Newsletter

September 19, 2018 Newsletter

9/19/2018

This will be a really brief newsletter but I wanted to let you know that Dark Moon is out--at Amazon, at least. The others will trickle in behind, but this re-release of the third book in my Spirit Wild series will be available for .99 for a week only--which will of course be extended to accommodate those readers who are buying from Nook, Kobo, or iBooks.

This should have been up a few days ago, but Amazon has tightened down on allowing small companies who handle uploads for those of us who are technically challenged, to actually do their job. It's not a bad policy to check and double check who owns the copyright, to be sure that it's not someone trying to rip off an author, which has unfortunately become fairly common in the writing world. We got it all straightened out today. I hope!

Click on the cover for an excerpt. Should take you to the Dark Moon page.

We are seriously into the nuts and bolts of moving. Our house here in Healdsburg is a mess, and the one up in the mountains is calling us. We're doing a lot of "back and forth," but it's a three hour drive on a good day, and has taken well over four hours on those not so good days! Movers will be here next week, and I can't wait to get settled in the new place. Once we're all in, I'll post some pictures, but right now it's rather cluttered, to put it mildly!

I will say that we have found exactly what we wanted. Had a bit of a freakout when Comcast informed us that no, we they could not bring Internet to our house, even though every single house along our street is hooked up and there's even existing cable to the pole in front. I finally quit arguing with them and tried using my phone as a hotspot. It works. I'm no longer freaking out. Much.

I won't be around much for the next couple of weeks as we move and get settled, but I'm going to have a wonderful new office, a bit smaller than the one here, but with a view of trees and blackberry vines and way too many Canadian geese who hang out in the pond out in front and poop all over the place! They're also eating the fallen apples in the orchard. We've got apples and pears and a few other fruit trees--I've seen persimmons and figs, but don't know what else we can grow there at 2700' elevation. We're going to get some snow, which will be fun.

Anyway, for those of you on Kindle who haven't read Dark Moon, it's up and only .99. Print will be out in a few days. In the meantime, I need some sleep, so hope this isn't filled with typos! And if any of you find Dark Moon for sale at the other retailers: Nook, Kobo, and iBooks, please send me the link!

All the best to all of you. And for those in the southeast where the weather has gone absolutely crazy, I do hope you're safe and made it through the storm unscathed...and dry. I heard on tonight's news about the amount of rain that's fallen and it's unbelievable!

Take care, be safe, and I hope you've got at least a bit of time to read a good book!

Kate

2 Comments

July 7th, 2018

7/7/2018

I don't think I've ever combined any of my newsletters before, but I don't want to miss what's been happening in my writing life over the past six weeks, because it's been crazy busy...or maybe just flat out crazy. I'm finally getting some of those reverted titles back up for sale. I've gotten a lot of books back--remember, I've been doing this for 20 years now, and many of my older books are coming back to me. That's how good contracts work--when sales slow down with the original publisher, the author can request their rights back, and then re-release them either independently or with another publisher. I've done some of my Wolf Tales books (10, 11, and 12) with Beyond the Page Publishing, a company my agent, Jessica Faust at Bookends Literary Agency, set up to help authors with reverted titles, or new work when, as is my case, the author wants to continue working on a discontinued series. That's what I've been doing with my Spirit Wild books. I recently got the rights back to both DARK WOLF and DARK MOON. DARK WOLF will be coming out next Tuesday--July 10--if everything goes according to plan.

But, I'm doing it differently, from working directly with the cover artist to doing a lot of my own formatting, assisted by a small but very good company called IndieWrites. And Sheri, the extremely smart woman I'm working with, is handling the uploading and detailed formatting, and all of those things that would make me batshit crazy. Without any doubt whatsoever...so wish me luck on this first almost entirely self-published reverted book, which I'm releasing for just .99 for the first week. After that it will go up to $3.99, so if you haven't read it, or if you know anyone who hasn't read it but has maybe read some of the series, please help me spread the word! That .99 won't last long.

But that's not the only project I've been working on. A number of years ago, when I was writing for Ellora's Cave, I did a number of sexy short stories for a couple of their Caveman anthologies. They were fun to write, but not part of any series, just stories that popped into my head and somehow worked. This one was one of my favorites, a truly feel good sexy story that still makes me smile. The cover is linked to an excerpt at Changeling Press. It's about an alien construct, essentially a robot placed on Earth to sexually service traveling space explorers. She's not supposed to have emotions, and certainly should never fall in love with a human man who's been spying on her. I mean, what sane android falls in love with a voyeur?

