The Tricky Sequel

In December, I published the first book in a new futuristic erotic romance series called The Tau Cetus Chronicles, in which police agents and Beautiful Dolls sex robots are primary characters. The first book in the series is Programmed To Please, which has already gotten some rave reviews. It features a romance between police agent Jai Turner and notorious arms dealer Marque Callex.

Book two in the series is titled Programmed To Protect, and features Jai’s partner, Leith Wyatt. It was inspired by a fan who read Programmed To Please and begged for a sequel telling Leith’s story. Since he’s such a noble character, I was thrilled to give him a happily-ever-after of his own, even if it does come with a very unique twist.

Here’s the blurb:

Tau Cetus police agent Leith Wyatt is tasked by the ruling High Council with overseeing the production of a robot army for the planet’s defense. Wyatt doesn’t trust the oily robot manufacturer Anson Carron, and when Carron gives Wyatt the Beautiful Doll sexbot Ginger as a gift, Wyatt knows it’s for a sinister reason -- Beautiful Dolls are legendary for their addictive sexual prowess. Wyatt tries to resist the Doll, but Ginger is sweet, kind, sexy, and every intimate encounter they share manages to pull him deeper under her spell. And when Wyatt discovers Carron’s plan to overthrow the High Council in order to grab control of the planet for himself, Wyatt must decide whether his loyalty lies with the planet he’s sworn to protect, or the megalomaniac creator of the android he now loves.

 

Programmed To Protect was released last month, and so far it’s selling well, but I’m holding my breath waiting for reader response. Will it satisfy their request for a sequel? Did I give Leith a believable and enjoyable storyline?

In fact, this series was originally intended to be a one off, but I really enjoyed writing Leith’s story. If the books do well, I may decide to stay in my Tau Cetus world for a while – there are certainly enough interesting characters there!

That’s the beauty of self-publishing… I can get instant feedback on whether readers are buying/enjoying the series, and, depending on the response, I can either continue to write about this alien world that's much like our own, or move on to my next idea.

As an author, do you stress over sequels?  As a reader, do you prefer to read series instead of single titles, wanting to know more about the characters you’ve invested so much time getting to know?

Let me know what you think!

Thanks,

Jenna

www.jennaives.com

Accepting our Award

When we authors formed the Fierce Romance blogging community—a reader-author community spearheaded by our very own Nicole North—we decided first and foremost to make our cyber spot as fun, interesting and informative as possible.

Recently we were all pleasantly surprised and honored when Petit Fours and Hot Tamales presented Fierce Romance with a Premio Dardas award. After accepting this award we held a cyber meeting and decided to recognize other blogs we at Fierce Romance believe hold much reader appeal.

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.

The rules to follow are:

1) Accept the award, then post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

The winners of our Premio Dardas ceremony are:

Three Wicked Writers

Jennifer’s Random Musings

Super Poster of the Year

Bookaholic’s Bookclub

Musetracks

History Undressed

Writer’s Gone Wild

Wickedly Romantic

Casablanca Authors

Shapeshifter Romance

Red Sage Revealed

Much Cheaper Than Therapy

Love is an Exploding Cigar

Vamps and Scamps

Naughty and Spice

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
TORMENTED -- Ellora's Cave (MUST-READ from Dark Angel Reviews)
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
TO HELLE AND BACK AGAIN -- Coming soon to EC Exotika

What Comes First -- the Physical or the Emotional?

Few moments in a woman’s life top falling in love—whether for the first, second or whatever time. When you look into his eyes. Feel his breath on your cheek as he leans closer to tell you a secret. You place your hand on top of his, and the shared warmth spreads from your fingers to your toes. The way your laughter and his rings in your ears. Your heartbeats travel toward your tongue, and the proper words play hide-and-seek in your mind. His foot bumps yours underneath the table, and you hope the delicious tingling in your body never ends.

Most, if not all, of us have experienced these feelings. When I recently pondered this special moment while plotting another novel, a debate raged within my brain. Woman are romantics. We lose our hearts far more easily than men do. We give our all, promising to love, honor and obey, until death causes a parting of ways. When we meet a new guy and experience the familiar pangs, we sometimes act on our attraction and other times we play it rather coy.

