Category Archives: Author

Free story! “The Madness of Survival”

BugAs part of the Uncollected Anthology series project, all the authors will be publishing their stories for free on their websites, each one for two weeks only!

“The Madness of Survival” appeared in Issue 1, Magical Motorcycles.

Available from these fine retailers:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Omnilit | Smashwords

madness cover webThe Faerie Folk come when the veil between the worlds is thin, spinning their sticky-sweet glamour and stealing children away. The only thing standing in their way: a motorcycle gang made up of broken, lost people who managed to escape from the Faerie Realm after their own abductions.

Riding her enchanted steed, sworn to protect children, Alis mourns the loss of her own daughter, taken by the Fae. Abandoned by her husband, shunned by her friends, Alis now knows no family but her fellow riders, knows no joy except when she’s riding.

But freedom comes with a price…

This free story was available for two week only. If you missed this one, click on the links above. And please check out the Uncollected Anthology website (and maybe sign up for the newsletter!) to find out when the next issue will be available!

Two new fantasy stories now available!

Looking for some short fantasy to read? May I recommend these?

If you’re hankering for the scent of the ocean, or want to read something a bit dark but ultimately uplifting, you might like “I Sing a Song of Mourning”:mourning cover web

Trapped on an island with an abusive husband, Selene struggles with her fear of the sea every day. But when her husband abandons her to drown, the mermaids give Selene the power to exact her revenge. How she chooses to use that power—and how she faces her fear—will change her life forever. The haunting “I Sing a Song of Mourning” originally appeared in the  Breaking Waves: An Anthology for Gulf Coast Relief charity anthology (Book View Café, 2010).

Available at many online retailers:
Kindle  |  Nook  |  Kobo  |  Omnilit  |  Smashwords
And coming soon from iBooks as well!

If you’re looking for something a little more lighthearted, get your oven mitts on “Matchmaker”:

matchmaker cover web“What does a computer know about love? Have an authentic Gypsy Matchmaker work her magic instead!” The matchmaking magic was passed on through each generation, and my gran, who had raised me from a toddler after my parents died, certainly had the talent.

It wasn’t her fault she’d forgotten to tell me I was adopted….

“Matchmaker” originally appeared in More Scary Kisses (Ticonderoga Publications, 2011).

Available at many online retailers:
Kindle  |  Nook  |  Kobo  |  Omnilit  |  Smashwords
And coming soon from iBooks as well!

I hope you enjoy these…if you do, please let me know, whether by a review, a recommendation to a friend, or a quick note. I’d love to hear from you!

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Bound for Trouble is here!

Erotica anthology Bound for Trouble, which contains my somewhat wistful (yet still kinky) story “Through the Door,” is now for sale on Amazon. (If it’s not for sale at other venues, it will be soon.)

It also contains a slew of fabulous authors (and I can’t wait to read their fabulous stories!):

• Tea or Coffee? by Tamsin Flowers
• Simple Pleasures by Sophia Valenti
• Paper Chains by Annabeth Leong
• Ropenosis by Teresa Noelle Roberts
• I, Robot by Heidi Champa
• Magic Boots by Amy Dillon
• One Rope by Graydancer
• Discovering Her Wrists, Bound by Saskia Walker
• In Her Sights by Kiki DeLovely
• Deeper by Beatrix Ellroy
• Unwinding Alice by Benjamin Eliot
• My Pretty Pony by D.L. King
• Monthly by Vida Bailey
• Doing It By the Book by Tilly Hunter
• Sex Party Magic by Kristy Lin Billuni
• The Other Side of the Ropes by Kathleen Tudor
• Business Wear by K. Lynn
• The Kissing Party by Rachel Kramer Bussel
• That’s Nota  Scrunchie by Giselle Renarde
• Valles Marineris by Laila Blake
• What She Has by Sommer Marsden
• Through the Door by Andrea Dale  <– Hey, that’s me!
• Sitting Pretty by Alison Tyler

 

The Uncollected Anthology is finally here!

BugI am so, so very excited about this project!

Back in February, at the Anthology Workshop on the Oregon Coast, after I’d read nearly 300 short stories, I looked around the room at the incredible wealth of talented authors and thought, “These are some of my favorite authors, and I have all these nifty anthology themes in my head—not only do I want to write stories that fit these themes, I want to read their stories, too!”

Knowing it was a project I could easily go overboard on, I approached just a few author-friends to start—and to my delight, they were not only enthusiastic, but they were thrilled to be a part of this. At which point, we became a collective, with everybody tossing out ideas and volunteering for different jobs.

