Many Happies from Lynne!

Well, here we are in winter. The tree comes down in a couple of days, and then we have months of ice and with any luck, snow. Because I love snow. Love it. It's white and fluffy and a bit Frankie. That's our daft cat, who is spoiled rotten.

His picture is above. He's a ragdoll. We let him out once a day and he comes back drenched. His fur sucks up the wet like a sponge. It doesn't stop him, though, it just means lots more work for us, drying and grooming him.  Not using the washing machine, I hasten to add!

I need to put more cats into my books.

I should have put one into my story for the anthology Stars Are Brightly Shining. The anthology contains some fantastic authors, and the stories should help you keep you warm, if you're in the same hemisphere as I am!

I've taken up Pokemon Go, and now I have an array of cute creatures on my phone. I'm not a gym bunny, so I walk to get my exercise. The game makes it much more amusing. It's more than trudging out steps.

Books - ah, yes, writing. Well, I've written the first in a new series, but I don't know whether to send it to a publisher, or do the self-publishing thing. I have some backlist books to publish this year, but to be honest, I'm scared of going out there on my own. The rough and tumble of the self-publishing world is pretty daunting, and I don't really want to do KU. And this new book is historical detective, not straight romance. This is the couple I always wanted to write, the couple that has been haunting me for years.

I still have one more book to write for the Dragonblade series, and that comes next. The sister who hi-tailed it to Rome!

So stay tuned, and thank you for all your support this far!

News for February

Those of you on Facebook might have noticed that I’ve been engaged in political debate more than somewhat. I do want to assure my readers that my Facebook author page, my website and blog will continue to be politics-free. Although my views might bleed through to my books, having been subjected to politics thinly disguised as fiction at school, I will never, ever, write politics disguised as fiction! I hate books that preach, and I avoid them, so I won’t subject my readers to the same thing. While I do think that every concerned citizen should engage, I also think there’s a time and a place for engagement, and romantic fiction isn’t it. I write stories about people, and how they cope with the world around them, whether that be an imaginary world, a historical world, or the contemporary world. Since I write romance, it gets even more personal. So - no politics here, or on my Facebook author page, or in my blog. Promise.

Under my other name, I’m writing a book about the President of the USA. I’ve been building the series to this point, so I can hardly back off, but I never, ever imagined this storm going off when the book was due. My President doesn’t hold any similarities with the real life incumbent, though. He’s a shape-shifter, and he’s in a poly relationship. And he’s gorgeous (of course he is!) So all that Facebook stuff was partly research. I waded into the truly weird at times, but the research into the way people think was invaluable. I don’t like to write one-note villains, I want them to have a point of view that, however twisted, works for them, so I’ve been to places that, frankly, scared me to death. But I did it in the name of research, and research is king. I also did some great research into practicalities like the layout of the White House. I found an old video of Jackie Kennedy showing people around the place, which was lovely and picked up lots of information about the way communication works, even semi-secret tunnels generally referred to as underground walkways, so the people using them don’t have to leave the premises. But I’ll take it. There’s nothing like a secret tunnel to get the imagination going!

This month I’ve been busy writing a contracted book that won’t see the light of day for a while. It’s an mm - my very first. I’ve written mfm and mmf menages before (I know, the acronyms can make my head spin). Mfm is where both men play with the woman, and mmf is where everybody plays with everybody else. But a relationship without a woman, a gay romance, is an entirely different thing. The connection is different, even the way they communicate. Research is limited to the personal aspect, so I just went with two people in love, and stopped stressing about gender. This is a novella, under 50000 words, so there’s only one sex scene. It didn’t feel right to fling these two into bed together. Since it’s a historical, I had to cope with the, to us, horrible notion that gay men could be hanged, and engaging in a gay physical relationship was truly dangerous. I had to face some unpleasant truths, but the book is done now, and my agonising worked out well, I think. I’ll let you be the judges when it comes out.

Next is the President book. After that, I have one more contracted book, and there are a few proposals and self published projects in the air.

But I also have other books coming out soon, which I’ve detailed below. I’m thrilled to bring a new audience to the Counterfeit Countess, as it has been in the Amazon top selling historicals this month in the new anthology Love Across Time. You can still get the single title, but why do that, when for now it can be bought in an anthology with a number of other great titles?

