Last Call - Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll

July's month of Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll was HOT!

It was a busy month, I had a lot of fun, and gave away a lot of books. Now it's time to get back to work. THE COLLECTIVE will release in the fall and CybrGrrl 2.0 is in the works, along with several other complete novels in various stages of edits. 2012 is going to be a big year!

A huge Thank You to everyone who participated in my Wild-n-Sexy month: here on the blog, twitter, friends blogs, facebook, and the shiny new Google+. Fans, friends, and fellow writers were wonderfully supportive: commenting on, sharing, and retweeting the various events. All of you rock my world. Each of you is why I do what I do.

But now it is time to bring up the lights, roll up the sleeves, and get some books published. All the sexy shenanigans were fun, but I know you want some books to read and I want to get them edited and published. I'll be unplugged for the next few months putting everything in place for the fall release of THE COLLECTIVE. But stay connected, I'll be back.

I'll keep track of comments, direct messages, and emails. I may be slow responding, but I will respond. I'll keep you updated on progress from time to time, and soon tidbits will leak out about THE COLLECTIVE. I'm planning a massive build-up to the fall release with teasers, a trailer, events, and perhaps prizes and swag. Keep a vigilant eye out: The Collective is watching you...

xoxox

max

Review: Ruby Red Metallic - Casey Sheridan

From the first hilarious bathroom sex scene to the last ball-busting climax, Ruby Red Metallic by author Casey Sheridan is an erotic thrill-ride. The main character, Alaina, is a car thief and an expert on the high end sports cars that drive her lust. She'll do almost anything to get into the driver's seat and separate owners from their prized automobiles. When she finds the car of her auto-erotic dreams she also finds the man driving it as sexy as the car. Alaina must choose between man and machine and break some of her own rules.

If you want some fun, bite-sized erotica with a strong, capable, self-sufficient female lead, Ruby RedMetallica is perfect. The story is fast paced, well written, and enthralling. I read it straight through on a Saturday morning. The only complaint I had was it ended too soon. I couldn't get enough of Alaina and her exploits. The story was strong, the settings rich in detail, and characters full. In my opinion, Ruby Red Metallic could have easily been expanded into a full length erotic novel. But sometimes a quickie is all you need.

You can find more about Casey Sheridan on her website or follow her on Twitter. Personally, I anticipate more great erotica from this talented author.

Hump-Day Rock: Meat Loaf - Paradise

What I'm Rocking To: Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

What I'm Rocking To: One Bourbon, one Scotch, One Beer - John Lee Hooker

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll: Billy Joel - You may be right

Ménage à Blog Final Flirt

 I had a lot of fun with the Indie Book Collective's / Blog Tour de Force - Ménage à Blog. A lot of great people stopped by and left comments about the reviews. If you missed my reviews of Dollars & Sense: The Definitive Guide to Self-publishing Success or Fall Into Winter I hope you will give a look. Both are great books. And all those who did comment, and left an email address, will be receiving a FREE copy of my book, CybrGrrl. I hope you enjoy it.

The Ménage à Blog Final Flirt kicks off today between

Regan Black, "Tracking Shadows," http://www.reganblack.com

Lacey Weatherford, "The Trouble With Spells," http://www.laceyweatherfordbooks.com

Jacquie Rogers, "Much Ado About Marshals," http://romancingthewest.blogspot.com

They will be going at it all weekend to see who wins the coveted “Biggest Flirt” award. Jump on over to their blogs and say hello. There are still FREE eBooks and a chance to win a Kindle. Check out the Indie Book Collective Blog for all the details.

Menage a Blog continues...

The Indie Book Collective's / Blog Tour de Force - Ménage à Blog continues today with three lovely authors heating it to the point of spontaneous combustion!

Theresa Ragan

Eden Baylee

Jacquie Rogers

Each are giving away books and other prizes on their blogs and each comment enters you to win a Kindle! It doesn't get any hotter than that!

I am proud to be a reviewing sponsor for the event and even more proud that Eden Baylee picked my review of Fall Into Winter, which I wrote to kick off my month of Books, Sex, Rock-n-Roll, as one of her reviews. Thank you, Eden.

So go have a look at my review of Fall Into Winter and Jump over to Eden's blog for fun and free stuff. She also has links to other stellar reviews of Fall Into Winter. So have fun, flirt, and win prizes.

xoxox

max

Review: Dollars & Sense: The Definitive Guide To Self-publishing Success

"Dollars & Sense: The Definitive Guide to Self-publishing Success is a step-by-step actionable road map to increasing royalties for beginners and seasoned professionals alike. Divided into three sections; Producing a Sales-Friendly, Professional eBook, Establishing & Leveraging Your Social Media Platform, and Selling Smarter, Not Harder, "Dollars & Sense" walks authors through the process of creating then actually selling their eBook."

