ever encountered before even among those with her own esoteric abilities.

A connection was made. Her heart beat at a frantic, uneven pace like a horse racing over shoddy roads. At the same time, a vague forewarning had made her break out in a glistening of sweat while she fought the urge to escape as well the need to move toward the man. She had given merit to her reactions based only on the fact she had captured the glance of an aristocratic gentleman with a lady in a lavish satin gown on his arm of obviously higher circumstances.

Engrossed in his fine manners, she watched as his hand removed the one holding onto him from his arm with a slight nod of his head. The lady in return had given him a slight curtsy but glorious smile before turning back to her other acquaintances which Aubrey recognized to be a duke and duchess she had recently met. His tempestuous form fit in posh attire spun on the heel of his expensive footwear to find her again with his haunted and hungry eyes. He seemed an odd mix of rugged and refined. She had felt the thrill and danger of being pursued by a beast which lurked inside of the man.

******

Kiki Howell ~where love is a mystical thing~

NY Times Bestselling Author, Hannah Howell, says of Torn Asunder, "Kiki Howell spins a wonderful tale of passion, magic, betrayal, and a love that conquers all. Enjoy." Coming January 2011

Please visit http://www.kikihowell.com/ to see all available titles!

******

Title: How I write with an Angel and a Demon on My Shoulder

Inspiration comes to me from different places. Sometimes I am reading a research book on something like Wicca, and a spell starts my imagination whirling. I let my mind spin the spell into one where a witch could do the unimaginable. Or, I watch a movie or read a book, and in my mind I see the paranormal creature differently. And thus, a story comes rushing at me. I have even had the occurrence where I hear something, a story on the news or some *cringes* bleachers gossip, usually more on the tragic side, and in dealing with the information, I create a story with a happy ending. But, this is when the anxiety and stress start?

I seem to have these voices inside my head, like the proverbial angel and demon on my shoulders. It is always the devil that starts whispering to me that no one will ever believe or buy into my story. Seems crazy when I am writing about the unbelievable, a world where maybe vampires kill humans to live and witches can produce an energy ball of light for protection. My angel then fights back making that very point. Still, the little devil continues on that no one will want to read it. You know, I write fantasy to get away from the insanity of real life sometimes only to be met with my own craziness. LOL

Thankfully for me, the angel wins eventually. I begin to let go and create. I stay true to MY story, as I want it written. So, you would think that devil would just give up. Yeah, right!

When I create my world, I always start with the characters. I have to not only decide what they are going to be, like a witch (my favorite) or a vampire (love to mix these two) or a shifter, etc. But, it doesn’t stop there. There are a lot of decisions in what abilities the characters have. How far I let my brain go here depends upon that evil red dude with horns on my shoulder again. Once I silence him, again, I have to decide what other characters they will be assisted by or have to battle against and what their powers will be. The trick here is always to create a villain who seems like he or she is more powerful, and then find a fantasy loophole in which the main hero or heroine can defeat them. I must do all of this with imaginary earplugs in to shield me from the voices! LOL

Of course, given I write paranormal romance, I have to decide who that main character is going to fall in love with, and what complications their powers may be to their union. One may think that with supernatural powers life would be easier, but I like to complicate life with them. Of course, in the physical relations, there are always perks found their special abilities, if you know what I mean! LOL I get a bit devilish here on my own, and silence completely the red guy on my shoulder that questions my imagination. I suppose at this point which voice in my head was the devil and which was the angel could be debated. All in the perspective ;)

Once the characters are established, I create the actual physical world with the setting, the time, etc and how all of these things impact the characters. Sometimes my family asks me what I am doing sitting in front of my computer staring off into space, but I am either taking a break or creating my next story. Important work is accomplished staring at nothing. LOL

Angel and Devil aside, I have tried to write stories that are not paranormal, but I find it creeping back in. In fact, I recently finished a non-paranormal story, and had to laugh when my character ended up an avid reader of paranormal erotic romance, and many references were made to it. When I got the inspiration for my latest novel, the angel and demon were in heated debates all through the three step writing process. The three steps this time were a bit different in that it went from a short story to a novella to a full novel over the course of a year. One voice kept telling me to walk away in the face of those positive rejections where you are told how wonderful it is but they want more, ore want this or want that. I am not sure whether that voice was the angel or demon again as it talked back to the editors, but it doesn’t matter now. It is here, Torn Asunder, my first published full length novel. And now, *crosses fingers* the voices of the readers will like it.

So, I hope you will enjoy my newest novel as much as I did writing it. Fraught with scenes of explicit intimacy, romantic spells and mystical shapeshifting, Torn Asunder is a unique blending of the age of manners with sexual magic.

******

I want to personally thank Kiki for her visit and for spending time here at Black Satin. It was a pleasure having you! Good luck with your new book and we're looking forward to your next work!

Changes For the Coming Year

2011-01-14T22:18:00.000-05:00

I hate goodbyes.

Who doesn’t? But they’re an inevitable part of life, especially when change is imminent. On Friday, I said goodbye to my friends and co-workers in my former department at the day job. I start my new position on Tuesday. Then that very night, I said goodbye at the night job. Took everything I had not to start bawling both times. Which was weird because I was eager to start my new position and wanted to go back to one job for awhile. My new schedule, which is second shift, doesn’t allow me to have both. This may change in the future. Who knows?

But these changes comes with the New Year so it feels especially important to me. Perhaps many other things will change in the near future. A few years back I was taking college night courses to earn my ASB degree but had to leave because of a family situation. I now want to see if I can go back and finish. I’m hoping to use the degree to perhaps get myself a managerial position. Something I hadn’t considered before, but now I’m finding myself quite interested.

There’s sort of a cute story involved with one of the courses I took, if I recall it was for Business Writing. I was struggling with the particular course because when writing for business you have to follow an extremely strict set of parameters. A fellow classmate was assigned to correct my work and vice-versa. After she wore out several red pens (which was annoying) the instructor called me to her desk. I figured, I’m in for it now. Then she just smiled at me and said, “You’re a novel writer aren’t you?”

I was like, hello! I asked, “Yes, how did you know?” She replied, “I can tell. I’ve written a novel myself. It’s hard for a novel writer to stay inside the lead box when they naturally want the words to flow freely.”

She was right and I appreciated her understanding. I got through the assignments with her help but it was still a struggle. At least now, I have a heads up.

