Big Time News to Share!

Hello everyone!

I wanted to apologize for being quiet as of late, but there's been a really GOOD reason. In addition to revamping and reorganizing my website so that it is more reader-friendly, I've been writing a lot and working on edits for Switch Master, coming soon from Ellora's Cave Taboo, the final book in my Ink and Kink series featuring the Maddox brothers and their friends.

Today, however, I wanted to share some incredible news. I've recently sold/contracted a 3 book series with Ellora's Cave titled Sexcapades, featuring an interesting cast of characters first introduced in Hazard's Dare, EC Moderne, and take place in fictional Dare, Nevada. Here's a short summary of the series:
Three Nevadan men with a kinky side and a secret to guard join forces to rescue Dare, Nevada, a Wild West ghost town from extinction, turning it into a haven where they and the town’s famous visitors explore their naughtiest fantasies without risk of discovery. Their motto: Take a chance on Dare, you might decide to stay.

I don't have release date information, yet, however, I can say that Book 1: Menage-A-Dare, coming from Ellora's Cave Taboo, is finished and going into edits soon. Book 2: Virgin's Dare, is a m/m contemporary for Spectrum, and Book 3 finishes out the series with: Illusionist's Dare, a contemporary erotic romance.

Additionally, I've two stand alone novel/novellas coming from Ellora's Cave Exotica! Yes, I've taken the leap into the hot, hot, hot zone with a 'possible' HEA for each, or not?! Look for Pleasure Trove and Road Gig in the coming months!  

I'm so excited to share this news with my readers, and I can't wait to unviel my new website in the coming weeks. As some may know Ellora's Cave Publishing's RomantiCon13 is right around the corner and I may not post as much, but pictures will go up on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you for letting me share!
Frances
 

Ellora's Cave Publishing's NEW Website and Contest

Hello everyone!
I wanted to send a quick thank you to my guest blogger, Cassandra Carr, who visited yesterday and shared about her newest book release, Master Class. I also wanted to apologize for not being as active here on my blog as I know I should be.

With Christmas and the Holiday Season upon us, life as a wife, mom and author gets super busy and I've got some BIG news coming soon regarding the Alexandria Griffins middle linebacker, Trevor Hazard Osbourne, who is referred to by teammates, press and fans by his middle name for a variety of reasons, and his unexpected romance with his agent's sister, Avery Grant. More to follow up on another day.

I'm sure you can tell by the subject heading, and you may have seen numerous posts already, but, Ellora's Cave has a brand-spanking-new website. It's state-of-the-art layout and features are incredible. Here's a note from EC regarding all that the new site can do: It first appeared on EC's Yahoo! Group for readers and authors ellorascavechat@yahoo.com If you're not a follower already, join and get up-to-date information on new releases, interact with authors and readers, and find out about contests and the always-popular RomantiCon!

Ellora's Cave launched a gorgeous new website, utilizing a state-of-the-art search system and sexy design scheme. The new design allows for more specific searching, giving fans of specific sub-genres and authors an easy way to find their dream books.
EC is hosting a contest on the website for a Lenovo ThinkPad as a thank you to fans and a fun way to kick off a new chapter at EC. To enter the contest, users complete an entertaining scavenger hunt which will leave them with a little more Romantica® knowledge.
The new site is designed for ease of navigation. The most requested feature from customers was the ability to sift through the huge and growing inventory to find books especially suited to their tastes and moods. Ellora's Cave purchased one of the most advanced search engines in the world and adapted it to our readers' very unique needs. You, of course, can find a specific author or title quickly and easily, using the search box. But you can also search and sort our books by subject, length, format, themes and other content in a whole new way. Want an erotic romance suspense ebook that's on sale featuring a male-male interracial couple set in the future with medieval overtones? Now you can find it with just a few keystrokes. It takes a little playing around with this powerful feature to learn how to use it best, but once you get to know it, you are going to fall in love.
Fans can also elect to be notified when a new book in a series or by a specific author is released. Or they can subscribe to an author or series and have future books be automatically charged to their account and a download link sent to them. If readers want to know what other fans are reading, they can use the "customers also bought" feature at the bottom of the page to find the other titles purchased by people who buy each book. For customers who browse before they buy, the "recently viewed" option lets readers view the books they browsed with one simple click.

If you're interested in entering the contest for a Lenovo ThinkPad, do follow the information provided from EC above and you could win!

