Dear Readers,

I want to thank each and every one of my readers and fans for the support and love throughout these years.  It has been my dream for as long as I can remember to be an author.  I’ve always wanted to write romance, as it is the power of love and commitment between a man and a woman that drew me.

However, I can no longer write these novels with a clear conscience.  As most of you know, I am a Christian.  I have a religious blog and I frequently talk about God on my FaceBook page.  I feel as if God has been pressing on my heart that He has other plans for me than writing romance and/or erotic romance.

Celebrating and writing about the power of love and commitment is one thing.  But doing so for the express purpose of titillating the reader is wrong in my eyes.  Therefore, the releases of SCOUNDREL in June from Carnal Passions and RENEGADE in August from Champagne Books will be my last and final romance novels.

For many of you, this is a huge disappointment.  I know of many people who enjoy my books.  However, I have written roughly 31 books and novellas, a number any author can be proud of in a career.

This decision has nothing to do with getting rejected by any publishing house, and it has nothing to do with being an eBook author.  This is strictly a conviction I have felt since the beginning of the year that this part of my life is over.

To those who aren’t religious, you might believe this is a rash and silly decision.   But in reality, it was a very easy one for me to make.  If you knew me, you’d know I am a Jesus freak.  I only listen to Christian music.  I have words of inspiration on my walls.  I read my Bible daily.  And the recurring themes of lust, fornication, and cussing in my books weighed heavily on me.  It might give my books a realism, however, I believe as a Christian, that I am IN this world, not OF it.  Therefore, I can no longer participate in writing about such things.

Please do not take this post as a judgment on others who choose to write or read romance.  This decision is about ME and what I feel in my own heart.

This was a hard decision, but in the end, it really wasn’t hard at all.  I apologize for any shock or disappointment I may have caused, but I am still around, on FaceBook, Twitter, and email.

Thank you to everyone for joining me on this journey.  I love every one of you, and I hope you will continue to follow me on this adventure we call life!

~~Becka

Today I have a guest blogger, Rie McGaha taking over my blog!  Welcome, Rie!  Tell us about yourself and your book! 

When Calen MacLeod begins having dreams of an ethereal beauty who beckons to him, he passes it off as just having an itch he hasn’t scratched in a long time. But when he leaves on a journey to find her, following the directions she’s given him in his dreams, he begins to doubt his sanity. And when he finds himself high in the Mackinaw Mountains in a secret fortress with unicorns and a pink and white castle, surrounded by women, each one more beautiful than the next, it’s a fantasy no man would want to wake up from. But Arianna is the only woman for Calen.

The women of the Fortress have lived in peace, hidden away from the humans who tried to annihilate them all. But now a 500-year-old demon is out to destroy the women’s matriarch, Ariella, and he’ll stop at nothing to complete his mission. When Calen MacLeod shows up, he throws a wrench into Damon’s plans. Never let it be said Damon isn’t ready for anything, but when he kidnaps Arianna and takes her to modern day San Francisco, is he ready to meet Calen, who will stop at nothing to save his ladylove?

~*~*~

When I was a little girl I loved to read fairy tales where plain, no status girls wind up being pursued by Prince Charming and living happily ever after. I was so taken by these stories that when I was about seven years old, I used to go to a meadow near our house and sing songs trying to get the woodland creatures to come to me like Cinderella did. My friend Donna, who was a few years older, lived down the dirt road a ways, but we lived in the Trinity Alps and her house was the only one near us, and she had fabulous dress up gowns. We pretended to be everything from Miss Kitty to Sleeping Beauty and danced away the night with our own make believe Prince Charmings.

I suppose I never really outgrew the fairy tale and, although my life was far from a fairy tale, it never kept me from fantasizing or wishing for Prince Charming to whisk me away on his white steed. Of course life has a way of bringing fantasy into reality but somewhere in the back of my mind, I continued to look for Prince Charming. Since he didn’t seem to be anywhere on the horizon in real life, I figured I’d bring him from my fantasy life onto paper. I wrote my first fantasy romance in the eighth grade. Pretty mild compared to what I write these days but it whetted my appetite for more.

All through school I wrote and read. Once I discovered my mother’s “True Life” magazines, the raciest thing I’d ever read, I discovered things I had never dreamed of and began incorporating those things into my writing. I wrote my first erotic romance at eighteen. Although it was never published, and I blushed at the idea of the things I wrote about, I learned some very useful lessons. Of course, back then anything to do with bedroom activities were considered porn and porn was coming on strong in the 70′s.

As I continued to expand my horizons with each passing year, I became more interested in the research than the writing as most young people do, and then a wonderful thing happened – I met Prince Charming. Once kids came along, I went back to writing where I began, with fantasies for my children. The fantasy world can be anything, any time, any place. You can fly on your own abilities, travel through time and space, be the hero or heroine, and live happily ever after. Funny, now that I’m a multi-published author who writes fantasy romance from time to time, I look at my life with Prince Charming, and as hard as I try, nothing I write comes close to my real life fantasy.

