Showing posts with label In Appreciation of their Cox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label In Appreciation of their Cox. Show all posts

Thursday, 25 January 2018

Alma mater

My recently published story In Appreciation of their Cox is set in the city and university of Durham, in the north of England, though you won't see the name of the university anywhere in the text.


It was an amazing place to live as a student, sort of like Hogwarts - a "city" only in name, because it has a magnificent cathedral, but smaller than most towns, and centred around a wooded historical peninsula.



It has a castle too - which is one of the colleges that make up the university.


Yeah, we we're a privileged bunch in EVERY sense...

Durham was where I did my degree, and though I never rowed, the rowing teams were a very visible part of college life. I certainly knew where the college boat house was.



Durham was where I first discovered that I liked Indian food. It was where I first got drunk (I was a slow starter with a sheltered childhood, okay...). It was where I found LOADS OF FRIENDS who I felt I really had things in common with for the first time in my life. I joined the Games Society, ran my own Call of Cthulhu games, and I started LARPing.


I got laid at last (TOLD you I was a slow starter!). I lost my religion.

Oh the relief

I've still got many of those friends. I'm married to one of them right now. And I still LARP ...
... which is quite frankly one of the reasons I need a bigger house


As I prepare to move house now, in 2018, I'm aware that I don't really attach to places I live. I won't feel sad about moving home - I'm excited by the change. Durham was an exception to that rule, perhaps the only one in my adult life. Leaving in 1989 was difficult and unpleasant, and I don't think I got over it or properly detached for years.

In Appreciation of their Cox is mostly a joyous gangbang story about fit young people - no, I did NOT do that at university, sorry to disappoint y'all - but it's also a nostalgic elegy to a place I will always love and a meditation on letting go.

BUY-LINK

Monday, 22 January 2018

Blue Monday

Every Monday I post a naughty excerpt for your entertainment!

Today I am delighted to announce that In Appreciation of their Cox - my second self-published venture and the first with a "red for erotica" cover - is UP ON SALE at Amazon and elsewhere 😍

Eight tall, muscular men straining every sinew, and one itty-bitty young woman urging them on with all her might. That’s rowing for you.

Joanna is a coxswain for a top British university rowing team. She spends her days with eight tall, handsome, muscular men in tight shorts, and she adores every one of them, but she’s never succumbed to temptation and done anything naughty with any of them. Her relationship with her rowers has been strictly professional and sporting. Until now, that is.

Now she’s leaving the university and there’s one last celebratory meal for the team. Tonight, all eight men get to show their enthusiastic cox their heartfelt appreciation in a demonstration no one will ever forget…

“Who’s going to fuck me?” I whisper.

“All of us,” Murray answers, running his hand up his engorged member all the way to the glistening head. “Can you take it, Coxey?”

I nod, mesmerized. My pussy is aching to be filled. I want all of them inside me at once, though that’s obviously impossible. “Who’s going to fuck me first?”


“Stroke goes first,” says Murray. “Of course he does.”

It makes sense. They’re used to following the Stroke’s lead in the boat. He’s first among equals. Even Fergus doesn’t object when Nils picks me up from my knees and clasps me to him, wrapping my legs about his hips. I can feel his cock poking my butt and I wonder if he’s going to try to do it just like that, standing and holding me up—it’s not impossible, I feel like a doll in his huge embrace—but he carries me back over to the bar counter. The others gather round to watch. Seven more men, wanting their turn.

Oh hell, I think. It’s suddenly become real, not just a lovingly honed fantasy. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? They’re going to fuck me. They’re all going to fuck me. They’re going to take it in turns to bang my cunt and my mouth and fill me with their come.

And I’m so wet that it’s running out down the crack of my ass.

“Hold on tight.” Nils’ grey eyes are cold, implacable, focused. The eyes of a champion rower.

I grab the brass rail behind my hips with both hands while he takes my weight, grasping my butt cheeks and shifting the angle between our bodies. Someone—it’s Bradley—goes behind the bar. He’s not just after a good vantage point down my body, he takes my shoulders to give me something to brace on, for which I’m grateful. Murray’s got my camera now, I notice. He’s grinning at the view screen.

