TOO CLOSE TO THE FIRE with Author Jaydyn Chelcee

Dear Readers,

"I would have liked to have seen Montana." -- Who said that and in which film? (hint: the actor is from Down Under)

And that leads me nicely into today's guest interview. American author Jaydyn Chelcee writes the Montana Men series, a brilliant blend of romance, spectacular landscapes and pulse-quickening danger! The first two in the series were In the Arms of Danger and No Holds Barred, both bestsellers at Eternal Press. Book Three, Too Close to the Fire, is set for release on December 7th. Stay tuned for a contest below, where you can win an ebook copy before anyone else. But first, here's the blurb:

Feel the heat—taste the passion—expect to get burned when you’re too close to the fire….

Out of luck—When Dianna’s plane crashes in the Australian rainforest, her life is in the hands of her passenger, Taylor Spencer, a bitter, venom-filled man who so far has only made her life miserable.

Out of hope—The last person Taylor Spencer wants to be stranded with is the spoiled sweetheart of the wealthy Remington family of Rimrock, Montana. Hell, he didn’t even want to be in the plane with her in the first place.

Out of time—Dianna and Taylor, two people at odds, with nothing in common, except a strong will to survive and a desire for each other that neither is willing to acknowledge.

Sound fun? You betcha!! Jaydyn's legion of loyal fans will tell you she NEVER disappoints. As well as westerns, she writes a paranormal romance series, the Winslow Witches of Salem, under her pen name, Tabitha Shay.

It's with great pleasure that I welcome Ms. Chelcee for this exclusive interview. Let's see how close to that fire we can get...

Nice of you to visit, Jaydyn.

Jaydyn--Hi Rob. Thanks for having me here today and I'm looking forward to what I know will be some fun questions...

1. I love the set-up of TCTTF--a bitter man and a spoiled woman crash-landing together in an Australian rainforest. Is it a scenario you've had in mind for a while?

Jaydyn--Actually it is. I wrote all five books to the Montana Men series years ago and tossed them on my closet shelf. Once I was published, I dragged them down, blew off the dust and done some rewriting, but I always saw Dianna and Taylor in a plane crash in Australia, just not a rainforest. That was new. (Laughs)

Rob--Wow, you just dusted off FIVE books! You're my new hero. Makes me wonder what *else* is waiting on that closet shelf!

2. As a couple, who would you liken Dianna and Taylor to?

Jaydyn--Oh goddness, I have no clue...How about Rock Hudson and Doris Day. (Giggles) Dianna and Taylor definitely have their fights and the same personality types.

3. What kind of dangers do they have to contend with?

Jaydyn--Well, I tried to keep it as real as possible, but the possibilities were endless, from starvation, to lack of water, to snake bites, broken bones, severe injuries, you name it. And some of these things do happen, but I also wanted the reader to get the feel of the vastness of the country, of how difficult locating them would be. A friend of mine who now lives in Oz once said to me that everything in Australia is bigger and louder. I worked those words into one of my scenes to create the feeling of just how overwhelming it would be for someone who was unfamiliar with the noises of the birds and animals around them. I hope I managed to get that across. And to answer your question a little better, they do battle with a couple of nasty critters among other dangers.

Rob--Sounds great. And I'd pay good money to see Doris Day and Rock Hudson go through all that. ::evil laugh::

4. Your characters are always a lot of fun to read. How big a part does humour play in TCTTF?

Jaydyn--I try to balance the dark with the light so the reader isn't bogged down with just gray scenes. TCTTF is really two stories in one. On one hand, you have Dianna and Taylor, they're in trouble, but the things they get into, do and say are funny. On the other hand, you still have Lacey and Danger's story moving along beside Dianna and Taylor's and believe me, there's nothing funny going on in that part of the book. It's all deadly serious and the characters from that part of the book are tottering on the edge of disaster.

