Monday, August 18, 2008

Release day! Submissive Dreams by Ashley Ladd & Interview with Office Politics author Katie Blu

TODAY! Monday, August 18th, one of my babies is being born into the world at Total-e-Bound.com. It's a BDSM novel primarily M/F but there are a couple of M/M and M/M/F scenes. In honor of my new release I'll be the chat guest this evening, Monday August 18th, on the Litergasm Chat Loop from 7 - 10 pm EDT. Please join me in playing games, having fun, and at least one lucky chatter will win one of my previous releases. (I was probably crazy to schedule a chat on the kids' first day back to school, but what the hell. I've bought all their clothes and supplies and the hubby has to be good for something, right? He can run out for any emergency last minute supplies. So now our schools are closed due to the tropical storm.) It's not only very sexy, but it's full of angst. I just love the hero. Doesn't his head look like a phallic symbol? God, I wish I looked like the heroine, my body, anyway. The cover gods have blessed me again. Thanks cover gods! Here's the first ever book trailer I made, and it's for Submissive Dreams. What do you think? It's also posted on You Tube. Also, my friend Katie Blue has a release today, too. In celebration for the release of "Office Politics" from Total-E-Bound today, I will draw a name from the commentors at both this blog and Kelly Kirch's blog for a free down-loadable copy. Don't miss out! Here's Katie's interview. Enjoy!

1) What is your favorite type of book to write and why? Taboo. I love taboo subjects. That's why you'll find a Preacher falling for a parishioner in Hot Under The Collar, an older woman and a younger man in Surprised by Desire, a love affair between step children (okay, they were never children with each other but you get the idea) in Beloved Brother, and now an office romance between a boss and his employee in Office Politics (newly released from Total-E-Bound as of today!)
2) Do you have a favorite setting of books to read? To write? Mostly moderate sized towns in the midwest United States. I like the idea of "regular" folks doing irregular things in suburbia.
3) What theme runs through your books? Have you identified it? If so, do you have an idea why this is so? The naughty and shocking. Erotica is new to me but started from a dare with two other writers and the probing of my editor at Ellora's Cave. I initially wrote Hot Under to shock her. She didn't blink. So I wrote Surprised and Office simultaneously. TEB picked up Office right away and EC took Surprised. I decided I was completely unable to shock editors that have pretty much seen it all. Beloved was just plain fun.
4) If you decided to stop writing, what other career would you pursue and why? If I stop writing, it's to pursue writing in another genre. Therefor I never stopped. I can't imagine life without a computer in my lap. Lemme try to visualize that again... Nope, can't do it.
5) If you could time travel, what period in time would you go to and why? A year ago. So I could undo some mistakes, but only for a short couple of days then I'd want to be right back here. There's no time like the present.
6) How do you celebrate the birth of a new book or when you get a new contract for a book? I used to carry dinner in. Then it was a few "Woo hoo"s. Now, truthfully, I sometimes forget one is coming out. I'm just so busy on that next project that I forget to slow down and enjoy the moment I've been working so hard to see happen.
7) What is your claim to fame, besides writing? I have spoken seven languages in my life and traveled the world several times over. That's pretty much it. Oh, and I'm not really an Aussie. That was something set up a year ago--one of those mistakes I made which I would correct. After all, you should write what you know and be proud of your identity. I wasn't and thought I should pretend to be a different nationality. It didn't work because ultimately I am always going to slip back into the me I am.
8) What is something you're nostalgic about? Why? My youth. Not because I'm heading toward middle-aged but because Mom and Dad took care of everything. I never had to think about bills, next meals, house payments. No, Mom and Dad took be around the world and I had a blast. I miss those days like crazy. It's like taking the feast away just as you settle in to enjoy it.
9) What piece of trivia would you like to share to give us insight into who Katie is? An American. A woman. A sensual being who believes sensuality is perfectly fine. A lover of romance.
10) Tell us about your favorite part of the writing/publishing process and why. The beginning of any project because the adrenaline is pumping and there is nothing like the excitement, the love affair, of crushing on your latest work.
Please let me know if there's anything else you'd like to add.
I have three outstanding works waiting for publication, one of which is to be an anthology piece with a few very talented writers at TEB. I love getting comments and feedback. If you're interested in the website, which admittedly isn't well kept up, visit at www.freewebs.com/KatieBlu.
Thank you for having me Ashley. This was a lot of fun and I'm honored to be a part of your blog.
Thanks again, Katie. I can't wait to read your book.
Ashley