So I’m looking forward to the changes and to the many things I have planned.

Writing-wise I’m finally working on the sequel to Illusion of Night! Am I the only one who shudders at the word sequel? I prefer “companion piece”. Also I snagged the sample I had on my site for Blade and Thorn and I’m starting from that but it looks like this is going to turn out to be an entirely different story. Perhaps that’s a good thing.

I will be hosting yet another wonderful author, Kiki Howell on January 19th. I’ll continue to host authors throughout the coming year. I’d also like to do more interviews, so I’ll repost the interview questions. Feel free to grab them and respond.

I hope everyone enjoys their New Year and accomplishes everything they want to do.

And don’t be afraid of the changes.

Peace.

CJ

Guest Blogger - Author Katie Salidas

2010-12-30T22:40:00.000-05:00

I love doing blog tours! I get to meet all types of interesting authors! And on this New Year’s Eve, I’d like to welcome Katie Salidas author of the Immortalis Series, available from Rising Sun Books. Let’s give Katie a hearty welcome! Katie is also doing a giveaway for FREE E-BOOKS! Which is always a good thing! Information is a little bit down the page. So have a look-see and get to know Katie.

Here’s a few tidbits:

From PRLog:
"Katie Salidas has once again joined forces with The Virtual Book Tour Cafe' to take her second installment in the Immortalis Series, Hunters & Prey on Virtual Book Tour. Starting in December, Katie will be sweeping the blogosphere talking about her new release. There is going to be great giveaways and interviews you're not going to want to miss!

Also, during the entire month of January, Katie will be hosting a Facebook Party celebrating Hunters & Prey's release. Follow her tour for details."

Author Bio: The youngest of four children, Katie has always had a desire to entertain. Since, early childhood, she's dreamed fantastical characters and scribbled them into pages of various journals and notebooks. Taking an interest in vampires, she devoured every book, featuring those blood sucking creatures, in any genre she could find.

It was only natural that a love of reading vampire stories, turned into a love to write them.

Katie is also a Las Vegas native, having grown up in the famed City of Sin. She loves to feature it as a recurring setting for many of her stories.

***

Here’s some information about the Immortalis Series:

Immortalis Carpe Noctem (Book 1 Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance)

Bleeding to death after brutal mugging, twenty-five year old Alyssa, is rescued by an unlikely hero. The cold and aloof vampire, Lysander. By saving Alyssa,

he unwittingly thrust her into a dark world filled with blood lust and thousand-year old vendettas.

Now, she must find the strength to accept her terrifying new reality or die by the hands of Lysander's enemies.

Purchase Info and Excerpt: http://www.risingsignbooks.com/immortalis_series/carpe_noctem

Immortalis Hunters & Prey (Book 2 Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance)

After being forced to reveal her true nature to Fallon her human best friend, Alyssa finds she done more than just broken vampire law, she's created a new pawn in the Acta Sanctorum's game of vampire extermination.

If Alyssa hopes to keep her friend alive and her clan safe, she'll have to call in all the support she can, even if that means making a deal with the enemy.

Purchase Info and Excerpt: http://www.risingsignbooks.com/immortalis_series/hunters__prey

And Katie’s additional works:

Halloween Fantasies (paranormal erotica)

Touted as the sexiest party of the year, the annual Halloween Fantasy Ball is the one place a girl can let loose and succumb to her wildest fantasies. Disguised as a sexy vampire huntress, Sasha captures the attention of Dante, a real life creature of the night. And this sexy vampire has a few fantasies to share.

Purchase Info and Excerpt: http://www.risingsignbooks.com/ebooks/halloween_fantasies

House of Immortal Pleasures -(paranormal romance)

Sometimes the only way to mend a broken heart is to get back in the saddle. At least that is how Daphne’s friends see it. And since Daphne isn’t showing any signs of letting that happen, they take it into their own hands. With a few shots of liquid courage, a pat on the ass, and a donated gold card, Daphne is unwillingly sent into a fantasy room to meet her creature of the night, Connor.

Purchase Info and Excerpt: http://www.risingsignbooks.com/ebooks/house_of_immortal_pleasures

***

And now for the FREE E-BOOK GIVEAWAY! Here are the conditions – yes there are conditions. But it’s quite easy. Here’s all you have to do:

Choose one of the four e-books listed here as the one you would like to receive.

Just comment here on Black Satin with your choice! The winner will be picked by random drawing but the more interesting your comment the better your chances so make it good!
Want an additional chance to be a winner? If you follow both my blog (Black Satin) and Katie’s blog (Written In Blood) that will gain you additional points towards the win! So take a few moments, check out the rest of Black Satin, then visit Written In Blood! Katie will notify winners via e-mail. Good luck!

I’d like to take the time to thank Katie for visiting me at Black Satin. It was a pleasure hosting you and I hope you enjoy your New Year!

CJ Black

Author Interview on Naughty Nights Press Blog on December 20th

2010-12-19T00:05:00.001-05:00

Here's another reminder for you!

Join me on Monday, December 20th for my interview with Gina Kincade at Naughty Nights Press at http://naughtynightspress.blogspot.com/. If you’re just getting to know me or we recently traded a friending on Twitter or Facebook, this is a great chance to get to know me better and learn more about Illusion of Night and where you can find me online. I always love to hear from fellow writers and readers!

And while you’re there have a look around the Naughty Nights Press blog. You’ll love it!

Peace,
CJ

Interview w/Gina Kincade at Naughty Nights Press Blog!

2010-12-09T21:53:00.000-05:00

Two posts in one night!

More good news! I have an author interview at the Naughty Nights Press Blog at naughtynightspress.blogspot.com on December 20th! I always have fun doing interviews and this one was no exception! I want to thank Gina for the opportunity. I’ll be sending out a few reminders throughout the week.

2010 LGBT Rainbow Awards – Winners!

2010-12-09T20:50:00.001-05:00

The 2010 LGBT Rainbow Awards Winners have been listed on elisa_rolle’s Live Journal and I’m happy to announce that my boys Dane and Vanlyn were selected as one of the 3rd Place winners in the Best Characters Category! Boo-yah!

And as an little extra bonus, Illusion of Night received an honorable mention in the Best Gay Fantasy Category!

My thanks to elisa_rolle for all her hard work!

Oh and I just had a thought, this is going to be great for adding to my TBR list!

