Upcoming Event: Solstice Surrender To Be Re-Released As A Stand-Alone by EC

So I’m feeling pretty happy today. Ellora’s Cave told me yesterday that they plan to break up the electronic version of the Winter Warriors anthology, and re-release Solstice Surrender as a stand alone novella, at a date to be announced in the near future (which means I have a ton of work to do, re-editing and line editing and building cover questionnaires and a lot of other stuff that goes into building a book, before a publication date can be announced. :) )

It’s good news for a couple of reasons, the least of them being because Solstice Surrender is a paranormal romance. With all the fuss and huge upswing over paranormals at the moment, I’d be a fool if I didn’t admit I’m tickled pink at the idea of having a paranormal romance being released right now, right? I’m particularly thrilled about this one, too. I’ve always liked it, and I’ve always been warmly pleased by the fact that it’s set in my (new) home province of Alberta, which isn’t something I get to do every day.

The other reason is I’ll get to shuck off the awful Poser cover that comes with the paperback version. Oh, the paperback anthology will remain in print — it’s the only way I’ll keep the novella in print, is in the anthologized version. -sigh- But I’ll get a stab at a decent cover for the standalone novella now, and have something nice to put on the site, instead. Dar Albert, the cover designer who is doing such knock ‘em dead covers for me at the moment (and you should see the one for Diana by the Moon — have you seen the one for Diana by the Moon… you haven’t? Ohmigod, go look at it NOW!!! It’s drop dead beautiful!!!!! Here. Go look now, at once, I insist. Then come back here. I’ll wait. Go now. Go. Click here.)

Here’s the blurb for Solstice Surrender, and a quick excerpt, which you won’t find on the book’s page on EC, or on my site. This is fresh excerpt, just for you here. Yep, a teaser, to whet your tastebuds.

Outline

Jenna MacDonald, cynic extraordinaire, flees to Banff, Canada, for the holiday season to lick her wounds in private after an assignment takes a tragic turn. But trouble manages to find her even in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. A mystery-clad stranger called Rhys Cellyn exerts a powerful influence over her mind and her body, while Jenna struggles to stay afloat in the mythical world he plunges her into. Time is against her, for at the moment of the winter solstice she must make a fateful choice.

Excerpt

(I kept this one PG and clean, folks. Sorry. I think the “scram!” warnings are silly and somewhat offensive — and completely useless, too. If you want the good stuff — and there’s plenty of it — please buy the book.)

“You know that the solstice is coming up, don’t you?”

“Sunday,” Jenna supplied. “Tomorrow night.”

“Yeah, and you’re on a hot spot right there in Banff.”

“A what?”

“Hot spot. There’s all these lines of power that run over the globe, and along each line, well, anywhere along a line, you can tap into an extra dollop of power if you go about it right. The ancients knew about it. Stonehenge is sitting right over one. Same with all the other standing stones in England. And all those freaky signs in South America. There’s another line runs up through the middle of the Rockies, and Banff is right on it.”

Her heart thudded along unhappily. Had she unwittingly put herself in a place of power, was this fate of hers already pushing her around?

“I didn’t know that, Dean. I’ll bear it in mind. If it’ll make you any happier, I’ll be super wary tomorrow, just in case. Okay?”

“Well, yes, now that you’re stuck there. That’s a worry right there.”

“What do you mean?” She put it sharply. “Why else do you think it took me ten bloody hours to get through to you? The phone lines were down because of the avalanches.”

“Avalanches?”

Dean chuckled. “Honey, I think you’ve been tucked in that hotel room for too long. Go grab a paper or talk to a local. There was a series of avalanches this morning. They cut off all the roads into Banff, along with phone lines and a shitload of other services.”

She gripped the phone hard. “I see.”

“So you be very, very careful, okay? I know you can look after yourself. And this warning I got could be about something as simple as getting stuck in a snowdrift.”

“But it didn’t feel like that, did it?”

She sensed his surprise. “No, it didn’t feel like that at all.” He cleared his throat. “Well, it sounds like you’ll take me seriously enough to be cautious. Do you…would you like me to come up there and bring you home? You can stay with Jerri and I and the kids for Christmas—I know you don’t want to be at your home for it.”

“You couldn’t get through anyway, Dean.”

“Shit, I could get a helicopter in there.”

Shock rippled through her. “You’d blow departmental resources on this?”

“Just give the word.”

That frightened her more than any other thing he might have said. Dean was a genuine Scrooge when it came to parceling out money for even actual departmental needs. That he’d break his own stringent rules to come haul her out of Banff before the solstice spoke volumes about his worry.

“Nah, I don’t think you need to do that.” She made it sound as casual as she could manage. “Although I really appreciate the gesture.”

“He’s that good, huh?”

She smiled. “Something like that.”

“Well, okay. But you know where to find me.”

“Thanks, Dean.”

Rhys stood at the window with his back to her, staring out, when she turned around to look at him.

“You chose to stay. Why?”

She went up behind him and put her arms around him, and rested her cheek against his back. “I don’t believe in fate, Rhys, and I’m still getting used to these strange new things that I can do…that you can do. I don’t know that I like them much, except that they have some interesting applications.” She recalled the electric moment in the restaurant when they had revealed to each other the depth of their need to make love now, all while the waiter fussed over Jenna’s fingers and a ruined tablecloth, completely oblivious to the heat passing between them. “But I do know that with them, without them, fate or no, I’m…drawn to you. I need to see where that goes.”

He let go of a great gust of air, his shoulders lifting and relaxing under her cheek. “Thank you.”

“How much did you hear?”

“I picked up a lot from you.”

“I thought you couldn’t do that unless I willed it?”

“We’re bonding, Jenny. Whether you like it or not, the longer we’re together, the closer we draw to each other. And when that happens, all bets are off. There’s no predicting what a unified field will do.”

Her hands absorbed the warmth of his flesh, where they rested over his bare abdomen. And she caught a glimpse of a thought/feeling from him, the softness of her hands, the warmth of her arms, and the proximity of her hands to the top of his jeans. He let his thoughts spiral back into the physical longing for her, which he couldn’t seem to quench no matter how many times he drank from her flesh. The strength of it frightened him a little, even while it exhilarated him.

His small enjoyment was contagious, but more than that, the hint of weakness, the touch of fear at the strength of his need for her, caught at Jenna’s heart.

—-
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