Friday, April 29, 2011

New Release: TALSON'S TEST

TALSON'S TEST is now available from Ellora's Cave! I'm so excited to see it in its brand new form. I totally rewrote the whole story, so it's fresh, new,and very, very hot. Enjoy.

BLURB: Zaret Talson ‘Or Fal—Z—knows what he wants, and it isn’t a mate. But when he’s besieged by dreams of a sexy woman scorching the skies when she’s not entwined with him and his brother, he fears the dreams are a sign of his future.

His brother looks forward to the threesome—all the fun without the commitment. Z wants to run the other way, because he’ll be tied to her if she proves to be his. He’s foreseen it.

Adri ‘San Fal may look human, but like Z, she’s Otra, an alien species not altogether welcome on Earth. Part of a particular clan of Otra who can handle fire, she’s blonde, unlike the majority of her kind. Hiding in plain sight is easy—until her past finds her. Desperate to escape, she runs into the one man destined to be her doom, or her salvation.

To read more, click here.


Thursday, April 28, 2011

Another New Cover: TALSON'S TEST

TALSON'S TEST comes out on Friday. And yeah, her arm is on fire. It's a hot book. :)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

New Cover: RETROCOG

I'm sharing a larger picture of my cover, by the esteemed artist Anne Cain, for RETROCOG, my next PowerUp! erotic romance coming to Loose Id May 3rd. Check it out!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

New Releases and Giveaways: Sharing the LOVE

There's so much going on this week I don't know where to begin. Journeyman's Ride released yesterday from Carina Press. Want to dip your toe into the waters of steampunk? Journeyman's Ride is your ticket. It's erotic, western, fantasy, steampunk, and romance all rolled into one hot little novella. Fun reading complete with Norse gods. I know, what's not to love, right?

Next on the agenda: new cover gladness! Thanks to the wonderful Anne Cain, RetroCog has a terrific cover! Psychics and power plays and murder, oh my! The book releases from Loose Id May 3rd, which is JUST NEXT WEEK. Geesh, I need to catch a breath. I'm really excited for it to come out. The novel completely stands on its own, but it also serves up a few recurring characters from the PowerUp! series. (Ahem, remember Jack Keiser from the Dawn Endeavor series? He's alive and kicking. And grumpy.)

And not to be forgotten, Talson's Test, a rough and ready futuristic featuring Zaret, the oldest Talson brother, releases from Ellora's Cave this Friday, April 29th. I'd share a cover, but I'm still waiting on tenterhooks. I get so excited about covers. Almost better than finishing the book itself.
*Oh, and if you'd like a shot at winning a free copy of Talson's Test, click on over to the Full Moon Bites blog, where I've been interviewed. Post a comment to be entered to win. That's it.

And MORE contest news. At Here Be Magic all this week, myself and my fellow steampunk author bloggers are running a contest. Comment on any of the blogs this week to be entered to win a rose ring and a few other doo-dads. Click here for details. This is a picture of the prize pack. Nice, eh? The authors involved in the contest are Christine Bell (The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale), Cindy Spencer Pape (Photographs and Phantoms) and me (Journeyman's Ride). Of note: Crista McHugh's story, The Alchemy of Desire, is also available from Carina press during steampunk week.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Today's the Day for Journeyman's Ride


Today marks my debut from Carina Press with my first-ever steampunk romance. Journeyman's Ride is an erotic romance that's part western, part fantasy, and all steampunk. Norse gods, carnivorous beasts, a royal kidnapping, and a daring rescue. It all blends together to create one erotic adventure.

It's different than anything I've done, and it was a lot of fun to write. A novella that challenges conventions, is light on angst and heavy on danger, sex, and secrets.

So if you're in the mood for something different, check out Journeyman's Ride. Want to read more? Click here...

Oh, and I'm blogging all over the place this week. You can find me at The Age of Steam, Carina, Harlequin, Here Be Magic, and Full Moon Bites.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Today I'm at Hitting the Hot Spot

Swing on by Hitting the Hot Spot, where I'm blogging today about turning the negative into something positive. And happy Friday!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Talson's Test: Coming Soon!