PC Hard Drive Update

2010-12-02T18:09:00.000-05:00

Sigh…well I finally managed to get the hard drive to GeekSquad. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do either. The young gentleman who waited on me said the heads were corrupted. Apparently, this particular brand of hard drive (according to him) was crap in the industry and he sees a lot of people with the same problem. What it came to was it would cost way too much to get the files. He said he’d have to send it out to the lab and it probably wouldn’t be worth it.

So of course I have two choices. I can just forget about Blade and Thorn (which isn’t going to happen) or I can start over again. I’ve said I was really into the story and I still am. Somebody tell me I’m not crazy here!

So I’m going to start by outlining what I remember of the story. I don’t normally outline but perhaps this will assist me in recalling as much of the story as I can. And in the meantime, work on some new projects as well. I’ve procrastinated way too long here.

As always, I’ll keep you updated. Peace.

CJ

A Little Bit of News

2010-11-19T19:57:00.000-05:00

Well I'm finally getting the new PC how I want it. Of course every time I think I have everything set up perfectly, I realize there's one more program or podcast to download.

It was suggested to me not to quite give up the ship yet with the hard drive. So first chance I get, I'm going to give Geek Squad a try. Unfortunately, circumstances have made it so I won't be able to get it to Geek Squad until possibly next month. This has made it very hard for me to concentrate on other works. I was very into Blade and Thorn, as some of you know it was over 20K words before the hard drive meltdown.

But I have decided to procrastinate no longer. I dragged my muse out of the corner where she was sitting and sulking and told her to get to work. I'll let you know what I accomplished this weekend. So it's a good night's sleep for me and I'll be up bright and early giving the new coffee maker (did I tell you I broke the carafe and was without a writer's best friend for a week??!!) a true workout.

In the meantime, what's up with my fellow writers? Anything in the works? Feel free to comment. Remember, thanks to the hard drive meltdown I also lost many e-books and everything on my TBR pile.

Peace.
CJ

Well that's, that....

2010-11-01T20:39:00.000-04:00

I never know why the good news is always tempered with bad. After getting my brand new PC, I received a response tonight from the data recovery service. They couldn’t retrieve anything. Everything on my hard drive is gone. Like I said before, this includes all of my works including my books and WIP’s, short stories, purchased e-books, everything. And the real irony, the files the recovery service saved the last time this happened were on this hard drive as well so in reality I’ve lost some works twice.

I have some things burned on disk but these are very old versions, at least a year or more and there is nothing of my more recent works. Anything on these disks will have been edited so many times, they would probably read like different stories.

The recovery service wanted to know if I wanted the drive back. I’m going to tell them to just throw it away. There’s no point in spending money having it sent back if there’s nothing on it.

I’m still processing what happened so I can’t quite say how I feel right now or what I’m going to do next.

CJ

Back In Action!

2010-11-01T17:19:00.000-04:00

Join me for a chat at the Long and Short Romance Reviews Yahoo Group on Wednesday, November 3rd. This will be an all-day event and I’ll be dropping by off and on early in the morning and in the evening. I’ll answer your questions and present topics for discussion and of course. You can learn a little bit more about me and I’m offering a prize of a copy of Illusion of Night! So why not stop by for a bit of conversation? Join the group if you haven’t already here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LongAndShortRomanceReviews/?yguid=361813621

I also have an interview which will go live on Tuesday November 2nd at Long and Short Erotic Romance. Get to know me a little better!

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/WC/interviews.htm

I want to thank everyone who left comments for the Halloween Blog Hop! Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit. Please feel free to come by again.

Let’s give a hearty congrats to Carol Byles, who was the winner of the prize from the Blog Hop. Carol’s name will appear as a character in one of my future works. The Blog Hop itself was a blast and I’m looking forward to the next one!

Still no word from Nationwide (I realized I’d been calling them National! Oops, I’m sorry, my bad) Data Recovery about my lost data, so please keep sending the goof karma my way! I remember where I left off in Blade and Thorn so when I’m completely back on track online, I want to start working on it again.

Peace,
CJ

Guest Blogger - Author Russell Brooks

2010-10-30T13:01:00.001-04:00

Please join me in welcoming my newest guest blogger, Russell Brooks, author of Pandora's Succession. Russell joins us today and provides an informative and well-thought out article concerning his writing influences and the type of extensive research that went into the creation of Pandora's Succession.

First, about Russell and his novel:

Pandora's Succession - Ebook

Selling for US$2.99
Amazon.com link http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00486U6O2
ISBN: 978-0-9867513-0-1

Former Hoosier Track champion, Russell Brooks, hangs up track spikes to write debut action/thriller.

"Russell Brooks kicks off the release of his debut action/thriller, Pandora’s Succession, with a virtual book tour from October 24 to November 14, 2010. Free ebooks and other prizes."

Get free ebooks and enter at the "STOP THE SUCCESSION" Virtual Book Tour, which runs from October 24 to November 14, 2010 and celebrates the launch of Pandora’s Succession by Russell Brooks. Simply leave a comment on a blog or site with your email address. Everyone that leaves a comment with their email address (in the body of your message) will win an autographed ebook cover. After the blog tour, 10 commenters from all of the blogs will be drawn to win free autographed ebook copies of Pandora's Succession.

STOP THE SUCCESSION tour schedule.

Pandora’s Succession

Where would you hide if you learned the CDC and a major pharmaceutical company unleashed a hyperdeadly microbe on the human race?

CIA operative, Ridley Fox, never stopped hunting his fiancée’s killers—a weapons consortium called The Arms of Ares. When an informant leads him to an old bunker outside of Groznyy, Chechnya, Fox is captured, beaten, and left for dead. When the informant rescues him, Fox learns that his capture was no coincidence: someone had set him up—possibly another government agent. Fox barely escapes after learning that Ares has acquired a hyperdeadly

microbe—called Pandora—that is believed to have wiped out ancient civilizations. The trail leads Fox to Tokyo where he discovers that people within the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Japanese Intelligence want Pandora for themselves. The only person Fox can trust is a woman from his past who he nearly got killed.

Author’s biography

Russell Brooks is a former Canadian Track Team member in the 100 and 200 metres. He has written several essays on his blog The Big Picture, one of which was published in the online Op-Ed section of the National Post in early 2009. He has also written the short story, To The Last Bite, and produced his own poetry/novel-themed show, The Russell Show, on YouTube. He currently lives in Montreal, Quebec.

