Saying Good-bye

I hate good-byes. I do. Only, it's time for me to say good-bye to the awesome ladies at Beyond the Veil. My writing direction has moved away from paranormal and on to an exciting career with Harlequin. All my focus is on contemporary medical romance at the moment. It's been an amazing couple of years and I've met some extremely talented and awesome authors. I hate to leave, but my deadlines are just a bit nutsy that I'm running out of time and brain activity to blog. Thanks for memories Beyond the Veil and I wish all these ladies continued success! xxoo Amy

Vacation Brain

I can't believe it's August. Where the heck did July go?

In one short month my kids will be going back to school and it feels like they just left.

I like that they're gone during the day, but I also enjoy not having to take them to school and pick them up.

I liked sleeping in, even for an hour.

Now summer is slipping away. *wah* I'm not ready for Fall and Winter yet.

So, I thought I'd share some photos of my camping excursion to Sandbanks Provincial Park near Picton, Ontario.

This is where my father's family landed when they came to Canada. I also, living only 2.5 hrs away from it, spent most of my summers here. Then I got married and lived about 5 hrs from it. :(

So my kids and DH had never been.

We all had a blast.

Walking over the large white sand dunes.

The beach in the morning. Lake Ontario so calm. It's a beautiful, shallow sandbar.

Campsite in the early morning.

The perfect sandcastle!

You can find out more about Amy at her website.

Or on Twitter @ruttanamy.

Canada D'eh?

So our Independence Day was July 1st.

In 1867 Canada became a nation, but with ties to Britain still. Queen Elizabeth II is our figurehead, but it was her great-great grand daughter of Queen Victoria who gave granted Canada to become a nation.

We don't have a president. We have a Prime Minister.

We spell things with u's like colour and favourite. As I type this spell checker is seriously underlining the words with red.

It doesn't like the u words. ;)

We love poutine and our beer is a wee bit stronger than yours!

I love being Canadian and though Canada Day has passed, the theme this month was Independence and pride.

I'm proud of being Canadian, eh.

You can find out more about Amy and her latest releases at:

Web: http://www.amyruttan.com
Blog: http://amyruttan.blogspot.com
Twitter: @ruttanamy

Pretty, pretty

I know this month's theme is when good ideas go bad, but since meeting deadline at the end of April I'm afraid my brain is a useless pile of goo.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to pull SO many all nighters and early mornings.

I'm so distracted. Easily distracted lately as my brain re-gels into whatever state it was in prior to meeting the Harlequin deadline, so I thought I'd share this pretty, pretty with you! Another bear shifter book!

Oh, so very pretty.

It's the sequel to Mounted Release and it's coming out June 7, 2013. YAY!

Here's a blurb:


Jared Stevens hasn’t been the same since he was shot. His duty is to marry a
Mukswa woman and be a strong leader. He lets the elders of his clan choose his bride,
because the woman he wants is only in his fantasies, the only woman who brings him to
exquisite release.

Adele Banks loved being a Mountie, but one shot ended her career and altered
her world forever. Adele is determined to make a life for herself. She’s hired to recover
Beare Enterprises embezzled funds, but what she didn’t count on is being extremely
attracted to her client when meeting him for the first time as he’s naked in his shower.

Adele is Jared’s mystery woman, but she’s taboo. He bonds to her, but has to keep
his society secret, as much as he wants to mark her as his own.

As Jared fights his own inner beast, remnants of the prior chief’s wrath is affecting
the clan and Adele. To save Adele’s life, Jared may just have to betray his clan’s secret
and risk his heart.

A Romantica® paranormal erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Mah Brain

Which can be quite the convoluted place at times, is always full of characters.

If I wasn't writing, well that's not even a question I can comprehend. I think about other professions I wouldn't mind doing, but my brain would still be full of stories.

And that's the lead in to this ramble. I get asked all the time where I get ideas for my stories.

Last night I said to a friend that my Muse is on crack when talking about where I got the idea for Incarnate.

After our laugh I said I got the idea watching Ice Road Truckers when I was dealing with my newborn.

Maybe it was sleep deprivation mixed with my fascination of the north which brought about it.

Honestly, anything can trigger an idea.

Music, a picture, something someone says.

My most recent idea, which is still percolating in my brain, was from watching a lot of Dr. Quinn and visiting Montana this past summer.

My imagination has always been full.