OFFICE POLITICS by Katie Blu, Available Monday, August 18th from www.Total-E-Bound.com

BLURB:

From fantasy to foreplay, can Betsy keep her perspective at the office when falling for her boss could cost her future? Betsy Pruitt is up for a promotion at a magazine which has never seen a female executive. Just because Maxwell Sumner, her office crush, is up for the same promotion does not mean she is willing to forfeit an opportunity to rise to the top. Max Sumner failed in his attempt to make a name for himself with his father's law firm. Given a second chance to succeed at the family owned magazine, he has moved from office lackey to business team manager under the careful training of the delectable Ms. Pruitt. Keeping business and pleasure separate seems obvious, but what happens to office politics when Max finds Betsy in the throes of orgasm...at his desk in an empty building? All bets are off and the fight for the corner office suddenly becomes more complicated.

"OFFICE POLITICS" EXCERPT:

“Oh man, how am I going to face him?” she whined at her reflection. If he smirked or winked, if he did anything but propose matrimony based on her lurid performance, she’d beg the floor to swallow her whole.

Like that would actually happen. Not hardly.

She grabbed her remote bullet vibrator and lubricant. With a deft application, she inserted the vibrator, feeling rather naughty and a bit like she was snubbing her nose at the pleasure Max had given her last night. With any luck she’d have a break room orgasm by lunch time and have forgotten all about him.

As a fortifier, Betsy pulled on a pair of low rise black slacks and a long-sleeved, fitted shirt. The staid pearl buttons marching up the front of the gauzy, white fabric to a respectable neckline made her feel properly covered. Her hair had gone wild on her, but she ignored the wide loops and pushed her glasses up her nose. “There. That looks smart, and there’s enough fabric to please a nun.”

Forty minutes later, sitting at her desk, her mind flashed to the night before. Max paced his office giving her not a glance of his attention. She dug through her purse, slicked on her lip balm and dropped her purse on the floor. Instantly a persistent whispering vibration filled her pelvis. Betsy clamped her legs together and a sudden rocketing climax slammed into her. She gripped the edge of her desk as pleasure consumed her. A low groan slipped from her throat, and her eyes shut of their own accord. “Oh God, not now,” she panted.

“Betsy? You okay?” her pod mate, Mona asked.

“In…a—” Betsy keened softly between pants, “mi-minu-te.”

“I’ll have whatever you’re on,” Mona breathed, picking up Betsy’s latte for a sniff.

Betsy opened her eyes to slits. Her gaze locked on Max as he turned around, phone to his ear, and cocked an eyebrow at her. The sexy secret orgasm pulsed another shiver through her, rippling her climax higher. Her lips parted as she tried to breathe deeply enough to accommodate her screaming lungs. Her pelvis rocked in minute tilts.

“Not over?” she grunted in quiet hysteria. Her pussy flooded as heat shot from her groin and sizzled along her nerve endings. She’d be eternally grateful she’d worn a thong today.

Max’s eyes narrowed on her, his gaze raking her body. He spoke briefly into his phone and hung up. His sure strides ate up the ground as he came towards her.

“Oh crap,” Betsy whispered. She fumbled for her purse, unsteady with her anxious search for the vibrator’s remote control. Her fingers curled around it triumphantly.

