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Hey everybody,
In place of a regular blog today I’m inviting you check out the new trailer for my upcoming release Brought to Life (available March 16, 2009 from Lyrical Press.com).
–Dara England
Okay, okay. I’ll admit it. 
I don’t know what I’m doing! You caught me. I have been teetering on a decision about this piece of fiction for a couple of weeks now. So here’s where we are. I have every intent of working on the novel version of A Sharpest Wife… but I can’t seem to let the serial blog go just yet… So…
When last we met, Ananda mysteriously saved Mari from an attack by Hapod who ranted about war and blood. Mari then accompanied Ananda into the “royal chambers” where we find Clayan suspended against a wall like so much art…
Again, if you’d like to start from the beginning, check this tale out in its entirety at http://www.graysonreyescole.com/ASharpestWife.htm
–
Mari didn’t know how to respond.
“Taking blood allows that.”
Startled, Mari swallowed. “Ah, yes…”
“It allows you to know all that is a person. All that they know. Even things they do not know consciously. You cannot hide secrets from one who takes your blood. And so, I have learned many things.”
Ananda raised her hand, palm out, as if she touched Clayan from afar. The trapped man grunted and tried to twist his head, as if he felt the touch.
“Clayan has taken my blood as well. For the first time, I am grateful for my rearing. I was merely a manifestation of duty. All my life, I have learned the way of a Sharpness Wife and nothing more. For this reason, I know very little. I am lucky for it.
“I chafed against the bridle when I was a little girl, Mari. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that I rebelled even in the smallest way?”
Maybe Mari would not have believed it of the Ananda she’d met before Clayan’s escape. She believed the woman beside her capable of anything.
Ananda continued, “However there are recent secrets about my own nature, A Sharpest Wife’s nature, that Clayan now knows. It is information that may prove to be dangerous should he be allowed to share it, or should someone take his blood.”
Ananda studied Clayan as if he were an object of art.
“Hapod was correct,” she spoke without emotion. “There is a war. An ancient, secret war, that rages within our tribe. A battle of finesse and will and breeding. A battle of the choicest deception. Just now I have learned of this war and what my part must be in it.
“Should I engage, I must never allow Clayan to take my blood again because he will know what I know, learn what I learn. But if he does not take my blood, he will die. None other can sustain him now. Yet, if he dies, I die because I have accepted him as my husband, my sustenance.
“If I do not engage in this war, I may be killed by my own kind, and many more women will die from ignorance. If I do engage in this war, I will be forever vulnerable, forever on guard, forever working to deceive with blood and still, many more women may die.”
“Ananda,” Mari lowered her head and said the namely almost too softly to be heard. “I don’t understand.”
“Think on what I’ve said, dearest Mari,” Ananda replied.
A glint caught Mari’s eye. Ananda had recovered her marriage blade. She was turning it slowly in her hands, though she continued to study her husband.
“What will you do with him?” Mari’s words remained soft, non-threatening.
“He left me to die.”
“But you can’t do the same. Right?” Mari rubbed her temple. “There is a war. You and Clayan are on opposite sides. If you don’t fight, your side may kill you. If you do fight, you cannot allow Clayan to take blood from you, which will cause you both to die.”
“Correct.”
“So, you can’t keep him up there. I mean… can you?”
Ananda tilted her head and Mari looked up to see what may have been the end of a smile.
“No, I cannot keep him there. He has intelligence to gather and a few… other responsibilities to attend. After all, he taught me more than blood this day.”
–
Grayson Reyes-Cole
http://www.graysonreyescole.com
Bright Star
http://www.lyricalpress.com/bright_star.html
Well, I managed to post a coffee cup to my OWN profile while trying to post it to my husband’s profile; according to Facebook my husband and I just got married (by looking at their wording); I think I posted an event correctly (but who knows if I did or not); and in general…
Ugh.
Can you tell I’m NOT a Facebook expert?
(If you feel like laughing at me on my “wall,” you can do it here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1465271894 )
Woke up this morning and it was freaking COLD! Which is fine if you’re from Chicago or Buffalo, but we live south of SARASOTA! There was ICE (not just frost) on our car windows this morning. Brrr!
On the good news front, my second Amira Press shape-shifter short, “Doggy Style,” goes on sale TOMORROW!! Whoo hoo!! It’s a scorching hot read to warm you up. *LOL*
http://www.amirapress.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=73
While this is a stand-alone story, it’s sort of the “sequel” to the one that went on sale last week, “Dog Walk.”
AND…I received a contract yesterday for “Triple Trouble,” a series of shape-shifter novellas for Siren-BookStrand involving the Lyall triplets — Aindreas, Brodey, and Cailean, three hot, hunky brothers looking for their “One,” their mate. (Gotta love triplet Alpha shape-shifters!)
My romantic paranormal thriller “Out of the Darkness” went on sale Monday at Lyrical Press! Whoo hoo!
