Guest D.C. McMillen

Apparently, I Get Around

I love to travel.

Okay, that is a bit of an understatement. Let’ just say I am insanely passionate about visiting other areas – any area of the world. You could offer to drop me off in the middle of a landmine infested war zone and I would probably be on board. In my mind, any travel experience, even the terrible ones (and there have been a few) are something to be cherished. You just can’t beat walking other people’s paths to learn how they live.

As I just alluded, I have had some, let’s say, interesting experiences. Like the time I had to fight off a horned cow for my admittedly unidentifiable food while the up-until-that-moment very hospitable tribe laughed at my predicament. The cow would have won, too. It was hungrier and I was wimpier. But then an old woman in the tribe took pity on me and beat it away with her cane.

Or the time a vendor in a market screamed at me for not wanting to buy his goods. Finally, I rolled my eyes and agreed to buy something, only to have him get equally as angry because I did not put any effort into my bartering. Geesh!

Perhaps some of my most memorable travel experiences happened during the summer after I graduated high school. I decided to spend my summer travelling Europe. I did it alone, which, by observation, was much less stressful than going with a bunch of girls. I met THE most handsome English man, who was filming a travel documentary, and we spent a few very memorable days and nights in Germany. Unfortunately, his itinerary sent him to Spain. I had nothing against Spain, but I was seriously looking forward to Budapest so we parted ways.

I hopped on a bus with a tour driver I had met at the beginning of my travels and off I went! Luckily the tour-goers did not mind. The driver dropped me at a campground, very late at night and, having been the only one to not have a reservation, I had to agree to share a caravan with four girls, who were together and one guy, a stranger to them. Well guess how many beds were in the caravan?

Three. Not four, which would have made sense, but three. Of course the four girls were already paired up on their side of the trailer, which meant I was stuck with stranger guy. I looked at the cramped, dirty floor and then back towards the guy. He was about my age and looked kind of like a puppy dog. I decided to take my chances with stranger danger. He could not have looked more pleased.

I gave him my best I-will-kill-you-in-your-sleep look and unrolled my sleeping bag. He slept under the covers, I slept on top. Sort of. Sleep did not come easily. Not just because Mr. Mouth breather was too close for comfort, but also because the camp’s security guard, who looked a lot like Saddam Hussein army fatigues, had decided that he would defend my honour, if need be. He spent the entire night sprawled under the caravan with a machine gun in hand! Holy shit.

The next day, I woke up much earlier than was my usual habit, thanked the security guard, who then walked over to a bush and hid in it, and decided to see who I could meet at the campfire. For everyone’s amusement but mine, word had already spread around the camp about last night’s adventure. Of course, after a spot in a new caravan opened up, I started to see the humour as well. I could go on with the story (yes, there’s more) but this is a guest blog, not a book.

And speaking of books...

(Do you like my segue?)

The Rusty Nail, a novella written by yours truly, has just hit the shelves at an e-book carrier near you. Here is a little more about it:

The Rusty Nail is a novella about a diverse group of characters who somehow find themselves acquainted with a dive bar in the wrong area of town. The entire novella takes place in the span of a single day, and I hope you will be entertained (and turned on) as each character discovers the good, the bad, and the ugly about their partners, themselves, and their hidden sexual desires.
This novella contains blatantly erotic, sexy and graphic M/F, M/M, F/F and even a couple of solo scenes. In other words, this novella is totally hot.

The Rusty Nail, excerpt

When Juan and I finally decided to get out of bed, I felt awkward and self-conscious. What we'd just done was a lot of fun and I was pretty sure I wanted to do it again but first I needed to sort out my thoughts and figure out how this might all work. Could I keep it from Gianna? I’m nowhere near as bright as her so I doubted it. I was right in the middle of trying to sort this whole thing out when I stepped on Gianna’s dress. Then I saw her shoe, then another one. And behind all of that was her scarf.

Those items of clothing led from the front door of the apartment to where I stood in front of the bedroom door. Slowly the implications of what the discarded clothing meant dawned on me. Juan had already gotten there. He asked if I had any idea how much she'd seen and I could only shake my head in horror. He asked if I wanted to stay with him but of course that was out of the question. After apologizing several times, he retreated to his own apartment. And I reached for the whiskey bottle.

I dropped another shot down the hatch and realized I was seeing double. Another and I was seeing triple. Maybe another would make me go blind and lose all feeling? Sadly, I would never find out. The bottle was empty. The door slammed shut and I instantly filled with both relief and dread.

