And now for your excerpt :)

The Felidae 2: Asad’s Mate

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=552

Blurb:

Asad Gatti knows what he wants.

Asad has lusted after Catan ever since the pride rescued the little Lynx from a brutal attack, but he is afraid his desire for him will push Catan into running from him. Yet, he wants Catan as his mate.

Catan Lynxis is afraid of what he wants.

Catan’s dreams are filled with terror. He can’t rid himself of the overwhelming fear he has for the men who attacked him and his family. The only man he has ever wanted is Asad, but he isn’t sure if he can ever be what the big Leo needs.

When Catan is captured by the same men who brutalized him once before, with the help of his pride, Asad must do everything he can to save him. Can Asad and Catan ever have a future together when their love is haunted with fear from the past?

Excerpt 1:

“What are you doing up here, Catan?” growled a deep voice from behind him.

He gasped at the intrusion. He hadn’t realized he was no longer alone.

Turning, he spied the larger figure of Asad blocking the doorway to the bridge. Panicking, Catan backed up into the wall at his back.

A brief look of displeasure ran across Asad’s face, before he replaced it with the blank mask he often wore.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered.

“Don’t apologize, I know better than to startle you. I just wanted to make sure you were all right,” Asad rumbled.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, turning to look through the wall to the stars outside.

“I know my brother was in here with you. I’m assuming that he told you about Laithe’s mate. I was worried that you might be upset about it.” Asad muttered.

Catan didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to talk about the human right now.

There was a presence against his back, the heat of the larger male coming up behind Catan. Asad didn’t touch him, but he was just there. He had a sudden urge to lean back into him, to see what it would be like just once not to have to think. To just be.

Not giving himself any time to doubt his actions, he quickly leaned back, pressing his smaller frame into the body behind him. Asad drew in a deep breath, stiffening behind him, and he dreaded the thought that he had done something wrong.

Before he could pull away, two hard hands grabbed him at his waist, and he was thrust against the wall. Asad leaned hard into his back, purring when he rubbed his body against Catan’s.

“You don’t know what you are asking for, Kitten. I am no boy that you can play with.”

“Please… Asad, I didn’t… I… please.”

“What do you want,” Asad sighed against his ear, his breath ruffling through the thick tufts of hair curling around his face. “I don’t want to hurt you, Kitten. I don’t want to scare you away. Tell me what you want.”

Catan panted, shifting to feel the rub of his fur against Asad. A low groan was his only response.

Hot breath blew against the side of his face, a rough tongue coming out to lick against his cheek, his jaw, and then his lips.

“When you find out what it is you want, come find me, Kitten.”

With those words, Asad grabbed hold of his chin, twisting his head to the side. Catan was suddenly filled with the taste of him. Asad leaned in and pushed their mouths together. Sliding his body against his back, his tongue thrust into Catan’s mouth. He whimpered, utterly surrendering to the powerful man he had desired for so long.

Asad’s muscled body pressed into his back, and his cock filled in response, rising up to press hard into the wall in front of him.

Asad kissed better than he had ever imagined. Of course, it was his first kiss, so he didn’t have much experience to compare it to. Strange that he had never been kissed when he had been… shutting off the thought, he stiffened when the memories came flooding into his head.

Asad immediately backed off, somehow knowing the small whimper that escaped his mouth was different, that it meant something else. He loosened his hold, keeping his arms around Catan, but allowing him room to escape if he needed it.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, ashamed that he couldn’t just let go of the fear.

“I’m here, Kitten. I won’t leave you.”

“Promise,” he whispered.

“My word, Catan. You have my word.”

Catan leaned back into the warmth behind him, trusting that Asad wouldn’t let him fall.

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=552

Today was Voting Day in North Carolina, where I live. We had the presidential primaries, of course. Local issues. Gubernatorial primaries. Other assorted offices. The big issue, though, was Amendment One.

For anyone not aware, Amendment One, in a nutshell, is a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban recognition in this state of any union other than that between one man and one woman. That would include not only marriage, but also civil union. The way it’s written, it would also erase any domestic partner benefits already provided by businesses, cities, etc. Most experts believe it would drive away a lot of potential business from the state for that reason. That’s entirely aside from the harms to people not targeted by the hatemongers, such as unmarried victims of domestic violence, who risk having their orders of protection stripped from them.