I just found out Talson's Test is coming out April 29th, much sooner than I'd anticipated. Hooray! I totally rewrote this book from scratch, and I love the way it turned out. There are four Talson brothers. Roarke met his match in Talson's Wait. And now Zaret--Z--has found a fiery woman all his own in Talson's Test.

On April 29th, Talson's Test releases from Ellora's Cave. Here's a short blurb and excerpt...


Zaret Talson ‘Or Fal—Z—knows what he wants, and it isn’t a mate. But when he’s besieged by dreams of a sexy woman scorching the skies when she’s not entwined with him and his brother, he fears the dreams are a sign of his future.

His brother looks forward to the threesome—all the fun without the commitment. Z wants to run the other way, because he’ll be tied to her if she proves to be his. He’s foreseen it.

Adri ‘San Fal may look human, but like Z, she’s Otra, an alien species not altogether welcome on Earth. Part of a particular clan of Otra who can handle fire, she’s blonde, unlike the majority of her kind. Hiding in plain sight is easy—until her past finds her. Desperate to escape, she runs into the one man destined to be her doom, or her salvation.


To read an excerpt, click here.

Monday, April 18, 2011

That's Not Possible...Is It?

Over the years, I've shared a few facts and figures about my writing income. (See here and here.) I've mentioned how often I write, and how many books I try to get published a year. I truly believe that in order to make a living writing for smaller presses, one has to have a vast, accessible backlist, have something readers want, and be consistent.

I also know not everyone writes as fast as I do, and some write faster. Many authors are happy to have one novel-length book out a year. And in the NY print market, that's probably very realistic.

What makes electronic publishing so inviting is that novels aren't the only cup of tea out there. Novellas are hugely popular, as are short stories and mid-length (category length books).

So for someone like me, who can write 10K words on a good day, a novella won't take nearly as long to write. Realistically, I do about 5K words a day. As a novella generally consists of anywhere from 25K-35K words, I'm looking at week to write the rough draft. I'll let the book sit a week or two, then go back to it and edit. I don't do full-on rewrites, because as I write, I edit as well.

I don't have another day job. All of my children are now in school, allowing me the freedom to work from home all day long. (Or at least until the little monsters get out of school for the day.) Writing is now what I do for a living, and I'm earning enough that I can work at writing "full time".

The attitudes about writing so many books in a short period vary. Some people are impressed. Some think anyone who writes so much in such a short time must put out nothing but crap. And others shake their heads and continue to believe ebooks aren't "real" books. Hey, to each his/her own, even as prejudiced against technology as he or she may be. I'm smiling all the way to the bank. :)

I don't get burnout because I have so many ideas, I don't have the time to write them all. Once one project is done, it's on to the next. And switching genres helps. Sometimes a contemporary romance is a nice breather from so much futuristic or paranormal fiction. Sure, I get lazy, and sometimes I fall off the wagon and take a few days to recharge. But my need to tell stories remains.

My writing tempo varies, but I'm averaging about nine to ten books a year. Mind you, these are released by different publishers and are of differing lengths. I'm not sure how many I write in any given year, because what's written today often comes out at least 6 months later after massive edits. But take this year for example. It's April 2011. Thus far, I've:
  • Completed a 90000 word contemporary story and then done massive revisions on said work (And this was crazy. I've never written so much so fast. The story flowed, and it only took 2 weeks for the rough draft. I was possessed, is all I can think.)
  • Finished edits for several books submitted last year, to include Wolf Wanted, The Lost Locket, Journeman's Ride, and Storming His Heart (those I'm almost done)
  • Written RetroCog, due out next month from Loose Id. The book is over 50K words long
  • Have revised Talson's Wait (from a 6K word story to an 18K word story) and Talson's Test (which I completely rewrote from scratch), also a novella at 26K words
  • Finished the first two chapters of Grady's story--a Cougar Falls tale
  • Wrote and submitted Closing the Deal, a follow up to Enjoying the Show (Samhain)
That's a lot of work and it's not even May yet. But hold on. Still on my agenda for 2011:
  • Talson's Net and Talson's Match revisions. Both will be novellas, and both already have a good base as they were written not too long ago. Not too much work to do on these.
  • Whispered Words, due June 1st to Loose Id. Mid-novel
  • Grayson's Gamble, another Circ story, probably a novella, to Loose Id later in the year
  • A Voider story for Ellora's Cave starring Tommy Chen--full novel
  • Hopefully Grady's story, which I keep starting and not finishing due to other writing priorities and edits that keep cropping up.
None of these titles, except for the Talson books and Whispered Words, are sure things. But I know where I'm going. If, by the grace of God, I get them all done before the year ends, I can start on my projects for 2012, of which I already have at least 12-13 ideas. My brain is so busy coming up with new ideas that the pending folder on my computer grows, even as I strive to whittle it down.

