A case of nerves...

Note: Kate asked us to let you know that she's currently snowed in under a foot of snow and has no internet service, so she won't be able to respond to comments for awhile!
(Power's on...I'm BACK!)

I'm sitting here in my office watching the snow fall and realizing that time seems to pass by a lot faster the older I get! It seemed like the release of my very first mass market paranormal romance was at least a gazillion years in the future, and now it's just a month away and I'm beginning to panic. What's funny is that this is far from my first book, and yet it's such an important step for me as I work at moving my career forward, that I'm sort of quietly freaking out about the whole thing.

Help me, ladies! I really need to put this in perspective!! I've had seventeen books out in the past four years alone, and not a one of them has made me as nervous as DemonFire's upcoming release. I think it's the distribution, to be honest, the fact that this one should show up in WalMart and Target and the grocery store where my neighbors shop--places where I've always bought books. I was actually doing okay for awhile, and then my video trailer arrived and reminded me that the release date is coming close...I do love trailers. Not sure if they actually sell books, but they are definitely cool! I had mine done by COS--take a look:

I have the first chapter of the book posted on my website if you'd like to take a look, and if you're the type who likes to preorder, I've got all kinds of ordering links on that page. (Gee, it's so unseemly to whimper, isn't it? I really REALLY need to relax or the next month is going to kill me!)

Anyway, if you get a chance I do hope you'll take a look at the excerpt, and if you'd like just a short taste, this will give you a feel for the dynamics between my heroine, Eddy Marks, a small-town newspaper reporter who does NOT believe in demons or anything at all to do with the paranormal, and Dax, a fallen demon, too good for hell, who's been given one week to save the world from demonkind and, just maybe, earn himself a spot in paradise.

Eddy couldn’t sit still any longer. She bounced to her feet and began pacing around the small living room. “Lemurians. They’re not real, unless you ask Dad.” She spun around and laughed. “He’s going to be thrilled when he finds out about you. Proof that some of his crazy theories are actually true.” Dax and the demons, she thought. It didn’t get any better.

“According to local lore, they’re a race of mystical beings, tall, beautiful people with strange powers who supposedly live inside Mount Shasta in rooms made of gold. Legend says they’re descendants of people from the lost continent of Lemuria that sank beneath the sea, that they had advanced science and technology thousands of years ago. They were even supposed to have flying machines, sort of like the old Atlantis myth.”

Dax shook his head. He twisted around in his seat so he could follow her erratic pacing. “Atlantis is no myth. It really existed and its descendents are still around. I’ve never heard of Lemuria. I’ll need to look into it. The vortex, though, is definitely real. How do you think I got here?”

Eddy stopped in her tracks and stared at him, looking for a twitch, a smile, anything to tell her he was teasing.

He wasn’t.

She glanced at Willow. As if the sprite knew she was being watched, she flashed bright blue and just as quickly faded.

Okay. Point made. Eddy took a deep breath. “Why don’t you tell me exactly how you did get here. Just promise to ignore me if I look incredulous.”

Dax stared at her for a long, slow moment. Then he shook his head and his gorgeous lips turned up in an unbelievably sexy grin. “Eddy Marks, I doubt I could ever ignore you...not for any reason.”

She felt it right between her thighs. A hot lick of heat that had no business firing her senses and making her muscles clench, especially after a hokey come-on like that. It took a tremendous amount of will to continue gazing directly into those smoldering eyes of his. Demon’s eyes. She had to remind herself that, for all his appeal, Dax was not only a stranger, he’d already admitted to being one of the bad guys.

“I’m waiting,” she said, planting her hands on her hips, ignoring his innuendo and her body’s traitorous response.

He still had that cocky grin plastered on his gorgeous face, but at least Dax settled back against the couch. “I was a demon. An immortal in a world of evil. It suited me for a long time, and then it didn’t.” He shrugged. “For some reason, I began to question the life, the constant desire to cause pain, to kill.” He shook his head, shrugged. Gave her a self-deprecating grin. “I guess I learned the hard way. One does not question evil. I got tossed out of Abyss.”

The snake tattoo crawling out of his waistband slowly writhed across his belly and chest. Mesmerized, Eddy blinked. She must be more exhausted than she’d realized.

The subtle motion stopped. The tattoo stayed put. She swallowed and raised her eyes. It was too unsettling to steal even the quickest glance at his body, not when things like that happened. “Where does a demon go that’s worse than hell?”

Dax ran his fingers lightly over his tattoo. Had he felt it move? He stared at her for a moment before he answered.

“Earth.”

So, there you have it--when I first began working on The DemonSlayers series, I was terrified--the books are bigger than my Wolf Tales--120,000 words compared to around 85,000, which is a huge difference when you're juggling plot threads and characters and have the memory of a flea. My office looked like I'd had a "post it note" snowstorm by the time I finished the last page! I had to keep reminding myself that if I can keep over thirty characters through 20 books (Wolf Tales/Sexy Beast) straight, this shouldn't be a problem, but trust me, I can make trouble where none should be found!

Anyway, I do hope you'll take a chance on the book, and if you do, please let me know what you think! Also, I'm planning on a contest--not sure yet what the prize will be, but I'm asking readers who see DemonFire in out-of-the-way stores or cool displays, if they'll take a photo and send it to me with the date and where you see it. I'm going to post them on my Facebook page, just for fun.

What made me think of doing that was when I was shopping in Hardester's, the grocery store in our tiny little town of Cobb, California the other day and saw Jayne's paperback release of Running Hot. All I could think was, DAMN! She's in HARDESTER'S? I mean, if your book makes it to Hardesters, it must be just about everywhere!

Oh, and while I'm talking about contests, I was talking to my buddy Robyn Carr the other day--she's guest blogged here before and I know a lot of you are hooked on her Virgin River series. Anyway, her publisher is running a contest that sounds like fun--the winner will get their name in a new Virgin River book! If you want to be immortalized forever in a bestselling book, Robyn's got a link on her website.

I think that's about it for now--time to go back to chewing my non-existent fingernails and writing Wolf Tales 11--thank goodness I've got a full schedule so I can't spend too much time whining. Besides, at least around our place, no one really pays attention to me anyway! Take care all, and be safe. While I've been working on this blog, we've gotten at least two more inches of snow!