Astrid Amara

Happy New Year!

I start the year off with some really great news - I have awesome new dogs to inspire me to write!
One is a retired racer greyhound, who is not only beautiful, fast and skinny, but also a complete love hog and hilarious to boot. He thinks he's a lap dog. He's 75 lbs. and all legs, so he isn't. I love him to death already.

I also have an 8 year old Italian Greyhound rescued from the pound, and clearly insane. He's proving a challenge to my writing, since he IS a lapdog, and I have a laptop, and the two are incompatible. It's difficult trying to write a novel over a squirming body. 

But after having lost my two best friends and writing companions last year, it's nice to sit down and write while smothered under a dog pile. It gets my creative juices flowing. 

The bad news is... The Archer's Heart is officially out of print. :(  It IS available as an e-book for anyone who hasn't read it already, but the print version is now officially sold out. I'm sad because it was such a beautiful book - a gorgeous cover, and a pleasure to hold. But alas, the problem with writing a massive tome like the Archer's Heart is that it costs too much for a reprint, so it's days were numbered. I'll look into finding another print publisher for it, but I don't hold out much hope. 

In any case, I hope to have a new beautiful Blind Eye Books novel written this year, for publication next year, I believe. I've started work on what I'm calling my "cavalry story"... it's magical realism set during the Crimean War, complete with possessed Victorian soldiers, Greek daemons, magic symbols, and of course, the Charge of the Light Brigade. Woo hoo! 

Here's hoping being covered in greyhounds will make my writing go faster!

Mazel Tov! My book Miracle of the Bellskis was released today! For only $4.99, you too can get some hot sex scenes, a good laugh, AND holiday cheer! That's cheaper than the $12.99 holiday cheer/sex/laughter package at Target.

Here's what this sequel to Carol of the Bellskis is about:

It's been three years since Seth Bellski forced his boyfriend and ex-boss Lars Varga out of the closet. Since then, Seth has passed the bar and become an attorney, and Lars has started his own firm. Their sex life has gotten steamier, and everything seems perfect between them. Until the holidays arrive.

It's bad enough that Seth's mother and father want them over every single night of Hanukkah. And that Lars's less-than-tolerant parents are sleeping in the room next door for the duration of Christmas, putting the kibosh on their kink. They also end up attorneys representing opposing sides in a divorce case, one which quickly proves to be much more than it seems.

Amidst Hanukkah candles, Christmas lights, burned dinners and delayed court appointments, can Lars and Seth's relationship survive the ultimate holiday challenge: too much family?

Hope you enjoy...and regardless, Happy Hanukkah! Enjoy your holidays!

Now's your chance to own your horse porn romance in new fancy paper form! Samhain is offering the newly released paperback version of my novel Half Pass at a super sale price of $9.80. Woot!

It's a mystery set in a barn and includes hot men in breeches and ponies, so what more could you ask for? Saddle up ladies and gents!

Happy Holidays everyone!
I'm so excited!  I have an amusing lil' release coming out next Tuesday from Loose Id, a sequel to Carol of the Bellskis (however, much like the fact that you didn't need to watch Anaconda I to follow the story in Anaconda II, you can probably enjoy Miracle all by itself). Here's some details, and more info will be posted on my website.



Too much family…too little Egg Nog.

It's been three years since Seth Bellski forced his boyfriend and ex-boss Lars Varga out of the closet. Since then, Seth has passed the bar and become an attorney, and Lars has started his own firm. Their sex life has gotten steamier, and everything seems perfect between them. Until the holidays arrive.

It's bad enough that Seth's mother and father want them over every single night of Hanukkah. And that Lars's less-than-tolerant parents are sleeping in the room next door for the duration of Christmas, putting the kibosh on their kink. They also end up attorneys representing opposing sides in a divorce case, one which quickly proves to be much more than it seems.

Amidst Hanukkah candles, Christmas lights, burned dinners and delayed court appointments, can Lars and Seth's relationship survive the ultimate holiday challenge: too much family?

Wow, I just realized how long it's been since I've updated my blog! Bad bad blogger me! Boo me!

Well first, I completely spaced mentioning that Ginn Hale, Nicole Kimberling and I took our usual positions behind the Blind Eye Books counter at Yaoi-con this year! As always, it's a blast to see all the Yaoi-con regulars, and the new faces, and the great cosplay outfits. And I have a new favorite manga for 2011, Rabbit man, Tiger Man, which is hilarious. And this year I invested in a set of steel claws. I'm excited about sporting them next year, although I do confess they make it might difficult to write.