For what it's worth, I have no problem writing and being happy about putting out more than two books a year. The way I figure it, Marie Harte is FAR from a household name. If a person doesn't like my stuff, she/he is free not to read my work again. Yet for every person that doesn't like a story I wrote, another might. Then that person can check out my backlist, which continues to grow...

So yes, it is quite possible to write several books a year that aren't crap and be happy. Yes. Yes it is.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

JULIAN'S JEOPARDY is Here!

Julian's Jeopardy is now available in print. I just received my copies on Friday, and man, are they pretty! Check it out...

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Smelling the Roses...and other Flowers

What a pretty, pretty flower. And how nice I can take the time--now--to see it. sigh

It's been a busy two weeks. The first full week of April I had my kids home for spring break and got very little work done. This past week my father and stepmother came to visit, and I got NOTHING done. Don't get me wrong, I had a terrific time showing them around. We had temperatures in the 70s and 80s all week, and they left yesterday to go back to the 50s in Philly. But now I'm catching up on work.

I've done one round of edits and am working on another. I have to review a project to send back. And I finally finished most of my blogs in preparation for a massive PR campaign promoting Journeyman's Ride, part of Carina's steampunk week starting April 25th. Whew. I'm tired just typing all that.

In the process of all this crap going on, the computer on which my website is housed died. Crashed, hard. So my site went down and I had to scramble to put it back. In the process, I had to use a very old copy of my site, and while updating my releases, something went wonky. Now a few of my links are iffy, but I didn't have the time or energy to fix things. So once I get everything up and running with edits and stories, I'll go back to fixing my site. Until then, sorry for the long absence. :)

Monday, April 11, 2011

My Gateway to Monday

Yes, that's me, standing at the gates of a hellish Monday--now afternoon. I've spent the morning finishing cleaning in preparation for my father and step-mom's visit this week. It's been a chaotic time lately. All last week I spent with my kids home, while I had two edits to work on. I also have another project needing attention, and I need to start writing my next book.

Now add to all this mess the fact that the computer that houses my website files crashed. HARD. It won't work. It's old, and I was smart enough to have backed up my files. Problem is, the backup is from last summer. While trying to fix the problem by using my laptop, I accidentally screwed up the rest of the site. So instead of doing edits, I'm redoing a website that should have been fine.

ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Perfect Creation--FREE Today Only

Reminder! If you've never read any of my Creation series from Total E-Bound, today is your lucky day. All day during Friday, April 8th, All Romance Ebooks and Total E-Bound are offering The Perfect Creation for free. Yep. Simply download the book from the ARe site. And if you like it, there are three more in the Creation series to read. In order, they are: The Perfect Creation, Creation's Control, Creating Chemistry, and Caging the Beast. (Note, both Creation's Control and Caging the Beast are m/m, and Creating Chemistry is m/f/m.) Enjoy!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

April Showers and All That

We had the April showers last week. So I planted today. I need a few more cosmos, and then my gardens will be complete. Now if I can just keep them all alive...

In between planting, I've been trying to get caught up on writing. Not happening. And I just realized it's the first real week in April. Obviously, right? But I have deadlines looming like crazy.

