Sunday, August 28, 2016

I Am No Angel -Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 44 Comments
It's Snippet Sunday, a Weekend Writing Warriors'  blog hop!

 Man, oh man, I've been pounding keys like crazy, but I'm running behind on this work in progress! Sons of Herne 7,  Anduron: God of Mabon, was originally due out at the end of the month, but to do it proper justice, I'm looking at hopefully mid-September. In any case, here's the next snippet!

Last time, Anduron, god of the pagan thanksgiving, saved an old woman from being mugged. After the thugs ran off, we ended with: She gazed up at him with an innocent, childlike wonder that took many decades off her wrinkled, leathery features. “Are you my guardian angel?” she asked.

We pick up with his reply...


“I am no angel,” Anduron said, crouching down to peer at the angry mark on the old woman’s cheek. “Although I have a half brother who is.”
He reached out gently, using his powers to infuse her injury with healing light. He might not be an angel, but there were times when his elven heritage proved useful.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” she said, reaching toward his face with a gnarled hand. “I could see you better if I had my glasses, but they fell off when those awful men grabbed me.”
He helped her stand and looked around the alley, finding her glasses and doing his best to wipe them clean on his cloak before returning them.
“Shall I transport you to your home?” he asked, wondering whether the veil pendant would cooperate if he attempted it.
“I’m still a little shaken, so I would be grateful if you would walk with me.”

He swooped her up and carried her, the woman clinging to his neck with her glasses perched on her nose, regarding him closely. 

What do you think?  



About Anduron: God of Mabon:

The Fates have been bringing all the sabbat gods to their knees over carnal desires, including Anduron's own twin brother. He will not be so easily swayed, however. The god of Mabon needs only one thing from the Fates: the power to free one who is unjustly imprisoned, an act bestowed upon him once per year in honor of his sabbat. Then he encounters an old woman in need of rescuing, an act that, outside of the ritual of Mabon, is technically forbidden.

Jenna is worried sick when her overdue grandmother shows up with a handsome stranger on her arm and tales of how sexy Anduron saved her from a mugging. Jenna is grateful, quite possibly to the point of swooning, until he disappears right in front of her eyes. He returns to say he is the god of the pagan thanksgiving--and that he wants her for a ritual where she will sleep with him out of gratitude for her grandmother's rescue. The sheer nerve leaves her burning, but those eyes and that hard body leaves her curious. She proposes an alternative: he spends the week wooing her like a mortal man, and if he succeeds, she will grant her consent for the Mabon ritual.

Anduron has little experience with courting a woman, let alone one as infuriating as Jenna. She rejects all his overtures until she finally confesses what she wants most: a freedom raid on an animal testing facility that will cost him more than he bargained for. He will have to risk capture to keep her out of danger. With no guarantee she will agree to his terms, just how many immortal laws will he break by involving himself in the affairs of humans?


Read Book 1 of the series, Dominus: God of Yule--and follow the link inside to get Book 2 free!
Buy on Amazon

~ * ~ ~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ *







For more awesome snippets, check out 


~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ 
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over thirty books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Her Guardian Angel -Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 33 Comments
It's Snippet Sunday, a Weekend Writing Warriors'  blog hop!

 I've got the next snippet for you from Sons of Herne 7,  Anduron: God of Mabon.

Last time, Anduron, god of the pagan thanksgiving, decided to stop the mugging of an old woman by using his power on the criminals. We ended with: “Who the hell are you, some kind of freak?” one of them asked, still backing off.

We pick up from there...

“You are commanded to release this woman,” Anduron said, still advancing.
“Screw you,” the shorter of the pair said, lashing out with his fist.
Anduron caught hold of his arm, squeezing it until the man cried out, and a shove sent him backward to join his friend among the trash.
“And have you anything to say?” Anduron asked the final man, whose rheumy eyes had gone wide. “Remorse for your crime would be wise.”
The guy took off running, along with the cohorts who had struggled to their feet.
Anduron turned to the woman, who was still on the ground, sitting among her ruined foodstuffs.
“Are you all right?” he asked, standing over her and offering his hand.
She gazed up at him with an innocent, childlike wonder that took many decades off her wrinkled, leathery features. “Are you my guardian angel?” she asked.


What do you think?  



