Remember last December when the Magic University digital box set became available? The new piece in that set–a 15,000 word sequel to the series entitled CHRISTMAS MAGIC–is now available to purchase on its own!

I originally wrote the novella as a holiday gift for MU fans to thank them for helping to spread the word about the box set and supporting the series. Christmas Magic is from Frost’s point of view. There is a lot about Frost we don’t see in the MU books because they’re from Kyle’s point of view, although if you’ve read the short stories in Spellbinding you’ve seen a few in Frost’s voice, now.

Get it at:

At last I can reveal the new, beautiful cover art for The Prince’s Boy! The very talented cover designer Kanaxa created this and I couldn’t be happier. Look at those gorgeous guys! (Bigger sizes below!)

Dark erotic magic ensnares a prince and his whipping boy in a world of castle intrigue.

The new bundle/box set collects together volumes 1 and 2 into the complete story, and also includes two bonus stories, “Sergetten’s Tale” and “Jorin’s New Spell.” Pre-orders can be placed now and it’ll go live on November 15th.

Pre-order now at: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

Still to come: Kobo | Apple iBooks | Google | Smashwords | etc.

Full description & full size images under the cut:

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Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

It’s here! It’s live! Get it now from all your favorite places!

WILD LICKS
Paperback: $12.99 ISBN: 9781455533640
Ebook: $5.99 ISBN: 9781455533657

Indie Bookstores | Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Hachette

In this book the dark, broody guitar player we met in Taking the Lead gets together with sunny heiress Gwen Hamilton and discovers she has a dark side, too. But can Gwen bring out the light trapped in Mal’s heart?

Gwen wants to succeed at acting without using her family name: she wants to be judged on her own terms. But when an exercise in Method Acting leads her accidentally into the arms of Mal Kenneally, the rock star with a reputation for unusual sexual appetites, Gwen thinks maybe she’s found the ultimate test of her acting abilities. Or maybe she’s finally met the man who can see, and appreciate, the real Gwen…

Mal Kenneally has done his best to leave his aristocratic British family behind. The Rough, the rock band he started with his childhood friend Axel, is his family now. But will he be forced to choose between the brotherhood of the band and his growing obsession with Gwen Hamilton?

Mal and Gwen push each other’s limits, each convinced that one day they’ll go too far. But the farther they go, the more they discover that two can delve far deeper than one.

I’ll post an excerpt later! Just had to get this live before the day slips away!

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Ten Things I Learned at SFWA Nebulas Weekend

by Cecilia Tan

This past weekend was the SFWA annual gathering known as Nebulas Weekend, which is not only when the Nebula Awards are given out, but also a conference for professional science fiction writers. People tell me that in the past Nebulas Weekend was mostly a party/schmoozefest and not so much of a professional development seminar. That might explain why I never bothered to attend before. I go to plenty of schmoozefests at other cons and book industry functions where I can rub elbows with the elite writers and editors in science fiction/fantasy (viz: the SFWA suite at any Worldcon or World Fantasy, the SFWA annual “Mill & Swill” in NYC, ICFA, miscellaneous book launches and parties, various regional fan cons, et cetera). I didn’t need another one. But a pro development seminar for sf/f? Sign me up.

Before this, there was no open attendance professional development seminar for sf/f writers. There are the application-only writers workshops like Clarion, Odyssey, and Viable Paradise. There are science courses like Launch Pad and the Schroedinger Sessions. But nowhere within sf/f except occasional tracks or workshops at cons to learn career skills, i.e. self-marketing techniques, social media management, website management, legal issues, and so on. I had been advising writers I know to attend their nearest regional romance writer conventions (even if they didn’t write romance) in order to get some of that.

Thanks to the co-location of this year’s Nebs with BookExpo America, presentations at the conference included many by service providers of various companies in the publishing ecosystem, as well as the opportunity to sit down one-on-one to pick the brains of many presenters. (Schedule) Reps from Kobo, Draft2Digital, Patreon, Kickstarter, Amazon/KDP, Audible.com, and others were here, and also various members put themselves forth for brain-picking in the Ask an Expert area. So I picked some brains, went to some seminars, and here’s what I learned during Nebulas Weekend: (details below the cut)

1. We Clean Up Pretty Good
2. Kickstarters Should Be Pretty
3. At Patreon a Little Means a Lot
4. Dictate for Artistry
5. The Myth of Self-Publishing
6. White Knights and Online Harassment
7. Think Globally
8. You Can’t Be in Two Places at Once
9. John Hodgman is Really Funny
10. Not the Hugos or the Worldcon

