Heya guys, my book HEAVEN SENT is now available for purchase from Cobblestone Press!  I’ve you’ve been waiting for my latest Christmas novella, now’s your chance to get it.

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/heavensent.htm

I’m so excited for this one, you don’t want to miss it!   WOOHOO!

Just got my cover art today for my next fantasy novel, KINDRED, from Champagne Books!  This book is coming in March of 2010.  Isn’t it awesome??  I love the colors!  Much better than I envisioned.  Now I can’t wait for this story!    WOOHOO!!!

~*~*~

When an ordinary woman discovers she’s anything but ordinary, her life becomes an amazing journey into the land of dragon-shifters, and into the arms of the Crown Prince himself…

While caring for her dying grandmother, Alana Capria hears the most shocking news of her life.  She’s not human, she’s a dragon-shifter.  Not only that, she’s from the extremely rare and powerful House of the Sun, brought to Earth as a baby to save her from assassins.

Rionshalintaris is her betrothed, the Crown Prince of Dragoran, and a blue dragon-shifter from the House of Ice.  He’s been looking forward to bonding with Alana ever since they were children.  Rion is overjoyed she has returned to Dragoran, and is most eager to claim her as his own.

But the red dragons of the House of Fire endeavor to kidnap Alana in an attempt to overthrow the Crown.  Can Rion protect the woman he loves and bind Alana as his Kindred before it’s too late?

~*~*~

(As an aside, only THREE more days before the release of HEAVEN SENT from Cobblestone Press! )

~~Becka

Well, my new book, THE VIPER PRINCE, is currently at 87 pages.  I have no idea how long it will be, but I’m loving every minute of it.  I have my phases of “This is Gold!” or “This is Crap!” moments, and currently, I’m in my “Gold!” phase. 

Here’s a bit of background world-building for you, to whet your appetite.

My hero’s name is Tariq Sayed, the Viper Prince of the Golden Desert.  His world is Jikkar, a desert planet, and there are six sparkling oases in the Golden Desert.  Each oasis is ruled by one prince, who travels to them in his caravan to collect water for the people who live in the tent cities.  The largest of the tent cities is Suridesh.  The others are Mekolam, Parradh, and Neviann.  The world is broken into three “sectors”, the desert, the Borderlands (Mekolam is on the Borderlands – the very edge the caravan princes are willing to travel), and The Waste, a giant stretch of desert with absolutely no water or life.

It is said the planet was destroyed during a war between the gods, and each of these gods chose one family to be their representation on Jikkar, thus the caravan princes were born.  The oases never dry up, and it is the duty of these princes to bring the water to the people.

We already know of the Viper, but there is also the Scarab Prince, the Falcon Prince, the Jackal Prince, the Cobra Prince, and the Spider Prince.  These princes meet twice a year in Suridesh should they need to solve problems between the people and/or their caravans.  Sequel bait?  Perhaps.  I must admit I didn’t want to invent such an awesome desert world without some hope of ever going back.  However, a few of these desert princes aren’t sweet and cuddly, so I highly doubt there will be six books on this world.

Just keeping things open, folks.  For all I know, the Viper is all we’ll see of Jikkar.  Depends on how big a “hit” this book may or may not be…

Heroine’s name is… Sabine Santiago.  Teased as a kid, she was always told she should become a romance author with a name like that.  Thought “Huh, maybe they’re right” – tried her hand at it – and was really good.  But her life begins to change the moment she bought a coiled serpent armband at a local flea market.  It’s the perfect accessory for her pink harem-girl outfit she bought for a costume party at the Romance Convention she’s attending.

But she never actually makes it…  to the convention, that is.  LOL

Yes, it’s another one of “those books”, the author pulled into the plot of the novel she’s writing.  Hopefully, I’ve done this plot device justice and in such a way that future books can be written about the same world.  I have a good reason behind my plot, folks, so you there, I saw you roll your eyes.  Heh.  We shall see if it all comes together.

Still no idea about how long it will be or where, for certain, I’ll be sending it to.  For now, I just want to get it written.  I’m loving it so far and Tariq is SOOOO HOOOOOTT!! 

~~Becka

The picture above is of myself (in the wedding dress) and one of my best friends from High School, Crystal Lynn House.  Yes, like Dr. House, but before his time.  It was taken on March 25th, 1995, the day I got married (obviously lol).  She was going to be one of my bride’s maids, but since my soon-to-be hubby only had his best man, I figured it might be weird to have two bridesmaids (my sis was Matron of Honor).  So, she showed up and gave me her support, and I have a few great pics.