Obviously, Mira hasn't read the handbook.

Another book coming up, also from Changeling Press, is MORE THAN A HUNCH. This one was part of an anthology at EC and probably is the book that gave me even more notoriety than the first Wolf Tales. There's a very graphic scene that I elected to read aloud at a Romantic Times conference many years ago--sometime after 2002 when the book was written--and I chose this one assuming I'd be reading to a small group of women. Wrong. There were quite a few men in the audience, and the room was so crowded that there were people standing in the back. There were about eight of us doing readings...wish I could remember everyone who was there. Rosemary Laurey was one of the authors, but damned if I can recall others. Maybe Stephanie Burke? Treva Hart? I'll have to ask them. I'll update if I do find out.

We were all Ellora's Cave authors, I think, and everyone read pretty neat scenes, but the closer it got to me, the more I realized that, at this point and with this audience, reading a "first person point of view" oral sex scene which means I'm reading as if I'm the one going down on a guy--to a mixed audience--was probably not one of my smarter moves. The thing is, I could never do anything like that myself, but thank GAWD it's Kate Douglas who goes to these conferences, because she can be one ballsy bitch. And I/she did it. Read it with as much emotion as I could put into it, and before I was done the room was dead quiet except for the sound of men in the audience shifting in their seats.

To this day, when I'm at a conference, absolute strangers will come up to me and say they remember the time...so if any of you were there, I'd love to hear from you. And if you read More Than a Hunch when it comes out (if you haven't already) I can assure you that you'll know exactly what scene I'm talking about! The book is due to release at Changeling Press on July 20, and I think it comes out everywhere else July 27. When it's first listed at CP, it's always marked down, and then prices go up once it hits the other retailers.

There's one other book out there floating around that was in the very first Caveman Anthology, Tales from the Temple, I think. My story is called Barbarian. It's one of my darker tales, written in 2004, and really skirts the line with non-consensual BDSM, but I still like the way it works, and I'm anxious to see it come out again. It's been unavailable for a long time, as far as I know.

Almost forgot! I have rediscovered an author I haven't read for years, and I'd forgotten just how much I love Ann Christopher's writing. I'm always pushing BookBub, right? Well, Ann had a free book up, SINFUL SEDUCTION, and I remembered how much I enjoyed the few stories of hers I'd read. I read it. Couldn't put it down, and ended up buying--and reading the rest of the series.

You know how authors put those little teaser chapters at the end of an ebook? Yeah...I do it too, but after I read the entire Davies Family series, I saw a teaser for a free book in the Journeys End series, and, well. as therapy, it's amazingly effective to read a good book. And lord knows I've needed the therapy! So yes, that's another series to add to my collection.

Then, at the end of one of those books I came across an excerpt for the first book in the Warner Family series. Click on the cover--this one is free, too, as is the first in Journeys End (which I have) and I am convinced that BookBub is like crack for readers. FWIW, I see no reason to consider anIy sort of twelve step program...No, not me!

I've just ordered the final book in the Warner Family--CAMPAIGN FOR SEDUCTION, and then it's going to be time to read the Journeys End stories.

I've also got a beautiful hardcover copy of THE OTHER LADY VANISHES by Amanda Quick sitting next to my workspace, taunting me!

I love these covers, and the first book in this series set in the 1930s, THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, really stuck with me. Click on the cover to go to Jayne Ann Krentz/aka Amanda Quick's website for more about these stories.

On the home front, nothing much is happening. Husband is slowly healing from surgery on his

his left foot, but the house hasn't sold, which is really frustrating. We are so ready to get out of town and back to a rural lifestyle. It's a really cute house in a 55+ community, but the backyard is very small and that's putting people off. It works for me because I don't have a lot of time to garden, and it's filled with ferns and Japanese maples. I love the house--just wish it was in the middle of five or ten acres somewhere!

Once I get caught up on all the reverted books, I plan to get started on the next Spirit Wild story. Have a few ideas rattling around in my brain, but haven't really settled on exactly who's going to be in this next one. I want to do something with my maned wolves, and we still have to get Oliver and Asha mated, so I'm sure something will come to me when I least expect it. Next project, however, is getting DARK MOON back up for sale so I can have the entire Spirit Wild series out there for readers.