Dollars & Sense is indeed The Definitive Guide To Self-publishing Success. In section one, Producing a Professional Product, author Amber Scott offers her experience as a traditionally published author turned Indie. Her wit and concise style of presentation makes the huge amount of information easy to digest as she walks the reader through producing, polishing, and preparing a manuscript for publication while doing the same with the author. She shows us how to find our niche, exploit our strengths, build our brand, and be ready when our book releases.

Ms. Scott reveals that authors must do more today than write a good story. Whether traditionally published in New York or self-published on Smashwords, writers shoulder responsibilities including promoting themselves, their books, and their brands, while producing a high quality, professional product. We are each responsible for our own success, and after Ms. Scott's impressive pep-talk we are well prepared to fight for that success.

Rachel Thompson, also known as Rachel In The OC across various social networks, takes over and leads us forward into Section II: Social Media. In her trademark style of humor and snark, Rachel covers every aspect of social media. Many authors are intimidated by the multitude of social media outlets such as twitter or by what content to put on a blog. But Rachel takes us by the hand and shows us there is nothing to be afraid of. Social networking is our friend, and our greatest ally if we want to connect with potential readers.

Rachel covers all of the popular social networks giving us detailed, actionable tips on building our profiles, managing pages, connections, and content. There is nothing intimidating here. Rachel lays it out simply and succinctly, then covers it again. Her mastery of the subject is apparent in her detailed instruction, and ease of presentation. When she is finished we are ready to tweet and post like pros.

In the final section Carolyn McCray explains Selling Your Book—the Intelligent Way. She expands on the earlier sections and delves into the finer points of marketing, advertising, and selling your book--sharing real world knowledge gleaned from her extensive experience. Carolyn explains how the Indie Book Collective was born and the techniques she has discovered that can drive your book to the best seller list.

Dollars & Sense is a must read for the intrepid Indie author, and traditionally published authors alike who realize that they must shoulder the burden of promoting and selling their own books. I, for one, will be turning to it again and again as a reference guide.

If you would like a FREE copy of Dollars & Sense (Yes, I said FREE!) Jump on over to Rachel's blog and tell her how awesome she is. She has links to the other authors and reviewers who are participating in the Ménage à Blog Tour. They're giving away loads of FREE eBooks and swag, and each comment on an author's blog is a chance to win a Kindle! Just remember to leave an email address so they can contact you.

Thursday (7/21/11) I'll be back in the Ménage à Blog with Eden Baylee and her book Fall Into Winter. Don't miss it! The Ménage à Blog Tour is going on all week with three authors a day, all giving away books and prizes. Check out the full schedule -- and get FREE stuff!

**If you'd like to learn more about the Indie Book Collective, and the authors of Dollars & Sense, the following bios were provided by the authors.

Amber Scott bio:
In between naptimes and dishes, Amber Scott escapes into her characters’ addictive lives. She often burns dinner, is a sucker for chocolate and still believes in happily ever after. She makes her home in hot Arizona with her two children, husband, and one day, two cats.

Contact info:
amberscottbooks@gmail.com (for readers)
amberromances@yahoo.com (for main contact)
Twitter: @amberscottbooks
Weblog: http://amberscottbooks.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmberScottBooks

Bio for Carolyn McCray
Carolyn is the Founder of the Indie Book Collective, a group dedicated to helping authors use social media to its fullest potential to sell their books.
The #IBC exploded within 4 months to have over 5,000 members and its work has already been covered in major, national publications.
She has been described as an eBook marketing guru (others’ words not hers), a volcano of Amazon.com eBook knowledge (again, not her words), and the Borg Queen (ok, maybe she coined that one herself).
Each one of her novels have reached bestselling status on Amazon.com and her super controversial thriller, “30 Pieces of Silver” topped (as in #1) the Men’s Adventure category, #3 in the War sub-genre, and #183 overall (out of about1 million books) in the Kindle Top Bestsellers.
Carolyn also has contributed to Digital Book World.com and has been covered by the Huffington Post (Books). Carolyn appeared on a panel with Jane Freidman at SXSW regarding the future of digital publishing and will appear on several panels at the NY Indie Book Event (7/2011).

