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I am a pimping ho at Midnight Moon Cafe today. Not only did I pimp myself out… I pimped out Karl, Marty, Gooster, Vahid, Hilly and Becky. All for the sake of selling books about TVC (throbbing vampire cock) and SDC (swelling dragon cock).

Well, I have to admit it’s not so much the selling thing that I like, it’s the fans of the stories. I like it that people like and read what I write. I don’t get scads of traffic here, but with the books, my writing gets exposed in a lot more places. I like giving people stories they enjoy. I love it when they adore the same characters that I do. And it’s nice to be able to take a snippet of a friend’s personality and turn it into a character that lots of people read and fall in love with.

I can’t tell you how many people loved Karl with a K in Hot Water. They loved his snarky humor. I got so many comments on Corey in Hot Water that I decided to give him his own story Sunstroked later in the series. I don’t think I would have come up with such vivid characters if it hadn’t been for Karl and Gooster’s real personalities making an impression on me.

Next up is Marty who is the fairy godfather in The Pixie Prince. Cobblestone is releasing that book tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what the readers have to say about Marty. Ride the Lightning, which is Vahid the black dragon’s story, will probably be out in December. I have a feeling our own Vahid may have women beating down his doors even more than they do now once this book is read. (Note to Vahid… buy a bullwhip. The character has one… the ladies love it.)

In the fall and winter I’ll be getting to the sequels to The Pixie Prince which include a story about a Hilary and one about a Becky. I’m hopeful that Cobblestone will take them. Meanwhile, I’ll just do lots of pimping and hope to get more readers so more people can also find out about my friends and their blogs. I know there’s a whole phalanx of women who come through here to click the link to Gooster’s site. Okay, maybe the hotties he posts are the main draw, but I bet they read his other posts too!

Now, hie yourselves off to Midnight Moon Cafe and leave a comment. I’m giving away more books there. Have a great Thursday… oh! And wish me luck that I get to see Stone Temple Pilots on the 4th. Cross all your fingers and toes… Loves yas!

I has winnahs. Many winnahs. This was soooo much fun. Louie was asleep so he couldn’t pick a winner like last time.

Last year for Blog Reader Appreciation Week, Motley drew a name out of a Dooney bag. This year, she just picked numbers and I looked to see whose comment was that number.

So here are this year’s Blog Reader Appreciation Week winners!

Winner of the Goodie Bag is Comment #22 DEBBY!

Winner of the Snarkcoaster is Comment #33 KIMMY L!

Winners of a book are Comments:

# 25 - Del

#1 - Maurya

#15 - Christina Engels

#2 - Trinity

#6 - Val Pearson

#16 - RachieG

#38 - Debbie Tsikuris

#19 - Bunny

Last, but never least, is the Sex Toy mug. The winner of this prize is no stranger to you. Somehow, I could not persuade Motley to accompany a package of Blogography cards to the great Northwest unless the Dave Monument was complete. Still, she did call out #11 last which makes Dave2 the winner of the SexToy mug.

Winners need to contact me at winter at winterheart dot com before the next Marcus Monday is posted. So if you know a winner, pass the word along! If you won a book, you need to include the title of the book you wish to receive. If you won the goodie bag, snarkcoaster, or mug I need a mailing address to send the prize to.

I know Maurya is taking a copy of Fire Season. However there are 8 books in all to choose from. Just please be aware that The Pixie Prince is out July 3, Fire Season on July 9, and Runaways on July 14 or 21. I don’t have ARCs for any of them yet, but if you choose one of these, I’ll send it as soon as I have it. If you didn’t win a book and wanted to, you will have other chances! Check out the SPOTS page at LexValentine.com for more info. Also, when I participate in Karl’s Summer of Love, you could win a book there too!

