Newsletter ~ April - May 2009

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*yawn* I have NO energy. However, I said I was going to update at the end of April, and here we are!

Will & I just returned from the Romantic Times BookLovers Convention in Orlando. It was a 14-hour trip each way. I have no regrets about the decision to drive, but... DAMN, it's uncomfortable to sit in that one space for so long. I think I'm still stretching out the kinks. (No, not THOSE kinks. Geez!)

The convention seemed... calmer than previous years, although it was certainly festive. Highlights included meeting Piers Anthony and L.A. Banks, as well as getting to spend time with new friend Robyn Carr again.  The eBook Expo seemed to run more smoothly this year, although the Wednesday afternoon time slot is hardly "prime time."  The Saturday Book Fair went well. I sold more than expected.

Okay, let's recap the past two months' travels:

First, EPICon (March 6-8) in Las Vegas. Will & I arrived early so we could participate in the book signing at the Erotic Heritage Museum with authors James Buchanan, Jolie du Pré, Helen E.H. Madden, Lynn Crain, and several others. We didn't lug any books on the flight, so we just schmoozed and left some promo. Interesting place, that.

I collected my cover art awards (3 Arianas and a Dirk A. Wolfe Honorable Mention) on Friday morning, and on Saturday night, I won EPIC's Friend of ePublishing award for my work with Coming Together! There are a few photos in the EPICon 2009 albums on both my Facebook and MySpace profiles.

I did an erotica publishers panel representing Phaze Books and Coming Together, as well. Good conference, as usual. It was great to see old friends and to meet new ones (Rick R. Reed and Zoe Nichols, to name a couple).

A couple weekends later, Will & I drove to Chicago for the 3rd annual Litogether. I got my start writing erotic fiction on Literotica, and my friends from the Authors' Hangout are dear to me. They're a fun bunch, too.

We were home long enough to catch our breath, then it was off to DC for The Crucible's semi-annual Leather Fleamarket with fellow Phaze author Bridget Midway. Lots of leather. Lots of toys. Lots of naughty people. Good times!

A couple weekends later, while Will was visiting San Diego for the Padres' Opening Day, I hooked up with Bridget Midway and Leigh Ellwood for the first annual Charm City Fetish Fair in Baltimore. I spent WAY more than I earned, buying a black leather kilt to wear as part of an "urban fairy" costume for...

The Romantic Times BookLovers Convention. It was, as always, a great time. I mentioned some of the highlights above, and there is photographic evidence (including costumes) in the RT 2009 albums on both my Facebook and MySpace profiles. I'm sure more will surface on other blogs and such as folks sort through their photos.

On the writing front, I'm back to work on Zane. I've set a daily word quota which, if I stick to it, will have the book finished by the end of August (at which time I'll get back to work on Snatch). Both are novel-length works of wildly different focus. The former is set on the Revolutionary War frontier and deals with a twisted interracial love triangle. The latter is a contemporary, mainstream saga that delves into a plethora of weighty subjects (hate crimes, rape, end-of-life care, suicide, abortion, drug abuse, mother-daughter relationships, etc.). Both have been languishing for far too long. Recent encouragement received at the La Jolla Writers Conference and at home has pressured me into returning to them.  On that note, I'd better get back to work!

Until next time...

peace & passion,

~ Alessia

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New Releases & Coming Soon [TOP]

AVAILABLE NOW exclusively from All Romance eBooks:
Coming Together: Al Fresco
Birds do it!  Bees do it! Have sex in the great outdoors, that is. All Romance eBooks, in partnership with editor, Alessia Brio, is proud to present Coming Together: Al Fresco. The theme of this collection is sex in the great outdoors. All proceeds from the sale of this special anthology will benefit Conservation International.

Check out the ARe Wildfire newletter featuring Al Fresco authors and an interview with the editor (a/k/a me).

COMING in JUNE from Phaze Books:
Coming Together: Against the Odds
All behavior is communication. The trick is to figure out just what it's saying. No behavior communicates as clearly or on as many levels as sex. All the physical and emotional senses are engaged. Add the element of intrigue, and the intellect is engaged as well.

Phaze, in partnership with editor, Alessia Brio, is proud to present Coming Together: Against the Odds, a collection of erotic fiction with a mystery theme and an introduction written by the one & only Maxim Jakubowski.

All proceeds from the sale of this special anthology will benefit Autism Speaks.
 

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Interviews & Appearances [TOP]

Next on the agenda is BaltiCon, which is held Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore. It tickles me that the convention's "Ghost of Honor" is Edgar Allen Poe. I'll be participating on two panels (Seducing the Editor: Getting Published in Erotic E-books and Promotion for the Smut Peddler) and conducting a session about Coming Together entitled Doing Good while Being Bad.

After that, I don't plan to travel (on business) again until DragonCon, which is Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. By that time, I should be a purple belt!

On the poetry blog, nothing new by me. *sigh* I am, however, thrilled to report that I'm knee deep in edits for a Coming Together poetry collection entitled Pondering the Indelible by the one and only Lefty McGee! I hope to have the ebook available by the end of May, with print to follow shortly thereafter.

Featured Backlist Title [TOP]

Sapphistocated: Tales of Mirror Geography
ISBN 978-1-60659-115-4 (print)

In The PowerBook, Jeannette Winterson writes:

"Sex between women is mirror geography. The subtlety of its secret--utterly the same, utterly different. You are a looking-glass world. You are the hidden place that opens to me on the other side of the glass. I touch your smooth surface and then my fingers sink through to the other side. You are what the mirror reflects and invents. I see myself, I see you, two, one, none. I don't know. Maybe I don't need to know."

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.