When I'm not writing I...

Hi everyone,

I'm over on Writer's evolution today.

The topic for the week is When I'm not writing I...

My take on it is Climbing Through Windows.

If you get a chance to stop by and share your thoughts, please do :)

You First - Available Now!

Hi everyone,

My new book, You First, comes out today with Total-e-bound. Carole from Rainbow Reviews gave it five stars. She also said:

“You First is the first in a series of books with the theme “Perfect Timing”. And perfect is right - lots of things are quite perfect about this book which is the best D/s relationship book I've read this year … I read this book multiple times because I liked it so much! And I will read it again; it will go into my 'keeper' file … If you like hot, sexy books with a firm power exchange between two men falling in love, you should buy this one today.”

You can read the rest of the review here. Or, if you’d prefer to find out more about the book instead, here’s the blurb:

All Luke had to do was come after Justin. How difficult could that possibly be?

There was only one thing that stopped sex with Justin being completely perfect for Luke. The timing. That wasn’t so perfect. In fact, the timing really sucked – and not in the fun, fellatio related way.

Justin was five years younger than Luke and relatively inexperienced. Luke had enjoyed more lovers than he could count or remember—he knew he was good at sex. There was no good reason why Justin should outlast him every time they hooked up.

All Luke had to do was come second, set his mind at ease, and everything would be perfect between them. Hell, if he could do that, he might even consider the serious relationship idea Justin seemed so taken with.

How difficult could that possibly be?

And here’s a quick extract:

Luke Anderson was not going to come first.

He repeated the mantra over and over inside his head as he held his hands out to be bound. Justin Collins deftly buckled the soft leather around his wrists. Tugging on the chain between the cuffs, he positioned Luke on his hands and knees in the middle of the bed.

Justin attached the cuffs to a little hook screwed into the headboard for that precise purpose. He pulled at the chain, testing how securely it would hold Luke in place. The metal links clinked together. Luke took a deep breath. All his best sexual experiences occurred to that theme song. The sound went straight to his cock.

Luke was still not going to come first. He was Luke Anderson, newest and highest flying barrister in the best chambers in London. He could bloody well do anything he set his mind to.

Justin’s hand applied pressure—a steady pressure to the back of his neck. Luke lowered himself onto his elbows. The pressure didn’t ease. Luke turned his palms up and rested his head in his hands. Head down and arse up, Luke closed his eyes. He told himself for the thousandth time it must be possible.

Just because he hadn’t outlasted Justin yet, didn’t mean he couldn’t do it. He just needed to focus. He was twenty-three years old—five years older than his lover. He’d topped and bottomed more partners than he could count or remember in both genders. False modesty and jokes aside, Luke was well aware he knew tricks even most really expensive professionals hadn’t mastered.

He shifted his knees further apart on the mattress as Justin moved into position, kneeling on the bed behind him. He had to outlast Justin just once, just so he knew he could do it. Just for pride’s sake, because Luke knew his lack of self restraint was the only thing that kept sex with Justin from being perfect.

Justin’s fingers slipped briefly inside him, checking he was slick, relaxed and ready to play. Luke bit his lip and held back a moan as Justin crooked his fingers and found his prostate.

He could do this. Practicing a little bit of restraint wouldn’t kill him.

The rustle of the packet when Justin slipped on a condom was his only warning. Justin slid into him in one smooth movement. Luke gasped. For a perfect moment, Justin stilled inside him, stretching him and filling him completely. He began rocking his hips, building up the movement in tiny increments. Only when Luke whimpered his frustration did Justin begin to thrust into him in earnest.

In what felt like moments, lethal frustration was a growing possibility. Each stroke pressed against Luke’s prostate in a rhythm calculated to throw him over the edge at any moment.

He tried to remember he didn’t want to fall into pleasure—why he didn’t want to jump over the ledge with his arms spread wide in enthusiastic abandon. All he could think about was just how glorious it would feel when he came with Justin still buried balls deep inside him.

But still, in the back of his mind the mantra continued. Luke was not going to come first.

Desperately trying to concentrate on anything other than Justin’s erection pounding into him, Luke scrambled for any other details and senses to focus on.

The cotton sheet underneath him was pale blue. At this angle, with his nose barely an inch from the surface, Luke saw it was actually two shades of thread blended together. He couldn’t bring himself to care. His prostate sang inside him, coaxing him to join in with it in harmony, groaning his pleasure at every inch of delicious friction.

The scent of their arousal filled the room, mingling with Justin’s aftershave. Justin always smelt fantastic. Another perfect thing to add to all the other perfect things Luke had noticed over the months they’d been hooking up for sex. He always smelt like old sandalwood and well worn leather. Luke loved pressing close against Justin’s body and taking deep breaths of his scent when they danced together. He loved sliding his fingers up into Justin’s hair and pulling him close, to wrap Justin’s scent around him.