As with anything new, sometimes links have changed. You might want to update your EC URL in your browser, here's the current one: http://www.ellorascave.com/ Additionally, links to favorite authors books have changed. Fortunately, EC's made it easy for readers to request email notifications about new releases, and so much more. Again, read EC's note in bold/italics above to find out all the features available to you.

Also, as I'm an author with Ellora's Cave, information and links to my books page and my books has changed slightly. Here's a link to all 9 of my current books: http://www.ellorascave.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Frances+Stockton
and my author page: https://www.ellorascave.com/index.php/authors/index/author/slug/frances-stockton

Since the Holidays are such a busy time, and my web mistress is busy, too, it may take a few weeks before I change the links on my website. However, my website has all the buy links you need for Amazon.com. B&N, Kobo, Sony and ARe. If you do click on the EC links, you'll be taken to Ellora's Cave's home page, where you can use the search function for my name, book titles or whatever you may be looking for.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Join up for EC's huge contest to possibly win a Lenovo ThinkPad! Learn more about EC, your favorite authors, RomantiCon, gift cards, new releases, old favorites, hot sexy books and the publisher that originated the Bad Girls of Romance!

http://www.ellorascave.com/

 

RomantiCon 2012: Great Friends, Fabulous Readers and EC Staff

Greetings everyone!!
This blog comes to you several days after the close of RomantiCon 2012, Ellora's Cave Publishing's annual convention for readers, authors and staff to mix, mingle and celebrate red hot Erotic Romance and the women who write and read them.

I can't tell you how many wonderful people help to bring the convention together with style, class and dedication to detail and planning. As a former conference chair and the president of an RWA chapter, I know what it takes to pull off a conference of any size, but every year Ellora's Cave staff manages to impress and make the planning look and feel effortless. It should go without saying, but I will anyway, thank you Ellora's Cave for all you do for authors, readers and staff members.

Believe it or not, planning for RomantiCon 2013 is underway, and the dates are set. Check out EC's RomantiCon 2013 website for details! And if you're a RomantiCon virgin, don't be nervous about attending. Everyone is welcome and before the convention is through, you'll have 300+ new friends. The minute you step into the convention, you're drawn into a safe environment where you can be free to be yourself, read the books you love and write the books fans crave. Here's a look at next year!
http://ecromanticon.com/

Note the date, October 10-13, 2013, the theme, Old Hollywood, New Bollywood, make costumes if you're crafty (unlike myself) and be free to push reality to the curb for a few days and live a fantasy that will leave you smiling, laughing and partying with follow readers and authors, and have I mentioned the Cavemen? If not, let me tell you, you cannot miss the Cavemen.

Here's a look at the beautiful man who was named Alpha Caveman of the year this past Saturday night! http://ecromanticon.com/alpha-caveman-contest The Cavemen dance, charm and pose throughout the convention without fail and are always ready with the warmest of smiles and the sweetest of personalities to boot. The one thing that stood out to me this past weekend was the fact that not only are the Cavemen incredibly talented, they are genuinely nice! Some are quiet-spoken, and yet, their intensity and dedication to detail and their natural sense of charm makes any woman melt and feel like a woman, no pun intended.

At RomantiCon 2012, the Cavemen included this year's winner, Nick, who led an incredible Zumba class that must be witnessed, David, Ace, Christian, Georgio, Ryan (a South African who was not only gorgeous, tall and chiseled, he was also gracious and well-spoken, just listening to him for five minutes was an honor), Eli, Bryan, Taylor and Justin (both of whom wrote 'Take it Off' available now from Ellora's Cave, and Cole.
If you want to learn more about them, click the links:  Georgio: http://ecromanticon.com/georgio
Cole:http://ecromanticon.com/cole Ryan: http://ecromanticon.com/ryan  Eli: http://ecromanticon.com/eli Taylor: http://ecromanticon.com/taylor Justin: http://ecromanticon.com/justin  David: http://ecromanticon.com/david 
Bryan: http://ecromanticon.com/bryan  and Ace: http://ecromanticon.com/ace

Next year, I'm sure many will return, as well as new Cavemen and some who were unable to attend this year due to other obligations. They're really super nice and make the weekend all the more special. Of course, the fact that they're incredibly gorgeous and grace the covers of our books, as well as have moves on the dance floor that will leave you breathless, is one of many, many reasons attendees return year after year.

