First, my apologies for the missing edition. Everyone in the house has been sick for a while and things just didn’t get done. I also re-did the dating so it’s the first of the month for THAT month, instead of the prior month – even I was getting confused! I’m still off by about two weeks but I’m hoping to be back on schedule on the 15th of each month by March’s issue.
Latest News
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Award Voting!
Del Fantasma: Texas Tea is a finalist for the Fantasm Awards in the category of Best Shapeshifter (Non-Wolf) Romance. If you enjoyed Texas Tea, I’d love a vote but there are also a lot of really terrific authors and books on the list you may also have read. You can vote here.
New Release
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Gift of the Holly King – Recovering from a near-fatal accident, wiccan priestess Kayleigh Brennan has taken a leave of absence from her job to focus on recovering her health and rediscovering herself. When she discovers an ancient holly tree in a clearing behind her rented bungalow, she catches the full attention of Ilex, the Holly King. As his reign ends for the year and an ice storm moves in, will they lose each other again to the cycles of the year and of life? Coming mid-November 2007 from Aspen Mountain Press as part of the anthology Babes in Toyland II.
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Coming Soon
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Tort & Retort – Ambitious and driven patent law attorney, Gayle Osborne, has a secret. Her power suits and take-no-prisoners attitude hide a passionate nature whose only outlet is reading and reviewing erotic romance. If anyone finds out that she is “Miss Retort,” the snarky and opinionated blogger from the Hits & Misses review blog, she’ll lose everything — her reputation, her clients, her job and, worst of all, her gorgeous mentor and boss, Tyler Monroe. Coming February 15, 2008 from Aspen Mountain Press!
Giving Thanks – A male/male contemporary romance based around Thanksgiving. Coming soon and details will follow as soon as they are sewn up. My first male/male romance but with all the sweet/hot of my male/female stories. Coming later in 2008 from Manlove Romance Press in paper!
Wake Me – Another story of the Coyote Clans. I promise I’ll have a blurb by next month’s newsletter. Coming early 2008 from Aspen Mountain Press.
Del Fantasma: Firestorm – A new Del Fantasma story starring a Fire Witch and a Fire Dragon who are both investigating the California wildfires. But can they take each other’s heat? Coming early 2008 from Aspen Mountain Press.
Del Fantasma: Menage a Trois – Another Del Fantasma, but this one is written with my friend and fellow author, Jade Buchanan. It’s a male/female/male menage starring one of my coyote shifters and one of her wolf shifters. It’s sure to be hot, sweet, snarky and irreverent. Coming early 2008 from Aspen Mountain Press.
Free Reads
The free read page continues to grow with Flash Fiction tidbits so you can check them out on my website now. I’ve turned Fridays on my blog into Flash Fiction Friday. Little snippets of stories with a maximim word count of 750 words will appear each Friday.
New Blog
To feed my newfound male/male efforts, I’ve joined the Fiction with Friction blogging group. I’ll be blogging mostly on Fridays so come visit me there! These are some of my favorite male/male authors and I’m truly honored that they have allowed me to join them.
New Group
I’ve also joined the League of Amazing Writers – another group of wonderful authors and readers. You can see our LAW Website and join our Yahoo group as well.
Contests
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Newsletter Contest:
Last month’s winner has been notified by email and I’m just waiting for the information to mail the bracelet out. If I don’t hear by the time I draw for next month’s newsletter, I will draw twice that month.
I did want to let people know how my drawings are conducted. I take the current subscriber list from Feedblitz and import it into Excel so I have built in numbers, one per subscriber. I remove any that are shown as undeliverable. Then I go to www.random.org and use their Generate an Integer service to get a single integer between one and however many subscribers I have. That generated number is my winner.
This month’s jewelry is a beaded necklace. This necklace was made by me using Japanese Delica beads in matte red and shiny pink and the stitch is called Ndebele – an African stitch often called the “herringbone” stitch. I tried out a way to make the stripes spiral and, as you can see, it worked. It came out looking like a candy cane! All done with a beading needle and thread.
Ask the Author
How did you decide to write what you write?
I really do write it because I love to read it. I read quite a few genres but a large percentage of my fiction reading is some type of romance. I was overjoyed when I happened on erotic romance because I suddenly had a huge scope I could read – all the way from erotic to very sweet. Whatever suited my mood.
I’m definitely a romantic. I love it when people who love and appreciate each other. I love small tokens of care and concern. Small gifts that say someone loves you and is thinking of you. I love people who manage to overcome problems to find love.
