Oz Bites available!

Free! Short! Nixie! What more is there to a great read?* Download your copy at Smashwords today!

*Okay, there are probably a few more things you want to know.

Here's the revised blurb:

Vampires and sex and flamingos—oh my!

Punk musician Nixie Emerson is now married to her master vampire and life is grand. Until the mayor “voluntells” her to assemble a pit orchestra for Oz, Wonderful Oz, a new Broadway-caliber musical.

Problem—she has no budget. Add in a vampire turf war and a pregnancy that makes finding the right sexual position a challenge and running from rogue vampires impossible, and she’s getting overwhelmed. As a rebel who thrives on creative solos, she’s getting zilch for solo time.

Then someone blabs there’s no pay and her musicians back out. Worse, whoever’s stealing secrets isn’t just stealing Nixie’s.

Warning: Contains wild sex, explicit violence, and a frazzled punk heroine. Or is that explicit sex, wild violence, and a frazzled lawyer vampire? What the heck. There’s sex, swearing, fighting and smiles.

Oz Bites--Beautiful New Cover Art

Thanks to Tibbs Design for getting this amazing cover done so quickly!

Oz Bites
A free short story in the Biting Love universe

Vampires and sex and flamingos—oh my!

Punk musician Nixie Emerson and her master vampire husband Julian try to assemble a pit orchestra. Someone blabs there's no pay, making Nixie and Julian's chore impossible... and worse, what other secrets do the bad guys know?

Warning: Contains wild sex, explicit violence, and a frazzled punk heroine. Or is that explicit sex, wild violence, and a frazzled lawyer vampire? What the heck. There's sex, swearing, fighting, and laughs.

Decision fatigue

Willpower, something every romance alpha male has. But it's not all mind over matter. Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue, an article in the New York Times Magazine online, explores decision-making and energy. There's a reason your vendor calls all the time at 4 pm. There's a reason you spend four hours resisting that chocolate cake only to then give in.

There's a reason it gets harder to decide, the more decisions you make.

I took away two things. Getting tired after being hit by lots of choices is completely normal. And the best aid to self-control is structuring life to conserve willpower.

For my readers...free short story August 31!

I read a great blog today about readers. Actually, Promoting your e-books on Amazon and Yahoo forums is about promo, but what I took away from it was the need to connect with readers, with their hearts and minds. That resonates strongly for me.

Since the next Biting Love novel is taking a while to reach release (thank you, Demon Murphy), I decided to offer a short story freebie to my patient readers in the meantime. I've had great fun writing it and working through the challenges of selfpub, and am happy to announce I'm planning to make the story available August 31. Here's the preliminary blurb:

Vampires and sex and flamingos--oh my!

Punk musician Nixie Emerson is now married to her master vampire, and duty is no longer a four-letter word--well, it is, but...it's not as much of a horror for her. Until the mayor voluntells her to assemble a pit orchestra for Oz, Wonderful Oz, a new Broadway caliber musical.

Problem--she has no budget to leverage a professional-quality pit. Factor in her growing obligations (including pregnancy, which makes find the right position a challenge but running away from rogue vampires impossible) and she's getting overwhelmed. A rebel who thrives on creative solos, she's getting zilch for solo time.

Then someone blabs there's no pay, making her chore impossible... and she and Julian discover the bad guys know all their secrets.

Warning: Contains wild sex, explicit violence, and a frazzled punk heroine. Or is that explicit sex, wild violence, and a frazzled lawyer vampire? What the heck. There's sex, swearing, fighting, and laughs.

Bonus! I need help picking my title. Take the poll at the right and let me know which to use!

Opening the Windows to Sweet Air

We've been alternating between rain and super hot temps lately, and the windows have been shut on the house. Today is the first time I've opened them in quite some time and I have mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, the cooler weather means fall is coming, and with it shorter days and imperfect light. The short days don't bother me as much as the watery sunshine. Something about that half-light makes me sad and reminds me of bad dreams.

On the other hand, today's breeze feels great and smells even better, both soft and fragrant. Nice change from stale windows-shut air. We don't get these lovely days often.

If I were to focus on the meaning of the cooler day, I'd be missing the simple joy of the sweet air. I'm not saying ignore the future, but it's a nice reminder to open the window when I can.

Timeless Prose vs Fresh Writing: The Prize Fight

Welcome to Writing Wrestling Entertainment! In this corner, with classic plots and themes and enough metaphors to make eyes bleed--it's Timeless Prose! *hurrahhhh* And in this corner, with crisp verbs and strong nouns and the latest slang--it's Fresh Writing! *woohooooo*

The referee rings in the first match. "Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts." It's a reread of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird...and wait. There's been a disqualification...apparently this Timeless Prose is full of Fresh Writing! It's a shocker, folks.

Okay, next up is the reigning champ, Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb and Promises in Death. "Do little pink fairies sing and dance in your world, Peabody?" / "Sometimes, when it's very quiet and no one else can see." But what's this? An insight into human nature? a touch of the whimsical? Good grief, Fresh Writing is full of Timeless Prose! The ref is sending the contestants back into their corners, clearing the ring. I've never seen anything like it.

The final match is the Rex Stout mystery Omit Flowers: "In my opinion it was one of Nero Wolfe's neatest jobs, and he never got a nickel for it." Oh no, a classic with a snappy first line! I don't know what's going on, folks. It seems that fresh writing is part of truly timeless prose and vice versa.

I'm waiting for a sign from the ref...yes, it's a TKO, a technical knockout to clunky writing. Fresh and timeless writing wins the prize!