What does my Dark Tarot card mean to me?

I seem to be posting a fair bit in this half of the month. Must be a sign that I have more time available to me. Or maybe, since I just started university last Monday, it's a sign that I'm starting to better manage my time.

We can hope. :D

On one of the the chat loops to promote our books, a very good question was asked. "What does your card mean to you?" And it got me thinking.

I was very lucky when I finally submitted my story into the Dark Tarot series. The Temperance card was still available to submit FOR! Unity was already on my computer and written, and I knew the sorts of themes that it explored, yet there were a few cards that I thought it could fit well under.

For me, what cinched it was the wonderful cover art. I mean, look at
it. Those colors, and patterns, my name there in the middle of it. *grins* Isn't it beautiful?

In Unity, I explore the idea of two girls falling accidentally into
the world of Faerie, a fantasy world above or behind this world. As
fairies and elves are commonly attributed to have wings at their back,
what better for me to find than a cover with that very same
illustration? Add to that the fact that the Temperance card itself
means balance -something that my girls Celeste and Darcy find through
the passage of their travels- and I was sold! I hope you all are too. ;)

I'd like to thank the creative team at Tease for creating something so
perfect. I know I'm not the only author here to think so.

Unity, published by Tease Publishing. Available Now!
http://allromanceebooks.com/product-temperanceunity-9894-140.html.


Nikki Watson.

Unity Release!

Well, it's that time you've all been waiting for. Well, it's what I've been waiting for, at least!

All Romance eBooks now has my novel Unity on sale. http://allromanceebooks.com/product-temperanceunity-9894-140.html or click on the picture to the right for the buy link.

Now that I've wet your appetite for that much, let me share with you an excerpt from the novel.

***

Night art classes were held at the local dojo twice a week. Celeste's teacher was a slight blonde woman who had missed her calling as a teenage cheerleader and, through affiliation with the younger--and therefore cooler--students of the class, was trying to recapture her youth. Currently, Susanna was strolling up and down between the crooked rows of canvases in her class, murmuring, “Yes, very good, very good”.

When Susanna arrived by Celeste's canvas, the dark haired girl looked at her expectantly. As Susanna stared at the half finished painting, Celeste expected her to make some original comment. When Susanna only smiled accommodatingly and told her to “Carry on”, Celeste deduced her teacher was quite blind or very deluded. She had been trying for something abstract against the central figure, but the perspective was all wrong, the colors didn't quite mesh, and there was a weird thing going on with the eyes that she couldn't quite seem to fix.

'Creepy, 'Leste,'

Jasper said to her, taking some time apart from his current work of art as Susanna moved on to another round of appreciative, “Ooh, very good” to other students.

Celeste shot him a sideways look at his sudden appearance there. Jasper shrugged.

'So, who's he supposed to be?'

Celeste looked back at the canvas. There was no salvaging it now. The best she could hope for was that Susanna's blind streak would continue into the marking phase, but at the same time, she didn't really want to depend on an ignorant eye for the benefit of her marks.

'I think I saw it in a dream.'

Celeste answered him shortly, pulling the canvas down from the board and turning to the paints on the table behind her to start putting them away. From the floor, the man stared out in all his magnificence, garbed in a medieval style tunic bearing some sort of intricately designed crest on the front of it.

As Celeste moved away and started sorting through the brushes she was going to have to wash, Jasper stepped closer to the discarded canvas, still staring, bringing his hand to cup his jaw as he studied Celeste's work.

'His gaze is striking… and the colors…'

'You're my friend; you have to say that,'

Her words were dismissive. Celeste walked to the sinks and started soaking her brushes before washing them there.

'Anyway, are we on for tonight?'

'Photography at the beach? Wouldn't miss that for the world. What time were we meeting up again?'

Jasper didn't pause at her change of subject as he answered. He straightened, easily coming back to remembering there was a whole other world outside of Celeste's painting.

All paints were packed, and Celeste stuffed the ones that were hers in her bag. The others she returned to the cupboard in the back of the room.

'After dark. Say about ten?'