Secondly, I just got my copies of the print edition of Half Pass!! They are beautiful! Samhain Publishing does such a great job with their books. Anyway, if you would like a print copy of Half Pass, they will be on sale December 6 through Samhain's website.

Thirdly, I'm done with line edits for Miracle of the Bellskis, the sequel to Carol of the Bellskis, which will be my Hanukkah romance for 2011 and available December 13 from Loose Id. (Yes, I mentioned it before as being called Silver Bellskis, but the title got changed). More details shortly, but I'm pretty pleased with this little holiday caper, mostly because I got to pester my attorney friends into answering all sorts of ridiculous questions like "but where in Seattle District Court could a guy $%$^# with another guy?"

Fourthly (okay is that even a word? Regardless, that's enough now), Irregulars is in its editing/proofreading phases and on its way for a March 2012 release from Blind Eye Books. I can't wait for this anthology, mostly because Ginn Hale, Nicole Kimberling, and Josh Lanyon's stories are all so kick ass.

All right already, I'm done. Jeez. It's like I have IBS for blogging, nothing for months and then.... ew. I'll just stop there with the metaphor.

I'm excited - not only can you pre-order the Irregulars anthology in print form, but you can also now pre-order the ebook version! This is a first for me, having a book simultaneously released in print and digital formats, so I'm really interested to see how that goes.

Meanwhile, if you haven't heard of the Irregulars.... it's going to be awesome! Josh Lanyon! Ginn Hale! Nicole Kimberling! (and me). All writing a shared world anthology.

It’s a secret international organization operating in cities on every continent. It polices relations between the earthly realm and those beyond this world, enforcing immigration laws, the transfers of magical artifacts, and crimes against humanity.

The agents who work for the NATO Irregular Affairs Division can’t tell anyone what they do, or how hard they work to keep us safe. It brings a colorful collection of men together:

Agent Henry Falk, the undead bum. Agent Keith Curry, former carnivore chef turned vegetarian; Agent Rake, Babylonian demon with a penchant for easy living; and Agent Silas August, uncompromising jerk.

Four cities, four mysteries, four times the romance. Is your security clearance high enough to read on?

Hey Kindle fans! If you are like me and prefer the .azw file versions of your favorite books so they come out beautifully on your Kindles, you're in luck! Now The Archer's Heart is available in Kindle format as three volumes on Amazon.com. At $3.99 they're a steal! 
Besides, the print version is due to go out of print any day now (boo!) so soon the e-book will be the only version of this title available.

You can also get it in other electronic formats through Weightless Books.

Yee-haw!

I'm very excited to announce that I am joining amazing authors Josh Lanyon, Ginn Hale, and Nicole Kimberling  in a new exciting urban fantasy anthology, Irregulars, which will be published by Blind Eye Books in March, 2012! For those of you who are looking for a deal, if you pre-order the book through Blind Eye Books' website, you get a 20% discount until December  31, 2011.  Here's the blurb to wet your appetite! 

It’s a secret international organization operating in cities on every continent. It polices relations between the earthly realm and those beyond this world, enforcing immigration laws, the transfers of magical artifacts, and crimes against humanity.

The agents who work for the NATO Irregular Affairs Division can’t tell anyone what they do, or how hard they work to keep us safe. It brings a colorful collection of men together:

Agent Henry Falk, the undead bum. Agent Keith Curry, former carnivore chef turned vegetarian; Agent Rake, Babylonian demon with a penchant for easy living; and Agent Silas August, uncompromising jerk.

Four cities, four mysteries, four times the romance. Is your security clearance high enough to read on?

More details coming soon!

 Woo hoo! I just sent back the galleys of Half Pass to Samhain Publishing. The next step? Print, baby! If you too like to go to bed with pictures of pretty white horsies and hot shirtless men beside your bed, then you'll want to get yourself a print version of this comedy/mystery/m-m romance.

If, however, the image of horses on a book cover makes you feel creepy and strange, and gives you nightmares of being trampled and/or turned into glue or some form of Uzbek jello entree, then you have my permission to give it a pass. 

Hooray! If you haven't read The Archer's Heart yet, now's your chance to have it in convenient bits n' bytes format!

Book One is now available on All Romance Ebooks, and Books Two and Three are coming shorty.

They are also available at Weightless Books.

So if you haven't already read a giant massive fantasy tome this summer, now's your chance!

:)