About Anduron: God of Mabon:

The Fates have been bringing all the sabbat gods to their knees over carnal desires, including Anduron's own twin brother. He will not be so easily swayed, however. The god of Mabon needs only one thing from the Fates: the power to free one who is unjustly imprisoned, an act bestowed upon him once per year in honor of his sabbat. Then he encounters an old woman in need of rescuing, an act that, outside of the ritual of Mabon, is technically forbidden.

Jenna is worried sick when her overdue grandmother shows up with a handsome stranger on her arm and tales of how sexy Anduron saved her from a mugging. Jenna is grateful, quite possibly to the point of swooning, until he disappears right in front of her eyes. He returns to say he is the god of the pagan thanksgiving--and that he wants her for a ritual where she will sleep with him out of gratitude for her grandmother's rescue. The sheer nerve leaves her burning, but those eyes and that hard body leaves her curious. She proposes an alternative: he spends the week wooing her like a mortal man, and if he succeeds, she will grant her consent for the Mabon ritual.

Anduron has little experience with courting a woman, let alone one as infuriating as Jenna. She rejects all his overtures until she finally confesses what she wants most: a freedom raid on an animal testing facility that will cost him more than he bargained for. He will have to risk capture to keep her out of danger. With no guarantee she will agree to his terms, just how many immortal laws will he break by involving himself in the affairs of humans?


Read Book 1 of the series, Dominus: God of Yule--and follow the link inside to get Book 2 free!
Buy on Amazon

~ * ~ ~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ *







For more awesome snippets, check out 


~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ 
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Saturday, August 20, 2016

My First Published Fiction -Throwback Thursday

11:24 AM 0 Comments

On select Thursdays, I like to share a throwback to past writing, book trailers, or randomness about me and/or writing life.

While I was scouring my old archive folders in search of this month's TBT post, I realized two things. First, the oldest file date I saw on my fiction was early 2002. I'v been writing fiction for  more than 14 years. Mind blown.  Second, it hit me that I'd hit another milestone and needed to update my bio. I am no longer the author of "over twenty" or "twenty-five" books. I crossed thirty last month.

My first published fiction isn't included in that number because it wasn't a novel. I wrote about a half dozen short stories over a two-year period before I managed to get one published. Technically, my first work to be pubbed was a romantic urban fantasy titled The Christmas Present,  a contest winner published on a website. My first work in print, however, came out the following year, 2005, and it was very different indeed. This was a murder mystery titled A Kink in the Tale that was published in FMAM, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine.

The pitch blurb I sent in with my submission read, "Lowell is after his aunt’s money. Will her most beloved companion become an unwitting accomplice to murder?"

Here's the opening from that 3,000-word story:

It lay in wait, blazing eyes of amber piercing the inky darkness.  Lowell Denton froze, a small muscle twitch under his left eye the only movement as he considered his situation.  He could head back the way he’d come and risk the predator striking while his back was turned, or press on towards his destination--an archway fifteen feet away--and face an attack before he’d made it halfway. 

The portly man decided to take his chances and inched forward, anger prickling at the back of his neck as he went.  Why did he have to deal with this?

Five feet.  Six.  He kept a wary eye on the figure crouched nearby.  It continued to watch, silent.  Ten feet.  Twelve!  He could make it.  Lowell’s eyes shifted to the archway lying just ahead.  In that instant, the animal lunged.  Catching up to him in two quick strides, it sank its claws deep into Lowell’s fleshy calves.  He shrieked in pain.

“Damn you, Hershey!”  He kicked one foot out behind him to dislodge the cat attached to his lower extremities.  “How’d you like a dent in your spine to go with that tail?”

Unfazed, the feline sauntered off and struck a majestic pose a few feet away, satisfied with its conquest.  The sleek black fur and lean body presented a striking picture marred only by an abnormal kink in its tail, a souvenir from a run-in with Aunt Cathy’s rocking chair.  She’d been so distressed that the chair was discarded immediately. Lowell had been disappointed that it hadn’t caught the cat’s neck instead.

Heh heh. Gotta love stories with cats, although there's definitely no erotic romance in this one! It was written long before I veered into the steamy fiction I was destined for. But it was a super fun story to research and write, and I was over the moon when the editor, Barb Lakey, contacted me with an acceptance offer. It was the beginning of a long and glorious friendship with fiction writing, and I never would have dreamed that a dozen years later, I'd be sitting here typing about that first publication with thirty-one books and roughly fifty short stories under my belt.