I was quite happy spending my Saturday and Sunday in my room playing with my dolls. Inventing up crazy story lines for them. There was always a villain. Always.

So I can't say for sure what specifically will inspire me. A lot of things do. I do know one thing for certain, I wouldn't trade away my very full and weirdly wired brain for anything.

Betrayal in Song

I thought I'd share some of my favorite songs about betrayal, because my brain is in deadline heck and I really can't string together coherent sentences at the moment. :)


FORGET IT: BREAKING BENJAMIN WHO KNEW: PINK WE ARE BROKEN: PARAMORE Here's one from my highschool years YOU OUGHTA KNOW: ALANIS MORISSETTE MY NEXT BROKEN HEART: BROOKS & DUNN What are some of your favorite songs about betrayal?

Love

How was your Valentine's Day?

Although, I think love, especially the language of love, transcends more than just a holiday.

In fact I know it does.

I LOVED the card and the raspberry chocolates my husband left me. My kids love getting Valentines from their classmates, but I've been thinking about other moments in my relationship and I have to share the moment where my DH & I first said "I Love You."

In the summer of 2001, I was finishing up college and the Brooks & Dunn song "Ain't Nothing 'Bout You" was released.

I'd just started dating the DH seriously and it was a long distance relationship. There was a 3 hr distance between us. Listening to that song made me think of him when I wasn't able to see him.

Then I heard Brooks & Dunn were coming to Toronto. The midway point for us, but having just graduated and the DH had another year I was more concerned about getting a job.

And then he called and told me he bought tickets. His Co-op paid money. Mine didn't.

He picked me up and we went to Toronto to see the BEST concert ever. It was hours and hours of music. I loved all the artists. It was a concert where Keith Urban was still an up and comer and hadn't married Nicole Kidman.

Anyways, Brooks & Dunn came on the stage and sang our favorite songs, but when they sang that song I looked over at my DH and just knew. KNEW.

And we both said it. Eleven years married, with three kids and if I play that song he still comes running. The song still makes me swoon, brings a flush to my cheek and brings me trouble of the smooching kind.

The Phantom of the Opera

Okay, I've talked about this before. Many times.

The Phantom or Erik, is my favorite dark hero.

I’ve heard a lot of nay saying about him, like “He’s a crazy sadistic, stalker, murderer dude.”

Okay, sure, but he’s a broken soul. Scarred and unloved. All he loves is Christine Daae.

The moment the Phantom walked out onto the stage back in 1992 when I first saw it, in Toronto at the Pantages theatre with Colm Wilkinson I fell head over heels in love. I hate Raoul. Still hate that pretty boy to be honest.

And at the end of the opera, when she leaves him for Raoul, but come back one final time to kiss him *fans self* swoon. My husband knows if he wants to get me in the mood fast he just has to put on the Phantom with Gerard Butler.

*ahem* Sorry I know, TMI.

Gerard didn’t have the voice range that Colm did, but DAYUM, even with half his face horrifically scarred he is mighty fine. That scene from Past the Point of No Return gets me hot under the collar all the time.

I wanted to know more about the Phantom. Where did he come from? What happened to his face? This is why I’m so fascinated and attracted to him. What made him the way he is and how can I heal him? 

Not much is known about the Phantom at all, other than his name is Erik and a few snippets from this song:

This face, which earned a mother’s fear and loathing…

A mask, my first unfeeling scrap of clothing…

 Even though Christine left the Phantom, his love for her remained true. He left her alone, but watched from afar. True to her, even though rich annoying pretty boy got her, he remained faithful even placing the rose on her grave years later.

And this final kiss scene *swoon* gets me every time. EVERY TIME.

The musical made such an impression on me, I was 14 at the time, I wrote copious amounts of fan fiction and would act out the musical in my room, alone, singing to the tape I bought from the souvenir stand.

It also helped fan the flames of my burgeoning romance writing career. No I don’t write about stalker/murders with half melted faces …but I’ve been tempted! >:)

It’s safe to say that The Phantom is my first ever dark romance hero.

Who’s yours?

Guilty Confession

I still love old school heroines. It's like brain candy for me. I was raised on old school heroines and I still enjoy them.

Do I write them? No. Not in the least, but I do love revisiting my favorite books and reading about them.

I think the only old school heroine I loathe, and I mean, LOATHE is Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind. I'm sorry, but she was just a big beyotch and I know I'll get slack.

