Monday, January 30, 2012

What would you do?



What would you do if you were taken at knife-point from your apartment?
How would you try to get away?
What if your abductor threatened to kill anyone you asked for help?
What if you saw him do just that?

My psychological suspense novel CHOSEN is on SALE. 77 pence in the UK 99 cents in the US!!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chosen-ebook/dp/B00546EM5Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327916035&sr=8-1



http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-ebook/dp/B00546EM5Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327915997&sr=8-2

Friday, January 27, 2012

Circles


Much to my huge relief, I set aside my writing last night feeling that current pile of crap was finally heading for a finale. I'd brought all the protags together, just one last bust up before bed and voila, it will be done.
Then I can't sleep because the thing is repeatedly circling in my mind. I tried to think it through - useless - so in the end, so as not to disturb husband, I wore one of the silly little finger lights I put in the family's crackers at Christmas. It made a lovely red circle on the ceiling, so I played with it and woke husband. Oh dear.
Started to think about next story and that sent me back to sleep.
Started to write today and realized I don't actually have a proper ending that makes sense for WIP.
Darn it.

Leibster blog award



Huh - I'm supposed to thank the person who gave me the award. Thanks, Arlene!! So what else do I get? Champagne? Flowers? Chocolates?
What do you mean NOTHING!!
Just so you can see what a friend this is - here's a link to the wretch's website.


http://arlenewebb.blogspot.com/

She's actually been a fantastic friend to me and I wouldn't be where I am today without her. And where I am is shivering in a cold room, chained to my laptop. Not even a cup of coffee at my side.

AND I have to pay this thing on. Five more suckers- oops - friends.

Oh darn it, I don't have any. Arlene nicked them all.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

The price I pay for not liking shopping



I worry when husband goes out and is a long time away from the house. He loves shopping. He loves a bargain. The sales are like nectar to him. He can't resist. So this is what he came home with today. Our friends are going to love him. They'll be getting frying pans and saucepans and baking sheets for presents!

Note buddha in the background, throwing up his hands in horror.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Things that make me cry

I DON'T like things that make me cry. I might be one of the few inhabitants of the world that never watched Titanic. I knew it would upset me, so I just avoided seeing it. I wasn't always like that. I was fine watching disaster movies and I didn't mind if I came out of the cinema weeping, but something changed. Maybe an awareness of mortality, a strong love for partner and kids so that the thought of something happening to them, as it did in a film, was too much to bear.

So stands to sense that if I don't go to see sad films, then I don't read sad books. Of course, I don't mind 'happy' sadness or the odd little scene where a minor character dies and I shed a tear, but full-on sad books - no, I don't want to read them.

Husband bought 'Me before you' by Jojo Moyes - home from his shopping trip. I'd read the blurb in the shop and put it back. I feared it wouldn't be happy. Since he'd bought it, I read it, but I was right. Oh gosh, it made me sob.
Will Traynor is paralysed from the neck down in an accident and wants to die. He gives his family six months to 'change' his mind and a carer - Lou - comes into his life. Lou falls for Will. So it is a romance but not as we know it, Jim. It's a story about family, friends, the way the able bodied treat the disabled, it's a story about love and hard decisions and I'm crying even as I type this.
You have to go into this book with your eyes and heart wide open. I wish in many ways, I hadn't read it. I didn't need to. I already know a family whose son was injured in a sports accident and left paralysed from the neck down. I know how hard his parents fought for him. Sadly, he died in hospital during an operation. Maybe because I've had that experience, it made the book more poignant, I don't know. But it was a compulsive read. I started it last night, finished it this morning. Yes, the ending was sad - but it was the perfect ending and it did finish with hope.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

A good day

Excuse me if I quote from Maya Banks blog - YES Maya Banks - I couldn't believe it! She liked two of my books - Strangers and An Ordinary Girl. This is what she said......

Awhile back I did a shout out on twitter to see if anyone had read Barbara Elsborg and if so what they thought? I didn’t get many response and they were varied but nothing just overnethusiastic. But there were two of her books that I had bought because the blurbs intrigued me. This was a few months ago and I finally decided to take the plunge last night.