“Now call time, Cox,” my Stroke says.

“Leg,” I breathe.

Nils slides me down over his helm with a smooth expertise, finding the notch and the hole.

“Drive.”

He pushes deep into me, turning my world upside down with the sensation. My eyes spring wide open.

“Now!”

He twists his hips, ramming right home, grinding my clit. I add an extra gasp to the sequence that shouldn’t really be there, and groan, “Glide!” as he slips into the withdrawal stroke. “Leg; Drive; Now; Glide…” I repeat, watching the familiar bead of sweat gather at the indent of his upper lip. Over and over.

Rowing is about rhythm. And discipline. And pain. The men watch, breathless and avid. There’s just enough of my brain functioning to wonder whether Nils was fantasizing about this every time he sat in front of me in the shell and pulled an oar to my orders. But most of my attention is demanded by the gathering knot of tension in my sex, a glow that gets brighter and fiercer and crueler as it contracts to a focal point, like the bead of light thrown by a magnifying glass that becomes an unbearably brilliant point, then ignites the tinder beneath it—and quite suddenly I am ignited too and burning, all rhythm abandoned and even the power of speech lost, as Nils thrusts into me and my legs kick helplessly and every muscle in my body contracts and spasms along with my orgasm. It’s a very loud one.

Nils comes too upon hearing me climax, uttering only a single grunt, his face barely changing expression but his jiz gushing into the tight grip of my pussy. Then he grabs me up and holds me against his chest, and I’m so fucking relieved because despite Bradley’s support my arms are shaking with strain. That’s when Nils kisses me. My heart turns over and seems to bloom. He’s Stroke—he sets the example, and they’ll all follow. The kiss is tender and deep, and though he must be able to taste Darren’s cum on my tongue he’s not bothered. It’s a kiss of utter satisfaction. He breaks it at last with a little sigh, and then spins on his heels with a barked laugh, whirling me about as if we’re dancing, and I clench my thighs and cling tight to him even as my hands fly free. With a little wuff of breath he slows and lays me down on my back, on a sturdy table. Gently he slips his cock from its sheath. “Thank you,” he says, which makes me laugh.

I close my eyes for a moment, dizzy not just from the spinning, my limbs loose and heavy. My head is lolling off the lip of the short table, my back supported but my thighs hanging over the edge.

“Well,” says Fergus. “If we’re going in order…”

Fergus rows in the seven seat, directly behind Nils. He’s the buffer between Stroke and the middle four. Now he takes Nils’ place between my thighs. I see he’s got a bottle of champagne from behind the bar, and he gives it a little shake.

“Hold her legs up, will you?”

Two of the guys raise my calves. That’s much more comfortable for me. I lift my head to watch Fergus unscrewing the twist of wire that holds the caged cork. There’s a ripe pop like a giant’s kiss and as the cork goes flying the champagne heaves and rushes from the neck of the bottle just like the gush of spunk, some flying out in an arc, some spurting out between Fergus’ fingers and slopping down the bottle. It lands on my spread pussy, a cold shock on those inflamed tissues and a delicious fizzy fountain on my pubic mound, slopping and dribbling down my thighs and into the split of my behind to run onto the floor. It lands on my stomach too, and as Fergus reaches forward, thumb over the bottle-mouth, he directs the squirt of white foam on my belly and breasts, making me arch my back at the sudden shock of the chilled wine. It goes over my throat and my chin and I open my mouth wide to gulp the fizzing ejaculate.



In Appreciation of their Cox is a  10K short story - you can find it on various stores here:


Wednesday, 10 January 2018

Pun-believable


I'm British. A terrible weakness for puns has been imprinted onto what passes for my brain by the all-dominating national culture, particularly the news media:


And yes that includes the BBC, that bastion of respectability:



In fact there seems to be some law that every hairdresser in the land HAS to have a goddawful punning name:



And this chippy is but five minutes from my house:

I admit to several punny titles for my short stories over the  years: Going Out with a Bang: The Icing on the Cake: Issues and Returns: Grinding. But John the cover artist for my soon-to be-republished story howled in complaint at this one!


