I Steal People.

Buy from Samhain Publishing, Amazon, B&N or wherever fine kink is sold!

Buy from Samhain Publishing, Amazon, B&N or wherever fine kink is sold!

Power Trip released today! One of my favorite things about this book is the cast of characters. The hero is a super-charged Dom who hides his powers by hooding and restraining his subs. He plunked himself down, fully formed, in my twisted imagination, so I didn’t have to kidnap him. However, I stole the heroine’s appearance from Michelle Williams playing Marilyn Monroe. She’s beautiful, yet nerdy, with black-velvet eyes. Let’s just call it borrowing. I think we can safely call celebrities fair game.

But the heroine’s brother was a straight-up identity theft. He sat next to me on a school field trip to the farm. No really- I couldn’t stop staring at him, and he looked like this:

Jake was dark, with swarthy skin and a stocky build. She knew most people considered him ugly since he was short and his smooth, bald skull flowed into his shoulders with no neck to speak of. He had a barrel chest, thighs as thick as his squat body and densely muscled calves. His shoulders were rounded, powerful, his lips fleshy, and his ears were small and curved. His eyes were his one truly beautiful feature, but he kept them covered by wraparound shades, even inside the club.

The Doc was inspired by Julianne Moore in a silver-sequined dress. Borrowing! But her girlfriend Sam is modeled on a woman I met briefly at a conference. I just tweeted her to tell her, so we’ll have to see if she wants to sue. Luckily, I think I’m pretty safe with the hero’s best friend, a tortured cop who looks like Ron Weasley, if Ron were bisexual, metrosexual, and mohawked. If celebrities are fair game, then fictional characters should be completely safe!

Did I mention all of these characters have super powers? I hope fans of comic books, graphic novels, kink, science, BDSM and x-rated banter will check it out! Please forgive all the aforementioned borrowing and feel free to create your own associations for my characters. Fair warning: This book is a TRIP!

Anti-Resolutionary Invocation for 2013

Happy New Year!

And Congratulations to Melanie J, who won the SILKEN CANVAS giveaway! Melanie, you’ll be hearing from me soon!

As for 2013 – I don’t know about you guys, but I’m an anti-resolutionary. I don’t make New Years resolutions because, damn it, I’m doing the best I can. Every minute. To the point of obsession. In fact, if I were going to make a resolution, it would have to be something along the lines of ease up, life is in the living. I don’t need a resolution to crack the whip over my head; I need the opposite. I need the ability to feel like I’m doing a good job already. I am a writer, a teacher and a mother. There is never a moment when I don’t strive to write better, teach better, mother better. And it doesn’t matter what career path I choose, it would be the same. In an RWA conference chat, Nora Roberts said something along the lines of, “Being a writer doesn’t create neuroses. Neurotics become writers.” Perhaps that is why this Ze Frank An Invocation For Beginnings resonates with me. I’m not the only one struggling. Are you one of us, too?

I learn the same lesson every year, every day, every five minutes: Life is in the living. Enjoy the journey. Be peaceful in each moment. I will fail, as I always do, and I will forgive myself. And continue. My challenge is not to seek joy, but to know I have it within. Or if I don’t, create it. Join me on the bright side! Let’s create joy, balance, strength and grace. Let us see the best in ourselves and others, do good work because we love it, and recognize life isn’t a sprint. It can’t be. Because when you reach the finish line…eeeeeeeeeeek! :-)

Let’s just keep chugging along, shall we? Onward! Happy 2013! Thank you for sharing your journey with me.

Down And Dirty With Natasha Moore

All I want for Christmas is SILKEN CANVAS!

I’ve been waiting for this book to come out for months. It has all of my favorite things! BDSM, hot props, a sexy guy, a gorgeous girl…and conflict! Natasha Moore is one of my critique partners. In fact, I dedicated Hook Up to her, partly because it was the first book where she didn’t have to remind me the emotion is as important as the sexy sex, but mostly because she has been an inspiration to me for years. She leads by example (20 published works). She is consistent and kind. (Book after book, she gave me the same advice until I finally got it.) She is brilliant. (Among other things, she told me SoloPlay needed more sexy e-mails before my editor did.) She has a naughty mind. (Again, 20 published works!)

I loved the idea of SILKEN CANVAS from the moment Natasha started talking about writing it. I read it several times before it was sold…and I can’t wait to read it again to see what changed during the editorial process. I’ve always believed that the best gift is the one you want for yourself, so in the spirit of Christmas, I’m going to buy myself a copy of Silken Canvas AND give away a Samhain gift card. More on that later. First this…

SilkenCanvas

He can work with her body…as long as he doesn’t touch her heart.

Brendan Cole burst onto the art scene in a blaze, creating erotic works of art from beautiful women. Recently, though, reviews suggest that his brilliance is burning out. He knows what’s missing—inspiration. He lost it the day his ex-lover and muse, Ashley Mancuso, walked out on him.

Together, they can once again create the erotic images that will silence the critics forever.

When Ashley runs into Brandon at an art gallery, their attraction is as hot as ever. Though she swore to never again take second place to his art, she finds herself agreeing to an impromptu photo shoot. Once in front of his lens, five long years of suppressing her kinky side melts away—and shakes her resolve to keep it strictly business.

One spellbinding session after another makes it impossible to resist talking of fantasies and long-buried desires. But once the images hit the gallery walls, all the fears and insecurities that drove them apart create a rift wide enough for danger to find its way in…

Product Warnings: Contains a sexy, tortured artist, his gorgeous muse, and a string of pearls that creates one very erotic BDSM fantasy.

Now let’s get Down and Dirty with Natasha before the commenting begins!

Miranda: So what’s with the pearls? ;-) What sparked that sexy gem of inspiration?

Natasha: Pearls may be classy, but I think they’re also sexy. Those cool little white beads roll so smoothly over the skin & the strands can be used for bondage or collaring too. Their versatility was what made me choose them as a prop in one of the modeling sessions in Silken Canvas. I was thrilled when the pearls appeared on the cover.

Miranda: Can I see your tattoo again? I think it’s awesome that you got a tattoo to celebrate your books – one heart for each book. Do you plan to keep adding hearts to the design?

Bringing sexy back!

Bringing sexy back!

Natasha: I’ll show you my tat any time! :) I got the tattoo after my 15th sale. Since Silken Canvas was my 20th, I might have to add some more hearts one of these days.

Miranda: SILKEN CANVAS explores artistic representations of sexual fantasies.What’s the last thing that made you want to either grab your husband or grab your laptop and get busy? A particular book, movie or image?

Natasha: I’m a visual person and loved researching erotic art when I was writing this book. There were a lot of images that inspired me then, and continue to as I write new books. Bondage art in particular gets my juices flowing.

Miranda: Thanks so much for getting Down and Dirty with us, Natasha. And thank you for bringing SILKEN CANVAS to life and making Christmas, and the world, a little hotter! SILKEN CANVAS releases on December 25th, an excellent birthday. ;-) To learn more about Natasha Moore, visit her website, romance blog, or Twitter.

Natasha: Thanks for asking me to join you!

Since some of you won’t want to wait to see if you won this contest before you buy yourself SILKEN CANVAS for Christmas, I’ll give away a $5 Samhain gift card to one commenter. To enter the contest, leave a comment and tell us 2 things.

1. Your e-mail address. Please add extra spaces in order fool the ka-spammers.

2. Something good. Perhaps you got a great gift, have family visiting or something else wonderful happened to you lately. I love to hear about joy in the world! Please share yours! :-)

Happy holidays, one and all! The contest will run until the ball drops. Winner will be announced on New Year’s Day when I post my Top 12 of 2012!