5. Who are your biggest influences in the western romance genre?

Jaydyn--Oh wow, I'd have to go all the way back to my days as a Harlequin reader and pick Janet Daily and Margaret Way. Margaret Way almost always wrote romances set in Australia with a western flavor, loved her books. Janet Daily set a lot of books in the western states and I followed her to each one....(Laughs)

6. Your books are consistently among the biggest-selling at Eternal Press. What's your secret?

Jaydyn--Loyal fans...I'm very lucky to have the wonderful following I do, and I talk to them every chance I get. I hold a lot of contests and probably give more books away than I earn pay, but I don't care. Every time a fan emails me and tells me how much they love my books, I feel very humbled and honored.

Rob--Absolutely. And everybody wins.

7. What have you got planned for the next installments in the Montana Men series?

Jaydyn--Playing For Keeps, book four will be out sometime in 2010, I hope at least by late spring. It's Duel Remington's story and it's quite a tale. Nothing like the other books. The readers won't see much of the serial killer in this book, but look out in book five, The Wilder Side, because Smitt Davis returns with a vengeance. I also have plans for a spin-off series which will be set in Australia and tell the stories of the Remington cousins from that side of the world.

Rob--Well I think several of your fans just booked the first plane out to Oz after hearing that. Or it might be because I told them summer has already begun there. TCTTF, just as things are literally hotting up.

A huge thank you to Jaydyn for stopping by. Her new book can be bought here (electronic format) on December 7th: http://www.eternalpress.ca/tooclosetothefire.html

And a couple of weeks later, it will be available in paperback from Amazon.

EBOOK CONTEST:

If you'd like to win an ebook copy of Too Close to the Fire, simply comment on this blog and Jaydyn will enter your name into her prize draw. I'll announce the winner here on December 8th. Easy!

In the meantime, you should definitely visit Jaydyn's website: http://www.tabithashay.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tabithashay

And her publisher, Eternal Press: http://www.eternalpress.ca/

Until next time...

Happy reading!

GODIVA Contest Winners!!

Congratulations go out to Mina Gerhart and Judy Cox! Ebook copies of Godiva in the Firing Line should be in your mailboxes now. Hope you enjoy the read!

Thanks to all those who entered. Stay tuned for a new contest, to be announced shortly.

CONTEST - Win a free copy of Godiva in the Firing Line!

Hi everyone,

To celebrate the release of my science fiction novella Godiva in the Firing Line, I thought I'd hold a quick contest. For your chance to win a free ebook copy, simply send an email to

sevenmercury7@aol.com

and write GODIVA FOREVER in the subject line. Simple! Don't forget to include your name. I'll pick TWO winners at random on Thursday night.

Good luck!

By the way, several of the new releases at Damnation Books are still for sale at less than $1. That's under ONE dollar! Head on over for some serious dark bargains, before they get snapped up.

Godiva in the Firing Line - OUT NOW!

For those of you who like science fiction with an edge, Godiva in the Firing Line, my short futuristic novella, is available now at Damnation Books, priced $4.50. The story starts on the eve of deployment for Lupine Corps, a paratrooper unit set to patrol a human mining facility on a hostile alien moon. But if you're expecting a standard shoot 'em up sci-fi adventure, think again. Godiva Randall and Dash Collingwood are friends (and potential lovers) unwittingly headed for the most controversial military scenario of their time...

Here's the blurb:

The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack! Join Godiva Randall, the beautiful daughter of a powerful politician, as she puts her paratrooper unit’s motto to the test. A delicate truce on Hoarfrost’s icy moon is about to explode, and blood will be spilled. This is the moment Lupine Corps has trained for—combat against a nightmarish alien foe, light-years from home.

But Godiva and her best friend, Dash Collingwood, are secretly in love. All mixed-gender combat units must take Celiba-C—a pill that suppresses sexuality—under threat of court-martial. Its performance record is amazing. The military swears by it. But it’s a lonely war so far from home. What if they skipped a dose, just this once? One night for themselves. What’s the worst that could happen?

