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Happy New Year!

12/31/2017

And no. I really cannot believe it's already 2018...I thought 2017 would NEVER end...

However, I'm looking forward to 2018 after the tumult of the past year. I always feel hopeful at this time of year, and I think it's because our family is all together, the kids are growing and so much fun, and I see them as the promise of the future.

I've taken the past couple of weeks off, have barely checked email, and am instead spending time trying to center myself and find the optimist I used to be. She's in there somewhere, just pouting, I think. My new driver's license photo certainly didn't help. <snort> There's this old woman staring back at me, one I don't ever recognize because the photo is taken without glasses on, and I haven't been able to see me without glasses for about thirty years...so if that's how I really look, my sympathies to anyone I might run into in public!

I've not been reading all that much, not with six grandkids together in one town, though Doug and I have been taking it pretty easy as he recovers from surgery. He's using a knee scooter to get around--our 16 year old grandson suggested putting a motor on it. I think not...

As far as this writing gig of mine...I am first and foremost a reader, and I really do want to mention one book I was lucky enough to get an ARC for--THE PRISON OF THE ANGELS by Janine Ashbless. The Prison of the Angels is the third Book of the Watchers trilogy and the sequel to Cover Him With Darkness and In Bonds of the Earth. I've read and reviewed all three, but this final book absolutely blew me away. Highly recommended if you like dark and gritty erotic romances with an unbelievably cool ending. The first two do not have the HEA as the book has a total three book story arc, but if you read the first, I think you'll be hooked. Well worth reading.

Anyway, no contest this month, but hopefully next month. Wolf Tales 12, the final book in my first Chanku series, will be coming out in January. Details to follow, and hopefully a contest as well. I'll be getting back to work on Dark Captive, and then I'm not sure which of my reverted titles I plan to work on next. I may leave it up to readers--should I concentrate on the Dream Catchers erotic SF stories, The StarQuest erotic SF, or maybe my DemonSlayers series? If you've got an opinion, please let me know in the comments section. I honestly don't know which one to work on!

I have great hopes for 2018. My wish is for peace and civility in the coming year, and I truly hope that the attention being paid to the sexual assault and harassment of women doesn't go away, that the story doesn't die a worthless death. I've not posted anything regarding my own personal experience, though I've spoken openly with some of you about things in my past, but I can honestly say that many of the stories I've heard have triggered my own memories, and along with that a resolve to stop this now.

I truly hope that the world will finally pay attention to the lack of respect so often given women around the globe. Too many of us have our own #MeToo history. It's beyond the right time to make changes now. Have a wonderful New Year--if you party tonight, don't drink and drive. Find a safe way home! I've got a big pot of linguica and beans on the stove to take to a family gathering just outside of town. We will, however, be home early!

Happy New Year!

Be safe!
Kate

November contest winners announced!

12/5/2017

Sorry to take so long choosing winners and getting this posted, but in the past week I've had two books release (JUST A LITTLE MAGIC on Dec. 1, and the FERAL PASSIONS bundle today) a husband in and out of surgery, copy edits for the Wolf Tales 12 re-release, and more work on Dark Captive. Plus errands, since my spouse can't do them while he's recovering.

Finally, home at my computer once again, just in time to choose my winners for the November contest. Apologies for taking so long, but it was a week ago today that my husband had a fairly serious surgery and it's been a very busy few days.

Serious in that he can't walk until his foot heals--which will be many months--and this is a guy always in motion. So, he's zipping around the house with a knee scooter and driving me nuts, but at least he sailed through the operation with ease and is recovering a lot faster than I expected he would.

So, I ended up choosing two winners from the US and two from my international entries, and wouldn't you know it, a couple of Aussies are getting copies of DARK REFUGE. Congrats to both Donna and Pam in Australia, as well as Laura and Kim in the US, who should also have their copies by now. Since I know there are a lot of Lauras and Kims out there here in the states, if you check your email and find a copy of the book from me, you'll know you're a winner.

On that note, I'm off to rake leaves before we drown in masses of red and gold. Hope the holidays are wonderful in your household. I honestly don't know if I'll have time for a newsletter later this month. I'll send an email out to all who are subscribers to let you know. Take care, be well, and stay safe,

Kate

November 2017 Newsletter

11/24/2017

I do hope all of you who celebrated Thanksgiving this month survived the holiday with waistlines and mental faculties intact! I'm sort of rising slowly out of the food fugue and realized this morning that I'm running out of November and needed to get my butt in gear and get my newsletter out.