I still remember reading my first old school heroine. She was Maggie Afton of Connie Mason's Ice and Rapture.

I still have a very well worn copy of the book, it's falling apart from multiple reads and I keep it because it was one of the last two books my Grandmother read before she died (the other book was Jewels by Danielle Steele, which I also love).

I took those two books from her hospital room. I'd already read them, because we read things together as she tried to fight the cancer which killed her. It was a way to spend time together and I don't think my mother knew her mother was debauching her daughter. LOL!

My grandma (Nanny) always like to read "Hot books. The hotter the better."

Funny, now I write erotic romance.

I digress, Maggie Afton was plucky, a reporter and willing to do STUPID things to get to the Goldfields during the Yukon Goldrush. And I mean stupid things, like trusting two varmints to take her to the goldfields where they planned to rape and kill her. Thank goodness Chase McGarrett (the Hero) stepped in, but that's a whole other post on HIM!

She also could have saved herself some serious heart ache and issues if she would've just TALKED TO THE HERO! Jayzus, woman for being a reporter she was a bit stubborn.

But I loved her. I still love her. She is my favorite old school heroine of all time.

Do you have a favorite old school heroine you love?

So close ...

I had another blog post set, but then something completely and utterly random happened to me and it involved something from one of my favourite movies of all time ...Ghostbusters.

I LOVE Ghostbusters. Love it. I remember seeing the first one when I was a kid in the Drive-in theatre in my home town. It terrified me, as I was under 10 at the time, but it was also so funny and I had a major crush on Peter Venkman (Bill Murray).

My brother recently moved in with us for a short while, while he relocated to a new job. He decided to do his Christmas shopping for his niece and nephews (my kids) on Friday. He works such long and random shifts, he never knows when he'll be working.

So we went to Toys R Us and did some shopping.

On our way out we noticed this HUGE line around the LCBO (Liquor Store here in Canada).

"What's going on there?" My brother asked.

"I think Dan Aykroyd is there signing his Crystal Head Vodka. I heard he's on some kind of tour to promote buying Canadian products."

Now, Dan is Ray Stanz from Ghostbusters and he's also Canadian.

"Wouldn't it be funny if Ecto 1 was there. I'd stop if Ecto 1 was there," My brother said.

We drove by and there she was. Ecto 1.

Totally random.

Of course we stopped. We said we would and this is what resulted:

Yep. Me and Ecto 1.

So absolutely cool!

How about you? Anything random like this happen to you before?

Ooooh I hates them, precious!

By that I mean O’Brian and Thomas on Downton Abbey.

I recently became hooked and hooked hard on Downton Abbey this past weekend and as each show progressed I hated, hated, HATED O’Brian (Lady Grantham’s ladies maid) and Thomas (Footman, aspiring to be valet).

They conspired. They had nothing pleasant to say. They were sneaky and down-right mean, but damn were they ever fascinating.

They are characters I love to hate. They’re also characters I want to know more about.

Especially now Season 2 is over.

Season 2 had me pitying Thomas. He was stuck in the trenches of WWI as a medic, trembling in fear because he was at the mouth of Hell. I didn’t envy him and his fear made him all the more real. His desperate action to get out of the war was cowardly, but again I don’t blame him for his moment of cowardice that got him discharged (I don’t want to say because I don’t want to give out any spoilers, but I was cringing when it happened). World War 1 was horrific and sad as any war is.

It gave another layer to Thomas and as much as he was still a bastard as Season 2 went on there were moments where I loved him as well. I found him more interesting than the “hero” of the servants Mr. Bates.

O’Brian was the same for Season 2. She did something horrible in Season 1 and she was so pinched faced and nasty I really, really loathed her. From the author stand point I couldn’t help but wonder what made her tick.

She never has anything nice to say about any one. Nor is she particularly loyal, maybe loyalish to Thomas, but that’s about it.

Until a certain Mr. Lang came to Downton suffering from PTSD. She was the only one who had any feeling for him. The only one who comforted him because her brother suffered from it and he was sent back before he should’ve been and was killed.

O’Brian’s past had been a bit of mystery up until that point.

As for her dreadful deed in Season 1, when her ladyship was on her deathbed she tearfully apologized, which surprised me. Again emotion so different from the cold fish, deadpan we received in Season 1.

I want to know more and more about them and I hope we see learn more about them as Season 3 progresses.