Check out the official book page at Damnation, where there's also a very unique pricing plan in effect for all new releases. Each ebook will start off at 25 cents each. That's TWENTY-FIVE CENTS! Then with each subsequent purchase, the price will increase in 25 cent increments until the full list price is reached. You'd best be quick, though--there are some great-looking titles this quarter!

I'll finish with a choice excerpt from Godiva's journey (warning: strong language)

“Listen up.” Major General Horowitz, a grey-haired, tanned, sturdy man in his mid-fifties, slurped down the remainder of his mug of coffee as he turned to face the head of the shuttle gangway, to observe over a hundred greenhorn Lupines clinging to their seatbelts with white knuckles.

“Ah, that’s what I call coffee. Nicaraguan can’t be beat. All right, you horrible lot, seeing as we’re T-minus, and the next time you get to hear my dulcets will be in orbit around Scimitar, now’s the time to tell you about a delightful little thing called Celiba-C. Okay, you’ve all heard of it before. Whoopee for you. But as you’re no doubt aware by now, girls and boys fighting side by side pose a very real and very dangerous practical problem. A biological phenomenon of the utmost import. A profound physiological conundrum. Namely, the hard-on.”

Desperate laughter shook the aging, discoloured metal cabin. Godiva and Dash resisted making eye contact.

“All right, all right. Simmer down. We’ll be administering Celiba-C shortly, in the shape of these.” He shook a plastic medicine bottle full of half-inch capsules. “Take two now and one just before we land, and then one each morning all the while you’re on Scimitar. Don’t fuck with us on this. Sex is the biggest killer in warfare. You’ve got the hots for someone, or you’re secretly a bit of a Don Quixote, your first priority will invariably be to that person’s welfare ahead of the mission. I tell you, I’ve lost more troops to hurdy-gurdy in the loins than any other human factor. I’m dead serious. Celiba-C neutralizes all sexual or gender-oriented urges while you’re in the field. No more hard-ons, no more getting wet. Same for any same-sex scenarios. You won’t see men and women out there. You’ll see comrades who’ll follow fucking orders to whatever end! Trust me, it’s the only way this works. Four years and counting…and the upturn in performance has been amazing. Basically, you all end up androgynous for the duration. But that’s it. No side effects, no long-term deterioration. You can fuck each other senseless when you’re on leave, but for now it’s monks and nuns and you’re married to God and the fucking corps. Any questions?”

“Yeah, where are all the stewardesses before I take that shit?”

More laughter.

Horowitz smiled and nodded at the clown near the front. “Still trying to figure out why you’re not in the cargo hold with the rest of the fucking tools.”

Scattered applause accompanied a deafening cheer.

“Why take two now if we’re taking one when we get there?” asked Godiva, immediately embarrassed by her serious question.

“Aha, a sensible one,” replied Horowitz. “What’s your name, Sergeant?”

“Randall, sir.”

A male voice from the back added, “Lady Godiva’s asking about hard-ons? Tell her to get her tits out and we’ll demonstrate.”

Dash replied right away, “That guy can skip his pills. He was born dick-less.” This retort even prompted a chuckle from the Major General, but Dash himself wished the words had been fists instead. He caught Godiva blushing, and he hated that Horowitz had been made privy to her sex object status.

“All right, that’s enough,” Horowitz insisted, noticing how red Godiva’s cheeks had become. “Save it for the return trip. In answer to your very sensible question, Sergeant Randall, the body has to acclimate to Celiba-C, and during the time you’re unconscious, about two days, those first two capsules will be doing their work. After that, it’s one per day. And don’t any of you think about skipping a dose. Your C.O. will always have a spare supply, so if you happen to mislay your quotient, it’s your duty to let him know. And remember, he can test you for Celiba-C at any time. The punishment for not taking it is a mandatory court-martial, so like I said, don’t fuck with us on this.”