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I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over thirty books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

3 Distraction-Reducing Writing Programs to Boost Your Word Count

12:00 AM 0 Comments
On Select Wednesdays, I post tips and strategies for writers. 

3 DISTRACTION-REDUCING WRITING PROGRAMS TO BOOST YOUR WORD COUNT
by J. Rose Allister

While finding time to write is a struggle for many, keeping focused once the typing begins can be an even bigger challenge. The Internet and other shiny fun lurks behind that open manuscript,  threatening productivity. As such, finding ways to Keep Off the Net is a frequent topic among writers.


There are lots of tips for how to combat Internet distractions, from writing in a No-WiFi zone to resorting to old-school pen and paper. In response, software makers have created programs to help writers get their word counts done in a do-or-die, no-distraction manner.


Here are three programs worth investigating if you're looking for ways to keep your focus on the manuscript.



1. SCRIVENER


I'm a big fan of Scrivener for a variety of reasons, some of which I talked about in THIS POST a while back.  Among its many features is a distraction-free mode that I use constantly. Click the full screen arrows while on the main Scrivener screen and your current window will maximize--with a bonus. You can adjust settings to widen/narrow the document typing area, as well as darken the background to black out distractions completely (including the software's own toolbars). While it has its limitations, the no-distraction mode is extremely useful for allowing the writer to focus on the manuscript by cutting out other visual stimulus, including that shiny Internet icon.

Scrivener offers a free trial. You can download it here.
Scrivener in full-screen, no-distraction mode
2. COLD TURKEY WRITER

While Scrivener's distraction blackout might be enough to keep some on task, it's pretty easy to defeat. One press of a button pops the writer back into normal mode, and then it's off to Distraction Land. For those who need a more serious lock-down on Internet use, Cold Turkey Writer may be the way to go.


The options presented when Cold Turkey Writer opens
Open Cold Turkey Writer and you're presented with the screen shown here. Decide whether you want a certain word count or to type for X number of minutes. The program will literally lock your manuscript document on screen until you hit your goal, barring you from accessing anything else. The program autosaves your work as you go in case anything wonky happens, and it also allows a manual save at the end of the session.

Cold Turkey Writer offers full functionality in a free version, or you can pay extra for some extra bells and whistles, like the ability to listen to soundtracks while you work. Get Cold Turkey Writer Here


3. WRITE OR DIE


Write or Die site. Paid version offers more features.
Perhaps the most drastic of measures, Write or Die is part software, part beat-the-clock elimination game. Set up your goal time and word count, then choose either Stimulus, Kamikaze, or (full version) Startle mode. If you stop typing for too long, the first two modes will respond with warnings by turning your screen pink, then red. In an even more dire twist, Kamikaze mode will begin randomly deleting bits of your work once the screen goes red. Startle mode takes the challenge one step farther by removing the color warnings and just deleting work when writing slows down for too long. 

This approach has sparked a love-hate relationship with many writers. Some report greatly increased speed and focus. Others find Kamikaze and Startle modes too stressful, preferring the gentler nudge of Stimulus mode. But if you're really looking for a way to train yourself to to stay on task and limit that easily distracted "squirrel" mentality, Write or Die could be just what you need.

There's a free "try" mode on the Write or Die site that gives you the basics, or buy the full version for added options, such as Startle mode and the ability to adjust the grace period. GET IT HERE.
~*~*~*~
For more gab, please join me on Twitter or Facebook. I love talking to people!

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than thirty books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Sunday, August 14, 2016

An Act of God -Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 27 Comments
It's Snippet Sunday, a Weekend Writing Warriors'  blog hop!

 I'm still writing Sons of Herne 7,  Anduron: God of Mabon.

Last time, Anduron, god of the pagan thanksgiving, came across an old woman getting mugged. Despite knowing that interference was forbidden, he decided to act. We ended with:  A woman called out for assistance, and by all the gods, the keeper of Thanksgiving, he who freed the unjustly imprisoned, would answer.

