And then there are those reviews...

...that make you smile.

This one from EuroReviews who gave it 5 "rings":

(By the way, the reviewer is German, so the English is slightly off)

"UNMASKED by Kate Sterling is the story of Morgan who is on a mission to find her old flame, Derek, that she left some years back when she was in fear of becoming too close to Derek. Since then, Derek had found another, who has become his wife. Morgan's wish was to be with Derek, just one more time, and for her wish to be fulfilled, she must find Derek at the Masquerade Ball before midnight. Morgan finds Brianna who is trying to find her husband Marcos to save her marriage. Helping each other without knowing who each are, the triangle of these three become an intense, sensual and loving romance story that ends with a surprising ending. The scenes within this story is sizzling! The reader will become emotionally attached to them all, wanting them all to have their love everlasting."

She had nice things to say about everyone and said she wished she could give MASQUERADE 3 higher than 5, but that's as high as they go. As soon as I have a direct link to the site, I'll include it.

Steve, I thought of you saying the German reviews of your comic were better than the English. I guess they must like us. *grin*

Everyone's a Critic...

I suppose it was inevitable. The mixed review. Here for your viewing

pleasure is the second review I've received for "Unmasked."

(The first one was great, this one... not so much...)

Here is what Two Lips had to say about it:

"Unmasked is interesting and well written. The characters are complex and their interaction intriguing. The surprise and rather untraditional ending left me with mixed emotions. On one hand I appreciated the manner in which everything came around full circle but on the other I doubt the credibility of the storyline. Overall, it was a good read though."

Overall, "good enough". I'm not bitter. (Mutter, mutter, piss midget, mutter mutter... ) I guess it could have been much worse.

Para Porn

Well, I got my first pre-release review today.

Even though I was a little huffy about the UK article that referred to paranormal romance as "para porn", I will freely admit that in my case--with this story--it sorta fits. And I make no apologies. *g*

Here's the link if you'd like to read it. Masquerade 3 Review

It was a little embarrassing, though, because my daughter and one of her friends were standing over my shoulder when I read it. I wasn't expecting the explicit references to the story as they were laid out, so you can imagine my horror when they started screaming "Oh my god, MOM! You wrote about a threesome?!"

Oh, well. Cat's out of the bag now. Yikes. I suppose I can expect a visit from child welfare any day now.

Questions...

1. Do you ever buy short stories in print?
2. Do you like reading them?
3. Writing them?
4. Do you like anthologies?
5. Do you prefer anthologies of stories by the same writer, or a group of different writers?
6. Do you ever buy single short stories in e-book format?
7. Have you ever purchased ebook anthologies?
8. Do you hate short stories or anthologies, or have strong opinions about why you'd rather buy a novel?

Just gathering information because I'm still working on that publishing business... :)

Dragons and Damsels

About a month ago, I decided I wasn't really cut out to write erotic romance; decided to give it up. Even began to doubt that I should even be writing romance at all--what does a curmudgeonly old divorcee know about romance anyway? I was out of my element. Let the sweet & soft types take care of that; I'm too mean.

But... I just can't resist a challenge. I recently saw a call for submissions due by March 2, 2007 for a dragon anthology. The catch, of course, is that it has to be a romance with a dragon theme. Having read other books by this publisher (I have friends who write for them--Samhain Publishing--print and e-books) I can pretty much bet that most of the submissions they'll receive will be shapeshifting dragon erotic romances. (Are you listening Stewart?) The rest are likely to be epic adventures featuring dragons who aid the lovely or handsome princess/queen or prince/king in their quests.

My dragon? His name is Herschel and he's a bit of a hypochondriac. Somehow I suspect they're not going to buy it... :o)