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Fiction, Food, and Foolishness
Seelie Kay, Girl of the 60s
If you could change one thing about yourself, physical, mental, emotional, what would it be and why?
I would be able to walk/run again without assistance. I was diagnosed with MS in 2002. Although the disease is now in remission, it left a lot of damage. My mobility has been compromised and I cannot walk safely without a walker, and sometimes I am relegated to a wheelchair. You don’t know what you have to lose until it’s gone. I want to dance in the streets again…
Ann: We take a lot for granted until like you say, we’re reminded of what we have.
If there was one person, real, fiction or fantasy, you could spend time with, who would it be and why?
Ben Franklin. I am simply fascinated by his brilliant mind. He was also a bit of a rake, so I imagine he would be quite entertaining. And his time in France revealed a real kinky side!
Ann: Sounds like you’ve done your research!!
What are the top three things on your bucket list? And why?
1. A trip to London for afternoon tea, a tribute to my late Mom, who believed high tea was the privilege of all well-bred ladies.
2. Cooking lessons in Tuscany. I love Italian food and would love to learn from “the Masters.”
3. Buying a hobby farm and attaching a cooking school for disadvantaged, disabled, and abused children, because knowing how to feed yourself and others is a vital survival skill. My way to give back.
Ann: I hope you get to mark all three of those off your list!
What makes you laugh?
Life, in all its irony. Seriously, you can choose to laugh or cry at whatever life throws at you. I choose to find the humor.
Ann: Amen to that!
What is one strong memory that has stuck with you since childhood…and why?
I grew up in the 60s, when segregation was still very much in existence. My father was a school administrator and often had his staff over to our house. His staff was very racially diverse because unlike many, my Dad practiced equality. One day, my parents were having a party and when one of the black teachers arrived, the front door stuck and he couldn’t get into the house. The guy made a joke, something like, “Guess you’re still making Negroes go to the back door.” My Dad was mortified and hollered for us kids, telling us to bring his toolbox. In seconds, he removed the door. Then he stuck out his hand to the teacher and said, “I will never, ever, send anyone to my back door. Not even a horse’s ass like you.” For us kids, it was a lesson in hospitality, tolerance, and respect, one none of us ever forgot.
Ann: Sounds like your dad taught by example, which is the best way kids learn.
Seelie Kay writes about lawyers in love, with a dash of kink.
Writing under a nom de plume, the former lawyer and journalist draws her stories from more than 30 years in the legal world. Seelie’s wicked pen resulted in six works of fiction in 2017, including Kinky Briefs, Kinky Briefs, Too, The Garage Dweller, Kinky Briefs, Thrice, and A Touchdown to Remember, as well as the romance anthology, Pieces of Us. Her most recent release, Kinky Briefs, Quatro, was released on February 9, 2018 and a novella, The President’s Wife, will be released this summer.
When not spinning her kinky tales, Seelie ghostwrites nonfiction for lawyers and other professionals. Currently she resides in a bucolic exurb outside Milwaukee, WI, where she shares a home with her son and enjoys opera, the Green Bay Packers, gourmet cooking, organic gardening, and an occasional bottle of red wine.
Seelie is an MS warrior and ruthlessly battles the disease on a daily basis. Her message to those diagnosed with MS: Never give up. You define MS, it does not define you!
Author links:
Website: http://www.seeliekay.com
Blog: http://www.seeliekay.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeelieKay
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seelie.kay.77
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16492565.Seelie_Kay
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Seelie-Kay/e/B074RDRWNZ/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Take another kinky voyage through Lawyerland!
Indulge in a walk on the wild side with these sizzling short stories about lawyers in love, with a dash of kink. From painting well-hung nudes at a networking event or thwarting terrorists intent on harm to finding love despite a chronic illness or exploring kink on a train, these lawyers pursue love with a vengeance. And while affairs of the heart may come in all shapes and sizes—a law school ménage a trois, a middle-aged A.G. and a law firm associate, and a new marriage suddenly threatened by a spouse long believed dead—these relationships thrive despite the odds. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and yes, the resultant loin heating might even make you blush, but in the end, you’ll run out and buy a set of handcuffs. Because that’s the only way to defuse the sizzle created by these hot, sexy stories.
Buy Links:
Extasy Books: https://goo.gl/t6cCm8
Amazon: https://goo.gl/qtz4er
Barnes and Noble: https://goo.gl/s3svp2
Kobo: https://goo.gl/CtKrZE
Smashwords: https://goo.gl/rA8N7h
Public Sleeping Day!
Laura Baumbach featured on Five on Friday
Today, I welcome Laura Baumbach to Five on Friday. Read all about her and her latest book, then follow her on social media! Let’s get right to the questions.
If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?
Eclectic.
