Prophecy

It's become more difficult to be an indie author. On the afternoon of December 28, 2016, Lori James, owner of All Romance eBooks, sent out emails that she is closing her storefront. She cited the reason as being the company would post its first financial loss for 2016. 

I have questions. Many, many questions. I'll let that go for now.

As always, it's the authors who end up with the real loss. We've lost a valued (and we thought trustworthy) source to market our books. We are now pushed even farther into Amazon's loving embrace. 

Amazon is not the author's friend no matter how benign it appears on the surface. 

There's been discussion for many years that sooner or later Amazon will be the only game in town. With the closing of ARE, it's one step closer to being a reality. 

Be careful what you give away for free. Free is not without cost, and that cost is the authors themselves. I know a handful who are dropping out, too exhausted to continue. Those voices have been silenced, and that's too high a cost to bear.  

Rayne

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Available now at online book sellers: Money Back Guarantee

Slade Martin is under attack. An electronic thief absconded with all his liquid personal wealth and someone on his board of directors is plotting a hostile takeover. The obvious culprit isn’t the guilty party, and Slade gets help to find the real perpetrator from a surprise source – the lovely and capable Iris D’Vance.  

Iris D’Vance is determined to not repeat her mistakes with men – until she meets Slade Martin, and decides all bets are off. Accepting the invitation to sit on the board of Slade’s charitable foundation lands her in the middle corporate intrigue. Slade needs her help and makes her an offer she can’t turn down.

Slade and Iris join forces to unravel the plot to ruin Slade and discover their interest in each other runs deeper than sharing altruistic works. When the person behind Slade’s woes is found, it’s Iris who’s in danger. Slade has to act fast to bring her home safe and make good on his money back guarantee. 

INTRO:

Slade stalked off the elevator, his prey dead center in the crosshairs. Primed and loaded, one word from Ms. Iris D’Vance, and he’d let the hammer fall. Damn her. He sucked in a deep breath to replace the air that whooshed out of his lungs as her appearance burned onto his corneas.

Damn her for standing in front of the windows with the sunlight coming in behind her. Every luscious curve was visible through the backlit fabric of her dress. He’d not seen anything that amazing in…well, he’d never seen anything that amazing. His temper bled away, replaced by a surge of lust. Maybe he needed to rethink his approach, and fast, before she got away with old man Farnsmore.

Iris turned slightly and spotted him. Her eyes widened, she stiffened, then her composure slid back into place. It didn’t matter. Slade had seen the sudden interest in her eyes. He held out his hand to her for a friendly handshake.

“Ms. D’Vance, I apologize for getting off on the wrong foot upstairs. I get a little nervous before board meetings.”

Iris accepted his hand. Her lips parted. He closed his fingers around hers, noting how cold hers were as he lifted them to his lips.

“I’m sorry. That was forward of me. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

Her chin lifted, and her lovely hazel eyes took on a new, hard glint.

“I’m sure that well-rehearsed and very tired line still works on some women, but I assure you, I’m not one of them, Mr. Martin.”

Slade very grudgingly gave her high marks for honesty. He’d asked for that, and she’d given it to him.

“No, it doesn’t work, obviously. I’ll have to practice it.”

“Not on me, Mr. Martin. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s my ride.”

Dismissed, for God’s sake. Torpedoed.

Slade grabbed her wrist. She shot him a cold look that would have sent a weaker man to his knees.

Well, she could glare at him all she wanted to. What he had to say was important.

“Whatever it is you and Farnsmore have schemed up, I warn you now, he’ll turn on you the minute you’ve outlived your usefulness.”

Her look turned wary. “What are you talking about, Mr. Martin?”

“Don’t play stupid. I know old Reggie worked his glib tongue with the other members to get you a seat on my board. Now you’d best remember it is my board. Drop Farnsmore before you get in over your head.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Have it your way, but don’t say I didn’t warn you about Reggie and his cronies.” Slade left her standing there, turning abruptly and calling for his car.

Curse the day Reginald Farnsmore managed to wrangle a seat on the CRM board! The man was nothing but trouble. Slade slid into the driver’s seat of his vintage Cadillac. Crap. He needed to pay the permit for the gasoline engine because in his current financial straits, he couldn’t afford the steep fine for a lapse.

How did Iris fit into Reggie’s grandiose scheme to take over the board? Maybe Farnsmore thought she’d be a proper distraction. If that were the case, Slade had to admit the man had picked a woman who could get his mind on other things. Too bad she didn’t have the balls, well, ovaries, to own up to it.

