December Quinn, Erotic Romance Writer

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Some exciting things!
2008-02-06 11:10:00
Oooh! I'm so excited about some stuff, and you get to hear all about it, isn't that great?1. I have a tentative release dats for The Demon Inside, the sequel to Personal Demons! Paula and I have edited the first three chapters to excerpt in the back of Personal Demons (not sure if the entire first three will be excerpted or just the first one, but I suspect all three) and we're looking at a January 2009 release! It's not set in stone, but I don't think it will be released any later than that, so that's good. I'm just hoping that the time-setting of the book--one week before Christmas--doesn't turn people off right after the holidays. :-)2. This is very exciting! We're focusing on spec-fic written by African-American authors this month over at the League of Reluctant Adults, and have some great guest bloggers and interviews lined up. Tomorrow be sure to check the blog for Carole McDonnell, author of Wind Follower. Wind Follower is a Carl Brandon Society Recommendation, and i...
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I am so Meta
2008-02-05 16:32:00
I've blogged about blogging over at the League of Reluctant Adults blog.
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Cover and stuff
2008-02-04 14:10:00
This is my newest cover, for my novella Day of the Dead, coming March 28 from Ellora's Cave. Nice, huh? (And blogger is still not letting me upload photos! The little upload window comes up but there's no "Upload" button in the lower right, is anyone else having this problem?)Here's the blurb:Seventy two years ago Santos Diaz's fiancee died two weeks before their wedding--two weeks before he could turn her into a vampire like him. Now, on the Day of the Dead, Santos has a plan to bring her back. He'll sacrifice his honor to Baron Samedi, the voudou guardian of the land of the dead, in exchange for his love's return. Yelina heads for the cemetery to honor her father's memory and finds herself in a passionate clinch with her handsome boss, Santos, with whom she's been in love for two years. She's never experienced passion like this before, but when a few vampires threaten to turn the day of the dead into the last day of her life and it looks like Santos himself might be a va...
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Ohmygod, Sweeney Todd
2008-02-02 02:24:00
Okay, well, I was going to show off my new cover, for Day of the Dead, but Blogger isn't letting me. And I was going to write about Sweeney Todd , but honestly? I loved it too much to even write about it. Just go see it. I can't even elucidate how much I loved it, or itemize what I loved about it, because nothing stands out, if you know what I mean. It was all so good. Perfect. Every scene, every performance, every shot, perfect. I was freaking out by the end. You know how, when you get really into a mocie, and you're bouncing in your seat and clenching your fists because you so want things to happen and you so want it all to work out and you so want to see what's going to happen but you're afraid to see, too? That's what I was doing. Then I freaked out some more at the end.I always love Helena Bonham-Carter but I especially loved her here, like on the level of Fight Club love. She was...beautiful. Johnny Depp... You see from the ellipses how at a loss for words I am. And you ...

I forget what I was going to call this one.
2008-01-30 12:45:00
I am so forgetful, I swear I would forget my head if it wasn't attached. I'm also a little behind on emails, so if you've emailed me recently and haven't gotten a response, I'll get to it. If you don't get a reply by the end of the week please email again, because my gmail is acting up a bit and has been, actually, for a couple of weeks. (I love the way we say that. Like our emails are toddlers who get cranky and just sit and scream and refuse to tell us what they want.) Rumor has it we're in a Mercury retrograde. :-)An email conversation with Mr. Fabulous, also known as Mark Henry, (hey Mark, did you know there's a professional wrestler with your name too?) has started me thinking. Would anyone be interested in my thoughts on writing sexy and/or interesting male characters, especially heroes Using examples from my own books)? I know I'm not usually a writing advice giver, and I know I've said before that I probably wouldn't give writing advice. But this is a little diffe...
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Playing with the boys
2008-01-28 12:51:00
So, I've always liked men better than women.That isn't to say I don't like women. There are several women I like a lot. (Hey, some of my best friends are women...Actually they are. But still.) But I tend to shy away from friendships with women, and always have. Finding a woman to be friends with has always been difficult for me, whereas I've very rarely met a man I don't like. Maybe because I have a big brother? Or because on the street where I grew up there was only one girl my age but three boys, and we all played together? (I was always Daisy Duke.)I don't know. But I dig the men. It's always been easier for me to make friends with men. Not as easy now, of course, when I'm married and so are they, for the most part. It's a little wierd then to be always hanging around with some other guy.The point is, though, that today I want to say a special thanks to the men who read my blog. Who even read my books, which absolutely blows me away. I guess because we think of women as ...
More About: Boys , The Boys