~*~*~

EXCERPT:

She stood on the other side of the fire and watched him sleep. He was more beautiful in person than he was in her dreams. His face was soft in repose, and she walked slowly to him, careful not to make any sound that might wake him. Kneeling beside him, her fingers itched to touch the smooth skin of his face. How she wanted to trace her fingers over those full, kissable lips, to his high cheekbones, along his jaw, and over his brow. Her lips tingled at the thought of pressing them against his.

He slept without a shirt, and the sight of his bare chest caused her breath to catch in her throat. His skin was tanned from the summer sun, and she wanted to touch the golden hair on his chest. To trace a line down his body to where more hair covered his stomach and then disappeared in a trail below the band of his leather breeches.

Wondering what else lay below that line, she wanted to know if the bottom half of him was as beautiful as the top. She hugged her knees tightly to her chest to give her hands something to do, or else she knew she would touch him. And that was not allowed. She’d broken the rules just by being with him now, but she was not actually making contact with the mortal. Not a
word had been spoken between then, she had not reached for him, nor had she wakened him. Oh, she wanted to wake him—to wake him and do much more—but time had run out, and she needed to get back or she would be missed. She sat for a moment longer and when he stirred, she caught her breath. He settled back into sleep, and, impulsively, she softly kissed his brow. Then she was gone.

~*~*~

Rie McGaha was born and raised in northern California along the shores of Humboldt County where her grandmother often took her to dig for clams and watch the whales migrate. Being raised with the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other, gave Rie a deep love for nature. She has resided in the Kiamichi Mountains of SE Oklahoma where she rescues animals. She is the mother of 12 and Nana of 33 (and counting).

She is an author, editor, and reviewer. She has more than a dozen books to her credit, with the other two books of the My Soul To Keep Trilogy being released later this year. You can join Rie, GA Hauser, & Stormy Glenn at Blog Talk Radio, May 14, 2011 at 7 pm CST, followed by a group chat at Erotic Promo. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eroticpromo/

GA Hauser – http://authorgahauser.com/
Stormy Glenn - http://stormyglenn.com/
Rie McGaha – http://www.riemcgaha.com/

~*~*~

Thank you, Rie, for sharing your book with us!  I LOVE the cover!  I wish you all the best in sales. 

~~Becka

I have a great guest on my blog today, the lovely and talented Jinger Jackson!  She has written some amazing horror romance, and I asked if she’d be willing to do an interview on my blog.  To my delight, she said yes!  Here is a bit of what we talked about, and I hope you pick up a few of her books.  You won’t be disappointed.

Glad to have you here, Jinger! Today, we’re showcasing your book Demon’s Fall.

What inspired you to write this book? I’m a big fan of Supernatural and Charmed. In Charmed I rooted for Cole Turner and his love for Phoebe. I desperately wanted to see him happy. (He WAS so sexy after all) And so I wondered, what would happen if a
demon fell in love, not with a witch but with an ANGEL?

Can you tell us a bit of what this book’s about?

As I said, I’m a huge fan of the whole Cole/Phoebe love story and I was greatly disappointed when it didn’t work out. But I wanted to explore the world of angels and demons. Andras popped into my head and stepped out to tell me that he needed
his story told. So…I did. Tange is a sweet woman who is a bit confused in her role. She’s a normal human woman—so she has always believed but suddenly she learns that she is actually destined to be a guardian angel…well it turns her world upside—especially when the forces of darkness appear, determined to sway or kill her.

Here is the Blurb:
What happens when a demon falls for an angel?

Tangela Teshua just recently buried her parents and has given up her city apartment to move back to the country house they left her. However, their deaths and her move are not the biggest changes coming to Tange’s life. Tange learns she is a guardian angel—or at least she will be when she over comes the challenges Satan will put in front of her.

Andras Belial’s father assigned him the task of destroying the newest being on the lighted path. But another battle looms on the horizon for Andras. His inner demon struggles against the strange formation of feelings, of a conscious growing to life. He falters even more when he meets Tange, the beautiful angel just might be able to save him.

Lucifer, infuriated that not only has Andras turned his back on his heritage but he has joined forces with an angel, sends an assassin demon after both Andras and Tange. Can they keep the demons at bay long enough to find happiness?

So Andras is a demon and Tange is an angel. You show Andras’s attitude changing throughout the book. Was it hard to portray him turning away from his evil nature? Writing it you mean? Not really. I mean I wanted to stay TRUE to the fact he IS a demon. But he eventually had a soul and DID show/feel compassion. He was a repentive demon; something I think is rarely dealt with.

No one likes an evil hero, but Andras is a demon. How did you manage to make him someone a reader
could love while not “wussifying” his evil at the same time?

That was the HARDEST thing to pull off.

