August 2006 Releases

At Her Command - Marcia James  (Romantic Suspense)
Beloved Stranger - Patricia Crossley  (Paranormal Romance)
The Dream - Jaycee Clark  (Contemporary Romance)
Heaven and Lace - Linda Bleser  (Romantic Comedy)
Hundred Dollar Bill - Sherry Morris (Historical romance - 20th century)  

Upcoming September 2006 Releases
(Release schedule subject to change)

More Than Love – Lynn LaFleur (Rom-Contemp)
A Kind of Magic – Susan Sizemore (Rom-Hist/Pnr)
Prince of the Wind – Charlotte Boyett-Compo (Paranormal)
Tides of Time – Sonya Kate Childers (Rom-Contemp)

Marcia James
www.marciajames.net
At Her Command

     The idea for Marcia James’ light-hearted romantic suspense, At Her Command, came from her time living in Washington, D.C. “The thing I noticed is that there are all these different law-enforcement agencies, but they don’t work together,” she says. So she decided to bring operatives from all the agencies together to investigate a crime that has taken place at an exclusive sex club with powerful members, including senators and Supreme Court justices.

     The thing is, all the operatives are working undercover, and since their agencies don’t communicate, they don’t know that some of the people they’re investigating are also covert agents.

     It’s the perfect set-up for a modern-day farce. The story focuses on the relationship between a macho cop working undercover as a submissive and a sexy DEA agent working undercover as a Dom. “I like my heroes and heroines to be equals,” says Marcia, who describes herself as a rabid feminist. “They’re both powerful people who have to compromise to be together.”

     Perhaps the most unusual character in the book is Smokey, a drug-sniffing Chinese Crested Hairless dog that everyone tends to underestimate because he’s so little and weird looking. If you don’t know what a Chinese Crested looks like, check out Marcia’s website, where you’ll also find a funny sex-oriented question-and-answer column by Alley Sky, the heroine of Marcia’s work-in-progress about the adventures of a woman who’s a professional sex therapist and an amateur sleuth.

     Readers should expect to hear more from Marcia in the near future. She’s an experienced promoter and is looking forward to doing book-signings. In fact, she already has her display, with a sign that says, “Do not buy this book (unless you like hot, humorous romances).” At Her Command is also already getting good attention and has placed in the top three slots in six contests.

Experimenting with past-life regression
By Sally Painter

     From 1987 to 1990, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a paranormal project. My cousin, Lee, a hospital counselor, called me about a doctor conducting past life/reincarnation research. He was a physician in a head-trauma hospital and had studied hypnosis as a means to help his patients recapture memories lost due to their injuries. He and my cousin worked together at the same hospital and had witnessed the past-life recollections of some of the patients. That's how this project evolved. Lee thought I'd be a good subject since he knew I'd had paranormal and psychic experiences all my life.

     The first session was held at one of the nurses' homes. The house, circa late 1800s, was under renovation. Wood siding had been scraped in preparation for new paint. A lonely pumpkin on the porch steps completed what could have been an opening scene from a scary movie. I watched myself walk through the leaves covering the driveway and stop in front of the weathered door. My breath was rapid. Was I actually going to do this?

     Until the moment when I stepped onto that porch, I thought I was prepared for anything, but my confidence waned. I looked down at the porch floor, noting one foot planted on an old board and the other on a new plank. The symbolism made me smile.

     What lay beyond the door? My heart was pounding. I knew when I walked out of that door an hour later, I would not be the same person. I knocked. A tall red-haired woman greeted me and invited me inside. I walked through the doorway and stepped into a life-altering journey.

     During my three-year voyage, I rediscovered friends. My mind opened wider and reached further than I could ever have imagined. Over the next years, we learned that we are all connected in an intricate and complicated weaving of lives.

     One lifetime I rediscovered was in the 1920s. The daughter of a bootlegger, I was married to a US Attorney determined to stop all bootleggers. I was murdered as a result of his unrelenting mission. Another lifetime was during the dark ages when I lived in Venice.

While I've encountered some strange things in my past life regressions, I've never encountered vampires or gargoyles.

     In a life before that, I was a Mayan priest placed on a flat-topped pyramid and told to make it rain. During this regression the doctor asked me (as the priest) if I could in fact make it rain. I replied, no, I but they thought I could. Then he asked what would happen if it didn't rain. I responded I would be sacrificed.

     It didn't rain.

     In another lifetime, I was a slave--the personal handmaid to a pharaoh's daughter. She had an illicit love affair with his top adviser, and as punishment I was thrown to a tiger. I never understood how that was punishment for her.

     The common thread in all of these lives was the people. Time and time again, the same people were revealed in every life. It was the same for the others participating in the project. We discovered that we move from one lifetime into another with the same circle of people. Lovers often return life after life as lovers. These people sometimes play very significant and often difficult roles that help shape our lives.

     We realized we're all playing our parts in a united effort to work through lessons we need to master. It could be as simple as learning certain disciplines we neglected in another life or it might be as complex as needing to forgive someone from a previous lifetime.

     One thing was certain, we carry the emotion first and foremost from one lifetime to another. Those emotions often dictate certain inexplicable likes and dislikes toward a person or even an object. Do you have a certain scent or aroma you cannot tolerate but have no rational explanation for the dislike? For me, it is burning sage. I discovered a lifetime as a Native American on the Great Plains when my tribe died from starvation one brutal winter. We burned sage during those last weeks. I don't know the exact purpose other than a ritual one, but I unknowingly associate that smell with that lifetime and my negative reaction to it is so emotional I become sick.

     I was once asked if I use any of these experiences in my books. I have incorporated some aspects. For example in my time travel, All I Want, I relied on my past life recalls for the authenticity of living in 1250 AD Scotland. The foods, mannerisms, sights, and the smell of the peat fields reflect those impressions I brought back from my regressions of lifetimes lived in Scotland.

     In Fated Mates, my contribution to the anthology, Love Me Tomorrow, was inspired by a progression we conducted into a future life. Of course, the reptilian race depicted in my fictional account was a creation of my imagination. The ragtag rebel resistance, however, was very similar to the one I discovered in a future life set in 2356 AD. While I've encountered some strange things in my past life regressions, I've never encountered vampires or gargoyles. Of course, I haven't gotten to revisit all of my past lives--yet.

Ellora's Cave author Sally Painter conducts monthly workshops and broadcasts a paranormal talk radio show called "Sally's Midnight Hour," featuring paranormal authors and researchers. Learn more about her and her work at www.sallypainter.com.