December is beginning to look like a crazy busy month. I've got two re-releases coming out, both absolutely as different from one another as night is from day, but the one thing they have in common is that they're both a lot of fun. FERAL PASSIONS is finally coming out as a three-book bundle from St. Martin's Press. This one has all three stories from the series: FERAL PASSIONS, WILD PASSIONS, and DANGEROUS PASSIONS. They're category length romances (around 60,000 words each) and all linked by the common thread of the Feral Passions Resort up in northeastern California. It's a longshot for the men of Feral Passions, but if they don't find mates, their pack is at risk of dying out altogether. What better way for a group of lonely werewolves to attract women than by setting up a luxury resort just for women in the beautiful Trinity Alps? It certainly seems like a good idea at the time...

JUST A LITTLE MAGIC is one of those novella length things I wrote for fun--it has a wannabe Santa who gets pink slipped and falls, quite literally, into the arms of a young woman who's just kicked her worthless boyfriend out of her life. They're both really likable characters; add in a whole slew of sex toys tied into the Christmas holidays, and I can promise you a smile. And yes, it really does work! If you preorder through the link on the cover above, you'll get a 15% discount off the price. At least I think it's 15%.
🙄
Links in the covers will take you to excerpts and pre-order/buy links for both books.

It's BLACK FRIDAY, a day when I absolutely refuse to shop. Life is too short to risk death and dismemberment in the chaos and mayhem that is the US on the day after Thanksgiving, though I understand the selling/shopping frenzy actually started ON Thanksgiving! Of course, our local Safeway had all their Christmas decorations up a week before Halloween, which is definitely pushing things a bit too much.

On the home front, we've had a gorgeous Fall season, with lots of color around town. I've been trying to find time to read, but haven't indulged as much as I like as I'm into the part of Dark Captive that's really keeping me glued to my own story. I love it when things happen when I'm writing that I hadn't expected, but it usually requires a lot of rewriting earlier in the story. Gotta make sure those facts all match up!

Here's the opening--this one has a totally different heroine, and I think this particular book is going to open up a bunch of new stories.

~~*~~

Tuesday, June 19, 2040
A small Hindu temple in rural New York State

She’d been pacing the tight space for hours now, and she’d lost track of the days since he’d locked her in this small building, a temple, actually. A temple built to honor the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.

What other goddess would he worship? Asshole. He thought money was everything, but he was a fool. Unfortunately, the fool was gone and probably free as a bird, while she was trapped here with nothing but a selfish bronze goddess to keep her company. No help from her, unfortunately, or that bastard, either. He’d kept her on the edge of starvation for much too long—so long, in fact that in many ways her body had adapted to the lack of sustenance. She lived, but she had no reserves. Nothing left at all.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Right. That and a good meal would do the trick.

There was no way out, and the only water had been in a small decorative fountain near the altar. She drank the last of that yesterday. Or maybe the day before. It was hard to remember, but what was the point? No food, no water. No way out. She’d tried the door, but her huge paws slipped on the plain round knob. The windows were leaded glass, beautiful designs, actually, but much too thick to break. She’d tried throwing her body against the one she could reach.

Her head and shoulder still hurt.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. She was meant for better things. Her mother had promised that one day she would be free. Free to grow and learn, to walk among human men and women without fear. That dream had kept her going for as long as it could. Now? Not so much.

Sorry, Mama. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Memories of her mother’s beautiful face were clearer today. Maybe Mama was calling her. She sighed, hanging her head low. So hard to stand, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t give up. I’m not ready yet, Mama. I love you, but please. Just a few more years? A chance?

Raising her head, she glared at the statue. It stared back with dead eyes. She made another pass in front of the altar, but her vision grew fuzzy around the edges. She swayed in one place; then her back legs gave out. If she could have, she would have wept, but what good would tears do? It was too late for tears, too late to beg. Just too fucking late for anything. She tried to stand, failed. And tried again. The last time used what little strength she had left. With a soft cry, she gave in to the thirst, to the hunger. To the weakness. There was nothing left. But damn it all, she wasn’t supposed to die like this. There were too many left to save, and for them alone she had to live. If she died now, that regret would haunt her into the afterlife, and she didn’t want that particular sin staining her soul.

On the other hand, it was almost fitting that she fall before this particular goddess. The goddess of wealth. What a selfish bitch. Asha remembered her mother talking of another goddess, one who watched over them, except that goddess had somehow lost them. All of them.

Would she see her mother when she died? Asha wondered if there was anything at all after that final breath. She lay on the cold stone floor, her eyes on the goddess.

Except she wasn’t really a goddess, merely a statue made of bronze. But Lakshmi was the goddess filling Asha’s vision as the world finally went dark.

~~*~~

Asha is a snow leopard, a Chanku shifter of the Berserker race, one who is born an animal and cannot shift until they've had the Tibetan grasses that enable the physical changes needed to change from animal to human. She is also a victim of an active black market trade of endangered predators. Her captives don't know she's Chanku, only that she's a valuable snow leopard, one who is actually a lot smarter than most of the humans running the animal trafficking.

And yes, I am having way too much fun with this story!

