Desert Tryst named INDIEFAB BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD FINALIST

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https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/girl-out-of-time/id1052700495

DESERT TRYST AVAILABLE NOW

The cat-and-mouse game between professional assassin Dmitri Dzerzhinsky and FBI Special Agent Thomas Dalton may be developing into something more, at least for Dmitri. Blurring which side Dmitri’s on can’t continue. Hoping to get rid of his desire for Thomas, Dmitri goes to 1Night Stand for help. 

Unaware of the assassin’s interest, Thomas is attracted to Dmitri as well. So, discovering Madame Eve has given the Special Agent a night with the man of his dreams seems too good to be true. 

Sometimes it’s dangerous to get what you wish for. Can two men on opposite sides of the law find common ground beyond their mutual attraction? 

AVAILABLE ON:

Amazon (only 99 cents through June 3!)

Apple iBooks / iTunes

Google Play

Kobo

Smashwords

PRE-ORDER TODAY

If you pre-order DESERT TRYST on Amazon TODAY it's only 99 cents!

http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Tryst-1Night-Susanne-Saville-ebook/dp/B00Y3O5WY8

Facebook Party May 19, 2015

Come to the Facebook Party TODAY!! I'll be there from 4:20 - 4:40pm Eastern (2:20 - 2:40pm Mountain) time. Come chat with me! Click here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/471379986347936/

Please.

Seriously.

Don't leave me alone on Facebook.

Lots of other authors will be there throughout the day, of course. Giving away PRIZES. FREE STUFF. So go party!

YOU NEED MORE STUFF.

CLICK THE LINK.

I'll see you there.

Chile Ristras and Petroglyphs on the Volcanoes

These are chile ristras.

This photo is from the Petroglyph National Monument website, which has lovely ones on display at their Visitor Center.

If you ever get to Albuquerque, do make a point of going to the Petroglyph National Monument.

You may not know it, but New Mexico is one of the most volcanic states in the union. There are three volcanoes here in Albuquerque. They're examples of fissure eruption ("curtains of fire," like from Kilauea).

Into this volcanic rock some 400 to 700 years ago, Ancestral Pueblo Indians carved petroglyphs. Or scratched. Chiseled. How they made the petroglyphs is actually unknown. These images were spiritually important to them.

Spanish settlers saw the designs and added their own (easily identifiable Christian iconography). You can walk multiple trails of varying difficulty to see these cultural symbols (both Puebloan and Spanish) in their natural habitat.

But back to chile ristras.

Colonial settlers on the east coast of North America used the pineapple as a symbol of hospitality. 

You'll find pineapples (some more stylized than others) on entryways, staircases, and in dining decorations.

The pineapple was also a Christian symbol to these British colonists, as well as a symbol of Empire. But that's another story.

In the same way, chile ristras came to symbolize hospitality in the southwestern Spanish colonies. 

Originally, the chiles were strung together and hung up to dry for future consumption, but this utilitarian storage solution meant one had beautiful bright red garlands hanging on one's porch, and the more you had, the more bountiful your future feasts would be. 

So it's easy to see how the display of numerous hanging ristras about the entryway could become associated with generous, welcoming hosts. 

Unlike pineapples, which are now associated with antique decor, chile ristras are still used in modern decoration in New Mexico. Consequently, they had to be mentioned in DESERT TRYST. 

Any Bed & Breakfast worth its chiles would have a ristra or two out front. I hope touches like this help make the story feel authentic for the reader.

Of Hatch New Mexico, Chiles, and Cheese

image from http://www.centralmarket.com/hatch

You know you're a local New Mexican when the waiter can ask you "Red or green?" after your breakfast order and you know exactly what he's talking about. 

He's talking about chiles. 

Do you want red chile or green chile?
Yes, chile sauce can be served at breakfast. Chiles can be served with anything. On anything. All the chain fast food restaurants have chiles on their menu, including Pizza Hut. Yes, there are chiles on the pizza. 

There are even chiles in the Chinese food in New Mexico.

Seriously.

You can't enter New Mexico without being introduced to the chile - especially the green chile. New Mexican green chiles, also known as Hatch green chiles - Hatch, New Mexico being where the main (some say best) farms are located, are unique. 

