You’re not going to see it here!  At least not for awhile.  But if you would like to see the cover for Book II in my Desert Princes of Jikkar series, hop on over to my Desert Princes blog and have a gander at THE SCARAB PRINCE!

http://desertprinces.blogspot.com/2010/08/unveiling-scarabs-cover.html

~~Becka

First off, you can win a signed copy of the third book in my BEAST series, NATURE OF THE B*E*A*S*T*.  Details are on my BEAST blog!  Not too much longer before Book IV hits the virtual shelves, just 12 more days until BEAST ROARS BACK!!

Secondly, if you’d like to win an eBook copy of THE VIPER PRINCE, simply mention it on your blog and send me the link to it, either here or via email (rebeccagoings@gmail.com) and you’ll be entered to win!  This contest ends FRIDAY so get on it!!

Good luck to you!

~~Becka

Today, I decided to interview one of my naughtier author sisters at Carnal Passions, Lauren Gallagher, who also writes as L.A. Witt, in celebration of my new release of THE VIPER PRINCE.  For those not in the know, VIPER is now available on All Romance eBooks, Omnilit, Bookstrand, and Amazon, as well as my publisher’s bookstore.  Woohoo!!  \O/

Now, on to the interview action!

1.)  Have you ever had a rabid fan fall so in love with your hero that when you answer them “in character”, they “role-played” with you until it got so creepy you had to take a bajillion hot showers to wash away the heebeejeebees?  (This happened to me once, that’s why I’m asking you. lol)

I…um…no. I’ve gotten some interesting e-mails, but that’s never happened to me.

Oh, all kinds of stuff. The characters from The Next Move inherited my penchant for going to the gun range and batting cages to blow off steam. Nick from Cover Me and Scott from Light Switch both have my sense of humor. One character gets hurt in a horse trailer, and that came from a real life experience (not a very pleasant one, obviously). A lot of my books take place in Seattle, which is my hometown, and eventually I’ll write something set here on Okinawa. So, yeah, stuff from my every day life works its way in.

Ironically, a lot of my characters seem to have very particular tastes in alcohol. Scott from Light Switch has a thing for cabernet sauvignon, and Dani from World Enough and Time loves Mac and Jack’s beer. Liam from The Best Man loves Bacardi while Jon prefers Jack Daniels; Nick from Cover Me likes Crown Royal (as long as it’s ice cold) while Andrew likes Maker’s Mark.

As for me? I don’t drink.

Oooh yes. I wrote one in which they played with chocolate syrup, but I’ve written quite a few involving ice, particularly in my BDSM series. Nothing quite like combining ice with blindfolds and/or handcuffs. Actually, there’s an ice scene in Cover Me, my upcoming M/M erotic thriller, but you’ll just have to wait and see what they do.

I actually can’t say, because it could have…repercussions. Interpret that how you will.

No. I actually used to edit porn videos for a living, and a lot of people think that paved the way for me becoming an erotica writer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Porn is so…mechanical. Showing off for the camera, playing it up for the benefit of a voyeur rather than one’s own partner, etc. That’s not to say sex has to be super emotional in every scene, but if it’s as mechanical and fake as it often is onscreen? Boo.

Incidentally, I have been writing erotica full-time for about two years. 8-16 hours a day, 5 days a week. I spent a year working in porn, usually only about 20 hours a week. It took two days for me to become completely desensitized to the videos, and it was a few years after I quit the company before it affected me in the slightest. Erotica still…affects me. Probably more now than it used to. Quoth Scarlett Parrish (http://scarlettparrish.blogspot.com/) about this phenomenon: “Porn = Genitals. Erotica = Brain.”

See above about porn being about the genitals and erotica being about the brain. That said, obviously it can and does have similar effects as porn; let’s face it, it’s a turn-on! I do think erotic romance is seen as a less “shameful” form of stimulation than pornography. Because it’s tied into a love story, it’s “okay”. It’s not sex for the sake of sex. And there’s nothing wrong with sex and love being intertwined in a book, nothing wrong with it at all.