You can learn more about Russell Brooks at http://www.russellparkway.com/.

And now on to the article:

Anyone can write a novel. You just have
to watch a lot of TV.

By Russell Brooks

One of the dilemmas of being an author is having to deal with criticism. Thankfully, most of the ones that I’ve received so far were constructive. On the flip side we also have to deal with the not-so constructive criticisms. Yours truly has dealt with his fair share of critics, and no doubt will deal with a lot more. Lately I got one criticism—or should I say, a comment. The person told me that they were surprised that I wrote an action/thriller of all things, considering that I have a degree in biology. They thought that I would’ve written something that reflected that I had a degree, considering that this was: “clearly me being influenced by a lot of stuff that’s on TV.” I understood that the individual obviously never read too many novels in that genre or knew of the complexities that are involved in writing a novel. So I thought that I would take the opportunity to set the record straight. Writing Pandora’s Succession was not an easy task. And given the amount of research that was necessary in order to minimize any possible inaccuracies, one must appreciate that it wasn’t something that was done overnight.

The scientific subject matter took several weeks to research. Even though the Pandora microbe is fictitious (unless proven otherwise), turning it into a believable menace meant being able to give readers enough verifiable facts with regards to microbes in general, in order to make it appear more plausible. This involved me having to make frequent trips to the library, spending several hours surfing the internet, and even interviewing some of my old science teachers for the purpose of learning (and relearning) everything I needed to know about viruses, micro-organisms, bacteria, and proteins. It was also important to study the brain—including any past and current research done on it—because it was also part of the subject matter. Having my biology degree was an asset. And considering that some readers may be scientists, it’s important to be accurate in the scientific subject matter in order to retain them.

In addition to learning about firearms, it was important to learn as much as I could about martial arts. We’re used to watching fights on television and in the movies. Movies such as Charlie’s Angels, Batman and Robin, and The Matrix are some examples of movies that depend on lots of action. Although many of these actions scenes are fun to watch, one must realize that many of those action scenes could not happen in real life. In order to create realistic fight scenes, I consulted with Belgian martial-arts specialist, Wim DeMeere. I’m glad that I did or else my protagonist, Ridley Fox, never would’ve survived beyond the first chapter. On a side note, DeMeere motivated me to the point that I plan to take up martial arts in the future. What better way to learn about subject matter for a future novel than to practice it first-hand.

After finishing Pandora’s Succession, it was important to have experts beta-read certain areas before I submitted it to a professional editor. As a whole, it was a very exhausting process. In fact, when I wrote my second novel I deliberately stayed away from the same genre simply because I needed to take a break from writing something so complex.

As for the person that commented about me writing something that didn’t reflect my degree, I invited him to read Pandora’s Succession and tell me if he truly believed that I couldn’t have used my background in biology to write it. I still haven’t gotten a reply.

I’d like to thank CJ Black for hosting me on this leg of the STOP THE SUCCESSION virtual book tour.

You're welcome, Russell! It's been a pleasure having you here!

Welcome! LSB Halloween Blog Tour!

2010-10-30T01:07:00.000-04:00

Well you know the old saying, better late than never! Welcome to my blog Black Satin via the Liquid Silver Books Halloween Blog Hop! If this is your first time to my blog, feel free to look around! If you’ll notice the most recent post, I have been offline for about a month now because my hard drive blew up and am just now getting back on the net. I wanted to at least try and get on the hop so here I am!

Who doesn’t like Halloween? That time of year when you can dress up as anything and anyone you want to be and participate in some basic silliness. And of course, must we forget….CANDY! Perhaps some of are now participating in a different way (parents taking their kids on their first run) or those of us who like to help holiday along so the kids can have as much fun as you did as a child.

And Halloween is also the time for those scary monsters – or better yet, the sexy ones! Who of use haven’t thought about an encounter with a dark and brooding vampire? Or a muscular shape-shifting werewolf? Perhaps a fiery eyed demon is more your thing? And hey, if you’ll pardon some shameless self-promotion, I think fiends would make a wonderful addition to the repertoire!

Either way Halloween is a night for fun and fantasy. So everyone enjoy it!

Now I’m sure you’re familiar with the rules of the hop. Comments can earn you some nice prizes so, here’s what you’ll get from me! In my next published novel, a character will be named after you! Cool, huh? And as an extra added bonus, you get to choose – good guy or bad guy?

And here’s something to sweeten the deal. Are you dressing up for Halloween? Cool! Send me a pic to place on my blog. I’ll pick a costume and that person will have a choice of one of my backlist!

Happy Halloween everyone!

CJ

http://booknibbles.com/halloweenhop/

I'M BAAAAACCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-10-28T23:19:00.000-04:00

I’m back! Yes as the title card says, I’m back on the net, permanently! I am now the proud owner of a brand new HP Compaq Presario (shout out!) purchased from Best Buy (second shout out) which came as sort of a surprise to me. I wasn’t expecting to be able to purchase a new PC until much later, certainly not where I purchased it form. And like anyone who is truly into tech, I’m enjoying this like a kid with a new toy. It’s a different look from what I’m used to (no more Dell’s, Dude) but I’m slowly getting to know the system.

And I made it back just in a nick of time (if you’ll pardon the cliché) because I have some nice things coming up this weekend including the LSB Halloween Blog Hop (I actually have Halloween off this year, that’s a first) and a guest blogging with author Russell Brooks.

So what did I miss? Get me updated everyone!

So what’s going on with me? Well, unfortunately, there’s a downside to my good news or perhaps I’m being premature. At any rate the nice people at National Data Recovery are working tirelessly to find the data on my exploded hard drive. Even more unfortunate, they said so far they haven’t been able to retrieve anything. They have promised to try again and delve even deeper, so everyone, I need you to keep your fingers and toes crossed and wish me all the luck you can that they’ll be able to retrieve something, preferably my WIP’s.

In the meantime, I’m going to be searching the net for anything I have online that I can re-upload. I have also realized that there are dozens of programs that I have to find and download again as well as all of my favorite spots. And to add injury to insult all the e-books I purchased are gone (unless NDR can get them back as well) as well as my TBR list so I’ll probably perusing the sites of my fellow writers for the next few months in an attempt to re-discover those gems I came upon.

This is going to be a LONG and FRUSTRATING process.

But still I persevere. I have Comcast set up to automatically back-up my files but I still can’t access their site, so I’m going to get Mozy (thanks Alanna and Mike!) as well in addition to burning disks.