I mix styles, décor, genres, story themes, basically everything. My children are adopted, I love and adore them, but thought of by many as other people’s castoffs. My husband is unique and brilliant, a loner but a highly valued consultant. I like mixing genres, such as my Details of the Hunt Series where historical (18th century pirate) meets and mates with sci-fi (alien bounty hunter). Contemporary treats paranormal, historical clashes with paranormal, etc. My home is a smash up of styles, whatever strikes my fancy, Asian art with Old English cottage with Industrial accents. Weird, but it works for me. Eclectic.
Ann: Gee, this description makes me want to see pictures of your house! Sounds fantastic.
What are the top three things on your bucket list? And why?
I managed to do several things on my bucket list when I turned forty. Got my motorcycle license, learned to scuba dive, and took up downhill skiing. All that was left was skydiving and learning to play the piano. I’m too physically old, arthritis in my hips and knees from 40 plus years as a nurse, so skydiving is out. I would like to learn the piano yet. I can do that sitting down! LOL.
Ann: You sound like quite the adventurer. I don’t have an adventurous bone in my body!
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I’m not sure it exists. I would love to be on or by the water. The ocean would be my first pick. I love it when it’s calm and beautiful, perfect for sailing. I also love it when it is stormy and rough, all power and raw attitude. It reminds me that nature is a force that can please or destroy, it makes me feel very much alive no matter the characteristics of that day. The sound of water is soothing to me.
Ann: Never lived on the ocean, but I’ve lived on a small lake. It is soothing, but the dirt/mud dabbers just about take over! They build their little houses everywhere!!
Are the names of characters in your novels important?
They are. I look for names that fit their personalities. I like my heroes to have names that reflect that part of them, while my antagonists need names that hint at the less attractive qualities in their souls. It doesn’t mean their names are Snidely Whiplash or Jeffery Dahmer. Even perfectly gorgeous bad guys can have a too perfect name, a name so wonderful you know it’s hiding something evil.
Ann: I totally agree.
Do you have any tattoos? If so, care to say what and where?
Nothing permanent. I’ve looked at tattoos, but never found anything I could live with into my old age. I’ve seen beautiful and exotic tattoos that I loved but I have never been able to make the leap. I did have my eyeliner and lips done with temporary tattooing when I was in my 40’s. It lasted 10 years or so and I enjoyed it, but just can’t make that final step.
Ann: I’m also tattoo free, but secretly, I’d love to have one. Maybe for my 100th birthday!!
Betrayal, passion, adventure, primal sex, and a fight to the death. Mating a 26th century Oracan Bounty Hunter with an 18th century pirate has it’s little glitches.
Bounty hunter Talos bows to pressure to bring his mate home for the completion of his strict warrior culture’s bonding ritual. Aidan, displaced 18th century Earth pirate – light-fingered, sly, charming and understandably naive about the new world he’s been thrust into – can’t wait. Even if it turns out someone wants him dead.
The 26th century looks different, but it turns out to be a lot like his old life!
Buy Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Genetic-Snare-Details-Book-2-ebook/dp/B077RVW2N5/
http://www.mlrbooks.com/Bookstore.php?bookid=LBGNTCSN
Excerpt:
The candles had stuttered out leaving the room draped in pale gray shadow. It was a comfortable darkness, one Talos found restful, a spectrum of low light in which his keen eyesight functioned well. Being able to see in the dark, and underwater, was a definite advantage for stalking prey. Talos was monetarily sated and fully rested after a few hours of sleep. The genetic mandate to claim his new mate at an increasingly awkward rate hadn’t affected his hunter’s sense of alertness and physical stamina. His body was created for the claiming ritual of his race, unlike his unprepared human lover.
A soft, insistent chime drew him to the side console in the main living area. Ignoring his unclothed state, Talos acknowledged the signal and opened the outside communication channel. The regal image of his elder brother Zeban appeared, but the robes of High Principle he usually wore were absent. A personal call. Talos instantly became cautious.
Fist over his left abdomen, Talos moved his hand up and over his heart in the traditional greeting of their people. “Honor and compassion, Zeban.”
Zeban returned the greeting. Talos caught the glint of amusement in his brother’s expression as the elder Oracan glanced at Talos’s full naked image. “Am I interrupting something, my brother?”
“Nothing of interest to a High Principle.”
“Ah, but I’m not speaking as a Council member right now, little brother. I’m asking as a concerned family member.”
“Concerned about what?”
“Aidan’s health. How is your little human?”
“He’s getting used to the space station. Let him catch up on seven hundred years of his own culture before he tackles a new world, Zeban.”
“He seemed highly adaptable to me. It’s not everyone who can take on an entire troop of thugs, save the fair Dr. Rice from death, defeat a fellow like Barlow in hand to hand combat and still manage to blow up an island in the process of winning the battle.”
“It was only half an island and that was an accident. And he got the drop on Barlow in a sword fight. What idiot in his right mind challenges a pirate who grew up with a blade in his hand to a sword fight and expects to win?”
