Month: June 2013

I am so thrilled to welcome Sable Hunter to Anna’s World this week. As some of you know, Sable writes erotic romance and has quite a following. Her Hell Yeah series about the McCoy brothers are bestsellers. She also writes with her younger brother, Jess Hunter, and she is one lucky lady because she co-writes with my favorite Cougar Bait, that sexy young thing, Ryan O’Leary, too.  I’m sure if you follow me at all, you’ve heard his name mentioned a few times here and there… I’ve put Sable in the hot seat as we sat down to chat today. Sit back, grab your drink of choice, and read on to see what Sable had to say. She’s also going to treat us to a sample of some of her work…and let me tell you, it’s HOT stuff…

Anna: What inspired you to choose your genre (genres)?

Sable:  I have two great loves in life – a hedonistic desire to be pampered and cherished and the odd craving to be scared out of my mind. So, I am drawn to both romance and horror. Plus, I love to sit down in a cozy spot and fantasize. I have a healthy fantasy life and sometimes I get so involved in a book that I become the heroine – of course they are all me, to a degree – but I immerse myself in the daydream of how the kiss would feel or how he would look at me or what we would say. I enjoy writing romance, it lets me have the amazing experience of a first kiss, a first date, a first time – over and over. And do I get turned on? Hell yes, I do. If I can’t turn myself on with my sex scenes, I sure as heck can’t turn anyone else on. I’ve kept Amazon in business buying sex toys (yes, they do sell them and also a very good brand of Italian tomato sauce –haha) Seriously, I read romance, I have read, on average, three books a week for years and I wrote, too. But just for my own and for my friend’s entertainment. But I like a certain kind of book – I want the heroine to have insecurity issues and I want the hero to think she is perfect just the way she is. (Yes, that stems from my own life – I have lots of issues.)  I would scan hundreds of books to find that scenario and I was thrilled when I found one, but there weren’t enough, so I just decided to write me some books just the way I wanted them. I decided to try my hand at doing it, professionally. I self-published, traditionally published – and here I am. And I’m lucky that other people are drawn to them, also. I will write horror, I have two books nearly completed – one is called Nephilim and it’s about a race of hybrid angel/humans that live among us undetected and introduces two archaeologists who have a romance. I also have a Joe Black type with a happier ending that traces Death’s walk through this world and one woman who recognizes him and loves him and it’s called for the lack of a better title at the moment – Embracing Death – but that’s not the best title. Ha!

Anna: And you do such a fine job of entertaining us with your heroes, I might add. I also want to thank you for all the help you guys have given me. You, Ryan, Jess, Barb, and Deb are some of the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting since I began this crazy thing called writing. Now, next question, we all have issues with balancing our time between writing, editing, promoting, along with other obligations and personal time. What works best for you?

Sable: Well, as Ryan will tell you, I work from sunup to midnight. He says I work at a frenetic pace and I have 6 or 7 projects ongoing at any one time. I write best in the morning or late at night and I, at present, have works ongoing with Ryan, Jess and Emily Laurence and am negotiating doing one with an Austin author friend of mine, Marcos London. I also have an audio book that I’m about to release that my Irish friend, Alan Cooke, narrated and also sweeter versions of the McCoys that Ryan has helped me tone the sex down. (I can’t help it, I think it’s hilarious for Ryan to be going through my manuscript toning the sex down instead of revving it up.) Part of each day, I oversee and plan marketing strategies. But I am lucky, I have help. Jess works with me, he writes articles and he twitters for me and he edits and he strategies – he’s invaluable. Barb Caruso is my assistant and she takes care of me and Ryan and Jess. We are working on doing everything from helping other authors, to FB events, to phone Apps, a glossy magazine, convention representation – you name it and we have it going on, Debbie Workman also helps me with promotion and blog scheduling and advertising. I have help at Heartfeltpromos posting on the loops and Coffeetime management helps me with my website. I can’t do it all, I don’t even try. I have an army of supporters who I think are the grandest group of people in the world – they are called Daydream Believers and anyone who likes the books is welcome to join. I have wonderful betas and editors who comb through my books and try to tone down the country accent and keep me on the straight and narrow. But I do have a tendency to want to be involved. I have been known to throw a hissy fit if I don’t understand a process, but Barb keeps me straight and Ryan keeps us both straight and Jess just sits back and laughs at it all.

Anna: Ryan toning down sex scenes?? Now that is funny.Well, moving right along since I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one…Tell us about your characters. What type of hero do you normally choose? What type of heroine?