Holy fuck, people.
Ok, I get that maybe I might be in the minority. Maybe a lot of people just haven’t read her. But wow did I love the two books I read. They were An Ordinary Girl and Strangers. I really don’t have the words to describe how compelling I found these books. I mean it was like I just couldn’t stop reading. They weren’t easy, “fluffy” reads by any means and I kept reading with this sense of dread KNOWING that the entire world was going to go to shit at ANY minute. I was holding my breath at some points and then was cursing because I was like damn it, this is stressing me out. Strangers was my favorite of the two but they were both just so good. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love me some angst and drama, the more the better and Strangers had it in spades. The ending of that book just had a huge knot in my throat and my chest was tight because I just knew what conclusions the hero had drawn based on how they “met” and that he was going to think she was dead because he couldn’t find her anywhere. And then they find her abandoned car… Ok I’ll stop but wowza, those books just hit all my buttons. They were meaty reads that had me absorbed from beginning to end.


http://www.mayabanks.com/blog/2012/01/reading-report-card/comment-page-1/#comment-9717



And to make a good day even better - I had a 5 star review for Just One Bite from Sensual Reads http://sensualreads.com/?p=8619

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://store.samhainpublishing.com/cowboys-down-p-6636.html

This is it. The cover for Cowboys Down. Scott Carpenter has done a fantastic job. Thanks so much to him and to my editor Sue-Ellen Gower for all her hard work and support.
I've fallen in love with these two guys. Pity they're not interested in women.


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Cowboys Down -7th Feb


I've waited and waited and waited and I can't wait any longer.I don't have a cover to show you, though I've seen it and a GREAT cover it is too! But my very first MM story is due out on the 7th of February with Samhain. I've written lots of MM scenes in my MMF menages but this is the first time I've had two guys only in a novel.I had a lot of fun writing this! I hope you'll like Jasper and Calum.

Stockbroker meets stock breaker. But who’s taming whom?

London stockbroker Jasper Randolph flies to Jackson Hole with hopes as high as the Grand Tetons. Hope that the getaway will force him to let loose, get dirty, and overcome a deep-seated phobia about horseback riding.

He hadn’t counted on an attraction to the dude ranch owner’s son, a man with sun-tousled hair, eyes bluer than Wyoming skies…and a father who’d rather eat tofu than accept his only son’s sexuality.


The moment Calum lays eyes on the uptight, buttoned-down Brit, he’s lost. But with his own saddlebags full of emotional baggage, he knows he should be looking at anything but Jasper’s spotless riding boots and tight-fitting jodhpurs. Trouble is, Jasper makes his heart buck like a wild horse trying to break free.

Despite the differences that set them oceans apart, they fall hard and fast. Trouble isn’t far behind, and they’re in for a rocky romantic ride. Especially since there’s growing evidence that someone is willing to do anything—no matter how dangerous—to poison their love.


Product Warnings
Mix one sun-bronzed cowboy with a yummy Brit who’d give Darcy in his wet shirt a run for his money. Mix gently. Try not to drool.




You can preorder here -http://store.samhainpublishing.com/cowboys-down-p-6636.html

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Interview with the fabulous Jo Myles!


The way I found out about Jo shows the power of extracts! My book, due out soon with Samhain, has an extract from her book - Barging In - at the back. I spotted it when I read the galley proof. I liked the extract, bought the book and loved it.

Jo has graciously agreed to answer a few questions!

1. Can you tell us a little about you and your writing?

Hi Barb, and thanks for inviting me over. I write m/m romance (that’s gay romance, for anyone unfamiliar with the term) and had my first novel published in September with Samhain, although I’ve been publishing short stories for the last couple of years. I mainly write contemporary erotic romance, but I enjoy dabbling in other subgenres in short stories, such as paranormal, science fiction and BDSM erotica. They’re all about men loving men, though. I tried my hand at stories involving women in the early days, but for some reason my muse just didn’t get excited in the same way.

I live in Somerset in England’s beautiful West Country, and have a cheeky six-year-old daughter and a wonderfully supportive husband. He is starting to pester me about when the royalties will start coming in, though!

2. Five words to describe yourself?

Eternal optimist and shameless smut monger. Sorry – I know that’s six words but I figure the “and” doesn’t count!

3. How long did it take you to get published?

I’d been writing for my own amusement for about six months when I submitted my first short story to Scarlet magazine. It was a short and steamy piece of het erotica, and it was accepted two weeks later. I then spent the next year working on Barging In while simultaneously writing and submitting lots of shorts. I’m glad I did this, as the experience of working with all those different epublishers gave me the courage to submit Barging In to Samhain when I’d finally finished it.


4. Where did your most unusual plot idea come from?

I think that may well have been the short story, Insta-Love™, which is set in a cyberpunk future where you can buy drugs that make you fall in love for a few hours. I was bitten by the idea when I first started hearing book bloggers refer to the phenomenon of insta-love, and I thought it sounded an awful lot like a brand name...

5. What kind of books do you read for fun?

Honestly, I only really find time to read at the beginning and end of the day right now, so I’m generally very tired when I do so. I can’t concentrate on anything that involves intricate world-building, so I mostly read m/m contemporary romance and erotica. That said, I can always be persuaded to read something by the wonderful Terry Pratchett!