“No shit, Sherlock. I think he just saw your virtual orgasm. By the way,” Mona said hurriedly, “you’re going to have to teach me that trick.”

Betsy glanced at her. Was she crazy? They barely knew each other. What was it about watching someone come that broke down the personal boundaries between strangers? Suddenly the remote vibrator didn’t sound like such a stellar plan after all—for so many reasons. One of which was bearing down on her. How was she supposed to know it would go off without provocation?

“Ms. Pruitt, please join me in the conference room.” Maxwell Sumner’s sensual mouth was no more than a thin white line. His black eyes snapped and Betsy had the impression of a barely restrained bull. He grabbed her elbow. Her death grip on the remote notched the vibrations up in speed. Betsy gasped her pleasured alarm.

“Now?” At the rate she was going, she wasn’t sure walking with the vibrating monster inside would help her circumstances. In fact with the way he was looking at her and her sudden upright posture shifting the internal beast, Betsy had a sick moment of fear as her body began to quiver anew. “Oh hell, no. Not now. Please?”

“Immediately.” He yanked her elbow and brought her to her feet.

Blurb from Ashley's book released Monday August 18th at www.total-e-bound.com Stacey disguises herself to fool her ex-husband, the Internet king of porn, but he's not the only one who gets a shock. Stacey Cooke can't believe her eyes when she sees her ex-husband Brand on the Internet—and he's the new king of porn. She divorced him for being too boring in bed and out and so she's stunned. Much worse than stunned, she's jealous and it hurts. She wonders if she gave up on him too early. She can't stop peeking at her ex with all his film partners. When an ad pops up for a new partner to have sex with Brand on film, her friend Lilli persuades her to apply. Donning a mask, disguising her voice, Stacey decides to see if she's still in love with him. Excerpt from: Submissive Dreams

"You're not gonna fuckin' believe this." Lilli whistled long and loud while she shook her head. The late afternoon sunlight filtering through the grimy windows glinted off her multi-coloured hair streaked blonde and red through her auburn locks.

Accustomed to her friend's over-ebullience, Stacey Cooke gave an obligatory smile. However, she didn't blink an eye. "Uh huh."

"No, I mean it. This is fuckin' unbelievable! Sit down. This is wild."

With an arched brow, Stacey double checked her seating arrangement. "I am sitting. So what is it I won't believe?"

Reverently, Lilli placed her laptop atop Stacey's legs. "Look closely. Recognise anyone?"

Stacey gulped. Naked bodies writhed together, kissing, caressing, shagging their arses off… Women were tied up while men enjoyed their wicked way with them.

"Uh, why do you want me to look at this?" Despite herself, she couldn't stop staring at the huge hard cocks fucking the moist pussies. Nor could she keep from creaming her own panties.

"Come on. Don't you see it?" Lilli jumped up and down as if panicked. She jabbed a finger at the screen.

"Look at the man's face. Don't you recognise him?" Her friend's voice reverberated with frustration and excitement.

Stacey hadn't exactly been studying faces. Those muscles and cocks were mouth-watering scrumptious, and she squirmed on her chair.

Lilli tapped her pointy, chipped fingernail on a man's face

Stacey's eyes dilated on the face she knew so well. It went blurry before her eyes, and her heart skipped several beats. She couldn't breathe. It couldn't be. She had to be hallucinating. Or this was a trick. Was it April first?

"That's Brandon."

The caption under the bald-headed man proclaimed him to be 'Tyrannosaurus Rex', but it was unmistakably her ex-husband—on steroids. Or maybe some great graphic air brushing was in play. Still, she laboured in disbelief as she struggled for air. "Th-that couldn't be him. He'd never, ever…"

Gobsmacked, she couldn't finish the sentence.

Lilli leaned close enough to kiss the screen. "Dominate women? Tie them up? Shag them in public? Be a porn star?"

