Cupid's Been Busy...

Guess what?

I have a new release this week! Edits moved super fast and it got bumped up on the release schedule. So, my very first M/M romance comes out Friday from Evernight Publishing. It's my second story in the Cupid's Conquests series and the first M/M for the series! I'm both very excited and very, very nervous.

So, a little story. At the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Chicago this past spring, my friend Deanna Wadsworth introduced me to the amazing Damon Suede. Between the two of them, they basically dared me to try writing M/M. Anyone who knows me knows that it's rare for me to pass up a dare, so as soon as I had time to breathe, I started on this story of two guys who met at a time when one was still in the closet and the other hadn't decided if he belonged inside or not. Fast-forward more than a decade and our college hotties are back on campus and pretty close to right back where they started.

It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever written, that's for sure, but I understood Griff and Colby in a lot of ways and wanted to tell their story. Thankfully, Evernight was right there with me. So here's a little taste of Love & Other Indoor Sports:

Cupid still has a lot to learn, and this time he's heading to college to do it.

Griffin and Colby were shoved together by fate during a fraternity hazing game of spin the bottle but, in a world deserted by Cupid, fear and uncertainty pushed them apart. Now, twelve years later, they're getting a second chance with each other. A woman in Colby's life, however, doesn't like what she sees as competition for his affections, and she's willing to ruin both men if they don't bow to her demands. After all this time, are they willing to risk everything for a chance at happiness, or are they destined to lose each other again?

Cupid won't give up easily though. He has one last game for them to play and, this time, it's winner take all.

AND, in other good news, there are at least two more Cupid's Conquests stories coming from other authors before the holidays! The series is building slowly, but I'm so excited that other people have taken up the call to get Eros back to Olympus. I hope you'll check out Love & Other Indoor Sports and all the other titles in the series.

RT Madness

See? Katee Robert & I *are* different people

If you saw my RT schedule, you know that it was shaping up to be a crazy convention. I may have over-extended myself a teeny bit. Maybe. Hell, I'm probably going to do the same thing next year (minus the photo shoot). Someone just remind me of two things next year:

1. Pace myself because Saturday night is a long way away. 
2. If I plan on drinking a lot, do not (under any circumstances) mix vodka and rum. I should know this by now, but I always seem to forget. 

Having said that, I had a fabulous time. I'm going to do a longer wrap-up for Wicked Lil Pixie, but some highlights of the week:

• Katee Robert. Oh, Lady Soulmate, I had such a good time with you and miss you already. Thanks for putting up with me and my bouts of insanity. 
• Aussie dinner. Not only did I share a table with Rebecca York, I shared a cab back to the hotel with Ann Aguirre (and a pissy-ass cab driver, but more on this at Pixie's). It's such an honor that Megan and Jennifer thought enough of me to include me with such an incredible group of authors. I still get fan-girl shivers thinking about it.
• My first panel... ever... anywhere. I was absolutely terrified, but with the fabulous group of women I had there with me, it wasn't nearly as panic-inducing as it could have been and thankfully people seemed to find it really informative. (I ran into a couple women who had attended at the end of the week and they were still debating whether or not to use pen names. I'm calling that a win :) )
• The Gaslamp Gathering. ALWAYS a good time. So many costumes! <3 <3 <3 
• The Atrium. If you don't know what that means, you really should have stuck around after the bar closed on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday :P Good times. Thanks, people!
• Angela James telling me to "Calm down and get a drink" at the Carina Press author party. Thanks, Angela, talking to you that night helped me mellow out for the remainder of the convention :) 
• Meeting James Rollins at the FanTastic Day Party (where I was supposed to be schmoozing). There is a story here involving the wonderful Deanna Wadsworth, but I'm saving that for Pixie's too (just to embarrass her in front of a bigger audience :P)
• The Harlequin Dance Party and Damon Suede. First, I've never seen the dance floor at RT that full before <3 Second, Damon, you are absolutely fabulous and I totally want to write M/M now because of you. (Still terrified that I can't do it justice, but I think I'm going to try. *gulp*)

Low point of the week? Finding out I was so tired at lunch on Sunday that I totally missed it as Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore) walked right in front of my freaking table. Trying to see it from the perspective of that just meaning RT was one hell of a party, but... *sad sigh*

That's it for now. And as a send off, Katee Robert's new (temporary) theme song:

Apparently I'm Versatile

The Flash Queen (that's flash fiction...get your minds out of the gutter for a second) and my fellow OWG Rebel, Danielle LaPaglia, has apparently decided I'm versatile. Crazy as it sounds, that is one of the best compliments she could have given me. As someone who writes all manner of speculative fiction, if I'm not versatile, it means some of what I write I'm just not very good at. Plus she complimented my critiques, which always makes me smile.