They aren't a subset of another type of chile. They are their own breed, developed by Fabian Garcia and officially released in 1917 ("Improved Variety No. 9"). Today you can purchase several varieties of Hatch chiles, such as Big Jim (noted favorite, medium hot, big and meaty) and Sandia (hot and flavorful).

Fabian Garcia, first director of New Mexico A&M's Agricultural Experiment Station, also worked on onions, cotton, and pecans - all of which grow around Hatch to this day. But none of them are as famous as his chile. 

In case you're wondering, red chiles are the same chiles as green chiles, they've just been left to ripen more before they're picked.

Roasting the chile crop is a yearly tradition in New Mexico. You can watch at restaurants, farmers' markets, or temporary roadside stands.

You can also roast your own chiles at home.

This is where the hoarding begins, because if you're a chile fan, you've got to buy and preserve enough chiles to last you until the next harvest.





What can you do with your chiles, now that you have them? Well, chile rellenos are popular.

Find this Hatch chile rellenos recipe HERE

But I have found that many people like the mix of chiles and cheese. There's something especially tempting about the taste of melted cheese and hot peppers.

The Dog House Drive In, located in Albuquerque, is famous for its chile cheese dogs.

And practically everywhere has a green chile cheeseburger (including all of the fast food chains, such as McDonalds).

There is even a Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail, if as part of your tourist journey you would like to cheerfully munch your way across New Mexico state.

Several burger joints claim to be the inventor of this iconic sandwich. One of these is The Owl Cafe, which was the inspiration for the bar where my characters meet in my 1NS story DESERT TRYST.

So of course, green chile cheeseburgers have a cameo in DESERT TRYST. How could they not?

It's not New Mexico if there aren't chiles.

COVER REVEAL

*drumroll please*
Yes! Here it is! Remember that oddly dark yet adorable m/m romance short story I wrote last autumn? I moaned about it several times on Twitter back then. Well... its publication date is FINALLY ALMOST HERE.

And as the first step in the promo process, I bring to you now: THE COVER.

The beautiful, beautiful cover by Fiona Jayde.

You will notice by the branding on the cover that it is being published by Decadent Publishing as part of their 1Night Stand series.

What does that mean?

All the books in the 1Night Stand line share one thing in common: Madame Evangeline ("Eve") and her 1Night Stand (1NS) dating service. Her exceptionally exclusive, never advertised, online dating service. You tell her what you're looking for, and you're promised the date of your dreams.

Although I suppose it's actually a blind date, because until you show up at the location she gives you, you have no idea whom you're meeting.

But don't worry, these being romances, Madame Eve is almost magical in the way she can pair up soul mates.

So that's the framework upon which each unique couple begins their story. Look for this one to be released May 26!

Wicked Beloved Video

Wicked Beloved by Susanne Saville

Book Trailers from COS Productions | Myspace Video

Cyber Launch Party!

For today only, over at Author Island's party page:

"WIN - leave Susanne a question today at her Cyber Launch Party and your name goes in the hat for a copy of her new book WICKED BELOVED in your choice of either ebook or audio! Please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are today's winner!"

So pop on over and comment:
http://cyberlaunchparty.blogspot.com/2012/10/celebrating-kinky-new-sci-fi-from.html

NEW BOOK RELEASE - WICKED BELOVED

Though warned of the Tellurian slave’s uncooperative nature, Guild Assassin Dzer-Jin Vonn is intrigued when the alluring redhead promises to obey him and be the best slave ever. Her prior owner misused her but did not quench her spirit; her tongue cuts with amusing precision.

Abducted from Earth by aliens, ripped from life as she knows it, she gives her new master only the label “slave” to call her by.  She’s landed in a culture where violence is foreplay. Yet her sexy master stands apart from his peers; he shows compassion.

When Dzer-Jin is challenged to slice her skin for public titillation, she agrees to the display with no bonds but trust. He earns status for her obedience but she frets he’ll tire of his “pet” if she doesn’t service his sexual appetites. The passion seething between them terrifies her. Is her desire to escape to Earth stronger than her need to serve Dzer-Jin’s lust—or her own?

Available on Amazon: 

AMAZON US

AMAZON UK

AMAZON GERMANY 

eBook Prices

How do you put a value on a digital book? It doesn't seem like this should be the conundrum it is.

Paper books are priced to cover the amount it cost to produce them plus a markup for both the publisher's and the bookseller's profit.