So when I decided to try writing fiction, romance was a natural choice. Because of my shamanic and wiccan training as well as my love of fantasy, paranormal romance was even more of a draw.
Recently I was issued a challenge by two fellow authors and found myself writing a male/male contemporary romance. It was a bit of a surprise but I realized it’s not so different, really. It’s still about love.
(Remember, you can ask your own questions by emailing me at realmsoftheraven at gmail dot com.)
The Witch’s Corner
Yule – The Longest Night
We’re just past Yule now. Yule is the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. We worked toward it for a while but it really became obvious after Samhain. The weather was grey, cold and wet. It’s dark before I get home and now it’s dark when I get up as well. This is the time of year I have the hardest time with. Everything in my primal nature says that it’s time to sleep a lot, even hibernate. Yet the realities are that not only does work continue but the social demands are at the highest of any time of the year. Balancing the two seems to get a bit more difficult each year.
Yule is actually a minor Wiccan holiday but it does have many interesting traditions. In some, it’s the time when the Oak King challenges the Holly King for rule of the world and wins. The Oak King rules the world in the time of increasing light, thus from Yule to Litha (the Summer Solstice). Then the Holly King battles and wins dominion for the rest of the year. It’s a ritual change in focus from the preparation and anticipation to the reaping and resting.
My new book release last month is a story that focuses on Yule and the Holly King. 
We love our Yule tree – mine is decorated with ornaments that look like fruits and vegetables. At least it is before my cats get a run at it. We hung stockings and Santa came with the big presents for the kids. Even the cats have a stocking, shaped like a paw.
We travelled to Mr. Maura’s parents’ house for Christmas itself. They are Christians and it gives us a chance to spend a few days with the family. It was chaotic, more so than usual because my youngest son came down with the flu and promptly gave it to everyone else. In addition to my standard people and noise overload, I spent Christmas Eve throwing up all night. Not much fun. I loved watching people open the gifts I made or selected for them. The kids had a great time when not sick and there was a lot of beautiful snow. We even got to see a whole herd of probably 15 deer hopping through belly-deep snow across the river.
Now that the holidays are over, I have to find my own ways to not disappear into hibernation though I definitely need a few weeks off. Now I start to really try to clean and redo the house – time to get rid of the holiday wrapping, shipping boxes and stuff (I swear it breeds at night). I really like to reach Imbolc (the beginning of February) with things settled at home so as the world starts to wake up again, crocuses appear, etc without having to split my energies so much between home and external happenings.
Free Story – Games Coyotes Play
(c) 2007 by Maura Anderson
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Chapter Three
What the hell was she thinking? Or maybe she gave herself too much credit and it hadn’t been her brain that was doing the thinking. Melissa stared at herself in the ladies’ room mirror. She didn’t look like a brain-dead female, but if she was too far gone into hormonal idiocy, would she even be able to tell? She must have lost her mind, it was the only explanation. That and her body’s resentment of her recent enforced celibacy had contrived to over-rule any common sense she possessed.
After washing and drying her hands, she tried to work up her nerve to re-emerge from the restroom. Erik said he’d wait for her in the building lobby and she’d already spent more than a few minutes trying to regain control over her body’s overwhelming desire for the handsome developer.
“He’s a geek. No more geeks.”
Hell, she couldn’t even convince herself that he was off limits. With her body wanting to throw him onto the ground and see just what his bronzed skin felt like. Maybe even try a taste or two…
Stunned by her own lust, she realized she was fiddling with her hair, finger-combing it and almost primping.
Aaaargh.
She would control this. When she got home, she could dig out her favorite vibrator and spin fantasies around everything she wanted to do to him. Do with him. Or maybe she’d treat herself and shop for some new toys.
Somehow even that treat wasn’t as compelling as it should be.
She allowed herself to make sure her outfit was tidy and she presentable before she took a deep breath and opened the restroom door, as ready as she was to face a business lunch with Erik. Quickly striding in the direction of the lobby without paying much attention to the other people around her, she only took a few steps until she crashed headlong into another person.
“Ooof. Oh hell, I’m sorry. I wasn’t—” she looked up in time to see the intense look on Erik’s face before he smoothed his features into a neutral but pleasant smile. “I thought you were going to wait for me in the lobby?” Her voice cracked a little on the last word and she hoped he didn’t notice.
Strong hands set her gently back from his tall body with a lingering light caress down her upper arms. A shiver vibrated down her spine, straight to her far-too-welcoming pussy.
