An Interview with Adera Orfanelli

Join us today for an interview with the lovely Adera Orfanelli.

Where can your readers find you?

http://www.aderaorfanelli.net

http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/changelingpress 

Where’s your favorite place to hang out online? 

Changeling Press Reader’s Loop

Tell us about your latest book, including its genre. Does it cross over to other genres? If so, what are they?

A Worldly Cage is an erotic science fiction romance with BDSM elements. In it, a high class escort runs away from the man she loves because he wants a more permanent, and equal, relationship between them. When he finds her, she discovers that she has a place in his world.

What can we expect from you in the future?

I have a vampire holiday story coming out from Changeling Press called Drink me Sweetly.

How do we find out about you and your books?

My website is the best place to look.

Why did you decide to write romance novels?

I love writing romance with the happily ever after. I have fun exploring different times and places, and different types of characters, yet finding that they’re all the same in that love conquers all.

Generally, how long does it take you to write a book?

Usually just a couple of weeks since I write shorter novellas.

Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?

I try to write 1000 words a day.

Where do you start when writing? Research, plotting, outline, or...?

I just start writing the story. I find it works better than way as I really get into the characters’ heads to decide what comes next.

What about your family, do they know not to bother you when you are writing - or are there constant interruptions?

I generally multi-task, so I am writing while watching television or doing other things.

What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries?

Reading.

Beyond Bounds
erotic BDSM romance anthology
my novella: A Worldly Cage by Adera Orfanelli
erotic SF BDSM romance

When Ninali found out Sebastian, her handsome dominant lover, was more than wealthy, she’d fled. She loved him, but she’d never be a part of his world. He was one of the political elite back on Earth, and she would always be a high class prostitute. Fleeing Sebastian cost money she didn’t have, and Ninali ends up working in a brothel.

After a long search Sebastian finally found the woman he loved. Without hesitation he purchases her debts—and her. Now, the more difficult task. To convince her that he still wants her and that she can be by his side without shame or fear.

Will Ninali submit to her own desires and Sebastian’s to realize they have a future together or will she simply consider herself caged, albeit in a very fancy one?

Links: http://www.pinkpetalbooks.com

Excerpt

Breezler narrowed his brows over his pale eyes. “You’re done.”

Ninali stumbled. She reached for the wall to steady herself. “What?” She sagged her naked body against the cool metal. Only with his words, did she realize Breezler held a small bag and a robe.

He tossed the robe at her. “Put it on. Your contract’s been bought. You’re not mine anymore.”

I never was yours. I just worked for you. She shrugged into the robe, noticing it was a finer weave than the ones in the dorms. Breezler dropped the bag containing the few belongings she’d brought with her and kicked it in her direction.  She opened her mouth to ask who bought her contract, but she didn’t need to know. Not after this afternoon’s performance. She knew exactly who had paid for her. Captain still wanted more than she should give. Only now she had to pay him for the debts she’d accrued getting away from him. Figures.

She nodded once, business-like, then picked up the bag. The door to her left beaconed. It led down a short hall and into the main room. She hadn’t been there since she’d come, cowed and broken, when Breezler had bought her debts. She took a deep breath, nodded, then walked back down the hall, leaving Breezler and the cages behind.

The hall, little more than a short pathway punctuated only by the door to Breezler’s office, opened into the main room. A few chairs, some pillows—she might have been stepping into some professional waiting room instead of the front room of a cage-brothel. There, in the corner, filling the room, was her Captain.

Air whooshed from Ninali’s lungs. Her Captain perused her, from the top of her tousled hair to her bare feet. She wondered what he might see, if he’d notice that she weighed less and had dark shadows under her eyes now. Maybe if she’d let him take care of her, she wouldn’t have those, but if she’d let him take care of her, she also wouldn’t be the woman she was.

Words ran through her mind. You found me. Why did you? What do you want? She kept them inside, not giving him the satisfaction.

Her Captain walked to her, his long strides taking him to her side in a matter of minutes. She held out her wrists, expecting to be cuffed, as she had been when Breezler had bought her debts and pressed into her service.

He shook his head and held out a slender silver chain.

Author Bio: Adera Orfanelli began writing several years ago when she discovered how fun it was to write stories about hot men and adventurous women living and loving in outer space. With the universe to explore, she lets the stars light her way and her imagination play. Now, she sees hot couples everywhere and her stories have moved beyond outer space and into the past, and into our modern day world. Right now, Adera is having fun writing stories her readers will love, and who knows where, or when, she'll write about next?