In September of that same year, she got married as well, and I was her Matron of Honor.

(Forgive the crappy quality of the above picture, I took a picture of a print with my iPhone because my scanner isn’t hooked up to my computer.)

Her wedding dress was a light blue, in honor of her father who had passed away three years before.  His favorite color was blue, if I remember correctly.  He was quite the character.  LOVED westerns and cop movies, SO MUCH, that when we’d watch them on a sleep over, he’d have his GUN sitting in his lap.  lol  He was an avid Ham Radio operator, and taught Crystal much of what he knew.  His radio room was on the other side of her bedroom, and I’ll never forget hearing this while trying to fall asleep:

“N7VBK – N7 VICTOR BRAVO KILO!”

(I don’t know why the “N” was never identified whenever he said his ID. )

We used to camp out in her yard.  We used to ditch 5th period right after lunch as Seniors all the time.  We used to play on Prodigy back in the day, and even met this cool guy on some random bulletin board named Jim Goings.  He lived in California and we were in Nevada.  But that didn’t stop us (mainly me) from squealing every time we got an email from him.  (I didn’t have a computer of my own, you see.)

After he figured out a way to be with me and got up the gumption to marry me and whisk me off to Los Angeles, it was Crystal who watched out for my Dad after he had his first stroke.  She’d come by every now and again, make sure he was okay, and he was the first one she turned to when she had a dog she could no longer look after.  He took that dog in, and still has her after all these years.

We kept in touch off and on, mostly off, seen as how she never had an email she checked regularly.  Being married to a techy guy, that was kind of annoying for me, and the fact she moved a few times wasn’t the best way to keep in touch, either.  I’d get her phone number, only to have it change because she moved and I wouldn’t know until she called me.

I saw her last in 2005, right after I moved into the house I’m currently living in.  She and her husband were going to a Rolling Stones concert in Portland (I believe) and she wanted to hook up.  So she came out, met all four of my kids, saw my house, we had a great lunch, and promised to keep in touch.

Did we?  Nah.  She didn’t have an email, but she was going to get one, and as soon as she did, she would contact me.  But, alas, I didn’t hear a thing, and I had no idea where she was living.  I knew she was in Reno, but that was the extent of it.  I’d even been thinking last year that I should see if I could find her again, even if I have to find some of her family members and ask them.

But in January of this year, I got news about Crystal from mutual friend of ours in high school.  Crystal had passed away.  Not only that, she’d passed a month prior, in December.  As soon as I got over my shock and grief, I did some digging.  All her obit says in the Reno Gazette Journal was that she died of a “brief illness”.  All I can think of is she must have caught pnemonia.  She was always sickly, and had asthma pretty bad.  Whenever she got sick, SHE GOT SICK.  If that’s not the reason, I don’t know what took her.

She passed a year ago today, on December 7th, 2008.  That was the day after my baby shower for Sophie.  And for the life of me, I cannot remember what I was doing on that day.

When I went back to Nevada this summer in June for a death in my family, I had a fleeting thought of seeing if I could find her grave.  But we didn’t have time, I had my infant with me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to take the time to go on a hunt for it.  But both times I rolled through Reno, once to go to Carson City, and once leaving, I thought of her.

So today, I’m posting in honor of one of the best friends I’ve ever had, to celebrate her life on the anniversary of her death.  She’s the reason I’m with my husband.  That, in and of itself, is the best gift anyone could give.  Because he gave me a family, he gave me the ability to stay home with my kids, and he gave me the opportunity to write my books.  Everything I have has fallen into place because of Crystal House.

And so, to celebrate her, I want to share some of my favorite memories.

We used to go to our local Smith’s (a grocery store) and sit on the bench outside, just to people-watch.  It was fun, we had a lot of laughs and talks on that bench.

Our Junior year History teacher, every time he saw her in the halls, would yell out at the top of his lungs: “CRYSTAL!  HOW’S YOUR HOUSE?”

We both had our first (and last) experiences on a Ouija Board together.  Creepy!

First time I ever heard Toby Mac was when he was in DC Talk, booming JESUS FREAK! out her stereo speakers.

I used to pick her up for school all the time (I was the oldest in our friend group and the only one with a car) and we listened to Keith Green every morning.  She always laughed because she said he sounded like he was yawning when he sang.

She was so shy, but she was so cute!  All the boys loved her, and one day, while in her bathing suit to get some sun in her yard, her neighbor cried, “Lord, have mercy!”