Luke threaded his fingers through his own hair. He pulled at the thick blond strands, hoping the pain might kill off some tiny bit of his arousal. The tug increased with each connection of Justin’s hips against his arse. It did nothing to help his increasingly frantic desire not to come.

Justin’s rhythm increased another notch. Cradling Luke’s pelvis in his strong grip, he held him steady and absorbed part of the impact from each thrust. Luke rocked back with every motion. As he focused on the pressure of each fingertip against his skin, Justin’s right hand left his hip.

He reached underneath Luke and started to jack him off with an expert touch. Luke pulled at the cuffs around his wrists. He couldn’t reach down and push Justin’s hand away. He had no choice but to accept the touch or say his safe word.

Thanks for reading.

You First is available here.

Kim Dare
Kink, love and a happy ending. Do you Dare?

Sex and Technology

Hi everyone,

I've been over on the Oh Get a Grip blog again.

This weeks topic is Sex and Technology.

My post is about Classic Leather Technology - complete with pretty pictures :)

Do drop by and comment if you get the chance.

Coming soon and blogs

Silent Night has arrived on TEB's coming soon page.

You can have a gander by clicking on the cover, if you like.

It's the second in the Perfect Timing Series.

The first in the series is coming out next Monday!

Since I'm posting pics and links, that pic is a link too.

I also have a few blog posts dotted around that I didn't tell you about before.

Today I posted about Writers Image at Writers Evolution. All Erotic Romance Writers should be...

Last Thurdsay I posted about Happy endings on Oh, Get a grip. All they all lived hopefully ever after.

And last Tuesday I posted about chosing a genre on Writer's Evolution. I had a choice?

What other updates do I have for you?

I know as soon as I hit publish post, I'm going to think of something...

Well, it's not coming to mind at the moment, so I'll leave it here.

Hope you're all having a fantastic day.

Catching up

I hesitate to say that I'm feeling better and I'll be blogging more regularly from now. Every time I say that, it turns into a lie.

Truth be told, although I am feeling a little bit better, I'm still way behind on pretty much everything. I've got message that I haven't answered properly lingering in my in box from far too long ago, updates I want to make to my website that I haven't even started, etc.

My plans to improve my networking abilities still consist of a to do list. Or more accurately a where I should be list. Face book, good reads, library thing, twitter, my space. I'm guessing I should be back to a stage where I'm regularly updating this blog before I start adding more places to update!

Writing wise. I just sent off another Lust bite length M/m BDSM to TEB. I'm also finishing off a writing project today - the first novella in a new series. So tomorrow I'll be starting new projects.

I should be practical and work on more novella re-writes, but for the sake of my sanity, I'm thinking of tackling a brand new longer work. I haven't written anything over 20k this year, and it's getting to me a bit.

I have a vampire novel I'm itching to start work on, leading to a werewolf novel I'm equally enthusiastic about. I might well start the vampires tomorrow.

I'm also going to start editing the next novel in my Perfect Timing series. So two longer works to get my teeth into in one go - should prove interesting!

That's it for now.

Hopefully I'll be blogging more regularly from now on.

Take care everyone,

Kim.

Rejection

Hi everyone,

The topic of the week at the Oh, Get a Grip! blog is Rejection.

I'm talking about Inappropriate Masochism when it comes to trying to get published.

I've also given my website a bit of a spring clean. Hopefully it's a bit better than it was.

Hope everyone is having a good Thursday!

Answers Anyone?

Over on Writer's Evolution, the topic for the week is self promotion.

I currently have More questions than Answers.

If you have any answers, please stop by and let me know what they are!

The Gift - New Review!

As you might guess from the pic above - The Gift has just been reviewed by Whipped Cream!

I recieved a four out of five cherry rating and the reviewer gave me some lovely comments. Including

"In a twist on the classic Christmas Story tale, Charles is visited by a sexy ghost of Christmas Past to help show him the meaning of Christmas. Mix in chocolate, sex toys, a delicious and obedient pet with a whole mountain of tinsel and the recipe for a great Christmas has never been better."

Thanks Cactus!

The story is also up for the Book of the Week award. It's based on reader votes. You just read the reviews and decide which book you like the sound of best, based on those reviews.

If you get a free second over the weekend - I'd really appreciate your vote. The list of books you can vote for is here. The Gift is second from the bottom. If you scroll down a bit, you can read all the reviews - The Gift is second from the top :)

Have a good weekend everyone :)

Silent Night - New Cover Art!

The cover is by Natalie Winters. It's the first M/f cover for one of the Perfect Timing collection. Very pleased with it - as you can probably guess!

In spite of the title, it's not a Christmas story, lol. It will be released by TEB June 1st and it's M/f, BDSM erotic romance.

Here's the blurb:

Hannah will give Vincent one silent night of pleasure, but that’s it. If he wants more, he’ll have to fight for it.

