Mad Stone

“This is a bad idea,” David said, his tone as flat as the gunmetal grey his eyes had gone. We were both in the back seat of Zach’s car, now parked at our destination. A limo would’ve been too out of place at biker bar.

“I don’t like it much myself, but we’re short on time and options,” I pointed out. I adjusted the zipper on my black leather jacket and flexed my feet in the steel-toed boots I wore. I’d already tested the give in my jeans by doing a couple of high kicks before getting in the car; pants that were too restrictive to fight in no longer belonged in my wardrobe.

“She said she’d talk to Chandra if she came in alone,” Zach said from the driver’s seat. “If one of us goes with her, we might not only lose a shot at the stone, we could find ourselves with a new set of enemies. We don’t want to provoke them by seeming aggressive on their home turf.”

“What you said,” I nodded at Zach, and tried to project confidence at David. “Besides, compared to psychotic rogue shapeshifters, how bad can a few hairy guys with leather fetishes be?”

“Bad,” David stated.

“I have a black belt in Kenpo,” I said, as much to make myself feel better as to reassure David. I sent a silent thanks to my adoptive father for enrolling me in martial arts at age five.

“Which will not help you against bullets.”

“No, but unless they’re packing silver, I’ll live.” I twisted to peer at Zach. “Do you think they’re packing silver?”

Zach was silent for a beat longer than I expected. “Probably not.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and bit back curses. “How does a biker gang know about us, anyway?” Angelica had known exactly who I was when she returned my call, and our first conversation hadn’t led me to expect the beginning of a beautiful friendship when I showed up to meet her at the bar.

“She is a witch,” Zach reminded me.

“I thought she was probably a fake.”

“Look on the bright side. Since she’s the real thing, she’s much more likely to have a powerful stone.”

“Yes, but will she give it to us?” That was the big question, and we weren’t going to get an answer until I got out of the car and went inside.

“I guess that depends on you.” Zach’s eyes met mine, and I knew he hated that every bit as much as David did. Maybe more, since it went against his alpha nature to sit and wait while his mate went into danger. When this was all over, I was going to have some major beast-soothing to do.

Thanksgiving roundup

Thanksgiving is upon us! For NaNoers, the final push to the finish line is ahead.Via
Paperbackwriter
, here’s the most incredibly useful link for creative blockblusting I’ve ever seen collected on the internet.

For those about to bake, I salute you. And here is my go-to
pie crust recipe
. Like the name says, foolproof. And as always, the
turkey hotline
is there for those in need of advice.

Trying to keep kids busy over the holiday weekend? On Flickr I shared my own cave painting, an easy art project I did with the kids this week, with instructions to do it yourself. If you want to turn it into a treasure map project, do the drawing step first. (Thanks for the treasure map tip, MJ!)

Hot cowboys, hot off the presses!

Guess what is shipping early? Cowboy Lust, containing my ROPED. You can get yours now and have a little Christmas Cowboy in July.

Snippet from ROPED

copyright 2012 Charlene Teglia

All rights reserved

“Whoa, cowboy.” Regan started to roll away, but he caught her in a firm grip and started winding rope around her wrists with a speed that proved he deserved all his calf-roping wins. “Bondage? Really? What happened to hello?”

“Hello, Regan.” Jonas continued his work without pausing, making knots and securing the rope to the headboard. “This is my way of making sure you don’t run off before I’m finished with you.”

“I didn’t run off the last time,” Regan said, exasperated. “You’re a heavy sleeper.”

“Not that heavy.” Jonas took her shoes and after a quick glance around the room, opened the window and threw them outside into a snow bank.

“Hey!”

“Can’t run off in the snow barefoot,” Jonas said, crossing muscular arms over his broad chest as he stared down at her.

“Those weren’t mine,” Regan moaned. “They were Nancy’s. They didn’t come from Payless.”

“Nancy? That friend of yours who went off to become a supermodel before marrying the cowboy next door?”

“Yes.”

“She won’t miss them,” Jonas stated, the problem of the shoes moved off the table.

That was probably true. Regan switched to a topic that might actually get her somewhere. “What are you doing here, Jonas?”

“It’s my ranch.” He didn’t miss the surprise in her eyes. “Nancy didn’t tell you?”

“No.” Regan had assumed he’d left forever when he’d gone away and onto achieve whatever the town bad boy was destined for. The vague vision made her realize she hadn’t thought much about an adult Jonas; he’d stayed eighteen in her brain, the dangerous boy all the girls wanted, an impossible dream for a bookish, flat-chested girl.

Her impossible dream continued to stare down at her, but Regan was used to courtroom tactics and refused to let it intimidate her. She attempted to settle into a comfortable position, difficult with her wrists bound together and the length of rope allowing her minimal room to maneuver. “Okay. You wanted to talk. Talk.”

Whee Time Magazine plus Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain

First, Wheee! Time Magazine suggests you cowboy up and read. Cowboy Lust (contains my ROPED) is included in Time Magazine’s Summer Reading issue! This means that the connected story I set up in Roped kind of needs to get done now to take advantage of the exposure. Hadn’t planned for that to be a priority so soon but when the unexpected happens, priorities shuffle.

Second, pay no attention to that man behind the curtains, but this site has long needed to transition to Drupal 7 and the time is now. A shiny new Drupal 7 build which includes Drupal Commerce is in the works. Drupal Commerce will allow me to sell my own titles directly, so I can do things I’ve wanted to do for some time here, such as offer signed copies of print books, direct downloads of my e-titles, etc. The offerings will be very limited to begin with, but I’ll be adding backlist titles of mine as they come out of contract and I re-release them along with new work. Exciting times!

5 neat things on the interwebs

1. The Shiba Inu puppies are back. Awww.

2. Neal Stephenson wants to revolutionize sword fighting in video games. Check out the kickstarter and re-read Snow Crash.

3. What’s your muppet type, Chaos or Order?

4. Don’t know what to do with that kale from your CSA? Cooking Light has 14 recipes for you. 

5. If writing is starting to seem all adult and heavy, check out
this short film
and revisit the world of your inner child’s imagination.

Goodnight Mr. Bradbury

Via IO9, Ray Bradbury has left us for the stars. Or the October country.

I read pretty much everything the man wrote except his screenplays. His stories burrowed into my brain and remain there as an example of what story is and why you should say to hell with anybody who laughs at your love of dinosaurs or circuses.

Goodnight, Mr. Bradbury, and thank you for leaving a light on.