This Week's Special Guest At The Tiki Hut - Tim Smith

This week's special guest at the AuthorIsland Tiki Hut is Tim Smith as he stops by to talk about his new Vic Fallon Mystery Series.

Tim is the author of five novels, including two contemporary romantic comedies with eXtasy Books. His first three adventure novels starring the one and only Nick Seven have won critical acclaim and several awards. He is also a freelance photographer and works in Dayton, Ohio as a case manager for adults with special needs. When he isn't devoting time to writing, you can find him in The Florida Keys, doing research in between parasailing and seeking out the perfect Pina Colada.

VISIT WEBSITE

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I’m pleased to be back at the Tiki Hut this week. Apparently I didn’t alienate too many visitors last time or I wouldn’t have been asked to return. This week I’m featuring my new novel, a romantic mystery called “The Bundle,” which was recently released by Extasy Books. I returned to my thriller roots with this one, after writing three romantic comedies. “The Bundle” is the first in a series I’m starting, about a former cop named Vic Fallon, who lives in Sandusky, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie.

This is no ordinary series of romance novels, though. Vic Fallon will be the only recurring character but he’ll have a different gal pal in each installment. It’s written in the style of Raymond Chandler and Donald E. Westlake, with a dash of Mickey Spillane thrown in for seasoning. Oh, I should mention that it’s also very erotic and contains some explicit sex.

I’ve been asked why I chose to set this story in northeast Ohio instead of my usual haunt, The Florida Keys. When I was conceiving the story I took a vacation to the Lake Erie islands, near where I grew up. As I looked at the lakefront scenery it hit me that I could set a story there and make it just as atmospheric as Florida. I also wanted to create a different feel for this series, since I already had three books set in The Keys featuring another male character, former CIA spook Nick Seven.

As in most of my romances, this one has a “happy for now” versus a “happily ever after” ending. I wanted to leave the ending of each installment open and have the reader guessing “Do they or don’t they...”

THE BUNDLE - A Vic Fallon Mystery by Tim Smith

Vic Fallon had little use for the rich and famous when he was a police detective and his attitude hasn't changed since he was forced to turn in his badge. When pop singer Kimberly Daniels returns to her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio to promote her latest album, Vic reluctantly agrees to be her bodyguard as a favor for a friend. He isn't told that she has a death threat hanging over her head, with no shortage of suspects.

The set-up takes a bizarre twist when her stalker shows up and Vic uncovers a family secret Kimberly would like to keep hidden. Things get more complex when they develop a strong attraction for each other, in spite of their different lifestyles. Can Vic ensure Kimberly's safety until she returns to LA? Will Kimberly decide to ditch her glitzy celebrity life and stay with the rugged ex-cop she's fallen for?

BUY THE eBOOK *** READ THE EXCERPT 
 
WIN - Leave Tim a comment this week at the AuthorIsland Tiki Hut and your name goes in the hat for a free download of his erotic romance THE SWEET DISTRACTION. Please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are this week's winner - Good Luck! And don't forget to check out his contest over on the http://www.authorisland.com/ contest page!

 

Today's Special Guest - Desiree Holt

Today at our Tiki Hut Blog, we're welcoming award-winning and bestselling author Desiree Holt's as a stop on her blog tour to celebrate her super impressive 100th Release!!! 


Desiree has lived a life of excitement that brings the color to her writing. She was a summer fishing guide, a summer field hand where she was one of only three women working, a member of a beginning ski team that skied in competition (and no, no broken bones!). She spent several years in the music business representing every kind of artist from country singer to heavy metal rock bands. For several years she also ran her own public relations agency handling any client that interested her.

She is twice a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award, a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio, and is published by four different houses. Romance Junkies said of her work: "Desiree Holt is the most amazing erotica author of our time and each story is more fulfilling then the last."

WEBSITE *** BLOG *** FACEBOOK *** MYSPACE *** TWITTER *** YAHOO GROUP


You’ve been hit by the dreaded writer’s block

So. You current WIP is racing along at warp speed, your characters all know their place, no one is speaking out of turn and you’re feeling pretty darn good about yourself. Then bam! Out of nowhere, a granite wall surrounds your brain. No matter how long you sit at the keyboard and stare at that pesky monitor screen, not one word will come to your brain. What to so. What to do.

There are so many suggested cures for writers block out in cyberspace that if you took the time to read them all, you’d for sure never get any writing done and you wouldn’t have to worry about your frozen brain cells. I thought some were very creative, some were hysterical, and some just plain made good sense.

One suggestions was hypnosis. Of course, you’d have to find a qualified hypnotist and be sure you were a good subject. But if you get past that, maybe you could have him or her implant a few extra suggestions for your next stories. And actually, believe it or not, for $12.95 you can download a CD, play it and hypnotize yourself. Only…who wakes you up?

Another suggestion is to step away from the computer. Well, duh. Don’t we all try that? But while you’re away from the dreaded computer, try translating a poem into another language (Google Babelfish). Or better yet, writing one yourself. It takes your brain on a whole new trip and gets it unstuck from the crossroads you can’t cross.