Thanks so much for reading this excerpt! The Rusty Nail just released today, March 3rd, 2012, through Rebel Ink Press, and is available on Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, etc. I am pretty sure I will die from happiness if you pick up a copy.

Please feel free to keep in touch with me through my blog, twitter, or Facebook page.

Friday Recipe: Churros

I LOVE churrors! It's the fried sugary taste of them. But I've never made them myself until now. Sure, it's not as easy as buying them someplace but it's not as difficult as I expected. And it's darn tastes!

Prep Time:
10 Min

Cook Time:
10 Min

Ready In:
20 Min

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 quarts oil for frying
• 1/2 cup white sugar, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, salt and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.
2. Heat oil for frying in deep-fryer or deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Pipe strips of dough into hot oil using a pastry bag. Fry until golden; drain on paper towels.
3. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Roll drained churros in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Amount Per Serving Calories: 691 | Total Fat: 51.1g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Guest: Toni Sands

It’s great to be guesting on Kristabel’s blog and meeting readers who enjoy reading about past times. Dipping into different eras is something that’s happened fairly recently in my erotic romance writing. But whichever time I’m writing in, the romantic theme and the happy ever after ending is vital to me.

It's great to have you, Toni! Historical erotica is not as popular as I think it should be.

Journeying back in time to introduce characters to readers is testing for an author. It’s going to be really naff if you try recreating too many of the speech patterns but equally, dollops of today’s colloquialisms will distract from the story line. On that theme, I was reading Kristabel’s excellent post about the Regency period and about Downton Abbey and thinking how that ‘upstairs downstairs’ theme applies to so many eras. We all know about wicked masters seducing parlour maids but Orchid Pink isn’t quite so straightforward. Certainly when the words mistress and maid arrived in my head, I wasn’t to know just how revealing Adelaide Beauchamp’s personal journal would become.

So what makes my heroine different from countless others? She’s 28 years of age when we meet her in 1900, just when the Victorian era’s poised to hand over to the Edwardian one. The New Woman is a bit of a theme but it’s Adelaide’s dilemma that will hopefully appeal to you. She’s torn between her Sapphic tendencies and the feeling of needing to conform. Please her father. Do what nature intended her for. Have a baby or two. Hmm. Adelaide’s a passionate being and she also has a hang up about the whole maternal thing.

Researching this era reminded me how much repressed passion simmered away against a background of potted palms and antimacassars! This is what I’ve set out to recreate. If you like, I wanted to rip the frilly covers from the piano legs. This fantastic, debauched, innovative and energetic era sizzles and pops, despite the ‘We are not amused’ strap line attached to it. Yes, many women were fulfilling the role of domestic angel but many others were kicking off those well-worn boots.

What about certain female needs? I’m looking forward to watching the movie Hysteria, the subject of which is the invention of the electric vibrator. There’s a clip on YouTube. And if you google Joseph Mortimer Granville, inventor, you’ll learn a lot about how women’s sexuality was perceived. We weren’t capable of having orgasms, allegedly. But women were allowed a physician-assisted paroxysm! Adelaide would tell you different. And does. At the risk of leading you astray, let’s open the door to my heroine’s bedroom. Daisy isn’t present but I think you’ll get the picture.

That night I undressed, fantasising Daisy’s fingers loosening my buttons and stays. My nipples hardened under this imaginary touch. I refused to acknowledge the danger of employing someone so capable of melting my willpower. I’d conducted my personal life with discretion, avoiding tittle-tattle, but now my longing for tenderness and laughter swamped my common sense like a deluge from a watering can. She was inexperienced for the post of lady’s maid but I could coach her, talk to her of books and society scandals. Show her pretty things. Even if I didn’t hang around front rooms and foyers, I read plenty of newspapers and periodicals.
I turned back sheet and coverlet and climbed into bed. Daisy had invaded my senses and I was too alert for sleep. In my bedside drawer was something to help, something to which I tried not to resort too often. My very first lover had tried to teach me to applaud my body’s needs. But my upbringing was a tight corset and though Ruth Carroll had loosened the stays, I still felt I was beguiled by the devil’s violin.
I dipped the dildo between my thighs, working it gradually inside me and closing my eyes to the ruffled ruby-redness of my bedroom. I needed to shoo away that shadow of prudishness. Like a scene from a magic lantern show, I saw a slice of azure sea, a half-moon of sandy cove flaxen as my first lover’s locks. Ruth had captured my heart and my soul three years before. You need unbuttoning, Addie, she used to say.

Poor Adelaide is fully aware her father would be horrified to discover his only daughter indulging in impropriety with a servant. Would that matter more than the gender of that servant? Possibly. We know that Adelaide keeps a secret personal item in her bedside cabinet. We can only wonder how difficult it was for a woman to purchase such products in the days before Ann Summers became an integral part of our high streets and before online ordering became clickable.