Ebooks should be priced the same way, right? The problem is, we assume the production cost will be significantly cheaper because there is no paper and no binding--forgetting that paper is cheap and binding is not especially costly either.

All the costly things--cover art, editing, etc.--must happen in the production of a digital book, just like a paper one. So logically the price isn't going to differ dramatically.

And yet, it doesn't seem right.

Maybe because so many eBooks are "free." It seems like the average price thus should be lower.

But those eBooks are free because either they are classics, antiques, if you will, long ago falling into the public domain, so libraries or volunteers can legally digitize them, or they're new books whose publisher wants to boost word-of-mouth on a particular title or author and is willing to take a financial hit to do it.

Those eBooks still cost time and money to produce, but your tax dollars, the goodness of others, or a marketing plan paid for them.

So, again, digital books should cost about the same as paper.

What about resale value? Maybe we feel digital books should be cheaper because we can't resell them as we can paper books?

That isn't within the publisher's purview. Paper books are not priced with any thought to the used market because neither publishers nor authors get any money from those venues. Why should eBooks be any different?

We aren't automatically entitled to resell things in our possession. Many items you buy cannot be resold, and we accept that. The video games industry may be going toward a used-games-are-unplayable model. That there is no used market for digital books may simply become the standard of the future.

So again, digital books' and paper books' prices shouldn't be that far apart.

But then why, when I am faced with a $12.99 eBook, do I wince?

I've paid $9.99 for eBooks. I'd pay $12.99 for a paperback. And yet I stall at $12.99 for an eBook.

$12.99 is what - the price of dinner for one? Lunch for two? Food you'll never get back (unless it gives you food poisoning and then it will be returned to the world in a state far different from when you last viewed it) whereas an eBook lasts forever. You can even lend it to others and, trust me, no one wants you to lend them your food or other perishables.

$12.99 is a few hours of work at minimum wage to pay for something that took the author months of agony to produce. If the eBook is nonfiction, it might have taken years. And yet we won't shell out our coffee money for it.

Why is that?

I really should buy that $12.99 eBook. I just... argh. Do any of you have this problem?

Looking for Something New to Read?

My historical paranormal romance Dance Macabre has been chosen as one of their FREE Amazon promo books by my publisher Decadent Publishing! Whoot!! 

Consequently, if you ever even thought about trying one of my books, the time is NOW as it's only FREE ON AMAZON for the rest of THIS WEEK.

Here are some quick links to help you:

Free on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Macabre-Lords-Pendragon-ebook/dp/B005XO2INU

Free on Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dance-Macabre-Lords-Pendragon-ebook/dp/B005XO2INU

Free on Amazon Germany:
http://www.amazon.de/Dance-Macabre-Lords-Pendragon-ebook/dp/B005XO2INU

And you don't need a Kindle, either. Amazon has FREE Kindle apps so you can read on your PC, Mac, Android phone, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, anything!

GO DOWNLOAD NOW!!!  ;)

If Bioshock's Andrew Ryan Wrote Sleaze

Man-Hungry Female by Orrie Hitt
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Had Bioshock’s Andrew Ryan decided to write down his Ayn-Rand-ish diatribes on the wonders of unfettered capitalism, and sprinkle the narration with a few drinking binges and the ogling of girls, it would have been this book.

There is very little sex in the story—and I have no idea who is supposed to be the Man-Hungry Female of the title (she only seems to exist in the cover designer’s imagination).

Our nominal hero is a Jerk. Yes, capital J. Because he's a jerk of olympic proportions. Insensitive. Self-righteous. Chauvanistic. Egomaniac.

The plot is...thin. Hero inherits movie studio, decides to sink all his capital into making a documentary on the horrors of social welfare. The truth must be told! The screenwriter must be slept with!

Cue long boring soliloquies on how free market capitalism rocks. An odd seduction technique, but it works on the heroine. So. If political theory also gets you hot, this is the story for you.

The Kindle edition is formatted atrociously. Typos. Reversed paragraphs. I’d recommend looking for the paperback to read.

View all my reviews

Dance Macabre - 99 cent SALE

TEMPORARY SALE!!

Dance Macabre is only 99 cents at Amazon!!

