what are friends for?

 To alert you to free books, of course.

My buddy, New Zealand author Michelle Holman, has a fab interview up at Romantic Journey, and she's giving away copy of her romantic comedy KNOTTED (1 October, HarperCollins NZ) to one lucky visitor.

So pop on over and check it out!

Also, this month Aussie writer Eleni Konstantine is giving away Tracey O'Hara's debut urban fantasy NIGHT'S COLD KISS and Valerie Parv's excellent romance writing book HEART AND CRAFT. Check out Eleni-fest for details.

Don't say I don't love you :)

blog tour madness

 With only a week or two before my first book hits the shelves (BAM!) I'm working myself up a little blog tour to celebrate. As you do.

For instance, tomorrow (October 1) I'll be at Magical Musings, talking about conflict and surprising your characters and writerly stuff like that.

On October 6, I'm at Literary Escapism, chatting about cool paranormal powers and giving away a free book!

I'm also joining the All Hallows' Eve party at Book Chick City:

And Eleni-fest, an extravaganza of romance, fantasy and fun with Eleni Constantine on October 20.

And, I'm giving away some cool prizes at Bitten By Books on October 21.

Also, do check out a new blog, The Romantic Journey, launching October 1. It's me and some other fabulous writers, talking about writing and books and stuff we love and all manner of other pleasing things. Author Michelle Holman is launching her new romantic comedy Knotted, and giving away a free copy. And I'll be there next week with free books too. So check it out!

True Blood series 2: will it suck?

True Blood series 2 has finally made it to Australian television. I had mixed feelings about series one, but I'm willing to give series two a try. So here we go (minor spoilers, for the three people in the world who haven't already seen this):

Episode One.

Sookie: OMG, it's a dead body without a HEART!

Me: Sigh.

Bill: It wasn't me. And it wasn't my pet vampire girl, either.

Sookie: You've got a pet vampire girl? You don't spend every waking moment thinking about ME ME ME ME ME? OMG Bill you LIED to ME ME ME ME ME...

Uncle Kiddy-fiddler: {remember me? I died in the last series?}

Sookie: Hmm, what shall I do with this unwanted inheritance? Tear it up? Donate it to a worthy charity? No, I know. I'll give it to my idiotic but dead cute brother, who'll no doubt piss it away on booze and drugs. Naked. Good thing I don't realise he's in the clutches of the Vile Church of Vampire Hating, or this would be an even worse idea.

Jason: Oh, look. Kool-aid. {glug glug glug}

Sam: {angst}

Sookie: You know, Sam, I feel kinda bad about treating you like a sack of sh*t...

Sam: Get lost, Sookie.

Me: Yay!!!!

Sookie: Bill, did you kill Uncle Kiddie-fiddler?

Bill: {tortured silence}

Sookie: OMG Bill you are a MURDERWAH!!! My untarnished conscience is... well, tarnished. I can't bear the sight of you!!!

Bill: But Sookie, I WUV you.

Sookie: Oh. Okay, then. Let's shag. In fact, let's make a really UNSEXY sex scene.

Lafayette: I'm not dead! Surprise! Instead, I'm chained to a merry-go-round in a cellar with a redneck who secretly wants me to blow him. This really SUCKS.

Eric: {glower}

TO BE CONTINUED...

So there you have it. This show is strangely entertaining for all its faults -- well, it only really has one, heroine-shaped fault for me.

Sookie is still whining. Eric has foils in his hair. And Lafayette is still there. I'll be back next week :)

free readings!

Where have I been, since those fab conferences I posted such lovely pics about? The correct answer to that question, of course, is: writing.

And I have been, for the most part. I am a good girl. Working on my book #3, SHADOWSONG. Banshees and snakes. Oh. My.

I'm also a guest today with the fabulous Deadline Dames, talking about how, when you sell a book, everyone thinks you suddenly know something about writing that they don't. Boy, is everyone wrong.

It hasn't escaped my notice that today is the one month pre-anniversary (did I just make that up??) of my debut release. So, to celebrate, I'm offering a free short story as a download from my website! Yay! Free stuff!

It's called HELLCURSED, and it's about Jade, my succubus heroine from SHADOWFAE. Rest assured, you don't need to read it to understand the book. I am not one of those cruel authors who expects you to understand everything before you start :) and it is a story. With a beginning and an end. Not an excerpt. I promise.

Here's a little blurb:

It's 1863, and headstrong ex-convent girl Jade has renounced the church that tried to curb her independence.
Now, she travels the world seeking adventure and the pleasures of forbidden ritual.

But she's tricked by a treacherous sorcerer, and now she's forced into a darker kind of slavery.
She's a succubus, with a powerful demon lord her master for a thousand years.

At least, that's what he thinks.
Jade accepts no man's domination, least of all a demon's. She's determined to thwart her fate.

But she's yet to discover the true meaning of demon thrall...
 

