Showing posts with label anthology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anthology. Show all posts

Thursday, 7 April 2016

Blog Tour: The Devil's Doorbell by Jeffe Kennedy & More




The Devil's Doorbell

A woman's pleasure is a dangerous thing. A primal appetite that, once awakened, can never be sated. A secret that gives power to those who know it. A magic that, once unleashed, can never be contained.

Some say the clitoris is the devil's doorbell, set to summon him forth at the merest touch...

It's time to ring the bell.

Here are seven tales of sexual empowerment and erotic defiance, featuring the hottest storytellers of erotic fiction.

Anne Calhoun
Christine d'Abo
Delphine Dryden
Megan Hart
Jeffe Kennedy
Megan Mulry
M. O'Keefe

Coming April 26, 2016!

In the Garden, by Anne Calhoun

Forbidden fruit is the most delicious...

A wedding in the bucolic English countryside offers Kelsey ripe temptation in the form of a hot groomsman, Julian. Will the illicit attraction satisfy an old craving or stoke a new desire?

Exact Warm Unholy, by Jeffe Kennedy

Tonight my name is Mary...

Or is it? Sometimes she’s Tiffany or Syd or Bobbi. But whatever face she wears, she returns to the same bar, to find a new man and seduce him, safe in the knowledge that no one will recognize her. Until one man does.

Red Leather, by Delphine Dryden

Some activities are definitely not safe for work.

Maggie's sadness over being dumped quickly turns to relief and excitement when she discovers a new freedom...a new Maggie she could have never been with her ex. Combine New Maggie with Tim the Hot Mailroom Guy and an unexpected vibrator...and the office supply room door becomes the portal to a world of devilish fun.

Drowning on Dry Land, by Megan Hart

Some doors stay open until you close them.

Moving on from a past love, Bette Douglas has discovered a whole new world of satisfaction and contentment with her boy Damian...but when the past comes knocking, Bette's decision to answer it could change everything.

Devil in the Dark, by Christine d’Abo

When developer Shona needs to beta test her new app - The Devil's Doorbell - she goes out on the prowl for a man who will fulfil her wildest fantasies - oral sex in public. What could possibly go wrong when she finds her devil in the dark?

London Calling, by Megan Mulry

"Face-sitter wanted, in exchange for free accommodation in Mayfair." -Craigslist

She hadn't planned on being quite so adventurous when she decided to spend the year in London, but when she read the ad, she couldn't resist.

We Are All Found Things, by M. O'Keefe

Rennie's trying to forget her past; her mysterious new tenant is trying to keep his past a secret. But when Rennie finds out the truth about Luka she discovers as much about herself as she does her innocent lover.

Author Websites:

Anne Calhoun - http://www.annecalhoun.com/
Christine d'Abo - http://christinedabo.com/
Delphine Dryden - http://www.delphinedryden.com/
Megan Hart - http://meganhart.com/
Jeffe Kennedy - http://www.jeffekennedy.com/
Megan Mulry - http://meganmulry.com/
M. O'Keefe - http://www.molly-okeefe.com/

Cover by Book Beautiful - http://www.bookbeautiful.com/

Buy links:
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CN5KBYY/
iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-devils-doorbell/id1090773200
Kobo - https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-devil-s-doorbell

***


Excerpt from
Exact Warm Unholy
by Jeffe Kennedy

Tonight, my name is Mary.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary. That calls for fiery red, steampunk crimson carved into long, perfect ringlets. Not a corset, though. Not for Circle2, a bar that tends toward the conservative, at least so far as cosplay is concerned, unless it’s Halloween or something. Instead I choose the black sheath dress with the deep vee neckline to show off the inner curves of my breasts, and advertise that I’m not wearing a bra. Or anything else beneath.

Have to set the bait properly, after all. And Mary can do what I never could.