She and I were walking past the local Domino’s Pizza, and it just so happened my future-DH worked there after he’d moved to CCNV to be with me.  When we walked in, his boss was red in the face.  I asked him what was wrong, and Jim said he’d tell me later.  Come to find out, he was whistling at us as we walked by (before we’d walked in), talking all kinds of “Look at those fine laaadaaays!” only to find out I was his employee’s girlfriend and he was EXTREMELY embarrassed.  LOL

She took three shots of tequila before walking down the aisle at her wedding.  She was so nervous!  I’m surprised she COULD walk down the aisle. 

The girl could pack away an entire large pizza all by herself in one sitting.  I don’t know where she put it all, she was as thin as a rail and I was always so jealous of her for it!

I love you, Crystal.  I owe you so much!  Some of my favorite memories are with you, and I’ll never forget the profound impact you had on the course of my life.  The Good Lord brings friends into your life, and sometimes, He takes them away.  However, I have hope, because friends are friends forever, if the Lord’s the Lord of them.  I’ll see you again.  And I’ll pray for your daughter, for your sisters, and for the rest of your family, so they can have strength to carry on in your absence.

Always, my friend.

~~Becka

…it’s not “really” about a sheikh.  At least, not in THIS world.  That’s about the closest I can come to describing what I want to do with my next project.  I’ve been brainstorming the plot with my crit partner and drooling over middle-eastern hotties, while getting inspiration from desert scenes of hot sand, oases, palm trees…and yes, even camels.

This world I’m describing, it’s a world of my own creation.  Set on a different planet, probably.  Not that it’s a futuristic or anything, no, maybe an alternate reality.  With magic.

You see, my hero, he’s going to be a caravan prince.  All the members of his caravan will be extended family members, as well as a few drifters they’ve picked up along the way who want to ride along with them.  And by caravan, I don’t mean a line of 10 camels plodding across the desert.  No, there are going to be a few different kinds of transportation contraptions, as well as giant, well-furnished tents should they stop for an extended period.  They trade goods, such as jewelry, carpets (magical?), livestock, etc.  Basically, the entire place is a desert, and these caravans are the backbone of this world’s “economy”.  Heck, there might not even be any “big cities”.

There are many caravan princes, who are the leaders of their clans.  Each clan has a ‘totem’ of sorts, a desert animal that protects their caravan from raiders, disease, etc.  My hero’s totem is a sand viper.

Thus, he is the Viper Prince, and that, dear friends, is the title of this book.

I absolutely cannot WAIT to write it, this book has been BUGGING me for about three years now.  One of those I’ve threatened forever but my loyal fans have yeah yeah yeah’d me all this time.  LOL  (It’s right up there with that futuristic space pirate I’ve promised as well as that high-seas PIRATE pirate that never showed, either.    Maybe they’re sipping coffee together on a giant galleon in orbit.  Hmm…)

ANYWAY, I’m so excited that I couldn’t help but let y’all know what my next project is.  This week has been so busy I haven’t been able to write a word, but that’s okay, I’m doing research, finding some great inspirational pics, as well as trying out some music to inspire me as well.

I have no idea where I’ll send this one, perhaps Samhain Publishing.  But I’m not worried about that right now.  I just want to get it written.  THE VIPER PRINCE, Becka’s next Big Project.  I’ll let you know when I’ve broken ground on it. 

~~Becka

Yup, at 29,119 words, RIDE THE LIGHTNING is finished.  Not only is it finished, but the blurb is written, the synopsis is done, and I submitted it to Carina Press!  If you haven’t heard of them, they are the eBook arm of Harlequin Enterprises.   However, they’re their own publishing house.  So, you won’t be able to find eBooks there from Silhouette Desire, let’s say.  They’ve got their own thing going on.

Anyway, I decided to give them a try.  They’re brand new, opening spring of ‘10, and I thought well, maybe now’s the time to get in good with them and expand my audience, not to mention my resume.   Who knows how many westerns they do or do not have, right?  RIGHT?  Heh.

Okay, okay, so you’ve pulled my arm, here’s the blurb for RtL:

Rumors of a ghost cowboy didn’t stop Jillian Brady from buying a rundown ranch in Cold Creek, Texas.  When a mysterious horseman appears in a flash of lightning, she thinks it’s the locals playing a prank.  But once she confronts him, she soon finds out the chilling truth.

