• Contemporary Romance,  E books,  Paranormal romance,  Scifi

    Twist and Shout

    I’m hunkering down to finish up checking my OMG (Outlaw Biker Gang) facts in RUSH.

     

    Scenes from RUSH
    Scenes from RUSH

     

    Aiden and Aaliyah from RUSH
    Aiden and Aaliyah from RUSH

     

    This book was supposed to be out weeks ago,but unfortunately, life interrupted. I’m also finishing up the storyline twists in RAZHER, Rise of the Gargoyles

     

    Razher promo small copy
    Razher promo small copy

     

    and QUEENSREALM

    QUEENSREALM - A woman is a weapon
    QUEENSREALM – A woman is a weapon

     

  • E books,  YA Contemporary

    HEAVEN is a quarterfinalist in the 2014 ABNAs

    HEAVEN made the quarterfinals of Amazon’s ABNA contest for 2014.

    The linked screenshot below shows the place holder for  the excerpt’s  first 5,000 words (which are identical to the already released novel).

    Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award excerpt of YA novel HEAVEN
    Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award excerpt of YA novel HEAVEN

     

    I wasn’t going to enter this year, but I decided at the last minute to go ahead and submit it. Last year JUKEBOX was cut before this round, but prior to that (in 2012) it made the semi-finals.

    The ebook HEAVEN
    The ebook HEAVEN

     

     

    JUKEBOX Volume One
    JUKEBOX Volume One

     

    For those interested in entering next year, Amazon usually puts up an announcement in either December or January. As in prior years I plan on posting it on this blog in order to encourage more authors to enter, especially authors of color who write interracial romance or have a diverse set of characters in their novels. Writing can be a very solitary endeavor, but there’s a great group of authors on the ABNA boards both new and experienced who offer assistance and are supportive, should you choose to enter.

  • Contemporary Romance,  E books

    RUSH Week, the final excerpt

    A scene from RUSH:

    Scene from RUSH - Aiden and Aaliyah kissing in field
    Scene from RUSH – Aiden and Aaliyah as teens, kissing in a field

     

    I need to stress that this is an edited photo. I wanted to duplicate a scene from the book, so I manipulated purchased images to do it.

     

    Aiden DeLucca from the ebook RUSH. Motorcycle gang member falls for Somali Banu refugee in RUSH
    Aiden DeLucca from the ebook RUSH. Older and wiser, out of jail and out of time.

     

     

    Final Excerpt:

    AIDEN

    Most days I only went to school when I felt like going. Sometimes I went just to keep warm and to be in the mix with kids closer to my age. The city had built a new high school that could hold two thousand kids. We had security cameras and computers in just about every classroom, but we were still the lowest performing school in the county.

    Sometimes I’d pass a couple of them Somali kids in the hallway, but I could never get ’em to look me in the eye. I wasn’t sure if the girl I’d seen would be in with the ones at my school, but one day I was going up the stairs and a bunch of ’em were coming down, and while the ones in front were chattering away I saw her, the same girl who’d been playing in the snow.

  • Contemporary Romance,  E books

    Just for RUSH Week: Another excerpt

    I’ve got another excerpt from RUSH:

    RUSH - For her love he'll take a stand
    RUSH – For her love he’ll take a stand

     

     

    AIDEN: 

    The very first time I saw Aaliyah it was snowing. I had to go out and shovel in front of the clubhouse because Turk didn’t like snow blocking the door. A bunch of women who looked like big ass penguins were running after some kids that were trying to catch snowflakes in their hands and their mouths.

  • Contemporary Romance,  E books

    Release updates and it’s time for a tearjerker

    I’ve written about werewolves and vampires and robots and angst filled teens and female soldiers, but I really didn’t have a true tearjerker in the lineup. So when I started this story:

    The Hereafter Song
    The Hereafter Song

     

    I realized this was a serious tearjerker. It’s probably the strongest to date of the tales I’ve penned regarding intra-racism, bullying and a slow building erotic romance.

    Yesterday was  Digital Art Saturday (I usually do most of my book promos on Saturdays) so for the Caribbean Queens series I’ve created this promo for the Pro-tennis doubles partners who fall for each other:

     

    Promo for the contemporary romance Game. Set. Love.

     

     

    Jamaican American tennis phenom falls for her sexy doubles partner

     

     

    RUSH comes out the week of April 10th. Here’s another promo:

  • Contemporary Romance,  E books,  Uncategorized

    The Final Four of March Madness Revealed!!

    The Sweet Sixteen teams in the NCAA tournament will be set this week, but I’ve gone ahead and picked my final four Sneak Peeks for Amazon.com:

    RUSH

    Motorcycle gang member Aiden falls for Somali Bantu refugee Aaliyah, in the ebook RUSH
    Motorcycle gang member Aiden falls for Somali Bantu refugee Aaliyah, in the ebook RUSH

     

     

    Scenes from RUSH

     

     

    GAIJIN

     

    GAIJIN ebook cover
    A free woman of color is enslaved in 1860s Japan

     

    Click for larger image:

    Gaijin - A Colored Maiden's Voyage and Recollections of Japan in the 1860s
    Gaijin – A Colored Maiden’s Voyage and Recollections of Japan in the 1860s

     

     

    Miss Brighton’s School for Exceptional Young Ladies

     

    Miss Brighton's School for Exceptional Young Ladies
    Miss Brighton’s School for Exceptional Young Ladies

     

    A time traveler must alter the past to ensure the world has a future
    A time traveler must alter the past to ensure the world has a future

     

    And the final Sneak Peek slot goes to . . .

  • Blog,  Contemporary Romance,  New Adult

    Aaliyah from RUSH

    One of the reasons I create picture representations of my characters is so that they feel more real to me when I give them a voice. I’ll search for just the right stock photo so I can edit it to fit scenes in the book or as a promo.

    The first time Aiden meets Aaliyah, I decided he’d hear her voice, and not see her. There’s a joyfulness about Aaliyah that intrigues him, and challenges his preconceived notions about her culture and her faith.

    But RUSH isn’t just one young female’s coming of age tale that continues until her mid-twenties. It’s about a group of girls, like the African American teen enthralled with the new refugees. And there’s Fatuma, the self appointed leader of the Somali Bantu students. I’ve posted a brief excerpt of what I call “The World according to Fatuma”:

    Aaliyah

     

    “I’m not some . . . some ‘thing’ that needs to be pitied. And I’m not someone who needs to be saved. Go look at your own life if you need to change someone.” – Aaliyah from RUSH

    Aaliyah from Rush

     

    Excerpt from RUSH:

    Fatuma is my closest friend. We attend high school together. She is very beautiful and she knows it. When we are in the presence of our elders she behaves like a good muslima. But once we are alone she tells me all the gossip. She knows many things and much of the American culture, especially the words they say in school that I don’t understand. Fatuma can speak several languages. When she talks, she goes from Maay-Maay to Somali, to Arabic and to English, and even Swahili. I’m learning a great many things from her.

    “Stay away from Batool,” Fatuma warned as we walked to the bus stop. “She’s nothing but a dhilo. She only likes ajanabi boys, the foreigners like the blacks and the whites and the Spanish guys. She’s making zina with anything with a dick. I do not want her with my brother.”