My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon
2008-01-25 10:46:00
First, I must confirm the rumors are true. Evil Editor and I got engaged last night, at the release party over at the Church Lady's blog.EE, quite taken by my charm, wit, and beauty, proposed* and pursued me relentlessly, until I, overcome by his ardent, tender onslaught**, said yes, blushing and giggling***. It was a beautiful moment.****Even the hubs is pleased for me. When I bashfully informed him of my engagement, he said, and I quote:*yawn* Congratulations.Seriously, if you didn't make it by there yesterday you missed a fun party. Hanging otu with EE and everyone else was a good time, and I needed to have a good time yesterday.Now, I have a review! For you! And you! Yay!I fially got my slim little exiled-in-England hands on a copy of My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon , a collection of short stories by, as the Amazon listing says, "[an] all-star collection" of today's hottest paranormal writers. Nine stories, to be exact, which are pretty evenly split between ones I loved and ...

Contest!
2008-01-24 22:41:00
Today, for those of you who haven't checked over at the League, is Anton Strout's birthday! And to celebrate we're having a little contest.Pre-order Dead to Me today, or if you already have, let me know. Email me with a copy of the relevant part of your Amazon or B&N receipt (I don't want or need your credit card or home address details, of course), and I will enter you in a contest for another of my Yezer magnets!****And Mr. Mark Henry is chipping in a signed copy of Happy Hour of the Damned! So c'mon! Enter!****You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain, so preorder now!(This is what I'm looking for:Dispatch estimate for these items: 3 Jan 2008 1 "Flunkeys and Scullions: Life Below Stairs in Georgian England"Pamela Horn; Hardcover; £14.00So send it along! You can use my League contact email, or Staciakane AT gmail.)
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2008 Hates Us All
2008-01-23 18:26:00
Wow.So the first month of the year is barely halfway finished, and we've had a major plagiarism scandal, more major floods here in England, the death of a beloved TV star (Suzanne Pleshette), and the deaths of two talented young actors. I am stunned.I was going to do a book review today, but I was too busy watching all the coverage last night to read. How sad. The hubs and I were really excited about Dark Knight; we still are, but this is going to make the experience very different.Not to mention the total creepiness of the fact that I bogged about celebrity deaths and book character deaths yesterday at the League.So I actually don't have much to say today. It's just sad. I've honestly only seen one Heath Ledger film (10 Things I Hate About You, which I believe my best friend loaned me along with a few other movies once when I had a horrible toothache. It was okay, I think. Certainly not as bad as one of the other films, which was American Pie, which I thought was absolute crap....
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All sorts of fun stuff
2008-01-21 11:00:00
Why are you looking at those pictures, you might ask?Because when I think of Evil Editor, those are what I picture him looking like. Either-or, depending on my mood. Or maybe a combo of the two.And why am I posting that?Because The Man himself will be over at The Church Lady's blog this Thursday to promote "Novel Deviations 3", and everyone should stop by! All the cool kids are doing it. And really, what's more fun that hanging out with EE?Next is that meme everyone's doing. I'm a follower, so...1. Your genre(s)?Urban fantasy. Scary things. Crazy things. Sexy things.2. How many books have you completed?Oh, boy. Um. Okay. Nine. Nine that have been or will be published. One more I have my fingers crossed on big-time. Plus a few novellas and shorts. 3. How many books are you working on now?Right now I'm working on a novella I owe EC, plus vaguely plotting a new historical UF series and the next two Unholy Ghosts books (so I have something if there's actually interest from someone...
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Busy like a bee
2008-01-19 18:26:00
I've posted an interview I did with the lovely and charming Heather Osborn, acquiring editor at Tor, on the League of Reluctant Adults blog, so make sure you check it out!And I am over at Plot Monkeys too!
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Your Homework
2008-01-18 17:34:00
(or, some links and random stuff because I'm tired and lazy and can't think of a good fun post.)First, a cautionary tale for those of us who read or write the erotic stuff:The Fabulous Book Bitches did a post about a man with a, um, 9.5-inch appendage. There are no pictures of the appendage on the actual blog post, but there's a link. The link didn't work for me, so, purely in the interests of authorial reasearch and for no other reason, I did a (NOT WORK SAFE) Google image search. Ladies and gentlemen, if you choose to click on the link (the ones you're looking for are all, um, of the non-excited man, particularly the one where he poses so as to show how it and his forearm are roughly the same size), pay close attention. THAT is 9.5 inches. It almost reaches his knees. (Apparently when aroused he hits 13 inches.) Let's consider this for a moment, next time we read a scene where this number is mentioned, and it's mentioned more often than we think. Let's doubly consider it i...
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Release Day!
2008-01-16 12:42:00
The super-dark, super-sexy, X-rated erotic romance Anna J. Evans and I wrote together, Demon's Triad, releases today from Ellora's Cave! (You'll be able to buy it later in the day when the page updates.)I had a bit of a difficult time choosing an excerpt for this one, because did I mention it's X-rated and super sexy? But I'm also mindful that a lot of you read from work, and after a gentle reminder from some of my beloved men readers that, ah, reading explicit material at work can cause problems, I wanted to grab something a little less...well, a little less erotic.Blurbage:What?s a witch to do when her coven has been cursed with a celibacy spell? Break it. By any means necessary. Aleeza dips into grey magic to scratch the itch that?s been driving her crazy. She never dreams deviating from the ?white magic only? policy of her coven will land her in the middle of a serial murder investigation?or in the arms of two magnetic men.Ferrin and Dorand plan to find their woman?s murder...
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Some questions, some news, some stuff.
2008-01-14 11:30:00
Some questions:What would you do?Something occurred to me yesterday, while I was thinking (as things often do.) I've done my publishing posts and I've expressed my opinions about newbie publishers and ineffective agents, but I've never really thought about what to do when someone you know sells to a bad publisher or signs with an agent with no sales (or no sales to publishers who don't require an agent). What do you do? What if it's someone you don't know well, is that different from when it's someone you do? Do you say something? If so, what?Also, I have a question for the ladies. Do you sleep in a bra? I always have but apparently that's wierd.Some news:Anna J. and I have a release on Wednesday, our X-rated menage novel Demon's Triad. So I'll be posting an excerpt on Tuesday or Wednesday, in an attempt to get people to buy it. Because seriously? We're really proud of this one. It's very dark. It's violent. It's very, very sexy. We want people to read it.We're playin...
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Grr...
2008-01-13 14:36:00
I have no idea why the banner image is all messed up, and refuses my attempts to fix it...please bear with me...

