First off, congratulations to Celia for her Top Pick from Romantic Times for One More Time and the terrific review! I just received my RT and there is Celia’s book on the page 3 Top Picks.

And Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a safe, enjoyable, and “fun-scary” night tonight. This would be a great day to talk about sexual fantasies that involve disguises, but I’ve been in the midst of proving Murphy’s law over the last week, and don’t have anything brilliant to say. (As I’m sure you know, that’s the “Whatever can go wrong, will” law, usually accompanied by the companion observation, “Murphy was an optimist”.)

I’ve reached the point in my WIP where, in the synopsis, my heroine challenges the hero to explore his wildest fantasies. So I’ve spent this morning scratching my head and writing odd lists about sexual acts and locations. What would be his wildest fantasies? I’ve tapped into my hero’s vulnerabilities to set up three other love scenes in the book. I’ve used the heroine’s house as a setting for the previous sexual encounter to this one, because the heroine’s home represented escape and freedom and control to her, and it was critical for the growth of their relationship that she let the hero into her own, personal bed.

So where to go from there? I don’t want his fantasy to be too pedestrian—two women in his bed, for example, especially as he’s probably done that already at some time in his younger days. As for setting—in previous books, I’ve used Vauxhall, a theatre, a hot-air balloon ascension, even a family mausoleum. I am searching through reference books looking for a setting that will strike a chord. The book I’m using right now is “The Polite Tourist—A History of Country House Visiting” by Adrian Tinniswood. The description on the flyleaf is fun: “When Elizabeth Bennet…set off with her uncle and aunt for a tour of Derbyshire, she planned to see both the beauties of the country and its fine mansions. In the event she overcame her prejudices concerning the proud Mr. Darcy, becoming his wife and mistress of his country seat, Pemberley. Not every tourist finds country house visiting provides such a dramatic outcome…” That is certainly an understatement, though we can all hope.

The Polite Tourist gave me the perfect image I wanted for a gentleman’s library (already used for a sex scene, alas, so I can’t use it again). So I’m scouring, and thinking in great depth about my hero, to find that hidden fantasy that will reveal all to both the reader and the heroine.

So for those of you donning a costume tonight, enjoy your fantasies!

Just a short post to reveal the cover for my upcoming regency with Aphrodisia, BLACK SILK. Well, it’s coming in April 2008, but the way time seems to go by, I guess April will be here before I know it. My editor described my cover as “Sharonesque”, a word I’ve been rolling around on my tongue for the last few days. I rather like the sound of that—even if I’m not quite sure what I want it to mean.

I love the drama of my cover, even if it isn’t a strongly historical image. This will be my first couple cover, at least once where they have been caught in the midst of being passionate, which, for me, really suits the story. Shouldn’t a couple cover suit all of my erotic romance books (at least not the menage ones)? Well, I guess so, but in BLACK SILK, my hero uses sex like liquor or a drug—to help him forget a painful past. Sex has so many layers for him that have nothing to do with desire or love, and until he opens his heart to the heroine, he can’t really explore desire and love. So for me, the passionate couple definitely strikes a chord for this story.

I also got my copy edits along with my cover flats, so I am furiously working on those right now, and have taken a break from my WIPs to get them done. I’m enjoying the read, and have not been struck by any intense, furious desire to rewrite sections—though we seem to get so little time for copyediting, there’s never time to navel gaze. Which I think is probably the point! I’d be hopeless if I had months to rethink every word. Which I would—wouldn’t we all?

Here’s the blurb for BLACK SILK:

DANGEROUS SEDUCTION

Maryanne Hamilton had expected to be shocked, but the wanton orgy she finds in Mrs. Master’s salon makes her wonder if she has walked into hell. Desperate to escape, she comes upon the master of sin himself—Lord Swansborough. Fascinated by his nakedness, she longs to touch every inch of his long, hard body. And when he bids her come near, she quickly surrenders to his wicked promises of carnal pleasure and sensual ecstasy…

Now back to copy edits! For everyone else out there—what are you working on in your writing life, or what are you reading?