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Three new stories available!

By DayleAugust 23, 2014Erotica, Little Kisses Press, Short Stories, Sophie Mouette

“Food for Thought”

Phenomenal sex… Susannah and Liane find themselves achingly compatible in the bedroom, but in the kitchen, their vastly opposing dietary restrictions cause the wrong kind of friction. Can these two sexy lesbian lovers find a middle ground and keep their delicious love alive?

“Food for Thought” originally appeared in Best Lesbian Love Stories 2009 (Alyson Press, 2008).

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

“On Display”

Art gallery owner Monique desperately wants to impress Mrs. Farnsworth, her biggest potential donor and an incredibly sexy older woman. The display of sexually provocative lesbian photography inspires Mrs. Farnesworth to donate money…and the display of Monique herself inspires an evening of lust. Great Kindle Reads calls “On Display” “perfectly paced and lusciously detailed.”

“On Display” originally appeared in Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica (Cleis Press, 2009) and was reprinted in Coming Together: Girl on Girl charity anthology (Coming Together, 2013).

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

“Rhythm Like a Heartbeat”

Kayla’s last boyfriend left her feeling self-conscious about her body, but a bellydance class—and, more importantly, sexy drummer Sandor—teaches her how her curves are her power…and how explosive the combination of sex, dance, and music can be.

“Rhythm Like a Heartbeat” originally appeared in Best Women’s Erotica 2007 (Cleis Press, 2006).

Available in ebook format from these fine establishments:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

For even more Sophie Mouette stories, click here to go to her website!

“Sophie Mouette… It’s pronounced ‘Mmm…wet!'”

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In which I make my mom happy

By DayleAugust 22, 2014Publishing, Soul's Road Press

Mystery at Woodcliff Hall

When 17-year-old Alyssa Reed takes a job as a teacher’s aide at an exclusive private school in upstate New York, she looks forward to revisiting the Adirondack Mountains she loved as a child.

But now the woods seem less sunny…and more sinister.

Because Woodcliff Hall’s past conceals a murder, and the deeper Alyssa digs, the greater her chances of becoming the next victim.