However, I also think there’s nothing wrong with separating the two. That’s one of the reasons I wrote Between Brothers. It’s pretty much nonstop sex (I believe it has 26 sex scenes, but I don’t recall exactly), but there’s no romance. Just fun, no-strings-attached, sex because she damn well felt like it. There’s no shame in that for the character, and there should be no shame in it for the reader either.

I have a Sony Touch, and I love it. I totally whore the Touch out to anyone who will listen, and a few of my friends have bought them. I do still like print books, but since I don’t have access to places like Borders or Barnes & Noble anymore due to geography, ebooks are soooooo much more convenient sometimes. The only bookstores on this island are the ones on base, and the selection sucks. Getting stuff shipped here can get really expensive and often takes forever. Ebooks, FTW.

I like the hero who knows what he wants, and isn’t a complete dick about getting it. I’ve ranted about this subject on my blog a few times, particularly as it relates to BDSM erotic romances. I don’t mind if a guy is a bit cocky and full of himself, but nothing turns me off more than an entitled, arrogant asshat. He can have his pride, he can be stubborn, but I do like a nice guy….and I love a Dom. Those aren’t mutually exclusive things.

At the moment, the third draft of With the Band. I normally don’t do this many drafts, but I’ve had trouble getting this particular book right. Which could have something to do with the love interest – one Bastian Koehler – not informing me until now that he’s actually bisexual and wants a male lover, not a female. Facepalm. Could’ve told me that when I wrote the first two drafts, you butthead.

I’m also finishing up edits for Reconstructing Meredith, which is the very, very, very dark sequel to my BDSM novel, Light Switch. Light Switch is currently on submission, and the sequel will be ready to go soon too.

Oh, there are several, but my number one would be a tie between Jared and Shannon Leto. Hands down. With James Purefoy as a close second. I actually met the Leto brothers in May, and somehow managed to form coherent sentences without making a complete idiot of myself.

As for a list, pfft. I wouldn’t leave him, but we do have “It’s not cheating…” lists…

~*~*~

Thank you, Lauren, for taking the time to chat with us.  Good luck with your writing!

To find out more about Lauren, here’s what you need to know:

M/M Pseudonym: L. A. Witt (The Best Man, Rules of Engagement, The Distance Between Us)

M/F Pseudonym: Lauren Gallagher (Between Brothers, The Next Move)

Upcoming Release: Cover Me by L. A. Witt, M/M Erotic Thriller due out Sept 8 from Carnal Passions

Website: www.loriawitt.com

Email: thethinker42@gmail.com

The princes rule the desert–

their women rule their hearts.

~*~

I invite you to whisk away to Jikkar — to sweeping desert vistas, sumptuous exotic foods, and hot, sexy men.

Come fall in love with a prince.

~*~

She will soon learn the Viper is to be obeyed…

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theviperprince-449175-143.html

http://www.carnalpassions.com/store/product.php?id_product=53

~~Becka

As long as I think I need to, I’m going to keep you guys updated with my progress on my wrist.  I have a lot of readers who love how thorough I am on this subject, so I want to document not only my troubles, but also what it’s like post-op from the wrist arthroscopy.

For those who aren’t in the know, four weeks ago, I underwent a wrist arthroscopy for a torn TFCC ligament in my left wrist.  You can find all my posts on this blog under the “TFCC Tear Treatment” tag.

Okay, now for the update.  Today is the fourth week post-op.  Here is a pic of my scars:

It’s a huge pic, I know, but I want to show you what they look like instead of just some blurry pic from afar.

Okay.  So my scars are still a *little* tender.  And right underneath them are two bumps.  I suspect it’s scar tissue.  When I had my stitches, it looked to me as if the surgeon folded my skin under and stitched it.  But of course, I’m not a surgeon, so I’m not sure what the heck he did.  There are definite bumps, however.  Moreso on the scar closest to my thumb.

Things are still tight in there.  I don’t have my full range of motion back.  Pronation and supination are slightly ouchy.  Bending up and down is the most painful now, actually.  Oh, and side to side hurts more when my hand bends away from my body.  But NOW, it hurts where my radius and scaphoid (sp?) meet in my wrist, whereas before my surgery, it was above my ulna, between my DRUJ joint.

