Wednesday, February 26, 2014

@dochappycamper's Bad Girl Julia Santos Has a Chance for Her HEA. Will Her Past Destroy It? #LGBT #EroticRomance


The third book in the Now and Forever series by Sassy Vixen author Tammy Dennings Maggy is starting to gain more attention with the readers. It's the much awaited book that tells the story of bad girl Julia Santos—the character that just wouldn't stay as a blip in the back story of hero Jake Hartley.



She was first mentioned almost as an afterthought in For the Love of Quinn, but more of her story peaked through in The Island. There we learn for the first time, some of the details of how her betrayal shaped Jake into the love them and leave them kind of guy. Because of her, he nearly gave up completely on his HEA with Quinn.



Julia met with Jake and Quinn in Vegas in hopes to finally find the forgiveness she needed in order for her to move on with her life with her best friend and Mistress, Carmen. Her journey to that point was a long one and only hinted at in The Island. Readers wanted to know more—why was she the cold-hearted bitch for most of her adult life. Why did she push those who loved her the most away? Could the villainess really be redeemed and HOW?



All those questions are answered and more in The Surrender of Julia (Now and Forever 3). Her story is told in a series of flashbacks spanning over a decade. You not only get her perspective, but that of her former lover Jake, the love of her life Carmen, and her new friends she meets in Vegas during the present day scenes. 

The buzz is already starting about wanting to know more about Julia and Carmen's past together. Tammy's working on that as we "speak" today. In fact BOUND IN PARADISE will be one of the novellas in our Summer Lovin' anthology. Make sure you click on the poll on the right sidebar and vote for your favorite title!

Now back to Julia...

BLURB

L.A. artist phenom Julia Santos appeared to have it all. Bisexual and hedonistic, she grasped hold of her life with both hands. But unknown to those around her, inside she was lost. While her best friend Carmen, a Domme, gave her a sense of security she’d never felt before, Julia fled from giving herself over fully to her and love.

Still reeling from the effects of an abusive childhood, Julia denied her growing feelings for Carmen and ran straight into the arms of adoring men, dominating them with her seductive nature to get what she wanted from them. However, the erotic power she held over them didn’t give her the comfort she craved.

As she hurled herself further down the path of self-destruction, her behavior caught the attention of the Goddess Fate and her Guardian Angel Daniel. Together they intervene and transport her to the realm between life and death called the Island. There she’s given a choice: stay and wait for her next rebirth, or go back and fight to be with the one who had been there for her through every lifetime.


Will she take the easy way out and leave all the pain behind, or will she choose the long and hard road in order to have her happily ever after with the Mistress of her dreams?

ADULT EXCERPT F/F

Julia’s ass burned from the paddle and yet she craved more. She knew her Mistress would deliver the appropriate punishment. She always knew what to do for her to give them both the greatest amount of pleasure. “Yes, Mistress.”  Julia placed her palms flat on the carpet, curled her fingers inward, and gripped the plush fibers as Carmen worked her with the paddle. A few times the edges of the paddle connected with her cunt sending jolts of pleasure and pain through her body, igniting the passion she hadn’t felt in a long time. This was definitely where she belonged, with her Mistress, her true soul mate.

“You’re going to get to know this paddle well, my sweet, but not all tonight. We’ve plenty of time together and I’ve a lot of instruction planned for you.” Carmen slipped her fingers between Julia’s pussy lips. “So wet for me already, kitten. Do you know how much that pleases me?”

“I’ll do anything to please you.” Julia thrust back toward Carmen as her fingers slid over her clit and then quickly withdrew. “Please don’t stop, Mistress.”

Carmen laughed softly as she rubbed soothing cream with her soft hands over Julia’s thighs and bottom. “Don’t you worry, there’s going to be plenty of time for you to come for me, my love. Since it’s been such a long time, your skin isn’t used to being worked, but it will be.”

Shivers flew up and down Julia’s spine. The combination of the heat from the paddle, the coolness of the cream, and the touch of Carmen’s hands became almost too much to take, and yet it was exactly what she needed and longed for from the very start. She felt a tug on her outer lips as the bell clamps were removed and cream worked into the skin where they’d been for the last few hours. Julia moaned again as Carmen spread her ass cheeks and slipped two fingers into her tight opening, coating her with the cream and stretching her with each feathering stroke.

