I Have a New Cover!

The publishers say this book, co-written by L.J. DeLeon and me, will be in electronic format prerelease in a few days. I'll let you know when and announce a special promotion.

Magical Critters

Ah, there’s nothing like a pet. Advertising professionals will tell you puppies and kittens sell products, just like babies and small children. If that’s true, then perhaps many writers are losing a valuable opportunity by not including a pet in their novels.

I am an animal lover, so you’ll usually find a pet in mine unless the hero and heroine are in the middle of a dystopian world. I couldn’t stand to hurt a pet in the middle of battle and chaos. In my latest release IT’S MAGIC (from Crescent Moon Press and co-written with L.J.DeLeon, November 2010), the heroine has an aging Chocolate Labrador Retriever. Here’s an animal I know something about. My husband and I have owned three, all with very different personalities, but each one lovable, people pleasing gremlins who think they’re far smaller than they are and want to sleep on your lap. Murgatroid, the dog in IT’S MAGIC, is fairly easy-going except when someone invades his territory. He has a habit of s***ting in shoes if annoyed, as the hero finds out, to his discomfort.

In a true fantasy where the majority of the characters are magical, what types of pets should there be? In my Book of the Beginning series, yet to sell, the heroine of the first book, Honey Blood Draper, has a dragon, thankfully only a miniature breed, who will only mature to about one hundred plus pounds. Cinder is a comical feature on her own, as she trails after the heroine just like a dog will. But, beware if she sneezes, fire in the hole! In my second book, the heroine has a pigmy pterodactyl named Pee-wee. Protective just as Cinder is, Pee-wee makes a high pitched noise when warning his mistress and grows exponentially when he needs to protect her.

What animals are in my angel series, WALK RIGHT IN and WALK RIGHT BACK will be released in fourth quarter 2011 and January 2012, respectively by L&L Dreamspell? Well, in the second book, my heroine has a Siamese cat named Merle. Merle is a magical angel kitty who can speak and is a member of Ms. C’s (Ms. C is the Creator) Feline Intelligence Agency. She can disappear Cheshire Cat style, and the kitty-angels have a guardian angel protector, CATerine.

Authors are only limited by their imaginations by the pets they can make up in their fantasies. I’d love to hear about some critters you’ve read about or any you’ve invented as a writer. Please weigh in.

Bye for now,
Daryn

IT'S MAGIC Release November 2010

Here's a description of the story line:
Can true love exist between a man who believes a woman is capable of sticking a shive in his heart while making love and a woman who is convinced men think with only one head? Maxwell Magic, an eccentric mysterious matchmaker swears it can and he’s the man to provide the stimulus to make it happen. Kasey Bell, feminist writer, and Guy McLane, radio’s famous chauvinistic psychiatrist, are his targets. Even with carefully executed plans, the road to true love is strewn with mishaps, mirth and money-hungry nighttime talk show hosts. Will Kasey and Guy risk their reputations by exposing secrets buried beneath layers of shame and self-doubt for a desperately needed big money pay-off? Or, will they claim what has evaded them their entire lives—a love that lasts forever?

Excerpt:
As Kasey followed the stagehand, Guy grimaced. Damn. Why’d she have to have sea-green eyes and be a natural, sun-streaked blonde? He was a sucker for natural blondes, she appeared to be one. Unlike his ex, Helen, he suspected Kasey Bell’s blonde hair wasn’t found just on her head.

His gaze took in her tight ass and long legs. God, what legs Some men were turned-on by big breasts. Others by asses. Not him. He was a leg man through and through. And Kasey had the best set he’d seen in years.

Her dress clung in all the right places and was designed to make a man forget his own name. Not that it had a chance with him.

Guy studied her the way a connoisseur would a fine wine. Vintage seventy-three. He took another long, slow perusal and shook his head. He was wrong. The body on this Cabernet Sauvignon came from a perfect year. More likely a seventy-eight or if he were lucky, a classic seventy-five.

He grinned as she smoothed the sides of her dress while continuing to cross the stage on her perfectly toned legs.

Definitely still corked. She hadn’t had a chance to breathe, yet. He inhaled sharply. There was no mistaking a good mellow grape when he saw one. And when squeezed just right, the grape was memorable. One to be savored, never gulped.

No question about it, Ms. Kasey Bell was premium sipping quality. First, he’d give her time to breathe. Then he’d taste her, a little at a time, a gentle swirl over the tongue, a teasing of the taste buds.

As he continued to examine her, Guy swallowed hard. From the way her dress moved and the lack of lines, she wore a thong and thigh-high hose. Her derriere was the perfect size for his hands to cup each cheek as he pulled her flush against him. He could feel her long legs wrapping around him. And then there were her delicate ankles. They were so slim his fingers could circle them.

The whole package was enough to bring a grown man to his knees. Especially one like him who’d been alone for last three years. God, help him. Because if he didn’t, Guy knew there was no way he’d maintain his cool while seated next to her on stage.

“Dr. McLane?”

Guy snapped to attention. Standing before him were two lanky young men. “Yes.”
“I’m Josh Bell. This is my younger brother Jacob.”

Guy thrust out his hand and greeted each boy. “I understand you want to take some photos.”

“Yes, sir,” Josh answered.

“You’re our hero.”

Jacob frowned at Josh’s sharp jab to his ribs and Guy laughed. “What does your mother think of that?” He grinned as the two boys looked at each other, shrugged, then turned back to him.

“She hates it,” they said together.

“Dr. McLane, you’ve got two minutes.”

“Thanks, Al.” He turned to the boys. “We’d better get those photos taken.”
Guy started to move, then grimaced, again. Damn. He hadn’t reacted to a female this rapidly since adolescence. Back then, much to his embarrassment, all it’d taken was a slight breeze to get a reaction out of him. And at thirty-eight, the last thing he wanted was to look like a coat rack in some kids’ photos. “Both of you stand here,” he said, positioning the boys in front of him.

As Al Mack took more than a dozen photos, Guy wondered what it was about Kasey Bell that rang his chimes. They’d never met, yet he’d swear he’d seen her before.
Ah, well, he’d remember eventually. He never forgot a pair of legs, especially ones as spectacular as Kasey’s.

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