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

By Toni Noel

I do. I always have, not because I've had any close encounters with ghosts, but because I'm more gullible than the average reader. This may be the reason ghosts keep showing up in my novels. My September 1 eBook released by Desert Breeze Publishing,  Fairy Dusted, has the latest ghost.

In it, Drew O'Malley takes his wife Jill to visit relatives in Ireland, a trip he hopes will save his troubled marriage, and finds the two of them sharing their Treehouse Inn accommodations with a ghost.

At first Drew doesn't believe it possible, since only Jill's personal items are being moved around their room, or disappearing. Then his favorite San Francisco Giants baseball cap disappears and Jill's spots her ghost wearing it. The ghost looks so much like Drew's niece Megan, when they checkout of the room, Jill leaves the troubled ghost a note.

Wikipedia explains ghosts this way:

"A ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible shapes, to realistic, life-like visions."

Jill clearly sees the translucent red-headed being who seldom appears to men, and believes she is the ghost of Drew's ancestor who died in childbirth. Jill may be right. The Treehouse Inn was built on property the ghost's large family once occupied.

She believes the ghost is searching for the baby daughter taken from her at birth, and tries to put the ghost's mind to rest by leaving her a note.

Many photographs exist of supposed ghosts. The most well known is a  published photo many believe a fake called the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall taken by Captain Hubert C Provand. Ghost sightings have been reported on trains, ship, and of course in haunted houses and cemeteries. The notorious ghost of Whaley House in San Diego's Old Town draws tourists to the clapboard structure where narrow stairs preclude rapid escape, should the ghost decide to put in an appearance.

Sometimes ghosts appear on film, many of those are fakes, but enough repeat sightings exist to make even a non-believe wonder.

I grew up among kids afraid to pass a cemetery at night. Perhaps that's why I included the hint of a ghost in Decisive Moments, my novel about a gutsy photographer and a reclusive architect, but the ghost in that book is not the kind of ghost to be feared. She only wants her traumatized son to find happiness.

You can visit Toni on the following places:

http://twitter.com/toninoelwriter   

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorToniNoel

http://www.ToniNoelAuthor.com/blog.html  

www.ToniNoelAuthor.com

To read more about Jill O'Malley's ghost, download Fairy Dusted from one of these sites:

http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-template/Toni%20Noel/Page.bok

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Toni+Noel&x=13&y=20

Or from your favorite eBook store.

Excerpt from Fairy Dusted

If only Jill didn't want a baby so badly.

Better still, if only he wanted a child. Things might work out for them if he did, but he wouldn't change his mind about this. Not when another young life would hang in the balance.

Drew's gut clenched. Sure as day followed night Jill would never forgive him for not coming clean with her on this.

The sudden clang of a pot lid and footsteps moving about in the kitchen ended Drew's reverie.

Exhausted from trying to solve his clients' marital problems, he was more than ready to seek refuge inside. Enjoy a tasty meal seated across from his beautiful wife in their well-appointed dining room.

As if he would.

Dread kept Drew glued to the spot, afraid to open the back door, hesitant to face his one-hundred-ten-pound wife.

The pot lid clanged again. Drew yanked open the door and strode in.

Jill stood at the stove, stirring something in an iron pot, her dark auburn hair pulled back from her face with a silver clamp.

"Gosh that smells good." He grabbed a long-handled spoon and sampled the bubbling stew. "How soon do we eat?"

She glanced at him and smiled, a good sign. Lately, he never knew what to expect when he came home. Fertility drugs played havoc with Jill's hormones. With their relationship, too.

He constantly worried about their marriage. He'd be satisfied if they never had a child, overjoyed, actually. He and Jill growing old together, walking through life hand in hand.

Just because we're married doesn't mean we have to have a child.

To Jill, it does.

She'd make too much of his action if he patted her softly yielding butt. Before his next breath she'd have him stripped and stretched out on the bed.

Fertility drugs changed Jill. Gave her the upper hand in their sex life. Made her lust for him, and had gradually eroded their love for each other in her determined rush to give him a child. A child he was afraid to father.

So far, his prayers had been answered and Jill hadn't conceived, but how long could he depend on his luck lasting?

"How was your day?" he asked, giving her a tight hug, his hands firmly planted at her waist.

 Toni Noel's love of books started in childhood, when her mother first read The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew to her. She helped start church libraries in two rural Tennessee towns and appeared before the City Planning Commission and the San Diego City Council to urge a site be purchased. As the neighborhood spokesman for the new library the City Councilman for her district invited her to turn the second shovel of dirt at the groundbreaking for the new library. Toni's fondest dream, to see one of her safe-haven-for-the-heart novels available for checkout there may soon be fulfilled. Her first release Law Breakers and Love Makers will be released in print in November.     