If I press on my hand to make it bend back or bend forward, the pain is on my radius now.  It’s not as “bad” as the TFCC was.  In fact, I’ve only worn my brace one time since my surgery.  And that was because I’d been running around and doing too much.  I know the limits of my wrist now, so I try to baby it when I can.

Certain movements are strange and clicky, and sometimes really hurt if I twist the bones wrong.  Reaching back for the seatbelt, for instance.  Scooting a chair forward while sitting in it.  Washing your hands and flinging water droplets in the sink.  Folding towels or long pants.

Now, I have no idea if this is due to the fact the doc shaved away some of my TFCC ligament and now my wrist is just a little more unstable as a result, or if it’s part of a bigger problem my doc never saw.  Like I said, my pain has lessened considerably.  I have tolerable tenderness throughout the day.  I don’t even take Tylenol or Ibuprofen unless I’m really hurting, which isn’t that often.  So if it’s a “bigger problem”, you’d think there’d be more pain, right?

I have an appointment with my doc in September for my 6 week post-op check up (which is actually more like 7 1/2 weeks because I had to wait 10 days to see him to get my stitches out, and it was 6 weeks AFTER those 10 days…)

He told me to cancel the appointment if I was pain free, but I’m going to go.  I need to know if this pain while flexing is a result of the surgery, something else, or just… the beginning of arthritis.  Joy of joys.  Gah, what a CF, eh?

To all of you who have wrist issues, I feel your pain, I do.   After reading other TFCC websites, I think there’s nothing they can do about the clicking.  Once the ligament is unstable, I think you’re just… SOL.  Maybe *I’M* just SOL.

Sigh.

Well, at least I can still write, right?!?  lol

~~Becka

To everyone who thinks eBooks have lackluster covers –

IN YOUR FACE!!!

We eAuthors have come a long way from those AWFUL poser covers of yesteryear, eh? 

Wooohooo!!!!

~~Becka

I crowed about my recent sale on Twitter and Facebook, but didn’t bother with my own blog.  Oopsy!  Carnal Passions recently bought Book II of my Desert Princes of Jikkar series, THE SCARAB PRINCE!  It will be releasing sometime in October of this year!

And speaking of my desert princes, THE VIPER PRINCE got it’s release date: August 18th.  Now, I haven’t gotten my cover yet, but I will definitely shout from the rafters when I get it. 

I just finished reading through MARK OF THE B*E*A*S*T*’s Advance Reader Copy, or ARC for short.  It’s my final FINAL comb-thru, to find little mistakes that might have been passed over during the editing and line edits.  I must say, I’d forgotten what a great book it is.  (If I do say so myself.  lol)  Less than a month now, folks, this one releases September 6th from Champagne Books!!

And if you haven’t seen it, hop on over and have a gander at Champagne Books‘ new website!  So much more clean and streamlined.  I LOVE it! 

I don’t think I mentioned it on my blog here either, but my book RENEGADE, my latest western, had gotten a “Revise and Resubmit” request from my editor at Samhain Publishing.  Since what she wanted me to revise was nothing to do with the plot (WHEW!), I got the revisions done fairly quickly and it is now back in her hands for a second pass.  Basically, I had an info dump at the beginning of the book she wanted me to cut and just start the book with the action, and to also grit it up some to give it a more “western” feel.  It was “too clean” and some of the things they said and some of the prose was too modern to be believable.  I peppered up the scenery with a bit more “western”, mentioning more hitching posts, water troughs, sweat stains (eww lol), spittoons, and jargon that better fit the era.

Here’s hoping it was enough for a contract.  Say some lucky chickens for me.  RENEGADE is such a good book and I cannot wait to get it in front of the masses!!

~~Becka

With one month to go before its release, I got the green light from my publisher to unveil the entire first chapter of MARK OF THE B*E*A*S*T* to the masses.  Here you go.  Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.rebeccagoings.com/coming-soon/mark-of-the-beast/

~~Becka