Got to talk books, at least a little bit, right? I've definitely read some good ones the past few weeks. I just finished ICE, SNOW, & MISTLETOE by Jocelynn Drake, the sole author of this one, which follows another with some of the same characters that was every bit as good, WALKING ON THIN ICE. Her M/M romances are so much "more" than a lot of the stories I read, and she and her writing partner Rinda Elliott are full-on favorites of mine. I finished up the final book in their co-authored UNBREAKABLE series, IAN, which was absolutely wonderful, and then I segued right into their new series, WARD SECURITY for the first book, PSYCHO ROMEO. Sven and Geoffrey made brief appearances in the Unbreakable stories, and it was so much fun to see them really brought to life in this new book. I'm definitely looking forward to more from these talented authors, either on their own or together. Their names are linked to their sites with excerpts and info about all their books.

Another favorite of mine is Elizabeth Hoyt. I read DUKE OF DESIRE a couple weeks ago, and it was such fun. I have loved every book in this series -- I think it might be the final novel in the Maiden Lane series. There are also two novellas--one came out on the 21st, and there's another in a couple more weeks. Her name is linked to her website with information on all her books--and I've never read anything of this author's that I haven't loved. She's one of the few historical authors who is an autobuy for me! The other, of course, would be Amanda Quick, aka Jayne Ann Krentz. I love everything Jayne writes, though I'm waiting impatiently for something else from her Jayne Castle alter ego! (Illusion Town was over a year ago, m'dear!)

On the other hand, I've been pre-ordering books because there are just too many auto-buy authors out there and I don't want to miss a thing! Blood Fury: Black Dagger Legacy (1/9/18) and The Thief: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood (4/10/18)
by JR Ward, Promise Not to Tell (1/2/18) by Jayne Ann Krentz, and Burn Bright (Alpha and Omega) (3/6/18) by Patricia Briggs. Just a few to keep me going into the new year!

I'm doing a small contest this month--ebook copies of Dark Refuge to at least two winners, depending on the number of entries I get. I am asking for your country of residence. I need that information because I have a separate drawing for International readers, since you folks are a smaller group and I want to give you a chance to win something where you're not totally outnumbered! I also need to know what format you prefer--mobi (Amazon) epub (most others) or pdf. Fill that information out in the contest entry form, NOT IN THE COMMENTS SECTION! If you're on your phone, the contest entry form, which SAYS Contest Entry Form, might be at the very bottom of the page. On a computer it's off to the right. I'm hoping to draw winners before the end of the week, so enter asap.

And on that note, it's time to send this out and get back to work. Take care, be well, and always remember to be good to yourself and never forget to take time to read!

Hugs to all,
Kate

October Newsletter Winners

10/29/2017

First of all, I'm giving out four copies of DARK SPIRIT because I got a lot of entries this month, and since I have nothing but email addresses, I have no idea where anyone is from, so what I'm going to do is email you the copy of DARK SPIRIT in the format you requested, and will ask you to please let me know when you've received it, so I know you got your prize.

Congratulations, winners, and thank you all for entering!

Since I last posted, I've learned that the Feral Passions bundle is finally up for pre-order. This is the whole FERAL PASSIONS series, with all three complete books that appeared in the GROWL, WILD, and HUNGER print anthologies with Eve Langlais and AC Arthur.

It's a fun set of stories with a sexy group of werewolves who are desperate to find mates, not an easy thing when you live in a small, rural community in northern California. When they come up with a plan to built a resort and only invite sexy women to come and stay, nothing seems to go as planned. There's some suspense, a little bit of pure, unadulterated terror (I do love a good bad guy) and a whole lot of hot sex

If you click on the cover, it will take you to excerpts of all three books as well as buy links to preorder the bundle. The page is called WOLF GAMES, since that's the original name of the St. Martin's series that encompasses all three authors' books. And yes, I'm just too lazy to change it. This has been a very crazy-busy week, and there's another one starting tomorrow! Damn...

I did get some reading done, and all of the titles are live links that will take you to the author's page for that particular book. Joey W. Hill's VAMPIRE'S SOUL is absolutely amazing. I'm currently re-reading it. Also Nalini Singh's ARCHANGEL'S VIPER, and Elizabeth Hoyt's newest Maiden Lane story, DUKE OF DESIRE. I was also lucky enough to get an ARC of Nalini's newest contemporary romance series, HARD PLAY, called CHERISH HARD. It's coming out November 14, and I am so looking forward to more of these! Love her writing "voice!" All of these are absolutely terrific books, and a big reason why I'm so far behind on Dark Captive. After two weeks of fires and so much smoke in the air we couldn't go outside (and how the firemen do their jobs is hard to imagine, but they are all heroes in my book!) I've taken some time to catch up on my reading along with working on Dark Captive.