Toni Noel's Novels... Safe havens for the heart.

An Interview with AC Katt

Today we have the wonderful A.C. Katt. Help me in welcoming her to the MFRW Authors Blog.

Where can your readers find you?

ackatt.com

ackattsjournal.blogspot.com

mlrpress.com

ackattspolitics.blogspot.com

rainbowromancewriters.com

Where’s your favorite place to hang out online?

ackattsjournal.blogspot.com

Tell us about your latest book, including its genre. Does it cross over to other genres? If so, what are they? A Matter of Trust is a light BDSM that is also suspenseful.

What can we expect from you in the future? A sequel to A Matter of Trust entitled Jack’s Back, a werewolf novel, I’ll Be There for You and a sequel to my first novel, The Sarran Plague entitled Living With Syn.

How do we find out about you and your books? Ackatt.com, promo

How many readers/fans contact you? mlhansel@gmail.com

Why did you decide to write romance novels? I read so many and my husband was complaining about the cost. One day I finished a novel I didn’t like and told him, “I can do better than that.” He replied, “Why don’t you, it would certainly cost us less money.”

How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing? I include quite a bit of my emotions and experiences in my books and twist them to fit the plot.

When did you first think about writing and what prompted you to submit your first ms? I submitted my first manuscript because I finished the book.

Generally, how long does it take you to write a book? I tend towards long and complicated plots, so it generally takes me about three months.

Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow? I have to go with the flow because I write when I find time.

What is your writing routine once you start a book? I write until the muse leaves.  That means I put in long hours when I’m inspired and long hours of frustration when I’m not.

Where do you start when writing? Research, plotting, outline, or...? I write by the seat of my pants. I have an outline in my head and I follow that to its logical end.

What about your family, do they know not to bother you when you are writing - or are there constant interruptions? Unfortunately, my husband interrupts me constantly.

What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries? I take a busman’s holiday and read.

What truly motivates you in general? In your writing? Progressive politics motivates me. I believe in marriage equality, justice for the poor and paying our fair share. In my writing my character’s emotions move me and the plot.

How do you come up with ideas? That’s an interesting question. A Matter of Trust came from a phrase, a bear in a suit. In gay romance a bear is a hairy man who is usually built large and portrayed as a biker or an outdoorsman. That phrase inspired me to write A Matter of Trust.

Do you feel humor is important in fiction and why? In some cases, humor is very important. In A Matter of Trust,  I show Brian Murphy as clumsy. This leads to some comic scenes.

What are your thoughts on love scenes in romance novels? Do you find them difficult to write? I don’t find love scenes hard to write although they are emotionally draining. I try to make my books plot driven rather than driven by sex scenes.

What kind of research do you do? For A Matter of Trust I contacted a person I knew online who lived the life I wanted to portray. For Shattered Glass I looked at the brutal schedule that rock bands endure while touring and researched various venues. I also researched the locations.  At that time I recently moved from New Jersey to New Mexico and used these locations in my novel under the adage write what you know.

Would you like to write a different genre than you do now, or sub-genre? My main genre is gay romance, however, I vary the subgenre.  The Sarran Plague was science fiction. Shattered Glass was a contemporary romance and A Matter of Trust is BDSM.  I am working on a werewolf story.

What does your husband/wife think of your writing? He supports me completely.

Do you ever ask him/her for advice? Yes, I often ask him for help in research.

Please tell us about yourself (family, hobbies, education, etc.) I am married to my husband of twenty-four years. I have four children;  my son, my husbands’ two sons and a daughter. They have given me nine grandchildren, six boys and three girls.  My oldest grandson is studying business at Penn State.

What are some of your favorite things to do? I love to read and my second love is cooking and baking. I invented a great recipe for carrot spice cake.

Do you have a favorite author? Favorite book? My favorite author is Mercedes Lackey and my favorite book is Magic’s Pawn.

Who are some of your other favorite authors to read? Laura Baumbach, Josh Layton, Robin D. Owen and Tom Clancy, a very mixed group.

Who, if anyone, has influenced your writing? A critique partner, Loukie Adlem.

Are you a member of any author groups - RWA, critique groups, etc.? I am a member of Rainbow Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America.

What do you think of critique groups in general? I prefer one on one critiques.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Hopefully, still writing.

How long have you been writing - have you always wanted to be a writer? I suffered a major illness ten years ago and that started me writing (remember the cost of books?). I wanted to write in high school but got lost somewhere along the way.

How many books have you written, how many have been published? I have had three books published, two are in re-release.

After you've written your book and it's been published, do you ever buy it and/or read it? Yes, because I can’t believe I actually did it. After that I try to critique my own work to see if I could have done better.