6. What do you feel is your strength as an author?

For me, stories are all about the characters, and they tend to be the thing most readers and reviewers comment on as being particularly strong. I’ve known an awful lot of strange, characterful people over the years so I have some great real-life case studies to draw from.

Also, the most important aspect of my writing for me is seeing how the men develop as they fall in love. I like to see them struggle with their fears and overcome them, growing into better people as they learn how to make their relationships work. And if showing all that involves explicit sex scenes, so much the better!

7. What's next for you? What are you working on?

I have a novella called Tailor Made out with Amber Allure on the 22nd January and have a couple of self-published short stories slated for release in early February. I also have my next novel with Samhain out on 20th April: Handle with Care. Those are all m/m romances.

I’m just starting on my next novel, which is going to be a bawdy romantic comedy set in Bath. A young man starts obsessing about the gay couple living in the flat below him, but little does he expect to welcomed into their bed! Yes, it’s my first go at writing a longer ménage romance, and I’m feeling really excited to get going on it.

9. Favorite food, favorite TV show, favorite drink?

My favourite food would have to be bruschetta smothered in goat’s cheese, basil, rocket and sundried tomatoes – I just can’t get enough of those wonderful flavours! My favourite drink is far less exotic, though: tea. I am horribly addicted to tea and drink it almost constantly.

My favourite TV show at the moment would have to be Mad Men. Not only is it superbly written with a wonderfully talented cast, but it gives a fascinating window into a bygone era when women were just starting to make waves in the workplace. Also, I am hopelessly in love with Don Draper and Peggy Olsen...

Jo’s bio:

English through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance, but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. Jo blames her rebellious muse but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.

For more about her published work, saucy free reads and regular blog posts, please visit josephinemyles.com

Barging In

When the boat's a rockin’, don't come knockin’!

Out-and-proud travel writer Dan Taylor can’t steer a boat to save his life, but that doesn’t stop him from accepting an assignment to write up a narrowboat holiday. Instead of a change of pace from city life, though, the canal seems dull as ditchwater. Until he crashes into the boat of a half-naked, tattooed, pierced man whose rugged, penniless appearance is at odds with a posh accent.

Still smarting from past betrayal, Robin Hamilton’s “closet” is his narrowboat, his refuge from outrageous, provocative men like Dan. Yet he can’t seem to stop himself from rescuing the hopelessly out-of-place city boy from one scrape after another. Until he finds himself giving in to reluctant attraction, even considering a brief, harmless fling.

After all, in less than a week, Dan’s going back to his London diet of casual hook-ups and friends with benefits.

Determined not to fall in love, both men dive into one week of indulgence…only to find themselves drawn deep into an undertow of escalating intimacy and emotional intensity. Troubled waters neither of them expected…or wanted.

http://store.samhainpublishing.com/barging-in-p-6461.html

Friday, January 13, 2012

See - it rains in Florida

Son, his dog, daughter and daughter's husband undeterred by downpour. Hot water, cold beer and wet rain.


Thursday, January 12, 2012

Some N-ice pics!




On our recent trip to Orlando we went to see ICE in the Gaylord Palms hotel. There were some cool ice sculptures!



Made me think of my story - Snow Play - where my hero and heroine have fun in an ice bar at the top of a mountain.
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-8422-snow-play.aspx

Monday, January 9, 2012

You might sense a theme!


We recently stayed at a bijoux hotel in Brighton and this was our bed! Quite kinky. I shall say no more on that!! But the masks on the wall came off the hooks!
Brighton was fun. I've never been before and I hadn't expected the Brighton Pavilion to be so central to the town. I've also never been to a place with so many gay men. It was quite weird to be outnumbered by men in a town. Usually it's women who dominate the shops. We had fish and chips and walked on the pier and watched starlings make shapes in the sky as they swooped and soared in the early evening sky. Lovely...

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Three in a bed

My inspiration for writing a menage? - If the three little pigs can do it!!! Looks a bit chilly though and my menages are far from chilly.







The Small Print - a vampire, a were-vamp and a something else...

Rocked - a stonemason, a gargoyle and Pepper!

Anna in the Middle - My best selling book!

Susie's Choice - My second best selling book!

The Misfits - three characters who were ALL misfits.

Fight to Remember - the last in my Trueblood series.


My book due out in May with Samhain is a paranormal menage and I'm working on a contemporary one now. Since I never plan anything, I don't know quite how I slip into writing threesomes. It just happens. Er - but not in real life, I hasten to add. I think there must be something appealing about having more one than one guy lust after you, but the practicalities of the situation make successful threesomes rare, I suspect. I'm not the jealous type at all, but I can see how jealousy can arise. And then there is always the spectre of Mr Wolf lurking outside, ready to destroy everything. Which reminds me - I better get on with my current project. I have a villain to write!