Sunday, October 25, 2015

Six of the Best! #6BestHop

I'm trying something new this Sunday and I'm participating with both pen names!

Today for Six of the Best, it's a bit from
Loving Leonardo ~  an award-winning, Victorian polyamorous, love story with a grand adventure and a touch of reader-interactive art history.
(part 1 in an ongoing series)
 
Click Here for Other Participants


Blurb~

Bound by limits dictated by society, Art Historian Nicolas Halstead lived a guarded life until a tempest in the form of Elenora Schwaab blew into his world. At first Nicolas can’t decide if the audacious American is simply mad or plotting blackmail for not only does she declare knowledge of his homosexuality, she offers him a marriage proposal.

After Ellie tells him of a previously unknown work of Leonardo da Vinci, a book of erotic love poems and sketches dedicated to the artist’s long-time lover Salai, Nicolas joins her in a race to save the book from destruction. Along the way they encounter Historian Luca Franco and discover a comfortable compatibility that comes to redefine their long-held notions of love. The trio embarks on an adventure of sensual discovery, intrigue, and danger. Little do they know Leonardo da Vinci’s book is far more than meets the eye.


Setting the Stage~
Nicolas and Ellie meet Luca for the first time aboard ship
and discover they share an interest in Leonardo da Vinci, among other things.

My Six~


Ellie and I weren’t the only passengers to arrive as the last bell struck. People filed through the dining room’s double doors to take their seats. This congestion would lessen as people became accustomed to how long it took them to ready themselves between the ring of the first and last bell.
More so than the other meals aboard, dinners were often a mingling affair. We sat with the Ormonts and the Brookses again while the Dutch brother and sister took their seats at the table next to us, the sister involved in a rather animated conversation with a new friend. Jerone did smile when I looked his way. His eye jerked toward the door in open invitation. Despite the twinge that silent proposal sent to my loins, my smile widened as my eye jerked to my wife. He gave me a pretty moue, his brief pout good-natured. It was a long voyage after all.

I sat Ellie and pulled a chair for Mrs. Ormont as she waited for her husband. A moment later, Colonel Ormont brought the historian to our table and made introductions. Luca Franco, late of Florence, was a Professor of Antiquities returning from London. I found the Italian quite the attractive fellow, impeccably dressed as he was. When in the presence of true beauty, my mind often imagines the person unclothed as the artists of the ages might have seen him. Sitting at my table was a statue carved in marble by Gian Lorenzo Bernini; an artist known for his remarkable ability to capture the essence of a narrative moment. And I found Luca Franco to be exactly that — a moment indelibly captured in time — a moment of meeting the mind could revisit in its entirety.

From every angle, he was beautifully made: black-haired, of medium build, and physically fit. He possessed a warm hue to his skin, his lineage no doubt stamped centuries past by the darker Moors or Turks. In startling contrast, and quite handsomely framed by black lashes, he had striking eyes the color one might see in a shadow falling across snow — not quite sky blue nor exactly steel gray, but a blending of the two in gradated rings.

I rose to shake his hand and felt the unmistakable current of compatibility. If this man weren’t forward in his mutual attraction, it was there nonetheless. I watched him bow over the ladies’ hands and found it curious that he lingered over Ellie’s fingers a tad longer. It made me smile. I had the distinct impression I was in the presence of a fellow dual-nature like myself.

The regular chit-chat occurring over the courses was quite enjoyable. There was a part of me, however, that would have been content to take my wife back to our stateroom and lose myself in the wonder of my newfound truth. Like the great navigators in ages past, the thought of uncharted lands titillated my imagination. I was anxious to explore her body, anxious to immerse in her heated places and scent, and smell and taste every part of her. I wanted to lose myself in the hedonistic feast of the senses I knew I’d find.