While all this mulling was taking place, I looked back on my past romances. Tried my best at figuring out which ones started as a result of an emotional attraction and which ones were purely physically-driven. Then I realized that, even if I were to ask my old love interests what they thought was the reason they gravitated toward me and a deeper relationship, they truly may not know or respond with the correct answer. And I wouldn’t have a definitive way of knowing the correct answer, either.

How do we really know what initially spurs us to approach another in whom we’re physically or emotionally interested? Is it because we think they are drop-dead sexy and our hormones start raging, or is it because, along with their sex appeal, they’ve always demonstrated a caring attitude toward us and others? Are pheromones coming into play, or is their stroking of our cheek primarily because they want our sorrow to subside, and they touch us only to remove the tears?

Ponder away, readers, and let me know your thoughts.

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
TORMENTED -- Ellora's Cave (MUST-READ from Dark Angel Reviews)
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
TO HELLE AND BACK AGAIN -- Coming in 2009 to EC
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

Where Am I?

Happy Sunday!

Today while sightseeing, I pondered the topic of this blog. One of the reasons I enjoy reading fiction so much is the wonderful way a well-described setting transports me to the same area where a story's characters are working, playing, living or vacationing.

Traveling is among my passions. Each time I visit a new place, or make a stopover in an old favorite, I make countless mental notes to flip through in the future. Then there are the tablets I fill with details of flora, fauna, cuisine, and bits regarding local color and culture. Next week I'll explore this traveling passion and explain how it fits into my writing world. But this evening I want to share some pictures of past travels with you all. I won't divulge the location but, instead, would like for you all to guess the place where I digitally captured the scenery. You are all welcome to post your answers, and next week I will reveal the actual areas.







May you all have a fantastic evening and upcoming week!

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

Young Love

As promised, the conclusion of last week’s story blurb follows.

The young couple involved in the spilled soda saga had their happy ending. After helping the hero sop up the beverage and stray ice cubes, the heroine and he headed out to her 1979 Mustang. She shared her chocolate shake and straw with the high-school heartthrob. But she found his kiss tasted far better than any frozen drink. They pulled out of the parking lot, headed to the local park and made plans for that Saturday night. Not only did they have a fantastic time on their date night—and he gifted her with roses and a sky-written message—but they also learned the heroine’s moment of clumsiness saved the hero’s life. If he’d caved in to his appetite, remained at the restaurant, gone back to the fast-food counter and placed a burger-and-fries order, he would have been killed. But because his young masculine pride was a bit wounded over the drink mess—and his mind reeling over the fact the heroine wore her skirt a bit shorter than usual—he wasn’t in the mood to remain in that place a moment longer.

Since posting this bit I’m considering writing a young-adult romance and will use the comic and dramatic moments in my story. With that said, I’ll keep you guessing as to the incident that might have robbed the story of a hero had the milkshake-sharing heroine not saved the day and his life.

Speaking of young love, my all-time favorite tale of young love (and loss) is Shakespeare’s classic, ROMEO AND JULIET. Despite the sad-yet-still-romantic ending, each time I read this literary masterpiece, I find another reason to keep it among my favorites on the bookshelf. What a tragic hero who lost his heart and life for love—but at least he didn’t dash out and woo the first comely maiden who crossed his path once Juliet succumbed. This eternal dedication to his ladylove is one of the reasons I love re-reading R&J.

What is your favorite young-adult-romance story, readers?

Wishing you many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

A Woman Never Forgets Her First

While growing up I wrote lots of stories based on bears, bunnies, puppies and many woodland creatures. Though I proved prolific during my childhood, the stories I wrote during my teen years are the ones I remember well. Lots of angst. Unrequited love. Keeping up with fashion trends. Trading tales over burgers and fries or at the high school’s cafeteria table. First dates with fellows I once thought were the sexiest in the world. These elements and more filled my creative-writing tablets and all resulted in short works of romance fiction. I’d always embraced Cinderella stories and applauded when Hollywood heroines got their dream guys. I loved filling typewritten pages with heroes and heroines fulfilling their passionate fantasies.