They’re truly fascinating and interesting villains. I think if they left, it wouldn’t be as interesting. These two have moved up the list on villains I love to hate.

I'm baaaaack

Last time I posted I was heading on a road trip. Ten thousand kilometres round trip in total.

It was long, tiring and AMAZING!

Since we're speaking about characters, I can say NOW that I've visited the home of one my childhood heroes. The character Laura Ingalls from the Little House of the Prairie books, only she wasn't fictional. Far from it!

Though, she was quite small in her adult hood. Four foot one to be exact. The same height as my 9 year old daughter. I'm 5'11", so yeah, Laura was quite smaller.

I got to travel some of the route the Ingalls family travelled. I can say now I've been in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, though most of the big woods have been levelled for farm land, as you can see ...though some woods remain.

Then it was onto Minnesota. Walnut Grove, Minnesota where Laura and her family lived On the Banks of Plum Creek:

Then we came to De Smet, South Dakota. The final home of the Ingalls, where Laura married Almanzo Wilder. A very emotional moment for me. I was also sick as a dog, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Heck NO. I've dreamed of coming here my whole life. So I drugged myself up and moved on!

Above is the last house Pa Ingalls built. Sadly, he only lived in it a couple years before he died of heart failure. Ma & Mary lived here for twenty years further until they passed.

The final resting place of Carrie, Mary, Laura's infant son, Ma and Pa. Grace is buried a few feet away with her husband Nathan Dow. Laura, Almanzo & their daughter Rose are in Missouri where the Wilder's finally settled.

I read all of the Little House books when I was 8. I devoured them and their the first "novels" I ever read so whole heartedly. Laura, started my love of reading and writing. When I was 8 I wanted to be a writer, like Laura.

This was a dream come true. I saw so many amazing sights on my trip. I have over 600 pictures. LOL! But De Smet, South Dakota was so much more, a dream come true. Lots of happy tears will spilled and the tears started about Walnut Grove, Minnesota and they didn't stop until we were leaving De Smet on Monday June 25, 2012 heading toward Rapid City, South Dakota.

I'm still recovering from my trip, but my creative well is really full and as much as I enjoyed it. I'm glad to be back.

Action, or not?

I’m filling in for my critique partner Amy Ruttan, who’s still on her road trip. She’ll be back soon, but in the meantime, let’s talk action…

I’ll preface this by saying I’m not a huge movie buff. If you can pin me down long enough, I’ll happily watch one…it’s the pinning down that’s the problem! I’ll get out to see maybe two a year and watch a few more with my sweetie on television or computer. So, as you can imagine, I’m pretty picky about what I watch.

For me action, whether in movies or books, has to make sense and be believable in the framework of the story. I don’t care if the movie is billed as an Action flick or the book’s supposed to be a thriller, I’d rather they leave out that car chase or gun battle than throw it in there just to up the voltage (sorry Noonie!). It’s the same with any kind of story, even romances. Umm…did the couple really pause to have sex while on the run from the bad guys? WHY?

My Hubster is really careful about what he suggests we watch together, because he knows if there’s any anomaly I’m going to see and comment on it. (“Okay, so how exactly did the bad guy know that they were going to be in this particular place, at this particular time, so as to set the ambush?” “I. Don’t. Know. Just watch the damn movie!”) He’d probably say I’m an annoying movie-watching partner, but I say I’m a plot junkie. I don’t need explosions or murders or explicit sex to enjoy a film or book. I just need a compelling, flowing plot. Besides, where does it say “action” equates to loud noise, fighting, car chases or sex? To me it’s anything that makes your heart skip a beat, and that can be achieved with just a look exchanged between characters.

But, having said all that, the judicious use of action, whether the BOOM-POW or the BOW-CHICA-BOW-WOW type, really can make the difference between a so-so and an amazing story. And I freely acknowledge that there are some movies where the action is the plot and sometimes you have to just sit back, relax as best you can and go along for the ride.

*Whew* Boy!

I can't believe it's June already. The year has just been flying by, but I've been really looking forward to June because my family and I are making a cross country trip for my sister-in-law's wedding. I've never been to Alberta or any of the western provinces. Heck, I haven't even been west of Sudbury, but this summer that's all going to change.

We're driving through the lovely states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota (*SQUEE huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan here*), Wyoming and Montana before heading back into Canada. The way home I'll see Saskatchewan, Manitoba and FINALLY Thunder Bay, Ontario.