So pop on over and check out HELLCURSED. It's dark. It's sexy. It's free. Hope you enjoy it.

kiwi conference madness

Obviously, I couldn't get enough.

Last week was RWAust and Brisbane. This week, the Romance Writers of New Zealand 16th Annual Conference, and my very first visit to New Zealand and Auckland. Like Australia, except cheaper. And the grass is greener. No, really, it is. More water in NZ.

(P.S. Same deal with the lj-cut. Sorry, scrolling peeps. Can you say counter-frickin-intuitive? Times this function has worked for me: never. Don't get. Please explain.)

On with the fun!!

The Friday night 'Leather and Lace' cocktail party went off with a bang. A selection of guests:

Sara, Giovanna and Clare:

Glenda, Michelle and Margaret:

Annie West (yay! for sheikhs and goats!!) and Amanda Ashby (yay! for zombies!):

Here's me basking in the glory of the fabulous award-collecting Kylie Short. And, me with the famous peeps: Melissa Jeglinksi from the Knight Agency, Melissa's mum, and the ultra-cool Nalini Singh :)

And from the 'Touch of Fantasy' awards dinner: Jedi Master Kylie; and Technicolour Gracie and Wicked Witch Pat.

The scrumptious food!! Our scrumptious table, brimming with contest finalists!!

The inspirational Mary Jo Putney and the Strictly Single finalists. 

Executive Editor Mary Therese Hussey from Harlequin/Silhouette and Clendon Award finalists.

Devil-winged Barbara Clendon, Peter Clendon, Mary Therese Hussey and all the Clendon fabulousness, including the outstandingly talented winner, Kylie Short sans light saber. 


And, awesome downunder authors Maree Anderson (Red Sage Publishing) and Annie West (Harlequin Presents/Sexy).
A fab time had by all. Now, I'm tired...

downunder conference madness

Romance Writers of Australia's Hot August Nights conference. It was huge. It was awesome. It was exhausting. Sanitised pictorial evidence follows. You've been warned.

(Oh, and sorry, folks. The lj-cut just WON'T WORK. Apologies if you didn't want to scroll through this. Nothing I can do. LJ? You listening? Why is this function so FRICKIN' HARD to use?)

We began with the Friday night cocktail party, sponsored by the good folks at Harlequin and themed 'Arabian Nights'. A good time and much free alcohol and nibblies were had by all.

Here's the incomparable and resplendent 'Queen of Romance', Valerie Parv, and me. 

My costume? Think yourself lucky you can't see the white stay-up fishnets and the red whore heels. What does this excellent tarty outfit have to do with Arabian Nights?? Well, besides that teddy bear having come all the way from Kandahar?? I'm the Sheikh's Reluctant Dead Keen Virgin Bride, of course.

A Harlequin-themed joke. Ha! The H&MB folks were so flattered, they awarded me the costume prize. I now have a hawt-man-titty-shaped bottle of chocolate schnapps on my desk. Awesome!


Oh, okay. Here are the fishnets. A warning, you got. And, me and my best buddy AJ.

Some fab costume action that probably really should have won the man-titty schapps:

On Saturday, there were, well, you know, workshops. I attended an excellent one on emotional punch by historical author Anne Gracie, and a fascinating talk by Superintendent Shane Chelepy from the Queensland Police.

And then the awards dinner on Saturday night, where my best buddy AJ Macpherson won the Emerald Award!!! for best unpublished manuscript. She is so AWESOME. She didn't win any man-titty schnapps, though.

Here's Avalon author Elisabeth Rose, AJ and the Big Green Trophy of Glory, me basking in AJ's reflected triumph, and Eos author Tracey O'hara (

traceyo

 ) all from Canberra.

After that, Sunday was a bit anti-climactic. I talked on a panel of newly signed authors, with 

traceyo

 , Ellora's Cave author Mel Tescho and others. I hope those who attended got something out of it.

Conference was awesome. Now, I'm tired. Tomorrow. I'm off to Auckland to the RWNZ conference, to do it all again :)

the fun part begins

I'm hacking away at the WIP. I'm in that phase where I hate it, you know? It's the Worst Book Ever and no one will like it, etc. etc. blah blah woe is me.

Which must mean it's going okay. Right? For the writers out there: how do you guys deal with this? Push through? Work on something else?

Me, I just keep writing. It'll be the best I can make it, and that's all I can hope for.

In other news, yes, a couple of folks have read my little book. Here's where I show you what they said about SHADOWFAE:

(whose new book Mystical is great, btw, a neat and surprising erotic tale) did a lovely review here. My favourite part: "Erica's writing style is lyrical, honest, and very easy to get swept away in." Thanks, Yolanda!

And here's what Publishers Weekly said (sorry, you'll have to scroll down about two thirds of the way). The words "intriguingly dark" and "compellingly emotional and intense" appear. Very pleasing :)