for most hated on set at meredith??????
also most dred to blog about since hro, and ‘inverted commas’

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

as ‘Hyperfuzz’ put it on mess&noise;

“anyone who came to meredith to lose their shit to ‘my girls’ got a bit of a shock when animal collective wound up… they didn’t play it. kuro was right in saying that it was like one big techno build-up with no payoff for the pillpoppers to explode to. brothersport almost got there, but their set was an hour of reverb wash. i enjoyed it…”

I thought it just simmered and brewed along quite nicely..
Felt like the threat of ‘My Girls’ was hanging for the whole show, so everyone got caught out not really knowing their back-catalogue, but the visuals & the laaayers & laaayers of synths were just out of this world.. i think it was a bit disrespectful to a nice crowd not playing their big hit, but kinda respect them for leaving ‘My Girls’ for the ‘faithful’ who went to the Forum show.

Obviously free of pen & paper, camera, phone & concentration* by this time, I’ve got no idea what set they played; but I’m going by this guy =)

‘What Would I Want Sky’

‘Guys Eyes’

‘Summertime Clothes’

‘Who Could Win A Rabbit’

‘Fireworks’

‘Daily Routine’

‘Brothersport’

and for the sake of it, three it would’ve been great to have them play, & would probably have had the crowd raving about them for weeks

‘Bluish’

‘In The Flowers’

‘My Girls’

JARVIS COCKER

‘Angela’

‘Further Complications’

‘Fat Children’

‘Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time’

‘(Cunts Are Still) Running the World’

[live at Rock en Seine 2007]

Felt Jarvis enjoying the crowd & the occasion at Meredith, the riffs were real crisp & it was serious serious showmanship onstage and pure revelry on the ground.

EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING

‘Which Way To Go’

‘Get Up Morning’

‘Insufficient Funds’

‘Precious Rose’

In prime position Saturday night, straight after Jarvis, this was for Brandon &Ring to step. BOY THEY DID!!;

Common phrase by way of popular acclaim:

“Lorded it over Meredith” on Saturday night.

This is about an amazing thing that happened to 12,000 people in a field in country Victoria.  It happens every year, TWICE, and is as good a reason as any (say, none better) in looking forward to the Melbourne summer!

The following posts spell to myself a retrospective of the artists..

its all about about the music.  but this crowd, in this setup,
i challenge,  is far and away the best!!

The husband stares blankly at the open newspaper in his lap. He’s already tried reading the main article in front of him a dozen times, and each time he’s stuttered to a halt after little more than a couple of lines. The article may as well be written in Lithuanian.

He glances up at his wife. She’s sitting on the edge of the king-sized bed, looking out at the snow-blanketed world through the window on her left. He regards her profile. She looks calm, almost serene. She is a vision of absolute composure.

Is that how she’s really feeling? he wonders. Composed? Serene?

The creatures deep inside the husband’s abdomen flutter and scurry, and he knows there’s no way that his nervousness isn’t being translated and transmitted by his face. Perhaps that’s why she hasn’t looked at him in so many minutes: she’s offended by his fear.

Of course, she has every reason to feel assured. She’s the one with prior knowledge, the one with experience. It gives her the power and leaves him feeling as if he’s only along for the ride, even though he fully endorsed this trip.

The husband checks his wristwatch.

“It’s three minutes later than the last time you checked,” his wife says in a voice half an octave above being utterly flat. He looks up guiltily, and sees that her attention is still fixed to the brilliantly white view through the window.

He can’t maintenance his silence. “Aren’t you nervous at all?” he asks.

“Of course I am.”

“You don’t seem it.”

“I’ve had more practice at masking my apprehension.”

Whether she intended it or not, it’s a reminder to him. Normally, he remains behind when she goes off in search of adventure. The thought sends twin ripples of conflicting emotion through him: arousal at having such an extremely sexual woman for his wife, and jealousy that her appetites often compel her to find satisfaction at the hands of others.

For once, though, the husband will be there to see her satisfaction for himself. It’s a prospect that both thickens his cock and leaves his armpits damp in spite of his antiperspirant.

There’s a solid knock at the door. His wife gets up and crosses the room swiftly. In her white blouse and her black pencil skirt, she might be dressed for a business conference, or a new exhibition at one of the local galleries. Her husband doubts that anyone one who saw her right now would imagine she is about to be sexually pleasured by two men.

The door swings inwards, and the man filling the doorway steps inside the room. She closes the door just as swiftly, locks it and then slips the security chain into place. The ‘do not disturb’ card is already hanging from the handle in the corridor. It should be enough to guarantee them the privacy they need.

The husband folds his newspaper and stands up to greet their guest. The visitor’s handshake is firm, and no more. There’s a light dusting of snow on the shoulders of his heavy coat. He takes it off and hangs it from the hook on the back of the door.

The two men appraise one another. They’ve met only once before, in altogether more platonic circumstances. Neither of them had the slightest idea of where that encounter was destined to lead them. Since then, though, the visitor has fucked the woman half a dozen times that her husband knows of, each of them with his acquiescence. He’s imagined their couplings more times than he can readily count; today, he won’t need to rely on his mind’s eye to see their flesh join.

He stuffs his hands deep into his pockets before their trembling can shame him.

Are we really going to do this?

Fortunately, there isn’t time to draw out the pleasantries. The husband is relieved: any delay might allow his doubts to ambush and overwhelm him. Instead, he sits back down as he wife steps up to their guest and kisses him full on the mouth. The sight of her passionately kissing this pseudo-stranger as she begins unbuttoning his shirt makes her husband’s senses lurch, as though he’s standing on the deck of a wildly pitching boat. Watching the visitor’s hands move familiarly to the buttons on his wife’s blouse only increases the strength of his bewilderment.

How is it possible to be aroused and dismayed all at once?

The husband watches as his wife finishes with the last of her lover’s shirt buttons and sets about unfastening his belt. Can she feel her husband’s eyes upon her, burning into her? What would she make of his expression if she could see it? What would he make of it himself? Which emotion would be sketched most obviously upon his visage? Lust or dismay?

As though she has plucked the thought from his mind, she turns to face him, her eyes half-closed with delight as the stranger kisses his way down the side of her slender neck. Her blouse is fully undone now, and the visitor pulls the two halves apart and then cradles her breasts through her black brassiere. With the practiced skill of the consummate philanderer, he eases the cups down until he’s exposed her hard, dark nipples. He plays with them adroitly, strumming them lightly with his thumbs, squeezing them until they stand even prouder. The woman gasps, and she grinds her arse back against the visitor’s loins; he responds by slipping his large hand over her mound.

The visitor looks up, straight into the husband’s eyes. “Your wife is a very sexy woman.”

The husband nods. A part of him wants to say Don’t you think I already know that, you fuck? But he doesn’t say that. What he says is, “Yes, she is.” He sounds almost out of breath. “Very.” He looks at his wife, and their eyes meet and lock. He can see the lust gleaming in her gaze. Can she see the same in his? She smiles wantonly, wickedly.

Perhaps she can.

The loins of his jeans feel uncomfortably full. He reaches down and unbuttons the waistband, and draws the zip part of the way down. The urge to touch himself is great, but he resists, uncertain of the etiquette, content to take his lead from the others.

There’s not even a hint of nervousness about their visitor. If the man feels any sort of apprehension, it’s buried beneath layers of assuredness and naked lust. His fingers peel the wife’s blouse from her shoulders and her arms, and then release the fastenings of her skirt and then her brassiere. She’s pantieless, and the visitor plunders her gleaming mound for a few seconds before he steps back from her. He swiftly strips off his shirt and then sets about removing his trousers.

The husband gets back to his feet, eager not to be left behind. He’s enjoying the voyeuristic aspects of the encounter, but the stranger has brought a scent of threat into the room with him, one that is rousing the husband’s competitiveness, his need to assert himself as this woman’s chosen mate. He quickly strips off his own clothes, not hesitating until he’s about to remove his shorts. The possibility that the visitor will be bigger than he is, that – no matter what his wife might say or do to convince him otherwise – her preference will be for her lover’s cock and not his, makes him want to call an end to proceedings right now.

He looks at his wife – on her knees, dressed in nothing but the black suspender belt, her stockings and her black patent stilettos – and sees the hunger, the naked desire as she looks back and forth between the two men, and he knows that he cannot possibly say stop now; he does not dare disappoint her.

He strips off his shorts and stands waiting.

His wife looks at both men, and beckons them towards her with a crook of an elegant finger.

Without looking at one another, the two men advance as one.

They stand a foot away from her, eagerly awaiting her inspection, their cocks jutting out proudly, arrogantly, from beneath their bellies. Both are desperate to be the first to garner her attention. The husband glances down and to his right, and he sees that the other man is no better or worse endowed than he is himself; if anything, the husband’s cock is a little straighter, his glans more swollen than his rival’s.

She’s going to feel you more, his mind whispers conspiratorially.

The wife licks her lips, and reaches out with both hands, grasping the men at the same time. Her fingers look tiny against the thickness of the shafts they encircle. The husband shudders when he realises that her wedding and engagement rings are pressed against the stranger’s cock.

She strokes them slowly, lasciviously, still licking her lips. Both men sigh with the pleasure of her touch.

“Do you like that, gentlemen?” she asks, the tenor of her voice dancing mischievously.

The visitor grunts his assent; the husband merely nods enthusiastically.

She smiles. “I guarantee that you’ll like this more.”

She leans forward from the waist, guiding her husband’s cock into her mouth. It’s so familiar a moment and sensation, and yet completely different to any other time she’s sucked him, given that there’s a spectator standing next to him, scrutinising everything, waiting for his turn, that soon the husband will watch his wife pleasuring the visitor’s cock in just the same way.

Slowly, her mouth withdraws from her husband’s hard flesh. He watches breathlessly as she guides the stranger’s cock between her glistening lips, as she takes the majority of his shaft into her mouth. Again, he feels the duality of conflicting emotions: bright red jealousy and jet black excitement. He shudders again, and his wife’s eyes look up and hold his once more as she moves her lips back and forth along the stranger’s prick.

Her husband quickly loses count of how many times she switches her mouth between them. As she sucks one, she strokes the other. Occasionally, she will lean back from both of them, a cock still in each hand, and she looks up at them lasciviously. The pauses never last for long. Her husband wonders if she wants to bring forth their come, to experience their thick semen spurting across her tongue in unison, running down her chin and spilling over her heaving breasts.

She stops again, but this time she gets to her feet.

“I think it’s time for me to have some cock,” she blithely announces.

She sits down on the edge of the bed. She smiles at both men, her fingertips lightly strumming her hard nipples as she waits for one of them to make a move.

Her husband regards their guest. “After you,” he says magnanimously, scarcely able to believe how casual his voice sounds. As if to underline the offer, he walks to the side of the bed and lies down on his wife’s left. He wants to run the sole of his foot across the small of her back, but he doesn’t: that’s too intimate a gesture for this act of congress. This is about lust, about physical pleasure. Emotion must be reserved for another time, another place.

Their visitor doesn’t need inviting twice. He moves forward quickly, as though he’s been waiting for a word of assent or encouragement to release his coiled muscles and nerves. It’s as though a switch has been clicked. The husband watches his rival’s expression, wondering if it would be possible to click the switch back now. He doubts it.

His wife immediately turns around, onto all fours, presenting her rear to her lover. At the same time, she bends her mouth over her husband’s loins, and as his cock slips back into her mouth, the stranger’s cock thrusts deep inside her cunt.

Her breath rushes out around her husband’s hard flesh.

The husband stares, aroused and aghast all at once. She’s fucked other men with his consent before, but actually seeing it… His emotions are a whirlwind, the images in his head a flesh-toned kaleidoscope. He grasps his own shaft with one hand, stroking himself into his wife’s mouth as he lightly grips her hair with the other. He can’t take his eyes from the thick shaft plundering his wife.

The stranger grips her about the waist, and his long, even strokes begin to increase in pace and potency. The wife moans with pleasure, over and over and over. Soon, it’s all she can do to keep her husband in her mouth. He can’t help but wonder if that is part of the reason for the stranger’s vigour.

If it is, then it works. She slips her husband’s cock from her mouth, rubbing the side of her face against his shaft as she cries out, “I’m coming! Yes, fuck, yes!”

The orgasm passes through her. The stranger withdraws from her gasping body. His erect cock gleams with her wetness.

“Your turn,” he says to the husband, with just a hint of arrogance.

Now it’s the husband’s turn to fly out of the blocks. He swings his legs off the bed and walks behind his wife. He strokes the taut cheeks of her behind as he regards the parted, pouting lips of her sex. Well fucked, he thinks, and his cock twitches excitedly. He won’t deny himself any longer. He can’t. He kneels on the bed behind her and thrusts his full length inside her still spasming cunt, a cunt still carrying the imprint of another man’s cock. It’s something he’s fantasised about for years.

“Oh fuck!” she gasps; it’s a sound that brings a smile to her husband’s lips.

Now she’s sucking the stranger again. Her husband can’t see what’s going on, but he can tell that she’s enjoying herself, that she’s fellating her lover with gusto. He knows how much she enjoys tasting herself on hard, male flesh, how she relishes the blending of cunt juice and precum.

He has to slow himself. His excitement at being inside her fucked cunt is carrying him dangerously close to peaking. He buries himself inside her and then pauses, the tip of his glans against her cervix as he reaches beneath her to tease and stroke her clit. After a short time, he feels his control returning. He begins thrusting again, but after a dozen strokes, the stimulation of being inside her is close to overwhelming his resistance once more. He tries pausing again, but the result is the same.

He looks up at the stranger’s face. Is that the suggestion of a smirk on his face? The husband mentally shrugs the breath of paranoia away. It’s irrelevant anyway; the bottom line is, he doesn’t want to come yet. Reluctantly, he withdraws from his wife’s velvet flesh.

She waits a few seconds, and then, when she realises that her husband isn’t coming back inside her for the moment, she moves up over her lover’s body and lowers herself onto his waiting, greedy cock. She doesn’t even glance back as she begins to rise and fall over his length.

Her husband walks to the nearest chair and sits down, watching his wife lose herself within her consuming desire for flesh and fulfilment. He strokes himself at a tempo that matches the leisurely pace she is setting for herself, staring at the thick shaft – slick with her lust – each time it emerges from her body. He suspects that her deliberateness is in no small part for his benefit, that she is pandering to the voyeur within him. It touches him that she still thinks of feeding his hunger in the midst of satiating her own.

Soon, her pace begins to quicken, and her husband sees how hard she is pressing herself down against her lover’s pubis. He looks at her face, sees her eyes screwed tightly shut, sees her teeth gnawing on her bottom lip, and knows that her senses are climbing towards yet another crescendo.

Without warning, her lover reaches up and grips the back of her neck; he tips her over onto her side, then onto her back. He doesn’t wait for her to ready herself; he pushes her thighs wide and thrusts forward, piercing her cunt to her cry of ecstasy. He fucks her hard, savagely, and her husband realises that the stranger is close to reaching his own climax. His laden balls smack against the cheeks of her arse each time he penetrates her, and her breasts bounce wildly in accompaniment.

“Oh, yes! Fuck me hard!” she cries.

The knowledge that the stranger’s semen will soon spurt against his wife’s most intimate flesh, that she wants to feel it erupting inside her, and that he himself can do nothing to stop it, excites her husband more blackly than anything he can ever remember.

He gets to his feet, pumping his cock with a fury he has never felt before. He can feel the pressure building in his face, can feel the sinews standing out along the sides of his neck. He watches his wife’s contorted expression, and then she sees him, sees his pleasure, sees his furious strokes.

“Oh fuck!” she gasps. “Don’t come yet!”

The stranger trembles and emits a drawn-out growl as he spills himself inside her. He withdraws quickly, and her husband looks down at his wife’s dark red, swollen cunt, sees the thick, milky semen already oozing out of her.

Another man’s come in my wife, he thinks.

The sight tips him over the edge. He staggers towards the edge of the bed, almost throwing himself towards her as he explodes, anointing her belly and her pubis with thick streams of his own come. Then, spent, he collapses at her side, gasping for breath as his wife runs her fingers through the seed of two men, blending it against her sex as she uses it to lubricate one final, frantic orgasm.

Slowly, the husband comes to his senses. The stranger is gone, but only as far as the en-suite bathroom. The husband listens to the sound of water flowing into the washbasin. He wonders how long the man will linger. He wants him gone, wants his wife to himself, to fuck her alone and reclaim her as his. But when he looks at her face, he sees that she is still hungry, that the lust within her is yet to be satiated, and he knows that the stranger will be here for some time yet.

The bathroom door opens and the stranger emerges. He smiles at the woman as he walks back to the bed and stretches out on the other side of her.

“Isn’t this a wonderful way to spend a December morning,” he says confidently.

“It certainly is,” the wife answers.

Her husband nods, but he says nothing.

“So would the two of you like me to be on my way now?” the stranger asks. They all know that he’s really only asking the woman.

Just say ‘yes’, the husband thinks.

The woman smiles. “I think I’ve still got some excess energy that needs using up first,” she says, reaching out on either side of her to fondle their flaccid cocks. She turns to look at her husband. “Wouldn’t you say so, darling?”

The look in her eyes, the feel of her hand on his cock and the sight of her hand on the stranger’s are combining to excite him again, almost in spite of himself.

“Oh, absolutely,” he says. “Absolutely.”

Today I’m at Love Romance Passion — again.  This time I’m discussing fantasy in real terms.  I was there first and now I’m there last.  This is the last stop on the double book tour for Mia’s Return and Sera’s Gift, and we’re kicking our heels back and the chat has evolved into a discussion about up-coming fantasy movies — Harry Potter, Vlad the Impaler, a possible fourth Underworld (would they dare????).

Come join us and be in the running for a copy of Beth’s Acceptance.

___________

Ten years ago Alexander hungered for Mia Menendez and for a single day they had indulged that passion before tragedy struck. Now Mia is back, but she thinks Alexander died ten years ago, and no man has been able to stir her heart since. The truth could kill her.

Wyatt Whitacker, demon hunter, hates Alexander and all his kind.  But one look at Mia and her pulse-stopping curves and his scarred, angry heart begins to melt and his body to rouse in ways he’s long forgotten.

The bonding has begun…

________________

Sera arrives in New York to help Lindál, but a vampeen attack brings her face to face with two men and changes her life forever.

Diego Savage lives up to his name.  Cynical, rebellious and a womanizer, he doesn’t believe in the trinities at all. Only a handful of people know the truth about his scarred heart and terrible past, and it would take a miracle for him to change.  A miracle, or someone like Sera with her special gift.

Blake Harvey, dedicated NYC police lieutenant, takes one look at the tall, supple woman with the crystal blue eyes and glowing skin and knows his life is about to change in ways he can’t even define, but his body is already responding to with a power that is hard to deny.

The bonding has begun…

______________

Well, I must say it’s a first — I’ve never had my books described as eye-burners before.

A lovely review from Susi at The Geeky Bookworm for Mia’s Return:

___________

“Steamy is not enough to describe this book, the words burn your eyes. Very hawt read it is and so good for my hormones.

The story in this book brings us a few revelations concerning the bad guys but leaves enough out to keep your interest. The story is fast paced, a bit rushed at some points but it totally suits the book.

Enjoyed this one and can’t wait to read what happens in book 3- Sera’s Gift.”

___________

Click here for the full review.

Sera’s Gift is released today!  I’m already part-way through the blog tour, so it’s hard to sing and dance about it because I’m already doing that, but it’s now officially out and available for purchase.  Click here to jump to the page on Ellora’s Cave.

_______

Book 3 in the Destiny’s Trinities series.

Sera arrives in New York to help her brother Lindál, but a vampeen attack brings her face-to-face with two men and changes her life forever.

Diego Savage lives up to his name. Cynical, rebellious and a womanizer, he doesn’t believe in the trinities. With his scarred heart and terrible past it would take a miracle for him to change—or someone like Sera, with her special gift.

Blake Harvey, dedicated NYC police lieutenant, takes one look at the tall, supple woman with the crystal blue eyes and glowing skin and knows his life is about to change in ways he can’t even define, but his body is already responding with a power that is hard to deny.

The bonding has begun…

I’m guest blogging on Alternative Read.com today and talking about my Ellora’s Cave erotic urban fantasy, Mia’s Return, the second in the Destiny’s Trinities series.  I’ll also be giving away a copy of the first in the series, Beth’s Acceptance.

I just got a lovely review of Mia’s Return from Alternative Read today:

“Having read the first book I had some expectations of the second that were fulfilled in spades. I adored the tenacity with which Mia sought and found her man, the vivid scenes Ms. Ceagh painted so descriptively, but it was the bonding of the males that intrigued me the most. I must say this was a nicely rounded tale full of some very steamy lovemaking (notice I didn’t label it sex?) and I’m anxious to get the next installment as well as curious to see who the next victims are.”

–Witchgiggles – Alternative Read.com

Plus they’re chatting about it on Twitter, so come and join in, I’m feeling very chatty.

——

Ten years ago Alexander hungered for Mia Menendez and for a single day they had indulged that passion before tragedy struck. Now Mia is back, but she thinks Alexander died ten years ago, and no man has been able to stir her heart since. The truth could kill her.

Wyatt Whitacker, demon hunter, hates Alexander and all his kind.  But one look at Mia and her pulse-stopping curves and his scarred, angry heart begins to melt and his body to rouse in ways he’s long forgotten.

The bonding has begun…

I got my official release date for Kiss Across Time yesterday.  May 4, 2010.  Just under six months away.

I guess that’s the drawback for writing for a house series.  Everyone gets pooled together at the speed of the slowest common denominator.  I have a feeling I’ll have other titles coming out between now and then.

Anyway, I thought I’d celebrate by splurging with an excerpt, as they seem to be well received by everyone.

But first the blurb, of course!

Taylor Yates just got fired from her university for insisting that the 5^th Century British poet and playwright, Inigo Domhnall, existed. When she hears the poet’s lyrics in a death metal song, she engineers a meeting with the dark-eyed, dark-haired lead singer, Brody Gallagher. An unintended kiss sends them spinning back to the poet’s time, when Saxons were pillaging King Arthur’s Britain, and a warrior expects a proper farewell from his woman before he sets off for war.

Brody’s all for kissing her again.  More, he’d like her to try kissing his friend and lover, Veris, just to see what will happen.  His blond, tall, blue-eyed Saxon friend Veris.

_____________

Excerpt

The bathroom door opened and the singer stepped out, wrapping a silky-looking bathrobe around him. He halted when he saw her, his eyes narrowing.

“It was you,” he said flatly.

Her heart squeezed. It was him. Breandán. In the vision, dream, whatever it was that she’d had when this Brody had kissed her. Long hair and everything.

“You even have a scar on your chest,” she said and lifted her hand to touch, just under her own left breast. “Just like Breandán did.”

His eyes widened. “Jesus,” he breathed.

After a second or two he stirred. “I guess I don’t have to ask if you experienced what I did out there, then.”

She licked her lips. “That isn’t…usual, then?”

He gave a low laugh. “God no!” He lifted a hand to her face but hesitated just before he touched it. “May I?”

She appreciated his sensitivity. “Yes.”

His thumb stroked her cheekbone. “Your name is not really Toiréasa, is it?” His voice was low.

She shivered. He’d been there. He’d really been there with her.

“Taylor,” she said.

“I want to kiss you again, Taylor. I want to see what happens this time.”

She focused on his full lips and she remembered him sliding his cock into her. Even though it had been a dream or a vision, or whatever it had been, she recalled it like it had actually happened. She could feel it. Her clit throbbed.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Curiously, she believed him. She nodded.

His mouth touched hers hesitantly and she knew there was a pocket of fear in him too. Then his lips grew firmer, more demanding and his tongue thrust into her mouth. She forgot about visions and daydreams and simply enjoyed the kiss. Brody was a damn fine kisser and she hadn’t been kissed in a long, long time. She threw herself into the kiss, letting herself be seduced by its power. She pressed up against him, enjoying the pleasure of simply being held by a man, the scent of a man. She wound her arms about his neck and rubbed herself against him with a soft little moan.

He gasped and lifted his head up, looking at her. “No visions,” he said softly. “But both of us experienced it, the first time.”

“Yes,” she agreed. Then she realized that she was draped against him. Worse, his cock was beating between them, signaling his arousal in the most obvious way.

She tried to stand up but he held her still. “Wait,” he said. “There’s no rush, is there?” His hand was stroking the back of her thigh, making it quiver.

“I have to go home.” She tried to make it sound convincing. But she really wanted to stay right where she was and continue kissing him. She had no idea who he was. She didn’t even know his last name. But she already knew what his cock looked like and what it felt like to fuck him. And if the vision they had shared had any sort of truth in it, he had loved her once.

Before she had been fired two days ago, Taylor had been within half an inch of being a history professor. She hadn’t believed in past lives and all that sort of bullshit. But right now she was willing to grasp it in order to give herself enough justification just to fuck the brains out of this man because kissing him felt so damn good. But that wouldn’t make her feel any better tomorrow morning.

She bit her lip. “I can’t stay,” she said regretfully. “I would love to. I would. But that isn’t a good enough reason.”

Brody held up his hand. “Before you go,” he said. “Would you do me one small favor?”

She stepped away from him. “It depends.”

“I want you to kiss my friend. I want to see if it works on him.”

Taylor laughed. “Why on earth would it?” Then something in Brody’s expression registered on her. “Oh…he’s your lover, isn’t he?”

Brody lifted a brow.

“A very long-term lover,” Taylor concluded with growing wonder. She tilted her head to study him. “What is his name?”

“Most people call me Veris, because they can’t pronounce my real name.”

She whirled around to face the voice.

He was sitting on the arm of the chair where the suit jacket had been a few moments before. Blond hair, blue eyes, six foot two inches of self-assured, very broad-shouldered male.

“You!” She struggled for the name. “Dr. Gerhardsson. You consulted with me last week, about the Domhnall plays.”

“Jesus, you son of a bitch,” Brody said behind her. “You went and did it after all.”

Veris smiled. “I did.”

Brody brushed past Taylor and threw himself into the lounge chair. He looked at Taylor. “You’re a history professor?”

“I nearly was,” she said flatly.

“You don’t look like one,” Brody commented.

“Neither does he,” she said, pointing at Veris. He was wearing leather pants and a sleeveless white cotton overshirt that made the most of the tanned, rounded caps of his shoulders and the bunches of muscles of his arms. Veris crossed his arms over his chest, which just seemed to multiply the amount of tanned muscle on display. His blue eyes twinkled.

Brody seemed more than mildly pissed about Veris’ consultation, which had been utterly professional in nature. Dr. V. Gerhardsson had not indicated by so much as an inch that he even recognized that Taylor was a woman.

Even so, Taylor had been left feeling edgy and weak-kneed after the evening consultation and had fallen into bed and indulged in a rare session of masturbation that featured Gerhardsson and his blue eyes and broad shoulders and various parts of his magnificent anatomy, over and over again.

Brody glared at Veris now. “I can see now why you came home in such a muck-sweat that night…the seventeenth, right?”

Taylor jumped. That was the night.

Veris just shrugged a little. No pride lost there. “I have no objections to kissing the lady now, if that’s what you want.” He smiled a little but his eyes were dancing with merriment.

Brody glared for a moment longer, then gave up. Taylor knew he had tabled the argument for later. He sat forward on the seat and spoke to Veris. “I told you what happened during the concert. I want to see if it happens to you when you kiss Taylor, because of our bond. If it does, then we’re going to have to tell Taylor.”

Veris glanced at Taylor. “And that won’t have tipped her off at all,” he said.

“Like consulting her about the Domhnall plays won’t have?” Brody shot back.

Veris grimaced. “I see your point.” He got to his feet and walked toward her and Taylor knew that the equivalent of a nuclear explosion would have to go off before she would move from the spot.

Veris stopped in front of her. “May I?” he asked. He seemed to tower over her five-foot-six frame, even with her spiked boots.

She thought her knees would give out. “Yes,” she said, her voice hoarse.

He slid his hand around her waist and the other under her hair. This close, his blue eyes were mesmerizing and she could feel her heart thundering. It hurt as it slammed against her chest. She gripped Veris’ shirt almost convulsively, suddenly afraid.

“It’s all right,” he whispered, his lips brushing hers, his breath fanning her. “I have you.”

He kissed her.

_________

So…what do you think? 

]]> http://tealceagh.com/2009/11/25/mias-return-is-out/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:48:30 +0000 Teal Ceagh http://tealceagh.com/2009/11/25/mias-return-is-out/

It’s out!  It’s out!

It’s finally out!

Of the three books in this series, Mia’s Return edges out slightly ahead of the pack as my favorite.  Not huge amounts, just by a nose.  The others have their elements that endear them to me, but overall, Mia has…symmetry.  Which is unusual, because most authors always struggle with the middle book of a trilogy because of the famous saggy middle syndrome.

The emotional intensity and conflict in this one just fell into place and went “click” and the book wrote itself.  So much so that I sweated for two days to bring it down under the word count limit.

But it’s out.

It’s out!

Click here to read more about it on my site.

Click here to buy it.  (awww, come on, I have to do this, I’m a poor author!)

It’s part of the book tour, but I only found out less than 48 hours ago that the date was confirmed, so I’ve barely managed to get it up onto the book tour page and the guest post written…but I’m there, and it’s there, and if you’re reading this, this post is there, too.

So…deep breath, everything fell into place as it should.

I’m over at Love Romance Passion today, kicking off the first date of my double-header book tour.  Come and chat, and be in the running to win a copy of Beth’s Acceptance, and impress the hell out of Love Romance Passion with how many people actually come and chat with me, as this is my first time there.

I got a great review from Amber over at AmberKatz Book Blog today.  I’ll be guesting there on Sunday to talk about Mia’s Return, but she reviewed Beth’s Acceptance — this was a bit of a bonus, as I gave her the book just so she could keep up with the series in general as they’re so tightly entwined.

“Beth’s acceptance is just the right read to heat you up on a cold Winters night! The heat radiates from the story from start to finish and the bits in between come close to bringing the reader to melt down in delight. I am not a huge fan of erotic stories but this one really got my pulse going and the storyline kept me intrigued enough to read till the end.

The paranormal elements were well thought out and I am interested to see what happens in the next two books in this series. Luckily I have them waiting for me and I am already feeling the pull to check out the sequel Mia’s Return.

The Destiny’s Trinities are technically only novella’s with their size of 100 pages but with the vampires and other creatures filling the pages who cares? These are just the right size to curl up with when you need a little time alone and a little excitement.”

Click here for the full review.

One advantage about having the last two books in a series being released only thirteen days apart, is that you can combine a lot of things together, including promotion efforts.

I’ve spent the last couple of days pulling together a book tour that is combining the two books, and now I have a tour that looks pretty respectable.  I’ve added the page to the sidebar, but here’s a hot link to jump to it.

All the tour dates will have a giveaway of some sort on offer, and I’ve found some really cool new blogs this time around, including The Geeky Bookworm, and a couple of others that I’m waiting on confirmation of dates for.

And I thought Beth’s Acceptance, with it’s thirteen day’s notice, was a heart attack on a stick.    I’m starting to learn that life in the cave isn’t the slow paced type of existence they tend to paint of typical publishing.

I’m glad I”m just geeky enough to keep up.

The November newsletter has gone out.  Have you subscribed yet?  This month’s contest prize is a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate and a copy of Mia’s Return.  Not that I’m trying to bribe you or anything.  I don’t do things like that.    But you can only enter if you’re a subscriber.

The newsletter is also a handy way of being reminded of dates coming up for the month ahead, and other nice features like eye candy, which I’ll be introducing next month.

Send me an email and I’ll sign you up.  Painless and fun, promise.

With thanks to Cathy M, a reader who alerted me to the fact, I found out yesterday that The Romance Studio gave Beth’s Acceptance a glorious 5 star review.  It’s wonderfull, full of pithy pull-quotes and phrases you just want to staple up all over the place.

On top of that, apparently, the review and the book are being voted on for…and I’m quoting: “the TRS 5 Heart Sweetheart review of the week selection”.

I’m still trying to find out what that is, exactly.  But apparently readers get to vote on it, and Cathy M already has.

Anyway, here’s all the shivery good stuff from the review itself:

“Ms. Ceagh has created a dark and delightfully erotic new series that sizzles in passionand crackles in danger, delivering suspense with an edge that will have readers eager for more. Beth’s Acceptance intertwines adventure and paranormal elements surrounded by a considerable depth of emotion and laced with a constantly increasing level of fire and sensuality that makes for a stunning story. The touches of humor the author adds to the plot and characters works wonderfully to lighten the mood and capture the reader’s heart just a little more. This talented author vividly uses descriptive details allowing the reader to easily call up the images as if they were watching a movie.

Beth, Luke, and Zachariah are wonderfully drawn, empathetic characters that are all from different worlds they are intriguing, honorable, intelligent, and deeply emotional. The plot magically seems to walk the reader through the bond these three must create in order to become a true trinity making the connection feel like a natural and deeply emotional one. The sexual escapades are a feast full of scorching hot pleasure, tender touches, daring and edgy play that will have the reader wickedly hooked to the pages. Warning — the ménage scenes do include M/M scenes but they are shown as a necessary part of the three-way bond.

Prepare to be dazzled by Beth’s Acceptance the first book in this explosive new series!”

_____

I’m sorry, I know after the last few weeks that I’m supposed to have learned that reviews are for readers, but it’s hard not to grin like the Cheshire Cat after reading that, and do Sally Fields all over again.  “You like me!  You really like me!”

Here’s where you’ll find the review in full.

Be Careful What You Wish For…

When the original release date for Sera’s Gift was announced, I remember thinking, and even saying wistfully that it was a pity the release date wasn’t in December, because that would make the release dates for the three Destiny books a very symmetrical October-November-December,which appeals to my geeky anal sense of order.  Instead, the dates were — at that time, October – November – January.  Although, if you really sat there with a calendar and looked at the weeks apart, they were spread quite nicely.

So I’ve been working on setting up a virtual blog tour for Mia’s Return, and getting things rolling along, and just a few moment’s ago, heard from my editor.

They’ve changed the release date for Sera’s Gift.

December 9.

Eleven days after the release of Mia’s Return.   I’m barely going to have time to draw breath after the release Mia and I’m going to roll right back into the insanity of another book release.  Fun and games, baby!  Fun and games!  Who said the life of an author who wasn’t on the New York Times Best Seller List was boring?

It was pointed out that an excerpt for Sera’s Gift would be nice, and as it will be a while before the book will even show up on the upcoming pages at Ellora’s Cave, I thought I’d slip an excerpt onto the blog here…and maybe another one in a few weeks time.

But first the proper set up, to save you having to go look for it.

_________

Sera arrives in New York to help Lindál, but a vampeen attack brings her face to face with two men and changes her life forever.

Diego Savage lives up to his name.  Cynical, rebellious and a womanizer, he doesn’t believe in the trinities at all. Only a handful of people know the truth about his scarred heart and terrible past, and it would take a miracle for him to change.  A miracle, or someone like Sera with her special gift.

Blake Harvey, dedicated NYC police lieutenant, takes one look at the tall, supple woman with the crystal blue eyes and glowing skin and knows his life is about to change in ways he can’t even define, but his body is already responding to with a power that is hard to deny.

The bonding has begun…

____________

An Excerpt From: SERA’S GIFT

Copyright © TEAL CEAGH, 2010

All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

Chapter One

Fair warning….this is absolutely R-rated, boys and girls.  If you don’t like it crisping the pages and kinking the corners, do not read on and don’t complain afterwards if you do.

Beth crept onto the roof just as dawn was breaking. In two years, she had grown far better at sneaking around. Despite her skill, she found she was staring at the sharp end of a crossbow as she emerged onto the open end of the roof and behind it, a pair of cool blue eyes. She let go of her knife and held up her hand. “It’s just me,” she said.

Lindál put down the crossbow. “Thought so,” he said sleepily and lay back down. He patted the quilt he had spread out on the tarred roof. “Join me.” He was wearing sweatpants so old they were nearly transparent with wear and washing and made him look endearingly human…especially as she could see a hint of his tight ass.

“What are you doing up here?” she asked.

“I couldn’t sleep. I needed fresh air.”

“In New York? There’s no such thing, especially in August.” She lay next to him on the quilt and put her knife down beside her. She plucked her nightgown away from her sweaty skin.

“You couldn’t sleep either,” Lindál guessed. He glanced at her, his blue eyes narrowing. “The full assembly today. You feel you have to account for yourself, don’t you?”

The Seaveth Prophecies had predicted the coming of the Grimoré and they had indeed arrived. She and the two trinities that had formed, along with the vampires and elves, had spent nearly two years now fighting Grimoré incursions into the human population, while trying to keep humans ignorant of the Grimoré, vampires, elves and the demon world the Grimoré regularly recruited to do their dirty work.

Beth had insisted that a third trinity would form and that the formation of three trinities would spell the doom of the Grimoré. But so far, the final trinity had shown no sign of appearing. It had been over a year since the formation of the second trinity and everyone’s faith in her belief in the power of the three trinities was beginning to wane as they took heavy losses and the power of the Grimoré steadily ground them down.

Lindál was watching her, measuring her expressions as she thought it through. “You owe no explanation, Seaveth,” he said quietly, using her formal name to remind her of her rank. Queen of the trinities and therefore commander of the armies of vampires and elves. “The prophecies were made eons ago. No one, not even you, can build a timetable around them.”

She slid her hand into his blond locks, tucking them back behind his ears and kissed him. “What would I do without you, Lindál?”

His blue eyes grew stormy and she caught her breath, for she knew that look from long experience. Her clit tingled.

“Without me,” Lindál murmured, his long fingers brushing over the thin straps of her nightgown, sliding them off her shoulders, “I imagine you’d still be serving beer in McGinty’s, with that vampire pining uselessly after you and never the courage to touch you.”

He flipped her on her back and straddled her and she caught her breath. “Oooh, you know Zack would have a piece of you if he heard you say that.”

Lindál gave a wicked smile. “But he’s not here and I am.” He reached over her head and picked up her knife and spun it on his palm like the hands on a clock face. It was an absent-minded movement of a man much used to handling a knife.

“You didn’t have the guts to touch me either, Lindál,” she reminded him and sucked in a breath as he used the knife blade to shred her gown right down the centre and spread it apart. He jabbed the knife into the tarmac by her head.

“But now I do,” he said and sucked the tip of her breast into his hot mouth. She grabbed at his head as silvery sparks of explosive pleasure ripped through her, straight to her already throbbing clitoris. Her pussy rippled, squeezing cream and preparing for him. What he was doing to her breast was such a wonderful sensation she would never tire of it. Her breath shortened.

She wound her leg over Lindál’s back, her heel pressing into his ass. It opened her up to him and she could feel the slickness between her legs, bathed by the air.

Lindál’s lips moved to her other breast and she moaned, her hips lifting. “Fuck me,” she begged. “Make me come. You know how hot what you’re doing makes me.”

“I know,” he agreed, his lips brushing against her breast. She could hear the laughter in his voice and the arousal. One of Lindál’s personal aphrodisiacs was the sight of her squirming with need.

He kept his attention on her breasts, his hands toying with them when his mouth was not. She really did begin to writhe on the quilt beneath him, her hips bucking under his thighs. She panted and moaned and tugged at his hips, trying to make him fuck her.

Finally, when she thought she could not stand it another second, Lindál stood and quickly stripped his sweats off. She lay panting on the quilt, her body gleaming with a fine sheen of perspiration, her heart racing, watching. He was as glorious as the day she had met him. His skin had the unearthly elvish glow, still undimmed despite his exposure to the earth sun and elements, that so often stopped people in their tracks and made them remark about “good health”. His muscles were even more well formed, now, after two years of hard work and better training. And his cock was long and hard and ready for her.

“My Beth,” he murmured, before spreading her legs, picking up her hips and ramming himself into her with a single thrust that made the tendons on the side of his neck stand out. She gave a groan of deep satisfaction. Good…oh, that was so good.

Lindál wrapped her legs around his waist and bent over her, one hand under her hips and began the slow, steady stroking she loved best. It wouldn’t last long. She could already feel her body gathering around his cock in a trembling pillar. Her breathing would stop if she didn’t come very soon. Lindál had spared her nothing.

Over his shoulder, she saw movement and her eyes widened. Alarmed, she tried to reach for the knife Lindál had put within her reach but Lindál was quicker. He snatched for the crossbow.

But Zack was quicker, still. His bare foot came down on the crossbow, keeping it pinned to the tarmac. “There’s a reason your instincts didn’t warn you, Lindál,” he said softly. His hand came down on Lindál’s shoulder. “I thought you two were sleeping, until I found you weren’t.”

Lindál smiled. “Too hot.” He nuzzled Beth’s breast and thrust into her again. She caught her breath and clutched at his shoulders desperately. Even so, she found she was watching Zack. He was studying them, the crotch of his jeans swelling and that made it even more thrilling.

Quickly, Zack stripped off his clothes and strode over to stand behind Lindál, watching his cock thrust into Beth. He caught Beth’s eye. “You’ve no idea how hot that looks from here, Beth. I could come just thinking about it.” His voice was thick with lust and his cock was red and flared purple at the head.

She moaned, her climax inching closer.