Ellie’s question pulled me from my imaginative foray. “Professor Franco, it’s my understanding that you are an authority on Leonardo da Vinci.”
 >>۞<<۞>>۞<<


"...a very sexy, smart, and scintillating read."
~Coffee Time Romance



Buy on Amazon

۞>>>>۞<<<<۞

 
Just 99¢ by the authors from Romance Books '4' Us, including Heart of Stone by Madeline Archer (that's me!)


Last chance! HOW to WIN OUR ENTICE ME CONTEST

In honor of the first anthology by the Authors of Romance Books '4' Us, we're running an additional October contest. Prizes include a $100 Amazon Gift Card and a terrific "super power" Romance Reader or Romance Author t-shirt. If you're into romances, the t-shirt will make you smile. 
Three ways to enter!
 

  ۞>>Weekend Happenings<<۞

My Main Blog
Saturday's Ramblings & Fun Day Sunday
http://calliopeswritingtablet.com/


**NEW**
Sunday's Six of the Best
Madeline Archer's blog
The Weekend Writing Warriors


Sunday 7
(open promo opportunity for you!)

 http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/

۞>>>>۞<<<<۞


Rose Anderson writes intimate love stories.
Find them all wherever books are sold.
Sample the scorchers for free!

 >>۞<<۞>>۞<<

Subscribe to Calliope's Writing Tablet
for a Wide World of Interesting Topics

http://calliopeswritingtablet.com/


Subscribe to Madeline Archer's blog for
updates, excerpts, & more!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Paranormal Love Wednesdays Blog Hop!

It's hump day and time for the Paranormal Love Wednesdays Blog Hop!
I love writing paranormal love stories, or better put, I love crafting a story around ghosts, shape-shifters, witches, etc
and making it sound believable. In fact, I just happen to have two new stories that fit the paranormal theme (see below). For today, I'm sharing a bit from my shape-shifting shaman's story ~ The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo. 

Setting the stage~

After finding his wife's burial mound destroyed, Ashkewheteasu (a.k.a. Ash) is bent on suicide. That's a hard thing for an immortal. At this point in the story, Ash has been healing in a veterinarian's home after she accidentally hit him with her car. In this scene, he plans to continue with ending his life. As he's about to leave, he hears Livie singing in the shower. He hasn't heard a sound like that in a very long time...

My snippet~


Without further thought, he took a deep breath. In a flash his form shifted. Reducing in size until his limbs disappeared into his body, Ash assumed the form of a snake. He slithered out of his cast and bandages. With nostalgia plucking at his heart strings, he glided up the stairs, following the lovely sound of a female voice accompanied by running water. It was a sound he fondly remembered from his life. He found Livie standing under a spray, a white curtain showing only her silhouette. He coiled there a moment, remembering how the women of his village sang beside the babbling stream as they bathed. Her voice made him happy. Three thousand years had passed with that emotion as much a stranger to him as the desire prompted by seeing Livie unclothed had been.

Needing this emotional succor, his strong stomach muscles clenched and propelled his serpent’s body upward until he was above the rod. Looking down, he found Livie foamy and slippery-looking. Her eyes were closed against the inexplicably hot and steaming water that sprayed her face. Ash tested the moist air with his forked tongue. While his sense of smell in this form was not as keen as in his wolf form, he could tell the lather was the source of the meadow flower scent on her skin. He felt a man’s desire again and was just about to slither onto the showerhead when the water unexpectedly stopped. An instant later, the curtain pulled back and knocked him to the floor behind the toilet. 


Recoiling under the sink in an attempt to remain unseen, Ash watched her step from the bath tub. Sparkling beads of water trickled down her bare skin, rolling down her shapely legs to her small feet tipped in toenails colored like the inside of a river shell. Livie possessed rounded curves and beautiful breasts to fill a man’s hands. She had wide hips for bearing strong sons and daughters. A painful memory brought him back to reality. Frowning sadly, he took his dark thoughts and quietly slid along the wall and out the door.