Since then, it’s been a lot of work and coordination and we probably broke the Internet once or twice with all the emails we fired back and forth, but the time has come to announce the launch of the very first issue of…

The Uncollected Anthology!

The idea is this: We pick a theme and write urban fantasy stories for that theme, just like any anthology. The difference is that instead of bundling all the stories together (and having to deal with accounting when it comes to paying everyone royalties), we each publish our own stories. If you like a story…if you like a theme…then we hope you’ll venture forth from there and buy the other stories.

Honestly? I’ve read all the stories in this first issue, and they rocked my world. I wouldn’t say that unless I meant it. These ladies really are some of my favorite urban fantasy authors.

The first theme is Magical Motorcycles, and all the stories are available as of this morning! If you woke up with your ears ringing, that was from all of us cheering that we’d made it to this point!

I’m so in love with these stories, and my friends who dove in with so much enthusiasm.  ::sniff::

Okay, you want the stories, right? Here’s the info on mine:

“The Madness of Survival”

madness cover webThe Faerie Folk come when the veil between the worlds is thin, spinning their sticky-sweet glamour and stealing children away. The only thing standing in their way: a motorcycle gang made up of broken, lost people who managed to escape from the Faerie Realm after their own abductions.

Riding her enchanted steed, sworn to protect children, Alis mourns the loss of her own daughter, taken by the Fae. Abandoned by her husband, shunned by her friends, Alis now knows no family but her fellow riders, knows no joy except when she’s riding.

But freedom comes with a price…

Buy it at any of these fine online retailers:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Omnilit | Smashwords
And it should be up on iBooks soon…

The incredibly fabulous authors—go check out their stories!

Annie Reed  |  Leah Cutter  |  Leslie Claire Walker  |  Phaedra Weldon

A few necessary shout-outs and links

We are partnered with Kobo books, for which I have to thank the wonderful Mark Lefebvre, Kobo director of self-publishing and author relations. Check out our group page on Kobo!

Stephanie Writt designed our UA logo and the template for our covers. She’s awesome!

Annie Reed and Michele Lang worked hard to hammer out a group agreement so we stay on the up-and-up. (Michele doesn’t have a story in this issue, but my fingers are crossed for the September issue!)

Finally, if you want more info, you can check out our website. We have a newsletter (quarterly, just to tell you when a new issue is available), and there are photos of us and all that jazz. Phaedra Weldon kicked ass designing the site!  ::applauds::

I hope you enjoy the stories.

Three sales in two days!

June has started out with a lovely bang! in the form of three story sales in two days!

Crossed Genres accepted my short fantasy “The Pumpkin-Carving Contest” for their Flash Fiction issue, which I believe comes out in July. CG is an online magazine, and you can find more info here.

Then, not one, but two acceptances from the utterly lovely Kristina Wright, for two different erotic romance anthologies. Here are the tables of contents for both; I don’t yet have covers or publication dates. For Play will probably be out in Spring 2015, though.

Passionate Kisses
Introduction: The Story is Just Beginning
Friends and Benefits, Christine d’Abo
The Scent of Her, Sommer Marsden
House Full of Dreams, Andrea Dale
A Happy Anniversary, Jade Melisande
A Job Well Done, Donna George Storey
The Dinner Decision, Jade A. Waters
Our Second First Date, Victoria Blisse
The Merger, Tahira Iqbal
Back for Good, Lucy Felthouse
Reminder, Jeremy Edwards
The Business of Pleasure, T.G. Haynes
The Happiest Place, Lily K. Cho
Flipping the Switch, Rowan Loquer
Celebration, Kathleen Tudor
A Series of Understandings, F. Fox
Peach Season, Anja Vikarma
The Gift, Tamsin Flowers Henry Lee
Came Home, Kristina Wright
Kissing Lessons, Rachel Kramer Bussel

For Play
Introduction: Anticipation is Everything
The Morning After, Annabeth Leong
Playing in the Middle, Kathleen Tudor
Tomato Season, Jade A. Waters
To Do List, Heidi Champa
It’s Been Awhile, Lady Cheeky
Telling Bedtime Stories, R. Ann Sawyer
Rings, Andrea Dale
Touring with Tina, Jeremy Edwards
Paradise Past, T.G. Haynes
Must Have Been Something I Read, Tamara Blush
An Indecent Proposal, Lisette Ashton
Off Days, Giselle Renarde
Amuse-bouches, Carla Jaffari
Conducting Love Letters, Victoria Blisse
Only Kiss, Louise Nimble
The Dark Horse, Tamsin Flowers
From Two To Three, Maggie Morton
Tanked, Lynn Townsend
Honeysuckle, Kristina Wright

Fantasy Adrift is now available!

