The Cyrellians appear friendly, offering hope to a battered and devastated Earth. But three women soon make startling discoveries that could very well change the fate of their home world yet again.
With the help of Cyrellian technology, Bella may soon hear for the first time. When she goes to their lab for tests, she finds herself sold off — as a pet in an alien zoo! Although she’s expected to mate with a “creature” of her kind, she can’t fight her attraction to Dar, the zookeeper assigned to oversee her training.

Dar has a knack for dealing with the most unruly of the zoo’s pets. Still, he’s surprised at how like his people these new breeders are. Disturbingly he finds himself falling for the Earth being, even though he knows it’s wrong to mate with the pets. But when Bella tells him of the Cyrellians’ underhanded tactics, he risks his life on a daring escape. Will they find their way back to Earth in time to warn others of the Cyrellians’ devious plans?

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=617

Excerpt:
2107
The thick steel door leading to the infirmary muffled the piercing shrill of the behavior neutralizer, a device used to control the animals with sound. Quickly Dar popped in his earplugs and raced toward the commotion.

He wasn’t sure what he’d find, but it certainly wasn’t the chaos unfolding before him. Standing on the examination table surrounded by the three other zookeepers, all holding neutralizers, was the female Human. She held what looked like a makeshift blade made out of a broken bottle.

Her screams were being drowned out by the noise makers, but she wasn’t covering her ears in pain, nor was she backing down. Why weren’t the devices working on her? Even though the plugs he’d inserted were designed to drown out even the highest decibels of sound, he could still hear the faint buzzes. What in the name of Glarm was going on?

Normally Dar was fast on his feet, but this time they wouldn’t move even if he wanted them to.

The female was magnificent.

Dark brown hair framed a delicately shaped face that fell like a silken cape around her shoulders. Were it not for her coloring and the markings Flamrylian woman possessed, she could easily pass for one. As it stood, her body was absolute perfection from the high pert breasts capped with deep red nipples to the tiny waist that flared out to womanly hips. A triangular patch of hair rested between her thighs that he’d never seen on any Flamrylian female, but it wasn’t unappealing. It actually made him want to find out the secrets it hid beneath.

Dar’s cocks stirred uncomfortably inside his pants. Thoughts he knew he shouldn’t be entertaining ran through his mind. Only when he looked into her blazing green eyes did he come to his senses.

They were filled with fear.

She wasn’t acting out, but frightened. “Turn off the neutralizers,” he yelled as loud as he could, and when they didn’t, he realized his error. They were all obviously wearing earplugs as well.

He strode over to the closest one and snatched the device out of nerveless fingers and switched it to off. Dar repeated the motion with the other two and then gestured for them to remove the sound mufflers from their ears.

“Why did you do that? We need to get her to desist this unacceptable behavior. She wouldn’t cooperate with the examination,” Yeahen explained.

“Obviously these things aren’t working,” Dar drawled.

The other two looked hesitant.

The female, however, went on the attack. She sprang at him with the jagged glass. Dar moved out of her way, barely missing the slicing arc she made with her weapon. That would have produced a nasty cut. When she tried it again, he was ready for her. He caught her wrist in one hand and removed the glass from her and then tossed it out of her reach.

Dar was much taller and outweighed her significantly, but she put up a fight that made it nearly impossible for him to hold on to her.

Shara attempted to scratch his face, but when that didn’t work, she pounded on his chest. He caught her flailing arm and gave her a strong shake. This didn’t stop her. It seemed nothing would.

Leaning forward, she bit him.

Hard.

“Argh,” he yelled his pain. The little she-beast’s teeth had sunk through the cloth of his shirt and into his skin.

Yanking a clump of her hair, he was able to rip her head away from him, but not without causing injury to himself. Dar then grabbed Shara by the armpits and tossed her over his shoulder.

She cried out and pummeled tiny fists into his back.

His fellow zookeepers watched in fascination, not moving a finger to assist him, probably because they didn’t know what to do. Dar couldn’t blame them with the way this one carried on. Dar brought the flat of his palm onto her upturned bottom, not meaning to cause Shara pain, but to send a warning that he’d not put up with much more of her rebellion.

Though her struggles lessened, she still put up a fight, trying to wiggle from his hold. This time when he slapped her ass, Dar put more force behind it. He was in control and he wanted her to know it. Maybe what he was really trying to do was to control the racing hormones within him. The heat of her body so close to his was doing things to his body he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He had to exorcise these inappropriate thoughts from his mind.

