She Can…Until She Can’t – Guest Post by Author Sommer Marsden

In Under My Skin, my main character Juliet is a medium. She can sense, speak to and even help the dead. Until she can’t. Like so many with special talents, those talents often do not extend into their own lives. Juliet can speak to just about any deceased person willing to talk to her, but she can’t contact her dead fiancé.

She’s not sure if it’s a block on her part or just against the cosmic rules, but that little bit of inability—the kind of inability that humbles a person—brought an endearing quality to Juliet. As I wrote her I found my heartstrings tugging for her. Makes it sound as if I really don’t control this ride we call fiction, right? Well, truth be told…often I don’t.

XOXO
Sommer

Blurb:

House bought for a steal online when it turns out there’s a damn good reason—check.

Malicious ghost with a body count to his name—check.

Sad, lingering female spirit pining for her still living (but currently dying) fiancé—check.

What’s a widowed medium to do when a departed soul asks to ride piggy back in her body?

To share her space and get under her skin? Juliet Bale does the only thing she can do—with her twin sister’s good counsel—she lets Lanie share her body to help her dying beloved Elijah cross over. The problem is that with all the reuniting, and sharing one body, things get seriously intimate and Juliet can’t help but see exactly why Elijah Rivers was so beloved.

It’s so wrong to sorta kinda fall for a dying man, and yet—check.

Excerpt from Under My Skin by Sommer Marsden

I was nearly on the property when I happened to glance up and see my attic window. A white “O” of a face pressed to the glass. I knew in an instant it was Lanie, the spirit trying to get in my head and my heart. And the dark figure behind her, not clearly visible but easily felt by me, was the Master of the house, Montgomery.

“Right,” I muttered, feeling a little buzzy from the several drinks I’d had. I almost wished I was a bit more buzzed because then I could go in and just go to sleep like a normal person. But I’m not a normal person. Haven’t been one since…forever.

That thought made me laugh, and I did something I rarely let myself do. I talked to Justin. “You were a cop. Do you think this guy did it?”

I knew the answer in my heart, I just needed to talk to my partner. I hadn’t really dated since Justin had been killed in the line of duty. A few attempts at dating here and there, a few overnighters with nice men that left me somehow sadder after the fact. I simply wasn’t ready for a relationship. Or even sex. And certainly nothing that resembled a melding of the two.

The fine hairs on my scalp seemed to tremble, and I let myself for one minute hope that it was him contacting me, but I quickly let the thought go. Doubtful. Highly doubtful. Maybe I simply wasn’t allowed.

“Well, if you do think he did it, watch my back, okay, babe? He’s a creepy bastard and clearly—at least to me—a killer. He killed that maid and now it sounds as if he killed the laundress. A woman-hater from what I can tell, killing women, calling them whores…sounds like mommy issues.” I snorted, but that was just nerves, and I damn well knew it. “I mean, the mistress of the house didn’t look too pleased in that photo, now did she?”

I waited and nothing but silence greeted me.

“I love you,” I whispered quickly, then went into my new home.

Buy Links
Resplendence Publishing:http://www.resplendencepublishing.com/m8/539-978-1-60735-620-2–under-my-skin-by-sommer-marsden.html

ARe:
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-undermyskin-1040115-140.html

Coming to other vendors soon!

2013 Begins with a Bang! Bang!

I’m very pleased to announce that I got word yesterday that my recently finished short story, Patches, has been accepted for publication in the upcoming anthology Smut Alfresco, edited by the dynamic duo, Victoria Blisse and Lucy Felthouse.  It was six-thirty-ish in the morning (my side of the world) when I got the email and I leapt off the bed just reading the words.

Now, I haven’t deemed 2013 as the year of “fill in the blank,” but the fact that I’ve tapped into new waters gives me inspiration to continue trying new and differnt venues.  I’ve never submitted to Smutters before, never wrote about pumpkin patches before, and look!

So, there we are, folks, my first woop-woop of 2013! Yay!

What I Learned From Reading Andrea Dale’s “‘Golf’ Spelled Backwards”

It’s no secret that I love a good erotica, and when I think of good erotica, the name Andrea Dale immediately comes to mind.  Then you throw in some complex characters, a little bondage and some steamy sex and, well, you’ve had me at…you know.