Carmen picked up the crop with the special latex covered handle and bulb at the tip. It resembled a long, thick cock and was in fact, one of Julia’s favorite toys.

Tonight she would be reacquainted with it. Just the sight of it made her body ache with need. The feel of the dildo sliding between her cheeks, sent a flood of her juices down her inner thighs with nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t hold it back any longer and hoped it wouldn’t displease her Mistress too much. A smile slowly formed on her lips thinking about what would happen next if Carmen followed her usual routine.

The bulb of the handle slowly slid passed the initial resistance to embed deep within her. Julia’s clit throbbed in response to the fullness of the crop buried in her ass, and her hips rocked. She ground her pussy into the ottoman, attempting to give her clit some relief.

Carmen wasn’t going to allow it however. “Kneel up, hands behind your back, kitten.”  She helped Julia get up and into position before shoving the crop a little deeper into her. “Now, I’m going to enjoy that hot bath you prepared for me. Keep your hands behind your back, legs apart, and that fake cock right where it is until I tell you otherwise. Are you okay with that or do you need a break, my pet?”

Julia swallowed hard and licked her lips. “I could use a drink of water, Mistress.”

 Carmen held a bottle of water with a straw while Julia drained nearly half of it in three gulps.

“Thank you.”

Carmen kissed her forehead and then her lips softly. “I won’t be long and then we’ll start again. I was thinking of our last session after you visited me today. We had such a short time together then, not enough to really see what both of us were made of. But this time, oh honey, this time we are going to be able to let everything and everyone else go.”

Buy Links


About the Author

As the founder of Sassy Vixen Publishing, Tammy has a lot on her plate. Not only has she established herself as an erotic romance author with Siren Bookstrand, but she's also published two books of poetry and has many more projects underway. Finding time to write and keep up a full schedule as a veterinarian in a very busy practice in the Pacific Northwest has been a difficult task, but one she takes on happily with the help of her husband, “Mr. Vixen.”

Through her website/blog Behind Closed Doors and her blog Not Enough Time in the Day you can get a glimpse into her hectic schedule.  Now she can add Best Selling Author to her resume as her vampire inspired poetry book The Courtship of the Vampyre is one of the top sellers on Omnilit (ARe affiliate).

The love of books of all genres helped her decide to write under four pen names. This way she's able to tell the stories all of her characters wish to tell whether it's the sweet and sensual or hot and spicy. Speaking of spicy, Tammy is also part of the Four Seduced Muses along with three of her Siren author friends. No topic is off limits with the Muses and that's the way “The Vixen” likes it!
Readers can also connect with her and her alter egos through Facebook and Twitter.

Where to find Tammy
 Blog

Wild and Wicked Wednesday: @dochappycamper REVISITS How to Write Explicit #Erotic Love Scenes #LGBT #manlove


The following post was originally published a year ago. A lot has happened during that time for myself, Sassy Vixen and the guest author in today's spotlight. Her post had the highest number of hits of ALL TIME here at SVP and I don't think it will give up it's spot any time soon. 

To celebrate how far we've all come during the last year and revisit a post that's just as timely now as it was then, I decided to share it again. Sit back and enjoy the fabulous advice from my friend and fellow smut writer, Kendall McKenna.
~The Vixen


I'm thrilled to have back here at Sassy Vixen Publishing, one of our favorite authors and friends, Kendall McKenna. As many of you know, she was one of the very first authors of M/M romances that I chose to read and have never regretted it for one moment! My alter ego Lia Michaels was so taken by the genre, she's completed TWO of her own...and Kendall along with Tyler Robbins were the inspiration for her to give it a try. Today for Wild and Wicked Wednesday, I thought I would just turn the whole post over to Kendall and let her have some fun. Come on out, Kendall! The floor is all yours...

Hello! I’m Kendall McKenna and I write gay porn.

Okay, not really, but I have your attention now! I just like to put it out there early that I write m/m erotic romances. If you haven’t yet ventured into this genre, you really ought to give it a try! Seriously! My first book, Brothers In Arms, is a good starter book. But anyway, what I want to talk about today is relevant to all the types of erotic romance.

Writing Explicit Erotic Love Scenes

I was recently interviewed for another blog and one of the questions I was asked was, what is easier for me to write; love scenes or action scenes? My answer was love scenes. The reason is that a well written action scene requires a change in the narrative style that isn’t natural for me, whereas love scenes utilize a narrative voice that is more in keeping with my natural style. For that interview, I focused on the differences between the two types of scenes. For this post, much of what I’ll discuss holds true for action scenes, as well.

