This is just a quick Sunday blog to direct you over to my Author Interview with Jenika Snow on her blog. Check it out, you might just be surprised by what you read!

Also, I’m very excited to say I’ve just put up my first submission in ages at literotica and it’s an entry into the Winter Contest over there. So go on over and check out Sleigh Ride and please remember to rate it and let me know what you think.

It’s a Christmas story (you’d never have guessed, would you?) with lots of snow and sex and naughtiness. I hope you all enjoy it!

I have gotten in a second review for Stopping Point from Cholla at Whipped Cream Reviews! I’ll tell you more about it in a minute but because it was awarded 4.5 cherries out of 5, Stopping Point is in the Book of the Week Poll and I need your votes. Anyone else getting a feeling of de ja vu here?

This time though there’s no registering and you only have this weekend to make your click count! Click here to vote for Stopping Point!

Of course, consider your vote carefully, folks but if you love Josh and Cara as much as I do, I know you’ll pick Stopping Point for your votes.

Now here’s a little bit from Cholla’s review of Stopping Point:

Stopping Point is a fast-paced steamy story with a little bit of something for everyone. Filled to the brim with humor, action and some of the steamiest love scenes I’ve read, there’s a whole lot to love about Victoria Blisse!

I’m thrilled and I am really feeling the love in this review. To read more head over to Whipped Cream reviews!

On the subject of reviews, if any of you read a story of mine I would love to know what you think of it. You can submit reviews to Amazon or Goodreads or even you could just email me victoria @ victoriablisse. co.uk (no spaces) as I’d really love to hear your feedback!

Cherished Connections
By Lisabet Sarai (Guest Blogger)

This morning I received a rather nervous-sounding email from Victoria, reminding me that I was booked for her Friends Friday this week. I have to admit that it’s lucky she contacted me – having scheduled the slot weeks ago, I had completely forgotten.

Given the title of the day, I decided that I’d talk about friends – specifically, the many cherished connections I’ve made in the writing community since I began publishing and promoting my work.

When I published my first novel in 1999, with Black Lace, I didn’t know any other authors. I lived in a tiny, rural town in Massachusetts where we didn’t even have broadband Internet. As I’ve recounted many times, I was inspired to write Raw Silk after having read Portia da Costa’s delicious Black Lace title Gemini Heat. As I waited for my book to come out, I fantasized about meeting Portia. I imagined Black Lace throwing a party in swinging London for all its authors. I pictured us all wearing risqué or romantic costumes – high boots and short skirts, leather and lace – hobnobbing, drinking wine and sharing our favorite sexy scenes.

was i ever naïve! I had no idea that 1) even highly successful publishers tend to operate on shoestring budgets and 2) being an author was about as far from glamorous as you could get!

Nevertheless, i did eventually “meet” Portia, at least via email. We’ve discovered that we have quite a lot in common (including a passion for felines) and we’ve been sending each other holiday cards for a decade. One of the high points in my career was the first time that she and i both had stories appearing in the same anthology! And one of these days, i’m going to make it to england and give her the grateful hug she deserves.

In the year 2000 I discovered the erotica readers & writers association and erwa storytime, a mail-list-based critique group for aspiring authors of erotica. When you read the erotic fantasies of other authors and share your own, you can’t help but develop a sense of intimacy. On the erwa writers list, we discussed authorial problems ranging from punctuation to characterization, shared advice on marketing and motivation, and offered each other encouragement. As a result, i developed a number of extremely close relationships that have only grown closer over time.

I’m not sure that it’s appropriate for me to name them here, but there are a dozen or so folk from erwa whom i love and trust as least as much as any of my meat-space friends. Several of them have joined me as members of the oh get a grip group blog, giving me the opportunity to peer even more deeply into their histories and their psyches. I’ve also had the privilege of editing the work of some of my virtual colleagues as part of the cream anthology and the coming together presents series of charitable erotica titles. Several of them have edited my work for their anthologies as well.

When I began publishing erotic romance, I gained a whole new set of on-line friendships through blogging and participating in chat lists. Over the past four years, I’ve developed close relationships with some very special people. Some of them live in quite different worlds from mine, but that doesn’t seem to stand in the way. One of the side benefits of starting my personal blog, beyond romance, has been the opportunity i’ve had to meet new authors whom i’ve hosted as guests.

I live in southeast Asia, far from the conventions and conferences, on a different continent from any of my publishers and most of my readers. I can count the number of my authorial friends whom i’ve met in person on one hand. I can tell you, though, that the few times i have had flesh-and-blood encounters with the individuals i’ve known so well on-line, the connection has been so intense as to be a bit scary. Did we know each other in a past life? And how would our lives have been different if we’d met earlier?

Right now I’m in the process of taking an on-line collegial relationship one step further. I’m co-authoring a story with a close friend whose writing i greatly admire. This is a new effort and i don’t know how it will work out. I just hope we don’t end up hating each other!

Speaking of collegial respect, I want to mention the imminent release of my story “the understudy”, in the bdsm anthology Master Me, coming next monday from Total-E-Bound. I’m under the covers with some of my favorite authors! I’m really looking forward to reading the other stories in the book as soon as I get my complimentary copy.