This is the tentative title to the next installment of the Blood Brothers series. I’m so flatter at the overwhelming response I’ve received for this series so far, and I wanted to address the question that has popped up quite a bit lately. When is Dante’s story coming out? Well, the dipolmatic answer would be, hopefully soon? But the truth? I have no clue. I haven’t even started writing it yet. There’s been so much on my plate lately, I barely have time to sleep. I have plans to start working on it after RT, but not before then. When it’s complete then its a matter of getting it scheduled which could be several months from the time I turn the full MS in to my editor. So, in the meantime, I have a few more things coming out in the coming months that I hope will keep everyone satisfied until Dante’s story comes. As I’ve posted on my loop, I’m not pulling any punches in this story, and you’ll get a visit from some old friends, the Romanovs, pack Kyriakis and more.
When I have more news to report on this book, I’ll be sure to update my blog and loop. Yeah, I know I’m a super slack. LOL 🙂

Harlem artist Sarah Deveraux has been running from her past for as long as she can remember, suppressing the painful memories of her parents’ brutal murders. Things go from bad to worse when an enemy from her past catches up to her, and realizes she’s not completely human! Can she learn to trust the roguish Constantine Kyriakis when he offers her refuge?

Constantine Kyriakis has resisted his father’s matchmaking attempts for decades, but when he’s offered a reprieve if he finds the artist of a painting his father is interested in, he takes it. Falling for Sarah wasn’t in the plan, not even a little bit, but that wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for three small details: she’s a half breed shifter who’s not fully aware of her heritage, she doesn’t trust other shifters, and someone wants her dead.

As they both give in to their most carnal fantasies, an enemy is closing in. In order to survive, Sarah will have to give Constantine her complete trust. And accept him as her mate.

http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=420

Plain Jane paralegal Chastity Bryant has had a raving crush on her boss Sebastian Rossi since meeting him. Always willing to jump at his beck and call, Chastity’s world comes crashing in on her one morning when she overhears him laughing about her less than exciting life. To top it off, he freely admits that he’s used her crush to his advantage!

After a pep talk from her friends, they devise a plan to teach the arrogant Sebastian a lesson. Armed with a new look and a new attitude, Chastity sets out to seduce her hunky boss and bring him to his knees.

Sebastian Rossi has always been able to depend on two things in life: his successful law practice and his dependable employee, Chastity. But his whole world is turned upside down when she walks into his office looking like she just stepped off the cover of a magazine. Now, all he can think about is her. He doesn’t know what brought about the change, but one thing is certain, he’ll stop at nothing to possess her.

Things are going according to plan for Chastity, but the only thing she hadn’t counted on was falling in love.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/reinvention-of-chastity

Taken from Karen Scott’s Blog:

Racism In Publishing, How Does It Affect You?

Are you an African American author who’s been published for at least one year? If so Karen Scott wants to hear from you.

She’s conducting a survey based on the racism within the publishing industry, and whether or not it’s as prevalent as some believe. She’s looking for black or African American authors who have been published for at least one year.

She would like to know about your specific experiences within the industry thus far. She wants to know how AA authors feel about the current shelving policies, and niche marketing. She wants to know who you feel is to blame for the problems that you face. She also wants your suggestions on how things can be improved upon.

In all, there are twenty questions in the survey, and all that she asks is that people be as honest as possible. Confidentiality is assured if requested, but for the findings to yield more weight, she would request that she be granted permission to directly quote from the answers given by the authors.

She’s hoping to poll at least 100 AA authors, in an effort to ensure that a fair representation is achieved.

If enough authors agree to partcipate, (and depending on the findings) the results may well be sent to representatives within media and press. No promises that Oprah will hear about it, but all efforts will be made to get the message out.

If there are AA authors out there interested in participating in this poll, please e-mail Karen at hairylemony @ gmail. com (without the spaces) with the subject header ‘Please send me the survey’.

The deadline for the survey to be completed and returned to Karen is March 1st 2007

Today I started my annual Eve Trivia contest. For those who would like to participate see contest details on the contest page!

Finally the conclusion of my Gemini Rising series is available through Changeling Press. Check it out!

It’s green for the money!! Green is one of my fav colors but it’s hard to get the right shade. I think the books section is proabably a little easier to navigate now as well. Jacque did a phenomenal job. She gave me exactly what I wanted. *sigh* Christmas came early for me this year.

Fangs was released today with Loose-id. It features Jagger’s Woman, and two other stories, Flare Zone by Barbara Karmazin (love her) and Immortal Warriors by Suz DeMello. A vampire anthology, just in time for Halloween.

Now that Jagger’s story is out, know what that means? Dante is next!!! Already I’ve gotten questions of who he’s going to be with and willl he be with a black woman? I’ve given it a lot of thought and I have in mind who he will be with. What I love so much about the Grimaldi Brothers is that they love with all their hearts. I love writing multi-cultural stories where all women are beautiful in my world. Something like color is so inconsequential to them, that when they find their mate, that woman is put on a pedistal be she black, white, asian, latina, or indian.

Whoever Dante ends up with, will be the right mate for him. 😉

I’m excited about the release of this book. It’s my first book available in the bookstores Borders, Waldens. I’m really jazzed about that. I guess that means I have to arrange book signings. I’m generally not shy person, but I hate the idea of sitting in the book store, and sitting there wondering if someone will come by and ask me to sign a book. That scares the hell out of me. I’ve seen authors in book stores with no one around them. Yikes. I guess you have to start somewhere right? You have to crawl before you walk and I’m going to be crawling like a son of a bitch. Norah Roberts and Terry McMillian had to start somewhere right? *sigh* Here I go!