Weekend interviews are back at the League!
2008-01-12 18:13:00
And to finalize getting the League up and running for '08, we have a new weekend interview! Mark Henry interviews Richelle Mead, a great author and person both, at The League of Reluctant Adults blog. So go check it out!
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The End of Reading is at hand...*
2008-01-11 14:52:00
*or so they want you to think.Someone over on Absolute Write posted an announcement that Annie Sprinkle's long-running erotic anthology series, The Best American Erotica, is ending. It seems sales have been dropping, etc. Ms. Sprinkle--whom I respect and admire, just want to get that out of the way--has written a long blog post about her feeling about this, and why she thinks it's happened.It's a good post. But I think it's wrong. Just like I think those five-times-a-year articles by some AP stringer about how books don't ever make money anymore and the book industry is collapsing are wrong, and I'm tired of seeing them.Nobody is denying people might read less now than they once did. And certainly I see things like the recent financial troubles of Borders Bookstores and get nervous. Nobody wants to see bookstores disappear, least of all me.But I don't think a lack of reading is necessarily at fault for Borders--I think it's stores like Sam's Club or Amazon that create probl...
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My Top Ten
2008-01-09 13:55:00
Top Ten Signs that a book was written by me:1. Third person. I'm not a fan of first person and don't write in it. My romances are, of course, written from third omniscient, but my urban fantasy is strictly from the heroine's POV.2. Absent Families. Either they're dead or they're just a bunch of jerks, but not one heroine I've ever written has had a warm family relationship. Fathers often sell their kids out. Mothers are cruel and distant.3. Everybody drinks like they're trying to keep up with Dean Martin. And they drink all sorts of things. The heroes might have a preference for Scotch, but basically, if you show a bottle of booze to a character in one of my books they'll drink it.4. Twist endings. Not all of my books have them, but the large majority does. Either the villain's motives aren't what they seemed, or the guy we thought was the bad guy isn't. Even if it isn't a major plot point (it usually is), at some point we're going to be surprised.5. Smoking. Yeah, I kn...