We’ve all read them; those books with lukewarm love scenes, or love scenes that are obviously shoe-horned in just to have a love scene, or unrealistic (is that even physically possible?) love scenes, or identical to the previous love scene, or is absolutely out of character for the participants. I recently read a book where I skipped through the later love scenes because there were too many of them, they were all the same (blow job followed by penetrative sex), and none of the scenes did anything to move the characters or the story forward. It’s frustrating and unsatisfying when this occurs.




An explicit love scene serves the same purposes as every other scene in a story. It needs to strike an appropriate emotional note, it needs to move the story forward or contribute to character development, and it needs to hold the reader’s interest. These things are achieved through the construction of the scene, they don’t happen by accident. A successful love scene isn’t just a flow of consciousness, and it’s much, much more than simply describing how Tab A is inserted into Slot B.

We all have our own techniques for writing a hot love scene. While many writers probably have some similarities or commonalities, for the most part, we’re each unique in how we go about it. This is a quick overview of my process.


Story within a story

I approach each erotic scene as if it’s its own, stand-alone story. As a scene in a larger story, it becomes a story within a story. I write the scene like a three-act play, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Specifically; foreplay, primary sex act/orgasm, resolution (afterglow). This helps me with pacing, to keep the reader interested. I can establish the emotional states of my characters and take one or both of them through to where I need them to be at the end of the scene, and closer to where I want them to be at the end of the story.


Show don’t tell


I’ve seen readers use this in reviews and, having read the books myself, it’s obvious to me that they don’t understand what this means. Telling is something like this: “John was turned on, now that he was with Joe.” Showing is something like this: “John’s heart beat quickened, his breathing quick and shallow. The feel of Joe’s skin, the scent of his body, made John’s cock harden. He’d waited so long for this, now that he was finally with Joe, John’s head was spinning.” Rather than telling the readers that John is turned on by Joe, it’s more effective to show the effects of John’s arousal, to show how emotions effect the body and vice versa. Rather than telling the reader that John is nervous to be with Joe, saying that John’s hand trembles as he skims it down Joe’s chest helps the readers to both understand and relate to what John is feeling. If characters have years of history with each other, two pages of narrative explaining the history can get tedious and boring. A little narrative, a little dialog, a little memory recall gets the job done in a much more interesting and engaging way.

This leads me to the next topic:

Use all five senses

In real life, we use all five of our sense when we have sex. We aren’t necessarily aware of them all, but they do provide us with sensory input and enhance the experience. Using all five of the POV character’s senses enhances the story for the reader. His partner is handsome (sight). His partner moans (sound). His partner’s skin is warm (touch). His aftershave is strongest right behind his ear (scent). The sweat collecting on is throat is salty (taste). There is of course, an emotional reaction to each of the sensory inputs. This draws the reader into the scene and helps them relate to what the POV character is experiencing.

Don’t be afraid of language

Euphemisms and purple prose ruin an explicit erotic scene. I’m perfectly comfortable using the graphic, coarse words that make these scenes effective. Cock, dick, prick, erection, balls, ball sac, ass, asshole, come, jizz, spunk. ‘Velvet covered steel rod’ is soooo 1980’s. I of course, have to tailor the language to suit my character(s). For instance, I write about U.S. Marines. They use coarser language than a doctor or a lawyer would, because that’s just how their sub-culture is. They throw around words like ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ much more frequently. They’re more likely to use ‘jizz’ and ‘spunk’, less likely to use ‘erection’ than they are ‘hard-on’. Whatever the character’s background, I can’t shy away from the use of the explicit language.

My most recent book is a paranormal story called Strength of the Pack. It’s Book 1 in the series, The Tameness of the Wolf. The book is about U.S. Marines, both humans and werewolves, serving side-by-side in perfect symbiosis. I use erotic love scenes to further the plot, deepen the bond between the pairing, and intensify the inner conflict of the POV character. Because my characters are Marines and it’s set in Afghanistan, there are a lot of combat scenes, as well as the erotic ones. Writing the combat scenes was a struggle for me. I struggled to get them just right. In contrast, the erotic scenes were a breeze to write, and require far less editing along the way.

Curious about Strength of the Pack? You can read a little more below. 