Watch a movie with English subtitles. I watched the movie, “Z”, that way and not only found myself drawn into the movie but as I concentrated many other idea came to me.

Indulge in a favorite treat. For me it’s coffee ice cream, or sometimes coffee and chocolate mixed together. Which of course is why I’ll never be modeling on the cover of Vogue.

Meditate. A good companion to hypnosis. Sometimes it helps to wipe the brain clean, sometimes it finds that little bend in the road where it’s stuck and unkinks it.

Brainstorm with a friend. Unless of course the friend is either under deadline or having her own writer’s block. If that latter, I suggest a two margarita lunch.

Keep a journal and write in it on the fays your brilliant ideas smack you in the head and the days your brain won’t work at all. When you go back later on and read them you’ll be surprised, stunned, hilarious at what you’ve written.

And finally, just put your WIP aside and start something new. Maybe something outrageous you haven’t tried before. Something that takes you to a whole new place. You’d be surprised how it will flow backwards to the place where you got stuck.

Me? I personally find my brain works best in the shower, which is why I often resemble an old prune.. But then, at least you know I’m always clean!

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WIN - Celebrate Desiree’s 100th release, DOWNSTROKE, with a party at over 30 different blogs in the month of April. Each day the blog hostess for that day will pull a name from the commenters for a free download of the winner’s choice from Desiree’s backlist. A different winner every day. And be sure to register here for a refurbished Acer Netbook with external DVD drive!

And check out the http://www.authorisland.com/ Book of the Day today - you could win a copy of Desiree's UNTIL MIDNIGHT!!

Welcoming Desiree Holt

Today at our Tiki Hut Blog, we're welcoming award-winning and bestselling author Desiree Holt's as a stop on her blog tour to celebrate her super impressive 100th Release!!! 


Desiree has lived a life of excitement that brings the color to her writing. She was a summer fishing guide, a summer field hand where she was one of only three women working, a member of a beginning ski team that skied in competition (and no, no broken bones!). She spent several years in the music business representing every kind of artist from country singer to heavy metal rock bands. For several years she also ran her own public relations agency handling any client that interested her.

She is twice a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award, a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio, and is published by four different houses. Romance Junkies said of her work: "Desiree Holt is the most amazing erotica author of our time and each story is more fulfilling then the last."

WEBSITE *** BLOG *** FACEBOOK *** MYSPACE *** TWITTER *** YAHOO GROUP


DOWNSTROKE by Desiree Holt

It's been twenty years since security specialist Charley Roper and country star Dallas Creed had their bitter parting. Now a killer has brought them together again, but neither is ready for a reunion - despite signs that their explosive chemistry hasn't waned with time. She can't forget the feel of his hands on her body. He can't forget the hot touch of her mouth. When they finally tumble into bed, the sex is just as good as they remember, hot enough to singe the sheets. But is it enough?

Thrown together during an exhausting, frenzied concert tour, with a killer nipping at their heels, Dallas and Charley find themselves on a hot, suspenseful, erotic roller coaster ride. Can he convince her to trust her heart to him one more time, to reach out for a richer, deeper, more mature love?

More importantly - can Charley keep Dallas alive long enough for either of them to enjoy a second chance?

BUY THE eBOOK *** READ THE EXCERPT *** WATCH THE VIDEO



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The making of a book by Desiree Holt

Downstroke, the story of an anguished love and it’s chance to mature, is my 100th release. And it’s appropriate that for a milestone like this the book should be one that came straight from my heart.

I didn’t begin it as I do many of my stories, with a kernel of an idea or a character who wouldn’t get out of my head. Or in the case of one book, one line of dialogue. To tell you about the birth of the book I have to explain that in a life that’s been fortunately varied and exciting I spent ten years in the music industry, as a booking agent and a manager. The music has changed and technology has altered many things in the industry. But one thing hasn’t changed at all–the excitement of a performance and the magic that an electrifying performance brings.

Driving into town one day I happened to pull an old cassette out of the console in my truck (yes, I know, cassette – LOL! That’s how long ago I was in the business!). It was the recording of a concert with a major headliner that one of my bands opened for. As I listened to the music I was transported back to that night in the open air amphitheater, the crowd stirring restlessly as it waited for the concert to begin, the notes of the band tuning up behind the curtain. The anticipation that something magic was about to happen.

Except for one story I hadn’t really drawn on those years of experience in my writing but now ideas began dancing around in my mind. I wanted people to know what it was like in the industry, to share the excitement I’d felt so many times over those years. I’d have a hero-Dallas Creed-and a heroine (ultimately named Charley) and against a backdrop of the music business and the tension of a stalking killer I’d tell their story.

When I walked into my appointment that day I came face to face with the man who would become the inspiration for Dallas Creed-lean and muscular, mid forties, blond with streaks of grey in his hair. Smoky eyes filled with wisdom and anguish. I couldn’t wait to get home and get started.