Lesli. (aka Tymber Dalton)
http://www.leslirichardson.com
http://www.tymberdalton.com
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Today in place of a regular blog I just want to make everyone aware that I’m having a fantastic giveaway, hosted over on the Love Romance Passion blog. Hop on over to http://www.loveromancepassion.com/
All you have to do is drop a comment and leave your email address to be automatically entered to win the prize—a free tote bag stuffed with goodies! You’ll have to scroll about halfway down the page to find the contest but I assure it is still on and will continue until Sunday (the 25th). Hope to see you there!
Dara England
www.daraenglandauthor.com
So, last week there was fun to be had at Rita Vetere’s chat. There were laughs, drinks, and superheroes all over the place. Rita Chatted about her last book and a little about her upcoming release Cambion which I think will be phenomenal. Sean Cummings chatted about his upcoming Lyrical Press release and if you’re into action, he’s your man. And me? Well I chatted about A Sharpest Wife. Yep. I wasn’t hawking any wares just chatting about the story and what happens in it and underlying motivations. It was fun. It was … thought-provoking.
Someone asked how long the story was going to go before I wrapped it up. The answer was that I wanted it to last for a few months… But hey, I’m already about three months in and nowhere near calling it a day. John B. Rosenman, the phenomenal author of Dax Rigby: War Corresponent, asked me a brilliant question about procreation in this world I’ve created that truly got me to think about the plot and where it could go. Then there were more questions about the Sharpest War and where the tale is leading us.
So a poll was born: Does Grayson continue A Sharpest Wife via serial blog indefinitely? Or does she can it and focus on creating a cohesive novel to be enjoyed in a single package? The vote was unanimous. The adoring fans (ahem… fan or two) were willing to forego episodes to see a complete novel about Mari and Hapod, Anya, Ananda and her relationship with her mother and sisters, definitely more about Clayan, and about Rhadya… remember her? She’s a Sharpest Wife, too.
To that end, I do think a novel is in store but what about this serial blog? What do you think? A novel will be created, but does the serial blog end. Do you need a few more episodes to leave you at a nice cozy spot for the next year it takes for me to write the novel?
If you’re reading A Sharpest Wife, here’s your time. Let me know your thoughts. What do you think about the suspension of the blog to make way for a novel? Hell, what do you think about the story at all?
I’d love to hear!
–Grayson
http://www.graysonreyescole.com
Author of Bright Star
http://www.lyricalpress.com/bright_star.html
…from 125 email lists. Yes, down to ONLY 92.
With everything I have to do, I decided I had to cut down. I was on a LOT of embroidery email lists from when I used to do that a lot. But I don’t have time. So I started unsubbing even though I hated to leave some of them.
I’m considering it a first step in keeping my New Year’s resolution to get organized.
And the great news!! I’ve got a scorching hot shape-shifter short coming from Amira Press this Friday, 1/16!
Blurb: Like any self-respecting wolf, all Ivan wanted was a morning run in the woods. Was that too much to ask? He never planned to end up in the arms of Lindsey Martinez. He certainly never intended to go home with her. And falling in love with her…definitely not part of his daily to-do list.
Now that he knows she’s the perfect mate for him, how does he break the news to her? How does he reveal his secret without freaking her out? How does he show her she’s not just leading him around by a leash…but by his heart?
Lesli.
I spend a lot of time in my local Panera Bread. In fact when I have a project I’m working on, I spend a couple hours a day there. I get breakfast and do my writing stuff. (If I could work at home, this would be an unnecessary expense. But consider–could I get an office with friendly greetings, drinks, bathrooms, wi-fi and people to watch as they wander about, for 300 bucks a month? No.)
At the moment I’m just working out the plot of my next novel. It’s ironic, because I’m working out the plot ahead of time so I won’t get stuck at the three-quarters point, which happens if I don’t know what’s going to happen in the story. So I write a synopsis ahead of time. But now I’m three-quarters of the way through the synopsis and guess what? I’m stuck in exactly the same way. But I persevere.
Bread helps. There’s something fundamental about bread. It’s sesame semolina bread at the moment that I’m nomming on, and it’s extremely tasty. Sesame is such a subtle flavor, but it really makes the whole thing wonderful. And it’s warm, and there’s real butter, and outside it is just drenching down snow. Wet, fluffy flakes that are piling up, soaking down in a straight curtain and showing where every finger of every branch of every tree is.
So I’m sitting here stuck on my project and making silly comparisons. Writing is like bread. It’s made in several stages, with love and care, and sometimes it doesn’t quite rise properly and you get an inedible rock, but for the most part it comes out right–different every time, though. And writing’s like snow. Ideas are all around, falling in clusters and clumps, but it takes skill to pick out one snowflake and develop it properly–if you don’t do that, it’s all just a big lump of white.
I think I’d better get back to work, don’t you?
Oh, and I should mention–Part Two of Fear and Desire, a free read, is currently up on my website. If you didn’t get to Part One, hang on tight. I’m revamping the site currently, and soon Part One will be up on the site itself, instead of being backlogged at Deviant. So will all my other previous free reads. Joy!
Kathleen – http://asherose.wordpress.com
Hello Friends!!!
