Showing posts with label new orleans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new orleans. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Virtual Book Tour: N'awlins series

Please welcome my good friend and fellow author Sharita Lira, aka Michael Mandrake, who is going to tell us about her N'awlins series! Also, she has a little something to say about plot bunnies!


The Dangerous Plot Bunny
Sharita Lira

Greetings! It’s September already? Good grief. Most of the year is gone, quite unbelievable that 2015 is flying by, but we say that every year. And here I sit at my computer with rewrites, edits, new stories, but then the plot bunnies pop in my brain.

Doesn’t matter to the plot bunny what you have to do. Edits? So. New stories waiting to be write? Who cares. Here’s another 10! They come when I write, sleep, sometimes while driving and I have to ignore them or I might have an accident.

What the hell? Do they plan these attacks? I certainly think they do. When I least expect it, I’ve got ideas from a photograph, a song, scenario, a sentence or word, and if it’s really good it’s ready to be written in synopsis form with a couple of pictures for inspiration. If not, the thoughts are scribbled in my notebook or in my new story folder until they become complete thoughts.

Do those ever develop into stories? Yeah they do. One started out as a very small idea I wrote in my notes; an interracial couple meets when one man notices the other’s apartment getting burglarized. That turned into 3 books which I’m downsizing into one. When will I have time for this? Dunno!


The things multiply and can become vicious, but tell me, where would authors be without them? When in a slump, some call it writer’s block, other’s call it, well, a slump, they need these to jumpstart their writing. If you’ve been devoid of ideas, then they’re good to look back on. Mind you, this rarely happens to me. I think I have enough stories to last quite a while, but if it does, I’ll look in the book and my ever growing synopsis folder which is currently full of half done ideas. Oh and don’t even mention the ones that are started and unfinished. Those just need serious edits and would probably be ready if I took the time, but again, when will this be?

Hopefully soon, but don’t quote me on that. Seemingly, everyday a new plot bunny attacks with a new idea for me to ponder over.


What about the rest of you? Authors, what do you think about the plot bunnies? Do you hold on to them? Have little scraps of paper waiting to be read? Tell me. Thanks for listening.



Overall Series Blurb
The N’awlins Exotica/Paranormal series
The city of New Orleans is rich in tradition, diverse, and known for the inspiration it provides. In the “Big Easy” there lies the hunger for the erotic as well as the unknown. The residents here feel that sexual energy and it reveals itself through their various creative activities.
Join the characters as they take a wild ride on the edge, enjoying their town for all it has to offer. There’s a certain magic in the air, an erotic magic that cannot be ignored.

Books 1-3 On Sale 99 Cents


Book 1
Blurb: New Orleans is supposed to be the big easy. One night changes everything for Frankie Choteau. 
New Orleans. A city rich in tradition, diversity, and on the comeback trail from hurricane Katrina. Francois “Frankie” Choteau, a resident of this town, a cop with a hot temper and low tolerance for bs. Kajika Fortier, a transplant from Oklahoma came here looking for a dream and unfortunately it’s turned into a nightmare. On a hot summer night, they meet and cross paths during a very difficult situation. Despite this, the attraction between them is evident and loneliness for both men is a fate worse than death. They’d both like a chance at happiness but will the circumstances and Frankie’s uneasiness prevent their happy ever after?
Amazon    
Read the first chapter here



Book 2



Blurb: Livin’ in N’awlins ain’t all that easy…

Kajika Fortier loves his job, the attention he gets from onlookers, and Frankie Choteau. However, his new partner’s jealousy, mood swings, and over protectiveness drives Kajika to the brink but at the same time, excites him to no end. 

To complicate things further, a murderer is on the loose looking for blood. All three of the killer’s victims are strippers which not only makes Frankie nervous about Kajika’s safety but leaves him questioning his love for being a homicide detective. Coupled with the stresses of cold cases as well as some fellow officers shunning him for coming out, Frankie is having second thoughts about staying in New Orleans. Despite the encouragement from Vance, Kenina, and Orrin as well as new chief Quinn Murray, Frankie is wondering if his life’s passion really is to catch the killers. 

Will the new couple survive these new issues that impede their nearly perfect union? Or will the relationship fail, thus leaving Kajika alone and a target for New Orleans latest serial killer? Detective Choteau and Kajika’s commitment to one another is being tested in more ways than one and they only have one another to lean on.

Amazon 







Book 3

Blurb: Living in the Big Easy is downright deadly especially if you’re a stripper. When another exotic dancer is found dead in her apartment, the heat mounts on Frankie and his fellow detectives to find the killer. Due to the magnitude of this unsolved mystery along with the LaBoy murders, tension runs high at Nineteen making it hard for all to breathe around the police station and sending everyone into a frenzy.
There’s no denying Frankie’s love for Kajika but in the back of his mind, hot thoughts of the mutual jerk off with Orrin Daugherty loom over his head. Though the feelings are mutual, Orrin wants nothing to do with this and pushes Frankie away. Add in to the mix his fascination with partner Vance Morain along with his severe case of blue balls and you got one hell of a predicament for these for complex and volatile men.
The men at Nineteen are burning with desire for one another and pleasure is beginning to be almost as important as business.
Will the sinful disruptions stop them from finding the killer roaming the streets of the Big Easy?
WARNING: Lots of lewd dialogue and smoldering sex between males.