Because while I had definite ideas of where he was and what he should be, I had to weigh that against what the editors thought a gentle reader would stand for. It was a VERY, VERY fine line that caused me a GREAT deal of wavering. I did have to eventually remove one scene because it was considered far too graphic for the general reader but otherwise, I felt we stayed pretty true. After all Andras IS a demon, but he’s a demon with a SOUL, one that CAN love and that is pretty redeeming in and of itself.

Can you tell us about any new releases or projects you have coming?

In May I have a release titled Morgan Creek coming from Carnal Passions—it actually releases on May 4th, WOOHOO!!!

http://www.carnalpassions.com/store/product.php?id_product=83

This little book was a ton of fun to write as well and since it takes place in the area I like to call home, it required I spent some time hiking, riding, walking and observing.

Morgan Creek is a book that shows what can happen when man decides to play God

Here’s the Blurb:

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should…

In peaceful Morgan Creek Arkansas four people have been brutally murdered and it’s up to Sheriff Alvarro Schmidt to find the killer that can’t possibly be real.

Agent Sage Lee works for the DOSR, Department of Scientific Research and she’s been dispatched to recapture a secret weapon that isn’t supposed to exist.

Sage and Al work against the clock to find this particular science experiment gone wrong before anyone else dies—but how do you track something that was created for its agility, stealth, intelligence and strength?

How about giving us an excerpt from Demon’s Fall and letting us know where to buy it?

Title: Demon’s Fall
Genre: Erotic Horror
ISBN: 978-1-60735-243-3
Ebook: $3.99
Released: February 16, 2011
Resplendence Publishing: http://tinyurl.com/4djg7k9
ARe: http://tinyurl.com/5uatv8y
OmniLit: http://tinyurl.com/3lkf2t8
Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/5uquqef
Book Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_IKzWdmBDE

Erotic Romance with Strong Sexual Content, Graphic Language, Violence, and Explicit Descriptions of Intimacy.

Andras Baliel stalked the narrow alleyway. The sun had just set, and the late afternoon air was warm and still. Blood roared in his ears. His gut churned. His hands shook. He needed to kill. This waiting around was driving him crazy. Never had he been so bored in all his life. Lucifer had a report of a new angel who would soon be coming into its powers, and Andras was supposed to tempt or terminate the being of light. But until the path to the angel was revealed, he had nothing to do but haunt the human
world.

An old man dressed in shabby, ill-fitting clothes weaved down the dirty alley, a little dog scurrying around his feet. The human was a worthless waste. It didn’t deserve to live. Andras darted over, grabbed the man by the collar and squeezed his throat. The man’s face reddened, and he squirmed with the need to breathe.

The fear filling the man’s heart was a heady rush. Humans had alcohol and drugs. Andras and his kind had terror and suffering. He savored the pain building in the man’s heart and body. “Worthless human,” Andras snarled as his fingers tightened.

At his feet, a mass of dirty fur alternately barked, growled and bit at Andras’ ankles. Andras raised his free hand and the dog lifted from the ground, hovering in midair like a furry balloon. He closed his hand into a fist and the dog’s shrill barking became frightened whimpers. With the mongrel effectively silenced, Andras turned his attention back to the man. Tears flowed down the man’s cheeks, and Andras read the plea for compassion in his eyes.

Mercy wasn’t something he dealt with. Andras grinned and released his grip slightly, allowing the man the ability to speak. “Beg me,” he ordered.

“Please,” the man began.

“Please what?” Andras savored the power he held over the pitiful human’s life. Soon the pleading would sing in his ears.

“Please…don’t hurt my dog.”

The man’s raspy reply caught him off guard. Surely he had misheard. The human was begging for mercy—for the dog? His grip relaxed more. ”What did you say?”

“Please…mister…don’t hurt my dog.”

A strange feeling flickered inside him. It was…what? Andras shook it off. He should split the beast wide open before the man’s eyes. He let the man drop to the ground and gripped the floating dog in both hands. Andras gradually tightened his hold on the squirming, whimpering creature, savoring the tears and fear radiating from the human waste lying at his feet. The man cried and pleaded once more, not for his own life, but for that of the worthless cur. The strange sensation that had previously flickered over Andras returned. Before he could think, his hold slipped, and the dog dropped to the ground.

The man reached out, picked up the mongrel, and held him close. He stared up into Andras’ eyes, but he didn’t move, didn’t run.

“Get the hell away from me,” Andras roared.

The dirty human didn’t wait to be told twice. He scrambled over the broken concrete and ran from the alley, the dog still cuddled in his arms.

Andras rubbed his hands together. Why hadn’t he killed them? What the f**k was wrong with him? A snarl surged up from deep in his chest and echoed off the jagged brick walls of the lane.

~*~*~

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today, Jinger!  If you’d like to find out more about her books, please visit:

http://www.freewebs.com/jingersnews/

~~Becka