In the case of this blog, the first to which I'm referring has to do with romance fiction. The first tale I ever tapped out was one where a couple met over a chocolate milkshake. The heroine accepted her order at the fast-food counter, turned and promptly collided with a good-looking guy. His soft drink sloshed over the floor. To make amends for her clumsy moment, she offered to share her shake with him.

Next week I’ll divulge the story’s ending, but I’d enjoy hearing your opinions as to what happened next. Did chocolate bring these two together, or did their chance at a teenage romance fade faster than the ice cubes on the restaurant’s floor tiles?

Wishing you many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

Hesitating Won't Make It Happen

CLICK HERE!


We all have wants, dreams and desires regarding the material and immaterial. For years I’ve dreamed of wearing a certain style of black cocktail dress. A dress with a halter bodice and alluring pleated skirt like the style Marilyn Monroe made a timeless couture classic. While I might be short in stature, my dreams are statuesque.

So many times I’ve browsed racks where similar dress styles hang, but I never dared trying on those sexy garments. Yesterday while shopping, I spotted the perfect match to the dress of my dreams. My husband urged me to model the dress and added some compliments that headed me toward the fitting room, the dream dress in hand. As soon as I adjusted the halter ties, stepped from the cubicle and caught my reflection in the mirror, the same warm fuzzies that happen when I sip a sinfully delicious cup of cocoa filled my entire body. Both of the boutique’s associates and hubby agreed the dress was made for me. If I’d hesitated and let the dress remain on the rack, I never would have experienced the ego boost or added a stunning piece to my wardrobe. What made the purchase even better was the fact my flirty dress was discounted to an equally dreamy and perfect price.

After the purchase I pondered a recent happening that found me making another dream become fiction-writing reality. Over lunch at my desk, the idea for a new erotic paranormal romance struck. For the next hour I plotted the first meeting scene, major turning points, black moment/climax, romantic ending, and rough-sketched the main characters and two secondary players. Excited doesn’t begin to convey how I felt during those feverish minutes. Though I’d originally hoped to continue working on plotting a different short erotica story, there was no way I could risk losing this story from those daydreaming moments.

When we write our stories, we give our characters some of our same flaws, passions, and moments of hesitation. Basically, there’s a bit of me in every heroine I’ve created. The paranormal heroine I’ve most recently brought to fictional life has already hinted she wants at least one spin-off of the initial story. Though I usually only plot one new story at a time, my going against my writing norm not only brought me a great deal of happiness but also will possibly yield the bonus of connected stories. Oh, and a moment of confession—I still remember the first time I asked a handsome stranger to dance. Talk about tough. There could have been a million butterflies waltzing around in my stomach that evening. And someone turned up the thermostat before I could blink. Where was a ceiling fan when a girl most needed one? The outcome—a couple romantically-intense years and many blissful moments. Though we parted ways, the parting was amicable and I’m glad our partnership continued past the dance floor if only for a finite span of time.

My advice--dare to dream! No matter what stands in your way, always strive to make your most precious dreams become reality.

What about you, readers? Have you ever pushed past a moment of moderate to profound hesitation and been blessed with a positive outcome?