So anyway, the crazy woman has bestowed upon me the Versatile Blogger Award. The award rules state that recipients must name 7 interesting facts about his or herself and then pass the award along to other bloggers. To make my life infinitely more interesting, Danielle gave the award to both halves of my split personality. That means I need fourteen interesting things. O.O In my attempts to be interesting on both blogs, this will (naturally) be my more "adult-oriented" seven. If you want the (more) innocent seven, check out www.julieparticka.com/blog on Thursday.

Okay, here we go...

1) (Not really adult-oriented, but apparently a point of interest...) The choice of Seleste as my pen name was an easy one. I've been known as Selestial online since my Everquest days, and Seleste is my pagan name as well.

2) I have an arrangement with my friend Heather that if one of us dies suddenly (and our spouse dies with us or is too grief-stricken to take care of it), the other is to raid their house and remove all items from the "toy box" before Mom descends to "help" clean out our stuff.

3) My first foray into buying adult novelty items was for my friend Diana's sweet 16 party. Her mother promptly confiscated said gift and never did return it (interestingly enough, that same mother paid for a stripper to come to her home for Diana's bachelorette party five years later).

4) I was date-raped in college. The first time I was ever told I should submit something for publication, it was by my English Comp professor regarding a paper I wrote about the aftermath.

5) I'm more than willing to call my erotica porn if it convinces men to try my books.

6) My first piece of sexy lingerie was a gift from two ex-boyfriends for Christmas. One I had broken up with two months earlier, the other I would start dating that New Year's Eve. Oddly enough, I'm still friends with the one who never got to see me in said lingerie, but not the one who did. (Or maybe that isn't odd, but I'd like to think it is. :P)

7) I have never been convicted of a crime. (Which either means I never committed any or I was never caught. You decide.)

Now the fun part, bestowing this madness on some suckers...er deserving bloggers.

Deanna Wadsworth: The woman who introduced me to M/M romance, pitch-slut, and the best roomie ever. (Plus she has all kinds of yummy men on her blog).

Kelly DemonLover Oakes: Kindred spirit, lover of the male form, & fantabulous reviewer (though one of these days she's going to finally review me and tell me I suck and then I'll have to remove that particular descriptor :P).

Ken McDaniel (aka BulletWisdom): Fellow OWG Rebel, instructor in all things weapon-related, and all-around bad-ass.

This Week's Schedule...

Today (Sunday): I have a post up at 30 Days of Decadence about some of my favorite off-beat holiday things. Come check it out, I'm giving away a copy of The Ghost of Vampire Present and something special for one Max fan.

Monday: Day off unless something changes (woohoo!) However, Holiday Story Time starts today at Robert's place.

Tuesday: Interview at the blog of the wonderful and funny Deanna Wadsworth(POSTPONED UNTIL NEXT WEEK!). We'll be drinking and laughing and having a good old time. Join us! AND Deanna is also doing her Holiday Story Time today!

Wednesday: I'm going to be at the Harlequin author post-party chat. I'll be popping on periodically from midnight until 10 pm so stop in and say hi :) Also today, PJ is up for Holiday Story Time!

Thursday: It's my day up for Holiday Story Time! There'll be a video of me reading an excerpt from The Ghost of Vampire Present and giving away a copy to one lucky commenter!

Friday: I'm at the Daily Dose of Decadence with ten interesting things about the Blood Kissed series. Also posting my next Friday flash in here (psstt..... it's a Max story, don't miss it!)  And, Clarissa is up for the last of the Holiday Story Time videos.

Saturday: I'm on video again and babbling about the holidays over at 13 Wicked Days of Christmas. (Have I mentioned I hate being on camera? I'll probably hide under a rock again until next year LOL.) Another giveaway here of digital copy of either The Ghost of Vampire Present or 'Twas a Dark and Delicious Christmas.

Huge and busy week. I hope you are all willing to stick with me and check out all the posts and giveaways! I promise to tone it down for the rest of December ;-)