For makeup, I go with a retro vibe. I have to layer it on thick anyway, to make myself into Mary, so the heavy stuff works best. Theater pancake in the fairest tone to complement the hair. False lashes and black eyeliner, with a cat’s eye flair. Bright green contact lenses. Lipstick in screaming scarlet, just shades darker than the wig. Amazing, really, how redrawing the lines of lips and eyes change a face entirely.

No one ever recognizes me, not even me. Maybe G_d does, but we’ve had a falling out and I don’t care.

At the last moment I go for boots instead of stilettos. High heels, black leather, over-the-knee. Maybe I’ll let him fuck me in just the boots. Whoever he’ll be tonight.

The night air slaps chill on my bare arms, so I hurry the few blocks to Circle2. I don’t like to wear a coat. They’re too expensive to wear a different one every time and I’d rather spend the money on wigs. Too bad there’s not a wig wear-and-return system, as I never wear the same one twice.

I don’t mind the coolness either. It helps combat the heat. I’m alive with the anticipation, already wet, primed for the release to come.

Tonight I pick out a stool at the bar. Mary is the sort who’d do that. I cross my legs so my hem rides up to show a strip of skin above my boot, turning sideways to display my cleavage.

Come and get it, gentlemen.

“What’ll you have?” the bartender asks. He’s a genial sort, always ready with a friendly smile. Never hits on me, no matter who I am that night, which makes me think he doesn’t take advantage of the women who come to the bar. That’s part of the reason I go to Circle2. It sets a tone to the hookups, I think, as the men who frequent the place are generally clean and polite.

He’s always working, six nights a week. The bar is closed on Mondays. I suspect he owns it, but we don’t have conversations. At least, not connected ones. I’m always a stranger to him. He smiles, asks what I’ll have, then leaves me alone.

Tonight it’s Prosecco and he gives it to me in a tall flute. He’s wearing a shirt that says “The book was better.”

“I’ll get that for the lady.” A tall man, dark skin, pretty brown eyes, makes the offer hopefully. He’s wearing a good suit, has nice hands, long fingers. I’ve never seen him in here before. Yes. Yes, he’ll do nicely.

***

About the Author:

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and novels. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. Her essays have appeared in many publications, including Redbook.

Her most recent works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, and an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera. A fourth series, the fantasy trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms, hit the shelves starting in May 2014 and book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and has been nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequels, The Tears of the Rose and The Talon of the Hawk, have been nominated for The RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of the year in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Two more books will follow in this world, beginning with The Pages of the Mind in Summer 2016. A fifth series, the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, started with Going Under, followed by Under His Touch and Under Contract.

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular Word Whores blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary.


Thursday, 28 May 2015

Book Spotlight: B is For Broken Edited by Rhonda Parrish





Title: B is for Broken
Author: Rhonda Parrish (editor)
Genre: Speculative Fiction (Horror, Science-Fiction and Fantasy)

Broken people, broken promises, broken dreams and broken objects are just some of the ways these 26 fantastic stories interpret the theme of ‘Broken’. From science fiction to fantasy, horror to superheroes the stories within these pages cover a vast swath of the genres under the speculative fiction umbrella.

Featuring original fiction by:

~ Brittany Warman ~ Milo James Fowler ~ C.S. MacCath ~ Sara Cleto ~ Samantha Kymmell-Harvey ~ Megan Arkenberg ~ Gary B. Phillips ~ Alexandra Seidel ~ Jonathan C. Parrish ~ Simon Kewin ~ Beth Cato ~ Cory Cone ~ Cindy James ~ Alexis A. Hunter ~ Michael M. Jones ~ Steve Bornstein ~ BD Wilson ~ Michael Kellar ~ Damien Angelica Walters ~ Marge Simon ~ Michael Fosburg ~ Suzanne van Rooyen ~ L.S. Johnson ~ Pete Aldin ~ Gabrielle Harbowy ~ Lilah Wild ~ KV Taylor ~


***

About the Editor

Rhonda Parrish is driven by a desire to do All The Things. She has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine since 2007 (which is like 30 years in internet time) and is the editor of several anthologies including (most recently) Fae and B is for Broken.