Check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Macabre-Lords-Pendragon-ebook/dp/B005XO2INU

Young Nurse Review

What Happens In Freeside Available as PDF or Mobi

Yes, I have converted What Happens In Freeside Stays (the first story in the What Happens In Freeside fanfic universe) to pdf and mobi (for Kindle readers). Just scroll to the bottom of the Books page on my website and there it is. Enjoy!

For those of you who don't know, this is a male/male romance between Vulpes Inculta and Arcade Gannon of Fallout: New Vegas. It is fan fiction. It is full of derp. And fanged fluffiness. And is sorta kinky because it was inspired from a prompt on the Fallout kinkmeme. This isn't everyone's cup of tea, and I definitely recommend you avoid it if it doesn't sound fun to you.

The Taliesin Murders

This is the story of how an ACTUAL CRAZY AXE MURDERER killed seven people - Wisconsin's worst act of mass murder until 2005, inspired a Thomas Wolfe story - as well as many an urban legend, and completely changed a style of architecture - yet most of us have probably never even heard of it. 

In fact, parts of what happened that day are still clouded with uncertainties. The author does a wonderful job of sifting through the various accounts, coming up with what seems to be the most reasonable reconstruction, and presenting you with all the evidence for you to make up your own mind. 

I'm giving five stars because I actually cried at the end. Whatever your opinions about Frank Lloyd Wright, this book will make you feel for him. 

As an aside, just because I think this is interesting, the murderer would not be subject to the death penalty through the justice system even back then. According to the author, "Wisconsin enjoys the nation's longest uninterrupted history of an out-right ban on capital punishment."

Excerpt from Dance Macabre

London 1897 

Lily Rafferty would never become accustomed to unfamiliar men embracing her in public. She stiffened involuntarily, but if he noticed her reluctance, it did not dampen her partner’s enthusiasm. Seizing her body, he pulled her away from the relative safety of the shadowed wall. His careless speed gave her an excuse to keep her eyes riveted to the pointed tips of her black satin slippers as they appeared and disappeared under the swishing accordion gores of her yoke skirt. It fit snug and sleek down to her knees before flaring out like a bell, and moving quickly was a dangerous proposition on the slick wooden floorboards. The last thing she wanted was to fall. Not here. 

Elegant music soared above the crowded dancehall floor as the shop-soiled quartet on stage launched into a waltz. He flung her into position. Lily felt one of her little puff sleeves slip farther down her shoulder and gave it a quick tug. Her décolletage was quite low enough, thank you. For a moment he looked disappointed she hadn’t popped out of her bodice, then he started to dance. She found her steps and followed his lead. 

His hand pressed against the back of her corset. Not for the first time, she wished her undergarments were fashioned from solid steel. She glanced at his other hand, at the stubby bare fingers. At least her hands were protected from his rude skin by her long white gloves.

She risked a look at his face. Flushed cheeks. Watery eyes. A high forehead from which heavily macassar-oiled hair lay slicked back. Her gaze traveled down, past his fierce moustache, to his neck. He wore a diamond tie pin. No need to look further. Decidedly a gentleman. Yet another toff come to enjoy the pursuits of the lower orders. As if being poor were an exhibit in Regent’s Park Zoological Garden. 

He noticed her attention and smiled. “Like what you see, m’dear?” He leaned down. His face was close to hers now. Too close. He panted against her cheek, his breath hot and reeking of liquor. “I like what I see. And I’ve got streamers of tickets to give to a welcoming sort of wench.” 

Stomach churning, she struggled to hide her distaste. If she wrinkled her nose he surely would not dance with her again, and she needed every ticket she could collect. 

“Thank you, sir.” She fixed her lips in a smile. 

“Nice, ripe partridge, you are.” He removed his arm from her back and suddenly his bare hand was roaming the low neckline of her gown, where the tight lacing of her corset had affected an impressive cleavage. 

As she started to object, he abruptly switched from waltzing to walking. She stumbled. Before she could completely recover, he had maneuvered her past a screen of potted aspidistras and into one of the dance hall’s dark corners. Inwardly she groaned. The management of the Barbary Coast Dance Hall arranged these corners deliberately—and for one reason. Any man without a Malthus sheath to contain his effluxion could release his seed upon the floor in the semi-privacy of such a corner.