RACHEL THOMPSON BIO
Rachel Thompson (aka RachelintheOC) is the author of the consistently 5/5 star reviewed humorous and at times, poignant, collection of essays, A Walk In The Snark (released 1/2011), which recently hit #3 on the Amazon Humor/Parenting & Families Kindle list (beating out the likes of Jenny McCarthy!), after just a few months of release and has consistently stayed on the Amazon Top Humor Lists.
In May, 2011 A Walk In The Snark hit #1 on Smashwords Entertainment Bestseller list also.
Rachel is also one of the cofounders of the Indie Book Collective, an organization with over 6,000 members which is dedicated to helping authors utilize social media to the fullest to sell their books.  The Collective offers free workshops, a live advice radio show, innovative programs such as Blog Tour de Force & Bestseller for a Day, and so much more to its members.
You can find Rachel most days on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, giving daily tips on the IndieBookIBC Twitter stream, contributing posts to the IBC blog or her own popular blog, giving free social media workshops for writers, promoting her current book or working on her next book, The Mancode: A Survivor’s Tale. She lives in the OC aka Orange County, CA (home of Disneyland). Somewhere in there this redhead in a sea of blondes fits in being a full-time wife and mom to her two young children and just one husband. She loves coffee, dirty martinis, and sleep.
Rachel and the IBC were recently profiled (April 13, 2011) in the Huffington Post Books section regarding social media and ePublishing.

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll: Sheryl Crow

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll: Supertramp - Logical

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll: Nickleback - Hero - Spiderman

One of the best kisses in movie history - MJ kisses Spiderman

Flirting and FREE stuff-- Ménage à Blog Tour (IBC)

No book review this week. But Monday will kick off the Indie Book Collective's / Blog Tour de Force -- Ménage à Blog Tour. I'll be reviewing the Indie Book Collective's how-to guide Dollars & Sense: TheDefinitive Guide To Self-publishing Success by Carolyn McCray, Amber Scott and Rachel Thompson -- all terrific ladies of the IBC -- on Tuesday, July 19th.

Rachel Thompson -- aka Rachel In The OC -- will be participating as one of the three authors flirting it up with readers on that day and giving away FREE eBooks and other prizes to readers who comment on their blogs or any of the various review blogs which are participating. But there will be different authors and bloggers every day--that's a lot of FREE stuff! Check out the IBC Blog Tour de Force page for more details and be here Tuesday, July 19th to read my review of Dollars & Sense.

I'll also be sending out a FREE copy of my eBook, CybrGrrl, to anyone who posts on my blog next week, and leaves an email address I can send it to. I can't give you a book if I don't know where to send it. So have a great weekend, enjoy the daily Rock-n-Roll posts, and be ready to comment away all next week. Click on the IBC Ménage à Blog Tour banner for a full schedule of authors and blogs participating. The more you comment the more chances you have to win!

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll: Sharp Dressed Man

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll - Pajama Party at Casey's Cont..

The Pajama Party is still going on over at Casey's blog. Here's a little something to get your blood flowing and jazz you up before you dive is -- pajamas are optional ;-)



Let's get this party started!

http://casey-sheridan.blogspot.com/2011/07/pajama-party-with-eden-baylee.html

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll - Pajama Party at Casey's

Casey Sheridan is having a Pajama Party with Eden Baylee over on Casey's Blog. In honor of the very HOT very SEXY event, I have chosen a special song...

You can follow Casey and Eden on Twitter. I do ;-)

@casesheridan @edenbaylee

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll: Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll: Evanescence: Wake Me Up Inside - Underworld Movie

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll : Aerosmith Rag Doll

Review: Monogamy Sucks - George Pappas

In Monogamy Sucks author George Pappas takes his readers on a wild ride through a world few have experienced. Protagonist Jake Dalmas, tired of one girlfriend after the next and hungering for a life that only exists in seventies porn movies, decides to become a swinger. His escapades are raw, sometimes raunchy, and often comical. The narrative proceeds through a series of journal entries by Jake chronicling his sexual conquests and abject failures. The former often as humorous as the latter.

This story is not for the easily offended. Mr. Pappas has a dark and decidedly nasty sense of humor. George Carlin comes to mind, or Robin Williams at his raunchiest, in the style and content. And though Monogamy Sucks is filled with detailed descriptions of sex scenes right out of Hustler or Swank, I would not classify it as porn nor erotica. The sex is often crude and dysfunctional at best, but therein lies the humor.

Back in the seventies I saw an hilariously raunchy film at the Midnight Movies featuring, then unknown, Robin Williams: Can I Do It Until I Need Glasses. That's the feel of Monogamy Sucks. Jake's exploits are Monty Python meets Larry Flynt--often surreal and at times truly bizarre. I would not want to visit a swingers bar after reading this book, but I did laugh my ass off. Monogamy Sucks could be hailed as a cautionary tale about getting what you wish for, but it's really just a good hard laugh and has a romantic, happily-ever-after ending. Read it drunk, but don't share it with your girlfriend.