A male junior officer with red hair and freckles wheeled a trolley filled with hundreds of Celiba-C bottles up the gangway. The wheels clattered across the gridiron. Every member of Twelfth Lupine swallowed the two capsules, some having to use water from conical containers retrieved from inside the armrests. There was no discernible effect right away, and Godiva tried not to think about the imminent banishment of Dash Collingwood from her thoughts. Or could the drug really neutralise those instincts? The sexual kind, yes, but what about close friendship, a bond not governed by the loins? What would he be to her in the grip of Celiba-C? A stranger? A brother? Déjà vu? She winced. How would he treat her? As a comrade? A sister? A piece of equipment?

She bowed her head and felt bitterly alone. When the drug kicked in, he wouldn’t go out of his way to protect her any more, and she would no longer care. But there was a downside to Celiba-C that only someone in love could perceive. It wasn’t a question of sex, it was a question of love. How does one isolate and suppress love? And how much of a person is lost when that passion is denied? Would it not filter into the camaraderie of the corps? Godiva realised she wanted a man to look out for her, she wanted to look out for him, and without that protective instinct, Lupine Corps would be a well-trained unit without a heart.

Maybe it was better that way. Maybe.

A loose gridiron hatch rattled like a supermarket trolley across cobblestone as the engines heaved the shuttle upward, and after a long, teeth-chattering ascent, punched it beyond the earth’s magnetic pull.

“That had better be the worst of it,” whispered Dash, pale as guano. “I never did like roller-coasters.”

Godiva leapt on the opportunity. “Are you kidding me? That was nothing. Just wait until we ride the bullet into deep space. Now that’s a roller-coaster.”

He closed his eyes, shook his head, and mouthed a few expletives. Pleased with herself, Godiva patted his shoulder, whispering, “And that’s something they don’t have a pill for. Best to think of it as therapy: what doesn’t kill you…makes you even more shit-scared of dying.”

“Thanks, Di,” he replied sarcastically. “I guess Celiba-C works after all.”

The quip dove straight to the ringing part of her brain. She knew what she ought to be feeling—mild regret at having treated his suffering with contempt, however playful—but the impulses were incomplete. They lingered off-key., Vague xylophonic notes that meant nothing, but which she knew had dampened that part of her compassion. What else did Celiba-C have in store? She swallowed, conscious of the stubborn phlegm clinging to her throat.

“Only kidding,” she said, not quite recognising her own voice. “Light speed is a piece of cake. And hey, I’m not going anywhere.”

He looked at her strangely, and she knew why. What a thing to say to a death-defying paratrooper! What next, holding hands!? This was going to be a long trip, and a lonely one.
By the time the shuttle had fully charged its photonic cells inside the giant, elliptical wormhole gateway, the soldiers of Twelfth Lupine were fully indifferent to one another. And in the split second between drifting through space and being yanked into an interstellar corkscrew, every man and woman lost consciousness. The only sound on board was the hatch rattling over the stairwell to the upper deck. Merely overlooked, it was of no consequence. But even so, it had not been designed for that.

http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615720439

Miles and Miles of Crocodiles

On February 19th, 1945, more than one thousand Japanese soldiers retreated into the fetid swamps of Ramree Island, off the coast of Burma. Days later, only twenty were found alive. It remains the deadliest crocodile attack on record. In the passage that first piqued my interest in the incident, British marine (and naturalist) Bruce Wright wrote:

“That night of the 19 February 1945 was the most horrible that any member of the M.L. [marine launch] crews ever experienced. The scattered rifle shots in the pitch black swamp punctured by the screams of wounded men crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the blurred worrying sound of spinning crocodiles made a cacophony of hell that has rarely been duplicated on earth. At dawn the vultures arrived to clean up what the crocodiles had left...Of about 1,000 Japanese soldiers that entered the swamps of Ramree, only about 20 were found alive.”