Copies of Dark Spirit are going out to the winners in just a few minutes. Please let me know if you get your copy. Winners are (shortened or w/online names) Drkhntrss, Lindal, annpatricia, and jessica m.

Hope all of you are well, that the weather where you live is behaving, and that you find time to read. Don't forget that Wolf Tales 11 Anton, is still available at the reduced preorder price until November 5. It comes out on the 6th.

Be well,
Kate

October 2017 Newsletter

10/21/2017

Self indulgent Author Pic here, but this is where I'd rather be right now. That's me a few weeks ago at around 4:00 a.m, lying on my back on a picnic bench at Lava Beds National Monument, stargazing. Why, you might ask? Well, because my husband really wanted photos of the stars, but the almost full moon didn't set until around 3:00 a.m. And honestly? It was worth every frozen toe to lie out there beneath starlight and just stare at the heavens.

We were home for such a short time before the fires hit Sonoma and Napa counties, then moved into Lake County. Another one burned up in Mendocino County. They were terrible, undeniably the worst firestorm this state has ever seen, with financial loss conservatively estimated at over 3 BILLION dollars. Yeah. That's with a B.

Which means it's a really spectacular time to discuss romances. Remember those happy endings? Can we say Kate's done a lot of reading the past couple of weeks? It was the only way to stay sane. Well, that and Doug's totally warped sense of humor. Times like this I am so thankful for the husband who's been beside me now for 46 years. We first got together in October 1971, and it's scary when I think how quickly those years have gone by, but even when things were awful, when we were under an evacuation advisory for over a week, he kept me laughing.

Of course, some of that was him laughing AT me, not with me. Like after we'd packed the car and the motorhome in order to make a quick getaway should an emergency evac be ordered...we went to bed, but neither of us slept all that well, not knowing if we were going to have to leave in the middle of the night. The next morning, we were still here, got up, had coffee, and I decided to get dressed. Only I'd packed ALL my underwear in the "get out of town quick" bags and stashed them in our car. Only I had no idea which bag, so I was out there in my jammies, freezing my ever-lovin' ass off, digging through the frickin' bags at O-dark hundred until I finally found the panty bag. Except the socks were somewhere else. Trust me, the morning didn't get any better.

So, on to better things. Obviously I didn't get a lot of writing done over the past couple of weeks, though enough that Dark Captive is well over half done and moving along faster now that I'm that far along. It's scheduled for an April release. The one that went up for preorder today is Wolf Tales 11, now re-releasing under the upgraded title of WOLF TALES 11 ANTON.

Dar Albert is the artist--the link with her name will take you to her website, 'WICKED SMART DESIGNS.'

We sent Dar a couple of photos of models that were as close as I could get to the real Anton, and she's pretty damned close. She also did the cover for my other books through Beyond the Page, my agent's assisted self-publishing company that is doing all my Spirit Wild series, among others.

I know a lot of you have read Wolf Tales 11--this one was one of my favorites because I wrote it while Barack Obama was running for president, and I had just realized that his wife Michelle was a ringer for Anton's mate, Keisha Rialto.

In this story, the Chanku are taxed with saving the life of the president and first lady, but the price Anton pays is far beyond what he'd imagined. I found myself rereading the story with a definite sense of nostalgia for the real life president who no longer holds that office.

WOLF TALES 11 ANTON, will be at the presale price of $2.99 until its release on November 6, 2017. On release day, it goes up to $3.99.

original WT 10 cover

I know I said I'm not going to be doing contests, but I decided to give away two copies of Dark Spirit, the first of my indie-pubbed Spirit Wild books, one to a US reader and one to an international reader. Just fill in the contest order form (DO NOT "ENTER" IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. USE THE FORM THAT SAYS CONTEST ENTRY FORM, or you will not be entered.) I don't need a street address, just a working email address and the format you read your ebooks in. I have .mobi, .epub, and .pdf.

If you want to preorder the book, use the links here as I still need to add them to the books page. I'll announce winners later this week, and I'm going to add some of the books I've been reading when I announce the winners, as I really need to get this up asap.

I hope you're all well, that you haven't been dealing with any huge crisis this past month, though I imagine a large number of you have seen the opposite of wildfires, though every bit as damaging considering all the hurricanes and tropical storms. Please be safe, and if you have the time, find a quiet corner and read a good book. It's the best therapy going. I speak from experience!

Kate

Re-release of Wolf Tales 10 September 11, 1017

9/1/2017

Click on the cover for an excerpt and order links for all the online sites offering the book.

This is a re-release. The book first came out in July 2010. We've found a few typos and given it a new cover, but if you already have this one, it's the same book.

August Newsletter Winners

8/23/2017

Congratulations to my contest winners. I have two boxes of books and swag that will go out priority mail this afternoon, so Robin from California and Theresa from Florida should have them in just a couple more days. Both boxes are filled mostly with books and there's swag stuffed in around them. There wasn't as much this year as usual, though I did load up on the books. I hope you'll find some of interest to you. My internations winner is Ginette from Canada--please contact me so I'll know what book of mine to send to you from the retailer of your choice.