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Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Hello, bloggers, readers, and fellow writers! I’m re-launching my much-lauded BDSM gay high fantasy romance serial THE PRINCE’S BOY shortly, and am looking for folks who would like to be part of the brigade of those posting the cover reveal, excerpts, and so on. Here’s a Google form to fill out if you’re interested in participating in:

• Cover reveal on your blog and/or FB group and/or Goodreads group
• Cover reveal share on your social media (Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, G+)
• Host an author Q&A
• Publish an excerpt on your blog
• Host some other form of blog tour stop (your choice of topic)
• Review on your blog, Amazon, Goodreads, or elsewhere you specify

THE PRINCE’S BOY tells the story of young lovers Kenet and Jorin and their fight to save their kingdom from evil and their love from destruction. In this world “night magic” is a powerful form of sorcery powered by the lust of male for male. The Prince’s Boy was originally serialized from July 2009-June 2011 on circlet.com and Livejournal and was awarded Honorable Mention in both the Rainbow Awards and the NLA: International Writing Awards for BDSM-positive fiction.

I’ll be revealing new cover(s) in July, a new box set ebook will go on sale in November. (Hopefully with a new bonus story included…? I’m working on that!)

Reminder what the old covers looked like:

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

I’m trying it! A “Kindle Countdown” deal for Spanish Nights started at 9am (Eastern) on Monday March 7th (today) dropping the price from $2.99 to 99 cents! On Wednesday at 11am it will jump to $1.99, and then on Friday at 5pm it will return to the regular $2.99.

What’s Spanish Nights? It’s an 80-page novella chronicling the torrid affair of Daron on a nearly yearlong jaunt to Spain and his lover Orlando and their adventures in the street music world of Seville. Daron’s the main character of Daron’s Guitar Chronicles but this novella can be read as a stand-alone.

Official description:
Two men, a chance meeting, a torrid affair.

One an internationally known rock star, the other from the streets of Spain: they meet in an erotic tale as hot as a summer night in Seville, as seductive as red wine and song.

Daron Marks didn’t expect to find a lover that day at the airport. He didn’t expect to suddenly change his plans and fly to Spain instead of Boston. But sometimes opportunity knocks and you have to grab Fate by the lapels and kiss until you’re breathless. Daron’s career, and his acceptance of his sexuality, are about to take a sudden, unexpected turn.

Orlando is as mysterious as he is beautiful, doe-eyed and nimble-fingered. To Daron, his presence seems to beckon something from deep within. When the two guitarists meet, they play duets and jam together to pass the time, but music sparks a deeper desire to connect, to touch, to love. But when Daron arrives in Spain he finds Orlando entangled in something more than simply sweaty sheets…

The Spanish Nights ebook also contains the complete erotic story “Home Sweet Home” as a bonus.

If you’re in Kindle Unlimited, you can read the book for free as part of the KU program, as well!

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Reviews are coming in for my new book TAKING THE LEAD! It’s been out for one week so far. Before launch I was super-happy to have gotten great reviews in both Publishers Weekly and RT Book Reviews, but now that the book has officially launched, a slew of review sites and bloggers have posted this week! Here are some excerpts and links to the full posts:

Reviews

“What set this book apart, for me, are the love/sex/kink scenes. Ms. Tan’s descriptions of Axel’s and Ricki’s encounters are more than just incredibly arousing. They’re full of insight, emotional nuances, truths to which I can vouch from personal experience. Ms. Tan understands how power exchange works and she brings that knowledge to the page. She also manages to communicate how dominance and submission can offer not just incandescent pleasure but soul-deep healing. Ricki requires the surrender Axel coaxes from her, to balance the warring factions in her personality and claim the strength to manage her complicated life.”
–Beyond Romance, Lisabet Sarai

“I really enjoyed this sexy rockstar romance – it’s a nice easy read that kept me gripped from start to finish. …Axel is a fabulous character, he is very sexy. His bad boy image hides a soft heart and a good man. I also love his relationships and banter with his band mates and friends. Ricki and Axel had great chemistry, they were so hot together. The storyline was interesting, the characters were likable and the sex was steamy – five stars.” —JJ’s Kinky Books

“So that’s what sets Taking The Lead apart, for me at least: It’s more than just another steamy, erotic romance. It’s an emotional and psychological examination of being a feminist with also being sexually submissive.”
—Only One More Page

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I’m pleased to offer up a tasty sample of my new book from Hachette/Grand Central Publishing/Forever which officially launches in six days! It’s already popped up in some bookstores, though!