Here’s the book blurbs to help you choose:

Underwear model Max Fever has a problem. He’s just become the Pixie Prince and his inheritance includes big golden wings that won’t let him sleep on his back. Max has to find a soft mattress or spend the rest of his days with a bruised behind. An enigmatic waiter named Marty takes Max to club Carpe Noctem to meet a vampire who has a space foam mattress. Max falls in love with the mattress and its owner, vampire Bliss Wilde. Will the tragic pasts of Bliss’ brother and Max’s best friend become a roadblock to their bonding?

As the pack Alpha, Roul Verlaine always looked out for his twin brother Ranulf. Now, Ran’s mated and run off to New York City. Deciding to check up on his twin, Roul hires the Watcher Agency to follow Ran and his new mate. But when Roul arrives at Watcher, the owner is not what he expected. Morgan Kale is a rare white werewolf, a lone wolf. She’s not looking for a mate so when Roul walks into her office and her senses start pinging, she’s not exactly happy about it. With Roul only in New York for three days, Morgan has to decide whether to tell him they are mates… or let him walk out of her life forever.

Werewolf Ranulf Verlaine meets vampire Dante Allerton on a train bound for Paris. Overwhelmed by desire, the couple let their senses take over and before the train ride is through, they’ve become mates. Ranulf must break free of the pack that his twin brother rules while Dante cuts the controlling ties of her two older brothers. The two must quickly deal with the burdens of their pasts in order to run toward the promise of a future together.

Vampire Elysia Granville gets more than she bargained for when she attends the Undertaker’s Ball on Halloween. She’s looking for a one night stand, but the man she chooses is Declan Antaeus, a home and hearth black dragon who has had a secret crush on her for years. Can the powerful dragon make the commitment shy vampire extend one night into forever?

Black dragon Eden Antaeus is a bad girl. Or so her brother Sean would have her believe. When Sean tells Eden she’s the Queen of Kink, someone who can’t get off on normal sex, Eden runs straight to the vampire club Carpe Noctem to find someone to have vanilla sex with. What Eden finds is Colin Granville, her brother Declan’s new brother in law. Desire burns hot between them despite the lack of surnames and after one night together, they both want more. Getting past the discovery that their siblings are married, Colin teaches Eden that she’s not the Queen of Kink and Eden finds a love, and a life, she never expected to have.

Black dragon Holden Antaeus isn’t looking for a mate. His life is filled with family, work, and dating. Women adore him and he’s never short of offers for sex, but a relationship isn’t something he’s interested in. When Holden’s brother Sean hires a new executive for Antaeus International, Holden’s whole world, and everything he’s ever believed about himself, is blown to bits. Garret Renquist is a green dragon, intelligent, witty, bi-sexual, and hot for Holden. Despite the fact that Holden is positive he’s heterosexual, the moment he meets Garret, something happens inside him. What follows is a journey through stereotypes and ingrained beliefs as Holden struggles with the fact that his destined mate is a man.

Suffering from the loss of the only man she’d ever loved, Maris tries to fill her life with other things, only to find that it doesn’t work. Even after 15 years, she misses the man she left behind. Aching with despair and loneliness, she leaves all the online communities she belongs to. Alex suffers from the loss of a woman he let walk away. Determined not to let that happen again, he sends Maris an email asking her not to leave the forum. A flurry of escalating emails leads to a meeting where both Maris and Alex receive the surprise of their lives… and a past love is rediscovered.

Randall Wise is the quintessential good guy. However, all of his friends are married and he’s still single. Rand is positive that good guys finish last at love and decides he needs to change if he’s ever going to find the woman for him. Brenna Thorne is a klutzy but cute would be witch who moves in next door to Rand. Men always think of Brenna like a sister. They never see her as girlfriend or mate material. Brenna longs for a man of her own who sees her sexy side and all the love she has to give. A little magic from Rand’s godparents, a familiar who isn’t a familiar, and a host of well meaning, but surprising friends help Rand and Brenna see that all you need to find your mate is a heart that is open to love.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you all for reading Sunlight Sucks!