On another note, I just got some--to me, anyway--depressing news. St. Martin's Press has cancelled the release of the Feral Passions series as single-title ebooks. I'm sorry because I know of quite a few of you who were looking forward to finding the books online at a reasonable cost. FWIW, the stories are still available in the CLAIMED BY THE MATE duet for $4.99.

Quick update--I just now heard from my editor who loves the series and is hoping for an alternative way to release them. I suggested combining all three into a bundle, and she seemed interested. Here's hoping! I will keep you updated.

On that note, I need to get back to work. There will be some changes coming in the future with my newsletter contests. I doubt I'll be able to continue doing them monthly, as I no longer get books from my publisher to give away, and it's not in the budget to buy the print ones as I have to pay full price for them. It all comes down to economics--if this indie publishing is as successful as I hope, I may be able to get back to the regular contests, but for now they're only going to happen when I honestly have the money and the time.

I'll still be doing my newsletters with updates on new books and the occasional re-release. Coming up, of course, is Wolf Tales 10, and I've had a terrific response for reviewers to help me out in the future. I can still add more, so if you're interested, please drop me a note. Books will be provided via NetGalley.

Take care, all, and thank you for entering!

Kate

August 2017 Newsletter

8/18/2017

First of all, I've got to explain this photo, because it's the reason I had such a wonderful time at the RWA conference in Orlando. Four years ago, I ran one of my monthly contests as I usually do, and noticed that I had a whole slew of entries from Lakeland, Florida. I could think of only one person I knew from Lakeland, and that was Lisa Guertin. (Lisa is second from the left in the back row next to me) I had met Lisa at a conference years earlier and we really hit it off. (Yes, she is one who actually seems to get my off-the-wall thinking!)

Anyway, I emailed Lisa and essentially said, "What is it with all these women in Lakeland who appear to like sexy paranormals?" She didn't have a clue, either, but I figured that if there were that many women with the same interests in reading, they'd probably make for a terrific book club. And that's how the book club, The Readers of the Pack, was born.

Four years later, this group of absolutely fantastic--and funny!--women are the best of friends and the book club is going strong. I finally got to meet a lot of them (Unfortunately not everyone was able to come to Orlando) and it was an absolute hoot! After dinner, where one of my favorite authors, Andrew Grey, joined us, we went back to the Dolphin Hotel and met up with a "new to me" author, Alanea Alder, who fits right in with this crowd. (Clicking on Alanea's and/or Andrew's name will take you to their websites)

Conferences can be crazy and overwhelming, but when someone you know actually picks you up at the airport and hauls you where you need to go, it's a lot more fun. And I can say without any doubt that Lisa has one of the coolest husbands ever--how many men will haul a strange woman to the airport before four in the morning? Uh huh...not very many. Even my OWN husband puts me on the shuttle! Airport? Nah...

Lot's of cool things at the conference--I got to meet Sonali Dev, author of The Bollywood Bride and A Bollywood Affair, among others, and she sent me home with an ARC of her next book, A DISTANT HEART, coming out December 26.

It's a wonderful story, and beautifully ties up the threads left after A CHANGE OF HEART, though it can easily be read as a stand alone. Sonali's writing is absolutely flawless, and the books are so hard to put down! So I didn't--I actually read it twice, which is part of the reason my office is still in chaos after coming back from Orlando. I have to clean it up ONE of these days!

Another really good book I've read since getting back from Orlando is Susan Fox's FLY AWAY WITH ME. It's the first in a new series with a similar tone to her Caribou Crossing series--small town, likeable characters, and a truly hot romance between two smart people (such a concept!)--but this one is set on Destiny Island in the waters near Vancouver Island off the coast of beautiful British Columbia.

Susan writes wonderfully heartwarming stories. Her characters always have an issue that creates believable conflict, and they ALWAYS have a wonderful happy ending. Face it, in this country right now we can all use a few happy endings! (That's the photo I took last week to post on my Twitter account. I don't post much, but love to get my photos of books and wine out where others will see them)

This book is already out, and it's just flat out good!

There was a really good shushi restaurant in the hotel I stayed in--can we say Kate ate a lot of raw fish in Orlando? It was WONDERFUL! I also got away from the hotel--something I rarely do at a conference--and went to Disney Springs with an author I met the second night I arrived. I had dinner planned with Alix Rickloff, and Alix brought along JT Bock. Jen is an absolute hoot, and she managed not to lose me once I was surrounded by all things Disney. It was great to see Alix again, and I'm going to have to keep in touch with JT, but that's the best part about a conference--meeting new people!