If you've been following the Affaire de Coeur cover contest, I think it's still open for voting. Please stop by the Affaire de Coeur website and vote for your favorite authors and their covers. I've got DARK CAPTIVE entered, but if that's not your favorite in the "Almost Kiss" section, please vote for the one you love. I'm just pointing you in their direction!

http://affairedecoeur.com/AlmostKiss.html
http://affairedecoeur.com/HotGuyzPatrol.html
http://affairedecoeur.com/UniquelyYours.html
http://affairedecoeur.com/GorgeousGals.html

We've had a couple of weeks of grandkids and their parents here from Hawaii, and it was wonderful to get all six of them together (three are here in town) because they really have a terrific time together. Ages run from six to sixteen, and they're definitely a lot of fun. Also a reminder that motherhood is for the young! I swear their moms go ninety miles an hour. I vaguely recall doing that when our kids were younger, though I don't think we ever had as much going on as this next generation.

And on that note, it's time to shut this sucker down and get this posted. I'm hoping to do a contest next month whether we move or not. Not sure how or what, but please don't give up on me. And thank you all for hanging in with me during this past year. I'm really hoping to get the next new book out sooner rather than later.

All the best to you. I hope you're not melting in this horrible heat we're having here in the US and Canada. Sounds like it's reaching record temps, especially in the northeast. We hit 105° last week, but it's actually been fairly pleasant the past few days. Tomorrow should be hot, though. Unfortunately!

Take care, be well, and always find time to read a good book!

Kate

May 2018 Newsletter

5/15/2018

Okay...so DARK CAPTIVE has now been out for a full day in both print and digital form, and I can relax...almost. At least I could until I heard from both my editor and my agent regarding NetGalley and reviews, and I figured relaxing wasn't going to happen.

I had no idea there were rules for this part of the biz, but I guess there are, so I have a request for any of you who are reading or planning to read DARK CAPTIVE in the next few days. If you're a reader who would normally post a review even if you don't care for the book (and please, always be honest when you post a review), if you could do it within the first couple of weeks after the book releases, that would really help.

Reviews used to be something we (authors) all looked forward to. We got depressed over the bad ones, (though if the bad reviews make good points for change, I know I take them seriously and, if possible, try to fix what that particular reviewer didn't like) and we madly celebrate the good ones. Whenever possible, where there's a short snippet that translates well for clip on the website, we get that posted asap! Now, though, with so many writers publishing and readers overwhelmed by choices, the only way to sell books is if there are enough reviews to raise the book's ranking on the various online sellers.

I haven't really paid close enough attention to this part of the business--and that's what this is: a business--and I should have been over the years. I absolutely hate asking for reviews, but I guess that's really hurting me in the long run, because people don't even know the books exist unless they follow me online via my newsletter, Facebook, or Twitter. Or, if they go to their favorite bookseller and see what books are trending.

So, that is my request for you if you commonly leave a starred ranking on Goodreads or Amazon or any of the others, that you try and get it posted by the end of May. And to those of you who are part of my street team and get your copies from NetGalley, if you have been rejected for a copy of my book, please send me an email and I will contact my editor and get you added back in. I didn't realize that if you get a free NetGalley copy and don't review or leave any feedback anywhere, your name is purged from our list at some point. And no, I don't know what point that is.

My next project will be getting Dark Wolf proofed and formatted for release, and than Dark Moon so we can get the two Kensington titles back up. That's where the Spirit Wild series began, but I now have the rights back and need to bring them out myself.

On the home front:

Still haven't sold the house, so we're sort of in a holding pattern here with the move. Of course, it didn't help that the day we put ours up for sale, when there was nothing else in town at our price range, about five other homes went on the market at the same price! Hopefully, one of these days something will happen and we can get ourselves settled far away from town.

My husband is finally recovering from his surgery, but it's been a long six months for a really active guy who's been limping around with a cane or relying on a knee scooter to cover any distance. Of course, he can still ride his bike! I think he could be at Death's Door and still ride his bike. And yes, that's a very good thing. Keeps both of us sane. Or as sane as we're able to be!

I'm still dealing with the stomach ulcer issue, but must admit I got the giggles -- and I am NOT a giggler -- when my doctor suggested cutting stress out of my life! I've already cut out alcohol and caffeine, and I'm a hardcore coffee drinker, and you all know how I love my wine! But stress? That IS my life!

He's obviously never been a mom/wife/grandmother/author/cook/nurse/ in the middle of trying to sell her house and move across the state.

On that note, I have to get the house straightened up in case we need to show it, and go back to work on Dark Wolf. I do hope you enjoy Dark Captive. I'm looking forward to the next story following the same thread where the Chanku are actively searching out Berserkers still trapped in their animal forms. There are more out there than they ever realized, all of them waiting for the moment they can taste those almost mythical grasses from the Tibetan plateau and the lower regions of the Himalayas. Taste them and discover the human side they know is hidden within.

