He was a Dragon King. No one should have been able to get to him through magic. No one. But they did. With tragic results. If he’d kept a hold of his sword, he could have checked on the dragons several times. And called them home. V looked up and found himself standing in front of the medical clinic. Sophie, who was mated to another King, Darius, ran it. Many of the Kings hadn’t been sure how Sophie could continue to work as a doctor and keep the secrets of Dreagan, but so far, she’d done admirably. She wouldn’t be able to do that forever, though. As a mate, she was given the gift of immortality. Sophie had a few more years before others started to notice that she didn’t age. Then, she would have to close the practice for a few generations before she could open it up once more. V’s gaze swung to the parking lot as he heard the squeal of tires and a white Mini with black racing stripes pulled to a stop. He sidestepped to conceal himself behind a tree and watched as Claire got out of her car. V couldn’t understand how she drove…

When she put her hand on the horse’s leg, he snorted at the same instant his body tensed. “It’s okay, boy. I won’t hurt you,” she said. Audrey was careful not to get near the affected area as she inspected it with her eyes. Once the gelding calmed, she managed to get her hand several inches closer before he twitched his head. “I’m going to fix you,” she promised. “You have to trust me.” Another few tense minutes passed before she moved with agonizing slowness until her palm was over the knee. She didn’t feel any fluid, so it could just be joint pain. But since this was one of the ill horses, she wasn’t sure of anything. Audrey rubbed her hand softly over the leg again and again. The horse closed his eyes, letting her know that he trusted her. She sat cross-legged and continued to stroke him with one hand while adding notes to the chart on her iPad with the other. Though she didn’t want to leave the bay, Audrey knew she needed to get to the other two horses. She climbed to her feet and ran her hand down the gelding’s head to the soft, velvety…

I grew up watching movies like Clash of the Titans, BeastMaster, and Highlander (one of my favorites!) so it was no wonder when I began writing that myths and legends worked their way into my stories. Every culture has hundreds of legends and millions of myths. The great thing about writing fiction is that I can add any of these myths and legends into a story. And some I just make up. ? In FORBIDDEN HIGHLANDER, the second book in my Dark Sword series, the series uses its own myth and legend. When I had the first kernel of an idea for the series, I knew I would need something substantial for a legend. Since the series takes place in medieval Scotland, it opened up many possibilities. After all, Britain itself is steeped in magic and lore. With primeval gods trapped inside my Highlanders who happen to fall in love with Druids, I realized I could take this back hundreds of years. Rome, as we know, invaded and conquered much of Britain. But not Scotland. Why is that? Is it because of the Celts? Do we believe anything written in that history since it was written by Rome? So, that…

For the past 20 years we have been writing novels, seven in total—the eighth in the works. No Pulitzer or Nobel winners, but well crafted stories that have enlightened and entertained tens of thousands of readers. Our first “big book” Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made was published in 1997, has never been out of print, is in its fifth edition and has sold over 750,000 copies, without any major advertising or endorsements. But that was then. Now, we along with many of our “classmates”, black women writers who started their careers in the mid 90’s, find our future in jeopardy. This precarious position is not because we write bad books, but because we all fall in the general category “African American Fiction” and we just aren’t selling as well. What we write is women’s fiction with Af-Am characters–stories of struggle and triumph, loss, coping, love, and life, learning. But we are labeled, handicapped, before we’re out of the gate. Folks who might enjoy our work because the theme might be relevant to their life- like What Doesn’t Kill You, our 2009 novel—a funny and uplifting story about a woman who loses her long-term job, but finds her…

I’m not sure many readers realize there is much about the publishing business authors have no control over.  We write the books, but scheduling, covers, and titles are just a few of the things we have no control over. There have been times I’ve begged my editor for a change in the title, and other times I’ve jumped for joy.  For instance, in the first book of my Dark Sword series, the book is titled DANGEROUS HIGHLANDER. My editor and I agreed that it fit the hero perfectly.  Consequently, when I learned books two and three would be FORBIDDEN HIGHLANDER and WICKED HIGHLANDER respectively, I knew my titles were wonderful! They weren’t the first titles I was given for the series.  The first book was supposed to have been called Demon’s Kiss after an object in the book, with the other books titled Demon Prince and Dark Demon.    Click here to read the rest… Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.