I hope I’ve entertained and intrigued you.

Blurb:

Demure Adelaide hides a passionate nature beneath her elegant gowns. After hiring a delicious new maid, Daisy, she can’t wait to initiate her into the delights of the orchid house. Though resenting paternal pressure to marry businessman Thomas, Adelaide finds excitement in his touch and his erotic whisperings. Yet, when he reveals his sinister side, she seeks solace elsewhere. Christmas brings snowflakes, also a vivid reminder of a heart-wrenching past. Intrigue and obsession rock this Victorian household as Adelaide’s poignant search for love leads her into storms. Will she ever bask in the sunshine?

Orchid Pink is available from Amazon UK, Amazon US and All Romance eBooks, as well as other good eBook retailers.

About the Author:

Toni Sands lives near the Black Mountains in Wales. Many of her ideas arrive while she’s walking by the river or travelling by train and she also finds inspiration when visiting London. This is where she enjoys roaming galleries and gazing at colourful window displays. She drinks too much coffee and often talks to strangers. Her erotic romances feature in collections by Virgin Black Lace and Accent Xcite, both paperbacks and e-books. She writes to entertain, sometimes finding, as in the case of her new heroine, a character will pop into her head, demanding to have her story told. Toni enjoys networking and belongs to the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She’d like to keep on writing as long as her readers keep on reading.

Website: http://www.tonisands.co.uk/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tonisands
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003351233701&ref=tn_tnmn#!/profile.php?id=100003351233701&sk=wall

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003351233701&ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Orchid-Pink/358346187513266

Downton Abbey

Well the season 2 or Series 2 finale of Downton Abbey has aired here in the US (last week but still) and Mary and Matthew have found their way to each other. It has been quite a circuitous route for them but there it is the happy ever after – at least for the moment.

I must applaud the writers of Downton for not making Lavinia the ‘evil’ fiancée. She was a perfectly lovely, suitable mate for Matthew. Sir Richard Carlisle was more along the lines of the unsuitable mate for Mary but even he wasn’t as bad as they could have made him. I believe Sir Richard actually had deep feelings for Mary but she was incapable of returning them because her heart had already been firmly planted in Matthew’s garden.

My one gripe is that they chose to speed time along quite briskly! There could have been many more stories told during the war and all that happened could also have happened while the war raged in the background. I hope that the third season or series 3 moves time along with a bit more ease. As it stand we will start in 1920 at least – and now they’ll have to change fashions radically and move away from the Edwardian flare the show is so rich in.

Weekly Goal #9

Last week I worked on something different. Oh, I played around with The Escape, I'm to the point where I need to finish that story before anything else. And, too, The Masque looks pretty lonely under the Hellfire Erotique section.

But I also did a few other things. Baked chocolate chip cookies (the recipe off the Toll House bag where they don't tell you that sure, each tray may take 9 minutes to bake but when was the last time you had only 1 tray of cookies waiting for the oven?)

Cleaned house--and by that I mean I cleaned old computer files. I didn't delete them, despite the temptation to do so. After all, some of those stories are good plot-wise even if what I have, or have previously outlined, is no longer viable!

And I worked on a new, non-menage, non-erotic story. I've been doing so for over a year now, but have enjoyed writing my menage tales so much that I let this one slide. So for the foreseeable future, I'm going to be editing this story.

Set in the Regency Era, it's an alternate history. A dystopian society where a plague has ravaged the world, killing off more than half the population and leaving the survivors struggling for food, shelter, and safety. But what's better than a dystpoian world with Regency romance?

If your answer was nothing--you earn a gold star! But seriously, it's a great world I had loads of fun creating. I want to make it an even better world with seriously hot romance.

Now, this story isn't a menage, not even an erotic romance. It's fairly mainstream romance/sex wise. However, I do hope it's so different than anything you've read that you'll give it a chance. K. Reed will be the name I use for this series. I hope you'll check me (her, it) out!

Friday Recipe: Potato Dumplings with Bacon and Onions

Potatoes and bacon. What's not to love?

Prep Time:30 Min
Cook Time:40 Min
Ready In:1 Hr 10 Min

Ingredients
2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 large eggs
Flour
1/4 pound bacon, chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped

Directions
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil.

Place potatoes in food processor, and pulse until finely chopped. Add eggs, and pulse a few times to combine. Pour mixture into a large bowl. Mix in enough flour to make a very thick dough.
Place dough by spoonfuls into boiling water. Boil until done, about 20 minutes (depending on size). Drain, and set dumplings aside.

