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