Sable: I have a Sable Hunter code. I was trying to explain this to another author the other day. My hero is strong – he may have flaws, but he adores the heroine and there is no weakness in his emotions or what he would do for her. Think Dragon Slayer. Think about the song ‘Holding out for a Hero’ – think Hercules. Jess also puts his two cents in – none of my heroes or heroines, once they have met, can have one lascivious thought about another person – not one. They have to be totally devoted. Jess has had me take out references to Jacob even calling Libby honey or Jessie thinking Joseph is handsome – he’s a stickler. My heroines may be spunky, but they are ladies and they possess an inherent softness and tenderness. And yes, most of them are virgins – I just like that idea of belonging to one person and one person only. I have to like my characters. I have to love my characters. Even though I write erotic romances, my stories have morals and family values and yes, I have references to a belief in a God and my characters pray and they believe in miracles. I don’t have to write about just cowboys – I write about firemen and alligator wranglers and weapons designers and Texas Rangers and conservationists and detectives and governors and football players and sex therapists and Marines – we are surrounded by heroes and I want to make as many of them mine as possible.

Anna: Who are some of your favorite authors? Did they inspire you to write?

Sable: My favorite authors write in my genre. Lora Leigh, Maya Banks, Cherise Sinclair, Lorelei James, Sarah McCarty, Beth Kery, Heather Ranier, Leah Brooke – and I could go on and on. The one person who inspired me to write romance though – was Leslie Kelly and the book was Slow Hands. I read that – put it down and wrote A WISHING MOON.

Anna: What has been the most difficult aspect of your writing career?

Sable: The most difficult aspect of my writing career has been acceptance in my community. I have had a hard time. I was incognito – then I was exposed – I changed my pseudonym and wrote some more and was exposed the second time. I really have nothing to do with anyone in my hometown. I travel a lot, I find more acceptance in Austin and New Orleans than I do in the village where my main home is. All of my best friends live elsewhere – Canada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, all over but none here. Jess is my closest family and friend, although my Uncle Michael wants to meet everyone, he is jealous of the attention that Ryan and Jess have.

Anna: Well, yes, I met Uncle Mike today and he is a character. Now, for some good stuff. Give us a little dirt about yourself. What’s your favorite guilty indulgence?

Sable: Oh, dirt – I love dirt. Let me see. . . . . dirt. Okay, I rarely wear underwear and if I do- it’s something exciting. Ha! I sound like Bill Murray in Stripes, but it’s true. I don’t wear underwear much – I am sorta small on top – a B cup and – heck, it’s hot down here, I like cotton sundresses against my skin and nothing else. More dirt. . . . . I watch short porn videos on xhamster and redtube for instant inspiration.  I was involved with a Dom for awhile in New York. He taught me everything I needed to know to write BADASS. His name was Bob and he wanted to walk me around New York on a leash, but I balked at that. Is that enough dirt? I’ll save some for next time.    My favorite guilty indulgence is Hagen Das Rum Raisin ice cream. And I love to watch Michael Scratch on Lingerie on Cinemax and Joe Manganiello on True Blood while I’m using one of those toys from Amazon.

Anna:   I want to know, as I’m sure many others do, how you got started writing with your brother, Jess, and also with that hot Canadian we all love, Ryan O’Leary.  Tell us a little about that.

Sable: Well, Jess is my brother. We are very close. I am 9 years older and we know each other better than anyone else. He has one great talent – communicating. He is a marvelous actor, he was on debate teams, he was in musicals in college – he is never at a loss for words, whether on paper or in person. He is poised. He is self-confident. He has written beautiful stories and articles and made great grades in college. But like me – – he doesn’t want a 9 to 5 job. He worked in the private sector for a while. He didn’t like it – he hated a cubicle. I kept telling him – come help me. He supported my writing, but he wasn’t involved. Finally, he got fed up and decided to work with me and write and he was wonderful at both. He also works with a friend, repairing furniture which allows him to live in Houston part time so he can date and attend movies and eat out and 3 days a week, he holes up here in the swamp with me. It’s the best of both worlds.    Ryan O’Leary is my best friend. We met on Facebook, as I have met all of you. It was casual, we bantered, we spoke, but we discovered that we both had writing in common. We began exchanging scenes and plans and plots and I asked him to write with me, and I was lucky enough that he said, yes. I tend to write sappy and Ryan writes saucy and when you put it together, it’s the perfect combination of flavors and textures. I wouldn’t trade Ryan for a barrel of gold monkeys. When I am upset, I talk to him. When I am scared, I talk to him. When I need a problem solved, I talk to him. He is my friend and being in business with him is just icing on the cake. He lives in a different country from me, but we have found common ground.

Anna: I am nine years older than my only brother too, so there’s another thing we have in common. And you’re a lucky gal to have Ryan as your best friend. For all the teasing I give him about being Cougar Bait, he really is about as sweet as they get. Okay, now for what everyone has been waiting for… Tell us about your newest project.

