Gotta Make It Through February...

Van Morrison sings, 'Gotta make it through January, gotta make it through February...'
How true it is. These cold, mostly dull Ontario winter days can be soul-dampening, which is definitely not the part of me I would choose to have damp.

Amanda's Young Men, my second Black Lace novel, was delivered on the deadline date of January 25 to my editor at Black Lace. I've seen the cover flat and I like it very much. The books are larger now, trade paperback size, which means my name is bigger; why, it's even bigger than the title. The 'cougar' on the cover is either a little young to be a full-fledged cougar or one well-preserved older woman. I particularly like the two young men, one on each side, kissing her with their lush lips and showering her with obvious admiration. To top it off, there's a flute of bubbly signaling all the good times to be had within the covers. How true.

Amanda's Young Men won't be out until, most likely, late June, but it's never too soon to start promoting the book, is it?

Alison Tyler's must have collection, the Erotica Alphabet series from Cleis, is releasing the next four books, 'I, J, K, L' and yours truly is in 'L is for Leather.'
I'm absolutely thrilled. I love the whole concept of these books and I worked hard on my story in the hopes of having it accepted - and so it was. Watch for 'Little Black Dress' by me, Madeline Moore. Every Monday in March we'll be promoting the books on 'Lust Bites.' I'm in charge of the promo for 'L is for Leather' and I've got a great idea for it - let's see if I can make it happen.

Now that I write it down, I can see that 2008 is poised to be a big year for me. There's a ton of anthologies I'd like to submit stories to, so I'll have to hone down the list a little and get to work. I have two stories half written so I think the first order of business is to finish them off.

The next Lust Bites anthology from Black Lace will be a collection of short stories on the paranormal, rather than three novellas. Though I'd love to try my hand at the novella, the short story format is one I'm much more familiar with, so I really must try to squeeze in there if I can.

It seemed I'd finally found my own fabulous idea for a paranormal book - then I saw the latest 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and discovered that part of the plot of the movie was the exact idea I had - a story of a mermaid named Calypso and the captain of 'The Flying Dutchman.' It's almost weird to imagine the researchers for 'Pirates' coming up with the same idea I had. And it makes a good case for getting out to the movies. I'd have been devastated to have written up a proposal only to be told, 'That was done in Pirates of the Caribbean last year!' My face would have been red. It's back to the drawing board for me on that one...

There's a girl's magazine out of Canada that I'd like to contribute to, an a couple of websites looking for erotic fiction to jazz up their content.

Suddenly, the short gray days of February seem much less daunting. What better way to pass the time than to write? I can think of - almost - none.

Must get busy! Here's a teaser from Amanda's Young Men to whet your appetite for the book:

Perhaps it was the sudden pain, for the flesh that she’d felt start to soften inside her recovered its rigidity. Incredible! She was truly using him just as she’d use a sex toy, pushing his buttons to make him perform exactly as she required. Inspired by her newfound power, Amanda rode Paul harder, faster, pounding her pubic mound down on his, exulting in every sensation. He kept the pace, thrusting up to meet her, matching her wildness with his own. Sweat dripped from her forehead onto his cheek. His tongue instantly stretched to capture the droplet. He closed his eyes, as if to savour the flavour. And it was this, this gentle, unexpected wordless declaration of adoration in the midst of their ferocious coupling, that tipped her into a climax so deep, so complete, it made her howl.

That's all for now. We'll leave Amanda howling with pleasure and get on with new works, there's plenty of ways to make a woman howl and I'm ready to explore a few more of them.

Ta!

Love, Mad