Strength of the Pack
by Kendall McKenna



Blurb:

Lieutenant Lucas Young doesn’t know much about shifters. When Sergeant Noah Hammond is assigned to Lucas’ platoon, the Marine Corps’ True Alpha werewolf challenges the Lieutenant’s authority and his self-control. As Lucas learns to dominate and command Noah, he struggles against a strong attraction and deepening emotional bond.
During their combat deployment to Afghanistan, Lucas and Noah begin mirroring legendary partnerships. Their bond and their power grow as they survive dangerous combat and ambushes. When one of them is wounded in battle, they both must embrace the strength of their bond before they lose each other forever.



EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT!
I’m sharing this excerpt exclusively,
here at Sassy Vixen!
Excerpt:
Noah dropped the items in his arms and slammed Lucas’ back against the wall. His hands were everywhere on Lucas. The only place Lucas wanted his own hands was right on Noah’s naked skin. He ran his palms up Noah’s back, digging his fingers into the thick muscles of his shoulders. He pushed back against Noah’s kiss, rubbing their tongues together.

Lucas’ chest heaved with each raging breath. He ran his tongue over Noah’s upper lip just before he bit down on Noah’s lower lip.

“Fuck,” Noah snarled. He licked his way along Lucas’ jaw. “Need you against me.”


Lucas ran his hands up Noah’s bare chest, the heat nearly scalding him. Noah’s tags hung heavily against the backs of Lucas’ hands, his fingers tangled briefly in the beaded chain. Noah’s hands tugged at the hem of Lucas’ fleece, pushing it up over his belly. He’d never felt anything like the touch of Noah’s super-heated skin. The chill of the air was more pronounced in the wake of Noah’s touch.

“Too cold,” Lucas murmured against Noah’s cheek. “I don’t run as hot as you do.”

“I’ll keep you warm,” Noah replied, insistently tugging on Lucas’ fleece.

Lucas was helpless. He lifted his arms, and Noah pulled the fleece over his head, Lucas’ dog tags fell back against his chest with a soft, metallic clink. Noah was true to his word, and he immediately wrapped his arms around Lucas, lending the warmth of his body.

That was when Lucas noticed the lack of a bite mark on Noah’s shoulder. He lifted a hand and ran his fingers over Noah’s skin. He could still feel something, where the mark was supposed to be, but it was faded to nearly nothing.

“It’s gone,” Lucas murmured.

“We heal faster in wolf form,” answered Noah. “It dulls the pain, too.”

Lucas didn’t like it that Noah was walking around unmarked. Anger flared in his chest and he pushed against Noah’s hold. Lucas lifted his hips and pivoted, pushing Noah’s back against the wall.

Noah wrapped his arms back around Lucas, again sharing his warmth. He leaned his head back, as if offering himself up. Lucas spanned Noah’s ribs with both hands. Without thinking, he lowered his head and sank his teeth into Noah’s skin, just below his collarbone.

Lucas felt the bite echo on his own chest. Noah snarled, and his arms tightened around Lucas. Noah’s scent, the taste of his skin, overwhelmed Lucas’ senses. He expected stinging pain, but it never manifested. Instead, desire, affection and deep satisfaction flooded him.

“Oh fuck, Lucas.” Noah’s voice was low and ragged. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Lucas tore his mouth away, and Noah whimpered. He nosed his way across Noah’s chest, swiping his tongue over a patch of heated skin just beneath his other collarbone.

“Please, Lucas,” Noah pleaded.

Lucas bit down hard, resisting the urge to break skin. The relief and the ecstasy that rolled through him weakened his knees. Noah pumped his hips rhythmically against Lucas, his cock hard through his uniform. Lucas released the flesh from his teeth and licked at it soothingly.

He pulled back slightly to admire his work. Each of Noah’s collarbones was decorated with an angry red bite mark. Lucas sensed Noah’s triumph. It relieved him to know he hadn’t hurt Noah. He didn’t understand why this meant so much to Noah, but there was no denying that being marked in this manner met some deep, powerful need inside of him.

“I wanna feel you.” Noah’s words were slurred slightly.

Lucas looked into Noah’s face, concerned. Noah was flushed; his red, wet lips were parted as he breathed raggedly. His pupils were blown wide with desire, nearly obliterating the glowing silver irises. He looked at Lucas hungrily. Lucas was stunned as a powerful wave of need flowed through him. Much of it was Noah’s, but some of it was Lucas’, as well.