Thanks for having me as your guest, Victoria, and please accept my apologies for leaving it until the last minute!

~ lisabet

Bio: a dozen years ago Lisabet Sarai experienced a serendipitous fusion of her love of writing and her fascination with sex. Since then she has published six erotic novels, including the classic raw silk, and two short story collections, as well as contributing to nearly three dozen print anthologies.

She has also edited two multi-author anthologies, sacred exchange and cream, and currently serves as editor for the coming together presents charitable erotica imprint. When she’s not writing, lisabet enjoys dancing, cooking and traveling the world. She currently lives in southeast asia with her long-suffering husband and two exceptional felines. Visit her online at http://www.lisabetsarai.com.

I went to salsacise tonight, something I do every Monday night (bear with me, I get to the point eventually) and after dancing my heart out and having a damn good laugh I end up sat in the wet and the cold waitig for a bus. So I get out my phone and have a look to see what’s what. I notice I have a mention over at Twitter so I check it out and Yay! It’s a tweet from my good Friend Lucy Felthouse saying she’s reviewed Stopping Point!

I got very excited, we authors do at the prospect of a review. So I click on the link and wait for Betty to do her stuff. Betty is the name of my Blackberry. Yes, I name all my tech, my laptop is called Connie (Connie the Compaq) anyway, I wait and I wait, I’m whispering sweet nothings to Betty (I think it was something like ‘come on, come on, come on!’) and well, nothing happens. In the end I ring my darling husband because I can’t wait any more for my blackberry to connect. I make him look the review up for me. I couldn’t wait to get home!

It’s a lovely review too (phew!) Here’s a little snippet!

Stopping Point is full of sexual tension, action and humour. It’s another fab addition to the series and I’ll be looking forward to the next one!

To read the whole review go to Erotica For All.

BUY Stopping Point NOW – $4.24

The Emotion of Writing

By Taige Crenshaw

I’ve mentioned a few times at various places I enjoy a good-natured rousing debate when it comes to books. These debates bring out the emotions invoked in the books. Since my friends and I are avid readers we have these talks often. If we like a book we can go on for hours about it and each get something different from the story. And if we are split on our feeling about the book we it can get very interesting. Now back to this current debate. It was another interesting discussion okay it was an all out debate. It was concerning a book a few of my friends and I had read. We were split in our views of the books. A few of us loved it while others hated it or was more undecided about it.

These differences led to a long debate of with both sides listing out points and countering why we liked, disliked or didn’t care enough about the book. We got loud and emotionally about our point of view. It was interesting. We had others around us who had read the book chiming in and those who hadn’t asking more about it. The cross points of feeling was invigorating. As usual when you get readers together this led to even more discussions of various author’s work we liked, did not like, the reasons why or why not. It was a very reveling conversation.
This again all came back to the emotion of writing. No matter if your book is not liked or liked. It has created an emotion. As an author this is what I want to do. Whether it is good or bad. I want you to feel it. The one thing I do not want is apathy. That is like a punch to any writer. Please NO APATHY. Give me any emotion and I will feel that I have done my job.

Now I am not saying if I get a bad review or email that a reader didn’t like my work I won’t get a little upset at first. But when it comes down to it I will be content and happy. I created a reaction.

An Emotion.

I touched the reader in someway. From that little debate I had the other day. I realized that people would remember you if they have enough emotion whether good or bad. In our discussion I was curious of those who didn’t seem to have an opinion on the book either way. I asked them why. And I listened closely filing their thoughts away for future reference. The most prevalent one was they had no connection to the story. But as I listened to them talk I realized they actually did have an emotion to it. Although they didn’t outright dislike the story they didn’t like it either. They were that middle ground. They had a reaction on both sides. Thankfully they were not moved at all. At least the book created some reaction.

As we left this discussion I came away with a few new authors to try as well as some fellow book lovers to talk about books with. We all decided to meet again to talk books. All in all we came to the conclusion that just because someone didn’t like a book doesn’t mean what they saw as flaws I or another reader wouldn’t see as treasures.
Come on and share the books you have read and created strong emotion. Don’t be shy it can be good or bad.

CONTEST: One commenter will win a chance to choose one pdf download of any one book from my available e-book backlist.

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Taige Crenshaw is a multi-published author with books available at Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Liquid Silver Books, Loose Id, and Total-E-Bound. Taige has been enthralled with the written word from time she picked up her first book. It wasn’t long before she started to make up her own tales of romance. With novels set in today, in alternate dimensions, or in the future she writes with adventure, fun sassy heroine’s, and sexy hero’s. Always hard at work creating new and exciting places Taige can be found curled up with a hot novel with exciting characters when she is not creating her own. Join her in the fun, frolic, interesting people and far reaches of the world in her novels. You can find out more about Taige at her website and her blog

Wilde Seduction – What happens when a woman who doesn’t know how to relax meets a man whose lust for life will change her and make all her deepest desires come to life? Buy at Total-E-Bound.