I don't know what his problem is!

The best title I ever saw for an erotic story, btw, was Exes and Whys - which I believe was by Nikki Magennis. Puns don't have to be crude double-entendres ...

But it doesn't hurt 😜

Wednesday, 3 January 2018

Cover reveal: In Appreciation of Their Cox




Here's the cover for the second of my self-published works, which I intend to release this month!

In Appreciation of Their Cox is a rollicking rowing-club gang-bang. It was originally printed by Ellora's Cave in 2010 but has reverted to me and will be available for FREE as it's only 10K or so. You'll note that this cover is red for Erotica, not blue for Romance 😛

"Eight tall, muscular men straining every sinew, and one itty-bitty young woman urging them on with all her might. That’s rowing for you."

old cover

Friday, 13 October 2017

Big reveal - and a new cover

cover by JH

I'm going for it. I'm going to do the self-publishing thing!

I've had THREE publishers kick the bucket on me this year and I'm fed up. So I'm going to take my reverted works and publish them directly, starting with The King's Viper above, so that they are easily available to readers at low low prices.

I know what you're all thinking - "Janine, that's not a proper genre cover!" Well, I don't care. I never liked romance covers much, and I don't want to get lost in the crowd, and it's not as if I've ever made huge sales in Romance anyway. So I'm going to build myself a brand. Blue covers for Romance, red covers for Erotica.

If all goes well with this first one my plans - after some very careful checking of my contracts - are:

Romance:
The King's Viper (ex-Ellora's Cave, Game of Thrones stylee political fantasy)
Heart of Flame (ex-Samhain, Arabian Nights fantasy)
Bound in Skin (ex-Cat Scratch Books, Victorian werewolf novella)
The Grief of the Bond-Maid (ex-Storm Moon Press, Viking magic novella)

Erotica:
In Appreciation of Their Cox (ex-Ellora's Cave rowing short)
Melusine (ex-Sweetmeats Press, fantasy short)
A Wicked Muse (collection of short story reprints, mostly from Cleis)

Horror:
That Ought to Crawl (short stories)
The Collected Gillian Troth Stories (2 vols, paranormal satire)

That should keep me busy for some time! We'll see how it goes...

"What about Named and Shamed?" you might ask. "What about the Fierce Enchantments collection? Haven't they reverted too?"

Heheheh - I've slightly different plans on that front. Watch this space!
😈

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Orphan books


Some good news and some bad...

The good news is this LOVELY, fun review of Summer Seduction over at Samantha MacLeod's blog. She totally gets the C.S Lewis angle I started from!

Liz doesn’t exactly find a magical passage to Narnia waiting for her in Enniswitrin House… but what she does find might be even better.
The magical world Ashbless creates in Summer Seduction is fascinating and believable, in the way that dark, old fairy tales and myths are believable. And this is some seriously fabulous erotica; these are the most exciting and imaginative sex scenes I’ve read.
Thank you Samantha!

The bad news is that publisher Ellora's Cave is officially closing down. Which means that Summer Seduction and its sequel Falling Deep are going to be removed from sale at the end of the year. As is my very first dark romance The King's Viper (available in paperback btw, so grab it before it goes up to insane out-of-print prices), and gangbang romp In Appreciation of Their Cox



I guess I'll look into self-publishing them, since all rights are going to be reverted. And I do intend to finish the Lovers' Wheel quartet! But it will take a while to get everything back up on Amazon...

Monday, 14 March 2016

Blue Monday

Every Monday I post a naughty excerpt for your entertainment!

Today's excerpt is from my most pun-tastic title ever, In Appreciation of Their Cox. It's about a university rowing team, of course :-)


Eight tall, muscular men, straining every sinew, and one itty-bitty young woman urging them on with all her might.