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

The Spirit of Seventy...Two

As the holiday weekend winds down, I’ll share a memory from a Fourth-long-past with you all. This particular Independence Day from my childhood likely started with a breakfast of cereal, toast, fresh fruit and a glass of milk. Mungo Jerry possibly played on the radio, singing the classic, “In the Summertime”. The front doorbell rang, mom answered it and returned to the kitchen with two of my friends. Despite my protests, she assured me that finishing my breakfast wouldn’t hamper any of our fun. Before anyone could say frosted flakes, I kept my clean-bowl promise and headed out to our backyard with my friends. Our sneakers came to rest beneath the crabapple tree. We discussed how we’d spend our morning—the morning events we’d planned several days earlier. A quick trip by bicycle to one friend’s house a few doors down eventually found our handlebars decorated with pint-sized American flags conveniently attached to wooden sticks. After a short ride down the street, another friend’s father fitted our bicycle tire spokes with red-striped and blue-striped white straws. As our energy soared so did the temperature, so we returned to my house for some tropical punch (you know, the delicious brand featuring the little island guy). My father was in our garage and revealed a surprise for us. He had these cool metallic plastic streamers in red, blue and silver that he tied to our handlebars. While he finished his handiwork, I retrieved a souvenir from our recent visit to Philadelphia. We kids were now ready for our Spirit Ride. No sooner did our tires hit the street than we started our patriotic campaign on wheels. Flags waving and tires clicking, we recited over and over the opening lines from the Declaration of Independence. From time to time I reached into my woven bicycle basket and clanged the scaled down reproduction of the Liberty Bell. We made umpteen trips around the development, proclaiming our patriotism and having a lot of fun. When our ride ended some time later, we were treated to ice cream bars and Mom’s announcement that no rain was in the forecast. That meant no rain to ruin the town’s fireworks for later that evening. After a break to play with our Barbies and GI Joes, we got permission to make several more trips throughout the neighborhood and promised to return in time for the multi-family barbecue.

Many years have passed since that memorable Fourth, but I remember the moments well. The tang of lighter fluid and charcoal. Sizzling burgers and steaks. Our laughter and shouts. The hiss of the sparkler as it caught a flame. The burst of tropical fruit juice as it exploded on my thirsty tongue. The clang of the vacation-memento bell. Bet Paul Revere never had so many fond memories after his historical ride but we kids surely did.

Wishing you many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

In Praise of Persistence

Recently hubby and I had the honor and pleasure of attending a concert featuring Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band. In my opinion, those gentlemen are solid examples of musical talent. From the first round of thunderous applause when they walked across the stage and took up their respective instruments and places, to the final standing ovation, I admired each musician for his talent and ability to withstand the test of time. Ringo Starr, Edgar Winter, Hamish Stuart, Billy Squier, Colin Hay, Gary Wright and Gregg Bissonette have each carved a lucrative career as a performing artist for three decades or more. Difficult and praise-worthy feats. I’ve many of the albums those guys released in past decades, and they sounded every bit as good live now as they did when recorded twenty or more years ago. How many persons involved in the creative arts can claim the same and continue earning a consistent living despite sagging economic times, various changing demographics and consumer-driven marketplace fluctuations?


When you get to the creative core, authors are no different than the folks who command a concert stage. We are faced with many of our own challenges including reader demands, the loss of independent bookstores, increased competition with our peers, market changes and so many other issues beyond our control. All we can do is write the best books we know how at any given point and keep honing our craft every day. By regularly flexing our writing muscles, we have a better chance of completing manuscripts, for without those manuscripts, we won’t have careers. Despite the popularity of a certain genre at a given time, one thing is certain—readers remain loyal to their favorite authors. The trick is consistently delivering the creative product for reader demand, but talented and tenacious authors do this time and again. And unlike coaxing notes from an instrument, we authors must coax ideas from our brains. Quite a daunting task.

From the moment I first sat down at my desk with the goal of writing toward publication, I vowed I’d learn something new and something writing-related every day. And I have. While I had no guarantee editors would embrace every story I wrote, I was determined I’d never allow rejections to hamper my course along the publication path. No creative person, no genius or prodigy, can claim they’ve achieved success with every endeavor. While there have been drastic changes in my life over the past year and a half, changes which could easily cause me to surrender my goals and dreams, I won’t let them. From this day forth, whenever life and the self-doubt demon threaten my writing schedules, or do their best at crippling my creativity, I’ll recall Ringo and his All-Starrs. The going is never easy for anyone—and if anyone ever tells me otherwise, I’ll not believe them for a nanosecond. Along with their successes, each of those All-Starrs—including their mega-famous headliner—was a part of a group that disbanded or endured a career that experienced a temporary lull. But each remained true to his love of craft and his desire to continue practicing the same. Creative passion emanated from every musician and filled the arena. Along with some of the authors who’ve been on my auto-buy list for a couple decades, those musicians are living testaments that tenacity and talent rock and rule. I’ll agree talent is subjective. What I deem talent someone else deems otherwise. Regardless, let’s give credit where credit is due. Anyone who can remain gainfully engaged in a career for twenty, thirty or more years is highly deserving of praise and serves as an inspiration. Long live Classic Rock and everyone’s creativity!