Last week, we left with Mari in a perilous situation with her former love Hapod. Crazed, Hapod ranted about a war and poisoned blood, before he attacked the servant and a blinding light flashed… Read below to find out what happened.
As always, if you’ve missed an episode, you may find it on this blog or on my website at http://www.graysonreyescole.com/ASharpestWife.htm
–
The band around her throat was cool to the touch. Mari could breathe again. Then, she could see again.
She was alone in the elevator. When the doors opened, she found herself staring up at Ananda.
“Get up,” Ananda commanded.
“Thank you, Ananda.” There could be no question that somehow the Sharpest Wife had saved her.
“Stand, Mari.”
Mari did so. She still had to tilt her head up to look at Ananda.
To their escorts, Ananda said, “You four are not needed anymore this evening. You may retire to the floor below. Do not go beyond.” The men had remained silent and still since they arrived at the top of the hotel, despite strange and intense circumstances.
The escorts filed into the elevator and left.
“Hapod said something to you, when he attacked you. What was it?”
Mari swallowed. She knew the band gave Ananda access to her at all times, but she had not yet discovered to what extent.
“He said he couldn’t feed from me but that he refused the poisoned Blood of Sharpness. He said that there was a Sharpness Curse and a war and you were his enemy.”
Ananda gave her a curt nod. “Follow me.”
Mari did as instructed and found herself behind the doors of a hotel suite transformed into a palace. There was silk on the walls, handcrafted rugs on the floors, a fountain even. She was not surprised by the level of luxury, but she was impressed.
Ananda walked briskly toward what Mari assumed was the bedroom. Mari entered behind her and could not halt the startled shriek that escaped her lips.
Clayan was affixed to the wall.
His arms and legs stretched out wide. His feet turned outward, and his hands were open and pressed against the wall. His head was turned to one side and his neck tensed with strain.
When her hands began to shake, Mari stuffed them into her pockets.
Ananda went and sat on the bed against the headboard with her legs stretched out before her. Her legs and feet were modestly covered by her skirts.
“Come, Mari.”
On trembling legs, Mari approached and sat on the bed beside Ananda. It allowed her a direct and unencumbered view of Clayan, held by invisible hands against the wall. He was not bloody, his limbs seemed fit. Clayan appeared relatively unharmed.
“I have learned many things from my husband today.”
–
Reminder, I will be chatting about A Sharpest Wife Jan. 12 at Rita Vetere’s live chat. 8 PM Eastern. http://www.ritavetere.com/chat.html
Grayson Reyes-Cole
http://www.graysonreyescole.comBright Star
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This being the beginning of a New Year, its the traditional time to start talking about goals and resolutions and all those other scary concepts. Nearly everyone I know has made the resolution to los wieght in 2009. Well, that’s the traditional resolution, but it’s getting to be old hat.
And, if you’re a writer it goes without saying you’d probably like to make a sale or land an agent or some equally impressive goal in the new year. But keeping it simple, keeping it real, I sat down and tried to formulate a realistic goal. What’s a “realistic” goal? Well, I like to think it’s one that has definable steps. One you can work at in stages and have some way of measuring the level of your success.
Keeping all this in mind, I’m making my goal simple this year. I’m resolving to complete one full length novel in 2009. I expect to complete more like three or four this year, but I’m keeping it simple. I don’t want to overwhelm myself. I plan on working out a certain word count I need to meet per week or month and sticking with it.
But enough about me. What about you? What are your goals for the new year?
–Dara England
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I’d like to say I’m enjoying the new year. Unfortunately, the new year looks a lot like the old year, particularly since the THREE (yes, count ‘em, –Count voice– one *ah ah* two *ah ah* three *ah ah*) Christmas trees my husband set up in our house this year are STILL UP.
Only half of the outside decoration (that would have made Clark Griswold green with envy) is down.
Please, Goddess, I want my house back!
Some would say, “Well, why don’t you put them away?” Here’s the problem. When Dh (aka “The World’s Best Husband(TM)”) put them up, the deal was HE would do it. He has a system, and it would take me twice as long to decipher the system, find where the heck all the ornament boxes are, etc. and a lot more screaming and swearing than it would be for him to do it. And frankly, I don’t have time, or I’ll have editors screaming at me for my manuscripts that have been contracted.
So up they stay.
Dh has already started “the countdown” again. (Ugh.) He can tell you exactly how many days until Christmas and how many days until I’ll let him start decorating again.
I think he’s trying to wear me down to allow the trees to stay up all year round.
Nope, not happening.
You think I’m kidding? I’m not. I wish I was. (And people wonder WHERE I get my ideas? *LOL*)
Oh, and time to pay the mortgage — my newest Tymber Dalton novel, “Love at First Bight,” is now available on BookStrand’s site and is already a bestseller!! Whoo hoo!!
http://www.bookstrand.com/product-loveatfirstbight-14302-200.html
And my next Lesli Richardson novel, “Out of the Darkness,” is coming on 1/19 from Lyrical Press, Inc.!
http://www.lyricalpress.com/out_of_the_darkness.html
Lesli. (aka Tymber)