Sable: Right now, I have three projects ongoing. Ryan and I are writing Thunderbird. It will tie in to the Hell Yeah! and even have one more ARON CLUE before Skye Blue comes out later this summer. Thunderbird will have some serious issues in it, as well as some hot sex. We will deal with immigration, children born out of wedlock, Mexican drug cartels, Middle Eastern terrorist profiling, child predators, politics and love. Wow!  I’m also finishing up the much anticipated SKYE BLUE which is Noah’s story in the Hell Yeah universe and I’m working on The Guardian of My Soul with Emily Laurence. .

Here’s an excerpt from Forget Me Never, which was written by Sable, Jess, and Ryan. If you’ve read this one, you might be interested to know this will soon be released as an audio book.  Warning: It’s pretty HOT… The more she considered what Patrick had done, the more she smiled.  He loved her, he really loved her.  She wasn’t used to expecting good things in her life.  Dreaming about a future filled with love and happiness was foreign to her.  Now, it didn’t seem so far-fetched.  For the first time, happy-ever-after seemed to be within her reach.  She danced around the house and noted that he had straightened the living room, put a load of towels in the dryer and raked a pile of leaves outside.  It thrilled her that his clothes hung in her closet, his shoes sat beside her bed and his big ole’ black dog was sacked out on the couch.  All of a sudden her house seemed like a home. Patrick had left her a note in his big, bold scrawl.  Beside a trip to the nursing home, he indicated that he was meeting Revel Lee for coffee.  So, she had a little time to wait.  The chicken was out of the oven, there was a banana pudding in the fridge and now she was going to get ready for some fun.  Taking the nerf guns, she loaded both of them with bullets.  This would surprise him.  Right by the door, where he couldn’t miss them, she placed his toy gun and a note.  Then she waited.   ***** Whistling as he walked, Patrick was glad to be home.  Savannah’s house was almost as welcoming as she was.  Ciara heard him arrive and padded over to meet him.  “Where’s your mama?” he asked.  Then he noticed that a table had been pulled over in the path and there was a note – and a gun, a toy gun.  Strange.  But when he picked up the note, he smiled.  There was a lop-sided skull and cross bones drawn on it.  Obviously, he was going to be the artist in the family.  And written on it were these words: The gun is loaded.  I have one, too.  And you are under attack As of NOW!!! A wave of love for her almost knocked him down.  Could she be more perfect?  Now he knew she was his dream girl.  His baby wanted to play.  Patrick grabbed the gun and cocked it.  And no sooner had he become alert to what was around him – Savannah stepped out from behind the kitchen door, grinned, aimed and shot a nerf bullet right slap dab at his crotch.  It landed with a good little thump right on his dick. “Gottcha!  Bullseye!” “Why, you little rascal.”  He fired back and she dodged, let out the cutest bubble of giggles he had ever heard and dashed up the stairs.  Patrick took off after her.  She stopped at the top and fired again, this time it bounced off of his abs.  He returned fire and he connected with one of her tits. “Ow!” “Surrender, and I’ll kiss and make it better.” “Never!” She took off again.  He heard her footsteps falling and then heard her slide across the floor.  Bump!  Thump!  What in the world? “You realize that your ass is mine, Baby.  I’m a United States by-God Marine.  Are you ready to give up?” Silence.  Oh, that couldn’t be good.  He grinned like an idiot.  This was a side of her he hadn’t seen.  And he loved it. Patrick went into stealth mode.  He walked silently, making every move precise.  Where had she gone?  He wanted to laugh out loud, but he didn’t want to give away his position.  The hall ahead of him was empty and all the doors were shut.  Ah, the closet, she was probably in the linen closet.  Edging up to the door, he turned the knob slowly – threw it open and aimed.  It was empty.  Maybe she was in the bedroom; that would be convenient.  Once he captured her, he could ravish her. Savannah waited until just the right moment.  She had been holding the bathroom door closed with the door knob tight in her hand so when she heard him go by, she could pounce.  A stool was at hand and when she opened the door, she wasn’t going to be peering around it – he was going to be attacked from above! Oh, the man was good.  She could barely hear him moving around.  Savannah had excellent hearing.  The gift had been both a blessing and a curse, because sometimes she had heard things that she’d have been better off not knowing.  Conversations still rang in her mind, ‘Keep the little leper away from the kitchen.  We don’t want her germs everywhere.  It’s bad enough she has to be in the house.  If I had my way, we’d chain her in the back with the dog.’  Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. Times had changed.  And she owed it all to the man that she was just about to – – – – attack! Patrick heard the door squeak right behind him and he wheeled around to fire – and there was nothing! “Put your hands over your head, I think I’ve got you cornered, Marine.”  