Place chopped bacon and onion in a skillet over medium heat. Cook a few minutes until bacon releases fat. Place hot dumplings into pan; cook until bacon is crisp and onions and dumplings are browned.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 162 Total Fat: 4.4g Cholesterol: 77mg

Wednesday Regency: Desserts

Not being English, I'm only partly certain that the English call dessert pudding. However, since I can't really find a reference to that from the Regency Era, I'm sticking with dessert. I did find a great site on Regency desserts to use for the pivitol unmasking scene. Here's a bit more on the history of the tart straight from their site. Though they claim it was invented in 1820, I wonder if it's the recipe they use today versus the one they'd always used.

I decided to use Bakewell Tart, which I've copied from Finoa's A Woman of Notes blog here.

Bakewell Tart
The Bakewell Tart was supposedly invented at The Rutland Arms in Bakewell. It is claimed that Jane Austen stayed there in 1811 and she based Lambton in “Pride and Prejudice” on the town.
It contains ground almonds, jam and lemon - delicious. I even made this in a gluten free version and it still worked! My icing came out a bit wonky though ...

Sounds pretty tastey, but I have to say, I'm definitely going to try this one!

Chocolate Cream
"Take a pt of cream with a spoonfull scrapt chocolate boyle them well together mix with ye yolks of 2 eggs & thicken & mill it on ye fier then pour it into your chocolate cups"

Weekly Goal #8

Covet--finished and sent off. Waiting for edits, but am very happy with the story.

This week:

• Send out winner's gifts to the Valentine's Day Blog Hop winners!


• Finish The Escape, which I've let wallow while struggling with Covet.

February is wrapping up (these months go so quickly) what are you doing this week? Planning a mid-winter vacation? Suffering through another week of work?

Better quesiton: What are you reading?

Downton Abbey-Finale tonight!

A British import on PBS that has become an American hit! And nothing could please me more as I adore historicals and this proves the lack of the death of the historical genre in mainstream. Plus Maggie Smith-can't get much better than that!

Downton Abbey is an Edwardian set tale revolving around the family and servants inhabiting a great British Manor house of the same name. Society and the rules of society in Downton Abbey are similar to the Regency era but in Downton Abbey they show the beginning of the end of this type of aristocracy system with its rigid rules and complete superiority over the working class.

And by the end; I mean the end of the more blatant aspects because to this day many of these rules exist quietly.

In season one of Downton Abbey we meet Lord Grantham and his family. Just as the series begins we find out that the Earl of Grantham’s male heirs, his cousins because he and his wife had no sons, were both killed on the Titanic.

This was brilliant and a very real problem many of the noble and aristocratic families throughout British history had. In the beginning of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility we see a (non-titled) father asking his son from a first marriage to take care of his current wife and daughters because as the ‘entail’ was written he could not leave any significant amount to the women. Subsequently, the women in Sense and Sensibility were evicted from the home they’d known as it passed on to the father’s son and the son’s wife.

This type of inheritance happened all the time in England and was only slowly chipped away at over time and through various legal maneuvers.

Downton illustrates this problem well and throughout the course of the series thus far. The eldest daughter, Mary, had been set to marry the cousin that died to retain position and inheritance with Downton. But then the family is thrown into a tailspin, scrambling to secure the future after they identify the next male heir.

The framework for this tale could have been plucked out of any Regency, Victorian or Edwardian romance novel. It is a classic but so incredibly well done with lush settings, fascinating characters and intricate storytelling.

If you have not seen Downton Abbey but love British historicals; I highly recommend it.

Friday Recipe: Eclair Cake

My grandmother used to make this and it's delicious! I haven't tried it before, but it's not as hard as the multi-layers look. Eclair Cake

Prep Time:25 Min
Ready In:4 Hrs 25 Min

Ingredients
2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 cups milk
1 (16 ounce) package graham cracker squares
1 (16 ounce) package prepared chocolate frosting
Directions
In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the pudding mix, whipped topping, and milk.
Arrange a single layer of graham cracker squares in the bottom of a 13x9 inch baking pan. Evenly spread half of the pudding mixture over the crackers. Top with another layer of crackers and the remaining pudding mixture. Top with a final layer of graham crackers.
Spread the frosting over the whole cake up to the edges of the pan. Cover, and chill at least 4 hours before serving.

FOOTNOTE
The frosting will be easier to spread if the cake is covered and chilled for about 30 minutes before spreading.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 395 Total Fat: 14.2g Cholesterol: 4mg