Over the next few days I’ll be responding to all 160 of my e-mails as well as confirming friend requests on Facebook. You may see duplicate posts of things and for that, I apologize but I’m going to go on as many venues as possible to let everyone know I’m back. This will still take some time.

So I’ll probably be spending the next few months getting myself up to speed again. It will probably be awhile before I can get back in the groove of things. Oh well, at least the PC will get a lot of use.

Feel free to drop me a line if there’s news you have to share.

Peace!

CJ

Guest Blogger - David Fingerman - Author of Silent Kill

2010-10-06T19:31:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I’m excited to announce my second guest blogger courtesy of the Virtual Blog Tour Café! Please allow me to introduce David Fingerman, author of Silent Kill. Welcome David, and thanks for visiting Black Satin!

First a little about David:

Bio:

As a student at the University of Minnesota, David Fingerman realized that if he switched his major from journalism to speech, he could graduate that quarter. It was a no-brainer.

He worked in the court system of Hennepin County for over twenty years. In 2006 he left the court system to do what he loves to do – write. He has published a number of stories in magazines and anthologies, and published a book of speculative fiction short stories, "Edging Past Reality." "Silent Kill" is his first novel.

David is married and presently lives in Minneapolis.

To learn more about this author visit http://www.davidfingerman.com/

***

David is here today to discuss a topic that is constantly on every writer’s mind, at least it’s constantly on MY mind – Marketing.

Marketing

I feel I've come a long way in a relatively short period of time. My first novel, "Silent Kill" has just been released this summer. Prior to that I had a book of short stories "Edging Past Reality" released last year. The one big thing I've discovered is that writing (and the going through hell called editing) is the easy part compared to marketing.

There are two basic types of marketing, online and off. For me, being an introvert to the extreme, I thought getting out into the real world prove to be much more difficult. Oh, how wrong I was. Yeah, I had to suck it up and go out of my comfort zone, walking into bookstores and hyping myself and my book. I set up readings, signed up for book fairs, and even did a couple of speaking gigs. As uncomfortable as that was (and still is to a point) I kind of knew what I was doing.

As for the online stuff? Great! I'm in the comfort of my own home and don't have to deal with anyone face-to-face. The problem is I knew absolutely nothing. I was told I had to be on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. I'm now on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and bunches of other writing sites. Plus, there are a great number of people like CJ who are kind enough to let us writers take up space on their blog. But even though I'm sitting comfortably in my office, I've opened myself up a lot more online than I ever did at a signing.

For a brief moment I was smug enough to think that I really made a dent in online marketing. Reality check. I hadn't even scratched the surface. With all the new ideas (well, new for me, speaking of which, check out my new book trailer for "Silent Kill" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRzRdD4I9Y4&feature=player_embedded) being thrown in my direction . I'm guessing I'll be curled up under my desk and in the fetal position by December.

On the serious side for a moment, unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of all this marketing is the writing itself. I haven’t done much of it in the last couple of months. I have a paved road of good intentions, but it seems like whenever I start getting back to the present novel I'm working on, I’ll come up with more ideas and more research that I want to know about on how to market. (The internet is a miracle and a curse in that regard.) It’s easy to say that I’ll deal with it later, but the mind is already racing and I can’t concentrate on plot. Soon my characters are on the computer reading bloggers. Fun for them, not so much for the reader. So for all of you writers out there who have been in this predicament, please let me know how you deal.

Thank you so much for your insight, David! And I’m happy to help my fellow writers! Feel free to request a guest blogging anytime! My fellow readers and writers, be sure to check out David’s novel Silent Kill. It’s definitely going on my TBR list!

IMPORTANT - LIMITED NET ACCESS

2010-10-03T13:33:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! This is the first time I've been able to get online since last Tuesday. I'm sitting in my local library right now and am very glad I was able to access my blog from here. I have some very important information. This past Tuesday the hard-drive on my Dell pretty much burned up. Just like that, I turned my PC on, went downstairs to make dinner and when I came back up there it was -- the dreaded blue screen. Needless to say I was highly pissed and even more so after I rebooted and found that my 4600 was no more and that it had taken EVERYTHING -- all my data, including WIP's, short stories, and movies with it. This includes everything of my current WIP, Blade and Thorn.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't learn my lesson from last time this happened and procrastinated on backing up. Yes, I'm kicking myself for this. But do we really expect things like this to happen? OK, no excuses. Now there's nothing to be done but to try and salvage this situation.

There is a company I used before that managed to retrieve a lot of my work from the last exploded hard drive so I'll be using their services again. Wish me luck and hope that 20+ k words and everything else aren't totally lost. In the meantime, I am without a PC at home and therefore I have no access to the net. I can only come to the library every so often and then I'm only allowed three hours online so I'm going to be pretty much cut off until I can purchase a new PC which won't be for awhile, I'm afraid. And it won't be a Dell, by the way.

I know I have some commitments coming up, such as participation in the Halloween Blog Hop through Liquid Silver Books and with the little bit of time I have online today, I'm going to try and put up the next guest blogger information for tomorrow. I deeply apologize if this causes any inconvenience. I'm going to post this in as many places as the library will allow me to access today. And trust me, it's hard to access my usual sites considering what I usually have on them! I should still be able to do the blog hop but I may have to put up things a little early.

If you need or want to contact me please be advised it may be several days before I can check my e-mail, so please don't think I'm ignoring you. All I ask for is your patience. The moment I have a new PC I'll be back in action. In the meantime, I know where I pretty much left off in my works so I'm going to use my newly purchased USB drive and keep on writing at the library and barring that, I'll do it the old fashioned way.

I'll make updates as I can. Peace.

CJ Black

Important Note: Yahoo E-mail

2010-09-27T20:28:00.000-04:00

Earlier this evening, one of my Yahoo e-mails was apparently compromised and it proceeded to send out dozens of spam e-mails to my list of contacts. I haven't used this e-mail in sometime as it wasn't for professional use (mostly fandom and friends) but I never got rid of it as it's connected to various services I use. The bad thing is, it sent this e-mail to several publishers and businesses I deal with so I hope when they receive it, it either gets caught in their spam folders or they understand it was just a glitch.

A word of advice, check your Yahoo e-mail if you use one. This happened between 5:35 and 5:37 pm, EST. I've been thinking for awhile of permanently going to Google so maybe this is the Fates telling me to stop procrastinating.