Stay tuned for the big Steampunk week coming to Carina press beginning April 25th. Myself and a few fellow steampunkers are giving away steampunk-styled jewelry--a rose ring. It's really pretty, and I'll have more details to follow. I'll also be blogging at Harlequin and Carina Press, as well as Age of Steam. So I'd better get writing those posts. Chow, and happy planting.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Tax Man Cometh, and Other News

Back, Tax Man! I have filed and mailed your precious offering. My sacrifice is now complete. Hence, begone!!!

Yeah, taxes are finally done. What a pain in the &*"?%!!@ butt. Funny thing is I started them a month ago. I got the hard part done, my schedule C for writing, complete with a bazillion receipts. But I just kept procrastinating adding my husband's W2s. Anyway--DONE.

Good News:
* In order to print out my taxes (can't e-file because one of my employers is international and has no EIN), I had to buy a new printer. The old one was possessed. And now I'm excited about my HP 6500A Plus all-in-one. Shiny, a touch screen, and so pretty...
* Ellora's Cave has accepted Talson's Test, the next in my futuristic Talson series. Now I need to get busy on paperwork.
*I'm down to my last--hopefully--series of edits for Retrocog, coming to Loose Id in May. It's a paranormal/romantic suspense/erotic romance.
*Nearly done a special project consuming my time. I'm dotting every I and crossing every T, twice.
*Halfway done Grady's story. Poor Grady. He's a cat shifter from my Cougar Falls books,and every time it looks like the poor guy will get lucky, another priority project interrupts him. Time to get back and write his happily ever after.
*Have to finish reading a friend's story. I'm working on it, Kim!

Now I need to collect my kids and go buy flowers. It's beautiful outside. Planting season. Oh, and it's hell on allergies. Damn azaleas...

Happy Wednesday.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Review for Talson's Wait

Here's a new review I received for Talson's Wait. I'm so glad I revised the thing. It's a much better story now than it was years ago, when I initially wrote it.

4.5 stars from Literary Nymphs
Reviewer: Amethyst

...Marie Harte did a beautiful job of making me feel the sexual tension between Roarke and Jamie from the very first page. The forbidden relationship between a boss and employee is such a recycled plot that it can easily become dull and predictable, but that isn’t the case with this spicy story. Talson’s Wait is the first story of the Talson Temptations series and it left me dying to read more. My favorite scene was when Roarke showed up at Jamie’s home. It was one of the most fun and flirtatious escapes I have read in a while. I loved the fact that Jamie got the upper hand but Roarke still won in the end. It wasn’t what I expected and I welcomed all the sexy surprises. The fact that Roarke is more than human adds a twist that will leave readers dying for an employer like him. Readers are going to eat this story up like candy, just as I did.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Free Books Alert

And a good Monday to you too. The kids are on spring break this week, so I'm managing writing time at night while entertaining the 5 and 7 yr olds during the day. At least the weather is nice. Lots of crowds in Augusta, GA this week for the Masters Golf Tournament. What does that mean for me? That I'm not going anywhere for a week. I don't. Do. Crowds.

But enough of my blathering. I wanted to share some good news about free books. Yeah, anything with FREE in it usually catches my attention. But what's great is that this involves romance books. All Romance eBooks is celebrating Earth Day, April 22nd, with 21 days of free books. (One free book a day, so if you don't download it in time, you don't get another shot.)It's a series showcase, where they give you the first book free and clue you in to a good series you might not have caught. Go here to take a look. You might have to have an account to get in on this deal, but it's free to have an account,and ARe is a great place to buy ebooks in all manner of formats.

On April 8th, my book, The Perfect Creation, is showcased. It will be free all day long, an intro to my Creation series with Total E-Bound, I imagine. I've already downloaded a few free books the past few days. Do yourself a favor and cash in on the treat. NOTE: I get no kickbacks from sharing this, but a good feeling that I'm letting fellow readers know where to get an awesome deal. :)

Happy Monday.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Julian's Jeopardy: IN PRINT

Great news! I've just learned Julian's Jeopardy is going to print. I'm not sure on a release date yet, but I've received my cover flat. And here it is!