On Thursday night at RomantiCon 2012, attendees gathered during the Meet and Greet, a time when everyone can gather at the bar, grab a drink and catchup or meet for the first time. Within minutes new faces became instant friends, past attendees reunite and the Cavemen dance, talk and socialize. Now, I admit that I arrived this year on Wednesday evening, giving a whole day to explore before the events kick off Thursday evening. Next year, I'm determined to attend the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was literally down the road from the hotel and I'm a HUGE football fan.

After a day of workshops and discussion panels that featured everything from open discussion of writing BDSM, to sexy Pictionary games and what books make a reader's keeper shelf and why, not to mention Poi and hula hoop dancing (I'll get to the lap dancing lesson next), and plenty of opportunities to mix and mingle with 80+ authors and many, many readers of Exotica, Romantica and Blush romances, everyone gathered in the banquet hall for a night of food, fun and dancing. The theme this year was 'Party Like There's No Tomorrow', and attendees dressed in costumes ranging from Cleopatra to Hollywood-chic, and Carnival! The Cavemen entertained us with skillfully crafted choreography and dancing, here's a link.

Warning in advance, it's about 25 minutes long!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4G0x9jKHkI

Also, this brings me to Rodney and CJ! Both men are important parts of the RomantiCon experience. Rodney was named the Ultimate Caveman, acts as the event emcee, and is all-around charming, friendly, open and possibly the nicest man on the planet. The moment Rodney walks into the room, women get all giddy because we all know that he can charm your socks off, all while remaining respectful and seeing the beauty of a woman, inside and out, no matter who they are. CJ, is the original Caveman and he loves to pose with attendees and is really, very sweet. He also helped to hand out awards at the Saturday evening ceremony, his smile is wonderful and his hugs are even better!!

This brings me to Saturday evening, this theme being Survivors vs Zombies after the Mayan apocolypse! The costumes were incredibly creative, everything from walking dead, blood-soaked brides, angels, military specialists and vampires. This was the night Nick was crowned Alpha Caveman of 2012, giving him the honor to be 'the' Caveman, he'll appear in a national magazine, many covers and become the cover boy for EC's annual calendar, among other benefits.

Sadly, this draws me to think about an incredibly wonderful man who was tragically killed shortly before RomantiCon. An angel in his own right, Angelo/Ruben, will always, always be missed by those who knew him and called him a friend. Angelo was the reigning Alpha, and it is only fitting that his good friend, Nick, received the honor this year. I know that Angelo was smiling down from Heaven when Nick's name was announced. And it's no surprise that Nick won. He is charming and genuine, not to mention gorgeous, and man, can he move! There's something incredibly sexy about a man who can dance, and this man can dance!

On a happier note, Saturday marks the author awards ceremony. Rising Stars, featuring authors new to EC, to Superstars, authors who are awarded with beautiful, dazzling crystal trophies, for their books or something in their book that made the editors stand up and take notice. I was honored to learn that Cuff Master received an award for 'Best Race to Orgasm', and when I heard the title and then my name, I was so shocked, I nearly fell over. The room roared with laughter and cheers. To be honored in such a way will always mean the world to me. Thank you EC!

Now, of course, every night there is dancing. Dancing, and more dancing. In addition to our gorgeous Cavemen leading the way with another choreographic masterpiece, this time Survivors vs Zombies, and when the zombies look like the Cavemen, (I'd gladly let them bite!) attendees danced late into the night, then we all converged in the lounge and socialized some more.

Sunday at RomantiCon is the SEXPorium, a 4 hour event featuring a book signing by the authors, and more entertainment from the Cavemen and the local burlesque troop from Cleveland Exotic Dance. These ladies are really, really sweet, and fit right in at RomantiCon. One thing I'd forgotten to mention, early on Saturday, we learned all about lap dancing. No, we didn't do anything that would make our husbands or significant others nervous, but we did learn some moves that would entertain them! We also learned a startling difference between how a woman's sensuality can be enhanced during a lap dance and how a man can be both physically charming and dominant, and yet, not once put her in an awkward or dangerous position. The men of RomantiCon do this with class and perfection, making certain that every woman feels safe in their company.

It is with sadness that I must end this blog post, or I fear tears, because I do love being at RomantiCon and the friends I've made there. Each year gets better and better, this being my third, and next year will definitely be my fourth. Don't miss it. Attend, even if you think you're too shy, don't let that stop you. Come and be part of the EC family and you will find friendships that last and create memories that will last a lifetime.

Until next time,
Frances