On sale: Indiebound bookstores | Amazon|Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes | Google Play

I originally shared this sex scene from TAKING THE LEAD with my newsletter readers back 14 months ago, shortly after I’d written the first draft. It has since passed through my beta readers, critique partners, and my editor at Hachette, and has more depth than that early draft. (Just as much sex, though…heh.)

This segment is from our heroine’s point of view. Ricki Hamilton is a young Hollywood heiress, fresh out of business school, while Axel Hawke is the lead singer of a rock band who are just hitting it big. It’s the night of the Grammy Awards, and at one point, as a publicity stunt, Axel is supposed to joke-kidnap a mutual friend of theirs out of the audience. But Axel, who has gotten interested in Ricki, ends up making off with her instead. Here’s what happens after they land in the “getaway limo.”

(Also after all the limo scenes in the Struck by Lightning series, especially the first few in Slow Surrender, I thought it would be fun to have very very very different limo sex this time around. Remember how James doesn’t even touch Karina at first? This time I think Axel has extra hands…!)

When Axel Hawke dove into the back of a limo with me and we sped off, I was lightheaded from being unable to breathe. The moment he had picked me up I had started to laugh, and then partway up the aisle he’d switched to carrying me over his shoulder like a pirate making off with a wench. His shoulder dug into my stomach, which made me laugh harder but also made it even harder to breathe.

Maybe it wasn’t the way he was carrying me that made me so breathless. My mind was awhirl—the tabloids! They were going to have a field day! But part of me didn’t care. My fantasies of him carrying me away came roaring back, and the giddy feeling only intensified as I realized that any of the blame for this stunt was going to fall squarely on Axel Hawke, not me. I was merely the innocent bystander dragged along for the ride. Literally.

I realized I still had my arms around his neck while I fought to catch my breath.

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Yesterday was a holiday for a lot of people but social media never stops and I got wind that a review had appeared in Publishers Weekly for the book I have releasing next week, TAKING THE LEAD. I was a little afraid to go read it so I made my agent read it first.

See, the last time a book I wrote was reviewed in PW, bookselling and publishing’s trade magazine, was in 1998. In that review, they panned my HarperCollins erotic short story collection (Black Feathers) by saying my “sinless creations” were “for people who didn’t like sex.” I’d called up Susie Bright after that and cried.

She’d heard that attitude before, and patiently explained that the reviewer was almost certainly male and one of those throwback guys for whom if the sex wasn’t “dirty” or “illicit” then it was only meant for “prudes” and therefore wasn’t any fun. Put another way, because the book was written by a woman to satisfy a woman’s idea of what was sexy, he was angry it wasn’t for him. The fact that everyone in my book was actually enjoying all the consensual sex they were having was a turn-off for this dude.

After that I felt kind of sorry for the reviewer, because although he’d panned my book, he almost certainly had a miserable sex life. I would encounter his attitude sporadically, always from men, in the nineties, and then I guess those dinosaurs died off because I stopped hearing it. Or maybe my message and the message of the other sex-positive women writing and publishing in those days was finally getting through–Susie Bright, Carol Queen, Annie Sprinkle, etc.–if not to literary critics at least to the bookstores and the readers.

Of course romance wasn’t ready yet for my style of BDSM and consensual power exchange, or for the level of explicitness I brought to the table, so back then my work wouldn’t have fit there, either. Thankfully that’s no longer the case, and a book like TAKING THE LEAD has all the BDSM and character angst and negotiation and arrival at consensuality that turns ME on, and it seems like both the world of romance and Publishers Weekly are super-happy about it!

They gave it a “starred” review! And I quote, they say my new series is off to a “sultry start.” The moneyshot in the review: “With a satisfying plot and an engaging cast of characters, the only thing slowing readers down will be their refractory period.” Yessss!

Read the whole review here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4555-3363-3

On sale: Indiebound bookstores | Amazon|Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes | Google Play

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

I know I’m blogging a lot about my Secrets of a Rock Star series this month because book one launches on Jan 26th, but book two is making a splash this week! Yesterday Ever After Romance revealed the cover for WILD LICKS, but even they haven’t seen the sexy “ebook only” version of the cover!

Below I’ve got the side by side versions, and then below that I also made an animation that transitions from the mild version to the wild version. Va-va-voom!

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Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.