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Newsletter ~ June-July 2008 |
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I've been procrastinating. I know, I know -- it's hard to believe. *wink* There's been so much going on in my life that the task of encapsulating even a fraction of it in a newsletter is just damned daunting. But, I'm doing a radio show next Monday evening (July 14th) that I want to hype in this issue, so I am forcing myself to tackle the task. More about that in the Interviews & Appearances section below. Do you Twitter? I just started. No, it's not a bird fetish. It's a social networking site where you post brief messages about what you're doing. They appear on your page and are distributed to your "followers" (Sounds messianic, doesn't it?) via RSS feeds or SMS. Kinda cool. Kinda stalker-ish. So far, I've just observed a bunch of authors twittering at each other -- much like many other online promotion venues. It's entertaining, though. I'd be remiss if I didn't crow about the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, in which Coming Together: For the Cure WON the Erotica category and was a finalist in the Anthology category! How cool is that? I received a very pretty, Olympic-like, gold (tone) medallion on a ribbon, but *sigh* no cash prize. So, how have I been spending my time? Well, within the publishing world, I've been swamped with cover art for both Torquere Press and Phaze Books. I could easily do graphic arts full-time. It's very satisfying, but I do miss my other creative outlets. Then there's the "real job" that I hold just so I can get health insurance benefits. It takes a chunk of time. And the kids are off school for the summer, so there's that distraction. And I'm also trying to prepare for my partner to move in this fall, which--having had a solo bedroom for a while--is a bit of a challenge. And I'm in the process of registering Coming Together as a nonprofit voluntary association. And I'm planning to launch a new, private business venture... maybe. And... And... And... All excuses, I'm aware, but good ones. As for the writing, well... I'm determined to get back to it soon. Very soon. As in TOMORROW. First on the agenda is "Double Decker," my story for Sapphistocated. After that, Will & I are going to pen a short for Coming Together: At Last involving Vivian & Eddie from ArtiFactual. Then, it's back to my Urban Phaze novella (Succorae), the next book in the Erotique series (Missing Pieces), and the long-neglected Zane. So, if I don't Twitter about writing at least 500 words every day, please feel free to spank me. (Please?) Until next time ... peace & passion, ~ Alessia ~ * ~
New
Releases & Coming Soon
[TOP]
CONTENTS:
Three Phaze best-selling BDSM ebooks plus my bonus, award-winning short comprise this print anthology:
And the cover is just gorgeous, if I do *cough* say so myself!
Available for pre-order from Amazon! Check out the all-star lineup and read editor Rachel Kramer Bussel's Introduction on the Tasting Him blog. I'm thrilled to have "Down on the Beach" included in this collection.
In The PowerBook, Jeannette Winterson writes:
Sapphistocated
features four tales of mirror geography by four renowned authors of
lesbian erotic fiction: Beth Wylde,
Yeva Wiest, Jolie du Pré,
and yours truly.
~ * ~
Interviews & Appearances
[TOP]
In May, just after the
publication of my last newsletter, I appeared at the
Philadelphia Book Festival with a group of authors that
included Phaze colleagues Tilly Greene,
Stella Price, Leigh Ellwood,
Philippa Grey-Gerou, Bridget Midway,
Cat Johnson, and Robin Slick.
We had great weather on Saturday. Rains closed us down early on Sunday,
but it was still my most successful event to date. I'm beginning to
believe that book festivals might just be the best way to snag new
readers.
To that end, I'll be
attending EITHER the
Baltimore Book Festival OR the West
Hollywood Book Fair the weekend of September 27th. The former
assigns its space via lottery, so I won't know until early August if I got
a table. If I don't, however, I'll be jetting to California to join
my partner for the WeHo event.
Online, I have two
upcoming appearances on Passionate Internet Voices
Radio with host Lillian Cauldwell. The first is Monday
night, July 14th from 9:30 to 10:00 (Eastern) on All Romance
eBooks' What's Hot in Romance? weekly show where I'll be
promoting Coming Together: With Pride.
You can listen live or from the archives later. (I hope my voice recovers by then!) The second is a two-hour
Coming Together radiothon promoting all
volumes in the series scheduled for Sunday evening, July 27th from 9:00 to
11:00 (Eastern). Watch the Coming
Together blog for further details.
The good folks at Clean Sheets published "Past Perfect," my contribution
to Coming Together: With Pride,
as cross-promotion for the book. So, you can
read the entire story there for free. If
you like it, please pick up the book. All proceeds from its sale benefit
AVERT,
an international HIV/AIDS research & prevention charity.
On the promo blog:
I finally got around to converting to the new Blogger. While I tried to
keep things looking the same, you'll notice a few changes in the format.
(I converted all my blogs, actually, as well as the Phaze blogs.) As for
posting, I pimped the release of
Surrender, amused myself with
Wordle, crowed about Cyndi
Lauper's True Colors concert, shared a link to a fellow
author's
small press promo experiences, and hyped
a couple of Phaze sales.
At
MySpace: I announced my participation in
a print anthology of lesbian erotica from Phaze entitled
Sapphistocated, cross-posted some of
the promo blog stuff, and had a laugh about
"acoustical exuberance" during sex.
That's it for the blogging, unless you count Twitter
as a blog. I don't.
Poetry
[TOP]
On the poetry blog,
just one meager offering:
everybody's hero. I was daydreaming
about Rapunzel, and this perversion was born. Its characters -- damsel &
knight -- have been in the forefront of my imagination ever since,
demanding my attention, so they may eventually be written into a story.
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