The look in her eyes swam in his memory, the look of shocked confusion that she’d not been able to hide as he’d delivered his warning.

Fucking hell. His chest tightened, constricting painfully around his heart. She’d not been faking. No one could act that well. Maybe she really didn’t know.

Great, now he’d have to save both D’Vance and CRM from Farnsmore.

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Mischief at Midnight - new cover up

I love Google calendars. I run several different ones because I share them with different people. It works well to have a shared calendar with my honey so I can "suggest" what he should prepare for dinner. Whether or not he actually cooks what I've suggested is fodder for another blog.

Anyway... Today marks the one year anniversary of Mischief at Midnight being out as an indie release. It's a little surprising it's been that long, but when they say time flies, they're not joking.

I've learned a lot in the last year and I decided it is perhaps time for Mischief at Midnight to get a cover do-over. It's not that I need more to do - trust me I don't - but MAM is a cute little story. You know, the tangled webs we weave and all that. What starts out as a harmless deception to help someone out with a dinner party quickly becomes an evening that's gotten out of hand. I thought it was great fun, but I confess to a bit of bias about the story.

Anyway... I decided to celebrate the success of the last year with an updated cover. Now I just have to go around to all the vendors and get it posted. That's that hard part.

Rayne
rayneforrest.blogspot.com

Moving forward in a brave? new world

I'm pretty smart, not to brag about myself, but like most folks I can get caught off guard.  In the publishing world, what's considered "the norm" shifts with the wind. My slow, careful approach to indie publishing got an unpleasant kick recently.

On January 2, 2016, Amber Quill Press announced they were closing effective March 30, 2016. I only have two books there as Rayne Forrest, but my alter ego has about forty. To say this doesn't make me a happy camper is an understatement. 

Amber Quill has been great to work with. No drama, just good, publishing. Did I agree with everything they did, business-wise? No, but nothing was huge enough to be a deal breaker. Nothing they did was a "red flag" item. They valued integrity in a business that's sorely lacking in that commodity. So I was content to go indie on the Rayne Forrest titles and go through AQP for my alter ego. 

But if there's one thing the publishing industry can't abide it's contentment. The rise of Amazon and indie publishing is striking death blows to small, competent publishers (with huge and valuable mailing lists) across the board. In the long run, it won't be just small publishers and booksellers that suffer. The voices of individual authors are fading, taking with them great works. It's simply too hard for them to persevere.  

Nothing can replace my experience and history at Amber Quill Press. I learned and learned and learned from Trace Zaber & Co.   

And I'm a better person, and writer, for the time spent with them. 

Rayne
www.rayneforrest.com
rayneforrest.blogspot.com 
twitter.com/rayneforrest

Skipping Heaven for My Sexy Saturday #MSS59

Welcome to my blog and today's My Sexy Saturday post from Skipping Heaven.

What if you were a ghost and you didn't know it yet? Would there be someone to guide you?
Would you skip heaven if you found your love along the way?

EXCERPT

What would he do if she went to the barn? What would he think of her? She must have lost her mind to be entertaining thoughts of sharing a bed with a stranger. Justine leaned against the doorframe, a small sob escaping her.

Her loneliness plucked at her, as did her uncertainty. If Daniel was not the one for her, why had he been sent here?

She straightened and squared her shoulders as she walked inside, her bare feet making no sound to disturb the softly chirping cricket that resided with her.

His horse was almost healed. Daniel would be leaving, maybe as soon as the morning. She couldn’t let him go, not without knowing him. She brushed out her hair and cast about for her old, worn slippers.

The sound of boot heels on the steps brought her up short. A soft tapping sounded on the door.

Daniel had come to her.

She opened the door.

SKIPPING HEAVEN is now available at Amazon. 

More about Skipping Heaven:

What if you were a ghost and didn’t know it?

Daniel Woods is passing through the timeless and mysterious Appalachian Mountains on his way to Kentucky and his inheritance. A misstep tumbles him and his horse down the side of a mountain. Battered and bruised, they come upon a small homestead and help in the form of the lovely Justine Noakes. Daniel finds himself inexplicably attracted to Justine - and determined not to embarrass himself by acting on impulse.

Justine recognizes the blue-eyed trouble that just led his horse into her settled world is something she never bargained for. Irresistibly drawn to him, Justine has a problem. She needs to come up with a way to get Daniel to stay in her mountain aerie. The only way that can happen is if Daniel accepts his new reality.

What Justine knows, and Daniel must discover, is that sometimes heaven is found in unexpected places.

= = = 

Be sure to visit all the My Sexy Saturday blogs for more great romance!