“It is fortunate we erased those events in his future, is it not?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“You don’t sound…sure.”
“I’m sure.” He sounded sure, but the tiny squint at the corner of his brother’s one eye didn’t fit. Zeban had always been able to read his mood since they were children. His older brother had the people skills, while he was given the physical talents. “Only Oracans can time sense, you know that.” Talos straightened his spine, donning the mantle of strength and confidence a hunter was renowned for possessing.
“He’s safe and well. And if he isn’t, I’ll take care of him.”
“Do you think he may not be safe? Have there been new enemies stalking him?”
“Not since Barlow. Why?”
“There have been a series of…incidences here.”
“What kind of incidences? Involving who?”
“Menalon. An accident in the marketplace. One that, at closer inspection, seems less accidental than was first thought.”
Old pain and resentment boiled up, but Talos wouldn’t deny his deep-seated family bond. “Was our father injured?”
“No.” Zeban was quick to answer, but Talos felt he was holding back. “The event did put a strain on him. He is approaching his edge year.”
The rites of passage to the land beyond was a complex celebration of honor Talos had little time for. “What else happened?”
“Yesterday there was a fire.”
“Where?”
“My personal lodgings. No one was hurt beyond Penna suffering a few minor burns trying to douse the flames. But this morning, an automated short distance freighter exploded as it jumped the time division. A freighter that had just completed a total inspection.”
“Let me guess. The freighter was one belonging to the cashe.”
“Yes, it was Menalon’s newest.”
“What’s the wire on the attacks?”
“Information? Very little. Whoever it is, they’re covering their tracks well, I’m afraid. I was hoping you would agree to return to Oracan and help. You are Oracan’s most celebrated Hunter. Surely, you can set aside old wounds for this? There are others besides Menalon endangered by the attacks.”
Honor and compassion were more than just words of greeting to Talos. He lived them every minute of his existence, had built his life upholding the essence of the code and honoring the details of the hunt. He could distance himself from his father and the family politics by living with humans on Pathos Six, but he couldn’t turn his back on his brother.
Named by ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE as ‘a pioneer of the M/M romance genre’, Laura Baumbach is the best-selling, multi-award winning author of short stories, novellas, novels and screenplays. Author of one of the first recognized published resource articles on the category of m/m erotic romance, For the Love Of Man, for ERWA Writer’ Resource article published in September 2008. She is the founder of the only RWA Chapter for GLBT romance author, RAINBOW ROMANCE WRITERS.
A registered nurse, Laura devotes herself to publishing, writing and nursing. She is the owner of ManLove Romance Press, a small publishing house that specializes in m/m erotic romance, mystery and fiction. http://www.mlrpress.com
newsletter link: http://mailchi.mp/mlrpress/laura-baumbachs-newsletter-500291
https://www.facebook.com/laura.baumbach.94
http://sensualwriter.blogspot.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Laura-Baumbach/e/B002BM1JO6/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
And as always, please remember….
National Sticky Bun Day!
It’s National Sticky Bun day! Here’s a quick and easy recipe…
and oh…so…delicious!
AND Remember…
Adriana Kraft~When It’s Time to Heat Things Up
As erotic romance authors, my husband and I love writing ménage and polyamory stories because they offer so many options for sizzling sex scenes. We craft sexual encounters on the page that appeal to both of us in hopes they’ll appeal to the fantasies of other men and women, as well.
But what happens when these hot erotic fantasies run headlong into real-life obstacles? What does polyamory look like when it happens to ordinary people? That’s the challenge we set ourselves in “Three: A Love Story,” our contribution to the Boxed Set All You Need is Love.
Three lives—but how many loves? Two bisexual women deeply in love with each other also enjoy dating men and even arranging an occasional three-way. What if one of these women starts to fall in love with a man?
You might think there are only three main characters, but since it’s Five on Friday, I’m going to introduce you to five of them.
1. Jamie (Jams) Ellsworth is the bubbly optimistic instigator who gets everything started. An RN studying to become a Physician’s Assistant, she shares a Tucson apartment with her lover, Susan, and from time to time they share it (and other delights) with a man one or the other of them has dated. Maybe Jamie shouldn’t rock the boat. But now that she’s starting to fall in love with Mason, what choice does she have? Her dilemma is typical of the way so many polyamory relationships get started, when someone in love with one person discovers she loves two people.
2. Laid-back English professor Susan Kingman, a native of the Tucson area, loves its well-maintained bike trails and plentiful scenic hikes. In love with Jamie, she’s always enjoyed their fun three-way encounters, but now Jamie’s talking about three-way love. How is that even possible? To Susan’s relief, they start their adventure with an early afternoon hike, affording them the attached view looking across Tucson to Mt. Lemmon.