That compelling testimony has been hotly disputed over the years. Ramree natives maintain such an attack never took place, while others attribute the high number of casualties to enemy fire, disease, scorpions, and various other perils indigenous to the island. But in many Indo-Pacific regions, saltwater crocodiles are feared even more than sharks. Indeed, they eat sharks! And they do, on occasion, attack people. Ramree Island is itself not far from the Burmese coast. It stands to reason that such a large number of crocodiles, when disturbed and confronted with a widespread smell of blood, would react with deadly force. Further, crocodiles like to feed at night. The Japanese troops spent three nights in the swamp. There is therefore much circumstantial evidence in support of Wright's account. Exactly how many men were killed by crocodiles, rather by than the myriad other perils, can never be known. But Wright's testimony has endured, in all its nightmarish glory.

So, how to adapt these horrific true events into a story that people would find compelling and not nausea-inducing? Not an easy task. Crocodile attacks are unimaginably vicious. And war—equally so. So I decided to shift the focus to two men, one a musician in civilian life, the other an owner of a men’s fashion store, and reveal how they came to rely on each other through the unspeakable events. It became a tale of friendship and survival.

Privates Nakadai and Kodi were never meant to be soldiers. As for many young Japanese men, Imperial duty was foisted upon them under pain of death. Nakadai is a musician without music. Kodi’s love of fashion and cleanliness is buried under layers of black swamp mud. But something clicks when they’re together, and each substitutes the other’s dwindling humanity. It is the strongest kind of friendship there is—a life-or-death bond between ordinary men in extraordinary times.

To delve the reader headlong into the swamps of Ramree, I decided to tell the story in first person present tense. It added so much immediacy that I was literally breathless after writing certain passages. I also gave each chapter a musical title, reflecting the memory of home kindled between the two friends.

Here are two brief excerpts from Sunset on Ramree:

1. PRELUDE

Lance-Corporal Hokuto Mayazuki has always been one of the luckiest soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army. The scars of no less than six shrapnel cuts and bullet wounds tattoo the left side of his neck, all the way from ear to shoulder. So many miraculous escapes over a three-year tour of duty in the Pacific. Yet he will be among the first to die this evening—according to the medical officer—though not from any wound. Today is February 19th, 1945, and he is succumbing to a strange, horrid fever. If one so tough can fall easily, I tell myself, what chance have any of us, retreating into these deadly marshlands of Ramree Island?

It is 16:45 and the British forces have outflanked us. Word spreads throughout our battalion that there is no escape. The mangrove swamp—a thick, stifling, fetid place of only damp reprieve—suddenly provides our only protection. And it is here, in the coming hours, that from the jaws of our defeat, Nature will try to snatch us for Herself. There are a hundred unseen ways for a man to die. We can never give in and time must therefore be the grind of the blade, that by our own hand we draw death—an honourable death. What end waits for me, I wonder? My name is Shigeatsu Nakadai. I do not want this sunset to be my last.

The water I pour onto my neck to drown a dozen large ants is drinking water. I curse the decision. From here on, saltwater is all we’ll find. When my canteen runs dry, I’ll start to die of thirst. The thought occurs to me to pilfer some of Mayazuki’s—he’s almost dead anyway—but the reasoning proves double-edged. What if he contracted his disease from that water? Is it worth the risk? Thirst or fever: in prolonging life by one means, might I not simply protract death by another? I decide to leave him his flask and take his can opener instead.

We’ve been rushing for hours. Our battery stronghold is now miles to our rear. Colonel Ojihoru is a determined man, but determined to do what? If we are not permitted to surrender, and there is no way through the British lines, what is his hurry? Suicide now or suicide later, it seems academic. Stoicism is my only refuge. It’s as much a performance as those I give each night in my dreams—in the orchestra of Chadwick Hall in Canberra, where I play the clarinet—except this performance is to myself. Of all the ways to leave this swamp, suicide is the most impossible, at least to me. I’m quite sure that when the time comes to die with honour, I’ll cry in front of the whole regiment. Will I be the only one?