Joanna is the coxswain for a British university rowing crew, all of them fit and muscular and hot. Although she’s fantasized about each of the men, she has always been careful to keep her relations with them strictly platonic. But now she’s leaving for a new job— and they'’re going to have a farewell party they will never forget, as all Jo’'s wildest dreams come true on this final night together.



“Hey,” says Nils, “the door is locked. We have all night.”

The turning of fantasy to concrete possibility makes my heart thump and evokes a warm gush inside me that seeps to my panties. I look around the room, making myself meet their gazes. I see a lot of grins and lifted eyebrows but there’s something in their eyes that says it’s not being taken just as a joke.

“You used to that sort of thing back home, Nils?” wonders Zeke.

“Not much else to do on the long arctic nights,” Ed suggests.

“You’re not serious, are you, Coxey?” asks Murray.

I bite my lip.

“You really want to, Jo?” Bradley asks.

I focus on Darren. His jaw is twisted to the side, his eyes round. This might be too much for him at his age. Hell, is it not too much for me? “Um,” I say, helpfully. “It’s a…” The words clog in my throat. “It’d have to be all of you, you know. That’d be the point.”

There’s a silence. I look down into my whisky. I can feel my clit swollen, my knickers sodden. I want to wriggle where I sit but I don’t dare.

“Well, nobody’s walking out,” Murray observes.

That was it, my get-out clause. I’d expected someone to cut and run. Bradley maybe. Or Ed. I sneak a sideways look at Ed. He’s gnawing his lip, but he nods at me very slightly. “Oh,” I say. “Well. Um.” I think I’m starting to hyperventilate, because I’m feeling lightheaded. “I’ve not really got any idea where to start.”

Murray gets up from his table. “Let’s start with a game then,” he says, coming over and holding out his hands to me. Nils takes my drink, and I slip both hands into Murray’s and let him help me down from the bar. I’m not sure my legs could hold me up unaided now. I’m churning inside with heat and arousal and trepidation. He leads me into the middle of the room to stand on the only rug. “Ed, can I borrow your tie?”

Ed of course wore a tie to dinner. He likes to observe the niceties, even if the tie is hanging like a noose around his open collar at the moment. He strips it off and hands it to Murray. I wonder if I’m going to be tied up when he circles behind me, but what he does in fact is blindfold me with a couple of turns.

“Okay?” he whispers. The effect of his disembodied voice and his warm whisky-scented breath on my ear is to make shivers run all across my skin.

I nod.

He tightens the knot. Lifting my chin, he surprises me with a soft kiss. Then he addresses the others. “Come on then, gentlemen.”

They move in. I hear the rasp of chairs and the whisper of their clothes, their breathing, the little murmurs they make in their throats. They surround me. I’m not sure if Murray is directing with gestures or it’s spontaneous, but they start to touch me and strip me. I’m not wearing that much, just a short dress and a bra-and-panty set beneath, no stockings or slip on this summer night. Hands glide over my skin as the fabric is tugged away. I can’t guess how many of them are able to reach me at a time, I can’t tell who it is who’s touching me. They’re just hands, callused and blistered from the oars, gentle but insistent. Someone fumbles at the catch of my bra, someone else hooks down the lace cups with his fingers. My nipples pebble as they’re exposed to the cellar air, and instantly they’re tested and tweaked and flicked and someone bends to give one a quick lick. My breasts are small to fit with my slight build, but they’re squeezed and jiggled appreciatively. Fingertips caress the length of my spine, making me shiver. Even my hair is stroked, my ears tickled. Now that I’m suddenly no longer forbidden territory they are curious and eager. My bottom is fondled, my panties pulled down, the cleft of my ass invaded by exploring fingers as, from the front, someone else strokes my pussy. It’s exhilarating and scary and confusing, my brain a whirl of sensation with no visual picture to make sense of the touches to my skin. I smell their colognes and hear them chuckle and whisper, and I squirm and lean into their hands and whimper with pleasure.

“Now,” says Murray as a hand presses down on my shoulder, “Kneel down, Jo.”