Peace
CJ

Quick Note

2010-09-15T21:43:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in a writer's workshop presented by BK Walker of BK Media Entertainment on Blog Talk Radio. Her guest was Yvonne Mason a very fascinating author of mystery and suspense and I immensely enjoyed chatting and having my questions answered. She gave me some very good advice about the genre of erotic fiction. Want to hear it? Scroll down on the right sidebar and click the play button on the Blog Talk Radio Share Show Widget. Give it a moment for the song to end. It will be worth it. Enjoy!

Virtual Book Tour w/guest George Sherman Hudson!

2010-09-04T07:18:00.002-04:00

I’m on a roll with these book blog tours! Welcome to the Virtual Book Tour brought to you by the Virtual Book Tour Café! Let’s welcome my special and first guest, author of Drama, George Sherman Hudson! Here’s a little information about Mr. Hudson:

George Sherman Hudson was born and raised in Atlanta Ga. After being continuously rejected by different publishers because of the subject matter contained in his books while serving time, this father of two did some research and started G Street Chronicles, the urban book publishing company that's ran by him with the help of his COO and fiancé Erica Jones . While George is continuously working hard to make G Street Chronicles a recognized name in the literary industry, he's also working hard on his highly anticipated REAL series. George has authored five books in all. His debut book Drama is in stores now. Having published more than 10 titles in the first year of business George is determined to make G Street Chronicles an urban lit powerhouse.

He describes Drama as, “…a lot like Sex in the City with black characters”

Synopsis:
The drama just doesn't stop in the lives of Deb, Tammy, and Lisa. Deb, the hard worker and savvy entrepreneur is blessed with a multimillion dollar contract, but has to enjoy the success without the comfort of her man whose fledging music career has him busy from state to state. Tammy has everything a diva could want, a multimillion dollar home, expensive cars, clothes, jewelry, and she thought love.

Drama is a book a lot like Sex in the City with black characters, each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character. They take turns telling their side of the story. It has everything, humor, emotions, great characters, and a lot of drama.

Mr. Hudson asks (and answers) the question: What is Urban Fiction?

What is Urban Fiction?
Urban fiction, also known as Street lit, is a literary genre set, as the name implies, in a city landscape; however, the genre is as much defined by the race and culture of its characters as the urban setting. The tone for urban fiction is usually dark, focusing on the underside. Profanity, sex, and violence are usually explicit, with the writer not shying away from or watering-down the material.

It doesn't matter whether you call it urban fiction, hip-hop fiction, ghetto lit or gangster lit, this genre has had a profound impact on publishing similar to the way that rap music did in its early days. What is significant is that a new audience for books has evolved. The material may be a little crude or harsh sometimes, but many find it to be true to the experience that it depicts.

Urban fiction the once misunderstood and under estimated genre has solidified itself in the publishing industry. The old traditional major publishing houses that once turned their nose up at urban fiction is now making six and seven figure deals to be a part of the growing genre. Most people think urban fiction is all about drugs, violence, and poverty when its not. For example my first novel Drama is about three women going through life's ups and downs. Right now it's a best seller within the company that's now only a year old. One of my premiere authors book titled Married to His Lies is on the verge of making essence best seller list and it doesn't contain the stereo typical urban drama plot. We at G Street highly recommend our new line up of books for our spring release.

Visit Mr. Hudson at G Street Chronicles
Thank you, Mr. Hudson for your post and taking the time to visit me here today at Black Satin. Drama is going right on my TBR list!

PURCHASE NOW AT AMAZON!

LABOR DAY BLOG HOP!

2010-09-02T06:27:00.024-04:00

WELCOME ONE AND ALL!

I'm so glad you've chosen to visit Black Satin as part of the Labor Day Blog Hop! Glad you could participate and that you could join me here today! This is my first blog tour and I've always wanted to do something like this. I hope you enjoy your time here!

First, however some important information:

This site contains themes, writings, and subject matter that may be considered adult in nature. In order to participate in the blog hop I had to turn off my adult content warning, temporarily. I want those participating in the tour to visit but please understand and be aware of the fact that I write adult fiction, usually male/male.

Now that, that's out of the way, please feel free to peruse my blog and of course comment to be eligible for prizes! I am currently offering a FREE COPY of my current work, Illusion of Night or your choice of songs created by me using Magix Music Maker 16! You'll get to chose one type of music and I'll whip up three songs just for you. These songs will be free for you to use. Credits are appreciated but not necessary..

Also I'm planning my own little side contest. Already purchased and read, Illusion of Night? Fantastic! And thank you very much! Did you like it? Anyway, I'm sure you'd like something else so, the first five people who comment that they purchased and read it, can have their choice of one of my other titles, Fire and Fate, What You See or Paint! How's that?

I hope you enjoy your visit and feel free to contact me with any questions or just to chat. And speaking of chatting, I hope to see some of you at the LDBT chats! Peace!

CJ Black

p.s. Lost your way along the tour? Need to go home? Just tap your heels three times...oh no, wait, that's not it. Click the link: http://booknibbles.com/blogtour/

Rainbow Awards - Cover Contest

2010-08-30T18:47:00.001-04:00

Rainbow Awards Cover Contest - Round 1 PL Nunn's fab cover for Illusion of Night is an entrant! For more info and the vote: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1113440.html

New Interview!

2010-08-28T00:50:00.000-04:00

I’ve been interviewed by Tammy at Fallen Angel Reviews! I really enjoyed doing it and it was a lot of fun. Hop on over and have a look! Thanks, Tammy!

More Quickie News-

2010-08-24T21:26:00.005-04:00

I'll also be participating in Alanna Coca's Labor Day Blog Hop. Dang, I'm going to have a busy vacation! Anyway, it's running Labor Day weekend, 7 am EST September 3rd through Noon EST on the 6th, with winners announced at 5pm on Labor Day, 9/6/10. I've wanted to do one of these for so long! Woo Hoo!

More information later.

CJ

Some "Quickie News"

2010-08-21T15:54:00.001-04:00

Have a couple of news items to relate:

I'm having my first guest blogger! Very nice! George Sherman Hudson, author of Drama will be dropping by on September 4th. I'm really looking forward to this! More information coming soon. I'll send out invites as well.

And speaking of guest blogging, I'm always looking for guest bloggers and interviewees, so please feel free to contact me. I don't have any set times, so things are pretty much open. I'm also willing to trade advertising (you post your work on my blog, I post on yours) and links as well.