I voted NO on Amendment One, or the Hate Amendment as I call it. So far, the haters are winning. Which just makes me furious. I keep hoping a big bunch of NO votes will come in at the last minute and I can take a little bit of pride in my state instead of being ashamed.

I don’t know what’s going to happen in America in the coming years. I’m honestly afraid of what may come if we let the far right take over the way they’re trying to. I see militant Christians doing everything they can to snatch freedoms from everyone who isn’t a straight, white, rich, Christian man, and it makes me sick to my stomach. Especially when they will, like they likely will today (the vote’s offically already been conceded, though all precincts haven’t reported yet). People who believe in real freedom, not just freedom for straight white rich christian men, have to keep fighting. Let’s not give up, y’all.

Sigh. I’ll be less depressing next time, when maybe there’s something to be less depressing about. BTW, the cartoon is by my hubby, who agrees with me on this issue.

I’ll see you all when I’m back in June :)

The first live show I ever saw was Elvis, when I was ten. My parents, my sister and I all went and sat in the nosebleed seats. I don’t remember a lot about the show itself. I remember the crowds, the noise, the sense of anticipation, and the swell of sheer excitement when Elvis took the stage. I’m afraid it was the start of a lifelong addiction, because I’ve always loved live shows :) It’s not just the music itself — though some bands in particular are amazing live and should not be missed — but also the sense of connection and camaraderie with other fans. It took me a while to realize that, but it’s one of the main reasons I love live music.

My daughter went with a friend and her parents to see Green Day in eighth or ninth grade (I forget which), and I took her to Bonnaroo with me when she was sixteen. That was a wonderful mother/daughter bonding experience. Nothing like spending an entire day in a field in front of a stage waiting to see Radiohead to cement your relationship with your child :) She also went with me three years ago to see Patrick Wolf at the Cat’s Cradle in Carborro. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. Sharing our love of music brings us closer and keeps communication open between us.

The same goes for the boy-child. He and I talk about music all the time. He’s brought several great bands/musicians to my attention, and I’ve even opened his eyes to a few *g* I love being able to talk about music with him, not only because we both love music, but because just like with my daughter, it keeps the lines of communication open. We discuss a lot of different subjects, and he knows he can come to me with anything and not be judged. That’s important to me.

Wow, that kind of went places I didn’t expect. LOL. But that’s okay. I’d love to know if any of you readers out there have had the same experience, with your kids, your parents or other important people in your life. Do you find that shared love of music makes it easier to talk about other things? Also, what was your first live show? Did it give you the “live music” bug like it did me, or are you kind of “meh” about live music? There’s no right or wrong answer, btw, I’m just curious :)

My mom is diabetic and so are several of my relatives so this one hits pretty close to home. Every year I donate something, either as part of a group or individually, and this year I’ve put together a gift basket of books and baubles.

Books and More gift basket from Jade Buchanan

The winner of this auction will receive a gift basket from author Jade Buchanan that includes five books and a variety of items that have a special connection to each story.

- Print copy of Broken Rules and Tim Hortons coffee

- Print copy of Sirens Song (out-of-print) and a mermaid necklace

- Electronic copy of Hard Candy and huckleberry candy

- Electronic copy of Wolf Creek 1: Black Wolf and a wolf bookmark

- Electronic copy of Wolf Creek 2: Duck Fart and a duck shopping bag

This basket also includes:

- Pride and Prejudice journal

- Seven Year Ink Pen

- Book light

- And more!

Here’s the direct link to my basket or you can search for Jade Buchanan from the auction homepage.

I’m also one of the proud contributors for another auction along with the Bandit Creek folks, so check this auction listing out too!  http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=2550042

I know MLR Press has donated a few items and so have a lot of my writer friends. I have fun bidding on things every year so I hope you all find something you’re interested in! It’s for a worthy cause :)

I’ve finished The Regelence Rake and it is now in the hands of my editor. I’m waiting on edits and an official release date. I’ve started working on a long overdue Jeigh Lynn project and hope to finish it in July. I’m also attempting to work on a stand alone JL book in hopes of having two releases this year. For those of you curious about the next With or Without story, I will be going on to it when these two are finished. Even if I started on it now there is no way it would be published this year, with the wait time and the schedule at that publisher, so I thought it better to try and get something done that would go out sooner. It may not seem like it, but I do feel like I’ve gotten a bit faster at writing. :) Now it’s just a game of catch up so that I can get release dates that are not so far in between.