We're going to be gone a month! WOOT!

Stoked? You bet I am, but it also means major packing and I haven't the brain capacity for anything other than lists and my deadlines.

Fear not. In July I've invited a guest to take my place on July 8th. :) My crit partner Anya Richards (*kisses her feet*).

August, I'll have to share some pictures of the ghost towns, which we're planning on visiting.

I know this month our theme is LGBT, so I'll leave you with one of my FAVOURITE LGBT fictional couples EVAH!!

Oh and just because Captain Jack Harkness is SUCH a tease, here's another:

Poor Ianto!

See you in August! 

What I'm a fan of

I thought I'd share TEN things I'm a fan of. I'm having to limit it though to things to with Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal and that ilk, because this would be a CRAZY long post if I didn't.

1.  Dr. Who. I've been a fan for ...as long as I can remember. My Dad watched it when I was kid (In the Tom Baker days) and so I grew up with it. Not that I'm complaining. I loved Christopher Eccelson as the Doctor and I LOVED Rose ...she's my favourite companion and this is one of my favourite pics. This is right before the Doctor turned it into David Tennant's version ...which I also adore.

2. Princess Bride. I swear there isn't a theme of kissing. I just happened to have two in a row. I love this movie. I was about eight or so when it came out and I could recite phrases from it for so long, still can. And seriously who didn't have a crush on Westley?

3. Torchwood. I do actually have a picture of Captain Jack kissing Ianto, but I thought I would mix it up a bit.

4. Star Wars. No, I'm not a romance writer. Not in the least. ;-) I know they're not in their Star Wars costumes, but I love this picture. LOL I loved Star Wars. LOVED IT. Now I'm SO stoked my 6 year old boy is totally into it. He lives and breathes Star Wars and my home is full of Fighter Pods with tiny little Lukes, Darths, Chewies all over the place. Though Yoda is currently MIA.

5. The X-Men. I like the Avengers too, but the X-Men in particular Rogue and Gambit were my favourites. Okay, I seriously have some kind of kissing fetish don't I?

6. Labrynith. Yay for Goblins who like David Bowie in the 80's. WOOT! As a kid I seriously wished Goblins would've stolen my little brother, but it didn't happen.

7. Harry Potter series, in particular Sirius Black. He was one of my favourite characters and the casting of Gary Oldman was right on the button and is who I pictured when I read The Prisoner of Azkaban. I was also spot on with guessing they'd cast Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid. Brilliant casting all around actually.

8. Twilight. Yeah, sorry ...uh actually, no I'm not. I love the series and this is about MY fan favourites.

9. Lord of the Rings. Thought I'd show Faramir, more of a hero than Boromir whom their father preferred because he let Frodo go. He's another one of my favourite characters, though I truly do love them all in their own way.

10. Who you gonna call? I remember seeing the first one as a kid at the Drive-In Theatre. Back then we didn't have child safety seats or even really a back seat in the back of my Mom's GMC van. She opened the back doors, hooked the radio on the window and we sat in the back on a mattress with blankets and pillows. She drove us home like that when we fell asleep, only by then she closed the doors. We slept all night in the van in the driveway. It was awesome.

And I'll leave you with a funny! Have a great rest of the weekend and thanks for sharing in some of MY personal faves. :)

April Showers

I know I was supposed to talk about urban fantasy, I can tell you I'm working hard on Incarnate's sequel Sacrament and it's been a hard fought battle, but I want to make sure it's perfect. At least I can see the end in sight. Which is good considering the paperback for Incarnate comes out in June!

I've been deep in my writing cave working away, but I have to say with the mild winter and backwards March I kind of escaped my cave a little be oftener than I should have.

March was insanely hot.

I never remember a March where I wore shorts, especially since I live in Canada.

I also have to say I'm a bit distracted. It's my birthday tomorrow. The big 3-4.

Today I'm getting my b-day dinner as tomorrow is Monday and I have a Brownie meeting. I'm a Snowy Owl.

I know this is a crazy rambling post and I apologize, but what can I say I'm the almost birthday girl. :)

In May I hope to be able to share a bit of a sneak peak on my next bear shifter I've been working on or a sneak peak of something I have coming this summer. A self publishing endeavour. :)

Until then. I hope your April showers bring May flowers. I know I'm looking forward to summer, because June marks the beginning of our month long excursion as we travel across country.