Also, I am hoping to get back to contests as soon as we get settled. Right now ALL of my books are packed. Everything. My office is bare and so clean it makes me twitchy. I am NOT a competent housekeeper. If there's a choice between writing and cleaning, I'd rather be in my office. Now, if the choice is writing and gardening or writing and cooking, I'd have to think about it a bit longer.

Take care, be well, and stay safe. Decent weather is not really something we can count on anymore, and I don't want any of you hurt by weather systems that are definitely not welcome where you live.

All the best,
Kate

APRIL 2018 NEWSLETTER

4/26/2018

One year ago today, on April 26, 2017, Dark Terror released. I have never, in my entire career, taken over a year to write a book. For years I wrote, at a minimum, two novels and two long novellas a year for my NY publisher while still managing to write shorter stories for smaller presses.

We (my husband and I) didn't realize that my issues with writing began with our move out of the mountains and into town. We have lived in rural areas for most of our 46 year marriage, but the last six years, living in a very nice, quiet neighborhood in a 55+ community has made us both absolutely nuts. I've struggled to write ever since we moved off the mountain, but it wasn't until I had my contracts with St. Martin's Press and was trying to finish the six books and one novella I was contracted for that I realized just how badly things were going. I managed to write the books and meet my deadlines. They turned out surprisingly good, considering the fact I was going quietly insane surrounded by houses and people. So, as much as we love living close to our daughter and grandchildren and our daughter-in-law's family who feel as much a part of our bunch as our own blood and bone, (and where our son and his family stay when they visit) we are moving back to the country.

What's really strange is that, the moment we made the decision to put our house up for sale and start hunting for a new home--with some property!--my joy in writing has returned.

For those readers of mine who have not given up on me, my sincere thanks. You will never realize how much I appreciate your encouragement and truly thoughtful and kind notes. And now, enough about me. I've not moved yet, but it's going to happen as soon as we sell, so I think it's time to tell you a bit about this new book.

I use models, actors, people who embody the visual I have for my characters. I've long thought of Leo as a stuffy attorney, but I know he's got that leopard inside. He may run as a wolf, but he's marked like his sister with dark rosettes against a pale coat, a reminder that the snow leopard is his primary animal. Just to give you an idea, here are the photos I've got when I'm writing. They're two separate men, but they embody the different sides of Leo for me.

See what I mean? The guy on the top is the stuffy attorney, the one I first saw as Leo. However, the more I got to know him, the better I liked the guy, and I realized there was passion beneath that suit. Remember, Leo is the son of Oliver, a troubled but important member of the pack, an African man with a painful history from Barbados. Leo's mother is Mei Chen--an Asian woman whose snow leopard is dominant. She's a fiery, passionate woman, while Oliver, in private at least, is more submissive.

And their unusual dynamic in a matriarchal pack is what makes Leo the troubled man he's become.

Leo will always be a conflicted soul--his parents' unusual relationship insures that--but the difference between Leo and his father is that Leo is willing to change and grow. This second photo is how I saw Leo by the end of the book. The model on the cover is close, but we're limited to the bodies we have to work with in covers, and I must admit, I do like this one.

I'm currently building the page for Dark Captive, and should have an excerpt ready before too long. I'll post a notice on my FB page when it's up, but I'm waiting on edited copy from my editor before going live with it.

I won't be doing a contest this month--my books are all packed so I haven't got any for prizes, and I've got to get a lot of work done in the yard this week so that it looks good for showing. But, I will get the excerpt up asap, and hope to have information about preorders within a day or two.

Thank you again for being so patient. Now I need to get that excerpt edited so I can get it up for you!

Kate

April 2018 "Not a Newsletter!" UPDATE!

4/15/2018

I HAVE A RELEASE DATE, THOUGH IT'S NOT AS SOON AS I'D HOPED--MY FAULT FOR GETTING IT IN SO LATE--BUT DARK CAPTIVE WILL RELEASE MAY 15. THAT WILL GIVE US TIME TO GET IT UP ON NETGALLEY FOR REVIEWS, AND HAVE IT RELEASE IN PRINT AS WELL AS EBOOK, HOPEFULLY AT THE SAME TIME. IT WILL ALSO GO ON PRE-ORDER AT A REDUCED PRICE AS SOON AS WE'RE ABLE TO GET IT UP. WATCH THIS SPACE, OR JOIN MY NEWSLETTER TO GET NOTICES IN YOUR INBOX WHEN I'VE POSTED SOMETHING NEW HERE.

