Oh, baby! “For Keeps” cover is here!

So excited to reveal the cover for my summer release, For Keeps. It’s the story of Allie and Cooper–she’s 40, he’s 28, together, they’re damn hot. Note: this story features half-dressed dining on crepes. Blurb coming soon…

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School 53: Finally, Some Backstreet Love

Lucy Felthouse takes the helm of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School today–thank goodness she brought us some Backstreet Boys love. There has been way too much in the way of NKOTB-ness going on around here lately.  Lucy’s an astoundingly prolific author, a graduate of the University of Derby, where she studied Creative Writing. During her first year, she was dared to write an erotic story – so she did. It went down a storm and she’s never looked back. Lucy has had stories published by Cleis Press, Constable and Robinson, House of Erotica, Noble Romance, Ravenous Romance, Resplendence Publishing, Summerhouse Publishing, Sweetmeats Press and Xcite Books. She is also the editor of Uniform Behaviour and Seducing the Myth.

Lucy Felthouse

William Allitt School, Currently: PR & Marketing/Writing

Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” by The Offspring. For no other reason than when it came out, the entire school seemed to be obsessed with it, singing it constantly, etc. It could possibly be because some of the lyrics sounded rude, too: “Give It To Me Baby” which of course at that age was hilariously funny. Now, it sounds more like a line from one of my books.

Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: Ah, that would depend on the year (or the month, day of the week, direction of the wind…). I changed my mind frequently, depending on who the newest boy band was. I had Take That, Boyzone, Robbie Williams, Backstreet Boys, Westlife and Blue posters. Then suddenly I was too old for posters, which is probably just as well because I changed my mind so often that I’m surprised the wallpaper wasn’t filled with holes from frequent poster removal.

Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: I honestly can’t remember one. I’ve always been a bit of an individual with my music taste, particularly as I’ve got older. Now my iTunes is full of tracks which range from 60s and 70s rock and pop through to the boy bands and female vocalists of today. I have seriously eclectic taste.

Best show or concert you saw in high school: Probably the Backstreet Boys. I did see them three or four times, and I loved them. Sadly, though, I saw them again a couple of years ago, and it just wasn’t the same. It felt like they were just going through the motions, rather than touring because they really wanted to. The passion was gone – it seemed. Either that or they were incredibly jetlagged.

Best high school make-out song: I don’t remember a song that you would classify as a make-out song, but I do remember at the local disco, which is where spotty teenagers congregated to swap saliva (*vomits at the thought*), hearing “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by Eiffel 65 quite a lot. Like I said, not at all a make-out song!!

Find out more about Lucy at lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Her latest is The Cottage in the Woods. Excerpt and links to purchase are here.

*****

Living in her remote cottage in the woods, Heidi doesn’t get many visitors. So when she spots a fox in her garden, she’s delighted. However, her joy quickly turns to dismay when she thinks the beautiful creature may be injured. Heading out to see how she can help, Heidi is astounded when something happens that makes her question her eyesight – not to mention her sanity. Once she gets over her shock and discovers the reason behind the peculiar encounter, Heidi is mighty glad that the fox chose her garden to visit.

Lucky Seven

My Twitter pal, Serena Bell, tagged me in a Lucky Seven, which means I go to a WIP (work-in-progress for you non-writer types), scroll to page 77, start with line 7 and copy the subsequent 7 lines. You can read Serena’s excerpt HERE.

My excerpt is from a novel tentatively titled Hiding In the Spotlight, which I’m currently revising and polishing before submission (sounds so naughty). This exchange is between David and Andi. They’ve known each other since high school and David’s carried a torch for her all this time, but she has no idea. Andi married David’s best friend, but is in the process of getting a divorce as her husband is nowhere to be found. (Just a hint: he doesn’t stay gone for long.) “The Weatherman” is David’s nickname for her divorce attorney.

She blushed. “You’re wrong. He’s totally into Lisa.” She began to rinse the tomato, rubbing her thumb against its shiny red skin. “I’m not that girl.”

“You’re right. You’re not that girl. You’re better.”

She turned. “Yeah, right—”

David held up his finger. “You need to listen.” He lowered his hand and she wore a quizzical smile, which made his gut twitch in anticipation. “I don’t think you know how incredible you are. I don’t think you have any idea how beautiful and sexy you are. That’s why The Weatherman can’t keep his hands off you.”

And here’s my Lucky Seven:

•Karen Stivali

•Margaret Ethridge

•Sidney Bristol–her 7 is HERE.

•Keri Ford

•Tiffany Reisz–her 7 is HERE.

•Lily Harlem

•Piper Trace

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School 52: Dear Mom, Marilyn Manson Signed This Photo For You

The Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (crazy) train is back, with Author/Twitter King/Master Media Manipulator Andrew Shaffer in charge. Good thing I asked him to guest back when he had a spare hour or so on his hands, far before he became, um, highly interested in the 50 Shades of Gray hullabaloo. If you haven’t had a chance to read his clever dissection, 51 Shades, you should do so. If you haven’t heard his stories about Marilyn Manson and high school in Iowa, well, that makes me happy. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here and I do so love the sight of your face.

Andrew Shaffer

Prairie High School, Cedar Rapids, IA, Class of ’97
, Currently: Literary Bad Boy

The first concert I went to was Nine Inch Nails, with opening acts 
Marilyn Manson and the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, in Iowa City. This 
was the beginning of my gothic cross-dressing phase (see photo). Trent 
Reznor was probably at his musical peak, at least as far as the album
 went (he was touring in support of “The Downward Spiral”), but on stage 
he was a drunken mess. It didn’t matter; rock shows tend to thrive on
 chaos. The opening acts stole the show, anyway: Manson masturbated
 with a rubber strap-on, and one of the Jim Rose “freak show” 
performers hung a cinder block from his penis. Juvenile stuff, but I 
was fifteen and thought it was the greatest shit I’d ever seen.

The local paper reviewed the concert the next day under the headline,
“Long on Trash, Devoid of Art.” After my parents read the review, they 
told me it was the last concert I was ever going to see. (It wasn’t.)

I wore the Marilyn Manson t-shirt I bought at the show to school the 
next day. You can imagine what my fellow students thought of this. “A 
dude with a chick’s name? What are you, some kind of [insert 
homosexual slur here]?” If you didn’t like Garth Brooks, you were an 
outcast at my high school. And you couldn’t get much further from
 Garth Brooks than the makeup-wearing Marilyn Manson. This was before
 the Internet, so it was a pretty lonely time to be a teenager with 
somewhat deviant musical taste. Nowadays, the freaks can congregate
 online on My Space or Tumblr or whatever kids are using.

I met Manson at a Danzig concert the following year. I have a picture 
of me (wearing a skirt) with his bassist somewhere. Fortunately, I
 couldn’t find it for this blog post, so you’re at least spared that
 eyesore. I told Manson my mother wasn’t the biggest fan of his work,
 and he signed a naked photo of himself for her, which I selfishly kept
 for myself. And which I also can’t find at the moment, so you’re
 spared that eyesore as well.

Andrew Shaffer is the author of Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love. You can be further entertained by Andrew at evilreads.com or follow him on Twitter via @andrewtshaffer and @evilwylie.