I think I may have finally found the title for my m/m fantasy erotic WIP -- how does Blade and Thorn sound?

I'm trying a little experiment here, for a little while, I'm going to be posting all of my news on Black Satin and leaving the main page of my site with a welcome message. I prefer to write news here so people can comment. Here's what I have on the welcome page right now:

Hello and thanks for stopping by! If this is your first time, welcome! If you’ve been here before I’m trying something a little different. I normally have updates and news on my blog Black Satin so for a little while, that’s where I’ll be doing my main news updates. This is just a test to see how it goes. You can still get lots of useful information here on my writings and me and I will still update the site as needed. Of course, I would appreciate any advice on what I should do with this main page.

Anyway, for the first timers I’m an author of erotic fiction, usually male/male and I do both fantasy and contemporary. My current release (see below) is Illusion of Night through Liquid Silver Books. Feel free to peruse my site for information on my books, shorts, free reads and other information. I also love to hear from my readers! You can find me on most of the normal media sites around the net.

I’m actively looking for interviewees, guest bloggers and reviewers to post to Black Satin so feel free to contact me so we can set something up. Click on the News link at the top of the page to go directly to Black Satin.

So that's it for now. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

CJ

TRS - Book-a-Day Give-away

2010-08-10T21:23:00.001-04:00

Recently, Illusion of Night was in The Romance Studio's Book-a-Day Giveaway for 8/8/10. Congrats to the winner, Michelle Sandusky! Your copy is on its way!

2010-08-04T17:04:00.001-04:00

Illusion of Night is an August Featured Book at Authors Promoting Authors! Have you Purchased your copy yet? http://ping.fm/xMyqP

A Little Bit of News

2010-08-02T22:41:00.000-04:00

This is a shout out for Women's Worth Promotions, a promotional blog for female-owned businesses. The blog is slated to go live next month, so keep an eye out!

http://womansworthpromotions.blogspot.com/

I'm hoping to get Illusion of Night in for the August Featured Books at Authors Promoting Authors, who are affiliated with Women's Worth Promotions. More info on that as it develops.

Help! My Muse needs motivation! Comment on how you get him/her to stop messing around and do his/her job! I have deadline!

Peace!
CJ

News and "Name the WIP Contest" Winner!!

2010-07-25T09:55:00.001-04:00

And now, the winner of my “Name the WIP Contest”! Let’s give a hearty congratulations to author Virginia Cavanaugh! Her title submission: The Power that Binds! Cool title, don’t you think? Virginia, you’ve won a free copy of Illusion of Night! Enjoy! Virginia is the author of Secrets of Night. Hmm…Secrets of Night – Illusion of Night? Virginia, do you think there’s some cosmic connection here?

Reminder: My other two contests are still going on. Wouldn’t you like some free advertising or cash? I mean, who of us couldn’t use either?

With a 103 heat index due for today, I’ll be inside, in front of the PC hoping to get some writing done or at least more promotion for Illusion. Trying to think of as many ideas as possible. Any suggestions besides the norm, anyone?

I recently updated the music on my book trailer video for ION. I had to re-upload it in some places so any comments made were more than likely lost, sorry. Anyway, let me know if you like the new music. I composed it myself using Magix Music Maker 16. There’s a lot to this program to learn and I like it so far. Glad I treated myself.

Here’s the updated trailer:

Peace!
CJ

THE REVIEWS ARE IN!

2010-07-20T21:30:00.000-04:00

I'm so glad you liked my work! Thank you!

5 NYMPHS - Review from Literary Nymphs - Critter Nymph.

http://literarynymphsreviewsonly.blogspot.com/2010/07/illusion-of-night.html

4 KISSES - Review from Author Interviews, Book Reviews and More! - Michele
http://michelenjeff-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/illusion-of-night-by-cj-black.html?zx=1cc56f9fc106ae1a

5 DIAMONDS - Review from Got Erotic Romance – Starla Kaye
http://goteroticromance.blogspot.com/2010/06/illusion-of-night-by-cj-black.html

There are still chances to win copies of Illusion of Night, free advertising and CASH PRIZES! Scroll down to previous posts for information on my current contests!

Illusion of Night - Banner

2010-07-17T00:18:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody! Look what I just received from artist PL Nunn!

Feel free to grab it and link back to:
http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/books/illusionofnight.htm

Illusion of Night - 5 Nymph Review from Literary Nymphs!

2010-07-13T19:33:00.000-04:00

Ok, I know I’ve said this many times before but I’m going to say it again – Can I get a BOO-YAH? Illusion of Night received its first review from Literary Nymphs, a wonderful 5 NYMPHS! Thank you, Critter Nymph! So why not drop by their blog and have a look?

http://literarynymphsreviewsonly.blogspot.com/2010/07/illusion-of-night.html

New Intro Video

2010-07-05T12:43:00.000-04:00

New video on YouTube! An introduction and information video. I think the ending goes by a little fast but all in all I'm satisfied with it. What do you think? Now to writing...

Attention! “Name the WIP”, Contest Deadline Extended!

2010-06-30T21:34:00.000-04:00

For my current contest “Name the WIP” I will be extending the deadline until Sunday July 25th at 12 a.m. EST. So again, this is the perfect chance to win a free copy of Illusion of Night!

CJ

Contest #3 ~ Celebrating the release of Illusion of Night!

2010-06-27T10:19:00.000-04:00

New Contest! Want another chance to win a free copy of Illusion of Night? Enter my “Name the WIP Contest.” Below is an excerpt from my current WIP, my male/male paranormal contemporary. Funny thing, I just can’t think of a title! So I need your help. Read the excerpt then post your title ideas here. I’ll choose the winner and your free copy will be on its way! But don’t delay, this contest will run from today, Sunday 6/27/10 until 12 am EST on Sunday on 7/4/10. BTW if you win a previous contest, please give others a chance to win. Thanks.

WIP Chapter Excerpt, male/male contemporary paranormal:

Myles climbed the stairs to his apartment. Business had been picking up lately, since Mother's Day was approaching. Despite this, it wasn't a good time for Myles. It always served to remind him how much he missed his parents. It was five years since the accident. Yet still the pain was as fresh as it had been on that day.