Unless Jillian can intercede and save Mitch’s life, he’ll be doomed to ride the lightning forever…

~*~*~

Sucky thing is…after I submitted this book, I realized the formatting was a tad janky.  I don’t know what happened.  I wrote the book in Mac Pages, then had to convert it to a .doc so I could open MS Word for the Mac and convert it into a .rtf file.  If I convert a file from Pages directly to a .rtf, the formatting is WAY off.  I didn’t write the book in Word, because I didn’t have Word for the Mac until about a week ago.  So, I had to do the round-a-bout convert then convert again wanky wankness.

Fortunately, the “janky” formatting isn’t as horrible as it could have been.  The final sentence on each of the 15 chapters is centered on the page.

Seriously?  What a random problem, eh?  Only thing I could think of is when I do my page breaks, I do it on the same line as the last sentence.  Therefore, I’ll be going down to the next blank line for the page break to the next chapter in future books.

Let’s just hope the Powers That Be at Carina Press will judge the story by the story and not by my ghetto way of getting the dang file into .rtf.  (Seriously, what’s with the .rtf, ppl?  Doesn’t ANY ONE ELSE ON THE PLANET have a Mac?  I can’t be the only person who has these ginormo problems getting Mac Pages to read .rtf.  My edits on HEAVEN SENT were more like SENT FROM HELL.  lol  **Good news, tho, Leanne, I’ve got MS Word for the Mac now!!!**)

Let’s hope that solves my problems…

Okay, in other news….

Champagne Books has offered me a contract for MARK OF THE B*E*A*S*T*!!!    Once the ink has dried on that contract, it shall be slated for a SEPTEMBER 2010 release.  WOOOHOOO!  I’m so excited for it, you don’t even know!  I know, it’s 10 months, folks, but who knows, by then I should have a LOT more good news to share (I’m hoping) followed by a bunch of other release dates **crossing fingers**

I’ve got…FIVE books out for submission right now.

Question is, what should I write next?  Time for that magical desert sheikh? Hmm…

Any suggestions on some awesome Middle-Eastern flavored music?

~~Becka

Okay, folks, if you don’t already know, you’re probably not a reader of this blog from way back.  I’m a geek.  I’m a big-time geek.  I’m a Browncoat, I frakkin’ hate toasters, Scorpy and Harvey–I hate to love ‘em, Mr. Spock is my wingman, my best friend is a Wookiee and I’m homeless since my home planet of Gallifrey was destroyed somewhere in the Pegasus galaxy.

My heroes are Wil Wheaton, Bruce Campbell, and Neil Patrick Harris.

I’ve played D&D for 15 years, I love board games, and I’ve sat around with friends and had lengthy end-of-the-world discussions involving certain scenarios and what we would do should the zombies finally attack.

After all this, it shouldn’t be too far of a stretch for you to realize that one of my two favorite sitcoms is…you guessed it…Big Bang Theory.

If you’re not familiar, it is a show about 4 best friends, each a genius, each a geek, and their social ineptitude when it comes to dealing with people.  You have Raj, the man from India who cannot even talk to women unless he’s drunk, Wolowitz, who likes to think he’s a ladies’ man (when he’s anything but), Leonard, who’s had a crush on Penny in 4B since the start of the show (who, of course, is a total hottie), and you have Sheldon, a man who is so far removed from society that he’s almost childlike in the way he deals with the world.

In all the seasons of BBT, we’ve never seen Sheldon “fall in love”.  The seasons have revolved around Leonard, some shows involving Wolowitz, some with Raj, and yes, some with Sheldon, but as Wolowitz has finally found the one girl who can put up with him, I’m thinking perhaps Sheldon should have some time to shine.

You see, Sheldon is my favorite character on the show, and is arguably why the show is so wildly popular (aside from the geeky references you either get or you don’t).  People tune in to see what he would do next.  He seems perfectly happy in his own little world, and needs to have things “just so” in order for his world to flourish.  NO ONE can dare sit in HIS SPOT on the couch.  Every day of the week is a certain take-out meal from different restaurants.  He’s got some OCD going on in there, but he’s such a lovable character, like a young child you just want to take under your wing and protect from reality (even though he’s a grown man).

My point?  Well, I would love for the show to grow a bit.  And by grow a bit, I mean take the focus off Leonard and Penny, Wolowitz and Raj and let Sheldon have a love interest.

True, they would have to tread lightly.  As I’ve stated before, Sheldon is somewhat a fragile snowflake, but if done right, I think they can pull it off.  Obviously, she could not be a genius.  I don’t believe Sheldon could be with a woman “on his level”, as by his very nature, he has a certain arrogance that yes, he really does know what he’s talking about.  I don’t think they should give Sheldon a hottie, as Leonard is the one who went this route.  I don’t even believe they should give him a woman who is a little socially inept herself, like the girl they gave Wolowitz.