He worked his way down the stairs to where the cast and bandages lay.
Hearing Livie’s movements upstairs, Ash knew he had little time. Again and again he tried to arrange his body to allow himself back into the bindings. But each time he took a larger form, the cast would turn uncomfortably.  His attempts to replace the bandages and cast were futile. He did the only thing he could think of: taking the form of a black bear, he crushed the cast into bits with his strong jaws. Resuming the  form of the wolf, he picked up the bandage in his mouth and waited for her at the bottom of the stairs.

And that's how Olivia found him.
:)

Buy On Amazon
Discover the urban legend that inspired The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo.
http://thewitchywolfandthewendigo.blogspot.com/

>>۞۞۞<<
 
Heart of Stone
written by my alter ego Author Madeline Archer.  Buy on Amazon  for only 99¢ !


 
Find Heart of Stone and more in:

Entice Me ~
A collection of stories by nine amazing authors from Romance Books '4' Us.

 


And another unusual tale...


The Changeling
A spin on the Scottish ballad of Tam Lin

Blurb
~
Half-fae Lenox Pendry is surrounded by secrets and none are his to keep. Plucked from his mother’s arms as an infant and raised a changeling, Lenox grows to adulthood unaware of what and who he is and oblivious to the danger unfolding as his birthday draws near. After he’s unwittingly sent to the Scottish Lowlands out of harm’s way, he chances to meet a beautiful healer named Janet Roxburgh. The townspeople believe her to be a witch. It would appear Janet has a few secrets of her own.

Note: Madeline Archer is the pen name of award-winning author Rose Anderson. The story of The Changeling comes from the sweeter side of Rose’s imagination. Rated PG.

Buy on Amazon
  ۞>>Hump Day Happenings<<۞

Subscribe to my main blog.
You'll never know what you'll find.
http://calliopeswritingtablet.com/


Books Hooks
Hump Day Blurb Share
(open promo opportunity for you!)

 http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/

۞>>>>۞<<<<۞

Madeline Archer writes the other flavors of romance
and fiction. Rose Anderson writes intimate love stories.
Find them all wherever books are sold.
Sample the scorchers for free!

 >>۞<<>>۞<<

Subscribe to Madeline Archer's blog for
updates, excerpts, and more!

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Six of the Best! #6BestHop

I'm trying something new this Sunday and I'm participating with both pen names! While Rose writes the intimate side of award-winning romance, Madeline writes the other flavors of fiction. It might be a sweeter love story, an otherworldly walk in the twilight zone, or something dark...

Today for Six of the Best, it's a bit from the steamy side of my imagination. Book 1 in the ongoing Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo series

Click Here for Other Participants


Blurb~

What does an immortal Native American shaman do when the grave he’s sworn to watch over for all eternity disappears
under urban development?

His purpose of guarding his wife’s burial mound is gone, Ashkewheteasu seeks to end his immortal existence. In his despair, Ash assumes the form of a wolf and steps in front of a moving car and into the life of Dr. Olivia “Livie” Rosalini. The veterinarian saves the animal’s life, and in the process saves the man within. Livie has no idea the wolfish dog she’s taken into her home and grows to love is a magical being seeking to win her heart as a man. While Ash is learning a new world filled with new love, friendship, and happiness, an old menace makes plans to steal it all away; just as he had 3000 years before.


Setting the Stage~
Ash,an ancient Native American Shaman, discovers beer. It's obviously a potent shaman's drink if it's capable of making one mindless. He needs to make it back to Livie's house before she does. (She has no idea he's actually the stray dog she hit with her car and is now caring for in her home.) In this scene, tipsy Ash is trying to change form but keeps doing it wrong. Here he comes close to being a tasty meal for an owl.

My Six~

Just as it was about to swoop low on silent wings, intent on nabbing the large field mouse, a naked man with a mouse tail and whiskers appeared. The owl, clearly startled, flew off into the night. 
Laughing, Ash raised his arms and yelled after it, “This is not your night, my brotherrrr!”