I slip to my knees, my body more naked now that the hands are withdrawn. The only apparel they’ve left on me are my red shoes with the four-inch heels.

“This game is called Cocks for the Cox.”

Sniggers and a few protests at the pun. I grin, half in fear. My sex feels hot and heavy, brimming with juice.

“Your job is to guess which cock belongs to which man, Jo. No peeking now.” He takes my head in his hands and tilts me forward. Something smooth and warm bumps my lips, nudging them apart as it presses home. It’s the glans of a cock of course. I taste salt and soap, feel a slippery ooze against the tip of my tongue as I accept the turgid swell of flesh. Whoever it is tilts his hips, encouraging me to take it farther, and I open my mouth to suck it slowly within, exploring the contours of that crown with my tongue. There’s a collective sigh of breath from every angle. I know they’ve circled me now, they’re all around. Stretching my neck and opening wide, I admit the thick shaft right down to my throat. Hair tickles my nose. It’s a solid, stout cock but not that long. Tentatively I lift my hand to his crotch, finding fabric and the teeth of the zipper. He’s still wearing his trousers, but his fly is wide open and he’s holding his pants up as he rocks pleasurably in the warm embrace of my mouth. His scrotum is hairy and very big, bulging from the V of his fly. It’s the size of that sac that gives him away.

With a final swirl of my tongue I withdraw and lick my lips. “Jon.”

A rueful grunt from over my head, and appreciative sniggers all round. “Got it. That’s some mouth you’ve got, Coxey.”

“Next,” says Murray, and hands swivel me on my knees. The next cock is long and smooth, with a sharp flavor reminiscent of chardonnay. A moment’s careful exploration convinces me it has no foreskin, and that makes me more than half-sure I know the answer. I suck enthusiastically though, in no hurry to make my guess, and explore his groin with my fingers. His pubes are trimmed back nearly to a stubble. It’s slightly distracting when someone behind me slips a hand beneath the curve of my bum and strokes my pussy, parting the puffy lips to lay open the wet furrow and plow it with a finger.

“Zeke,” I gasp, pulling clear.

“Oh fuck, man,” he groans, wrapping his fingers in my hair and pulling my face back so he can rub his dick all over it. I open my mouth, more than willing to let him sheathe his tool again, but Murray is feeling mean—or impatient.

“Uh-uh. Next.”

Next is Ed, I’m sure of it. He’s only half-hard, at least until I start sucking. Then he stiffens up admirably. I wonder if he’s shut his eyes or he’s just looking at all those other rampant cocks. I give him the full works, trying not to be overwhelmed by the two unknown hands caressing my pussy and the finger delicately circling the pucker of my asshole. But when that wicked digit, slick with my own juices, prods into the ring of muscle, I sit up hard, my heart hammering.

“Ed! And stop that!”

Murray chuckles.


Buy In Appreciation of Their Cox at 
Ellora's Cave :: Amazon UK :: Google Play


Friday, 9 September 2011

Just Good Friends


Well, I feel like a proud Grandmother! Or maybe the carrier of a virulent disease, depending on how you look at it ...

A few months ago a reader called Jennifer Denys wrote to me saying she'd been so keen to get her hands on my In Appreciation of Their Cox that she'd done her first ever download ... and that after that things had snowballed. She'd found a load of erotic romance she loved, and now she'd written one of her own. So I encouraged her and pointed her in the direction of the ERWA submissions page (Seriously, if you want to publish erotica or erotic romance, that is the webpage you need to start at) and wished her luck.

And this week, Jennifer Denys' first novella, Just Good Friends, has been e-published by Siren! She sent me a copy! Here's the blurb:

When Sam accidentally discovers Jessie’s secret stash of erotic romances, he is astounded but fascinated, so he pretends to be interested in this genre to persuade his shy best friend to start discussing her favorite erotic romances instead of their usual sci-fi.
Then, at one of their discussions, Sam stuns Jessie by suggesting they try out for real a scenario they are reading. Not having had a lover for fifteen years but intrigued to see where this will go, she agrees. So they begin to investigate various aspects that appear in the books, such as bondage, spanking, sex toys, etc.—not always with the same effect the author intended. Some laughs ensue, some tears, and lots of improvisation.
As they continue their explorations, Sam relishes his role as the dominant sexual while Jessie gains confidence in her sexuality. Soon, they realize they are more than just good friends.