“I waited in the lobby for a few minutes but it seemed like you were taking a long time. I was getting concerned.” He looked up and down her body, seeming to linger a bit long in some areas. Areas she really wanted him to touch.
Dammit. Not only was her pussy clenching in interest but her breasts were trying to become personal doneness buttons. Her tight nipples rubbed on the lace of her bra, making her want to melt into a puddle.
This was work, not playtime. Somehow she didn’t think her body would listen to reason.
Melissa stepped back a bit more in the hope that an increase in the distance between them would help calm her. “So what were you going to do? Send in a search party? Brave the testosterone-sucking black hole of the ladies room and any upset occupants to look for me yourself?”
Erik stared at her for a moment then looked a bit abashed, as if he’d been caught without a plan. Just the hint of a blush appeared over his chiseled cheekbones and a sheepish grin made him seem much younger than the age listed in his personnel file.
“I hadn’t thought that far in advance. I really wanted to escape the receptionist but not be somewhere you couldn’t find me.”
She couldn’t help it. She broke out into laughter at his admission. “Geeks that are hunks are few and far between, so you’d better get used to it. You talked me into going off campus for lunch, so we’d better get going or we won’t have time to eat before the orientation resumes.”
Erik’s self-mocking smile broadened into a more genuine one. “You think I’m a hunk?”
The appealing puppy-dog look made her shake her head. At least he didn’t take himself too seriously. Feeling more her normal self, Melissa gestured for him to lead the way to where he’d parked and used the opportunity to admire his tight ass again.
“Where would you like to go? I’ve only just moved here so I’m not even sure what restaurants are in the area.”
Hmm – where would be a safe place that wasn’t too generic? “How about teriyaki? That’s nearby and fast.”
“Sure. I love teriyaki.”
Melissa melted a little more at the sexy smile he gave her. He didn’t behave like any of the geeks she was used to.
She loved the small courtesies that seemed to be second nature to Erik. He opened every door and waited for her to precede him. He walked at a pace comfortable for her instead of the faster pace his long legs were undoubtedly capable of. Yet he never sighed or complained, or tried to get her to hurry up.
Maybe she could break her rule. Just this once.
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One appetite sated with the large lunch, Erik tucked Melissa back into the passenger seat of his new SUV for the ride back to the office.
Coyote had spent most of their lunch pacing back and forth, growing more and more demanding for a taste, a kiss, a touch of skin. Something more than the human social niceties that were all Erik had allowed himself and Coyote. Once Melissa was safely inside the car and he was out of her view, he pretended to dust something off the car’s bumper before joining her.
Just calm down, dammit. I realize she’s our mate but you’re going to freak her out if you start trying to take over.
Coyote gave a grudging grumble and stopped pacing. Erik could tell he was less than pleased but Coyote could be enormously patient when he needed to be. Not without complaint, though.
Erik walked around to the driver’s side of the car and climbed in. The combined scents of new car, leather and mate nearly overwhelmed him. He took a deep breath, pulling the heady smells in to savor them fully.
“I told you it was good teriyaki.” Melissa laughed. “You must have been starving to eat that much, though.”
“It was great.” Not that he could actually remember the taste of the food.
Melissa glanced at her watch. “Oh no. We need to get back to the orientation or we’ll be late.”
“Don’t worry. We’re only about five minutes away.” He started the car and turned back toward the MacroWerx’s campus.
Melissa flipped the passenger visor down and lifted the mirror cover. Her small pink tongue snaked out and licked a drop of teriyaki sauce from the corner of her mouth.
His cock jerked and hardened again. How would that tongue feel on him, licking his skin, licking his cock? Coyote turned his back and sniffed, obviously amused that Erik was having a hard time resisting the urge to fall on Melissa and mate her right then and there.
He stifled a groan and turned into the parking lot of the Human Resources building and parked in the employee parking. Conscious of the time and his own fraying nerves, he quickly got out and opened the passenger door for Melissa. At least he’d have the afternoon of lectures to regain some semblance of self-control.
But control seemed a distant concept when Melissa stepped from the car and up against his body, brushing her breasts against his chest and her lush hips against his rock-hard cock, then reaching up to quickly graze her soft, pink lips against his hungry mouth.
“Thank you for lunch.” She whispered the words against his lips, then stepped away and toward the lobby doors.
Was he imagining the sexy sway her walk had developed?
All content (c) 2007 by Maura Anderson