4. VARIATIONS ON A THEME

I try to conjure a memory of before the war—something, anything to distract me—but draw a blank every time. I purse my lips to whistle a familiar tune, but nothing comes out. I shut my eyes tight and roll them inward until they ache and release a heavy pulse. The screams and shots and calls for surrender are still there. Kodi and Sobiku are still there. I imagine the reed of a clarinet between my lips and the long, sustained breath given to making sweetly aching music. But nothing comes out. No tune, no melody, no woodwind to soothe the mangroves. Just the damp, cold harmonics of the night. I’m lost without music, and there is no music on Ramree.

Sunset on Ramree was released on July 7th at Eternal Press as an eBook, priced $3.95.


The paperback version is available from Amazon.

And finally, here are a few facts I learned about saltwater crocodiles:

*The largest and deadliest reptile on the planet, the saltwater crocodile lives in northern Australia, eastern India, and southeast Asia.

*Its average life span in the wild almost equals that of a human male (70 years).

*Its average length is almost three times that of a human male (17 ft).

*'Salties' (as they're referred to in Australia) occasionally reach a length of 23 ft and a weight of 1,200 kg.

*They are extremely good swimmers and have been spotted quite far out to sea.

*The female crocodile lays up to 60 eggs at a time, though only a very small number will reach adulthood.

*The saltwater or estuary croc cruises through the water at around 2-3 mph, but can sprint-swim at speeds of up to 18 mph.

*On land, its explosive acceleration can almost match a human runner, though only in very short bursts.

*It will generally bask for much of the day and feed at night.

*It is what is known as an apex predator, as its natural position is top of the food chain.

*It rarely attacks humans, mostly because the saltwater crocodile is fiercely territorial, and we have learned to avoid its domain. In regions where human precautions are poor, however, reports of fatal croc attacks are far more common.

*The controversial mass crocodile attack on Ramree Island, 1945, remains the deadliest recorded attack by wildlife on humans.

Learn more on my official webpage: www.robertappleton.co.uk/sunsetonramree.htm

Visual Arts Junction Writing Contest Goes Live!

All aspiring writers should check out the following link:

http://www.visualartsjunction.com/?p=3585

The VAJ monthly contest is an excellent opportunity for budding writers to gain exposure. This month, the challenge is to write about a piece of art titled Valle Pintado. The deadline is Nov 15th. The winning entry will be posted on each of the three VAJ-affiliated websites, as well as on the many supporters' blogs/websites. That's a lot of publicity!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to VAJ and show what you can do.

Best of luck!

First Look at THE MYTHMAKERS!

As you can see, Samhain Publishing are pulling out all the stops for Impulse Power, their space opera anthology due for release in February 2010. The cover artist is Kanaxa, and she went truly stellar for this amazing tapestry of book covers. The three novellas are Hearts and Minds (by J.C. Hay), Metal Reign (by Nathalie Gray), and my own outer space adventure, The Mythmakers.

I've had great book covers before but these are just extraordinary! If the rest of the project turns out this well, Impulse Power will be the space opera book of next year, no question. Each novella is to be released as a separate eBook in Feb, before the paperback anthology later in 2010.

Here's an early blurb for The Mythmakers:

The last will and testament of a forgotten Earth...

For Captain Steffi Savannah and her crew of deep space smugglers, life has become little more than a dogged exercise in mere survival. Their latest disastrous heist ended with another dead crew member—and no place left to hide. She’s even finding it hard to dredge up any excitement over the giant, crippled ship that appears on their radar, even though it’s the salvage opportunity of a lifetime.

They find that it’s no ordinary alien vessel. It’s a ship of dreams, populated with the last remnants of Earth’s mythical creatures. Including the blond, built, mysterious Arne, one of a race blessed with extraordinary beauty—and few inhibitions. Though he won’t tell her exactly what he is, in his arms Steffi rediscovers something she thought she’d never feel again. Wonder, love…and hope.

It isn’t long, though, before the Royal guard tracks them down, and Steffi and her crew are faced with a terrible decision. Cut and run. Or risk everything to tow the ship and her precious cargo to safety.

Editing on The Mythmakers begins soon, and I have the lovely Sasha Knight overseeing this one. Can't wait!

http://www.samhainpublishing.com/