Coming soon…

The Amarinda and Anny Contest – coming soon!

What could be better than kicking back with a good book? Winning two books - one from Amarinda Jones – Knock Three Times and one from Anny Cook – Kama Sutra Lovers. Fantastic. You want more? Be the envy of all with two hand made hair piks to adorn your locks. But wait – there’s even more! How about munching on a delicious care pack of Aussie treats? One lucky reader will win all of this. How do you win this fantastic prize? Go to www.annycook.com and www.amarindajones.com and answer an easy question -

If trapped on a deserted island what two things could Anny and Amarinda not live without? The answers can be found on the websites. As soon as you have them email
amarinda_jones@yahoo.com.au with your answers – there will be 4 in all.

The contest starts 18th July and closes midnight 23rd July 2008 (USA EST). The first correct entry drawn at random will win the prize. Good luck.

So the contest….after consultation with Anny, I wandered off to the supermarket to buy chocolate for the contest. Yes, what a hardship. I just had to make sure it was not a case of one for the contest and two for me – not that I don’t deserve it. Anyway – chocolate - what can I say? I love it. I perused the shelves trying to decide what to buy. In the end I settled for 3 different varieties of Tim Tams and some Aussie chocolate/candy bars I love. The bag of goodies is sitting on a dining room chair. I just now have to look away and not be drawn to sample it otherwise its back to the supermarket. Let’s hope PMS doesn’t overcome me. If it does it won’t be my fault of course.

On the radio this morning

- The Apple Iphone has hit Brisbane and people have lined up for 24 hours to get it. Huh? Won’t it be there tomorrow? ‘Got nothing else to do?
- Theory is that petrol/gas will go up ‘alarmingly in the next 10 years.’ You think?
- The running of the bulls at Pamplona has caused many injuries. Seems a no brainer to me. Bull with horns meets dumb – usually male – flesh = blood and pain.


-This bloke is gunna go off his tree…
-Bugger me dead
-Having a good howl

‘Know what any of these mean? Having a good howl is one I ran past a group of writers today. I do this occasionally as a lot of Aussie expressions are beyond anyone non-Aussie. None of the US writers had a clue what it meant which was a shame. Most thought it had something to do with werewolves. No. It actually means having a really good cry - you know, the ugly cry where you sob your heart out. So, that had to go from the book. I often find it funny when people tell me how Australian my books are. If only you knew how much more Aussie they were. They get modified during edits because the theory is non-Aussies won't understand. I think this is an unfair assumption. The world is closer, smaller and more linked than it had ever been. People are traveling more, meeting and conversing with other nationalities. I believe readers would actually get a lot more Aussie expressions but ours is not to reason why - I write 'em, they get edited into non-Aussie and I move on. You have to when you’re a writer. Take it personally and it would drive you troppo. Troppo? Means mad - generally anyone spending too much time in the heat - in the tropics.

So, the other two phrases? I heard them today. They are so Aussie. "This bloke is gunna go off his tree”…means this man will get cranky, be mad. Someone going 'off their nut' is similar. As for "bugger me dead"…no, I know what you might be thinking but it's nothing to do with that. It means the person is surprised - shocked or amazed. Actually bugger in Aussie language is very versatile - you lucky bugger, bugger off (leave me alone), well bugger(damn). There you go - go out and dazzle people with this knowledge. It’s my ongoing gift to teach Aussie to the world.

Dream Strokes by Desiree Holt is out today at The Wild Rose Press. You did not know about this fantastic book? Lucky for you I have an excerpt. Take a squiz below then click on the cover and it will take you to the place to buy.

The blurb…

Who is this man invading Erin Sullivan dreams, the lover who plays her body like a musical instrument, who knows exactly how to make love to her, to draw out her responses, to take her to unbelievably sensual heights? Is he real or just a figment of her imagination? Dallas Clark wonders the same thing, as each night a raven-haired beauty infiltrates his dreams, giving her body freely, taking him to sensual planes he’s never achieved before? And why does she seem so familiar? Are the spirits of a frolicking merman and a mischievous water nymph reaching beyond a painting in a local gallery? Or has unknowingly sharing the same isolated beach freed two lonely souls from their flesh and blood prisons to unit?

The excerpt

She woke to sense a presence nearby, the feeling that another person was close. Forcing open her heavy-lidded eyes, she saw him standing beside her, broad shoulders tapering to narrow hips, silver light glinting over the curls on his chest and brushing glistening streaks through the rich golden hair on his head.
He was big all over, and hard. Not workout hard like the men she knew. A warrior’s body. There didn’t look to be an ounce of give to him anywhere. He was without a doubt the most masculine man she had ever seen, muscles limned in the ambient light, his face defined by a square jaw and high cheek-bones. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes in the dark, only that the faint light from the sky shone in them, reflecting the lust burning there.
Her heart trip-hammered, and she tried to move away on the bed.
He reached out and placed it a hand on her arm, stopping her. “No. I won’t harm you. Don’t move.”
She looked around. Yes, this was her bedroom, her window with the moonlight streaming in. But who was this man standing so close to her?
He lifted the sheet covering her naked body and drew it back, as if unwrapping a package, his eyes devouring her as each inch of her was revealed. Her flesh shivered under his gaze. When she lifted her arms to cover herself, he shook his head. “Why would you want to hide a body so beautiful and tempting?”
Erin dropped her hands to her sides, unexpectedly craving the stranger’s touch, the caress of his gaze on her skin. Her heart hammered against her ribs and heat bloomed throughout all her erogenous zones. How could she be doing this, exposing herself to a total stranger? Yet it seemed so very right. So…so…fated. That was it. Fated. As if arranged by a power greater than both of them.

Gotta’ love fate…

www.amarindajones.com
Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?