Myles started his nightly routine of setting the alarm and then heading to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of wine. Usually, Myles would take the time before bed to get some paperwork done. But tonight he felt inordinately tired. All he wanted to do was take a nice hot shower and then crawl between the sheets as quickly as possible.

The relative peace and quiet caused Myles's mind to return to the incident earlier in the day. He felt the presence entering his office. He didn't pay much attention at first, until the presence approached him and seemed to reach out with an invisible and tentative hand to touch them. Myles did not like to be touched that way. Many years ago, another being with power tried to manipulate Myles to his own ends. He could barely fight off the advances, and it taken help from his sister in order to keep the man at bay.

Lila had taken many years to develop her power, fine-tuning is like a classic car. Myles on the other hand, looked upon his power as somewhat of a curse. It had brought him nothing but trouble throughout the years, and he felt he could well do without it. But it was here and it was a part of the him, nothing would ever change that.

Myles carried his wine glass into the bedroom and set it on the nightstand. Then he went to the bathroom undressing as he did so. He turned on the shower getting it to the temperature he wanted, and found himself simply standing there watching the spray of water falling in glistening droplets to the shower floor to then disappear down the drain.

He knew the visitor was, of course, Demetrius Jordan. Myles had recognized that unmistakable scent. Like the humid air, just as a summer storm was breaking, with the electrical tang before lightning struck.

His thoughts were going down a dangerous path, now. Myles thought it was best to take his shower, and go to bed. He stepped into the warming spray, enjoying the feel of it across his aching muscles.

Despite his best intentions, Myles found his thoughts once again straying to Demetrius Jordan. He had intended to call Jordan to let him know how upset he was over the incident that occurred earlier and demand an apology.

So why was he hesitating?

Myles breathed another sigh born of frustration and turned the shower off in an abrupt motion. He stepped from within the stall, grabbed one of the large fluffy towels, and took a few moments to dry himself before wrapping it around his torso. He returned to his bedroom, leaving his clothes where they were. Once there, Myles sat down on the bed and took a fortifying sip of the wine, actually several sips. He leaned back and sprawled himself across the bed and looked up at the ceiling letting another sigh escape him.

"So what, Myles, are you going to just let him get away with it?" Myles closed his eyes and immediately attempted to shut out the images of his time with Jordan. He found himself failing miserably. Myles pulled off the towel, tossed it across the room, and reached over and turned out the light on his nightstand. There he lay in the darkness continuing to stare at the ceiling and the patterns caused by the streetlights.

Myles knew that he was falling asleep. His insight allowed him to be mildly aware of everything going on around him. Because of that, Myles was able to sense the presence as it entered his room.

Myles was fully aware of it and how it waited expectantly by his bedroom door. He continued to lay still, his insight surrounding him in a protective aura while reaching out tentative fingers trying to ascertain what his unseen visitor plan to do.

Myles thought he should be afraid, but it wasn't. He knew who it was. He should tell him to go away but he couldn't. There was something that Myles couldn't fathom, a hold the presence seemed to have over him. It wasn’t like with his previous attacker. There was no onslaught of violent energy, wanting to entrap him.

After a time, the presence moved towards him. More accurately, it surrounded him, filling the room with electrical current. It moved across his skin in a caress, raising bumps along its surface.

Myles made what he knew to be a futile attempt to push the presence away and which it ignored. It settled over Myles and joined with the power of Myles's own insight, petting and caressing like two lovers exploring each other's bodies for the first time.

Naughty Editions.com ~ 5 minutes with CJ Black

2010-06-26T11:08:00.000-04:00

Read my new interview with Naughty Editions.com. Thanks, Rayna!
5 minutes with CJ Black

New Contest - More Updates!

2010-06-25T19:50:00.001-04:00

Must…stop…procrastinating….

OK, I’m feeling a lot better now and I got through the workday with only a slight bout of lightheadedness. I did nap a bit when I got home and now I’m ready to do the next update.

Remember I still have my CASH-PRIZE contest running. Here’s an idea, if you want to really keep up to date on what I’m doing, you can either subscribe to my RSS feed or to my Google Group (just scroll down).

And we have a WINNER in my “What’s in it for You?” Contest. The first to post was Jase (vslavetopassionv) you win a free copy of Illusion of Night! Drop me a line Jase and your copy will be on its way in no time!

OK, next contest! Since I’m going to be spending the next few months shamelessly promoting, why not join me? The first one to post “I NEED MY SPACE!” can advertise their most recent release on Black Satin for a period of two weeks, starting the first Monday after they post. If you post on a Monday it will start on the Monday after. Advertisements will be placed on a separate page. You can send cover art (reasonable size, if I think it’s too big I will resize it), banners, or anything else you might want shown (sorry no book trailers, space is limited but feel free to include links to trailers) along with information about the work itself.

Interested in being interviewed on my blog or being a guest blogger? Drop me line! Below, I’m placing my standard interview questions. They are author-centric but artists can respond as well. Feel free to answer as many as you like although I’d like to request a minimum of five. Use the form at the bottom of the page to contact me or message me on FaceBook and/or Blogger. This is a great opportunity for more promotion!

Please choose at least five and any others you like. Feel free to include links to your site or where to purchase your works. Thank you for taking the time to complete this interview!

1. Who is (author/artist name)?

2. When did you first start writing/drawing and why?

3. Are there any particular artists who inspire you?

4. Why your current genre/style?

5. What type of tools do you use when creating your art?

6. Can you describe a typical day of creative work?

7. Someone approaches you and asks you, what do you write? How do you respond?

8. How do you handle the question, “Why don’t you write something serious?”

9. How do you feel about the current state of mainstream publishing? E-book publishing?

10. What bothers you most about some of the cover art you’ve seen?

11. What are some of your other interests?

12. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books/art?

13. What do you think makes a good story?

14. What are some of the promotional methods you use? What works or doesn’t?

15. Are you an introverted or extroverted writer/artist?

16. Do you feel writers get a fair portrayal in other mediums such as TV shows and movies?

17. Do you have any quirky or unusual stories concerning your work?

18. Just for fun -- they’re making your book into a movie. Who do you imagine would play your characters?

19. And speaking of movies, what’s your writing soundtrack? Or do you write in complete silence?

20. What is the best and/or worst writing advice you’ve ever received?

21. If you could meet three writers/artists (alive or dead), who would they be? Why those choices and what would you say to them?

22. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

23. Tell us about your current and future projects. What is on the horizon? (feel free to provide links).

Peace,
CJ