I'm participating in a blog this month--click on the photo and it will take you to my Q&A where you can take a chance at winning a copy of Dark Terror Or, if you already have it and win a book, just let me know and we'll come up with something else.

As far as my contest here, I've got lots of books and RWA Swag, and I'm not sure how many prizes I can give away, but I know I've got at least enough for two boxes--again, this is US only--but I'll give away a copy of one of my own ebooks to any International winners, and the number of winners chosen sort of depends on the number of entries I get. Just enter using the contest entry form to the right. International entries, I just need to know what country you're in so I know you go into my international pool of entries. There are fewer of you than US entries, so I like to give you a fair shot at winning something. When I can separate you out, you have a better shot. I'll get in touch with International winners to see what book you'd like.

Now, on to my book business! Wolf Tales 10 is going to come out in September instead of this month. The book is done, edits complete, but we've been having trouble coming up with the right cover. The thing is, we want a concept that we can continue using, a design that will mean "Wolf Tales" to readers. A lot of you have some of the series but not all of it. I know many of you have read some of the Wolf Tales but never finished the series. I have the rights back to Wolf Tales 10, 11, and 12, and I hope to eventually have the whole series, but you'll be able to tell the ones that are re-releases by the covers--and, of course, the price. We'll have them at $3.99, I think. At this point, we're not releasing them in print unless sales warrant the extra cost. Anyway, the titles will look almost the same, except we're adding the name of the main character. Wolf Tales 10 will come out as Wolf Tales 10 -- Adam, since it's mostly his story. Once all the cover tweaking is done, it'll go up for pre-order, and I'll let you know when that happens. I think that Wolf Tales 11 is coming out in November, and Wolf Tales 12 in January.

I've been working on Dark Captive since I got back from the conference, and I'm really enjoying this one. Once I'm comfortable with my story, I'll post an excerpt.

I've got one more thing I wanted to bring up. While I was at the conference, I met with my agent. Jessica Faust is terrific and I've been with her for over sixteen years now, but she essentially handed me my ass on a platter--she did it nicely, but she laid out some hard facts I really didn't want to hear. My sales have fallen off, and a lot of the reason, she believes, is because I'm not getting enough reviews when my books first release. Unfortunately, with all the changes in publishing now, if your book doesn't get enough reviews to move it up in the rankings, people just don't see it, and sales suffer.

I talked to Lisa Guertin and the ladies of the Readers of the Pack book club and they've agreed to take on a role on the ground floor of a street team of readers willing to review for me. They'll get copies of the new books via NetGalley, and hopefully other perks as I learn how to work with a team of reviewers.

The thing is, my agent wants me to have a group of at least fifty--obviously not everyone can read and review every book I release within a set time, but if there are enough people in the group, I should be able to get more than a dozen or so reviews, which has always been a high number for me. Everything about selling books has changed--I used to let my publisher worry about that sort of thing, but honestly? They don't always do that great a job, which is why I'm putting this out there to you.

If you enjoy reading and are comfortable writing reviews, I'd love to have you join what will be a closed group. I know a lot of you have done terrific reviews for me over the years, and I'm hoping it will make a difference to have a select group of readers willing to read and post for me. One other thing--I want honest reviews. If a book doesn't work for you, feel free to say why. Authors really do learn from constructive criticism! If you are interested, please write to me at katedouglas13@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/katedouglas.author. I want to know where you usually post reviews and if you believe you can read early release copies of my books and get a review up. I will provide the books via Netgalley. I'll be quite honest--this is a business decision for me, but if I want to keep writing, I'll need to figure out a way to make it work, and in this case, I'm willing to listen to my agent. I freely admit she knows a lot more about this business than I do!

And on that note, I've got grandkids in town and I want some time to see them before they go back to Hawaii on Monday, so I'm going to close for now. It was wonderful to see so many of you at the conference--I always love the book signing at RWA because so many readers I've known online for years stop by to say hello, and it's just the coolest thing ever! Be well, take care, and get your entries in. It appears I'm going to have two very tightly packed boxes of books with everyone from Rachel Gibson and MaryJo Putney to Cynthia Eden. I definitely grabbed an eclectic bunch of stuff! Swag, too. I can't wait to find my office underneath all this stuff again!

Kate

July Newsletter contest winners

7/21/2017

I've got my contest winners for July--the box of books from Fresh Fiction will go to Tracy in Washington State, and I've got two winners from Australia--Donna from Victoria, and Ann from Sydney--who will receive their choice of one of my ebooks, so please contact me at katedouglas13@gmail.com and let me know what book you want and where you want me to order it. (so we get the right format)

Thanks to all of you for entering, and don't forget to let me know if you'll be in Orlando next week and want to get together at some point. I'm flying in Tuesday evening and coming home Sunday. My schedule is pretty crazy, but if there's a way to meet up, I'll try and make it happen. Tracy, your books will go out on Monday.