Anduron strode forth, removing the key from his pocket, and though he was still invisible to the earth realm, he held the artifact aloft and activated its power.
Ah shai-ya noma da sabbat,” he called out. “Insoyola mata ram so kai a Mabon!
The humans whipped their heads back and forth, clearly puzzled by the sudden invocation of a disembodied voice. The key dissolved in Anduron’s hand, the energy absorbing through his palm and surging up his arm with a golden glow. He turned that power on the men who had dared harm a fragile woman. He let loose a burst of energy that hit the first in the chest, sending him back with a piteous shriek to land among garbage cans a short distance away. The other two let go of the woman, and the one who shoved her to the ground got the next burst.
Unable to resist, Anduron phased into their visual plane, allowing the wide-eyed thugs to see who had intervened.
“Who the hell are you, some kind of freak?” one of them asked, still backing off.

What do you think?  

About Anduron: God of Mabon:

The Fates have been bringing all the sabbat gods to their knees over carnal desires, including Anduron's own twin brother. He will not be so easily swayed, however. The god of Mabon needs only one thing from the Fates: the power to free one who is unjustly imprisoned, an act bestowed upon him once per year in honor of his sabbat. Then he encounters an old woman in need of rescuing, an act that, outside of the ritual of Mabon, is technically forbidden.

Jenna is worried sick when her overdue grandmother shows up with a handsome stranger on her arm and tales of how sexy Anduron saved her from a mugging. Jenna is grateful, quite possibly to the point of swooning, until he disappears right in front of her eyes. He returns to say he is the god of the pagan thanksgiving--and that he wants her for a ritual where she will sleep with him out of gratitude for her grandmother's rescue. The sheer nerve leaves her burning, but those eyes and that hard body leaves her curious. She proposes an alternative: he spends the week wooing her like a mortal man, and if he succeeds, she will grant her consent for the Mabon ritual.

Anduron has little experience with courting a woman, let alone one as infuriating as Jenna. She rejects all his overtures until she finally confesses what she wants most: a freedom raid on an animal testing facility that will cost him more than he bargained for. He will have to risk capture to keep her out of danger. With no guarantee she will agree to his terms, just how many immortal laws will he break by involving himself in the affairs of humans?


Read Book 1 of the series, Dominus: God of Yule--and follow the link inside to get Book 2 free!
Buy on Amazon

~ * ~ ~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ *







For more awesome snippets, check out 


~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ 
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Simple Sabbat Cookie Cakes

12:00 AM 0 Comments
It's Too Yummy Tuesday!

On select Tuesdays I share delicious recipes either inspired by my books or that are just plain delicious!


I've been writing the three final books in my Sons of Herne series, including Feillor: God of Lammas. His love interest, Salina, is a pagan witch who bakes traditional fare during her sabbat celebrations. Well, traditional until the god of the first harvest shows up, anyway. This all got me in the mood for sabbat-themed cooking, so I dug up a very simple recipe for sabbat cakes that are great for any time of year. 

Simple Sabbat Cookie Cakes

 Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. lemon or orange juice
2 tsp. grated lemon or orange zest
2 cups. flour
Optional: a handful (up to 1 cup) of chocolate chips, raisins/craisins/dates/prunes, or finely chopped nuts

Directions


 Cream the butter and sugar in medium bowl until light. Beat in eggs, lemon juice and rind until well-blended. Stir in flour until combined; fold in chopped fruit/nuts/etc if using.

Cover and refrigerate until firm. Shape dough into one-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet (about a dozen to a sheet). Bake at 375 for 8 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