All of the above. Stacey couldn't help herself, she stole another look at the man's face. It certainly looked like Brand, but she couldn't wrap her mind around all this. Hell no! Her husband couldn't be fucking other women. Especially not so many other women—where everybody could see him. "They say everyone has a double…"

"If it was me, I'd be finding out for sure." Lilli waved a dismissive hand and paced before her.

The hurtful truth slapped her between the eyes, and she dragged in a deep breath.

"We're divorced. He can do whatever the hell he pleases." Even if it ached that he'd never done any of that with her, that he was doing it with so many other women, she'd get over it. Still, obsessed against her will, she scrolled through the pages, counting just how many partners he'd had. Holy! 'Rex' had fucked at least twenty women onscreen. The man was more machine than human.

She mumbled more to herself than to her friend as she rested her chin on her hand, her spirit draining. "Just how would I find out for sure?"

Lilli crossed back to her and gave her shoulder a commiserative squeeze. "Well, you could pick up the phone and just ask him."

"Lovely. You expect me to blurt out 'are you a porn star? Is that you shagging all those twits?' Like I'm really bloody going to do that."

Lilli confiscated the laptop and clicked on a few keys. Then she handed it back as she licked her lips. "Look, they're advertising for women who want to…participate."

"You're not suggesting…?" Stacey gaped at her friend. "Why would I want to? We're divorced with a capitol 'D'." Pain slashed at her nevertheless—a pain she didn't want and refused to name. "I mean, he never wanted me that way. Our sex was mind-numbing…"

She shut up when she realised she'd revealed more than she'd intended. Flames licked her cheeks. Lilli leaned over her, crimson heat flooding her cheeks. "You call that boring? If he wasn't your ex, I might be tempted…"

Available at: Total-e-Bound.com

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, and Sandra Cox are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

14 comments:

Mona said...

Ah! those covers are indeed mind blowing & I see you really have touched upon the forbidden pleasures!

But then, as they say, the forbidden fruit is always sweeter! :) ever since our first fore fathers!

I often wonder that when they had children, It must have been siblings making love at time!

The First excerpt was indeed naughty-hilarious! :D & the second was like "hey! what happened then?" :D

I wish you Success !

Unknown said...

Good luck with sales Ashley

Sandra Cox said...

Good luck and many sales to both of you.

Brynn Paulin said...

Congrats to both you and Katie. Having read both books I have to say they're both fantastic. Way to go!!

Phoenix said...

It's like a TEB family reunion! Awesome.

Katie Blu said...

Thank you for having me on your blog today, Ashley. I couldn't be releasing with a classier lady.

And please stay safe in the storm.

Molly Daniels said...

I'm going to try to show up for the chat, but I'm sleep-deprived again. So don't hold it against me if I fall asleep or fail to show up? Your cheerleader is tired.

Great excerpts! And Katie, thought you were supposed to be an Aussie:) I'll be getting Hot Under in a few short weeks:) Ash, one of yours is coming up too. Stay safe with TS Fay.

Unknown said...

Molly, I understand. I'm going to take a nap right now myself. I can hardly hold open my eyes.

Brynn and Kelly - thanks!

Bobbie (Sunny) Cole said...

Love the trailer, Ash! Love the covers! LOVE the interview!

Awesome job today, girlfriend. Have a good one, and may both you and Katie fry the publisher's databases with many, many, many sales.

:)

Bronwyn Green said...

Love the interview and wishing you both scads of sales!!!

Anika Hamilton said...

Wishing you congrats and many sales.

Unknown said...

Thanks Lyn, Bron, and Anika - and everybody before. We had a great day, a great chat, and we hope lots of readers will enjoy our stories.

Phoenix said...

Lyn Cash! You won the drawing for OFFICE POLITICS!!! I'm sending it over now!

Thanks for participating and Ashley, again, thank you for hosting me.

Bobbie (Sunny) Cole said...

:) THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Website Content and Copy: Ashley Ladd, 2008.|Blog Design by JudithShakes Designs.
Graphics hosted by Flickr.