“You’re touching me,” Lucas said against Noah’s mouth. “You can feel me. I’m right here.”

“I wanna touch your dick and get you off, but you need me to keep you warm.” Noah emphasized his words with his hips flexing against Lucas’.

Lucas licked a long strip up Noah’s neck and felt him shiver. He bit hard on Noah’s earlobe. A violent shudder rocked Noah’s large frame, and he groaned. His hands tightened on Lucas’ back.

“This isn’t about getting me off.” He pressed his face to the join of Noah’s neck and shoulder, breathing in nothing but Noah’s scent and mouthing at the chain of his tags. Lucas reached between their bodies and unfastened Noah’s fly.

His hands trembled, and it made Lucas slow. He fumbled with the fastenings until he had them open. Noah’s cock slid out eagerly, lying hot and heavy in Lucas’ palm. He squeezed the shaft tightly and stroked from base to head roughly, repeating the motion when Noah unleashed a feral growl emanating from somewhere deep in his broad chest.

“I wanna feel you,” Noah gasped, pumping his hips so his dick slid quickly through Lucas’ fist.

“My hands are on you,” Lucas said, reaching his free hand lower to cradle Noah’s sac. “I’ve got you. Just let go.”

Noah’s brow furrowed, and he rolled his head against the wall. A fleeting image ghosted through Lucas’ mind, his own hard cock aligned with Noah’s, his hands stroking them both to completion.

Lucas’ dick pushed hard at his fly in response to the image. He gasped against Noah’s neck, and the scent made his erection ache more strongly. Lucas tore open his own fly and eased out his straining cock. Noah pushed his hips insistently against Lucas, demanding the contact he desired.

He aligned their cocks, root to head. Lucas pulled back slightly and spat into his palm several times. He spread the fluid over their hard shafts. He needed more slick.

Lucas lifted his hand to Noah’s mouth. “Spit,” he ordered.

Noah obeyed, over and over until Lucas was satisfied. He wrapped his hands around them both and stroked quickly. Noah’s gratitude was like a physical thing. Lucas’ hips pulsed reflexively at the feel his own tight grip. 

“Yeah, like that,” Noah groaned. “Fuck. Just like that.”

His arms stayed wrapped around Lucas. His warmth still seeped into Lucas’ bones. Lucas shivered, but not from the cold, when Noah’s hands slid down his back to cup his ass. He moaned into the sweat-slick skin of Noah’s throat.

Lucas started when Noah’s super-heated hands slid beneath his clothes and gripped his bare ass cheeks. Noah’s hands were as strong as they were hot, and he squeezed Lucas’ ass firmly. There was no discomfort, only exquisite pleasure.

The feel of Noah’s hands on his bare skin pushed Lucas closer to his climax. “Are you close?” He didn’t want to come before Noah found his own release.

“Yeah,” Noah answered. “Almost there.”

Lucas sped up his hands on their cocks. He stroked them both from base to head, keeping his grip tight. Somehow, in all the chaos, they managed to match the rhythm of their hips to Lucas’ hands. Heat swirled in his belly, and tendrils of pure sensation snaked up his spine.

One of Noah’s hands left Lucas’ ass for several moments. When it returned, he pulled Lucas’ ass cheeks apart and slid his fingers into the cleft.

Lucas knew what was coming, and he wanted it. His hands on their cocks faltered slightly when one of Noah’s fingers breached him. He moaned against Noah’s throat as the wicked finger pushed in deep and stretched him slightly.

“You feel so fucking good inside,” Noah murmured.

The finger slid out and was replaced by two. Electricity shot up the length of Lucas’ spine, and he pressed his open mouth to Noah’s neck as he cried out. He struggled to keep up the rhythm of his hands on their cocks.

“I’m coming, Noah,” he said between gritted teeth. “Fuck! Come with me. Dammit, come with me.”

Noah’s fingers in his ass slid in and out in time with Lucas’ stroking hands. He pushed them in deep and stretched Lucas’ rim when he pulled them out. It was all too fucking much, and Lucas felt his balls tighten and lift.

He didn’t want to be the first to go. Lucas wanted Noah to come and searched for a way to ensure he did. When a faint hint of Noah’s eagerness drifted over Lucas, he forced the connection to open wider. Lucas let go and started to come, dragging Noah over the edge with him.