The Elvis Edition
2008-01-08 14:41:00
My subject at the League of Reluctant Adults blog today is my Top Ten favorite Elvis songs, in honor of Elvis' birthday.My love of Elvis is not ironic. It is not post-modern or post-punk or tongue-in-cheek or any of the above. It comes in part from the same place as my adoration of macho men, from my childhood spent at the racetrack while my Dad ran quarter miles or spending most of my summers playing baseball in the street or travelling extensively throughout the South.Even the excesses of Elvis love don't bother me, the glittery pillows or bad embroidery or black velvet paintings. I don't smirk a superior smirk or laugh at the tackiness (okay, sometimes I do, but I'm laughing at myself too, the little girl who wrote her crush's name all over her notebooks in lurid glitter inks or Outliner metallic markers and put Duran Duran posters on every available surface of her bedroom). Because when we see greatness we want to honor it. We know something has walked among us that never w...
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Hi-larious!
2008-01-07 23:15:00
This is probably not work safe, as it requires audio and repeatedly uses the word "fuck"."High as F@%k" Music Video on FunnyOrDie.comAnd while I'm at it, this one is specially for Mark Henry, and I need to add a disclaimer, which is that this video is in no way a political statement or a commentary about anything political. I just thought it was funny, and I would think it was funny no matter what politician was being spoofed, I promise (and those of you who know me well KNOW how true that is):

*Hope nobody hates me*
2008-01-07 10:59:00
I have some things to say. Some things which I would normally shy away from saying but I'm seriously reaching a breaking point here.Okay, first. I am so incredibly sick and tired of hearing any sort of sentence which begins with "Americans are so..." and ends with any of the following: "hung up about sex/Puritanical/repressed."First of all, I really genuinely have to wonder where the people who say such things get that idea, considering how thriving the pornography industry in the US is. Considering how raunchy the humor in US TV shows and movies can get. Look at our magazines or newspapers, listen to our radio shows. You'll find sex, I promise. Hell, look at me and what I write for EC. Second, will someone please explain to me what exactly is so wrong with believing that maybe, just maybe, we should keep our genital urges private? That perhaps it isn't a good idea for young children to be exposed to explicit sexual images? That, to use the most common example of American's Terr...
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*Flabbergasted*
2008-01-04 17:06:00
Blood Will Tell has been nominated for Preditors & Editors "Best Romance 2007". (Scroll down to the Bs.)WOW!! Thank you, whoever nominated me!Of course I don't stand a snowball's chance of winning. But that's pretty cool.
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Just like the poltergeist...
2008-01-03 15:54:00
We-re ba-ack!The League is up and running again, blogging for your delight and edification five days a week (and posting interviews at weekends!)And I'm back too.I was thinking earlier about cookbooks and such, and cooking in general. I love cookbooks. I read them like literature, and they're the only books whose pages I dog-ear (so if I'm looking for something to cook one night I don't have to page through recipes that don't interest me.)But I tend to dislike modern cookbooks (with one exception, which I'll get to later.) Most modern cookbooks are for hobbyists; people who have money to spend on exotic ingredients and cook once a week, or do a special brunch sometimes, or whatever. All attractive and often looks great, but not very practical for someone who has to get dinner on the table at least six nights a week (assuming the hubs takes pity and we go to McD's or something once.)(Actually, "takes pity" sounds bad, because I genuinely enjoy cooking. I just don't always wan...
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New Year's, etc.
2008-01-02 01:15:00
I was supposed to do a better NY post, but I just can't think of anything to say. Resolutions? Yes, blah blah, I want an agent and a multi-book deal, blah blah blah. What else is new? I'm going to try to be better at doing the vacuuming. I'm going to try to do more promo. Have more fun. Go places and do things instead of sitting around all weekend every weekend (of course, my lack of adventure in the past year wasn't entirely my fault, seeing as how it rained, um, almost every fucking day). Sticking to my diet isn't really a resolution, it's just something I'm going to keep doing. Maybe I'll try to get more sleep, too. That would be good.I want to write at least three full-length novels, which shouldn't be a problem. Four would be better. Tagged by my sweet friend yeyo_x:* 8 Things I?m passionate about1. My family2. Writing3. My friends4. History5. Booze6. Movies7. Shoes8. The need to keep non-cigarette trash out of ashtrays, particularly food items* 8 Things I want to do ...

