See you at Cleveland Concoction

We'll be a Cleveland Concoction this coming week... Will you be there?

 

My talented hubby AJ Matthews and I will be talking about writing, publishing, editing and, of course, science fiction at Cleveland Concoction at the lovely Airport Sheraton. We hope to see all our friends and make a lot of new friends over the weekend, so please, if you're in the area, come on down.

I know I haven't updated my blogs much lately, but The Bernie Blog editing and helping out with the campaign has taken a lot of my energy. I'm hoping by summer things will settle down a bit. One thing I've been amiss about is talking about our upcoming fiction release, the first in my husband's and my young adult science fiction BloodDark series coming in August from Desert Breeze Publishing. The first title is Olivia's Escape.

My Sexy Saturday -- Sexy Duncan from Driving in England

The theme this week for My Sexy Saturday is "You're so sexy!" And who else fits the bill other than our handsome hero Duncan from our latest contemporary romance, Driving in England? I mean, Susannah certainly can't wait to see if the reality lives up to her wild and sexy dreams! ;-)

Driving in England 
http://www.devinedestinies.com/Driving-in-England/
 
by Cynthianna and  A J Matthews


Susannah travels to England to discover her boss’s relatives. Renowned genealogist Duncan realizes he’s the lost relative Susannah is seeking. They meet and can’t deny their attraction, but Duncan lies to protect his family’s reputation. Can Susannah pierce Duncan’s armor to find the loving man within?


An excerpt: 

He looked down at her hand on his arm. He slowed his breathing and willed himself not to act too impulsively. “You think it foolish a man of my age keeping a library of erotic literature to himself?”

“I don’t know. Do you think it’s foolish for a woman of my age to want to read a library of erotic literature.” They shared a laugh. Before he could utter a reply, her next words nearly floored him.

“I, uh, had quite an erotic dream about you the other night.”

She raised her face to his. Her words sent an endorphin rush through Duncan’s veins that made his ears tingle. His heart began to pump harder as he moved closer and stared at her flushed face and bright eyes for a long moment. “Really?”

“Oh, yes.” She reached out and took his hand, cupping it with slow deliberation around her left breast. “And I’d like to find out if the reality matches the dream.”

He felt the warmth of Susannah’s body through the cloth of her blouse and brassiere cup. Her nipple hardened against his palm. She licked her lips. Without further ado he leaned forward and kissed her, gently rolling her breast in his hand as he did so. Her response was eager. Susannah opened her lips, and he felt her tongue meet his. Passion burned in his veins as a genuine fear raced through his mind.

It’s been so long... Is it like riding a bicycle? Do you ever really forget how to make love to a desirable woman? Perhaps she will show me how—if I forget.
 

Driving in England is now available at Devine Destinies Books:
http://www.devinedestinies.com/Driving-in-England/

and soon wherever fine ebooks are sold! 

http://mysexysaturday.blogspot.com

Have a great My Sexy Saturday! 

Driving in England now available from Devine Destinies Books

It's a first! My husband and I wrote a book together, and here's an excerpt from it as well as the purchase link. Feel free to share the news with other readers of contemporary romance. Thank you!


Driving in England 
http://www.devinedestinies.com/Driving-in-England/
 
by Cynthianna and  A J Matthews

Susannah Koenig travels to England on an urgent mission to discover her boss’s relatives. Duncan Balfour, a renowned genealogist, doesn’t think he’d like to meet the woman who nags him online for help. Then he realizes he is the long lost relative Susannah’s boss is desperately searching for. Once the pair meet, they can’t deny their mutual attraction, but Duncan can’t help lying to her to protect his family’s reputation. Can Susannah pierce Duncan’s armor to find the loving man within and reveal the truth that could save a life?


From Chapter One, an excerpt from Driving in England:

“Oh. My. God.”