All the best to everyone, and I do hope you're summer is going well, that you're not having to deal with any of the horrible forest fires that are burning wherever it's summer!

Take care, be safe, and give yourself time to read a few good books!

Kate

July 2017 Newsletter

7/16/2017

I'm indulging myself here, and sharing this morning's photo of my Plumeria tree in bloom. Obviously, this is a Hawaiian native, not designed to grow in places like Healdsburg where it got cold enough to freeze my orange and lemon trees last year and ruined ALL the fruit!

Our daughter-in-law sent me a plumeria twig about eight years ago, and it has grown beautifully in the house each winter, and on the porch in the sun during the summer. These are the flowers that you commonly find in leis, and they smell like Hawaii. I've even got a baby plumeria that I started from a branch off the big one. Counting the height of the pot, the tree is now five feet tall with three branches of flowers that will be just like this one. It doesn't bloom all at once--in fact, there will be flowers for at least a month. And yes, it's a pain in the ASS to get it in and outside, a job I tackle when my husband isn't home. I think he believes it moves itself, but the man has a bad back and I don't want him offering to help...

Puttering in the yard or with my houseplants is my therapy. I get more "writing" done outside than when I'm sitting in my office, because I can spend time with plants and let my imagination wander through my story, which is sort of where all this is leading, right?

I've been working on Dark Captive, but after discussing release dates and such, my editor convinced me to release next April, not sooner as I had hoped. The thing is, I've already got a lot of books coming out over the next few months--St. Martin's Press is bringing out my Feral Passions stories as stand-alone ebooks with release dates in November for Feral Passions, December for Wild Passions, and January for Dangerous Passions. The book cover is linked to the Wolf Games page which is the series of books that the Feral Passions series is in--and Feral Passions is the name of the first in the series. Confused yet? (If not, I'm obviously not doing my job!) At this point, I've not had time to update the website with this new cover and pre-order links for the Feral Passions stories, but the first chapters are the same for all three books.

At the same time, my agent's company, the one handling the Spirit Wild series and my reverted books from other publishers, has me scheduled for the final three Wolf Tales stories to come out around the same time. Wolf Tales 10 – August, Wolf Tales 11 – October, and Wolf Tales 12 – January 2018. They're the only titles I've gotten back from Kensington, but sales on them weren't as good as the others. I don't think It was because the stories aren't good, because they're some of the best of the series, but after nine novels and nine novellas, readers were getting tired of spending a fortune on trade sized paperbacks. Plus, they came out during the time Borders was going under, and all of us who write romances suffered during that time. Regardless, we'll be releasing them at a lower price, and I'll be sure to let you know exactly when they're ready to come out.

Anyway, as I said, I'd been working on Dark Captive, but then had to finish getting Wolf Tales 12 ready for my editor. When you get books back from a publisher, you don't get the edits. Any changes that were made belong to the publisher, which means going through and catching any mistakes, fixing what makes the story work a bit better, that sort of thing. In the case of my Wolf Tales series, I had very little editing on any of the stories, so it was mainly a case of reading through and making sure I didn't have any typos. Which I did. Hopefully I caught them all, but if not, the book is now with my beta readers and they're good! Plus, my editor will get the final look at the thing, and he's beyond good and into vicious...which is good. Most of the time.

If any of you live in or near Orlando, I'm going to be there next week for the annual RWA National Conference. (follow the link and it should take you to the RWA page, and there's a link there that will take you to a list of AUTHORS...just added the direct link to authors... duh.) The literacy signing, which has always been the first night of the conference, has been moved to Saturday night to make it easier for readers to attend. I'm going to be in Orlando from late Tuesday night, July 25, to Saturday--since I'm flying out at 6:15 in the morning, there is no Sunday morning for me--and will be signing AWAKENED from the Intimate Relations romantic suspense series as well as HUNGER, from the Feral Passions series.

But, if you're in the area and want me sign any of your books ahead of time, email me at katedouglas13@gmail.com and maybe we can work out a time ahead of the signing to get together. The thing is, they don't usually allow you to bring books into the signing because it gets too confusing when checking out, but if we can make it work, I'm more than willing. There are a lot of things I've already committed to (it actually IS a working conference!) but get in touch if you're going to be in the area.

And, if you're looking for me by sight, I don't look the same. The brown is gone and I'm completely gray. Started growing it out last fall, and it took a while because I used a rinse to keep it from looking two-tone. Then when I let the rinse wear off a couple of months ago, grim reality hit. I'm definitely gray--started turning in my forties and have colored it for over 25 years with my inner 35 year old egging me on. However, my hair started breaking off and falling out, ergo gray beats bald.

So this is the new me...or the old me, depending on your point of view. My husband loves it, but that's probably because he's been gray since his forties and he's left it that way. Which I encouraged, obviously, as I gleefully kept mine in the "original" brown. I wanted people to look at him then at me and say, "What is that sweet young thang DOING with that old fart...?"