May your fondest dreams and goals become reality,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

Coming Clean About a Sentimental Journey

In the summertime, whenever I think of journeys, I think of vacations and hitting the highway for a week of fun with family and/or friends. But I took another type of journey this past week—a sentimental journey. No, this journey didn’t involve revisiting memories of a past romance or pondering photos in a family album. Instead, a trip to our basement stirred my sentimentality.


After living in a home for over twelve years, a great deal of “stuff” accumulates. I’m not a woman who holds on to everything, but I’m also not one who tosses things quickly or at the first sign they don’t hold current value or use. Most of the storage boxes, seasonal decorations and other items weren’t causing any clutter, but there was one shelf where I’d put various paperwork that required sorting and tossing. One glance at the stack showed a manila envelope resting at almost the halfway point. I worked my way down through the papers—most of which were old drafts of manuscripts I’d written years ago—until I reached the envelope. As soon as I noticed the sender’s address, I opened the clasp and sat down on a lounge chair. Tucked inside was the second manuscript I’d written back in 2001 and submitted in 2002. I’d submitted this historical romance to a New York publisher and gotten partway up the acquisitions ladder before receiving a rejection. The reason—this publisher wasn’t buying manuscripts set during or immediately prior to the Civil War. The rejection letter is somewhere in my desk files. The reason I sat there smiling and clutching the book of my heart was the rejection letter contained some compliments on my writing as well as an invitation to submit more of my work. I stared at the stack of paperwork I’d already removed for shredding but vowed I’d never part with the historical-romance manuscript or the original mailing envelope. After I gathered the results of my cleaning spree and headed up the steps, I gave the shelf a parting glance. My historical romance novel remains there. Safe from all future cleaning sprees. Heaven knows, I’d no more part with that manuscript than I’d stop writing.

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

Of Bugs and Barriers

Warmer weather always finds me outdoors more, whether I’m taking long aerobic walks through the neighborhood or relaxing in a lounge chair while reading a good book. But warmer temperatures mean mosquitoes and bees. No matter how hard I try, no matter how many barriers I use against them, one or more of those buzzing creatures always finds me each late-spring or summer season.

Speaking of bugs and barriers, they also affect every author’s career. I’m not referring to the flying and/or stinging variety of winged being. Or the sprays, candles and foggers used by many to prevent them. No matter how carefully we writers plan our storylines, “bugs” find their way into our manuscripts during those rough-draft phases. More often than not, it’s during those times the mind erects mental barriers to solving plotting problems, two-dimensional characters, bland setting details, so-so prose, conflict and goals that don’t engage readers, and pithy dialogue.

Each time I’m faced with bugs and barriers my approach to solving the problem(s) varies slightly. Spring housecleaning is one of the best methods I’ve found to eradicate manuscript “bugs” and blast through creative barriers. Simply doing something that employs my left brain and logic, and gives the creative right brain time to rest and ponder a story’s snarls, carries me through. For those who would rather seek a more pleasurable activity, I’m a firm believer in the effectiveness of a home spa experience. Soaking in a garden tub filled with chocolate-scented bubbles frees my mind and lets me relax. While I’ve basked in those aromatherapeutic moments, and before I’ve thought of reaching for a plush terry bath towel, I’ve often reached over the side of the tub, grabbed my pen and notebook, and jotted the necessary story details not available earlier. Bugs and barriers be gone! If actively focusing on ridding a story and my skull of your presence doesn’t work, I’ll employ other tactics and turn you away. Exercise and pampering sessions serve as my figurative epi pens and battering rams.

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace