Yay!

Just signed the contract…Veiled Seduction, Sasha’s story, will be out (as of right now) on June 1st. Hurrah!

BN! Finally.

Barnes and Noble has Veiled Desire up! And look, they even made it 1/2 off. I take back my irritation, guys. Y’all rock.

An Open Letter Re: The Melton Controversy

Dear Friends and Loved Ones:

It has come to my attention (because he threatened me with it!) that my colleague Keith Melton is spreading some frankly bizarre rumors. Now, keep in mind that since I do happen to LOVE his book, Blood Vice, I give Keith a lot of leeway. For example, when he starts stubbornly insisting that “cuisinarted” is a real verb, do I insist he go take his medications? No. No I do not.

So what do I get in return? Well, if you haven’t seen it yet, you can go to Keith’s blog to read his inflammatory post.

According to Keith, not only am I heading a cult, but I have given up writing erotic romances to become a Shaolin monk.

Sigh.

First of all, there is no “cult.” I simply like to tweet about how much I love avocados. Who doesn’t love avocados? Secondly, though I admit to slamming my face into doors and breaking my foot, it was NOT because of my training to become a monk. That’s silly. Why, you may as well say I was training to take down a too-talkative author. ::Meaningful Pause::

I don’t know why Keith has felt the need to print such ridiculous things. I suspect it has a lot to do with his deep prejudice against all those who support that cartoon bastion of feminist ideals, Jem.

OR maybe he’s scared I’ll reveal HIS secret. Of course, I would never do that. I am too classy to reveal that Mr. Melton is a Harlequin romance hero from the 1980′s. I could never tell the whole world that he’s a Greek/Sheik/Italian billionaire with a mullet who impregnates virgin secretaries with a single look, delivers punishing kisses, and generally acts kinda like a tool until the last ten pages or so. Nope, I won’t tell.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get started on my new novel, Po jie da shi. I smell a blockbuster.

I hope this can be the end of the matter.

Sincerely,
Alisha Tso’rai

My VDay Gift: Deleted Scene!

Happy Valentine’s Day! This is a great one for me, as I’m still also celebrating my most recent release.

If you were wondering (and even if you weren’t), I didn’t consciously plan for Veiled Desire’s initials to be the same as those for Valentine’s Day. It was lucky chance though–I spent a long time thinking of it as VD (I know, I know, VD: A Love Story, not very sexy), and I was glad I didn’t have to change things up too much. For Leyla and Mason, of course, Valentine’s Day doesn’t so much push them together as it gives them the excuse they need to act on their feelings for one another.

Since I lurv this holiday so much, I want to give you a present. No, no, no need to thank me.

Author secret: In the deepest, darkest place of my hard drive, I keep a massive collection of deleted scenes. Sometimes things just don’t work out, and it’s sad, but you have to snip away.

In the first draft of Veiled Desire, I had Leyla and Mason attending a Valentine’s Day party. I also intended for the Karimi siblings to be friends of the Malik’s (from Glutton for Pleasure) and had a little cameo moment in that party scene. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t quite make it work, what with the timeline and continuity aspects of both families’ stories. Plus, I didn’t want to confuse people who hadn’t read Glutton.

Below is one of the scenes from Veiled Desire which ended up on the cutting room floor. Keep in mind that this excerpt is completely unedited. I don’t believe there are any big spoilers in it for Veiled Desire (since it was all changed, heh) but if you’re a purist and haven’t read that story yet, you may want to avoid. For fans of Glutton, I hope you enjoy this walk on .

Veiled Desire Nominated for Best Book!

Exciting! Whipped Cream reviews reviewed my book yesterday, and this weekend, it’s nominated for best book of the week!

Just remember, for every vote you cast, an angel gets his wings.* Vote here: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/WC/recentrev.htm

*This outrageous claim cannot be confirmed. I suspect it’s pretty much false. But don’t you want to vote for Veiled Desire anyway?

Guest Blog: Vivian Arend & Lexxie Couper

Looking for something to warm up your winter, or celebrate the summer heat Down Under? Vivian Arend and Lexxie Couper are spanning the globe to bring you two stories that are sure to make you sweat. Viv and Lexxie are both members of International Heat, and while their stories are not connected in anyway, they happen to have drawn the same release day at Ellora’s Cave.

What better reason to get together to celebrate?

Viv:

I’m very excited to be able to have Claiming Derryn available to you. This is my first futuristic novella, my first m/m/f, and my first release from Ellora’s Cave. Claiming Derryn is about three friends–and lovers during their days at the Space Institute–who were suddenly separated. Now rejoined in the midst of a rebel uprising, the lines between the good guys and the bad are extremely blurred. Surviving is going to be tough even as they find love. Oh, and if you’ve ever seen Star Trek’s ‘The Trouble with Tribbles’ you’ll understand when I say the ‘sharysa’ are my salute to Star Trek.

It’s a hot, wild ride through the galaxy. Be prepared for a passion that’s out of this world.

Lexxie:

There must be something seriously wrong with me. I love writing stories that are dark and twisted, quite disturbing and full of wild dangerous sex. Enter Timeless Wrath. I wrote Timeless Wrath years ago and it was previously released as a novella called Deadly Sins: Anger. It won numerous awards (including the JERR Silver Star Award) but remained unknown to the reading public. However Evron and Ricki’s tale DEMANDED to be heard and, after quite a lot of rewrites, my most erotic book to date comes to you from Ellora’s Cave.

Timeless Wrath has just about everything you’d expect in a Lexxie Couper book – lots of explosive sex, tormented heroes, lots of wild sex, a villain that’ll scare the pants right off you, lots of passionate sex and a love story fated by the Highest of Powers (oh, and lots of sex. Did I mention that?)

I should warn you though. Timeless Wrath isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s violent, at times scary and has been known to cause nightmares…and wicked, wet dreams J

Caught your interest? Raised your temperature? Come and see the official blurbs and read longer excerpts at Ellora’s Cave. Both books are now available.

Claiming Derryn
Vivian Arend

Timeless Wrath
Lexxie Couper

Warning from Alisha: Excerpts located below the fold are mucho steamy and erotic. Please be prepared for some seriously R-rated prose. As with everything on this blog, 18 and older only.

Guest Blogging and Interview

I’m over at Book Junkies blog today being all interviewed and stuff. Check it out!

Barnes & Noble

I’ve gotten a few e-mails about Veiled Desire still being unavailable at BN.com. I know. I checked with Samhain, and apparently there’s an issue with BN following release dates. Hopefully, it should be up by next week.

HOWEVER, you don’t need to wait. Veiled Desire can be found in any format you wish at any other e-tailer like My Bookstore and More (Samhain’s direct site), Books on Board, All Romance e-Books, mobipocket, and well, pretty much everywhere else. Like all of Samhain’s books, Veiled Desire is DRM-free.

Looking for a discounted price?
My Bookstore and More: $3.15 (all formats)
BoB: $3.43 (all formats)
ETA: Amazon: $2.80. I know this is Kindle format, but I think you can read Kindle on your PC now? You may want to check into that.

There. I’ve done your shopping for you.

If you have any questions about formats, devices, stores, etc, please leave a comment or email me at alishawrites@gmail.com.

Guest Blogging

I’m over at the International Heat blog talkin’ my favorite romantic scenarios. Join me!

Winners…and another giveaway?

I’m at my friend and fellow author Emma Petersen’stoday giving away yet another copy of Veiled Desire, so bop on over there and check out her awesome interview of me (somehow it transformed from an “interview” into “bickering”, but it’s still fun ).

And the winner of yesterday’s contest is…

Fedora!

Please e-mail me and let me know which format you’d prefer.

Thanks everyone, for entering!