    Susannah Koenig smothered a laugh behind a hand, staring at the headline splashed across her laptop’s screen. Unfrocked Vicar Eaten by Lion! She couldn’t believe her eyes. That kind of thing only happened in the movies or on some poorly written sit-coms—not in real life—and most certainly not in some staid English village circa 1932.
    She rose from the sofa and walked away from the coffee table littered with the remains of half-eaten bagels, dusty genealogy volumes, and various papers she’d gathered over the past two weeks. There’s no way on earth I can tell the boss about his ancestor, the unfrocked vicar who was consumed by a large beast of prey. No way. I value my job too much.
    But what could she do? Harold Spalding paid her good money to graph out his family tree in minute detail. How could she avoid mentioning the former Reverend Titus Spalding, a man accused of sexual misconduct who was stupid enough to stick his head in a lion’s gaping jaws?
    “I can’t believe this.” She switched on the kitchen light and began automatically stacking dishes into the dishwasher. “Who in his right mind would knowingly walk into a lion’s cage at a circus to prove his innocence? In the twentieth century no less! The man was a first class idiot!”
    Shit! The sudden realization of the horrible revelation hit her hard in the stomach. She gulped and put down the dish she was stacking. I can’t tell Mr. Spalding that he had a complete lunatic for a grandfather. It’ll kill him.
    And then she’d be out of a job.
    A very good position with responsibility and prestige, one that she had slaved and suffered long enough to land... Women hit the glass ceiling in the good ol’ boy oil industry all the time, so Susannah felt rightfully proud of her accomplishment, even if it had taken many years and more than a few gray hairs. Nothing was going to stand in her way of keeping her job until they forced her into retirement. Nothing.
    “Damned if I do—damned if I don’t.” Susannah sighed. She could think of only one thing to get herself out of this dilemma. She needed help—professional help. She’d have to email that stuffy, stick-up-his-ass Duncan Balfour and ask for his assistance once again. Maybe the genealogist par excellence could find some other worthy tidbits of information about the crazy vicar, suggest some way to sweeten the news, to make it more palatable for her boss to swallow?
    “If I’m lucky, there might be two Reverend Titus Spaldings in England, and the boss is related to the more normal fella. Please, Lord, let that be the case!”
    Swallowing her pride, and a few dry crumbs of bagel, she headed back to her laptop to email the uptight Brit.
     
    Dear Mr. Balfour:
    I’m in need of your assistance. I’m working on a genealogy project on behalf of my employer, Harold Spalding, and may have discovered a link in his family tree to a Reverend Titus Spalding of Understrand, Norfolk County, England. As I recall reading online, you’re a resident of the area. Could you check your own and local sources to enlighten me as to the true character of this individual? Could his name have been confused with any others of same or similar name? Your help in the past has been most appreciated, and I thank you in advance for this undertaking.
    All the best,
    Susannah Koenig
     
    Tapping send, she glanced at the computer clock. Britain was six hours ahead of Texas, so Balfour would receive her missive first thing in the morning local time. Good enough. She’d check her email in the morning to see if the priggish academic felt her request for information worthy of an immediate reply.
    Give the devil his due, Balfour always replies in a timely manner with hard factual material, even if his tone is patronizing. But somehow, Susannah got the impression the man found addressing a lowly American amateur beneath his dignity. Hadn’t she paid his fees promptly? Hadn’t she been businesslike and fair in all her dealings with the man?
    Glass ceilings existed everywhere—in business, in genealogy circles, in life in general. In spite of the odds, she had marched forward, throwing herself against the walls of prejudice erected to keep women in their place, particularly women of a certain age as she had been labeled in the past few years. Her success had been hard won and all of her own doing. No silver spoons were ever placed in her mouth!
    Susannah rolled her eyes heavenwards as she rose from the sofa. Some people! It’s like they don’t know what it’s like to earn a living. Spalding Oilfield Solutions paid her good money, and the chance to advance offered by the boss’s interest in her family tree hobby had been too good to ignore. She headed back to the kitchen to finish filling the dishwasher and sighed. “I just wish I didn’t have to depend on some old-money, snobby jackass I’ve never met in the flesh to get me through this rough patch.”

Driving in England
http://www.devinedestinies.com/Driving-in-England/

now available at Devine Destinies Books.

Not Quite an "Iron Author" from DetCon1

We're home from the NASFic, aka DetCon1, and still trying to mentally and physically recoup. My husband Adrian took some great photos and put them up on Facebook for all to see. (Click here to see his photos.) I wanted to make sure that anyone who sat in on the "Copyediting--don't fear the editor" panel on Sunday and came looking for my testimonial page knew they'd found the right place. Just head to the top of the page and hit the link that says "editorial services". (No, this blog has not been copyedited. I'm tired. So there!)