Happy April everyone! :)

New Release

I know this month is about Steampunk and I adore that subgenre and I KNOW that shape shifters theme has passed, but I had a new release involving shape shifters.

Also I've been away during March Break and couldn't think of anything to say on Steampunk other than I love it! I love, love, love it. Pathetic I know.

Anyways, the bear one I hinted back when we were all talking about beasties.

Mounted Release was released on March 9 from Ellora's Cave.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's my first shapeshifter and probably won't be my last.

Here's a little excerpt:

Sheridan tumbled out of the cruiser holding her head as if in pain and his heart skipped a beat. He hoped there wasn’t something seriously wrong with her internally, like a hemorrhage or concussion, that was causing her to be a bit clumsy.

“Are you all right, Miss Stevens?” He rushed to her side and held her steady. Even through the thick snow that clung to them he could smell the heady scent of lavender and sun-baked hay, it reminded him of summers down on Rice Lake. Summers he spent swimming and fishing, it seemed like ages ago. A pang of homesickness engulfed him. He hadn’t thought of home in so long.

Sheridan froze and pushed his hands away. “I’m fine.” She began to shiver and he slipped his parka over her shoulders. “Don’t you need this, Constable Thomas?”

“I can handle the cold, besides you were the one in the accident.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Gordon nodded and slung his rucksack and his rifle over his shoulder. “Come on, it’s this way.” He held out his hand and she took it, letting out a gasp of surprise when they touched.

“You’re hot, I mean…oh lord.” She blushed. “Forget what I mean.”

Gordon chuckled. “I understood what you meant. It’s okay. I’m used to the cold.”

She sent him an inscrutable look as she tried to keep up with his pace through the high drifts.

“No one is that used to this kind of cold.”

“It would be colder if it wasn’t snowing. If it were a clear night I would be setting up camp in the patrol car instead of hiking out to the cabin. However, I don’t see this storm ending any time soon.” He waited for her to catch up. He tried to make his steps even and deep so she wouldn’t have to break the snow, but where he stood at six foot three she was a hell of a lot shorter. If he had to guess she was about five foot six. Tiny compared to him.

She stumbled and he reached out, catching her before she went face first into a snowbank.

“Dammit I hate the snow,” she cursed.

“Then you’re living in the wrong place, Miss Stevens.”

“Just call me Sheridan, and I’m beginning to question my judgment on coming up here.”

“Where are you from?” He didn’t get an answer immediately.

“Don’t I have a right to remain silent?”

Gordon cocked an eyebrow. Now he really knew something was fishy. “You don’t have to tell me, I was just making conversation.”

“Thanks, but I’m not in a conversing mood. I just want to get to somewhere warm where I can defrost.”

Gordon laughed again. “Totally understandable.”

They continued on in silence. He stopped every once in a while to let her catch up, but all too soon he could see the exertion of walking through the snow was too much for her. Sheridan had been through a lot tonight and if they kept up at this rate it was going to take them hours to get to the cabin. He scooped her up, causing her to cry out.

“What are you doing?”

“Carrying you, you’re exhausted.”

“You can’t be that strong, to carry me.”

Gordon grinned at her and fought the urge to place a kiss at the end of her little pixie nose. “It’s nothing to me. We’re almost there.”

Sheridan shook her head. “You can see your way in the dark, you’re not affected by the cold and you’re as strong as a…” She trailed off, her body stiffened in his arms. “Don’t mind me. Just tired.”

“You’ll be able to rest soon.” Gordon was pretty sure she was going to say bear. How right she would be, but he also got the sense that she knew what he was but was denying it.

A shiver ran down his spine and it wasn’t from the cold. Was she Mukswa too? Females of the clan couldn’t shift, only the males could. If she was female, what the hell was she doing out here alone? Female Mukswa were revered and protected by their clan. Especially during the years they were able to have children.

If she was a Mukswa it would explain the reason why he was reacting to her like an untried youth and it also probably meant she was in heat. Gordon inhaled deeply and recognized the cloying perfume smell. Yes, she was in heat.

Where was her mate?

The thought of an enraged male encroaching on his territory up here made him sick to his stomach.

Whether Sheridan Stevens liked it or not he was going to get some answers from her and he’d find the mate mark on her body. He didn’t want an angry male up here.
The last thing he needed was a fight on his hands.

The cabin was a welcome sight. He set her down and opened the door. She followed him inside cautiously, clinging tightly to the parka as if her life depended on it.

