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For what feels like ages the subject of political correctness has been on the agenda.  It feels like we have got to the point where men and women are scared to look at each other without someone yelling harassment.  In the UK we have another scandal breaking, this time with our members of parliament accused of bullying behavior towards their staff.  One member of staff was, allegedly, asked by an MP to go out and buy sex toys.  I can’t imagine that it was a one-off incident, there must have been a build-up to ask the member of staff to...

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What have you got planned for Halloween?  A scary movie and a night in?  A quiet meal out? Or to go out with the kids and go trick or treating?  Is it a big thing in your family? Do you and your friends plan a party?  If so, what kinds of costumes are you looking at this year? And what about the food?  Tell us all about it! For me this year I am planning a quiet meal and a movie.  Still not sure which one. The spookiest film of all time?  Or what about your spookiest Book? For me...

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A conversation in the bar got my mind thinking, have we got to the stage where women pick up men in nightclubs and bars?  Is there equality with the pickup?  Back in the 1980s, when I was working in nightclubs I am sure it did happen was not really the normal run of things.  Men were expected to make the first move, asking something cheesy like “do you come here often?” with the fear of rejection always in the air.  Listening to the young lady in the bar the other night, I was surprised at how she spoke about the...

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Particularly poignant today, trying to keep things rolling while the power keeps being turned off at the studio.  It has been a trying day.  But we all get them, right?  I think it says more about you when you choose to get up than say to hell with it and lay down and give up.   I consider that I have been very fortunate in my life.  I am having an interesting career, but it has not always been easy sailing.  I am reminded of it every time I write a rejection letter for a submitted script.  It is a difficult...

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This was prompted by a chat with a couple of authors yesterday.  How much is too much when looking at a bedroom scene.  I have always been pretty flexible with our authors.  Some demure when it comes to the subject of sex in the story and as long as the romance is there, I am happy for it to be a soft and tender romance.  Alternatively, if the author wants to turn up the heat I am happy about that too.  I think my criteria is that the amount and strength of sexual activity match and fit in with the...

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I really enjoy stories where the heroine is on an equal if not stronger footing with the male characters in the story.  I was wondering do you also enjoy a strong female heroine?  Someone that can overcome everything that’s thrown her way & more?  Three stories highlight this for me, they are our two latest releases, Safe and Finishing the Game and a story from late last year.  I have talked quite a bit about the two new books and they are great examples, but I would like to highlight the story Final Kill by Leslie McKelvey.  A very strong character, the heroine, Cat from Final Kill is...

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Creative writing is something that a lot of people believe they do to a publishable standard. The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.  If approximately 26 years of the internet tells us anything at all, this is not the case. I receive scripts all the time from all over, some of the worst from academics.  A typical cover letter will state “I have a Ph.D. in English language (substitute, Law, physics, medicine, etc.) and I have...

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I had a random message from a reader on Facebook asking me on the subject of spanking.  The question was “Is it kinky to enjoy a spanking during sex?” on the strength of that you might say it was a bit kinky, but aren’t all things a bit kinky when you think of it?   The smell of leather?  The smell of a new car?  The look of a good pair of shoes? The feel of the soft or silky fabric?  Don’t they all tap into our kinky side?  Or is that just me? I think like all things it is...

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Where were you when you first learned what 69 meant? A friend and fellow romance author brought up a subject, it is something that doesn’t come up often yet it does happen, you find a friend in your company who hasn’t heard of a sexual term that everyone else is more than familiar with for example the almost obligatory soixante-neuf.  This was a story she told me: This happened at a New Year’s Eve party.  Some of the men in the group had just made a smutty joke about 69.  Since they all laughed, a lady at the edge of...

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A subject that pushes my buttons.  Thank you for the responses to the subject of censorship, my initial subject was the depiction of rape in literature.  As I have said a few times we should censor what we read and watch.  One reply I had was: “If it’s fiction I should be able to make my own choice as what to read. If it’s really that’s totally between the people, I do believe in safe and consensual. I don’t think Amazon, B & N should make up these hypercritical decisions as what we are allowed to read” another said: “I...

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