At the moment, I’m deep in the midst of a novel of contemporary angst for Mama Kris & MLR. This is the one with the agoraphobic and the glass artist. It’s going really well, too. No more hand-wringing over that one *g*

No, the one I’m puzzling over at the moment in the next one in line. It’s going to be aimed at Samhain. No idea what I’m going to call it, but I do want to get a jump on the research before I start writing because I have a feeling it’s going to be a real bitch. This one’s going to be set in the far future, partly on a space station (which will be relatively easy) but also partly on a planet with a polluted atmosphere. There are all kinds of things I need to learn about the chemistry of pollution and about atmospheric science in general. It’s going to be a lot of work and studying. It’s going to be cool, though. Whenever I have to research, I always end up learning a whole bunch of fascinating things. I always enjoy it.

I think this new one will be cool. If it goes the way I want it to — and the way my editor Sasha wants it to — it’ll be the first in a series of sort of futuristic urban fantasy, which is something I’ve never done before. I’m looking forward to diving in. After I give my glass artist and my agoraphobic rich boy their Happily Ever After :D

Here’s another teeny excerpt :)

Broken Silence Unedited Excerpt

“Fucking Christ, Matt. Could that sweater be any gayer?”

“You’re an asshole.” Matthew huffed out. He turned around and started to leave.

“Shit. Sorry. Look, I didn’t mean that the way I…”

“Yeah, you did.” He sighed. Fine, he could do this. “Just forget about it. And refrain from commenting on my wardrobe if you can help it. Unless you want me to start quipping about your lumberjack meets Jason Voorhees apparel.”

Rich stroked a hand down his belly. “There’s nothing wrong with my shirt.”

“Uh, honey? If it has holes in it it’s time to go in the big silver garbage can. Unless you’re trying to look like a deranged serial killer?”

“Fuck.”

Matthew rolled his eyes. What did he see in Rich again? “Eloquent as always.”

One of the critiques that I gave myself and mentioned to the crit partners was that Cash was another in my growing line of “magical bottoms”. You know the ones. The ones who’ve never had sex with a guy before — or, in Cash’s case, never had sex at all — but who magically go wild when that cock is first introduced inside his ass. Okay, yes, he’s with a caring top who prepared him well and made him crazy with lots of foreplay, but still.

The “magical bottom” goes hand-in-hand (pause for childish giggle) with “it cannot be denied”, which I discussed in my post on the Chicks and Dicks blog last week. At least, it does for me. My story is about a guy who was just waiting for the right man to “show him the way” and introduce him to the pleasures his body was made for. For the most part, I write about perfect lovers who, even when they do something off, it’s never really wrong.

I was on my own case about that for awhile. Perhaps, I thought, I should be more realistic in my portrayal of sex. Maybe I should, once and awhile, not make it so good. Maybe it should really hurt the first time and not so much in the “hurts so good” manner. Maybe the orgasm isn’t explosive and shared. But then I decided to let myself off the hook. Unless I miss my guess, readers don’t buy my books for the realism. Like I said in the CnD post, I don’t really write realism. It might be better said that I write “idealism”. I think readers like my stories because of that. Because it’s always good. I’m dependable that way. Probably because that’s what I like to read myself.

Maybe one of these days I’ll do the real thing. I got closer with Reverb than I’ve gotten with any other book. Maybe I’ll get to the point where part of the story is that the sex isn’t there to seal the deal or ice the cake.

But I don’t feel that necessity just yet. For now, give me love that cannot be denied and those lovely, magical bottoms!

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

In other news, if you like menage stories — in this case m/m/m/f, and yes that’s 3 m’s — the fourth book in my Leashed series, Tangled Leashes, will be released by Loose Id in ebook on Tuesday, April 24!

This survey is for all readers of all kinds of romance, whether you’re primarily a reader of GLBTQ books or not. Authors, you’re readers too so we want your input as well. The survey doesn’t ask whether or not you’re an author :) We want to know what kinds of romances people are reading, how you’re reading them, and where you’re buying them. Ultimately, we’d like to compile that data and use it to help improve how GLBTQ romances of all subgenres are shelved and marketed in both online and physical stores.

Also, at the end there’s an option for you to enter your email for chance to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate. The survey is anonymous, of course, and if you choose to enter the gift certificate drawing your email will be kept confidential and separate from your survey answers.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help us out with our survey! Mwah! We’ll have to button up here on the blog as well for as long as the survey is live, though I might have to get our lovely webmaster to help me. LOL.