The cabin was adequate shelter. It was a large, square room with a small kitchen tucked into one corner, a fireplace against the wall and a wooden bunk in the other corner. He strode over to the opposite side of the cabin and opened the door to another small room, which had a stock of firewood, some canned goods and a composting toilet.

When he entered the main room Sheridan Stevens was still huddled by the front door, shaking in his oversized parka. He walked past her and locked the front door.

“I’ll get a fire started.” He dropped his rucksack on the roughhewn table but took the gun with him. Female Mukswa or not, he didn’t know her and he damn well couldn’t trust a female on the run. He knelt down by the fireplace, on alert now, waiting for a male to show up.

“What should I do?” Sheridan asked nervously.

He didn’t even look back at her. He was angry she was here. He had left Ontario to escape the clan. He didn’t want to be near another one. For ten years he had managed to bury that part of his life and yet here he was, locked in a cabin with a female. In heat. This was going to test his willpower, more than he cared to try.

“Constable Thomas, what should I do?”

“Once I get this fire started you can get undressed and show me your mate mark so I know who you belong to.”

Changing face of Romance

I've been wracking my brain trying to think of something insightful to say on this subject, which hasn't already been said by the other awesome members of this blog.

When I first sold, first started in this industry it was to Ellora's Cave. An e-publisher and for so long I wasn't recognized as a "real" author. I wasn't published in what the RWA calls, New York.

It was disheartening to say the least, but I loved writing for Ellora's Cave. I love writing erotic romance.

Still, I had many people look down their nose at me. I wasn't a real author. Wasn't it cute I was just dabbling in a hobby. Wasn't it sweet that I thought I was a "real" author.

Now it seems the literary worlds is EXPLODING with e-publishing. I see e-readers wherever I go and now those same naysayers are scrambling to get a piece or a foothold in this fast-paced industry.

I started in this industry in 2006, being published in 2007. It's been interesting to watch the changes and exciting too.

I can't wait to see where we'll be in another five years. Heck, with the way things are changing so fast, I can't wait to see where we'll be tomorrow.

Happy Holidays

It's very cool to be blogging on Christmas Day.

Talk about your cool luck of the draws! :)

Christmas is pretty magical time anyways. I mean a jolly fat man who can squeeze down a chimney and a reindeer whose nose glows, or in the words of Yukon Corneilius "His beak blinks like a blinking beacon."

I'm really looking forward to the New Year. I have a paranormal book releasing sometime in the New Year under my alter ego Amy Ruttan. Remember when we were talking about shifters? I have a bear shifter coming up with EC in 2012, and my bear is a member of the Mounties. *grin* So look for Mounted Release in the new year.

I hope to have some more too.

This year was a great year, even greater given the fact I got to meet up with these lovely authors from Beyond the Veil. They let me join this fantastic group and it's been amazing.

I hope you and yours have a very happy holidays and a wonderful New Year.

Lots of love,

Amy

Earth of the Future?

When I think of the future I think about how different the landscape will be. I mean, if you think about it the world is constantly changing.

I think this really hit home for me because last year at this time we had snow and we were below zero for temperature (I'm sorry my temperature readings are going to be in Celsius, I am Canadian. LOL!) and currently it's 15 degrees. We have no snow, in fact it's raining. I've been on this Earth for thirty some odd years and I don't ever remember a November like this.

At all.

Usually I dread November. It's the first kiss of winter, but this November has been ... nice. So it got me thinking, what is the weather of the future going to be like?

I mean, they found frozen palm trees in Antarctica. Was Antarctica a paradise much like the Caribbean or Hawaii?

I mean, look at how our glaciers are receding.














This is the Athabasca glacier in Alberta (which I get to go see this summer). Just look at how much it's receded in the last nineteen years.

Even Niagara Falls is on it's own progression of recession.













Crazy eh?

I guess that's why I've always been curious on people's ideas about how the world will change. I remember being awed by the possibility of 2010 a Space Odyssey and the Jupiter turning into another Sun so that Earth would no longer be in darkness. Think about how the world would change then. I was also obsessed with post apocalyptic novels, still am actually, and the landscape of the world after a devastating war. The first one I can remember reading was John Wyndham's The Chrysalids.

The future has always intrigued me, but I'm looking towards the changing landscapes, the shifting of plates and environmental aspects.

What do you think the Earth will look like in the next century?