Jasper nodded. When she returned to the stand she had borrowed, Jasper had her canvas in his hands and was holding it up to her attention with curiosity.

'So, what are you going to do with this?'

'Nothing. I'm heading off now. It's not like I'm going to get anything more from today. If you want to come around to my place early, Natalia's making chicken curry, mild.'

Celeste was busy picking the canvas and the stand up as she spoke. She laid the stand next to the others on the rack and then the canvas, she put with the rest of the used canvases, ready to be painted over and used anew. Jasper had his eyebrows raised; she was not usually so dismissive of any artwork she made. However, he returned his expression to normal well before she turned to look at him again.

'Ooh, just the way I like it. Tell her to make lots. I'll definitely be there.'



Unity, published by Tease Publishing. Available Now!


Nikki Watson.

Line Edits -- Check!

I have just handed in my line edits for Unity and I'm feeling just fine!

It's getting close now. Just look on the right hand side of this actual blog for the cover image of Unity, due out in e-book later this month, and only a little longer for those people who absolutely love the print books (like me!)

And here's a synopsis for anyone who's missed it previously posted:

Obstinate Darcy and artistic Celeste lives cross, starting them both on a path into the world of Faerie, which draws them in and comes alive for them. Their lives become those of true ladies, of balls and gorgeous men in dark cathedrals, as the world of abusive stepfathers and fits of depression are left behind them. As they change for their experiences, they realise that they a balance must be found between their Faerie travels, which they visit in their dreams, and the Real Life of their waking world.

Reader/Writers

I still would like to maintain, that after the last three years that I've been finding ePublishers around the place who want to publish my writing, the best part about the ePub industry are the people you come to meet and get to know. It's hardly a controversial statement to make that ePubs open and close, will give you grief and tears of happiness, but the friends you make, people who you can trust to read your work and give you an honest opinion, and the people who's work you can read in return, are the most valuable part of the ePublishing industry, and indeed, the most valuable part of any writer's art.

Having just finished a previous project (a project set after Unity, titled Awakening) which took me the better part of half a year to write to its completion, I have recently started on a new project, the next in that series. I like to think that the series I am creating has something of a Charles De Lint slant. I've spoken about him before. Just check the tags for previous posts I've made about the fantasy author. All of the stories I am writing right now are a part of the same universe, but the characters who are main shift and change and accommodate include new characters that bring new life and interest to a series that I think would be much less if it depended on previous novels.

But these are my novels. Of course I think they are something special.

After coming out the other end of a horrible stint of writer's block, with the help of one of my reader/writer friends, I only want to thank all of the people who are patient with me, who love to read my writing, who love that I read theirs. I think that all of you know who you are. I dearly appreciate you.

Thank you.

Tease Tarot Acceptance!!

I just found out the best news in the most bizarre of ways! My novel submission for the Tease Tarot line with Tease Publishing has been accepted! Unfortunately for me, the acceptance letter was caught up in my spam folder, but I found it anyway but accidentally putting something else there and having to dig it out!

Color this the face of someone who's very excited! And luckily for me, this letter doesn't seem to be dated more than a day ago. Phew!

See this post from a little under a month ago for more information about the story: Unity - by Nikki Watson

Changeling: Of Elves and Men. Excerpt Two

It's been a little while since I posted an excerpt from my urban fantasy novel Changeling: Of Elves and Men, so I might just take this occasion to do that now. For anyone new to this blog since the last time I posted one, you can click on the 'excerpt' tag to take you to the last excerpt.

Shane and Ivy are my main characters in this novel, and their love/hate relationship is one I got great entertainment out of writing. I'm in a particularly fluffy mood today, so here is a rather amorous scene between the two of them. Hopefully you will get some entertainment out of them too.

* * *


Changeling: Of Elves and Men. Available Now! from New Concepts Publishing.

Shane never once looked over his shoulder to acknowledge Ivy there so close behind him. Only once he strode in through the French doors and into the hall where the bedrooms were located, did he spin around to face her.