Just an announcement as I don't have time for a newsletter right now. Doing the final read through of DARK CAPTIVE and will have it on my editor's desk if I have to be up all night. Between some health issues and putting the house up for sale so we can MOVE BACK TO THE COUNTRY!!! I've fallen way behind, but hopefully we will still get this out in April as promised.

Sorry if I've not responded to notes or notifications, but it's been crazy and so hard to get this done. It's a damned good story, though, and I think you're going to love Asha! I know Leo Chavel is certainly interested...

March 2018 Newsletter

3/31/2018

Okay, so I'm really sneaking in under the wire to call this my March newsletter, but it's been a crazy month...and I mean even crazier than usual! Husband and I have decided that we are most definitely NOT cut out for life in town. We've talked about moving back to the country for at least three of the six years since we moved here about going back to the country, and finally, earlier this month, we decided to quit talking about it and just do it. As my husband said, "I think we've got at least one more adventure left in us," and I have to agree. (And now you know why I adore this man--he gets me and really understands what's important.)

So, we contacted a realtor and are currently listed as "coming soon," while we pack up and otherwise hide all the clutter so we can make this house look its very best. We've taken a few trips to various places around the northern part of the state, exploring areas we'd like to live, and today we had a huge yard sale and "re-homed" a whole lot of stuff we honestly had no use for. In fact, I'd totally forgotten we even had a lot of what we got rid of today. I think we gave away as much as we sold!

In the meantime, I've been working on the edits for Dark Wolf, my opening book for the Spirit Wild series with plans to bring it out ASAP, and have also completed edits on A WOLF BY ANY OTHER NAME, which just came out at Changeling Press yesterday, and will release from Amazon, BN, Kobo, and iBooks on April 6. You can preorder from those vendors--just follow the links on my page by clicking on the cover above.

Remember that stack of books I showed you last month? Just a refresher shot of the photos here:

I've managed to read three of them--Jayne Ann Krentz's PROMISE NOT TO TELL, Robyn Carr's THE FAMILY GATHERING, and Susan Fox's COME HOME WITH ME. Click on the titles to see my reviews on Goodreads. I think Eileen Wilks' DRAGON BLOOD will be my next read.

Because of all that's going on right now, I'm not doing a contest. Waiting on edits for Dark Captive, and hopefully that one will go up in the next couple weeks. I'll let you know as soon as I have a definite release date.

I'll be off social networking the next few days--have a busy schedule including tests at the hospital for some minor issues, so if you contact me and I don't respond, it's because I've got way too much going on. I hope you're all doing well, and definitely hope you're finding time to read, and that spring has finally come to your part of the country, unless you're in the Southern hemisphere, where it's fall!

On that note, take care, be well, and I'll do this again in a few weeks -- hopefully with a contest this time!

Kate

February 2018 Contest Winners

3/2/2018

So far, I'm hearing only good things from my beta readers who are working on Dark Captive, which means I get to breathe a huge sigh of relief! I'm anxious to get this book out to my readers so I can see how this one goes over.

Just picked my newsletter winners! A copy of Dark Refuge just headed off to Eva in Finland, while Michelle has a copy of Dark Spirit headed her way, and Tracey will get her copy of Dark Terror when she tells me what format she needs...Tracey? Are you listening? Send me an email and tell me what you need.

I've finished reading my final book for the Romance Writers of America Rita contest, and they were all excellent. I love the Ritas because I almost always read books by authors I've never read before, and I am always pleasantly surprised by the wonderful stories. There are some truly talented romance authors out there--both men and women. I think the chance to read these amazing books is probably one of the biggest perks of belonging to RWA!

Which reminds me--I'm not going to be able to go to the conference in Denver this year after all. Was really looking forward to it, but we have some conflicts that just make it impossible. Next year is New York, so I'm hoping to go to that one. Always love the chance to spend time in the city!

Now though, I get to start on my own TBR pile. Starting tonight with Jayne Ann Krentz's PROMISE NOT TO TELL. I'm really looking forward to this one! (along with all the others, but I'm a one book at a time kinda reader)

And then, I'm headed off to bed. Have a track meet to go to tomorrow, where our grandson will be running and our daughter is the new high jump coach! Sarah held the school high jump record for a number of years, so it's really fun to see her coaching the team.

Thanks to all of you who entered, and congratulations to the winners.

All the best, and stay safe in this horrible weather we've got around the country right now. It's been blowing and raining here since yesterday, but California desperately needs the rain, so I can't complain.