Zack bent and reached between her legs. She felt his hand stroke against her and Lindál, gathering moisture. Lubricant. God knew, there was enough of it.

Zack coated his own cock with her lubricant and she caught her breath, knowing what he intended. Her pussy clenched, making Lindál groan in reaction. Zack positioned himself behind Lindál and pushed his cock up against Lindál’s anus. He grabbed a handful of Lindál’s hair and slid his cock into the elf’s ass, as Lindál pushed back, his eyes closing.

“What’s good for the gander…” Zack breathed and began to rock in and out of Lindál’s ass, in counter-time with Lindál’s thrusts into Beth’s pussy.

The pure sensuality in their faces was always Beth’s undoing and now, with her climax so close, she knew she wasn’t going to last long enough. So she did something she didn’t do very often, she tapped into their emotions. Lindál had taught her how to do it but the three-way feedback had proved to be too overwhelming for all of them at once and they used it rarely. Now she sank into the black velvet landscape of emotional profiles in her vicinity and found the two men she loved most in the world and encompassed them. Raw lust, love, trust and eroticism showered her, immersed her, lifted her up and up and up…

Beth screamed, the back of her throat burning with the power of her climax. She could feel herself clench hard like a vice around Lindál, as he came in powerful shooting jerks. Zack choked off his own cry as he exploded into a swift, hard orgasm of his own, triggered by their shared emotional feedback.

Weakened, all three of them lay on the quilt to recover. Lindál curled himself around Beth and Zack fell on the other side of him, on his back, panting.

“I’m glad you don’t do that every time, Beth,” Zack said. “I feel like my balls are going to explode.”

“Crude, vampire. Crude.” Lindál shoved his elbow back.

“I feel like my cheekbones are coming out through my face,” Beth confessed. “And the back of my throat got ripped out.”

“It certainly sounded like it was being ripped out,” Zack chuckled.

Thunder rumbled overhead and with no more warning, it began to rain in heavy, stinging drops. Zack groaned. “Oh fuck, I really don’t want to move!”

Beth curled herself up tighter. “Me, neither.”

“It’s rain!” Lindál said, rolling onto his back and stretching out his arms. “Stay here. Enjoy it.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Zack said, sitting up and looking at Lindál with mock disbelief. Beth sat up too, the rain forcing her to make a move. She looked at Zack.

“Can you believe him?”

She grinned. Zack took any opportunity to give Lindál shit about his affinity for water, or any of his more elvish traits. “Can I take your shirt?” she asked him.

“You’re not going to help me out here?” Zack asked.

“You’re a big boy. Fight your own fights.” She slipped on the shirt he had been wearing over the top of the remnants of the ruined nightgown and picked up her knife. “I’ve got a full assembly to prepare for and cover stories to concoct for the New York Police Department, who are growing less gullible with each passing week.”

I’ve just built a temporary page for the tour for Mia’s Return, here,  which is starting to shape up. So far, I’ve got three dates, which is one better than I managed for Beth’s Acceptance, but this time I’ve got slightly better than thirteen day’s notice, too.

There’s such cool paranormal sites out there, isn’t there?  Amberkatz’s site is cute!

I finally got the cover for Destiny’s Trinities III – Sera’s Gift.

I’m so thrilled with it, but the bugger of it is, I can’t tell you why without giving you spoilers!  If you’re an author yourself, you might understand this one.  Ever had a cover artist who seems to have not only read the cover questionnaire, but slipped into your mind, plucked out the character, the story atmosphere, and plunked it onto the cover for you?  Down to incredibly accurate details?

Syneca, at Ellora’s Cave, has done so with this one.

Here’s the blurb, just to tease you because I’m in the mood:

———-

Sera arrives in New York to help Lindál, but a vampeen attack brings her face to face with two men and changes her life forever.

Diego Savage lives up to his name.  Cynical, rebellious and a womanizer, he doesn’t believe in the trinities at all. Only a handful of people know the truth about his scarred heart and terrible past, and it would take a miracle for him to change.  A miracle, or someone like Sera with her special gift.

Blake Harvey, dedicated NYC police lieutenant, takes one look at the tall, supple woman with the crystal blue eyes and glowing skin and knows his life is about to change in ways he can’t even define, but his body is already responding to with a power that is hard to deny.

The bonding has begun…

____________

Sera’s Gift will be out on January 4, 2010.

So, I decided to try my attempt at getting myself a new hobby. Today’s idea was Cake Decorating. Yes, I said Cake Decorating. I figured that this was a pretty good hobby idea to an extent because 1. I don’t sleep much and it is quiet enough to do in the middle of the night. 2. it’s actually pretty cheap. 3. I can’t eat the cake, but I know several people who would gladly take it to eat it. 4. If I become good at it, that is a potential money maker idea (well, okay, I seriously doubt that. But hey, I love wishful thinking!)

An it was an insomniac night indeed.

This was the cake cooking

Of course to make the cakes flat, I had to cut off the poof.

I then assembled the four layers after making, cooling, and depuffing all of them.

Yay Royal Icing! Seriously, I had no idea about RI before I started reading up on cake decorating today.. well, yesterday now.

OMG MMF! Again, I didn’t really know about Fondant until I started reading up on cake decorating. This was my very first attempt. Not the best, but half decent.

The cake is no where NEAR being done, but I am done for today working on it. I spent HOURS on it so far. I never realized how hard this could be for something that just looks so simple. I will never question why Wedding Cakes cost so much anymore.

Now the other thing I wanted to attempt was to make the sugar flowers. I KNEW this would be super hard, but I wanted to attempt at it anyway. This here is some gum paste. It is almost like MMF, but it dries HARD and it keeps it’s shape better, unlike MMF. I wanted a yellow tint to it, but I guess I added a bit too much because I didn’t want it yellow yellow, I just wanted a tint.

I fixed the color, it took a little work to fix it though.

I was surprised how well the flower was turning out.

My finished flower… Okay, almost finished, I need to get some accent color to highlight a bit. But that requires me going back to the store later.

The fun thing was, the flower… completely edible. All sugar.