He looked up and his little doll was hanging over the top of the door. She held the gun pointed right between his eyes. “You think you’ve got me, don’t you?” She had him, no doubt about it.  Savannah had him wrapped around her cute little pinky finger. “Yea, I’ve got you.  You’re mine now.” Truer words had never been spoken.  But he couldn’t let her think she was in charge here.  “No, I think you’re mine.”  And he reached up quickly, slipped his hands under her arms and pulled her to him.  “Now, I’ve got you!” “Hey, no fair!  You’re gonna hurt yourself.  I’m chubby!” “All’s fair, Love, this is WAR.”  He got amused.  “The only thing chubby about you are those luscious breasts and I wouldn’t have them any other way.”  Not giving his little POW any chance to escape, he carried her to the bedroom and tossed her on the bed.  She landed with a bounce and a giggle. But she didn’t giggle long.  He started undressing and she slid right into heat mode.  My God!  The man was hot, hard, and ripped.  And this man belonged to her?   Or he could.  If she was brave enough to reach out and take him.  In a symbolic gesture that wasn’t lost on either of them, she held out her arms.  “I want you.  I surrender.” “Damn, Baby.”  He joined her on the bed and made fast work of her clothes.  She was kissing him everywhere she could reach and he was so hard and swollen he thought he would burst.  There would be no time for preliminaries today.  “I wouldn’t trade you for anything in the whole world.  Nothing compares to your embrace.” Savannah opened herself to him – not only did she open her arms to him, she opened her thighs and gave him her vulnerability and she opened her heart and gave him her love.  “I can’t wait. Come to me, now.”  Patrick was careful with her, testing her wetness for himself before he sank deep.  But she was warm, wet and willing and wanted him desperately. “I want to make this good for you, but you’ve got me too excited.”  There was more he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find the words.  Savannah’s tight sheath clenched him so tight he saw stars.  God, it felt good.  He wanted to thrust and pump and take her hard, but she was so damn little that he held himself back. Savannah could tell he was being careful with her.  But that wasn’t what she wanted.  He was her man and she wanted him just the way he was.  “Don’t hold back.  Lose control.  I want to feel what it’s like to belong to you completely.  I want all of you.  I would never survive if I lost you, Patrick.  You are the light of my life.” Her permission released something inside of him.  One more second, he hesitated, just waiting for her body to accept him completely.  And when he felt her relax – he buried his head in her neck and gave in to the extreme pleasure of fuckin’ Savannah. “Oh, God – Oh, God – Oh, God,” she chanted as he moved powerfully in and out of her.  She wrapped her legs around his waist and dug her heels into his bottom and held on for dear life.  Waves of relief and joy and arousal whipped through her body like sparklers.  There was nowhere else in the world for her than with this man.  He was home. She was killing him.  Her whole little body was quivering and her pussy was milking him with one passionate pulse after another.  All he could do was react and piston inside of her, loving the feel of being enveloped in paradise. Awareness of all else fled; Savannah’s focus was only on the perfect in and out glide of his cock moving in flawless harmony with her body.  And she couldn’t keep still; every time she pressed down on him with her pussy walls his cock would jump and he would make the sexiest sounds.  “I never knew it could feel so good,” she panted as he pleasured her within an inch of her life. “You are mine, Savannah.”  He lifted up enough to take both of her hands and raise them over her head.  Then he locked his gaze with hers and thrust even faster. He rocked her world.  She levitated into his arms as the pressure in her clit exploded, the pleasure so intense that it took her breath away.  As she bowed upward, her breasts were thrust up and Patrick claimed a nipple and began to suck voraciously. “I love you,” she cried. Her cry was all it took – Patrick groaned harshly, his climax overtaking him.  His cock convulsed in ecstasy and he shot his life-giving essence deep within her.  One day, he promised himself, he would plant a child in her womb.  Building a life with this woman was his dearest dream.   “Honey, I love you, too.  And I promise you one thing – there is nothing in this world or the next that is going to keep us apart.”

See I told you, didn’t I? Get Ryan and Sable together and the temperature rises fast!! Now I have a very special surprise for you…Sable is allowing me to reveal a new cover on my blog!!! YES, I feel so privileged. Now keep in mind, this is only the proposed cover for Thunderbird, the new book she and Ryan are working on. It’s one of the covers being considered, but you saw it here first!

And here’s a little more info on Sable:

And look at this: These keychains will be for sale on Amazon soon and will sell for $2 each. Pretty cool…and as soon as they are available, Sable will post the link on her Facebook page. I want one of each, how about you?

                Thanks for joining us today. Next week, Ryan O’Leary will be in the house…oh…lock the doors…lock the windows…might not let him out…see you next week. Love, Anna