I'm a fan of George Pappas, but unfortunately I cannot offer a unqualified endorsement. From a literary standpoint I found the journal style at times cumbersome. I think the story would be better served by a more traditional narrative. But it is a great read for those who love dirty jokes and physical comedy. Monogamy Sucks would make an hilarious adult movie. And for those like me who love B movies, cult classics, and viral videos: it's a hoot.

Hey Babe, take a walk on the wild side - Lou Reed

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll - What I'm rocking to

CybrGrrl - FREE eBook Giveaway

Books, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll continues with a very special offer. In honor of the international discussion of The Relevance of Sex in Literature in 2011 going on over at Suzannah Burke's blog Soooz Says... Stuff (of which I am taking part) and in rapt anticipation of the upcoming Ménage à Blog Tour July 18-25 sponsored by the Indie Book Collective (I'll also be reviewing as part of the tour - stay tuned) I am offering a free download of my novel CybrGrrl to anyone who sends me an email with CybrGrrl as the subject.

In addition ( Oh yes, there is more ) I will also email you a sneak peek of my upcoming novel .45 Caliber Jitterbug. The coupons for a free download, in the eBook flavor of your choice from Smashwords, are only good through the end of July, so don't waste time. Send me an email, and tell your friends. Find out just how sexy high technology can be with the sexiest AI in existence. And one more thing...

Find, follow, and mention @CybrGrrl on twitter for a special bonus prize.

email: max@maxwellcynn.com
subject = CybrGrrl

Independence Day - Martina McBride

Battle of New Orleans - 1814 - Johnny Horton

Soooz Says Stuff: Topic "The Relevance of Sex in Literature in 2011"...

Soooz Says Stuff: Topic "The Relevance of Sex in Literature in 2011"...: Come join the discussion!

Review: Fall Into Winter by Eden Baylee

Exciting, Exotic, and Extremely Erotic--that is how Eden Baylee describes her work. I couldn't agree more. Her debut release FALL INTO WINTER, a collection of four erotic novellas set in, you guessed it, fall and winter, is hot enough to melt the Icelandic snow. The action is exciting, the locations exotic, and the romance is extremely erotic.

I don't read a lot of erotica, though I write a little myself. Most of what is out there on the dark shelves of the adult section is simply literary porn. Sure, some of it is well written and much of it is erotic, in a prurient sort of way, but I want a little more for my reading pleasure. Eden Baylee delivers. Her novellas are sensual, romantic, and engaging. We are drawn into the lives and emotions of her characters, our senses are filled with the sights, sounds, and scents of exotic locations, and yes, we are driven by desire through her beautifully detailed love scenes.


Spoiler Alert: Being a collection of four novellas, it is hard to talk about each story and not give too much away. If you would like a little teaser on each story, keep reading. If you'd rather discover it all for yourself, skip down to the bottom and leave a comment or read Fall Into Winter for yourself.

In the first story, Seduced By The Blues, we meet Ella Jamieson in a New York night club, feeling particular wicked and wanting to hook up. She sets her sites on a young man at the bar and gets much more than she expects. John is a master musician and plays her body and emotions as skillfully and passionately as he plays his guitar.

Next, in Act Three, we are introduced to Stella Christy who, after ending a less than fulfilling marriage, is quit the sexual adventuress. She has a man who fulfills her every desire, but she wants more--a ménage à trois with another man. I won't give away more than that, but the action takes some pretty unexpected and harrowing turns. The temperature really heats up in this one.

In the third story we slide into winter with, The Norwegian. Leah retreats to a cabin at secluded resort in an effort to break her writers block. Being winter the resort is all but empty and she relishes the seclusion, but a knock on her cabin door and a gorgeous Norwegian man who is the image of her dead lover make her wonder if she is seeing a ghost. But Henrik is very real and very much alive. What ensues is a beautifully poignant romance that could melt the Alps.

In the forth and final novella, The Austrian and the Asian, we are offered a passionately romantic story of love found, and lost, and rekindled. The author ends her collection with as much fire as she'd began, the cold of winter unable to quench the burning desire of her characters.

I await the author's follow up collection, which will cover Spring and Summer, making for a truly Exciting, Exotic, and Extremely Erotic year. I breathlessly recommend Fall Into Winter to anyone who loves great romance and expects more than just great sex. You can visit Eden at her blog.