Author Sharita Lira: In one word, crazy. Just crazy enough to have 3 different muses running around in her head, driving her to sheer exhaustion with new plot bunnies and complex characters.

This happily married mother of two beautiful children loves music, computers, reading, and still enjoys reading and writing fanfiction. She’s a proud member of the Erotica Readers & Writers Association, as well as an advocate for rights of LGBT citizens.  She’s also a contributor to the heavy metal ezine Fourteeng.net.

For more information, please visit http://www.thelitriad.com as well as her Facebook fanpage, The Literary Triad.


The Literary Triad - http://www.thelitriad.com/#!

Michael Mandrake – http://tabooindeed.blogspot.com









Saturday, July 5, 2014

My Sexy Saturday #14: Captivations

The challenge this week was to come up with something about a kick-ass heroine. While I write primarily in the m/m genre, that doesn't mean I don't have some of those sexy ladies lurking in the corners!  So, here goes!


Today's excerpt comes from a WIP called Captivations, which was being serialized at one time, but is on hiatus now. The main story is about two vampire brothers who own a night club in New Orleans - Avery and Ben Deacon. Jillian is sent by the Church to be their new daykeeper, which doesn't sit well with Avery. Let's just say these two are at loggerheads with one another. Until this scene.  Jillian has left the club and taken refuge in an old French bakery. Avery goes out in the rain, seeking her. Enjoy! Don't forget to check out the other authors in the blog hop!

Her logical mind made the leap, damning her treacherous heart for having dared to hope. Something must have happened, something he needed her help with. That had to be it. She masked her disappointment with difficulty, waiting for him to instruct her to come with him, to tell her she was needed back at the club. If she’d been thinking more clearly, she’d have realized that a phone call would’ve taken care of that a lot more easily than chasing after her in the rain.

He said nothing of the sort. Instead he took a step toward her and she heard the last words she’d ever expected to hear coming from his mouth.

“Jillian, I’m sorry.”

And then he held his arms open to her, and she followed her instincts and her heart, rather than her common sense, and she fairly leapt across the distance that separated them—to him.

Jillian was surprised at the tenderness of his touch, his lips caressing rather than consuming, his arms wrapped about her in a protective embrace.  Their breaths mingled as they drew back just enough to look into one another’s eyes.

She didn’t know exactly what was going on between them, but Jillian knew that there was no place that she’d rather be but here, in Avery’s arms. When her brain tried to insert logic into the equation, protesting that she’d only known him a day, and a short day at that, and she was just here to do a job for him, she shut it off. As well as any anger she’d been holding at him.


“We need to talk,” he whispered, his fingers ghosting over her cheek, stroking her ear, his beautiful dark blue eyes intent upon her.


Friday, November 25, 2011

Zandalee Review

Zandalee  
Director/Studio/Author: Sam Pillsbury/Panorama/Mari Kornhauser
Format/Genre/Length: DVD/Drama/100 minutes
Publisher/Industry Age Rating: R
Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★

One-time poet Thierry Martin (Judge Reinhold) has traded his pen to live the corporate life in his father’s stead, after his father’s death. Unfortunately, the stress has left him unable to cope with the needs of his sexy wife Zandalee (Erika Anderson). When Thierry renews his friendship with wild-child artist Johnny Collins (Nic Cage), can trouble be far behind?

Synopsis:

Zandalee is set against the backdrop of New Orleans, where Zandalee works in the dress shop of Thierry’s grandmother Tatt (Viveca Lindfors). Zandalee is restless, and yearns to have the man she married back again—the poet who inflamed her with his words. Physically frustrated, she falls into a relationship with Johnny, telling herself that it’s only sex. At a dinner party given for Tatta and her long time lover, she and Johnny do it in the laundry room, while her husband sits nearby.

The more it continues, the more torn Zandalee is between her love for her husband, and her desire for Johnny, and it becomes harder and harder to reconcile the two. She urges Thierry to take her away, find time for them to be alone together. By now he more than suspects what is going on, and is helpless to do anything about it. He takes her to the bayou, and tells Johnny where they’re going, with tragic consequences.

Commentary:

This is pretty vintage Nic Cage, and he certainly doesn’t hold back in any way in his portrayal of the bohemian artist who lives by his own rules, and takes what he wants. There is one scene that is very over the top Nic in one of his trademark meltdowns. Johnny doesn’t like to be told what to do, or who to do it with. And he doesn’t care who he hurts. I found Zandalee to be obnoxious and selfish. The person I felt most sorry for was Thierry. His own weakness proved to be his fatal flaw.

It’s an interesting film, worth watching, mostly for Nic and Judge Reinhold. I wasn’t  particularly impressed with Erika Anderson’s performance. Viveca Lindfors as Tatta was good. Look for some interesting cameos—Steve Buscemi working on a garbage truck; Marisa Tomei as one of Johnny’s women; and Joe Pantoliano as a cross-dresser who frequents Zandalee’s shop. I think his was the most interesting character of all.

Good scenery, both inside New Orleans, and on the bayou. Worth adding to your Nic Cage collection.