One can always dream...

On to books--my favorite subject! I've been reading a LOT of BookBub freebies (There is a link on the right so you can follow me and get notices as soon as my books release) and I've really enjoyed all the new authors I've discovered. I've been reading a lot of LGBTQ books, mostly relationships between men, (if one gorgeous guy makes you happy, just think of two?) and also one lesbian romance in particular by Radclyfe called WILD SHORES that had a wonderful, really exciting adventure story as well as a moving romance. For the male side, A KIND OF TRUTH, by Lana Hayes was excellent, as was FIRE AND WATER by Andrew Grey (Andrew is the ULTIMATE romantic, and a really wonderful friend) Of course, that first book led me to the rest of his Carlisle Cops series. I've read FIRE AND ICE, and have three more in the series on my iPhone to read when I get a bit ahead of myself.

I also segued into Emma Holly's Billionaires series of menage romances. She is so good at making those work--I think the very first menage story I ever read was Emma's, aptly titled "Menage" from 1998. And yes, it's still on my keeper shelf!

Another "new to me" author is May Sage. May has a series called SOME GIRLS DO IT, and I swear I'd buy them just for the titles alone: SCROOGE McFUCK, BRING ON THE PSYCHOBITCH, THEM BACK DIMPLES, and the one that got me hooked on the series? SHY GIRLS WRITE IT BETTER. A caveat with May's books--her writing is fantastic, her storytelling absolutely flawless, but she needs my beta readers--someone to find the booboos. There are typos, but even as neurotically picky as I am, I still have to recommend her stories. I'd suggest you try SHY GIRLS WRITE IT BETTER, the first in the series, to get a feel for her voice. But if you're a neurotic nitpicker like I am, you have been warned. (and there aren't THAT many...like I said, neurotic.)

Long time favorite authors I've been reading include JR Ward's THE CHOSEN, and Nalini Singh's SILVER SILENCE. I'll be honest and say that I put off reading Ward's newest, not only because of the time commitment in reading her huge novels, but also because I'd read so many horrible reviews. It sat here in my office from April 4, the day it showed up from Amazon.com, until I read it a couple of weeks ago. Note to self--ignore bad reviews. I know better. I loved the book. I'm hooked on Ward's voice. I swear I hear heavy metal music playing in the background when I read something of hers, and this story was, in my mind, one of her best. So yes, I definitely recommend THE CHOSEN.

Nalini Singh is, in my opinion, one of the very best authors of paranormal romance writing today--or any day. Her stories are so wonderfully complex, her characters beautifully drawn, and I will be forever grateful to my many readers who said I absolutely had to read Nalini's Psy/Changeling series and then, when she released her first Guild Hunter book, that I'd better read those, too. I got hooked on both series, not to mention her Rock Kiss contemporary romances series, and most likely anything else this author chooses to write. An author's voice is everything, and Nalini's is pure gold. I will freely admit that the highlight of my RWA conference in San Diego last year was lunch with Nalini. She is every bit as charming and entertaining in real life as her books are in her amazing fantasy world. Both book covers are linked to their pages on the authors' sites.

Okay, I'm rambling. I imagine it's guilt because I didn't get a newsletter out last month, and I'm leaving in nine days for Orlando and won't be in touch during the conference all that much. But, I do have a neat prize this month, courtesy of FRESH FICTION. The site featured HUNGER as one of their June subscription books, and sent me a box of all the books going out to their subscribers. I've added a copy of AWAKENED to the box because there was room (uh...do I need a different reason? Nah...) and that will be my main prize. Unfortunately, the box of books will only be available to a winner who lives within the US (or Puerto Rico, where the postage is the same.)

For those of you who are international readers, I will send an ebook copy of any of my titles that you choose if you are a winner. You can see all of my books listed on Amazon.com on my Amazon author page. I'm sure that other retailers have a similar listing, but I don't have the links to them, so if you find a book on the Amazon page, just look it up on the company you prefer to buy from, and we'll go from there.

And on that note--one more thing. Since I'm busy packing and getting stuff ready for the trip, I'm going to keep this contest fairly short. You have until Friday to get your entry in, using the form that says CONTEST ENTRY FORM. Do NOT use the comments section to enter. It will be deleted, hopefully before someone finds your personal information that you should NEVER post online. (That was in my MOM voice!)

I hope I'll hear from those of you who will be in Florida for the conference. Would love to connect if possible. I'll have a name tag on--may or may not be wearing a hat. Now that my hair's not falling out, I don't feel the need to cover it up all the time--and I'm old, kids! Hot flashes tend to make your hair melt to your head...

Here's wishing you a wonderful month until the next newsletter, and please remember to take time to read a good book. There are so many of them out there, just waiting for new homes...and then there are libraries!

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.
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