List two authors we would find you reading when taking a break from your own writing. Right now I’m reading Enchanted Again by Robin D. Owens. On my to be read list is Cherish by Shawn Bailey.

Among your own books, have you a favorite book? Favorite hero or heroine? My favorite book is always the one I’m currently writing; however, my baby is Shattered Glass.

If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why? I’d recommend they start with my first book, The Sarran Plague.

What book for you has been the easiest to write? The hardest? The most fun? A Matter of Trust was the easiest to write, Shattered Glass was the hardest.

Which comes first, the story, the characters, or the setting? The characters.

What are the elements of a great romance for you? It has to make you laugh or cry.

What is the hardest part of writing/the easiest for you? The hardest part of writing for me is fighting writer’s block.

Are you in control of your characters or do they control you? It’s a two way street.

Have you experienced writer's block? If so, how did you work through it? God, yes, I growl in frustration until the muse returns.

What is the most rewarding thing about being a writer? Seeing my name in print.

What is the single most important part of writing for you? Telling a good story.

What do you enjoy most about writing? The creative surge that comes from telling a good story.

If you weren't writing, what would you be doing? Politics.

Are there any words of encouragement for unpublished writers? Keep writing, it gets easier.

What do you hope readers take with them after reading your work? An emotional connection with my characters.

 If money were not an object, where would you most like to live? Right where I am in New Mexico.

Leather or lace? lace

Black or red? red

Satin sheets or Egyptian cotton? Egyptian cotton

Ocean or mountains? Mountains

City life or country life? suburbs

Hunky heroes or average Joe? Hunky heroes

Party life or quiet dinner for two? Dinner for two

Dogs or cats? Definitely cats

I love pizza with (fill in the blank). Coke Zero

I'm always ready for (fill in the blank). A good book

When I'm alone, I (fill in the blank). Read or write

You'd never be able to tell, but (fill in the blank). I’m actually very shy.

If I could (fill in the blank) I'd (fill in the blank). If I could sing, I’d be on Broadway.

I can never (fill in the blank) because (fill in the blank). I can never play sports because I’m clumsy.

Dessert. Strawberry Cheesecake

City. New York

Season. Fall

Type of hero. Hunky but compassionate.

Type of heroine. I don’t write heroines.

A Matter of Trust

Donald K. Drummond was the Master of all he surveyed; a legend in commercial real estate in New Jersey and by night a Master Dom at the gay BDSM club, Indiscrete. What he couldn't find was a boy to call his own. That all changed when a nerd with taped glasses and worn Dockers barged into his office spilling his bottle of 1985 Bourdeau over his priceless Persian carpet. Brian Murphy came with a host of troubles, the least of which was his grasping Aunt, his invalid mother and his rather tenious position in Donald's mail room.  Can a Dom with issues of his own come to train and trust a needy boy from his own mailroom. It's all A Matter of Trust.

Excerpt – A Matter of Trust

In slow degrees, the tow-headed boy woke up on the hard floor. A faint moan, an eyelid twitch, a soft flutter of pale lashes, and then a blue eye opened face-to-antenna with a cockroach. The Sears Tough Skin jeans he’d opened as his birthday gift two days ago felt wet around the crotch and smelled of both urine and feces. His new plaid shirt with the pearl cowboy buttons was torn and bloody. He swallowed hard, past a dry lump the size of a baseball stuck in the back of his throat. He opened his left eye, the one nearest to the bug. It looked as if his bone stuck out of his shirt, a handhold under his elbow, the right arm bent at an unnatural angle just below the tear. It took a few additional seconds for the pain to hit, long enough for him to realize he did not know how he got here or why. Then it struck, shock abated.

He hurt, bad. Even so, he knew enough not to cry out. He heard Mama pounding on the door of the bathroom and Aunt Mary in the distance, along with the whine of sirens. Then the pain took him away, and he rode it back to safety.

AC Katt was born in New York City’s Greenwich Village. She remembers sitting at the fountain in the Washington Square Park listening to folk music while they passed the hat. At nine, her parents dragged her to New Jersey where she grew up, married and raised four children and became a voracious reader of romantic fiction. At one time, she owned over two thousand novels, until she and her husband took themselves and the cat to New Mexico for their health and its great beauty.

Now, most of AC’s books are electronic (although she still keeps six bookcases of hardcovers), so she never has to give away another book. AC is new to both GLBT and to writing being, as she claims, a late bloomer, however she claims to have found her niche in writing GLBT romance. Her current release is Shattered Glass from MLR Press and coming soon from MPR Press is A Matter of Trust.