Posting from the future
2008-01-01 02:44:00
It's 2008 here, while it is still 2007 in the US. Therefore, I am posting...from the future!!!Wooooooooo!*shrug* It's okay so far. Buzz helps. More tomorrow.Happy New Year!
More About: Future , The Future

I'm...so bo-o-ored with the hol-i-days
2007-12-28 01:39:00
Are they over yet?I really like having the girlies home, because not having to take them to school means not having to get up early, which is nice. But damn am I sick of everything else. Especially all the eating. And nobody being around. It's like a ghost town here in Blogland. No emails. Everyone's busy with their families and stuff, la de freakin da.Okay, I'm not really that grumpy. But I am ready for the holidays to end. I think part of my grump is that I'm between projects and debating what I want to do next. Well, okay, not entirely. I owe EC a novella and I'm going to start it next week. But that shouldn't take more than two weeks or so and then I need a new project, unless Something Big happens which, let's face it, is not going to happen in a day. (I would make a resolution not to constantly think I suck and be more positive but, c'mon, what fun is that? And really, who wants that? Would anyone come here to read My Big Fat Egotistical Blog? Here's a sample, so you ...
More About: Days

Something about goals and words written and blah blah blah
2007-12-23 02:24:00
So what did I accomplish this year?By conservative estimate I wrote over half a million words on finished projects. Not counting blogs. Most of my words sold. A few I'm still waiting to hear on. One short I'm fairly certain is a no-go but I may revamp it to send elsewhere, as I'm pretty confident that if it doesn't sell it's because the voice was wrong for that particular house/project and not because the story itself sucks (I'm actually quite proud of the story.)And one set of words I am of course still waiting for a little time to pass so I can do more editing and start subbing, fingers crossed.I'm hoping 2008 will be a better year for me. Even-numbered years usually are better, don't know why. 2007 wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. Lots of personal stuff going on. Some disappointments and general ennui. Might have been nice to see the sun more than two days in a row throughout the year as well. I love clouds and I love rain but even I got a little sick of it this year, ...
More About: Words , Goals , Blah Blah Blah , Blah , Written

Well...I did promise
2007-12-21 15:01:00
I honestly have no idea why I photograph so badly. My features all seem to mush together oddly in pictures. I swear, I look normal in person. Even attractive. I looked very pretty that night. But on film...sigh.Not much else happening. Gearing up for the holidays. Lots to do, work work work. The kids are both home now for the next 2 weeks--no more school. It's nice because I don't have to get up so early, but sucky because I have to fetch juice and snacks all day for two instead of just one. Oh well.
More About: Promise

UGH!!
2007-12-19 22:24:00
My neighbors are vaccuming. And yelling over the noise of the vaccum. At 9:30 pm. On a school night. When they have three small children.They are the loudest people on the planet, I swear.I'm trying to watch House, ffs!

Feeling Festive?
2007-12-17 17:06:00
I am so not.I've been looking forward to the holidays this year but now they're here I'm just meh.The party was good. I was hoping to have pics by now but it looks like they might have to wait. The hubs and I brought our phones to take pics but of course didn't, so we're waiting to get everyone else's in. (I've seen one so far of myself, blurry and from an awkward angle so it looks like my huge rubber face is melting. Won't be sharing that one, sorry.)But the big thing about the party was, none of the other women dressed up. The men were all in tuxes. The women? Plain dresses. The type you'd wear for a regular night out to dinner. I, in my floor-length, corset-bodiced, crinolined burgundy gown felt rather out of place, and seriously disappointed in my fellow women. No sense of occasion, I guess. If the men are in tuxes it's a formal affair, ladies, not Business Dressy.I just don't understand why you might not want to dress up, once a year. It really put a damper on the ev...
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