In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been in publications such as Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast, Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing (2012) and Mythic Delirium.

Her website, updated weekly, is at http://www.rhondaparrish.com

***

Links

Official Website: http://www.poiseandpen.com/publishing/alphabet-anthologies/b-is-for-broken/

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/ebook/b-is-for-broken-1

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/537402

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25360214-b-is-for-broken


***

Excerpt:

G is for Glass by Gary B. Phillips:

Adina was born a girl of glass.

She had not been the first child with such a strange birth defect. The doctors had run tests on the child after her birth and delivered the news with practiced, solemn faces. Her mother carefully pulled back layer after layer of blankets to reveal a small translucent blue body, spindling arms and legs, and clear blue eyes that shone like the sky after a February storm.

...

She watched the children across the field kicking a soccer ball. One of them tripped and came back up with a bloody knee and grass in his hair. He was smiling though. She could smell the wet grass, hear the sound of their laughter. She wanted so badly to taste it.

She envied other children, hated them even, as they skipped up and down the stairs, two-at-a-time, even three. Jumping the last half dozen stairs and falling at the bottom, their voices howling with laughter and pain. Broken arms, scraped legs, and bloody noses.

“You look angry,” Shamira said.

Adina’s felt flush in her cheeks. She wondered if they were tinting red.

“I want that,” Adina said, and she pointed to the children playing.

“I know, but that’s where you got that.” Shamira pointed to the chipped glass of her elbow. “And this.” Her fingers brushed against Adina’s brow, where the sliver of missing glass was almost invisible to the naked eye if you weren’t looking for it.

“Some lives come with a higher cost. That’s why I’m here. To help you.”

That was the thing about Shamira. She never made it sound as if she was being paid to be there. She always gave her answers as a friend.

Even at six Adina knew her life was fake. She had been made in some strange, fake way and existed in a state somewhere between liquid and solid, always in suspended animation, never able to reach any point for herself.

She had heard rumors about other children of failed experiments. Most of them were thrown away. Those that were not formed small communities, under bridges, tent cities, at the edges of civilization. The children in her neighborhood traded stories about them, whispered words on fall winds. Freak. Monster. Alien. She wondered if there was another glass child. A glass boy, perhaps.

***



Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Book Review: Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores

ARC From Netgalley
Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores
Edited by Greg Ketter
Introduction by Neil Gaiman
4 stars

Blurb:

Bookstores are the greatest places on earth, yet there's never been an anthology devoted just to them. Here are sixteen stories, fourteen original to this anthology, each of which includes a bookstore at its core. Science fiction, fantasy and horror. Authors included are David Bischoff, P.D. Cacek, Ramsey Campbell, Charles de Lint, Marianne de Pierres, Harlan Ellison, Rick Hautala, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Gerard Houarner, John J. Miller, A.R. Morlan, Lisa Morton, Melanie Tem, Patrick Weekes, Jack Williamson, Gene Wolfe. Introduction by Neil Gaiman. Cover art by John Picacio.

Review:

Anyone who knows me knows I love books and bookshops and here we have an anthology where the bookshop is the setting for each of the stories. All the stories are different, but each have an element of the fantastic. They range from SF, to Horror, to fantasy to some with a fairy tale feel. From stories set in Nazi Germany to stories with kittens who can read. As with any anthology, you tend to prefer some stories over others, but all of them are good here. One of my favoruites was The Hemmingway Kittens, even though I'm not really a cat person, but they were just so cute. I didn't even know they were an actual breed, so I learned something too.

This is a great collection for anyone who loves books, it would make an ideal gift for a bibliophile. My one niggle is to do with the editing - some typos and the wrong words used take you out of a story very quickly. Things like 'an' instead of 'and' for example. But still a good read.

Reviewed by Annette Gisby