Together they shouted and swore as hot come splashed over Lucas’ fingers and coated both of their bellies. A part of him knew they could be heard in the corridors and that it was more than obvious what they were doing. Most of him didn’t give a fuck. His body clenched hard as his cock shot out thick, white come, his asshole grasping greedily at Noah’s fingers.

As Lucas stroked them both through their orgasms, Noah’s body shuddered violently. He pumped his hips as his come coated Lucas’ stomach. Together, they made a huge fucking mess, and Lucas didn’t care. 

Noah’s body gave out first. His hand slid free of Lucas’ ass, and his knees buckled. Lucas released their spent cocks and steadied Noah, smearing their come even further.

“Fuck,” Noah sighed. His eyes were heavily lidded and he looked spent and exhausted. “Fuck.”

“Noah,” Lucas said sharply. “Stay awake long enough to help me get you into bed.”

Noah wrapped himself around Lucas, leaning so heavily on him that Lucas wasn’t sure he could support him. Noah collapsed heavily onto the bedroll laid out across the room.

When Lucas shifted to remove Noah’s boots and retrieve the tub of baby wipes, Noah reached out and grasped his wrist painfully.

“Don’t go, Lucas,” he pleaded, battling to hold off sleep just a few moments longer. “Just today, don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said soothingly. “I’m sleeping right here today.” He ran a hand over Noah’s hair, encouraging him to lie back. “I’m going to clean us up first. Then I’ll sleep right here.”

“I like the way you smell,” Noah muttered just before his eyes closed, and his breathing evened out.

Strength of the Pack is available from 

MLR Press 
ARe 
and all major distributor sites!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Help Us Name Our Summer Lovin' Anthology! #LGBT #BDSM #eroticromance



We're thrilled to announce we've finalized the line up for our Summer Lovin' themed anthology. Once again we'll get stories from Maya DeLeina, Nicole Morgan, Tammy Dennings Maggy and Lia Michaels. This time they're joined by the marvelous Bonnie Bliss! We couldn't be more excited with the contributors for this one and we hope there will be many more to come from this group and perhaps a few others...

But I digress...

What brings me here today is that we're in a bit of a dilemma. We've narrowed the list of title candidates down to just three. We love all of them and can't make a decision. This is where we need your help. Below you'll find the poll with the choices for the anthology title. All you have to do is choose one, enter your email address and then click SUBMIT. Each vote will get you an entry to win a print AND ebook copy of the anthology when it's released in July.

So what are you all waiting for? Click on your choice for the title of this collection that will include vampires, BDSM, LGBT couples, menage a quatre, and so much more!

You have until March 15th to get your votes in. Feel free to share the poll with others. The more votes the better. In fact, if we get a large enough response, there will be more than one free book given away! ~The Vixen


Friday, February 7, 2014

#FridayFantasy: @SassyVixenPub Presents Author Ruby Fielding's #Paranormal #Fantasy


Welcome to Friday Fantasy here at Sassy Vixen Publishing. I'm The Vixen and excited to welcome our guest today. Author Ruby Fielding starts off her mini tour of our sister blogs. Today's post we get an introduction to her characters from her novella Hunters: A Shifters' World. Sit back and relax and get to know Selene, Skinner and Marshall. Tomorrow Ruby will stop in to visit with the Four Seduced Muses! 


Ruby Fielding’s new shifter novella, Hunted, was recently published by James Grieve Press:

Should she struggle to survive alone or give in to desire and risk the - perhaps deadly - company of others?

In a world where plague has swept civilization away like leaves in a storm, where viruses that cause people to shift and change have altered what it is, for most, to be human, a few survivors hold out in a desperate attempt to save the human race. Selene lives alone in the forest, protecting herself from human and shifter alike until one day a stranger turns up: a young man called Skinner, out on a quest to hunt down and destroy any shifter he can find. Torn between desire and fear, Selene must confront her true nature and make some impossible choices if she is to survive this harsh, post-apocalyptic future.

Hunted: a Shifters' World novella - a shapeshifter erotic romance of survival and desire in a deadly future from the co-author of Seduced by Moonlight and The Touch.

“I'm a huge shifter fan. I get a kick out of reading even the predictable stuff over and over again, but Rudy Fielding's novella is an all original treat.” - from a five-star Amazon reader review.


Want to learn a bit more about Selene, Skinner and the other characters in Hunted? Read on!

