The future of Rapunzel, floating towers and braided silk

Braided Silk has released from Liquid Silver Books! This novella features a future of urban sprawl, pollution, bio-tech, and an out-of-control mad scientist. But it's also a story of self, finding what it means to be human, and love. Between primal attraction and expectations, love can get lost, but Zel and Langley struggle to find and keep that bond between them.

My second Future Tale, Braided Silk is another twisted fairytale in the futuristic setting of New Castle. Read an excerpt on my website, or check it out at Liquid Silver Books.

Braided Silk

Futuristic Romance/Twisted Fairytale/Biopunk -- Novella
Rapunzel was made with technologically advanced hair. As a trained Mother agent, Zel can't escape the DNA that makes her a pawn in corporate espionage. Kidnapped and held in a tower on Gothel Island, she falls to the sexual allure of her captor’s son, Langley, a man whose every tantalizing touch makes her forget she wasn’t born human.

Langley Gothel protests the existence of creations such as Zel, but when faced with losing her, he sees the truth: Life is precious, whether born, modified, or shaped in a Petri dish. He does the one thing he's thought he'd never do. He has to give up Zel, or become a mod. But will that be enough to get them down from the floating islands and safely to ground?

From Liquid Silver Books

Also available from
All Romance eBooks -- Amazon / Kindle

The first Future Tale, Jaq's Harp, is on sale for $1.99 through the month of November. If you haven't read it, not to worry, both novellas are stand-alone, but if you want more of the world of floating islands and futuristic fairytales, now's the time to check it out.

If you'd like a copy of Braided Silk, leave a comment! I'll pick a random commenter to win an ebook copy. Contest closes December 1st. Winner announced on the 2nd.

Contemporaries for the Spec Fic Romance reader

So you want to read a contemporary...

If you're like me, you read paranormal or science fiction/fantasy romance almost exclusively. But if you're also like me, there are times when the mood for a contemporary strikes. Recently on twitter, I butted in on a conversation between @moirarogersbree and @sknighteditor about this topic and ended up buying Below the Belt by Sarah Mayberry for my Nook Color reading pleasure. This was an easy choice for me to make, since her Anything for You (Harlequin Blaze) is one of the few contemporaries on my keeper shelf.

As I read this book and quite enjoyed it, I wondered what appealed to me as a SF Romance reader and writer. This was also intriguing to me because in addition, I don't enjoy boxing (both the hero and heroine are boxers). It's the world-building, of course! Mayberry does an exceptional job of creating a world, even if it's a "real world" contemporary. She's done her research. I felt as if I could understand boxing, the business and the personalities. I didn't get lost, there weren't too many details, just the right amount.

But that's not all. There's the obvious romantic tension, but there's also action. There are elements of physical danger. And suspense. How in the world could they make all this work?

Top all that off with a heroine who knows her business, she trains hard and well, she'd unapologetic about her sexual needs--yes! Completely unapologetic! And she doesn't change for the hero. He loves her as she is, and she doesn't get weak just because she falls in love.

So, if you're in the mood for some contemporary amid your paranormals and scifis, this is a great one.

Have any recs for contemporaries for the speculative romance reader?

MiniReview: Water Mark by Kathleen Scott

Looking for political intrigue, romantic tension, and world-at-stake adventure? You'll find it in Kathleen Scott's Water Mark, a Science Fiction Romance with reunited lovers and cross-dimensional travel.

Winners for SFR Birthday Bash!

Using random.org, I've picked the winners and have emailed them.
Thanks, everyone. You helped make my birthday special!

SFR party at Ella's!

It's my birthday, and in keeping with a tradition that's ... oh, about one year old, I'm doing a giveaway! A few giveaways!! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your email address, or if you don't want to leave your email address in the comments, go to my contact page and use the "send a note to Ella" form.
Since it's my party & I just spent the past few days at Readercon, a SF/F convention, I'm doing a Science Fiction Romance (SFR)theme. Because I can. And it's my party!

Here are the giveaways:
1. A rare paperback edition of my Silver Bound, a hot space western romance from Carina Press. A hard cover edition of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Born of Shadows, fourth in her SFR The League series. A Samhain gift certificate for $5.50 off next purchase at Samhain store. A pack of Jaq's Harp bio-tech beans and Romance Trading Cards!
(for US Residents only. Sorry about that, readers outside the US, but shipping is going up and up. See #3 below).
2. Four winners will receive a Samhain gift certificate for $5.50 off next purchase at Samhain store. And Romance Trading Cards for Silver Bound and my Prism finalist Firestorm on E'Terra. (This is for US and Canadian residents)
3. An ebook bundle of my Science Fiction Romance titles: Firestorm on E'Terra, Jaq's Harp and Silver Bound. (open to entries from anywhere! All you need is an email address and a way to read ebooks.)

That's it! Happy Birthday!!
Once again, to enter, just leave a comment. If you require shipping outside of the US, just let me know so I can enter you in correct contests. Winners will be chosen by Random.org and giveaway ends July 24, 11:59pm EST.

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Quick sneak peak at next giveaway. My next release is a Science Fiction Romance, Braided Silk (Future Tales #2). For a chance to win a copy, sign up for my notification list. Every release day I send an email and pick a subscriber to win an ebook copy of the book.

MetalMark -- Six Sentences #7

It's been a while since my last six! I thought I'd post more from MetalMark:

***

One by one, he tongued and lapped, cleaned the juice from her fingers. Unfocused until now, he’d experienced the endless want, the itch he couldn’t scratch, once a month, but he’d never known this depth of desire before. Her essence, salty mixed with the berries, gave him a hunger for more. Jazz slid closer to him, her breathing hot and heavy on his neck as he leaned forward, intent on the blue smudges on her breasts.

His lips touched between her breasts and small bumps rose on her skin, rough against the long lick he made around and around the stain.

Her hands clutched him tight against her, and the ache of his loins, heavy and wanting for days, brought a rumble from his chest

***

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MetalMark -- Six Sentences #6

This is the first kiss in MetalMark, Science Fiction Romance manuscript I'm revising.

***

“Beautiful,” he whispered, an eternity later as his lips rested a heartbeat away from hers.

She rubbed her mouth back and forth across his, light as gossamer, the tickling sensation gripping his throat and sending small bumps over his skin.

God’s Stone!

He’d never known his first kiss would travel over his entire body, that the touch of one point could make him shudder all over.

Reluctant, he pulled back, not daring to take more from her so soon in their courtship.

Jazz caught at the back of his head and halted his retreat.

***

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