This is a light-hearted, sweet, romantic story about a couple of book-loving friends with a mutual love of Sci-Fi (yay! nerdsex!). Jessie's buttoned-down in some ways, but their openness to exploration and to each other is heartwarming. The characters come across as really likeable people well suited to each other. A whole bunch of real books are used as inspiration for their games and I spotted In Appreciation of their Cox at the end of Chapter Five :-D


I'm just delighted and honoured to have helped inspire a new author. So go on - buy a copy. But be careful, you may catch the bug and end up writing one of your own :-)

Jennifer's author webpageJust Good friends

Friday, 7 January 2011

Rowing result!


Another lovely review for my rowing story In Appreciation of Their Cox, this time from Romance Writers Reviews, who gave it 4 stars:


I learned things I never knew. Interesting information on rowing without making it dull or dragged out.


Glad for the brief glossary at the beginning. Good play on words that could have gone further but this book didn't over do it.


This is a very erotic short story with one girl and eight sexy muscular guys. Oh la la! Good for you girl. I hummed and hawed on the introduction thinking this could be just crude, you know with eight guys, but very surprisingly the guys have individual personalities that brought the men into a character and not just a body.


On the last day together the rowing team spend the night making all of Joanna's dreams come true and then some.


I don't remember my last night of college quite so energetic but then again I wasn't a coxswain.
Anyone got a cigarette?


Nice to see some people appreciate the glossary I was asked to write :-) Thanks RWR!

In Appreciation of Their Cox - download for $2.49 from Ellora's Cave.

Friday, 12 November 2010

Calendar Boys



See this video? Following the publication of my rowing story In Appreciation of their Cox, my editor at Ellora's Cave couldn't resist pointing out to everyone that Mills and Boon are selling a 2011 charity calendar themed around the Leander Rowing Club. Heh heh. Some impressive abs there!


But hold on - what if my heart is set on the Dieux du Stade calendar for 2011? Will I have to have both, on opposite walls? Will the space in between become a sort of microwave hotspot for muscular male inspiration? Will it make my head explode?



Of course, the calendar I really want everyone to get is this one:


You can buy it here. All proceeds go to lazy greyhounds in need of love and a good home.

And these are my two rescued lazydogs, hogging the bed as usual:


:-)

Thursday, 14 October 2010

Out today! - In Appreciation of Their Cox


How many men can you fall for at once? One? Two? How about a whole rowing eight? That's Jo's dilemma: she's the coxswain for a top university rowing crew. She loves her team. She would do anything for them. She fantasises about each one of the men, secretly. But she's never got intimate with any of them, because that would mess up the team dynamic.

Then the day comes when she has to leave. And Jo and her guys find a way of saying Goodbye that none of them will ever forget...

Yes, In Appreciation of Their Cox, my first e-story from Ellora's Cave, is out TODAY! At 10K it's a short novella and it costs a mere $2.49 to download in one of a variety of formats. It's a joyous, positive and utterly filthy read, I promise. Go on, go on, go on...
:-)

And here's an extract:



“What now?” asks Darren, hands in pockets. “Pubs are shut, but we could hit a club.”

“I’ve got the key to my college bar,” Fergus offers.

It’s always useful to have a friend on a bar committee. We set off, Ed and Fergus each taking one of my arms as we walk, and I feel a bit like Dorothy flanked by a golden-blond upper class scarecrow and a dark Scottish tin man.