Be well,

Kate

February 2018 Newsletter

2/25/2018

And what, you might ask, is that? It's a "maned wolf," native to South America, and one of the new characters in my Spirit Wild series. Santiago and his mate Sofia are Berserkers, caught up in the illegal trade of predators, currently living in pens at a wild animal refuge in Minnesota. If you click on the image, you should go to a YouTube video that explains what these fascinating creatures are really like--ever since I first saw photos of them, I've wanted to add them

to a book. Dark Captive was the perfect story to introduce them.

The real star of Dark Captive, however, is Asha, a beautiful snow leopard, also a Berserker, rescued by the Chanku. For those of you new to the series, Berserkers are a subspecies of Chanku shapeshifters who are born as animals and shift to human, unlike the Chanku who start out as human babies who can shift and become animals. The tragedy of the Berserkers is that they are fully sentient and aware that they can shift, but only if they've had the proper nutrients, those grasses from Tibet that the Chanku need to sort of jumpstart the genetic anomaly that powers their shift.

Berserkers were originally bred at the dawn of Chanku history to be the guardians of their people--they are the larger, more powerful fighters who were protectors of the Chanku. I'm still not sure what the role of the maned wolf was as a Berserker in the ancient history of the species, but I'm sure I'll find out in the next book.

And yes, Dark Captive is finally done. I've never taken as long to write one of my books as I have with this one, but I've never had as many interruptions, either! Still, I think you're going to enjoy the story. It's due out in early April, but tonight I'll be sending it to my beta readers and hoping they've got time to give it a good read for typos, etc.

I've been busy reading books for the RWA contest so haven't touched my stack of wonderful stories waiting for me in my TBR pile, but it's not been easy, staring at this fantastic collection and knowing I can't read them until I finish the book I'm writing (check!!) and the final book I'm judging (almost check!!) and then I intend to dive into JAK's PROMISE NOT TO TELL because it's been TAUNTING ME! (as have the others, though not for as long...) But is THAT a collection or what? I can't wait!!

Once I hear back from my beta readers, I'll get an excerpt posted on my website so you can see what this book's about. I've also got the rights back to Dark Wolf, the first in the series, so hopefully I'll be able to get it ready to re-release before too long. I'll be doing that one entirely on my own, so there will be a learning curve involved! Wish me luck.

And, to celebrate the fact that the BOOK IS DONE, I'm going to give away ebook copies of the winners' choice of Dark Spirit, Dark Refuge, or Dark Terror. If you need a refersher to figure out which one you'd like the chance to win, just click on the title and it will take you to that book's page.

On that note, I'm going to close for now. I don't get a wine break in the afternoons anymore, nor can I have coffee in the morning. I MISS MY CAFFEINE MORE THAN THE WINE! What does THAT tell you? Unfortunately, my ulcer is back and I'm having to heal up entirely before I can have either of my favorite beverages again. I've become a fan of Celestial Seasonings herbal teas, but they tend to put me to sleep, not wake me up when I want to write...

I hope Spring is beginning to make its appearance. Everything here is blooming and my yard is starting to look really pretty. I've posted a bunch of pictures from the yard on Instagram. You can find me there at katedouglas9383. I'm trying to learn to use the app, though I'm a slow learner when it comes to things on my phone. I have, at least, figured out how to post!

Take care, be safe, and don't forget to enter the contest if you're missing any of those books.

Kate

January 2018 contest winners!

1/16/2018

Congratulations to all of you who entered--and there are a LOT of you! Since the prize this month is a novella that is not available unless you can find an out of print anthology, and because it's a "sort of sequel" to a longer book that I've released through Beyond The Page Publishing that is totally NOT like my usual stuff, I'm sending a pdf copy of Dime Store Cowboy to everyone who entered my contest this month.

The main character, Mark Connor, was introduced in Cowboy in My Pocket, a romance I wrote back in 2000 that used--on purpose--every trope ever written in a cowboy romance. I essentially set out to write a parody of romances as a joke, and the more I wrote, the better I liked the way the book was turning out. Tag, the cowboy hero, needs a bride of convenience to save the family ranch, and his trusty side-kick finds one. Only he finds the wrong one. Instead of a barrel racer who has volunteered to play the bride, he drags home a woman he finds wandering along a mountain road who has amnesia...do you see where this one is going?

