Acceptance

Well this morning I got good news regarding a short story I submitted a while ago. It has been accepted but what its about and what it's been accepted in I can't yet say (but as soon as I can I will so watch this space!).

Hopefully this month will bring more good news as I have a lot of stories in various anthologies right now. As soon as I can give information on any of them I will do!

In other news I finished the short story I was working on yesterday and even got started on some proposals which I'm very pleased about. Now today's goal is to get to the 3000 mark on another short story and work on one more proposal. 

Since I've been setting small daily goals for myself I've found that I've been able to focus on my writing - will I continue doing this? I'm not sure but we shall have to wait and see.

In the meantime don't forget to check out my icy winter story Cold Fire

Excerpt:

The trail ahead was dark. Now that she was in the forest, she could no longer see the ground in front of her. Stumbling, she fell, her foot catching on a tree root. Crying out in pain, Alice forced herself to get back up and continue to run. In the distance dogs barked, and she could hear the sounds of her pursuers breaking through the undergrowth.
Straining to breathe, Alice ran on, stumbling at almost every step. Moving through the forest was hard going, every movement causing sharp pains to shoot through her bare feet. Sweat dripped into her eyes, making them sting and her vision blur. Wiping it away didn’t help, yet she kept on running.
Alice had no idea how much time had passed as she ran, nor in which direction she was headed. It was a moment before she noticed that the forest in front of her was beginning to thin and grow lighter. Running towards the area, she felt the earth underfoot quickly become wet and soft, then grow hard and bitterly cold. She began to lose all feeling in her feet as they pounded against soil that steadily became frozen the further she ran. The dogs sounded closer and she heard the men shouting. Turning, she caught a glimpse of their torches before her foot caught on an unseen obstacle, twisting underneath her. She hit the forest floor hard. Pain shot through her foot and up her leg, as she clawed at the remains of the fallen leaves, writhing in the cold. She rolled over to face the men as their shadowy forms moved through the trees towards her.

Busy busy busy

Well as usual I have been crazily busy but don't think I'm not writing!

In the next coming weeks I have an anthology coming out called Sun, Sea & Seduction. It's my second all female anthology and one I'm definitely looking forward to seeing out there. I will give you all more information about it once it's out!

In the meantime I'm working on a number of short stories for various anthologies and story submission calls I've been sent. At the same time as that I'm working on a longer story based around pirates, this is a new avenue for me as it's requiring a lot of research. Of course the trouble with research is that I have a tendency to find lots of other interesting pieces of information which spark off more ideas. So expect a glut of pirate stories from me next year!

With it suddenly becoming November (I'm really not totally sure where October went) we are moving closer to Christmas and winter, so don't forget to check out my frosty story Cold Fire.

In his ice palace Kevalan spends his time visiting different planes bringing cold and ice at certain times of the year. On a brief visit to one he rescues a young woman. He carries her to his palace for her safety all the while worried about his feelings for her. He only has one night on this world is it enough to form a strong enough bond, and why does she look upon him so fearfully?

 

Snow day!

Well today I wasn't in my other work, the reason for this was a large amount of snow. Granted this snow probably wasn't as deep as most places around the world have it but Britain has this unique abillity to close down when a few drops of snow are sighted. 

So with my snow day I focused on framing some artwork for an upcoming exhibition I have. However I have also been working on various stories that have been popping up in my mind, whilst attempting to focus on just two. 

The majority of my writing has been upon Cold Fire 2 with an idea that I  have been playing with since the original Cold Fire came out. As its been going along the story has turned into something I wasn't expecting but I think that's a good thing. It's very unlike the original Cold Fire with the focus being upon those who are affected by the coming cold (slightly appropriate considering how I'm presently snowed in!) and is set upon a jungle world (which is mentioned within the original Cold Fire).

I'll let you all know how it goes, and keep everyone updated about it.

Book of the Month - Cold Fire

 This month's (well November/ December really) book is my winter fantasy Cold Fire. This was written with fairy tales in mind. I wanted to write a story based around a fairy tale but not finding one I really liked I made my own:

Beware the Maiden-eater, my child, when the night is longest.
Through snow and ice he does creep,
Taking those who dare to sleep deep within his land.
Long in body and quick of mind he is,
Filled with powers to take you whilst you sleep and dream.
Beware the Maiden-eater, my child, when the night is longest.

And so Cold Fire was born.

This is one of my favourite stories that I have written for two reasons. First I have a real penchant for fantasy stories - although to date this is my only fantasy story that has been released (though watch this space). Secondly I helped design part of the cover with the background actually being some of my own artwork.

I do love the cover!

And so here is the blurb for the book:

In his ice palace Kevalan spends his time visiting different planes bringing cold and ice at certain times of the year. On a brief visit to one he rescues a young woman. He carries her to his palace for her safety all the while worried about his feelings for her. He only has one night on this world is it enough to form a strong enough bond, and why does she look upon him so fearfully?

And now! A little excerpt to tease

“So, tell me, what am I called here?”
His question confused Alice.
“Here? You mean you don’t live here all the time?”
“Of course I don’t, I am needed in many different places. I am known as Jack Frost in some places, and on the jungle world of Ithary, I am known as the Coldbringer.”
“Well, here I guess we know you as Maiden-eater.”
“Ah yes, that was it. You know it’s actually my personal favourite, although, no doubt the reason you tell your young I’m called that is wrong too?”
“Well I don’t know, but I guess it must be. You don’t seem to be an evil person.”
He laughed once more. Throughout their conversation, Alice had found it hard to concentrate on the words, and instead found herself gazing at the body of the man across from her. He was a good head and shoulders taller than she was, and much broader than any of the men from her village. He had about him an air of royalty, and yet he wasn’t frail and small of stature like the Lord, but instead seemed so strong and full of life. She was attracted to him, his clothes tight enough to show his muscular build. As each toned muscle flexed under his clothes, Alice sighed, her mind a whirl of thoughts, many of them focused on wondering what he would look like naked. He didn’t seem anything like the figure mentioned in the stories, yet the reputation he had had to come from somewhere.