Well, Blog Reader Appreciation week is over. No one sent me their snail mail addy for bookmarks! *gasp* Okay, so I guess that wasn’t the best pressie. Anyway, Motley (Nikki) will be asking Louie Licker for some assistance tonight and they will draw the winners of each item. I’ll post them Tuesday or Wednesday.  I sincerely appreciate all of you who participated!

Now, on for some Monday YUM. I joined a new Yahoo group yesterday and they were a lot of fun. But I woke up to find apologies all over the group because someone had been offended. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what had been offensive. I’m pretty open when it comes to sex talk and giving information about stuff I’ve done. I mean, c’mon, most of the kinky stuff I’ve done is long in the past anyway.  I’m a tad on the settled down side with Rott now.  (I’m still awaiting the return of PornFest.)

However, on my blogroll is a man I’ve had sex with and known for the better part of my life. He would tell you we had sex. I might tell you more about it than he would, but I think I know him well enough to know that he wouldn’t be offended. He’s one of the most handsome, intelligent men I know… and he’s gay. Ooooh. I had sex with a gay dude. How kinky. *eye roll* (Stop laughing, David. I KNOW you’re laughing!)

So, did I just hit you with TMI? Are you running for your feed reader to dump me? Well, I hope not because it’s Marcus time. And really, my point was that the threshold is in different places for different people.  Like Popeye, I yam what I yam. If I offend you, there’s always the delete button in your feed reader. And I’m so TMI. If you’re new here, best to understand that right up front.  Now, here’s a Marcus… one I would like to lick. And lick, and lick… yeah. TMI, I know.

Ahh. My Monday already feels better! Hope you have a great one and don’t forget to check back tomorrow or Wednesday for a list of winners from Blog Reader Appreciation week!

I had a few whacky ideas for this year’s Blog Reader Appreciation week. None of them really went beyond a crazed notion in my head that elicited a few snicker snorts from me as I worked yesterday. However, I do want you to know that I appreciate you despite the fact that I don’t post as much as I used to. This has been a rough year for me, trying to do the author thing while still juggling all the other things that I do. At one time or another, all my favorite things have gotten shuffled to the side for my writing. I’ve just come to accept that sometimes that is just going to be the case no matter how much I may rail against a lack of hours in the day.

Since I do most sincerely appreciate you all, and since somehow, as odd as it seems to me, my readership has apparently grown in the past year, I have many prizes to give away! I’m not going to make this difficult at all. Well, for you lurkers in your feed readers, it might be a tad tough. Here’s the thing… all you gotta do is leave a comment. On this post. You have until I put up my next Marcus Monday post to get in your comment.

What should you say? Anything you want about me, my crazy ass life, my dwindling blog life, my lack of Twitter at the office now, how much you wanna win a prize, how much you like Marcus Monday or… just say HI! Any and all comments are welcome and appreciates! Even better, each is an entry into the contest.

Now, what the heck am I giving away? For a woman who needs to buy a shirt that says, “I Speak Citrix” I have to say that none of these prizes are techie. If you want a cool techie prize, hop on over to Snackie’s World where you can win a very cool web cam from Snackiepoo. Hilly always gives great prizes. Motley has a web cam attached to this desktop but if I ever manage to build her a new desktop, she’ll take it and then I won’t have the cam to snap awesome I-just-woke-up photos like this one.

So I could prolly stand to win Hilly’s prize. Not that I will. Lately, my luck sucketh.

Anyway, here’s what YOU can win from me! Books! Yes, I’ll be giving away my books. If you already have all my books, well, guess what? I added two new books to this list. Runaways and Fire Season will be out in July so while you may have to wait for your prize, if you choose one of these two books, you will also receive the book before it is officially for sale!

I also have a little goodie bag of stuffs that includes awesome Blogography playing cards made by Dave2 himself and authory things like bookmarks and post cards.

Just so you know, as a sort of disclaimer here, Motley doesn’t come with the cards, and it’s one pack not two. Just sayin.