“Damnit, Ivy. I told you you weren’t to come tonight.”

“And I told you what you want has nothing at all to do with me!”

Looking up into his raging eyes, Ivy lifted her head higher and reminded herself that she was not afraid of his fury. She had just followed him back here to tell him that he had no right to tell her what to do, that was all.

With a growl, Shane took a step forward and wrapped an arm around her waist before she could step back nimbly to avoid him. As his lips crushed hers, he felt any resistance she felt toward him wavering. This hadn’t been what he had planned to have happen at all. When they pulled away from each other, Shane’s eyes raked over her body, taking in her reddened lips that looked like they had been well kissed.

His jaw tightened, as he told himself to stand away from her.

“If you followed me just because you wanted to sleep with me, there were better ways of doing that,” he said, trying to turn his frustration into sardonic amusement.

This time, it was Ivy’s turn to growl her frustration. “You stupid, stupid man!” she told him, though Shane noted with interest that it was not exactly a denial of his supposition.

With the hint of a smile playing the edges of his lips, he stepped toward her again, curious to see if she would dodge him the second time around. His fingers found her hand, and silkily, laced their way between her fingers. The simmering heat in his eyes drew her in despite herself, and when the door closed soundly, Shane wasn’t the only one behind it.

Again, he swept towards her, and ravaged her lips, forcing them to move under his as he wished them to, claiming them for his own. Ivy would have moaned if she had been given the breath to do so. As it was, she had to press her body against his to keep herself upright. The rising bulge at the crotch of his jeans told her he didn’t seem to mind. Eventually, she would have to go back to using her own balance to keep her upright. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.

Shane maneuvered them slowly around in a half circle, directing them ever intentionally toward the bed where they would make their consummation of this union. Ivy’s eyes fluttered shut, and she allowed him to guide her where he would. Within the strength of his arms around her, the thought occurred to her that she had never felt safer.

Her breath rushed out of her when Shane picked her up. A second later, she was placed reverently on the bed, a throw back, she thought, of the injuries he was so convinced he needed to protect her from. Before she could complain, Shane began to undo the buttons of her shirt. She arched up a moment later, so that he could cast first it, and then her bra, aside, somewhere between the bed and the door. Then she was reaching up to him, and his kisses moved down from her lips, to her neck, in an unrelenting trail to the waistband of her pants.

He looked up at her for a moment, as if waiting for Ivy’s signal that it was okay for him to go on. Willingly, she gave it to him, and her tight, black pants were unbuttoned, then eased down her shapely legs, and forgotten on the floor beside the bed.

Morning found the two bodies still entwined around each other. It was Shane who woke up first, lifting his finger to flick a strand of Ivy’s dark hair out of her face, which in turn woke her up, too. He had a ready smile on his features, even as Ivy looked around herself in disorientation.

“What I want has nothing to do with you, huh?” Shane asked. It was the ill-timedness of her comment, just before they had fallen into bed with each other, that amused him.

Because it so clearly amused him, it angered her, and Ivy immediately pushed him away from her, as much as she could with their legs still entwined. Another moments’ trouble took care of that problem, too. She sat up, grabbing the pale sheet against her chest.

The smile never left Shane’s lips. “I reckon it’s too late to do that now,” he said to her with a wink that made her flush with embarrassment and anger at the same time.

Buy Changeling: Of Elves and Men here!

Unity - a novel for Tease Publishing's imprint?

I just spent a bit of today lurking around The Romance Room, watching as the ladies there handed it over to the authors of Tease Publishing. And I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed by the standard of work that seems to be there.

And the diversity.

So, I sent them my submission for their Dark Tarot imprint yesterday afternoon. I suppose now, I have to think of a kind of synopsis to give them if it's accepted.

When obstinate Darcy and artistic Celeste lives first crossed, they couldn't have known that would start them on the path into the fantasy worlds they both had an interest in. In their sleep, the world of Faerie draws them in, and comes alive for them. They are drawn into the lives true ladies, of balls and gorgeous men in dark cathedrals and the world of abusive stepfathers and fits of depression are left behind them. As they change for the experiences of their dreams, they realise that they a balance must be found between their Faerie travels, which they visit in their dreams, and the Real Life of their waking world.