No one in the club has ever heard Hannah say a word, but they’ve all heard the rumours. She won’t accept any man who approaches her – she insists on picking the lucky dominant herself. And when she makes her selection he can have her submission for one silent night, but that’s it. She won’t speak or agree to a second date.

Vincent is an experienced dominant. He knows how the game should be played. When he finds Hannah kneeling at his feet, he assumes she’s just like every other submissive. But Hannah’s different and Vincent soon realises one silent night isn’t enough. He wants more time and he wants Hannah’s voice.

Hannah really doesn’t care what Vincent wants. She has her own reasons for keeping her relationships short and silent. It’ll take a lot more than a display of dominance to convince her to trust him with the truth.

Gay for Pay - New Acceptance!

Hi everyone,

Gay for Pay - the third Lust Bite in my unofficial collection has just been accepted :)

It's M/m, BDSM erotic romance and it will be available from TEB on the 26th October 2009.

Here's the blurb:

An experienced gay dominant, a gay for pay submissive and an auction. Let the bidding commence!

Nate Lockwood has a plan. It involves slipping away from his security officers, hitting a BDSM club, entering himself in a submissive auction and spending the next twenty four hours as a gay for pay rent boy. If he wishes he could be submitting to someone far closer to home, then at least he’s realistic enough to know it’s never going to happen.

Smith has a job to do. As chief of security for the Lockwood family, it’s his responsibility to track down his boss’s brat of a son and bring him home. The fact that his search leads to the kind of leather bar he considers beneath contempt is not important. The fact he’s been fantasising about being Nate’s master since he first set eyes on him isn’t relevant.

The plan has to work. The job has to be done. And the bidding starts now…

Catching Up

Hi everyone,

I know I've been pretty absent lately. Took on too many things at once and ended up making myself knackered. Then I kept on going regardless and made myself ill. And then I caught the fluey sort of bug that's going around.

So um... yeah, not a lot of blogging happening.

I don't know where the time went, but I've only just realised that the first quarter of 2009 is over! I still haven't decided what my new years resolutions are going to be, lol.

Anyway, I thought I'd get back into blogging with a bit of a re-cap of the last three months, followed by a few resolutions for the next three months.

The year so far:

I've worked on 16 different first drafts, re-writes and edits. (No wonder I'm knackered, lol!)

Gaydar - my first project for the year and the first in an unofficial series of Lust Bites - written, edited, submitted and already published. Pretty good way to start the year!

Gay Like You - wrote it in January, re-wrote it in March. Submitted and accepted - It's due out June 22ed.

Sealing the Deal - written in January - edited and submitted in February. This one went to a new publisher. They requested the full, but I don't have a final answer yet. But I said I was going to try a second publisher and I did, so even if they don't accept it, I made progress :)

Fair Play - another one written in January. This is the second in the collection that starts with Sealing the Deal, so I'm holding off on doing anything with it until I know what will happen to the first one.

Then, February and in my infinite wisdom I decided I should write some short stories - in spite of the fact I've never really been able to get to grips with them. I wrote the first drafts of four short stories. I now have the first drafts of the first chapters of four different novellas. Did I mention I really suck at short stories?

One short is going to be a Collared novella. Another will be the start of a new collection of novellas planning. Another will be a Perfect Timing novella. The fourth might well end up in that series Sealing the Deal is starting.

I guess it goes without saying that these are all now in my to-re-write list, lol.

Next project was editing up Yes! into an anthology submission. I wrote the first draft in 2007. Re-wrote it in 2008. Edited it in February. It's been accepted, but the final decision for the anthology has yet to be made, so not entirely sure where it will be be published yet, but it will be published. My second acceptance of the year.

Then I moved on two three more stories for the Lust Bite collection - one is still a first draft and needs to be re-written before I can do anything else with it. Another is in the same stage, but is my next editing project - so hopefully it won't linger at the first draft stage for too long :)

The other is Gay for Pay - which was written in February, edited in March and accepted earlier this week. It's due to be released October 26th. (More about that in a separate blog post.)

The other two are paranormal anthology/seasonal submissions. The werewolf one was written in March. It's on my to-edit list. I'm finishing the vampire one today.

So all in all - a lot to be happy about!

On the slight downside. The one resolution I managed to make while it was still January was to cut down the number of projects that I had left lingering at first draft stage. The idea was - once they are finished I can get them out of my head, so I have less stories whirling around all the time.

I started the year with 52 projects that needed further attention. I now have 54.

Therefore, my big resolution for the second quarter of 2009 is to cut that down to at least below 50. That means submitting at least five stories that I've already written in some form or other. If I start any new ones they'll be added on to the end of the list, I'll have to submit more old ones to make room for them.

Other resolutions. Blog more and keep up to date with other peoples blog posts more.

Rest more to make sure I get healthier again - and then do my best to stay that way.

And that's it.

I've got a few other things to share, but I think they warrent their own blog posts, so they'll be up in a minute.