Her French heels slipped and she clutched her partner’s sleeve. While the night’s fluids had been tracked around much of the dance hall, the floor was still slicker at the scene of the unmentionable deeds. She tried to wipe all such details from her mind. Thinking about it made her feel unwell. 

“Eager, are you?” He chuckled. “Excellent. Excellent.” With drink-clumsy fingers, he stroked the skin of her breasts. 

The effrontery of his actions was compounded by his bare hands. Gentlemen were supposed to wear gloves. Such crude undress would not have got him past the door of any other place but here. Here, where men with money could throw away their manners. 

Closing her eyes, she choked back the protests raging to escape her lips. Kitty had warned her there would be men who wished for services beyond dancing. Touching him would earn her extra tickets and, since the girls were paid for every ticket they turned in, it meant her wages for the evening might grow considerably. 

But her stomach threatened to rid itself of her meager dinner at the prospect of seeing his unmentionables. 

She hadn’t wanted to be a Cyprian—in fact, she’d been fired from her last job for refusing her employer’s advances. But times were so hard, especially for orphan girls without references, and a doss house charged tuppence just to sleep standing up. She needed money. 

Kitty didn’t mind the unspeakable work. Less tiring than a dance but just as quick, she said. Plus you got better paid. Getting pulled into a corner was an unparalleled opportunity in Kitty’s opinion.

His sloppy kiss upon her neck jerked Lily’s thoughts back to the present. An unparalleled opportunity, I don’t think. She’d gain more coin but lose her self-respect. 

“Sir….” Politely, she tried to extricate herself from his embrace. “Sir! Sir, the music will end soon….” She turned her face away, hoping if she concentrated fixedly upon the dance floor she could get back out to it. 

He mumbled something, his lips pressed against the curve of her jawbone, and continued to fondle the tops of her breasts. Her skin crawled at his touch. Not that he was behaving any worse than the other dancehall customers. Small wonder a steady trickle of girls walked out without notice each week. 

“Do you not wish to finish our dance?” She attempted to pull away again, but he jerked her close. 

“No, I’d much rather you finish off this.” His hand fumbled with the opening to his trousers as his hips furtively thrust against her. Not on my lovely dress! She shuddered to think what his abrasion, let alone his eventual wetness, would do to the fabric…. And she still owed money on it. 

“Truthfully, sir, I am not…I don’t…I would really rather not….” 

Laughter trickled through his sneering mouth. “That’s what you’re meant to say, I know. But you strumpets are never in earnest with your protests and false modesty.” 

“Oh, I can assure you I am in earnest.” She endeavored to pull away once more. 

He grabbed hold of her by her neck. “No, you don’t. I can’t stop now.” His voice sounded strained, and she didn’t like the look in his eyes.

“If you please,” she whispered, attempting a smile so as not to betray her growing horror, “I’ll just take the one ticket, sir. For the dance.” 

“You’ll take what I give you and like it.” 

Panic clutched at her heart. She couldn’t escape. She did not wish to do this—and he didn’t care. Flailing her fists, she pummeled him about the head and shoulders. His hand tightened about her throat. Changing tactics, she tried to pry his fingers loose, to no avail. 

His grip hurt. She felt her lungs struggling for air as if they were battering against her corset’s constraints. No air. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart pounded wildly. She had to get out of here. Get…run…. 

“No!” She had meant it to be a scream. Instead she produced a breathless whisper the music easily drowned. No one would have paid her cries the least bit of attention anyway. A woman’s willingness did not matter. Most customers assumed this was what she was paid to do. 

She kept scuffling despite the increasing heaviness of her limbs, despite the pointlessness. He was going to spend himself right here, in public, on her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him. With a biting stab of terror, she realized he might even kill her. And she would die in a stained dress. That relatively inconsequential concern almost made her smile at herself as dark spots obstructed her vision. What a ridiculous last thought to have. 

“Hartengate.” It was a male voice, a stranger’s, rich, raspy and aloof, slicing like flint across the scuffle to pierce the haze in her brain. 

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Decadent Publishing Releases Dance Macabre

Please enjoy this Book Video
advertising my newly re-released
historical paranormal romance short story

 DANCE MACABRE 

available wherever ebooks are sold 

from Decadent Publishing.

While it is cheapest to purchase from the publisher (above),
you can also purchase:

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From All Romance eBooks - most popular file types


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