Available in print: Amazon
and at many online retailers:
Kindle | Nook | Smashwords

~~~

I started writing my first novel when I was 12 or 13. Well, really, I’d started earlier ones, but junior high was when I got to about 100 handwritten pages (as opposed to a chapter, maybe two), so that’s when I count it.

I received my first professional rejection (from Seventeen magazine) on my 16th birthday, and somewhere around that time, I took a community college class on fiction writing. One session, we had a guest speaker: a bestselling romance author named Judy Simpson (she wrote with a coauthor as Rosalind Foxx). Judy was from the South and took up the whole room with her personality, her big coiffed very blond hair, her wide, heavily lipsticked mouth. She was my first writing mentor, and I love her to this day. Anyway, she realized that we newbs in this small town in upstate NY were largely clueless about publishing, and so she volunteered to teach a class at the local library on how to write and submit a novel.

Because I was 16 and couldn’t drive at night, my mom took me to the classes that summer. (Thanks, Mom! It changed my life!) Wednesday nights, I want to say. Judy taught us about basic fiction writing concepts, but also how to format a manuscript, how to get ahold of publisher guidelines, how to submit a manuscript…the works. The stuff that, in the mid-1980s, wasn’t easy to find.

But this is not about me! This is about my mom!

My mom, a former journalist, was thus inspired to write romance. (Judy was inspirational, boy howdy.) But for some reason, publishers never bit.

Although I wish they had, their loss is my gain—and now it’s your gain as well! It is with the most puffed-up pride and great joy that I can announce that Soul’s Road Press has just released The Mystery at Woodcliff Hall, a historical gothic YA written by Virginia Jones (the writing team of Joan L. Dermatis—my mom—and Virginia Farinacci).

This was a labor of love for me, so Mom, happy birthday/Mother’s Day/Christmas/whatever other holiday you want to include!

Virginia Jones is working on her next book, I’m assured. So grab this one while it’s hot, and Soul’s Road Press will get the next one to you as soon as we can!

Leave a Candle Burning: romantic fantasy

By DayleAugust 18, 2014Dayle A. Dermatis, Fantasy/SF, Romance, Short Stories, Soul's Road Press

I’m not sure if this one is a romantic fantasy, or a paranormal romance, or… What do you think?

Claudia lives a vagabond life, crisscrossing the country doing research for a reality show about American myths and legends. Christmas finds her in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, at a small hotel allegedly haunted by the Lady in White, who leaves a candle burning for her husband, lost in the snow. The ghost might not be real, but Claudia’s attraction to the mysterious Reese, who once lived in the Victorian house, definitely is. Will he be what it takes for Claudia to change her wandering ways?

“Leave a Candle Burning” originally appeared in Fantasy Adrift (Fiction River, 2014).

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

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The Caffeine Report

By DayleAugust 11, 2014Lifecaffeine, health

I’ve been under the weather for the past couple weeks—nothing major*; more annoyance and discomfort and energy-sapping than anything else.** After about a week, I started cutting various things out of my diet to see if that would help the problems.

[Redacted rambly paragraph about the cost of food and the exhaustion of meal planning and shopping on a limited budget.]

I gave up caffeine, mostly gave up alcohol (annoyingly, wine actually helped one of my symptoms, although I knew it was exacerbating other ones. So conflicted…), and was pondering giving up dairy (although yogurt probably helps things). I thought some of what was going on was being triggered by food, so…

I did an experiment this morning, and determined that no, it didn’t seem to be triggered by food, at least not in the way I was assuming. So after 8 days without caffeine, I decided to have a cup of tea.

And let me tell you, it was glorious.

The thing I missed most was the ritual of making tea. It’s comforting, somehow; the electric kettle boiling, the pouring over the tea bag or strainer, the steeping, the milk. The warmth of the cup (my Styx mug! Thank you again, Anwyn and Cathy!) cradled in my hands, the smell of the tea. I drank mint tisane when I was eschewing tea (mint is, after all, calming to the stomach) but it just wasn’t the same.

Then…whee! The caffeine hit me.

Even though I’ve been trying to get 8-9 hours of sleep (after months of getting 6-7 hours), I’m constantly tired. I even sometimes wake up before a full night’s sleep (I put that down to the stress). Afternoons are the worst, because I’m a failure at napping, even though I try. (Latest stats: 6-8 minutes before I give up in disgust and despair.) That first cup of tea this afternoon, even though I was still tired, I was…alert for the first time in ages. Awake. My mood improved. I had more focus. Instead of looking at my To Do list and feeling like weeping, I just picked the next thing and did it, and felt good about it.

The second cup of tea, man, that sent me buzzing.

I’m still not feeling 100%, but at least I know I can drink tea again. And thank the gods for that, because maybe I can feel like a functioning, useful adult again.

—
*Well, except for a several-day bout of sciatica that was not only painful, but dredged up a whole bunch of emotional shit that I’ve shoved in a deep, dark corner of my psyche because I don’t want to deal with it. That sucked almost as much as the pain. Thankfully it took one trip to the chiropractor to solve the problem, although it reminded me that I need to get my ass out of the computer chair with greater frequency. And reminded me that regular chiro visits are a necessity, when I can afford them again. However, I did learn that half an expired muscle relaxant is enough to make me adorably loopy. (They were prescribed to me, and I took them only for a couple days. I don’t actually like being loopy, adorably or otherwise.)

**If anyone really wants more detail, feel free to contact me privately. But I swear, it’s really not all that interesting.

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Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess

By DayleAugust 5, 2014Little Kisses Press, Novels, Romance, Sophie Mouette

Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess sounds like the story of my life sometimes, but in fact it’s a brand new novel from my pen name Sophie Mouette (which is myself and the glorious Teresa Noelle Roberts).

I love this novel. There were times when one or both of us hated this novel, because it went through a lot of changes over the years (yes, years) as we worked on it on and off. We started it back when we wrote for Black Lace and Cheek, completely changing the tone of it a our editor’s request, and then the lines folded, and we had this idea that we loved, but weren’t sure what to do with.

We got busy with other projects, came back to it, tore it apart, threw out a bunch of stuff, and moved forward. Had long phone conversations about tone (is it erotica? erotic romance? spicy romance? We decided on spicy romance.) and the heart of the mystery (as usual, we started the book by adding way too many plot elements). Finished it, sent it to beta readers, got great comments that made us go back and tear some sections apart again.

But my favorite part was very early on in the process, during a phone call where we were bouncing ideas back and forth. I said something, Teresa built on that, I built on that, etc., until suddenly I felt an actual chill come over me as this crazy, different, no-idea-where-it-was-coming-from thought burst into my brain like a firework going off. And I said it out loud, and Teresa actually gasped, and said, “Oh, yes!” and we both laughed and laughed. I never would have come up with the idea if it hadn’t been for the back-and-forth brainstorming that lead to it. The meeting of creative minds. It’s what makes collaboration worth its weight in gold.

(No, I’m not going to say what the idea was. You’ll have to read the book, and see if you can figure it out. 😉 )

And without further ado, the book!

A séance gone wildly wrong leaves hotelier Angela Georgenes sharing her body with a randy Victorian ghost. Someone’s after a treasure allegedly hidden in the hotel and the ghost wants to tell Angela—but can only communicate when Angela’s on the verge of orgasm.

Talk about awkward.

Angela—and the ghost—are both hot for new handyman Tyler Woodruff, but is he a knight in a shining pickup or the thief? In truth, he is there under false pretenses: he’s a fortune hunter who liberates unappreciated artifacts. Distracted by Angela’s wicked imagination and uninhibited bedroom antics, he doesn’t want to fall in love with her any more than she does with him.

But admitting their true feelings is the only way the ghost can reveal the nature of the treasure—and the real threat.

It’s got some spicy scenes—fairly conventional ones for romance, I’d say—but the focus is on the romance and mystery. And it’s funny. Did I mention it’s funny?

Available in print at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and soon at other venues such as Powells and Bank of Books.

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

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Free story! “The Madness of Survival”

By DayleAugust 1, 2014Dayle A. Dermatis, Fantasy/SF, Free Story!, Short Stories, Uncollected Anthology

As 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

The 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!

By DayleJuly 18, 2014Dayle A. Dermatis, Fantasy/SF, Short Stories, Soul's Road Press

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”:

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”:

“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!

By DayleJuly 6, 2014Andrea Dale, Cleis Press, Erotica, Short Stories

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!

By DayleJuly 1, 2014Dayle A. Dermatis, Uncollected Anthology

I 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”

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!

By DayleJune 3, 2014Andrea Dale, Dayle A. Dermatis, Erotica, Fantasy/SF, Sales, WritingCleis Press, Crossed Genres, sales, short stories, writing

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