I’m not saying which college we end up in, but if you’ve been there you’ll know it—it’s got the smallest, cutest, stone-flagged cellar-bar. Fergus bolts the door once he’s sneaked us inside and then serves us from the impressive array of whiskies. It’s Ed—who else?—who decides that this is the time for each of us to make a speech and a toast. Oh dear. Most of them choose to be humorous, and I laugh along, but there’s an undercurrent of imminent loss and I can feel a lump in my throat. This is far too much like goodbye already.

Zeke makes the penultimate speech and, being American, can say things that would make the rest of us horribly self-conscious, but we’re all in agreement as he expresses them. Then it’s my turn. Jon and Nils pick me up and sit me on the bar and I look round at eight expectant faces, feeling like my chest’s going to burst.

“Well,” I start at last. “What’s there left to say? I’ve got to agree with Zeke. Of course I need a few drinks before I can say it out loud, but… I love you guys.” I swallow hard. It is true, in every sense. Individually I like each one of them—and some I like very much—but as a group, as my crew, I’m head over heels in love with them. “It’s going to break my freakin’ heart to leave you.” My voice crumbles and as I look down, clearing my throat, Ed pats my thigh and Jon squeezes my hand. I laugh to cover my discomfort, coming out almost without thinking with the giggled line, “If you knew what I wanted to do to you guys…”

There’s a shift in the room, a holding of breath as they refocus. Maybe I have had too much to drink after all. The urge to confess is way too strong.

“If we knew…?” prompts Murray, tipping his chair back.

I snigger into the back of my hand. “You’d be shocked.” I can feel their eyes fixed on me.

“I bet I wouldn’t be.”

“Well, obviously not you, Murray. Nothing could possibly shock you.” Now I can feel my cheeks glowing.

“Do go on, Coxey. I think we’re all interested in hearing more.” There are grins and nods and mutters of encouragement.

“Um.” I giggle again. This is ridiculous, really. In the boat I’m all mouth, garrulous and articulate. Now I’m as tongue-tied as a fresher at her first tutorial. “You know…”

“Uh?”

“Mmm,” I squeak despairingly, rolling my eyes, letting my shame speak for itself.

“Seriously?” asks Fergus, with a crooked grin. He’s got a face as ugly-cute as a baby calf’s.

“Hell, Jo,” smirks Jon, scratching his throat.

“Hey,” says Nils, “the door is locked. We have all night.”

The turning of fantasy to concrete possibility makes my heart thump and evokes a warm gush inside me that seeps to my panties. I look around the room, making myself meet their gazes. I see a lot of grins and lifted eyebrows but there’s something in their eyes that says it’s not being taken just as a joke.

“You’re not serious, are you, Coxey?” asks Murray.

I bite my lip.

“You really want to, Jo?” Bradley asks.

I focus on Darren. His jaw is twisted to the side, his eyes round. This might be too much for him at his age. Hell, is it not too much for me? “Um,” I say, helpfully. “It’s a…” The words clog in my throat. “It’d have to be all of you, you know. That’d be the point.”

There’s a silence. I look down into my whisky. I can feel my clit swollen, my knickers sodden. I want to wriggle where I sit but I don’t dare.

“Well, nobody’s walking out,” Murray observes.

That was it, my get-out clause. I’d expected someone to cut and run. Bradley maybe. Or Ed. I sneak a sideways look at Ed. He’s gnawing his lip, but he nods at me very slightly. “Oh,” I say. “Well. Um.” I think I’m starting to hyperventilate, because I’m feeling lightheaded. “I’ve not really got any idea where to start.”

Murray gets up from his table. “Let’s start with a game then,” he says, coming over and holding out his hands to me. Nils takes my drink, and I slip both hands into Murray’s and let him help me down from the bar. I’m not sure my legs could hold me up unaided now. I’m churning inside with heat and arousal and trepidation. He leads me into the middle of the room to stand on the only rug. “Ed, can I borrow your tie?”

Ed of course wore a tie to dinner. He likes to observe the niceties, even if the tie is hanging like a noose around his open collar at the moment. He strips it off and hands it to Murray. I wonder if I’m going to be tied up when he circles behind me, but what he does in fact is blindfold me with a couple of turns.