We had a lot of fun in Detroit, met some nice folk, and got a couple invites to area conventions to talk about writing, publishing, whatever. Adrian sold two of his world famous bookends in the art show, so all-in-all, not a bad showing.

I thought I'd share a bit of the flash fiction I wrote in the "Iron Author Detroit" contest I participated in Sunday morning. (Yes, it was early on the last day of the con--not the best timing for a contest.) The winner was the fabulous author Lucy A. Snyder, so I don't feel too bad for losing to her at all. However, I do wonder about the sanity of the audience members who came up with the "prompts" we used to write a short story in five minutes. My example below will show you why I have some reservations on their mental stability, as these three words actually made sense or at least more sense than the last three sets of prompts. Enjoy! ;)

Prompts: a Watermelon, a Triceratops, and a Lost Shoe (the secret ingredient)

"Wherever could it be?"

Lilah looked at the trail behind her. No shoe. It must have fallen off after she had forded the stream, after she had eaten some of the delicious wild watermelon, but she was pretty sure she was still wearing it when she scrambled over the sharp rocks near the waterfalls.

"I knew this was a mistake. I knew I should have never listen to Marc (the panel MC). This is beautiful country, but really... What's so special about it?"

She sighed and plopped down on a boulder. That hiking shoe had cost hundreds. She'd never be able to afford another pair anytime soon.

"Why did I believe, Marc?"

Then she heard the sound far-off... Oh, my God! A triceratops was grazing in the meadow below where she sat.

"The Lost World!" she cried. This is why Marc had told her to come here.

I was writing with pen on legal paper since I didn't bring a laptop. I'm not sure the story would have been much longer or better written using a keyboard, but I certainly could have read it with less problems. Deciphering my horrible handwriting a day later is a challenge and a half! 

Feel free to leave a comment below, especially if we met at DetCon1, and feel free to like me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, etc., at the links on the right side of the page. It was great getting to know you, but now I need to catch up on my sleep. Zzzzz... :)

50 Shades of Mr. Grey! More Midlist Author Greatness!

Why read the rest when you can have the best?

http://www.lsbooks.com/mr-grey-and-the-hotel-ghosts-p403.php

You never know when you're going to run into a famous author... This past month I discovered I'd been living with him!

Believe it or not, I'm living with the author of the original Mr. Grey series! I know what you're thinking: "You can't be married to the author of the 50 Shades of Grey...well, at least not in the state where you currently reside." You're right on both parts, but I'm not talking about the fan-fiction-based, pseudo BDSM story that's been in the news lately. I'm talking about the original Mr. Grey series--the one written by A J Matthews.

http://www.lsbooks.com/mr-grey-and-the-spirit-from-the-sky-p404.php

 Martin Grey in A J's series is a ghosthunter, a very sexy ghosthunter whose job is to help people rid themselves of obnoxious haunting spirits. Think of Ghostbusters meets a very sexy David Tennant or Ryan Reynolds (or whoever your current crush happens to be). The storylines are filled with suspense and intrigue, and the cover art is romantic and uplifting--not boring, sterile gray in color.

http://www.lsbooks.com/lady-in-white-p336.php

 Definitely this is an e-book series worth downloading on your Kindle or Nook this Halloween season. What could be better than hot, erotic-romance with the sexy Martin Grey while he solves a few mysteries and rids the world of a few bothersome ghosts?

http://www.extasybooks.com/rebel-hearts-2/

What's even better is that there are currently four books in the Mr. Grey series. A J penned a fascinating historical "prequel" to the Mr. Grey series, Rebel Hearts. In this story you can meet some of the people who will later haunt the contemporary stories. Very cool! Once again, A J's fascinating novel has been blessed with gorgeous cover art. It was even nominated for an EPIC Award this past year.

Can't figure out what the fuss is about in ebook-land over a poorly written fan-fic? Me neither! A J Matthew's Mr. Grey, Ghosthunter series is head and shoulders above that other series. Romance and action galore in well-written novels that you can be proud to tell your friends about! (Available at LSB Books, eXtasy Books and at Amazon.)

Part of the 50 Shades of Great(ness) Promotion.

Support midlist authors--buy and read their excellent fiction!