No, what Sheldon needs is a GEEK.  And here’s how I’d do it.

The guys hang out regularly at the comic shop.  This is where he should meet her.  And I think she should work there.  The guy who owns the shop could hire a new girl, and she could help Sheldon find some rare and obscure comic.  They could even have a comic-off, meaning “quizzing” each other on their knowledge of comics.

Eventually, she becomes friends with the group, and the guys know Sheldon obviously likes her.  Imagine the comedy gold right there.  The awkwardness of his clumsy courtship, the way she’s willing to put up with him and his quirky-ness.  Knowing Sheldon, he might try to give up or think he’s not worthy, or just plain not know what to DO.  And then you have Wolowitz giving him pointers on how to score with the ladies (OMG, I’m laughing even now), Penny telling him what women want from a man (and Sheldon failing miserably at being a white knight), Leonard telling him to just go for it if he really likes her, and Raj, well…maybe her geekery would be cause enough alone for him to like her, so they can have another player on Halo night (assuming Wolowitz bails due to his new lady love).

I just love Sheldon.  I think he’s quirky, but he’s so dang adorable.  Since I am also a fan of romance (orly?), I often think about what kind of woman would put up with him.  He’s obviously not “dead”, since he managed to get to second base with Penny (not romantically, but she was injured and needed help getting dressed from a fall in the shower) so c’mon, Bill Prady and the writers of the show.  Give us a Sheldon love-interest!  He gets the shaft so often that I feel the poor guy needs a happy ending of sorts, in more ways than one.  And just imagining THAT alone makes me giggle.

Will we ever see Sheldon find a woman, other than Penny, who will sing him Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty?  Please, please, pretty please?!?

Sincerely,

~~Becka

On My Books:

1.) I’m thankful for being an author.

2.) I’m thankful I’m published.

3.) I’m thankful for my fans.

4.) I’m thankful I’ve found what brings me joy.

5.) I’m thankful that after a lifetime of wishing and dreaming, I’ve achieved my childhood goal.

6.) I’m thankful for all my author friends and all the people I know in the industry.

On My Family

1.) I’m thankful for my husband.

2.) I’m thankful for the five children he’s given me.

3.) I’m thankful we’ve found a way to raise them that makes us “lucky” five times over.

4.) I’m thankful I’m able to stay home with my children.

5.) I’m thankful I can homeschool them.

6.) I’m thankful for our house and the cars we own.

7.) I’m thankful for our two cats.  Okay, okay, and the dog too.

8.) I’m thankful for my extended family, my sister and brother-in-law, parents, mom-in-law, & my nephews.

On My Friends

1.) I’m thankful for my girlfriends, who are, admittedly, the wives and fiancees of my hubby’s good friends.

2.) I’m thankful for Friday night game night.

3.) I’m thankful for D&D.

4.) I’m thankful they sometimes watch my angel kids so Jim and I can have date night.

5.) I’m thankful some of them have read my books.

6.) I’m thankful they ask me for child-rearing advice.

This Thanksgiving, think about what you’re thankful for.  What have you been given that makes you a better person?  That makes you happy?  That fills your heart with joy and purpose?

And Who, exactly, are we giving thanks to?  For me, I can only think of One.

Thank You.  For everything.

Love,

~~Becka

Isn’t it gorgeous?  I can’t wait for this one!  Just finished second round edits with my editor at Cobblestone.  This one will get a release date once it’s signed/sealed/delivered to the Powers That Be.  OBVIOUSLY it’s going to be in December. 

It’s a historical western set during Christmas, 1881.

I can’t wait for you guys to read it!  I already have a page up for this one.  If you want to read HEAVEN SENT’s blurb, check out it’s own page.

http://www.rebeccagoings.com/westerns/heaven-sent/

Yeehaw!  Many thanks to Tuesday Dube for nailing my hero and heroine. 

~~Becka

If you’d like to read the blurb for MARK OF THE B*E*A*S*T*, head on over to my BEAST blog and catch up with some old friends. 

Yes, I’m opening this blog back up again.  I’ll try to post something new and exciting every now and again to keep y’all interested in this one.  But I personally believe you will NOT be disappointed in Mac & Robyn’s story.  If you are, then you’re NOT A FAN!!!  LOL

http://beastseries.blogspot.com/

Enjoy my BEASTie Blog.  Again! 

~~Becka