“Okay?” he whispers. The effect of his disembodied voice and his warm whisky-scented breath on my ear is to make shivers run all across my skin.

I nod.

He tightens the knot. Lifting my chin, he surprises me with a soft kiss. Then he addresses the others. “Come on then, gentlemen.”



Available from Ellora's Cave
And if you like it, please write me a review on the website!

(If you've never downloaded an e-book before, it's easy from EC. I mean, I managed it straight away and if I can get it right anyone can.)

Friday, 17 September 2010

In Appreciation - new cover


Heh heh heh. Ellora's Cave have sent me the cover for my first story with them - In Appreciation of their Cox - and I can't help giggling every time I see it. It's shuffled up onto Page 2 of the Coming Soon Screen and is heading toward release on October 14th.

Here's the official blurb:

“Well, what we really need are small girls who are good at shouting and like hanging out with tall, muscular blokes.”
“Sign me up!”
And that was how I got into coxing.

Eight tall, muscular men straining every sinew, and one itty-bitty young woman urging them on with all her might.

Joanna is the coxswain for a British university rowing crew, all of them fit and muscular and hot. Although she’s fantasized about each of the men, she has always been careful to keep her relations with them strictly platonic. But now she’s leaving for a new job—and they’re going to have a farewell party that they will never forget, as all Jo’s wildest dreams come true on this final night together.

Yes - eight men! I outdid myself, I must say. Eight men and a lot of filthy fun.

Oh yes - and I've got an Ellora's Cave author page! Yay!  I intend to fill it with lovely goodies (and pink paddles) over the years to come.

But what I'm wondering is ... Why has nobody mentioned the pun in the title?

Wednesday, 25 August 2010

In Appreciation of my New Editor


I've just finished the fourth and final round of edits for my first Ellora's Cave story, In Appreciation of their Cox. My head is spinning. New publisher = new house style, new vocabulary, new grammar. For a start, I'm going to have to learn to write in American. And curb my semicolon fetish. And banish hyphens. Though luckily for me, this first time, my lovely editor did the job of working through 10K of story and altering all the single quotes to double quotes!

In Appreciation of their Cox is e-published on October 14th.

To say that Ellora's Cave have exacting standards would be to understate matters. Every sentence comes under scrutiny. I have been given a slew of files to assimilate into my life, including the mighty tome of House Style Rules (93 pages!!) which covers everything from the correct dirty words ("cunt" but not "hole" - unless it's anal - and never use "squirt"), to collective nouns, to lists of registered trademarks, to which character names are overused in romance and should be avoided. It's awesome. I am bowled over by such attention to detail and accuracy, and their concern for the perfecting the final product.

And Oh. My. God. I've been asked, for the first time in my career, to fill in an official form suggesting what the cover illustration of my story should look like. My editor has sent the art department videos of competition rowing so that they get the detail right. And she has asked them for an interior line drawing to make it all look even better.

I may be about to cry.

Wednesday, 11 August 2010

Cave Woman


This is me! Wheeee! I'm a Cavewoman! Dig my mammoth-hide bikini!

Ahem. Got a bit over-excited there, though for good reason. I have now signed my first contract with Ellora's Cave! YES!!

It's only for a 10K short story, so it's not quite time to gold-plate my bathtaps, but I certainly will be writing more for them in future. What can I say about Ellora's Cave? Well, I can tell you that their editors work weekends: I sent in the story on a Friday at 5pm, and had an offer to publish by Sunday teatime. They appear to be named after an amazing archaeological site. They already publish fellow smutwriters Sommer Marsden, Portia Da Costa and Charlotte Stein.

They are primarily an e-publisher, selling through Kindle, Sony and their own website - though most of their books go to print eventually. A big e-publisher: they shift 50,000 e-books a month, all in erotica and erotic romance. (My rowing story, In Appreciation of their Cox, is appearing in the non-romance section.)

Oh yeah: and they let you write fantasy and supernatural and science fiction to your heart's content.

I fall on my knees before the Sacred Mammoth of Good Luck and give thanks.