Fiction River has produced another amazing volume of fantasy, and I’m not just saying that because Fantasy Adrift contains one of my stories. I’m saying it because holy moly, check out the authors in this one!

Foreword: Sailing Forward Dean Wesley Smith
Introduction: Stories on Demand Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Legacy Irette Y. Patterson
Shaman Leslie Claire Walker
The Red-Stained Wishing Tree Eric Stocklassa
Shifting Jinn Rebecca S.W. Bates
Still Red Kara Legend
Generations Steve Perry
In The Play of Frigid Women Dean Wesley Smith
Old Magics Steven Mohan, Jr.
My Real Cousin Ruby Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Leave a Candle Burning Dayle Ivy
The Magic Man JC Andrijeski

“Leave a Candle Burning” is set in my beloved Adirondacks on a snowy Christmas holiday. It’s got a ghost and a romance, and it’s one of those stories I wrote because it’s the type of story I love to read.

You can read what the publisher says about Fantasy Adrift here, and more about all the issues of Fiction River here.

FR Fantasy Adrift ebook cover web

The Sound of My Own Voice now available!

I know, I know, I always say that I’m chuffed or delighted or excited, or whatever, but really, one of the best parts of my job is saying “Lookie here! I made this! Squee!”

And that’s how I feel about this latest story available for sale, “The Sound of My Own Voice.”

I had a blast writing this story. I wrote it at a workshop, and it was the first time in a long time that I just flat out had fun writing a story. And then Kerrie L. Hughes accepted it for publication in Hex in the City, and being the astute editor she is, she pushed me to make the story even better.

When I went to publish it through Soul’s Road Press, I had the joy of finding the perfect cover art—and the whole experience made me relive how much fun the story was to write.

Yeah, Annalee will get her own novel someday. Maybe a series of them, even. Because she’s a siren, and she’s a snarky, opinionated one at that…she’s unlikely to shut up anytime soon.

I hope you all enjoy “The Sound of My Own Voice.”

voice cover web

Her parents taught Annalee to never sing, that she had no talent, despite her pop star half-sister. Then a drunken night of karaoke releases Annalee’s power—a power her parents had desperately sought to contain…a power that causes government agencies to perk up and take notice. Dammit.

Originally published in Hex in the City, “The Sound of My Own Voice” shows why USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith calls Dayle A. Dermatis “one of the best writers working today.”

Available at many online retailers:
Kindle  |  Nook  |  Kobo  |  Omnilit  |  Smashwords

And coming soon from iBooks as well!

“Blame It on the Dog” sold to For the Love of a Soldier!

The best part of being a writer: stumbling to your desk, opening your email, and finding a story acceptance!

My story “Blame It on the Dog” (yes, I wrote another story with a Welsh corgi) will appear in For the Love of a Soldier: Military Erotic Romance, edited by the prolifically wondrous Kristina Wright.

Here’s the Table of Contents:

Introduction: Love in UniformForTheLoveOfASoldier_14
Penelope Pending, Axa Lee
Drifting Toward You, Kathleen Tudor
Duty, Cat Johnson
True North, Annabeth Leong
Home for Supper, Geonn Cannon
For the Love of George, Victoria Blisse
Blame it on the Dog, Andrea Dale <– Hey, that’s me!
Special Love, Sidney Bristol
Stones, Tahira Iqbal
Lexie’s Arrow, Martha Davis
Jersey Boy, Tina Simmons
Failure to Launch, Lucy Felthouse
The Aid Station, 1916, Victoria Janssen
Fair Game, Lynn Townsend
Lucky Charm, Lea Griffith
Long Time Coming, Kristina Wright

Okay, gotta sign the contract and mail it back, and get back to work!

Spice up your life!

I can’t really list this book in my bibliography because I don’t have a story in it, exactly—it includes snippets and quotes from a varity of my stories. But I think the book is a tremendously fun idea, so I wanted to let everyone know about it!

Never Say Never: Tips, Tricks, and Erotic Inspiration for Lovers by the phenomenally talented and most awesome Alison Tyler:

“Monogamy does NOT have to equal monotony and eroticist author Alison Tyler has made it her life’s mission to make sure it never is with Never Say Never! Half of a very happily married duo, Tyler’s advice is that couples can build a trust level that makes experimentation truly possible and posits that uninhibited, really exciting, and highly imaginative sex happens best with lovers who just happen to be couples, too. This follow up to Tyler’s bestselling Never Have the Same Sex Twice blends her wisdom, expert advice, and favorite erotic scenarios illustrating myriad sexual techniques and fantasies designed to liven up the bedroom.”