In Andrea Dale’s, “Golf” Spelled Backwards, the unconventional tale of submissive male and dominant female, Corporate careered and handsome devil Daniel is referred to confident and clever Anastasia.  And boy, did he learn his lesson.

Of course, with a title like this one, I dove in expecting the unexpected and Ms. Dale didn’t disappoint.  Through unconventional and pleasurable means, Anastasia taught Daniel to control his swing and his urges, among other naughty things.

I appreciated Ms. Dale’s innovative approach to the bondage theme.  An old school fool like me general expects one to be tied up, down or around, but it was a joy discovering how and to what Ms. Dale decided to bind her submissive character.

I was in no way expecting the final twist in which the teacher unwittingly becomes the student, because the story had constant twists and turns that had me on the edge of… let’s just finish that with my seat. Yes, I was kept on the edge of my seat.

Er hmm…

I’m going to end this review with a confession. I spelled golf backward in my head before I began the story, and I had my eyes peeled for a flog during the entire read, so here’s a spoiler:  No one got flogged, at least not in the conventional sense.

The word flog is relevant, however, so get Alison Tyler’s Big Book of Bondage, read Andrea Dale’s “Golf” Spelled Backwards, and do your research, kids.  I did mine, and thoroughly enjoyed it through and through.

Breathe…

2013 so far has been a time of transition.  It’s not often that I talk about my day job and that’s because I don’t really like to think about it all that much.  And I hope to one day, and one day soon, be able to let it go and go at writing/editing full time.  There have been changes on the 9-5 and lots of things are up in the air, and I don’t like how anxious that makes me feel.

I don’t often feel in over my head, and I don’t necessarily feel that way now, but I’m also going through a trying time with my daughter, her autism and her school.  At the moment, and I do life moment to moment, I have to, things are, well… okay.

I’m also working on the transition, or rather the balance between writer and editor, seeing things through different eyes and remembering the difference between the two.  It’s been interesting. I’m receiving lots of submissions to my Can’t Get Enough call for Cleis, more than I ever thought I would, and with a whole month still to go.  Bring it on, babes.

I’m also concentrating on being a more consistent writer, even when I’m not submitting.  I’m getting into the habit of writing something everyday, even if it’s for no one but me.

Productivity, you see?

 

Sick and…

…well, you know the rest.

Who knew that a sore throat could last more than a week, even with medication?  So, I hesitate to say that life has gotten in the way, but it happens.  It’s well… life.

I am continuing to write through it all, having progressed one story to the final editiing stage and steadily adding to the word count of another.  The deadline for both is the end of January, beginning of February.  I am also staring down the deadline of my own anthology (Can’t Get Enough for Cleis Press), for which I’ve received a good many submissions, and am happily accepting more until February 15th (see below or my call at Erotica Readers and Writers Association).  I need to write my own story for that as well.

I’m also dealing with life issues, bumps in the road with my daughter, her situation and the school system, but nothing I’m not used to and certainly nothing I can’t handle.

Whatever, whoever, whenever, bring it on.

New Year, new…

Yeah, I don’t buy into all that, though I do like the idea of fresh starts, be they at the beginning of a new year, or the dawn of a new day.  Needless to say, I haven’t resolved to do or not do anything in 2013.  I’m just happy to still be alive and kicking, and still have the ability and opportunity to write and publish.

I didn’t do a 2012 wrap-up post, but it was my first year publishing with the new-ish imprint Mischief Books.  I also signed my very first contract to edit an anthology, Can’t Get Enough, with Cleis Press, which I hope will lead to other opportunities editing wise.

There were some exciting releases, like my stories in Zane’s Z-Rated and Kathleen Warnock and Jewelle Gomez’s Best Lesbian Erotica 2013.

I’ve been more diligent in my writing, actually finishing and submitting things on a regular basis.  I’m still waiting to hear back on some things, but I’m confident that 2013 will be a great year in publishing (fingers crossed).

I am actively working on being more organized, though, hence the picture above where I’ve put most of my contributor’s copies in a box since they were spread all over the house and I have twins who can read well now.  Otherwise, I want to continue doing what I’m doing, just more often and of course, better.