Enjoy!
~~~

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than thirty books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people!

Sunday, August 7, 2016

A Cry for Help -Snippet Sunday

12:00 AM 26 Comments
It's Snippet Sunday, a Weekend Writing Warriors'  blog hop!

 I've been working on Sons of Herne 7,  Anduron: God of Mabon, so I thought it was time to share a snippet.

I'm posting a bit from the opening scene. Our hero, Anduron, is on his way to a meeting in the earth realm when his attention is distracted by a startling sound...



A cry snapped Anduron’s head around, and he paused, every muscle stiff, while he listened.
“No, please, let me go!” he heard a woman yell.
His feet began to move, picking up pace, jogging toward the woman who was clearly in trouble.
An alley veered off up ahead, and Anduron stopped in the opening to see a disturbing sight. Two men had captured an old woman, each holding one of her frail arms while a third thug dug through her purse. They stood among fruit and broken eggs that had spilled out of bags of food dropped at her feet.
“Where’s the rest?” he barked, waving a leather wallet at her.
“I spent it on those groceries,” she sobbed.
Interfering was forbidden, technically speaking, but as rage welled up inside Anduron, he knew he had the means to help the crone. A woman called out for assistance, and by all the gods, the keeper of Thanksgiving, he who freed the unjustly imprisoned, would answer.


What do you think?  

About Anduron: God of Mabon:

The Fates have been bringing the sabbat gods to their knees over carnal desires, including Anduron's own twin brother. He will not be so easily swayed, however. The god of Mabon needs only one thing from the Fates: the power to free one who is unjustly imprisoned, an act bestowed upon him once per year in honor of his sabbat. Then he encounters an old woman in need of rescuing, an act that, outside of the ritual of Mabon, is technically forbidden.

Jenna is worried sick when her overdue grandmother shows up with a handsome stranger on her arm and tales of how sexy Anduron saved her from a mugging. Jenna is grateful, quite possibly to the point of swooning, until he disappears right in front of her eyes. He returns to say he is the god of the pagan thanksgiving--and that he wants her for a ritual where she will sleep with him out of gratitude for her grandmother's rescue. The sheer nerve leaves her burning, but those eyes and that hard body leaves her curious. She proposes an alternative: he spends the week wooing her like a mortal man, and if he succeeds, she will grant her consent for the Mabon ritual.

Anduron has little experience with courting a woman, let alone one as infuriating as Jenna. She rejects all his overtures until she finally confesses what she wants most: a freedom raid on an animal testing facility that will cost him more than he bargained for. He will have to risk capture to keep her out of danger. With no guarantee she will agree to his terms, just how many immortal laws will he break by involving himself in the affairs of humans?


Read Book 1 of the series, Dominus: God of Yule--and follow the link inside to get Book 2 free!
Buy on Amazon

~ * ~ ~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ *







For more awesome snippets, check out 


~ *~ * ~ * ~ *~ *~ * ~ *~ 
I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!

Monday, August 1, 2016

Back to School, Back to Work, Back to Business

12:00 AM 0 Comments
On the first Monday of each month I gab about what's going on with me, my writing, and life in general.

Happy August! This is a month when life traditionally shifts gears for me, and this year is no different.

Back to School

Back to school is a busy time at my house! Many of you are aware that I home school my youngest (the rest are grown), so I spent the last week of my vacation setting up the new school laptop, going through last year's records, and sifting through curriculum to see where we're at with start of year learning goals.  Is it silly that I actually have fun stocking our school zone with fresh notebooks, dry erase markers, and sharpened pencils? And of course, my obsession with curricula is much like my obsession for books...I've got way more than I'll ever use, but I  keep adding more.

Back to school traditions of shopping, preparation, and planning always gets me in the mood to start fresh with my own organization and goals.  So I set aside some time during "teacher prep week" to take a look at my writing and "life" schedules to see where I could adjust and streamline.

Back to Work


 Summer vacation is over, insert heavy sigh, and as I write this post I'm preparing to return to my "day job" in a few hours. The writing retreat was so fun, and I was able to finish up Sons of Herne 6 while I was away--and in the nick of time for its July 29 release! Now that I'll be back on the swing shift (and schooling my daughter in the mornings), I'll miss being able to write whenever the mood strikes. It's a rigorous schedule for me, but one I'm hoping will let me get all my upcoming projects written on time.
I definitely miss settings like this...fresh air inspires writing!


It was HOT out, but we couldn't resist snuggling under matching blankets at the cabin!

Back to business-and another free  book offer!


My Chillin' in Summer Tour is over (and congrats to my giveaway winners!), so now it's back to business as usual. As promo for Dominus: God of Yule was wrapping up, Book 6, Feillor: God of Lammas was released. I'm offering digital copies FREE in exchange for an (honest) review! 

If you'd like a copy of Feillor: God of Lammas, click THIS LINK to sign up and I'll send you your choice of PDF, MOBI, or EPUB formats. 

~*~*~*~
On select Mondays, I like to gab about whatever's going on with me. For more gab, please join me on Twitter or Facebook. I love talking to people!

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night.

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