Selene
Well... that’s what they call me. That’s the name Tabitha gave me when I ended up in that strange enclave, the Sanctum. Until then I’d lived a quiet life. I had shelter, and supplies of food and water. I kept myself safe, and I shut myself away at night... away from the shifters, the ones who had no control and became wild, dangerous beasts at night. That kind of existence, hiding away from the dangers of the world... well, it could never last. And sure enough, when Skinner blundered in with his smoldering eyes and his smooth turn of phrase, I knew that life was over. I wasn’t prepared for the intensity for the, for want of a better phrase, sheer animal attraction that might easily overpower me...

Skinner
I grew up in the camps, one of many refugees, protected from a world changed by viruses that turn humans into something else entirely. I grew up in the camps, determined to break out and see something of this scary new world. And so I took the first opportunity to go out hunting the beasts. They didn’t call me ‘Skinner’ for nothing.

Marshall
I am one of the last true humans, untainted by the shifting viruses, and I have taken it up on myself to preserve my kind. I am the founder of an enclave of true humans, a place we call the Sanctum. We protect ourselves from the plagues, and from the beasts, and our long-term strategy is to breed our kind. Yes, I am a man surrounded by women and some might see me as lucky to be in such a position. But me? I am simply serving my kind.

Tabitha
I serve Marshall, but he barely sees me. In a community where a woman’s role is to breed, a barren woman is a non-person, little more than a slave. But a person in the shadows who nobody sees can be full of surprises, and I think that in Selene I have found not only a true friend, but a person who is key to this dangerous, changed world of ours.

Excerpt

What he’s like.

He was a good half a head taller than Selene, broad across the shoulders, narrow at the hips. He had blue eyes that cut right through you and fleshy, sensuous lips. Dark hair, a fuzz of stubble along his jaw and a scar that ran down one side of his neck.

He looked at her as if he were sizing up a horse. His gaze worked up and down her body as if he could see through her gown, before fixing on her eyes again. “So,” he said, in a deep voice, “you’re the new one. You think you might like it here?”

She met his look. She wasn’t going to be intimidated. She had survived this far on her own, after all.

So why did her voice fail her at that moment? Why did she open her mouth but only a faint croak escape? “I...” That and a shrug were all she could manage.

He stepped closer then, and raised a hand.

For an instant she thought he was going to strike her, but then he simply reached out, and pressed his knuckles to her cheek, a surprisingly gentle touch. “I hope you do,” he went on. “I’d really like you to stay. Come. Let’s walk.”

He took her by the arm and led her outside into the harsh morning sunlight.

“What is this place?” she asked, as they walked across a yard where women tended neat vegetable plots.

“The Sanctum,” he said. “A sanctuary from the wild lands. A refuge for pure humankind. We protect ourselves. We are the future of our species.”

Passing through a gap between buildings, they emerged in an open space, children running around, tended by more of the Sanctum’s women.

“These women,” said Selene, clarity striking her mind like a beam of sunlight breaking through the clouds. “These children...”

Marshall nodded. “It is our duty to preserve humankind,” he said.
He moved round to stand in front of her, so close. “We all must play our part.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

“I would be duty-bound to persuade you.”

With that, he took the back of her head in one strong hand and pressed his mouth to hers. A brief kiss, and then it was over, he was stepping back and turning away. She was left standing there, her heart racing again and her responses so mixed up and contradictory she didn’t know whether to run or throw herself at him.

“I...” Her voice was gone again. Why was she reacting like this? She was a strong, independent woman, a survivor.

It was a thing to fear, she knew. Such strong, immediate reactions. Animal responses. It scared her.

He paused and turned back, smiling, an expression that was totally disarming. “And I tell you,” he said, “persuasion is one of the best parts.”

Hunted: a Shifters' World novella is available from:

Ruby Fielding is a British author, currently living in the heart of a New England forest. She travels widely, and has lived in England, Scotland, the US, France, India and Australia. Wherever she happens to be living, you're likely to find her at the nearest wifi hot spot with her laptop and a large mug of coffee.

She writes mainly paranormal erotica and romance, sometimes in collaboration with her old friend Polly J Adams; their joint stories are published separately and collected together into the single volume, Seduced by Moonlight.

All the latest news on Ruby's writing and publishing can be found on her website and on her Amazon author page; also, why not join her mailing list, or hook up with her on Facebook?