3. Physical therapist Mason Johnson has been dating Jamie several months and is starting to think she may be the one. But she comes with complications. He’s open to her ongoing relationship with Susan, which she’s never hidden. But what is she thinking, wanting to add Susan to their bedroom—and beyond that, to a future long-term relationship? At every step of the way, he faces wrenching choices.
4. Sheba is Mason’s boxer. Dog lovers ourselves, we’ve often written dogs into our stories, and we thought it was time to memorialize Sheba, our pet boxer in the 90s who died at the age of six from boxer cardiomyopathy, a genetic disease then common in the breed. If you’ve never owned a boxer, Sheba’s antics may surprise you. Our Sheba never played “fetch” – she played “keep away.” After catching a Frisbee, she’d canter in a proud circle showing off her success. And boxer hugs? That behavior is what earned the breed the name “boxer,” and often other breeds don’t know what to do when a boxer greets them that way. We think maybe Mason’s Sheba will help him sort out his dilemma, as ours did so often for us.
5. Mason’s house. Yes, it turns out his house is a major character as well. Situated in the Catalina foothills on the north end of Tucson, it’s a mid-size three bedroom with a large fenced-in yard where Sheba can run. He’s owned it for several years, and he’s remodeled the upstairs to create a spacious, inviting master bedroom with a king bed, a comfy sitting area, and a large en-suite bathroom. Wherever this promising three-way relationship goes, he knows his house is large enough to handle it.
EXCERPT
Jamie tilted her head to the side as Susan curled back in next to her. “So what do you think of Mason?”
“Ah, Mason. He’s the source of your stewing. Is he starting to wear on you? How long has it been—three months? Four months?”
“He’s not wearing on me. And it’s nearly five months.” Jamie paused to wet her lips. “You didn’t answer my question. What do you think of him? What do you really think of him?”
Susan flinched. “Well, I haven’t thought a lot about him, though I must say he has stayed around longer than any guy in recent memory.” Susan sighed. “Okay, to be honest. I think he seems like a very nice guy. When he’s over here, it’s because he’s come to see you, so I don’t really spend a lot of time with him. I’ve cooked a few dinners for you guys, but most of time he comes, you go out, you come back, and you carry on like two wildcats. I’m surprised the neighbors haven’t complained. And he’s usually gone before I’m up in the morning. And lately you’ve been spending much more time at his house than at our apartment…for your love nest activities, that is. I must say that’s easier on me. I get more sleep, and I don’t have to imagine what you and he are doing to each other.”
“That’s it?”
“What else do you want me to say? I’m an English professor, not a social worker. He doesn’t seem abusive. He’s easy to look at. He doesn’t…” Susan paused. “Uh oh. If he’s not wearing on you and yet you’re stewing about him…” She arched an eyebrow. “Jams, maybe you’d better tell me what’s really on your mind.”
Jamie didn’t miss the sudden flash of anxiety that crossed Susan’s face.
All You Need is Love
A Limited Edition Romance Collection
Romance Collections is proud to present these thirteen stories of love that knows no boundaries. Like rivers flowing through the canvas of earth, these stories will run deep, touch softly and leave you breathless.
No matter who it is with, passion is magnificent, desires are bold, and love is beautiful.
Novellas by Tamsin Baker, Jess Buffett, Kristine Cayne, Adriana Kraft, Cate Farren, Valerie Ullmer, Kai Tyler, Lexi Thorne, Izzy Szyn, Aeryn Jaden, Dana Kenzi, Celia Fay, and Dani Gray
BUY LINKS
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078PZR8HY
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/all-you-need-is-love-27
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/all-you-need-is-love/id1330261438?mt=11
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-you-need-is-love-tamsin-baker/1127753593?ean=2940154950586
About Adriana Kraft
Winner of the 2014 Bisexual Book Award for erotic fiction, author Adriana Kraft is a married couple writing Sizzling Romantic Suspense and Erotic Romance for Two, Three, or More. Whether readers open our romantic suspense or our erotic romance, they can expect characters they care about, hot sex scenes, and a compelling story. Our suspense stories deliver one man, one woman, danger and intrigue. Our erotic romance is edgier and nearly always includes ménage or polyamory, sometimes with two women and a man, sometimes with two (or more) couples.
Together we have published more than forty romance novels and novellas to outstanding reviews. We love hearing from readers at [email protected], and here is our website: When It’s Time to Heat Things Up http://adrianakraft.com
Social Media Links
Blog: http://www.adrianakraft.com/blog
FaceBook Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adriana-Kraft/182846025133440
Twitter http://twitter.com/AdrianaKraft
GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/1578571.Adriana_Kraft
Newsletter http://eepurl.com/uRvCr
Google+ https://plus.google.com/102791537641895264573/posts
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/adriana-kraft
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{I hope you enjoy this sweet, short-story romance!}