Like all my favorite authors and poets at the moment, I have tried to tell a tale that mixes real life with fantasy elements to create the novel Unity.

I finally chuffed myself up and made all the last edits I wanted in there, finished writing the cover letter, then pushed the send button. Then I heard back from the editor in chief at Tease this morning. She told me they are looking over submissions this week and I should hear back from them next week.

Holding my breath until then sounds like a plan, yes? :D

Changeling: Of Elves and Men. Excerpt One

It seems like this post has been waiting for ages to get posted. I've been meaning to put up an excerpt of my writing since my third post. Of course, as this is my fifth post in this blog, that's almost twice the length of time I expected it to take.

I've been talking a lot about my new release Changeling: Of Elves and Men, which I suppose is fair enough, since I would ideally like it to be well enough publicized that it makes me at least a little bit of money. ;) I have a couple of excerpts from the novel floating around. Looking through them, I don't think any of those is completely right for the community I'm starting to set up here. So I'm going to post a new excerpt, one before now unseen unless you have picked up the book. :)

This is my take on fairy and magic culture meeting a present day setting. As promised, in my last post, I give you one excerpt from Changeling: Of Elves and Men.

Changeling: Of Elves and Men



The inside of 'Omniscience' was like no other place she had seen before. Her eyes widened even as Rhys led her around the small clusters of people who were already inside. There was no one dancing in the room Emily entered. People milled around the stage where there were mistresses in high stiletto boots circling those who had volunteered to be bound. In a cage, in the corner of the room, three men lay on their backs, while a woman walked and danced and swung all over their half naked bodies as they writhed in pleasure and brazenly begged for her to dig her heels into the crevices of their bodies, which she did. Emily walked passively through the myriad of pleasures, her eyes taking in all the beauty of the forms around her, while Rhys walked with a predator-like grace at her front.

She didn't ask any questions on what she was seeing. She wouldn't have known where to start.

"Do you want to dance?" Rhys asked her.

There was still nobody dancing. Emily leaned a shy glance toward the area where she thought there would be dancing when people started doing it. Without Rhys by her side, she would never have considered being the first one to go up there. It must have been his confidence that encouraged her to throw away her precautions.

They danced, at first, with a small expanse between them. As the music groaned on, Emily hardly noticed the distance between them lessening. His fingers started slowly kneading her back, and she leaned her body into his. They were not the only two dancing for long, if what each of them were doing could still be termed as 'dancing'. Rhys had an expression of dark delight on his features, an expression which Emily could not help but mimic herself.

When Mark arrived at the club, it was not his aim to do more than locate Emily first up. His decision of a stiff drink had already been made before he arrived. From the position he took on a bar stool, he could quite clearly make out the close proximity with which Rhys and Emily were dancing, could all but see the weaves of empathy and coercion that Rhys was spinning around the two of them. Without knowing why— probably without ever noticing—none of those dancing around them ever bumped into the two changelings Mark watched.

* * *

"Changeling: Of Elves and Men" Now Available at NCP
http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/changeling.htm

Holly Black's new UK covers!

I was going to leave off posting until tomorrow with an excerpt from Changeling: Of Elves and Men, because it's late over here, and I'm tired.

However! I just saw news from one of my favored 'faerie' fiction writers, the lovely Holly Black, and her titles "Tithe" and "Ironside" are being published in the UK with sparkling new covers. Here, take a look



Ironside: "In the realm of Faerie, the time has come for Roiben’s coronation. Uneasy in the midst of the malevolent Unseelie Court, pixie Kaye is sure only of one thing--her love for Roiben. But when Kaye, drunk on faerie wine, declares herself to him, he sends her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye can’t see or speak with Roiben unless she can find the one thing she knows doesn’t exist: a faerie who can tell a lie."

To check out Holly's original post, look no further than here:
http://blackholly.livejournal.com/


Nikki Watson.