I had more darned fun writing this book. It ended up winning awards and getting a top pick review from Romantic Times Magazine. What's really funny is that before I sold it to a small epub, I actually had a verbal commitment from an editor at a large publishing house (that I will not name) who had no idea I was making fun of exactly the kind of romances her publisher is famous for. When the senior editor read it, the manuscript suddenly showed up on my doorstop, overnighted back to me!

The title of the book is COWBOY IN MY POCKET and I think it still holds up as a fun romance today. Tag, the hero, is based on my husband (yep, the clueless cowboy hero) to the point where, when our daughter was reading the book she said she had to stop when she got to the part where Tag and Lee were getting up close and personal.

Actual dialog: "Mom! I couldn't read it. I kept thinking of Dad when I read Tag's words, and THEN HE TOOK HIS PANTS OFF!"

Aren't kids great? Anyway, if you like the style of Dime Store Cowboy, you might enjoy Cowboy in My Pocket. And, btw, that's our son and his then girlfriend, now wife, on the cover. He's wearing his dad's cowboy hat, Mel's wearing my Levis, and Sarah was egging them on just out of the frame for the photo shoot. My husband took the picture--it was truly a family affair!

It's going to take me a while to get the copies all sent, but if you don't have yours by tomorrow afternoon, please drop me a note (email, please. I don't always catch all the Facebook messages and notifications, and I'm rarely on Twitter) so write to me at katedouglas13@gmail.com.

And contrary to what I said about reading JAK's new book, PROMISE NOT TO TELL, I got a whole stack of books I need to judge for a contest, so will have to read those first. That's not a bad thing, though. I've found some amazing authors while judging for contests! Jayne's book is sitting here taunting me, and it's the first one I plan to dig into after I'm through reading the contest entries. Then I've got Eileen Wilks' Dragon Blood, JR Ward's Blood Fury, and Susan' Fox's latest Blue Moon Harbor book, Come Home With Me. I'm gonna be so busy! But, they're incentive to finish my judging.

I hope you're not freezing wherever you are--weather has been yucky here, but nothing like a lot of the country where it's absolutely frigid! Stay safe, and watch for your copy of Dime Store Cowboy. I'll be sending them out shortly.

Kate

January 2018 Newsletter

1/9/2018

This is the one I've been waiting to show off--we finally came up with the perfect cover for Wolf Tales 12 Exposed, the final book in my Wolf Tales series, and the story that led to my Spirit Wild series.

This one should be up for pre-order (for those of you who haven't already read the book--this is a re-release of the original) for $2.99 on Saturday, January 13, and comes out January 23. At that time, the price will go up to $3.99.

This is really the story of the entire pack, a time when all of their tales sort of come together as they are faced with the greatest threat to the Chanku since they first discovered their shape shifting abilities.

If you click on the cover, it will take you to the Wolf Tales 12 Exposed page with an excerpt. Buy links will be active by Friday, January 12, though sometimes Nook and iBooks take longer. Once submitted, we have no control over the actual update. And yes, that makes my inner control freak go absolutely batshit crazy!

I've just gotten the rights back to more of my Kensington titles, which is sort of a mixed blessing. They're mine to sell at whatever price, which is good for readers since I keep them as affordable as I can afford to have them, but it takes time to get them back up for sale. I'm still working on Dark Captive, mainly because I took the entire month of December off. My husband had surgery and still can't walk (he had part of his foot fused, and it's going to take a long time to heal) plus the grandkids were all in town for the holidays. Sad husband and busy grandkids will always win out over anything else, even my fantasy world!

I've done some reading the past week or so, which has been a real treat. One beautiful story was a YA title by CC Hunter, aka my dear friend Christie Craig. Last year she told me about a story she wanted to write, about a young woman who has a heart transplant and then starts having strange dreams that she is convinced come from the donor of her new heart, who was a student at her school. The story is that Eric committed suicide, but his twin brother Matt and now Leah, as well, are beginning to think that maybe Eric was murdered. At least that's what the dreams are beginning to tell them.

If you click on the cover, it will take you to information about the book (which comes out February 27) including an excerpt. After hearing Christie's description of the story she planned to write, and knowing that her husband had just gone through a kidney transplant, I was really anxious to know how it all came together.

Honestly? It's amazing. I've got it out to read it again, but take a look at the excerpt and tell me you're not interested in this book!

Okay, so it's no secret that I'm a diehard JAK/Amanda Quick/ Jayne Castle fan, but I'm a creature of habit and I knew that this Amanda Quick historical wasn't set in a familiar historical setting--no, this one takes place in the 1930s in Los Angeles. It took me all of about three sentences before I was hooked. I think it was the glitz and glamor and a young woman on the run from a murder she didn't commit.