Tail and whiskers absorbed into his changing form and once again bare skin grew feathers. He shifted into a raven — a six-foot-tall raven. Laughing at himself, he made his body small and flew fast to Livie’s home, albeit not in a straight line.

 >>۞<<۞>>۞<<

 5 Stars for The Witchy Wolf!
"I like the way Rose Anderson writes. She paints a picture without boring the reader. The story drew me in and kept me reading. The hot dog scene is funny! Actually, there were several scenes that had me giggling. She did an excellent job of taking NA lore and putting it into a contemporary story. And Ash (Ashkewheteasu) is the kind of hero who stays with you long after the story ends."
~ Author E. Ayers


On sale now on Amazon

۞>>>>۞<<<<۞
Just 99¢! By the authors from Romance Books '4' Us

HOW to WIN OUR ENTICE ME CONTEST

In honor of the first anthology by the Authors of Romance Books '4' Us, we're running an additional October contest. Prizes include a $100 Amazon Gift Card and a terrific "super power" Romance Reader or Romance Author t-shirt. If you're into romances, the t-shirt will make you smile. 
Three ways to enter!
 

  ۞>>Weekend Happenings<<۞

My Main Blog
Saturday's Ramblings & Fun Day Sunday
http://calliopeswritingtablet.com/


**NEW**
Sunday's Six of the Best
Madeline Archer's blog

http://madelinearcher.blogspot.com/

 
Sunday's Six of the Best
Right here!
http://calliopesotherwritingtablet.blogspot.com/

The Weekend Writing Warriors
http://theancillarymuse.blogspot.com/

Sunday 7
(open promo opportunity for you!)
 http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/

۞>>>>۞<<<<۞


Rose Anderson writes award-winning intimate love stories.
Find them all wherever books are sold.
Sample the scorchers for free!

 >>۞<<۞>>۞<<

Subscribe to Calliope's Writing Tablet
for a Wide World of Interesting Topics

http://calliopeswritingtablet.com/


Subscribe to Madeline Archer's blog for
updates, excerpts, & more!

Saturday, September 26, 2015

@MySexySaturday #MySexySaturday #Saturday7 #MSSAuthors #MSS111


It's My Sexy Saturday! Participating authors post 7 paragraphs, 7 sentences, or 7 words.  For me it's sentences from Heart of Stone ~ written under the new pen name Madeline Archer. Madeline makes her debut in Entice Me ~ a 99¢, nine-author anthology from Romance Books '4' Us coming October 10th. Watch for the pre-order!
The Blurb:

The story opens with the notorious witch hunts in 17th
Century Salem, Massachusetts.


As formal education for women lacks substance in her own country, Neila Flannigan leaves Ireland in 1904 to attend Radcliffe women’s college America. Shy and introverted, Neila passes her lonesome hours sketching the Harvard grounds and sending drawings home to her father. A chance encounter with a kind and elderly Irish woman inspires her to sketch a statue in an old, unused building. Desperately lonely, Neila ends up sharing her thoughts and feelings with a man carved in stone. Some days it feels like he listens.

Setting the Stage:

Taking Mrs. Maguire's suggestion, Neila takes her art tablet and pencils and visits a statue that sits in an old unused building. A building that no one seems to notice. The detail on the figure is extraordinarily lifelike...

My Seven:

The John Harvard bronze and the other posthumous tribute pieces she’d drawn thus far were fashioned with generic features. Not so with this one. From what she could tell with the subject’s head bent over his book, his features were unique. She ducked her head for a better look, wishing she could lift his chin to see his face fully. The sculptor had given the statue a straight Roman nose, intelligent brow, and full lips that turned slightly at the corners. It was likely carved from life. She told it, “You are certainly in need of a good scrubbing, but you were very handsome whoever you were.”


۞>>>>Weekend Happenings<<<<۞

Meet Madeline Archer
http://madelinearcher.blogspot.com/


My Sexy Saturday
Weekend Writing Warriors

My Main Blog
Fun Day Sunday

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

#MFRWHooks A New Pen Name!