I’m going to start outlining a new project soon. I’ve had an idea for a new historical series that I’m itching to write. The central character is closely based on a real person, a woman who never married because she was too wealthy. Each book will feature one of her protegees, and as well as a romance, there’ll be a strong mystery element. Historical detectives? I originally planned Richard and Rose to be like that, but their personal lives overwhelmed the series and became too tempting to resist. I know where I’d love the series to go, but I’ll have to wait and see, get it planned out, outlined and the first bit written.

News for December, 2013

Liquid Crystal is finally out! It’s the story of two mermen and their lucky lady. If you want to know how merpeople make love underwater, look no further!

Anyway, it’s here:

Kindle

Barnes and Noble

And you can read an excerpt here:

http://lynneconnolly.com/LiquidCrystal.html

One of the delays was in the cover art. In the original, something went wrong. The hero’s head was supposed to fade into the scene, but in the event, his nipple reappeared right on the parapet of the bridge! Since it was a similar colour to the bridge, nobody noticed it until last week. So I saved it from appearing in dozens of Cover Fail blogs!

And the other outlets are slowly rolling out. It’s on special offer for December, at 99 cents, so you could save yourself a bundle if you pick it up now!

So, other news. I’ve signed a new contract, for four brand new historicals, but not under the Lynne Connolly name! So it’s hush-hush and very exciting, but since it’s all new, I can’t really say too much more, and I probably shouldn’t be telling you that much. I’ve spent all the last few months working for this new project.

Plus, something I can tell you about, and a cover reveal!

A new story, called Lightning Unbound, will be appearing at Samhain in spring next year. I’m more than thrilled about this one, it’s a project that is dear to my heart. I worked it through a few years ago, but when the rock star series and the Cougar Challenge series proved so popular over at Ellora’s Cave, I concentrated on those. The first book came very close to publication, but the publisher went bust, and I tucked the book away on my hard drive.

But I never forgot this one. It’s set in the mid-eighteenth century, and it has strong paranormal elements. Two of my interests are mythology and the way it feeds into the zeitgeist, and of course history. I blended the two where it seemed most appropriate. I can promise that the books will be as rigorously historically accurate as any of my historical romances. But the addition is the paranormal element. I promise there are no shape-shifters or vampires. I’ve taken a very different approach with this one. I’ll let you know more details nearer the time.

But here’s the cover. You like?

When designing this cover, the one thing we couldn’t find was a decent picture of people in accurate period dress which hasn’t been used over and over. The alternative was a lovely image of a lady, but I’ve seen that particular image used a lot recently, which is some indication of the lack of suitable images.

More news?

Next February has been marked for the release of “Dispossessed” at Loose-Id. I’ll tell you more about that next month, but it’s a spin-off series from Department 57. You don’t have to read the Department first, this is completely new!

Watch for another Dept 57 re-release in January. I’m so delighted that this series is refreshed, and will reach a whole new audience. There might even be new books!

So whatever you celebrate in December, have a really happy one. I’ll be on Twitter and Facebook, obsessing about my favourite programs, the writing life and music, and I’m preparing for my Trek Across The Pond next May for RT and other goodies!

Where to find Lynne Connolly and her Books 

My website
The hub of everything I do. It's updated regularly, with excerpts, short stories and other goodies:
http://www.lynneconnolly.com

My newsletter and yahoo group.
Members get a monthly newsletter, where the news ALWAYS breaks first, and new excerpts are aired. There is also a free book, available in the Files.
To join, go here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LynneConnolly/
or send an email here:
LynneConnolly-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

UK Historical romance blog:
http://historicalromanceuk.blogspot.com/

My personal blog:
http://lynneconnolly.blogspot.com/

I currently write for Samhain Publishing, Ellora's Cave , Loose-Id , Total E-Bound and Carina Press. So you can find me on their loops and on their websites.

I write columns for Sybil at The Good, The Bad and The Unread:
http://tinyurl.com/6j42ut

And my email is lynneconnollyuk@yahoo.co.uk

Lynne Connolly, author of sophisticated and sensual romance

http://lynneconnolly.com/