Cold Fire can be bought here:
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Fire-ebook/dp/B003XNTTQ2/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1353527955&sr=1-2
Phaze: http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Cold+Fire/exact_match=exact

First Cold Fire Review

Once a book out authors all find themselves on tenterhooks waiting to see how the story will go down with the readers and reviewers.

I was sent the first review of Cold Fire the other day and it's just great.

Here is a copy of it but you can find the original here: http://www.paranormalromance.org/reviews/review.php?id=28735

In Coldfire we meet Kevalan, the lonely bringer of ice and snow, who finds himself wanting more from this human, Alice. He saved her from her fate of being caught by a group of men. Bringing her to his palace, he realizes that he doesn't want her to leave, but to stay with him.

Upon awakening, Alice finds herself face to face with the 'eater of maidens' that she remembered hearing about when she was a child. She is scared, yet she believes that he is not the monster that the stories told of. Alice had only been with him for one day and she comes into her own with the 'icy' treats that he has in store for her. Will Alice go back to her home or will she stay with Kevalan?

Coldfire is a story about a different type of immortal. Nicole Gestalt has written a fabulous piece that will keep you warm and cozy under your covers, seeing that the bringer of ice and snow has a hotter side to him that nobody could have ever imagined. This story will keep you reading to the very end and you'll find magic and fire around every corner. This is a fabulous story and a must read! I will be looking forward to reading more by Nicole Gestalt.

Reviewed by Ruth Schaller
Posted July 23, 2008

Cold Fire is now available!

I would proudly like to announce the ‘birth’ of my newest ebook Cold Fire.

This short story is the first fantasy that I have written but I am very proud of it. I hope that this book will be shortly followed by others linking into the story since this one touches upon planar travel, and of course a sexy fantastical ‘ice man’

Here is the blurb:

In his ice palace Kevalan spends his time visiting different planes bringing cold and ice at certain times of the year. On a brief visit to one he rescues a young woman. He carries her to his palace for her safety all the while worried about his feelings for her. He only has one night on this world is it enough to form a strong enough bond, and why does she look upon him so fearfully?

For a hot excerpt visit here (but be warned 18+ only and it is not work safe!): http://phazebooksexcerpts.blogspot.c...e-gestalt.html

Cold Fire is available for only $2, so go and get yourself a hot slice of ice!

ISBN 978-1-59426-828-1

You can presently buy it from: http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Cold+Fire

If you would like to talk to me about my ebook you will be able to find me at the Realms of Love chat tomorrow 9pm EDT/6pm PDT/2am GMT. The website: http://www.realmsoflove.com/

You will need to join the site first but it is free and you will be able to talk to some fantastic erotica authors

All done!

So the final edits for Cold Fire went back and the story is now back with the publisher for proofreading and final jiggling of the file format etc... I'm very excited about Cold Fire, although I hated thinking about doing the edits actually doing them was a good thing for me. It meant I re-connected with the characters and it's sparked off lots of ideas for sequels.

It also meant that I had an excuse to work solely on one piece of writing. I'm so glad that the edits turned up when I was feeling slightly better because if they had turned up earlier there was going to be no way I would have been able to get them done so quickly.

Now they are all done I can focus on other projects once more. I really need to get focused on a good number of them but life at the moment isn't allowing me to just concentrate on them. Hopefully one day soon! (but don't worry I'm still writing, I'm presently working on some short 2k pieces for various submissions)

The end of April

So it looks like April is going to go by without an acceptance, although I do have some maybes on pieces I sent out this month - I wont know about them until their deadline is up and that's not till sometime later this year. Still I got a lot of writing done in April so I'm happy with that.

Yesterday's writing however didn't go so well, I got a bit done on the Melting Point 2, but then had to go away from the computer which meant I couldn't continue it. So instead I wrote a few words on a new short piece for a website that I'm hoping to submit a number of pieces to. I have the first piece I did for them waiting to be typed up but I don't think I'll do that know until I have the one that's currently being written finished.

May will see me hopefully producing a lot more work, and submitting even more. I've not submitted a huge amount in April so I'm going to rectify that next month. Then of course Coming Together: With Pride will be out in June so I'm going to start the promo of that.

In the next few months I've got a busy schedule ahead of me. June/July sees the release of Coming Together: With Pride in which Freedom to Serve a short m/f BDSM piece is featured. The end of July will see the release of Cold Fire and then sometime after August Rekindling the Spark will be out.

Both Cold Fire and Rekindling the Spark are with the editor now so here's to edits!

Cold Fire Cover

I am pleased and very happy to unveil the cover for Cold Fire. It was made for me by the wonderful Celia Kaye. I was a bit nervous about this cover because it's the first one I have had any input on, however I am very happy with the result. In fact it's an even more exciting moment for me because the background of the cover is actually a piece of my encaustic artwork.

Anyway I hope you all like it. Cold Fire is penned to be released on 21st July, and there will be more information coming to you all soon.

Enjoy!




Celia Kyle: http://www.celiakyle.com/
LS Designs: http://www.lsdesigns.net/
Write. Read. Romance.: http://writereadromance.com/