Or maybe it was just that I am such a huge fan of this author's work.

I don’t want to give away any plot points, but I will say this one also includes a sexy Hollywood leading man, a burned out, moderately disabled ex-magician, a higher than average number of dead bodies, and the aforementioned young woman on the run. And it's wonderfully romantic and left me smiling, but then that's what a truly good romance--and even romantic suspense--is supposed to do. I've got another of Jayne's books sitting here, taunting me, and I think this one just released. It's called PROMISE NOT TO TELL, and I haven't even allowed myself to read the jacket blurb because I am so far behind on my work.

ell, damn. As soon as I wrote that, I had to go read the cover blurb. And yes, it looks wonderful, and I imagine I'll have a full report by the time we have a contest winner. Yes...I'm planning to do a contest, but will figure out just what when I come back to work on this tomorrow. Right now it's 11 pm. and I'm fading fast.

Okay...it's officially tomorrow, and my "prize" is really for those of you who have read my romantic comedy, COWBOY IN MY POCKET. I wrote a sequel to that book that appeared in an anthology with Lori Foster called The Promise of Love. My story, DIME STORE COWBOY, is a stand alone story with characters from Cowboy in My Pocket. It's a short read, and not even available right now, but I will send a .pdf file to those selected as winners. I'm seriously considering going back to my romantic comedy roots for a bit, though I still want to do more Spirit Wild stories. Will see what you think of my Dime Store Cowboy... Just fill in the entry form (the one that says CONTEST ENTRY FORM!) and you'll be entered. Remember, I married a cowboy almost 46 years ago, so those guys in blue jeans, ten gallon hats and beat up boots will always be my hot button!

Have to add one more book that I just remembered--it was a BookBub freebie last month that I clicked on both because it was free and because I loved the cover. I also loved the book. Rimmel is the quintessential nerd on scholarship who has to tutor the campus jock, a guy appropriately named Romeo. The writing is wonderful, the characters absolutely spot-on, and the story way too much fun. It's impossible not to identify with Rimmel, unless, of course, you were the most popular girl in school. I never was--in so many ways, I was such a nerd that reading Rimmel's chapters (this is split with chapters in both Rimmel and Romeo's points of view) was sometimes absolutely painful, with the caveat that, thank goodness I'm past all that. I'm no longer a college nerd--now I'm just a grown-up one, but that is, for some reason, much easier to deal with! Anyway, check this one out, and take a look at the trailer as well, especially the outtakes. Really fun, and Cambria Hebert is definitely an author I need to read more of.

That's about it for now. I'm back into Dark Captive--started back at the beginning to refresh my memory and clean up some things I thought of while I was busy with holiday stuff--and the more I reread, the more I like my characters, especially Asha, the Berserker snow leopard learning to be human. She's definitely keeping Leo on his toes--and if you'll recall, Leo's character is one I misnamed in Dark Refuge, where I called him Aaron. That was a stupid mistake, but comes of having so many characters. When I was writing him into the book, I referred back to some of my old notes from the original Wolf Tales series where I had first named him Aaron. I should have looked at my own notes right here on my website! It's been corrected in the ebook version, but sadly the print is forever incorrect. You can see the full list of characters in my Chanku section of this site.

That's it for now. Remember, you can pre-order Wolf Tales 12 Exposure beginning Saturday for $2.99. If you've read some of my Wolf Tales books but not the final one, I'd suggest that you read 12. It's the one where so many of the things that happened in earlier stories are fully explained, and it sets up the world of the Chanku for the Spirit Wild stories I'm writing now. Enjoy!

I hope your holidays were happy and "flu free!" So many people out here in California have been sick this year, but they're saying that the flu shot makes it less dangerous even if the shot doesn't completely protect you from getting it. I want all of you healthy for the new year, and I do hope you can steal away for some time to read a good book.

Obviously, I've been stealing more time than I should! Need to get back to work, now.

All the best,
Kate

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I'm a romance author--I really love those happy endings, though I don't mind putting my characters through pure, unadulterated hell before they get there...

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Contests are on hold until we get settled, but my contests usually run for one week from the date of publication of the current newsletter. Any entries outside of that time frame will be discarded. International entries are welcome, though increasing postage costs are forcing me to give ebooks for now. We'll work out the logistics!. Your addresses will not be shared or sold--I respect your privacy. I will only collect addresses if I am giving away print books. That way I don't have to search for the winner after the contest.
I have these contests for fun, because I love to share my books.