As I listened to the music again on the way back the title popped into my head-Downstroke. The word refers to the motion of the hand from the top string to the bottom on a guitar. And in my book it would also refer to the rise of my hero, his fall to the bottom and his rise again. I could feel him in my heart-a man who’d thrown away a chance at happiness for the glitter of fame and success, who’d nearly died because of it and now was back on top again but with an emotional emptiness he couldn’t fill.

And then back into his life comes Charley, the woman he’s always loved. Top notch security agent with a successful business but also a void in her life. Twenty years of bitterness lies between them when she’s hired by his brother to find the killer stalking him.

This is a romantic suspense novel and a story of an exciting industry. But most of all it’s a love story of two people in midlife who have a chance to recapture what they threw away. Writing Downstroke was my reward to myself for all the time I’d spent learning my craft, earning my stripes. However you want to define it.

I hope you will love it as much as I do.

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WIN - Celebrate Desiree’s 100th release, DOWNSTROKE, with a party at over 30 different blogs in the month of April. Each day the blog hostess for that day will pull a name from the commenters for a free download of the winner’s choice from Desiree’s backlist. A different winner every day. And be sure to register here for a refurbished Acer Netbook with external DVD drive!

This Week At The Tiki Hut -- Cris Anson

This week's guest at the AuthorIsland Tiki Hut is Cris Anson who writes for Ellora's Cave and she stops by to tell us all about how she ended up on the cover of her brand new release WHAT SHE NEEDS!

15 Minutes in Angelo’s Arms
by Cris Anson

Ellora’s Caveman Angelo exploded into our consciousness at last October’s RomantiCon, Ellora’s Cave’s first annual erotic romance conference. (He has since graced dozens of Ellora’s Cave covers.) The quintessential tall, dark and handsome Venezuelan riveted everyone’s attention as he danced. Made our hearts beat faster whenever he smiled, which was often. Charmed us all when speaking with us in his delightful accent.

For a lucky few, he was more. Saturday morning of the conference, I was invited to participate in a photo shoot with Angelo at his virgin cover-model gig for Ellora’s Cave. My immediate reaction: Is the Pope Catholic? Does the sun set in the west?

If you’ve attended a Romantic Times convention, you’ve seen the Mr. Romance contestants or the Ellora’s Cavemen posing as a group with one attendee at a time, proceeds to charity, three minutes max and on to the next person in line. And yes, I have a few of those poses myself.

But this. This was fifteen minutes of permission to stand seriously close to Angelo, to look deeply into his warm brown eyes, to run my fingers through his long black hair. To have his undivided attention as he held me in his muscular arms.

Have I mentioned that Angelo is hawt?

He was wearing only a towel, as you can see from the photo gracing the cover of my July release WHAT SHE NEEDS, and I’m not positive (or maybe it’s wishful thinking), but he might have gone commando. Be still, my heart!

Alas, I could never quite forget the photographers arrayed around us—standing, kneeling, moving to get different camera angles. Furniture had been moved to the side. Sunlight poured in through the hotel room’s windows. Lights had been set up to the side and behind us. Directives flew like machine-gun fire.

“Look this way.” “Turn around just a bit to your left.” “Now move behind her.” And so on.

The results astounded me. Or, I should say, the results of Ellora’s Cave Art Director Syneca’s efforts with PhotoShop astounded me. I look like…someone Angelo might want to get closer to. Like someone living the script she wrote. Like Delia Barnes, the heroine of WHAT SHE NEEDS, who found her younger man in a most unexpected place—an erotic romance convention.

Here’s the blurb for WHAT SHE NEEDS:

Older widow Delia Barnes greets fellow authors before an erotic romance convention sporting a black eye, which she explains away with “I didn’t say ‘Yes, Master’ quick enough.” Sitting at the bar, burned-out ad executive and former Dom Kurt Reinhardt overhears that comment once too often and interrupts to suggest, “Maybe you need a new Master.”

Urged by her friends to accept the younger man’s invitation to learn some D/s basics—hey, an author needs to do her research, right?—Delia joins him to get first-hand experience at being submissive, starting with removing her panties in a corner booth. Later, she learns more than she bargained for when she spends a weekend at Kurt’s home with his eager business partner added to the mix.

But an innocent misstep brings Delia’s world crashing down around her. Can she trust Kurt with her heart…and her life?

You can read an excerpt of WHAT SHE NEEDS and buy the book here.

If you want to know more about RomantiCon 2010, here’s the link. We’ll be eagerly looking to see which of the Ellora’s Cavemen attend.

To read more about me and my books, please check out my Website , my MySpace page and friend me at Facebook.

Oh, and one more thing about WHAT SHE NEEDS mirroring real life: I attended my first Romantic Times convention sporting a black eye. This photo of me with Mr. Romance finalist and Ellora’s Caveman John Fish was not PhotoShopped.

If you enjoyed this mini-peek into a model’s hard life, I hope you’ll take a moment to comment (this will enter you into the drawing for a prize). Thanks for stopping by!


PS - Please leave your email address, so Cris can contact you if you are this week's winner!