Next, I have a Queen of Snark “snarkcoaster” inspired by the Queen of Snark herself, Hilly of Snackie’s World.

And finally, a Sex Toy mug like the one Bluepaintred drinks her coffee from.

Last year, I believe my big winner was Marty of Banal Leakage who got a Socially Dead hat. This year, I like the idea of giving out lots of stuff so more people can be winners!

So leave a comment anytime from now until the next Marcus Monday is posted (approximately 6:30 am Pacific time, Monday, June 29) and you will be entered to win one of these awesome (or not, depending upon what you think is cool) prizes! I loves you all for reading and coming by and I promise you that even while I might not show it that often, I truly appreciate each and every one of you. Happy Blog Reader Appreciation Week!

UPDATE! Release date for The Pixie Prince is July 3… so it goes into the pot as a prize too!

The memorial post over the weekend seems to have dried up my words this Monday. I’ve only a few for you! However, I do have a Marcus and a freebie! WOOT! And maybe once Fire Season edits are done (tonight, yes, tonight!) I can concentrate on a post about the babies. Well, that won’t be here but over at Flirty Author Bitches where I posted the first time.

I’ve had two new releases. I’ve got more coming up. If you would like a Pixie Prince bookmark or two, please send me an email with your snail mail address. I don’t have a release date yet, but everything is done according to my editor. This is the book that features Marty, the Fairy Godfather, so if you are a fan of Banal Leakage, you’ll want to see how I portrayed Marty Mankins, who is - along with Maurya Smith - probably my biggest fan. Actually, Marty precedes Maurya. LOL Here’s a preview of the gorgeous, glossy bookmark.

And now… a MARCUS!

Oooh! Lookit him sweat! Yowza! Turn on a fan someone! Heh.

Don’t forget - you, bookmarks, snail mail addy to winter at winterheart dot com. Have a great Monday!

I remember how I used worry about Motley when she was little. Fear was always close to the surface. Today, I’m thinking of Dawg and what I posted last year and what he’s had to live without for two years. And my heart bleeds for him.

Hug your kids today. Please.

I’m not sure how it happened but New York Times bestselling author and pop icon Neil Gaiman got hold of my Flirty Author Bitches post about the babies. Apparently, he has a half a million followers. I can believe it. My bandwidth usage tripled in the space of a few minutes last night and I couldn’t even get on my own site. All the tweets and re-tweets are keeping that level of hits up there.

This morning I have a few thoughts about all of this. I remembered how the grass roots blogger efforts got Lisa of Clusterfook a trip to Disney World with her girls. I know from her email to me during the fundraising, how much that trip meant to her. I knew that there was power in the tweets and blog posts and blog radio shows in this community. I knew that grass roots efforts could yield solutions and so much more.

Help is being offered and I sincerely appreciate it. So does Motley (Nikki). We still need more help, but I can see that @neilhimself’s re-tweets have made a difference. I think the re-tweets of ordinary people can help too. There is a lot we can accomplish when we work together and pass the word. I’ve seen it happen before as in the case of Lisa, and I know it can happen again to help keep my babies safe.

Motley and I thank every one of you for your love and support and friendship. Those of you who check out Socially Dead for her Twilight spoof posts and leave her encouragement. Those of you come here and check out my Marcus Mondays and read my rambles about my life and my writing. Those of you who found us because of a celebrity’s post on Twitter. All of you have value to us. And you’ve all made a difference in our lives and hopefully the lives of the babies.

The Flirty Author Bitches post is called Mobilizing and I would say we’re headed to the freeway soon. The cause has movement. We just need to keep up the momentum until everyone has a safe home.

Thank you all. I can’t even express how wonderful you are. To save even one is a miracle. To save them all… well, we aren’t there yet, but I am beginning to have faith. Your tweets were just as responsible for turning on the light in my darkness as @neilhimself’s. I just have no words (although I’ve just typed a buttload of them, haven’t I? LOL) for how much this means to me.

Many hugs and MUAHS!