MFRW Authors Blog

It's Wednesday and time for the Marketing for Romance Writers Books Hooks mini hop! Participants post 6-8 sentences from their novel. Find Participants here:

http://mfrwbookhooks.blogspot.com 



Today I'm offering a peek from Entice Me ~  a multi-author anthology by the authors from Romance Books '4'
Us. Nine luscious love stories make up our 99¢ anthology. (Watch for the pre-order!)

I have a new pen name and another direction for my creativity. Madeline Archer makes her debut with Heart of Stone. Scroll down to learn more. 

Blurb~
The story opens with the notorious witch hunts in 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts.

As formal education for women lacks substance in her own country, Neila Flannigan leaves Ireland in 1904 to attend Radcliffe women’s college America. Shy and introverted, Neila passes her lonesome hours sketching the Harvard grounds and sending drawings home to her father. A chance encounter with a kind and elderly Irish woman inspires her to sketch a statue in an old, unused building. Desperately lonely, Neila ends up sharing her thoughts and feelings with a man carved in stone. Some days it feels like he listens.


Setting the Stage~
In this scene,
the notion of foreboding that has been dogging Finola's steps all day comes to fruition when her daughter’s witch's familiar appears. Nicodemus the raven seems agitated...

My 8~

It should not take this long for Abigayle to venture here. The bird returned and widely circled three more times before disappearing beyond the trees. Finding his behavior both anxious and agitated, Finola frowned and murmured, “Where are ye, girl?”
Turning to the packrat sitting atop the pork barrel, she told her familiar, “I’m feelin’ uneasy, Martin. Abigayle should have come by now.” Her chin jerked skyward, she mumbled, “And will you look at him? Something is amiss.”
Martin nodded.


 >>۞۞۞<<

Subscribe to Madeline Archer's blog for updates, excerpts, and more!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Expanding Horizons!

I've expanded my creative horizons by venturing out of the realm of scorching romance. To that end, I've created Madeline Archer. With this pen name I'll keep my writing styles and genres separate. Madeline will write everything Rose doesn't ~ it might be a sweeter love story, an otherworldly walk in the twilight zone, or something dark...

Follow Madeline Archer on her new blog~
http://madelinearcher.blogspot.com/


I'm happy to announce Madeline's debut with two fun projects available for pre-order on October 1st ~ 


Entice Me
~ In this anthology of nine amazing authors from Romance Books '4' Us, find my sweeter novelette:
Heart of Stone

 


Blurb
~

A story that begins with the witch hunts of Salem.

As formal education for women lacks substance in 1904, Neila Flannigan leaves Ireland to attend Radcliffe women’s college in America. Shy and solitary, Neila passes her lonesome hours drawing interesting features of the Harvard grounds to send home to her father. A chance encounter with a kind and elderly Irish woman inspires her to sketch a statue in an old unused building. Desperate for companionship, lonely Neila shares her thoughts and feelings with a man carved in stone. Some days it feels like he listens. 

 >>۞۞۞<<
Just for kicks we've set up a Pinterest board and are in the process of loading pins of things that inspired our stories. Come see!  Entice Me on Pinterest


We also have this happy little video into

 
Also available for pre-order October 1st~


The Changeling
A spin on the Scottish ballad of Tam Lin

Blurb
~
Half-fae Lenox Pendry is surrounded by secrets and none are his to keep. Torn from his mother’s arms as a newborn and raised a changeling, Lenox grows to adulthood unaware of what and who he is and oblivious to the danger unfolding as his birthday draws near. Unsuspecting, he's sent to the Scottish Lowlands out of harm’s way, and there meets a beautiful healer named Janet Roxburgh. The townspeople believe her to be a witch. It would appear Janet has a few secrets of her own.

>>۞۞۞<<

Stop by my Main blog for interesting topics all month long.